ATP MASTERS 1000: Paris Bercy

legendkillar wrote:Dolgo, Stan, Paire and Tsonga all in action today. Also Llodra and Stepanek. What a day of tennis in store for all.

Oh arseholes I forgot the magic of Sky +

Yes, plenty of lovely tennis ahead!
I will be watching the Paire Nishikori match keenly to have a further and better look at Paire's strengths and weaknesses if I get the time as a very busy two weeks are ahead for me.

I am quite excited about him and the way he plays, I think he is a very smart cookie, young and unpolluted by the soul-sapping grind of the pro tour.
So a very special opportunity to follow him at this romantic stage of his career, a bit likeNole's early years

noleisthebest wrote:

legendkillar wrote:Dolgo, Stan, Paire and Tsonga all in action today. Also Llodra and Stepanek. What a day of tennis in store for all.

Oh arseholes I forgot the magic of Sky +

Yes, plenty of lovely tennis ahead!
I will be watching the Paire Nishikori match keenly to have a further and better look at Paire's strengths and weaknesses if I get the time as a very busy two weeks are ahead for me.

I am quite excited about him and the way he plays, I think he is a very smart cookie, young and unpolluted by the soul-sapping grind of the pro tour.
So a very special opportunity to follow him at this romantic stage of his career, a bit likeNole's early years

I have seen little of Paire. I have seen him a couple of times. Certainly hits the ball with ease. Doesn't quite have the acceleration through the FH like a Dolgo. However his BH is something to behold.

He plays an instinctive attacking tennis with absolute tons of flair. A very funky player who enjoys creating on the court and uses all of it to have plenty of fun on.
Loves the net and knows his way around it, too.

Great first serve , second one a huge liability.
All in all, an utter gem and a very rare species!

noleisthebest wrote:He plays an instinctive attacking tennis with absolute tons of flair. A very funky player who enjoys creating on the court and uses all of it to have plenty of fun on.
Loves the net and knows his way around it, too.

Great first serve , second one a huge liability.
All in all, an utter gem and a very rare species!

I heard from Basel that he will break into the top 50 which is a good thing because if he can get amongst the top 30 in 2013, draws in the big events will open up for him.

I do like his style. Anyone who can play the game with ease is lovely on the naked eye. Like you say the 2nd serve a liability. Who knows where he might be in a couple of years.

Oh, I think he'll do well.
The beauty of following him will not be any record-breaking ambition, just pure tennis and the brave, uncompromising way he plays it.

I am so glad he popped up on the scene in the middle of this grinding baseline low percentage hybrid junk that is taking root on the tour.

I should imagine he would have ambition. Every player does. He may play a carefree style, but that doesn't resemble the players character. I think he is more than aware that safety has to be incorporated into his game. Now whether he can actually do it is another thing. When players give up playing on instinct, their shots tend to fizzle out and have less effectiveness.

One of the things I hated about the Murray game was the changes under Maclaghan. From 2005-2007 he was quite exciting. It then fizzled out. Safety was imposed on him and as a result I felt his serve declined and also the variation.

I just wish the conditions didn't favour the grind out style we have been subjected to for the last 8 years.

I don't think whenplaying conditions started to slow down anyone had the 6 hour long athletic AO final in mind...but things happened and got out of control now esp with blood doping being legalised.
I am sure most players don't like it as it is now.
Yes some got fit and turned the quick buck around, but how selfish, blinkered and short -term is that!
So Paire and his off the peg tennis is such a wonderful breath of fresh air.

He seems to take pride in it and I really like that fact.

Will enjoy every shot of it !

I think because he play it with ease makes it easier for him. Some players are not blessed with such feel for the ball as players like Paire have.

How did it make you feel watching Novak win the AO this year the way he did? As fan in general did it leave you feeling say underwhelmed compared with the year before? I know when Murray won the US Open, I was happy because it was first and how much of was stoked in history. On reflection a day later the brand of tennis and quality left me a little un-satisfied. Almost like he won it in a manner that I didn't want to see win a Slam.

When watching players like Paire, Dolgo, Dimitrov, Gasquet they out in 1 or 2 good performances and whilst I enjoy, I feel glum because I know when faced with a more brute of an opponent they will lose

LK,
I didn't wach the AO final , just saw the last few points . Same with USO final.
When I say I don' t like this brutal physical baseline war I mean it.

It may be somebody's cup of tea but it's not mine.

I wathch all other match -ups, and I don't mind wathing even the other two on clay.
But not on hard courts. It's just like a burger in Macdonalds to me, not that I ve ever bought one , just had a bite one NewYear's eve when I was starving and hated it!

In Paris today some interesting scores so far:
HPM bt Agut
Dimitrov bt Melzer
Chardy trounces GG Lopez
after beating Kohlschreiber, Janowicz beats Cilic today.

Currently Dolgo losing to Sijsling and Llodra up a breaka gaint Taver (don't know what happended to Stepanek)

Dolgo gone.

Paire-Nishikori is turning out be quite a contest.

Tomorrow in Bercy, the "big" names come out to play:

The ugliest match of the day first

Court Central startng at 9.30 AM UK time:
Granollers - Ferrer (I may tune in just to see how many people apart from the coaches turn up )
Gasquet - Anderson
Querrey - Djokovic (recovering from food poisoning and a flying back to Paris from Serbia after visiting his father suddenly taken to hospital)
Llodra - Isner
Murray - HP Matheau
Raonic- Chardy

On court 1:
Sijsling - Tipsarevic
Monaco - Dimitrov
Hanescu - Simon
Ramos - Almagro
Del Potro - Falla

Easy first set for Nole 6:0 in 20 minutes.

noleisthebest wrote:Easy first set for Nole 6:0 in 20 minutes.

