US Open 2014: MOTD Day 2 Tue 26/08/2014

Day2. I agree its not looking very exciting at the moment. Lost of wildcards given to USA players. 1st round stretching for 3 days is not good.

1. Maximo Gonzalez (ARG)
vs.
Sam Querrey (USA)


2. Bernard Tomic (AUS)
vs.
Dustin Brown (GER)


3. Fabio Fognini (ITA) [15]
vs.
Andrey Golubev (KAZ)


4. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [25]
vs.
Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)


5. Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
vs.
Marcel Granollers (ESP)


6. Serena Williams (USA) [1]
vs.
Taylor Townsend (USA)


7. Gael Monfils (FRA) [20]
vs.
Jared Donaldson (USA)


My picks.


1. Query
2. Brown
3. Fognini
4. Karlovic
5. Melzer
6. Townsend
7. Monfils


Score card will be updated in a separate post later this evening.

1.Sam Querrey (USA)

2. Bernard Tomic (AUS)

3. Andrey Golubev (KAZ)


4. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [25]

5.Marcel Granollers (ESP)


6. Serena Williams (USA) [1]

7. Gael Monfils (FRA) [20]

Querrey
Tomic
Fognini
Karlovic
Granollers
Townsend
Monfils

Where is nitb, this forum is so empty without her.

My (hopefully better than yesterday's) picks:

1. Sam Querrey (USA)

2. Dustin Brown (GER)

3. Fabio Fognini (ITA) [15]

4. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [25]

5. Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

6. Serena Williams (USA) [1]

7. Gael Monfils (FRA) [20]

1. Sam Querrey (USA)

2. Bernard Tomic (AUS) - would love Dustin to win though ; he was really exciting to watch in Halle, one of my favourites there.

3. Andrey Golubev (KAZ) - Golubev has never won vs. Fognini, going a bit of a risk here, believe, he can pull it off

4. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [25] - interestingly enough, these two guys never met, so I have no idea how Niemienen deals with the Karlovic serve.

5. Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

6. Taylor Townsend (USA) - even more of a risk here, since Serena just comes off a win in Cincinnati, but it's only a point, so I'll go with Townsend. And women's matches already on the second day?

7. Gael Monfils (FRA) [20]

But yeah,not a whole lot of crackers among today's matches at first glance - the first round match-up of slams are often more unbalanced than the first round match-ups of masters. So - even more tough luck for the guys who drew a dangerous floater.

Querrey
Tomic
Golubev
Nieminen
Granollers
Townsend
Monfils

1. Sam Querrey (USA)
2. Dustin Brown (GER)
3. Fabio Fognini (ITA) [15]
4. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
5. Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
6. Serena Williams (USA) [1]
7. Gael Monfils (FRA) [20]

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Where is nitb, this forum is so empty without her.

Not sure actually. Hope she is ok.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Where is nitb, this forum is so empty without her.

Hi rotla!
flattery will get you everywhere  
although in my case I wanted the ground to open when I read your comment...but then I remembered the scores of the game needed to be done


I saw a bit of Nole's match last night and can confirm he is back to his USO hard-court self. Was impressed by the little young Argentinian, plenty of skill and flair, I remember him playing some decent tennis earlier this year against Fed I think in RG.

Also, great to see Sphair join the game!
Is your enthusiasm for Thiem still going strong?
I saw him from the first row narrowly beat Sock (on fresh green grass of Boodles, a nice pre Wimbledon exo little tournament) and was a bit disappointed with how physical his ball-striking was (esp FH) but still, he is young and has great attacking mindset and movement, and most importantly Gulbis as his mentor

And while am at it, FK, Paul, Truffin and Veejay (sorry if I missed anyone) why don't you join the Prediction game as well?
just throw in your day 1 and 2 picks as soon as you can.  The more - the merrier!

It's just fun and nobody here takes it too seriously

I am dead tired but will stay up to watch Fed.
He's played so well in Cincy, I want to see as much of it as I can.
I got used to going to bed early Continental time and am struggling with night matches.
I have no idea how I managed to keep my eyes open for about first 4-5 games of Nole's match last night...but I've always made sure I watched his first match in every slam, so the tradition is still going

Eurosport player seems only to be showing day sessions...which is so annoying, thankfully, I have a plan B!
Why does the life of a tennis fan have to be so hard...

Matosevic must be the worst player in top 50. He makes Granollers look stylish.

But I like the way Federer makes those courts look fast. What a contrast with yesterday match between vesely Stan....despite it being a day match.

I didn't see Stan-Vesely, but neither are nimble movers, so not even their power can make them look fast.
Fed wins the first set.
Matosevic is a sore sight. He takes ages between every serve, all that towelling...and then his tennis...complete agony.
Pure hybrid that can only exist in this era.
At least he has given Fed a good workout on his BH.

