Indian Wells

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:This court really is a baseliner’s nightmare. The bounce is ridiculous,

I am so glad Nadal is not playing so all that sand was in vain.

Larry is such a nit.

Larry clearly tried to reproduce the USO conds.  

Waste of good sand.

For having had Larry as a boss I know he would not hesitate to cheat to have it his way.....like his America's cup!

noleisthebest wrote:

Daniel wrote:

summerblues wrote:Delpo is the highest remaining seed other than Fed.  And Delpo has no BH, as I like to mention.

He does have one.  As I keep mentioning.  He doesn't need an amazing one - because he has a lethal forehand and a lethal serve when it's on side.  He can beat Federer.  He's coming off the back of a tournament win.  I don't know why you give him such small praise?  You expected Djok to beat him easily... look how that turned out.

Delpo is too slow for current Fed.
Even in these conditions.

You could say that about every single player in terms of their overall chances.  Stupid answer.

Del Po has a decent chance at this, no question. His backhand seems to be improving, he’s certainly coming through it a lot more now.

Anderson v Careno Busta....looks more and more like USO 2017. Nadal must be fuming to be injured!

This draw is all over the place. Like the USO.....no top players (or big names) besides Federer and Delpo.

If Chung wins this tournament he is in the top 10. I think he will give Federer some trouble this time around .

If Fed gets there, Chardy is playing well.

bogbrush wrote:If Fed gets there, Chardy is playing well.

yes he is playing well....but I trust fed to find a way through.

Federer rushing backward on the return of serve seems to have caused that DF.

Just got home. Close score in the first set but Fed looks quite comfortable to me.

Good match in the conditions, by both guys.

3 possible more matches in 4 days. When is teh day off for Federer?

Don’t know, but here’s where the top half advantage kicks in as they don’t play their quarters tonight. The bottom half willl play Fri / Sat / Sun.

Pity Federer has got the 7pm match, he’d have preferred it as fast as it could be against Chung. That said, Chung's record since the AO isn’t much to get excited about.

bogbrush wrote:Don’t know, but here’s where the top half advantage kicks in as they don’t play their quarters tonight. The bottom half willl play Fri / Sat / Sun.

Pity Federer has got the 7pm match, he’d have preferred it as fast as it could be against Chung. That said, Chung's record since the AO isn’t much to get excited about.

Four tournements this year and all QF's or better...He's third in the race.

Really, Chung is one better players this year

yes....I don't think Fed will have it easy, especially on those courts.

The 36-year-old Swiss was untouchable on serve at the BNP Paribas Open, winning 90 per cent of his service points (44/49), including 100 per cent of his first-serve points (25/25), to beat Chardy 7-5, 6-4 in a packed Stadium One. It's only the fifth time Federer has won a match (not by retirement) without losing a first-serve point.
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He will have to reproduce that.

A really serious test coming up for both players.  Fed will have to be at his best to progress, and Chung will be eager to put the AO disappointment behind him and see how far he's come.  Fascinating stuff - I'd slightly prefer for it to be happening in the SF, but nobody ever said hanging onto #1 was easy.

Shame it is a middle of the night match and would have loved Federer to have a day rest in between. It can be a virtual final. I certainly expect the winner to get to the final minimum and most likely win it all.  

It is going to be down to Federer's BH once again. We know it is more consistent than back then but the ball is going to come fast and heavy on this side, a la Murray....except that Federer won't be relaxed on Chung's FH either. Now can Federer keep his precision/edge after a few long rallies? I don;t know. Chung will of course do his share of the running and his stamina over the distance will be tested too.

I think the evening game is not a bad thing for Fed. Sure slower maybe but less wind usually and lower bounce, meaning easier to time the ball (hence easier to inject pace actually) and a bit less time for Chung to get to the ball before it bounces twice.

Really annoyed I won;t see it live!

Tenez wrote:Anderson v Careno Busta....looks more and more like USO 2017. Nadal must be fuming to be injured!

Something about Busta being ranked so high and being so dead plain and boring really annoys me.

He is not a bad player and an amazing mover. Sure he has not got distinguishing shots but not many have....

As far as I am concerned he should be competing in challengers, seen but not heard (of).

I wouldn't watch him if they paid me.

barrystar wrote:A really serious test coming up for both players.  Fed will have to be at his best to progress, and Chung will be eager to put the AO disappointment behind him and see how far he's come.  Fascinating stuff - I'd slightly prefer for it to be happening in the SF, but nobody ever said hanging onto #1 was easy.

The court is horrible to play on...in some way worse than clay.

I watched Fed-Chardy highlights, and Fed literally grunted with effort to hit through the court, it was vile.

To me it feels like Larry is relishing in torturing a talent...doesn't matter his boy is not there, at least he can enjoy seeing Federer sweat and strain his limbs and consume that precious freshness he needs to play his beautiful game.
Forcing a sprinter to run a marathon.