Not bad from someone recovering from food poisoning. BTW how are the conds?

Oh Dear Gasquet losing to Anderson.....He had a chance to finish in teh top 10....a second SHBH in teh top 10....not to be.

Tenez wrote: BTW how are the conds?

similar or slower than AO

Depressing! I won't be watching....much.

Tenez wrote:Depressing! I won't be watching....much.

I look forward to the potential Djokovic - Raonic. Their first match.

Least the conds are faster than last year.

It was like treacle last year!

Real shame about the conditions in fact, completely encourage lazy & safe baseline tennis.
I really don't know why they don't speed them up a bit.

You know how bad a tournament is when Barry Cowan gushes "This tournament has shown the variety in the mens game"

Raonic vs in-form Chardy (after the next one which is Murray HP Mathieu) should be very interesting, the winner plays Novak tomorrow.

I wouldn't be surprised if Chardy beats Raonic, who has lost that type of match too many times this year.

I thought I'd never hear the French cheer for DJO-KO-VICH ...

well, better late than never.....

Querrey wins the 2nd set in the tie-break. I don't know how. Novak utterly bored on the court, that's why.
I even managed to yawn once or twice.

noleisthebest wrote:I thought I'd never hear the French cheer for DJO-KO-VICH ...

well, better late than never.....

I think Djoko is a very neutral player. A few might be passionate about him but I have yet to read many strong disliking post from him. The vast majority do not care...I think. Faute de mieux...as we say.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I thought I'd never hear the French cheer for DJO-KO-VICH ...

well, better late than never.....

I think Djoko is a very neutral player. A few might be passionate about him but I have yet to read many strong disliking post from him. The vast majority do not care...I think. Faute de mieux...as we say.

One can't fake passion

Querrey serving for the match.
It is Halloween, after all

And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

I suppose the first Djokovic-Raonic match will have to wait....

noleisthebest wrote:And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

SR wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

Querrey d Djokovic 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

SR wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

once you've wiped your tears of sorrow you'll be able to notice the score was 1:2.
As I said earlier Novak suffered from food poisoning in the last few days.

laverfan wrote:

SR wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

Querrey d Djokovic 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Thanks, I misread the score. didn't see the 0-6.

noleisthebest wrote:

SR wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

once you've wiped your tears of sorrow you'll be able to notice the score was 1:2.
As I said earlier Novak suffered from food poisoning in the last few days.

So once again Federer would likely miss on very few points to finish YEND at #1.

Food poisoning fine but didn't he win 60 in the first set? What a strange score!

Me thinks he may have wanted more rest before London.

Tenez wrote:Food poisoning fine but didn't he win 60 in the first set? What a strange score!

Me thinks he may have wanted more rest before London.

How would you have played the match after two days of throwing up?
You'd go full on and try to finish as quick as possible; obviously couldn't pull it off despite being a break up at the stat of the second, the energy levels/dehydration dropped and he started mistiming seriously due to dropped level in movement.

Also, he is facing a very serious personal issue I found about yesterday, so I am not suprised at all.

what personal issue?

Tenez wrote:what personal issue?

Of a very private nature that is certainly not suitable for airing in public.

Did he let you let you know personally or did you read it on a public place like the internet?

Tenez wrote:Did he let you let you know personally or did you read it on a public place like the internet?

Sarcasm is the last thing I expected from you.

What happened? Quarry bts Djokovic? *shock*

laverfan wrote:

SR wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
And he does it!
I'm happy for Querrey, he's a nice guy.

OMG, NITB, a straight set loss. I'm sorry.

What happened?

Querrey d Djokovic 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Real good match and very well played Querrey. I remember Nadal lost too in similar manner to Davydenko in Doha. Nadal won the first set 6-0 then very closely lost the 2nd in TB and then in a close 3rd lost it. In fact that 3rd was worst, Nadal was a break up and 15*-40 looking for a double break.. then Davy turned it all on its head breaking Nadal twice and winning it. That was a great match. So was this.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Did he let you let you know personally or did you read it on a public place like the internet?

Sarcasm is the last thing I expected from you.

nitb,
Seriously, how did you get to know about such a personal issue? I assume you don't know him personally.


Fans are silly things. I have a friend at workplace who is still blaming the media and USADA for victimizing LA.

Well played Querrey :clap:

Djokovic was clearly affected by his personal problems, if my sources are right he had to fly back to Serbia a few days ago, and only came back yesterday.
Not 100% sure though.

The sources are not from internet and relate to things that happened during summer.
I don't think it would do anyone any good to know the details, but it's a shame what Nole had to go through.
Compared to everyone else on the tour, the burden he has to carry is at least twice as big and I hope he gets a good rest from it all after WTF.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:
Seriously, how did you get to know about such a personal issue? I assume you don't know him personally.


Fans are silly things. I have a friend at workplace who is still blaming the media and USADA for victimizing LA.

I happen to know a few people rotla.

Well, it's been quite a day in Bercy:
Simon, Anderson (d. Gasquet and dashed his hopes for WTF), Murray, Monaco (bt. Dimitrov), Tipsarevic, Almagro, Ferrer, Del Potro, Llodra (bt Isner), Raonic (after two tie-breaks and a tight 3rd set) & Querrey (came back after being bagelled int he first set)through.

As Scarlet O Hara famously says:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-OoIvgtuzs&feature=fvwrel