ATP 500/250: Rotterdam, San Hose, Sao Paolo

My samsung sucks in the photo shoot department.

I was a yard away. It felt a litte awkward to ask him to for a photo of him and me together. So many giggling girls around..

lol.....go for it next time....I'd love to have one....besides I look like him....I could be his father...without the genius.

Tenez wrote:lol.....go for it next time....I'd love to have one....besides I look like him....I could be his father...without the genius.

Could you, really?

I have few better pictures, will sort m out and post some tomorrow.
The ones i post now are too large it seems..what's the maximum to post?

I must say, I've had such a crazy day I didn't have time to watch one minute of tennis.
It was so much more fun to be out in the sun and play it

And then it was the choice of the Valentine Special Spinning Class or watching Fed's match and it was a no-brainer.....as a result, I'm dead!

So, look forward to your report when you "recover"

gallery play wrote:I have few better pictures, will sort m out and post some tomorrow.
The ones i post now are too large it seems..what's the maximum to post?

no idea, but you can always do the Photobucket scenario.
What did you enjoy most today?

all right then, i'll try.
for now i'm dead tired and i have to get up..not long from now

gallery play wrote:My samsung sucks in the photo shoot department.

I was a yard away. It felt a litte awkward to ask him to for a photo of him and me together. So many giggling girls around..

Blaming poor, old Samsung!
Admit it, your knees went all wobbly when you saw him, hence the blur

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:lol.....go for it next time....I'd love to have one....besides I look like him....I could be his father...without the genius.

Could you, really?

Doesn't he look like a happy father?

gallery play wrote:I have few better pictures, will sort m out and post some tomorrow.
The ones i post now are too large it seems..what's the maximum to post?

Not sure ...will check.

tomorrow's matches

In Rotterdam, starting at 11.30 UK time:

Dimitrov-Baghdatis
Nieminen-Del Potro
Federer-Benneteau (they meet again after Wimbledon)
Klizan-Simon

In Brazil:
Montanes-Bolelli
Nalbandian-Almagro
Nadal-Berlocq

In San Hose:
they are still playing today's matches.

Nadal Berloq should be interesting.

Federer on Nadal's return:

"I saw a few pictures of Rafa, last week. I see he's still a left-hander — and his shirts looked good. I’m happy to see him back and playing on the Tour. He seems to have good energy. I was surprised he lost a final against a player ranked outside the Top 50[Horacio Zeballos in Viña del Mar]. It's nice to see him playing well again. I'm sure he got a lot of information about his game last week. Heknows now how much strain he is putting on his body and how he is dealing with it."

I don't know if it's just me, but Fed's been quite uninhibited i his pressers this year, I am loving his tongue in cheek comments these days !

come on dimi, dp, feds, simon, nalby, berlocq

@GPNITB... can you please correct 'San Hose' to 'San Jose'.

Goodluck to Federer and Nadal. Glad to see Nalby playing.

its not gp's thread its nitb's

luvsports! wrote:its not gp's thread its nitb's

Gotcha, LS.

I have not checked the score yet....but my money is on Dimi....now I am watching the score.....

right...on serve 3/2....so I am not wromg thus far.

dimi stands too far back at times, asking for the ds.

luvsports! wrote:dimi stands too far back at times, asking for the ds.

That is exactly what I was going to write.
ds???

Bizarre how Bagdhatis turned into a scrapper...he had such a great FH young...and was an agressiv player. I guess he realised that unless you are Federer you have no chance to win with an attacking game nowadays.

Tenez wrote:Bizarre how Bagdhatis turned into a scrapper...he had such a great FH young...and was an agressiv player. I guess he realised that unless you are Federer you have no chance to win with an attacking game nowadays.

I always saw him as a classy counter-puncher.

c'mon Dimi, let's have the 3rd set!

Dimi's at his best when he plays all-court tennis, so encouraging and nice to see

The difference between Dimi and Federer....besides the mouvement...is the talent. Federer is considerably more talented.

I odon't know if it's just me, but I've always perceived Baggy's "smiling" as fake.

ds = drop shot, soz.

dimi shpuld have won this match in 2!

Tenez wrote:The difference between Dimi and Federer....besides the mouvement...is the talent. Federer is considerably more talented.

Yes...just that little bit...called "prodigy", still, glad to have Dimi on tour!

C'mon Grigor, you can do it!

The biggest difference between Fed and Dimi is actually the quality of that SBH, that's where Dimi's inferior footwork really lets him down unfortunately.

Tie-break!!!
C'mon Dimi time to show what you're made of!

Baggy's forehand gone down the pan....I can see a racquet smash brewing

I felt Dimi was the better player for 2 sets ....but almost lost in 2.
He should win the 3rd.

luvsports! wrote:ds = drop shot, soz.

dimi shpuld have won this match in 2!

Again what I wrote before reading your post. ...I agree.

Tenez wrote:I felt Dimi was the better player for 2 sets ....but almost lost in 2.
He should win the 3rd.