Chung was really good yesterday, both wings, esp FH, Cuevas managed to put up fight for 3 games when Chung was serving for the match at 5:0...and those three games at full strength finished him.

Fed obviously has a much stronger BH, plus serve and return so he should be able to prevail as Chung serve does not have much variation.

bogbrush wrote:Del Po has a decent chance at this, no question. His backhand seems to be improving, he’s certainly coming through it a lot more now.

His chance comes only through this stupidly slow court.

I'd love to have the power to load Larry with a 30kg backpack and flog him to run for two hours in that desert until his face explodes from all that botox.

The thing that annoys me about RG is that they rather favour a Spaniard over their own players (who I am sure would prefer to play with fast balls) FOR OVER A DECADE.

Wimbledon...they obviously want to favour Murray hence the way it is.
USO don't have anyone to favour so they are sucking up to Hispanic voters.

So hats off to old Laver and Aussie Legends for providing a decent stage for glorious tennis in the last two years.

And Kraji!
He may be an idiot but at least the court is great.

noleisthebest wrote:....
So hats off to old Laver and Aussie Legends for providing a decent stage for glorious tennis in the last two years.

Well I would not pull my hat off to those who were the first guilty of slowing things down to allow Nadal to reach his first HC slam final and giving him a clear edge over federer. They also produced the most lung busting and boring finals for years allowing Djokovic to win half of his dozen GSs there by outlasting everybody else.

It was about time they sped the courts and they are still not that fast anyway.

The USO is now worse in that department as they clearly turned a "medium paced HC" into the slowest slam ever (worse than RG in my view).

Wimbeldon also slowed things down but way before Murray's time. Once to stop  SVIng from reigning there (introduction of bigger balls in 2002) and again, in 2005 onwards to help Nadal face Fed in finals. They were happy with the finals they got so did not change much the conds since then, except for cutting the grass shorter now!!!

Wasn't AO always slow...and didn't AO start making changes straight after AO12?

It's no coincidence Nadal only got one trophy there.

They could have easily continued as before but didn't, and do deserve praise for that. Imagine if they left it as it was...

I was hoping others would follow, but tough luck so far.

gallery play wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Don’t know, but here’s where the top half advantage kicks in as they don’t play their quarters tonight. The bottom half willl play Fri / Sat / Sun.

Pity Federer has got the 7pm match, he’d have preferred it as fast as it could be against Chung. That said, Chung's record since the AO isn’t much to get excited about.

Four tournements this year and all QF's or better...He's third in the race.

Really, Chung is one better players this year

I'm going by who he's beaten and who's beaten him. It's not a big deal.

noleisthebest wrote:Wasn't AO always slow...and didn't AO start making changes straight after AO12?

It's no coincidence Nadal only got one trophy there.

They could have easily continued as before but didn't, and do deserve praise for that. Imagine if they left it as it was...

I was hoping others would follow, but tough luck so far.

It was rebound ace up until 2007 (Rafa made qf at best there) and then it changed to decoturf in 2008 (year djoko won).
It was faster before 2008.

luvsports! wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Wasn't AO always slow...and didn't AO start making changes straight after AO12?

It's no coincidence Nadal only got one trophy there.

They could have easily continued as before but didn't, and do deserve praise for that. Imagine if they left it as it was...

I was hoping others would follow, but tough luck so far.

It was rebound ace up until 2007 (Rafa made qf at best there) and then it changed to decoturf in 2008 (year djoko won).
It was faster before 2008.

After AO went hardcourt it was slower than USO for the initial years - e.g. Agassi beat Sampras in Australia but never at the USO.  Nowadays it would be reversed I venture to suggest.

bogbrush wrote:

gallery play wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Don’t know, but here’s where the top half advantage kicks in as they don’t play their quarters tonight. The bottom half willl play Fri / Sat / Sun.

Pity Federer has got the 7pm match, he’d have preferred it as fast as it could be against Chung. That said, Chung's record since the AO isn’t much to get excited about.

Four tournements this year and all QF's or better...He's third in the race.

Really, Chung is one better players this year

I'm going by who he's beaten and who's beaten him. It's not a big deal.

Well, if i'm telling you he did beat Djokovic, Isner, A zverev, M zverev, Berdych this year, you'll be telling me he lost 62 63 to Ferrer so that's not going to get us anywhere..

Fact is: he has been by far the best of the nextgen pack the past 6 months

I am very keen to see Fed-Chung, so I’ll set my alarm clock...

Haven’t done that in ages!

gallery play wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

gallery play wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Don’t know, but here’s where the top half advantage kicks in as they don’t play their quarters tonight. The bottom half willl play Fri / Sat / Sun.