I only started watching in mid 2nd set. It's amazing that a player of Baggy's calibre isn't able to exploit Dimi's backhand better. I suppose it's a tough ask if you keep netting your forehand....
Dimi wants this more, so he should have it!

Dimitrov breaks, but must not switch off now.

Watching Dimi now, he definitely looks heavy on his feet compared to 2009
www.youtube.com/watch?V=M2TLXwN90eY

focus dimi!

Dimi's BH costing him....has he hit any winners with it today?

dimi through!

Super win for Dimitrov

noleisthebest wrote:I odon't know if it's just me, but I've always perceived Baggy's "smiling" as fake.

Not sure...his face really radiates when he smiles like a proper genuine smile.

THe thing is Dimi is a better version of Youzhny but his shots are not hurting enough cause they do not hav the precision of the maestro. Federer doesn't hit harder but he stands closer and can keep with the pace minning he rushes his opponents.
I for instance doubt very much that Dimi coudl have beaten Pete in that Wimbledon 2001 match. That was a match were you could see Federer's immense talent as he returned woudl be aces like no-one before. ..and he did that standing close and nat gut....so it had to be amazingly timed shots. Dimi is not there...but he still has the potential to win a few slams...whether he will that is another matter.

petchey talking a lot of good sense about dimi.
wasting a lot of unnecessary energy, not good enough balance, needs to be more on the baseline, footwork, take it earlier and this will stop him reaching the top.

luvsports! wrote:petchey talking a lot of good sense about dimi.
wasting a lot of unnecessary energy, not good enough balance, needs to be more on the baseline, footwork, take it earlier and this will stop him reaching the top.

Yes but all that requires talent. Has he got it? that is the question! Gasquet for instance....as technically sound as he is his UEs ratio increases when he stands closer to the BL...and it increases even more (as expected) under pressure time.
Deliver that "talent" under pressure time is the most difficult thing to do. In my 40 years or so of watching tennis I have seen those talented guys lose much more often to the less talented ones in those important matches. Federer being the exception...McEnroe not doing too bad and Edberg, Lendl and others did well too cause their talent was simply too good but in general the banker wins....not the artist when it comes to pressure moments.
I personally doubt that Dimi has that talent allowing him to be more aggressive...unless he gets on surfing a confident wave.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I odon't know if it's just me, but I've always perceived Baggy's "smiling" as fake.

Not sure...his face really radiates when he smiles like a proper genuine smile.

to me it's fake because 9/10 he smiles when he loses a point, and inside he is hating it, so it's to kind of save his face and say he doesn't care....if he didn't he wouldn't be pulverising those racquets so regularly...then again, another different and colourful character on the tour, always welcome!

Tenez wrote:THe thing is Dimi is a better version of Youzhny but his shots are not hurting enough cause they do not hav the precision of the maestro. Federer doesn't hit harder but he stands closer and can keep with the pace minning he rushes his opponents.
I for instance doubt very much that Dimi coudl have beaten Pete in that Wimbledon 2001 match. That was a match were you could see Federer's immense talent as he returned woudl be aces like no-one before. ..and he did that standing close and nat gut....so it had to be amazingly timed shots. Dimi is not there...but he still has the potential to win a few slams...whether he will that is another matter.

Tbh, when I think about it, there's really nothing I like about Dimi, except the fact that he perseveres with single backhand, which to my horror I thought he'd be better off without today...
He lacks elegance in his movement and his shots...he used to be much more graceful an quicker on his feet a few years ago. Now, he's traded it off for bigger serve and heavier forehand, tools that are obviously more useful to him on the tour in the job mode, so can't blame him. Very few are able to keep style, elegance and efficiency. Even fewer are able to do it consistently.
At least he has an attacking mindset and the right role model

Delpo seems to have cruised past the in-form Nieminen in straights. He did look good the other day, very aggressive.
So playing Dimitrov in the semis tomorrow. Should be interesting.

I forgot what's Delpo's returning like....probably the same as Dimi's minus the DBH advantage.

I like him because he kept the pursuit of a classic game with variety. Look on faster surface he is already qualified for the semi...so if he had been brought up on faster conds his game would probably evolved as more agressive...but like all on this "Nadal Tour Professional", he learnt to add to security on his shots...can't be blamed for that.

Tenez wrote:I like him because he kept the pursuit of a classic game with variety. Look on faster surface he is already qualified for the semi...so if he had been brought up on faster conds his game would probably evolved as more agressive...but like all on this "Nadal Tour Professional", he learnt to add to security on his shots...can't be blamed for that.

That's true. He turned up on the scene at the worst possible time in 2009 when Nadal was at the peak of his "powers".
Then vanished....and now back a bit like Gulbis.

I just wish Nadal could vanish too... He's moaned so much in the 10 days he's returned, one wonders why he bothered returning....
Will be interesting to see if he can win this Brazilian tournament. He's already complained about the state of clay and quality of balls there after only one match.