Pity Federer has got the 7pm match, he’d have preferred it as fast as it could be against Chung. That said, Chung's record since the AO isn’t much to get excited about.

Four tournements this year and all QF's or better...He's third in the race.

Really, Chung is one better players this year

I'm going by who he's beaten and who's beaten him. It's not a big deal.

Well, if i'm telling you he did beat Djokovic, Isner, A zverev, M zverev, Berdych this year, you'll be telling me he lost 62 63 to Ferrer so that's not going to get us anywhere..

Fact is: he has been by far the best of the nextgen pack the past 6 months

Agree. And it's not just about being the best of the next gen,...he simply has a tough game to beat!

gallery play wrote:Four tournements this year and all QF's or better...He's third in the race.

Really, Chung is one better players this year

But also: AO was the only place he advanced past QF (out of actually five tournaments this year).

Maybe I am wrong, but unlike most of you, I do not anticipate a very difficult challenge for Fed.  If Fed is playing well, he should win comfortably in two sets (no worse than something similar to Chardy match), and if it somehow stretches to three, I would think it would be an "easy" 3-setter - something like 6:2, 4:6, 6:3.  I do not expect Fed ever looking like he might lose.

Chung is having a respectably good start to the season, but he did not play anyone difficult in his AO run (half-serous here, given the form Zverev and Nole are in), and never got very far in any of the other tournaments.  His game is kind of similar to Nole's, but nowhere near as consistent as Nole was in his prime.

Very close first set.
Chung made Fed run a lot, yet choked serving to stay in the set at 5:6.

Good serving and neoBH kept Fed in the match. As well as that really incredible footwork.

Fed’s tennis under pressure is mimd-blowingly good.

After saving several BPs on his serve, Fed breaks straight back and quickly consolidates 3:0.

Let’s see how Chung stands in his “wiill” department.

Forgot to mention Pete’s in the house.

Grinning from ear to ear, counting his blessings he scooped his slams when he did..,

Chung forcing Fed to play his very best tennis.
And it’s joy to watch!

Chung is no worrior... melts like april snow. 
Or is Fed simply too good?

Fed serving for the match at 5:1.

It was well worth waking up for Mr Sublime!

noleisthebest wrote:Fed’s tennis under pressure is mimd-blowingly good.

I only saw the last 2 games. Could not resist.

Even though it was 6/1 it seemed Fed had to play really well to win that one.

7:5 6:1 without much fuss and Fed was not even playing very well. I could not tell if he was off or just could not be bothered. Most of the first set he was not doing much but then when Chung was serving at 5:6 all of a sudden a different and much better Fed showed up - he tightened his game, and even hit a beauty of a BH.

The second set was a formality.

As far as Chung goes, as I had said: game similar to Nole's but with way too many errors.

summerblues wrote:Chung is having a respectably good start to the season, but he did not play anyone difficult in his AO run (half-serous here, given the form Zverev and Nole are in), and never got very far in any of the other tournaments.  His game is kind of similar to Nole's, but nowhere near as consistent as Nole was in his prime.

It's not about who he plays, it's about how he plays. I only saw the last 2 games and the score was one sided in that second set. But it was obvious he would have troubled anybody today with that game...except maybe a sharp Federer.

Federer to live another 2 weeks as #1.

And if I am not mistaking, if he wins IW, he has not got to worry about Miami and is guaranteed to #1 till Rome minimum ....but most likely Wimbledon.

This is why it was smart to try to defend IW / Miami, he can set himself right through to Wimbledon with a great fortnight here and kick back until Stuttgart / Halle.

And that assumes Nadal returns fully healthy. Any frailty on clay and Federer would be odds-on to go through to the year end.

The theme of Nadal's upcoming months has changed from fighting for #1, to defending #2.

This is probably a bit overdone, but Federer might get a real good grip on the #1 spot, even if he shows up not before Halle.

Chung may improve and one day be a slam winner... but he, like so many others this generation, is a brainless player.  You can't really teach a player to be smart around the court or use the right tactics.

Federer grunting quite a lot on serve and some biggish swats - a bit of shanking here and there too.  If Chung cuts out those UE's he'll be formidable in a grindy relentless sort of way.

If I'm right that this week on a sandy hard court is pretty hard work - Fed is hopefully forming the view that a clay season is best avoided.

bogbrush wrote:This is why it was smart to try to defend IW / Miami, he can set himself right through to Wimbledon with a great fortnight here and kick back until Stuttgart / Halle.

And that assumes Nadal returns fully healthy. Any frailty on clay and Federer would be odds-on to go through to the year end.

My thinking too. 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for him. If he bags the IW/Miami double, can't see Nadal getting near the No.1 this year. 

Amazing to think by April the rest of the tour will be fighting for scraps from the top table.