Watching Federer withstand the barrage on his BH with ease and being able to maintain very good length makes you wonder about Annacone who was opposing and questioning Federer's switching to larger frame.
No wonder Fed ditched him for Stefan.
What a sublime move!

yes bizarre....he should have adopted that new racquet in 2007!

That was a funny one with Fed hitting Matosevic with the casual tweener as he was walking away from the net flapping his arms and muttering, completely unaware of what was happening behind him!

Tenez wrote:yes bizarre....he should have adopted that new racquet in 2007!

Yes...and would have been so much fresher now, as well.

You can see he is completely trusting the racquet now, playing with full confidence.
Last year was so different, I remember seeing panic on his face very often, which is why he played USO with the old racquet. That match against Robredo was the final nail on the coffin for the old Wilson.
I can understand why he clung to it, but it was simply impossible to go on.
Can you imagine him playing with it now?

So happy that he has found the way of playing well in this era.

BHDTL has been so smooth.
This has been a perfect 1st round match for Federer.

noleisthebest wrote:BHDTL has been so smooth.
This has been a perfect 1st round match for Federer.

Totally agree. Very good 1st round match from Fed. He is looking confident and motivated. With some stars aligning, he may just have his best Grand Slam result of the year.

But how come it went to a TB? I fell asleep at the end of the second.

He lost some energy there. probably cause he is tired already.

I fell asleep at 5:5 in the 3rd.
Federer had a break in the third, and then one of those strange moments when he gets snapped out of his focus ("lucky" shot from Nole, Murray's fall in TMC Shanghai...)
Matosevic was doing a bit of self-pity clowning and managed to engage the crowd with: "I wish I could belike you!" To M. Jordan who was in Fed's box.
It was the only game Fed was broken, all the other ones he won so quickly.
He broke back straight away and it went to the TB.
To me, he looked more bored than tired as he certainly didn't enjoy playing Matosevic.

Still, there were some funny moments:

Fed looked happy and having fun in the first 2 sets as shown in your above clip. That's why I am concerned by this 3rd set!

WB, Nitb! 

Tbqh, I didn't like Matosevic before this match and I like him even less now. His style looks ugly and muscled, he has hands of brick. He took ages between serves, should have been warned, why wasn't he? He even wanted to towel off after a Federer DF, must have been quite exhausting?!? And that rousing the crowd, it's all fine and funny, but not when it's 15-30 on your opponent's serve.   

Sure, you can say, it's Fed's fault that he gets distracted by such things (not the first time either...), but it's still unsportsmanshiplike (is that even a word?) behaviour. Matosevic should have been reminded that he is not playing an exhibition, but a R1 match USO.

What Fed showes yesterday again is amazing hands! He is so good at controlling the ball, even a hard ball from Mato.

This is why his BH is at least twice as good as Stan cause he can do so much more than his compatriot from both wings.....including the BH. Now that he has a bigger frame he is also getting close to Stan power but much more precise.

Tenez wrote:Fed looked happy and having fun in the first 2 sets as shown in your above clip. That's why I am concerned by this 3rd set!

I didn't notice anything to worry about. He played very relaxed, just did the minimum for the win, 3rd gear max. It's hard to get going against Matosevic.

Tenez wrote:What Fed showes yesterday again is amazing hands! He is so good at controlling the ball, even a hard ball from Mato.

This is why his BH is at least twice as good as Stan cause he can do so much more than his compatriot from both wings.....including the BH. Now that he has a bigger frame he is also getting close to Stan power but much more precise.  

...and not to mention the variety!
That's what makes it so unique, the most creative shot I've ever seen.

yes as it is linked. If one can control the ball so well, he can put the ball where the opponent doesn't expect it.

noleisthebest wrote:

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Where is nitb, this forum is so empty without her.

Hi rotla!
flattery will get you everywhere  

I am sure rotla is a good man, and all that.  But I am still curious whether it is a coincidence that he missed you the very moment when he needed to think about adding up the points in our game

ok....I think I got the message in stereo now...I need to add the points...
alright then...even though it's my birthday...

Happy bday nitb!

Thanks LS!
Cin-cin

Happy Birthday!!!

Aww Happy Birthday NITB

Thanks SB and Polly

My neighbour who lives across the road turned 100 on Monday!!!
She received the card from the Queen on Saturday (as it was the Bank Holiday Monday) and the old school she was - waited 3 days to open it on the day itself.

She started receiving visitors at 11.45 as she needed time to, in her own words, "make herself look beautiful".

She outlived three husbands (no children), and so far, I've counted three dogs.



Her house is a museum, nothing's changed from the day she bought it...
I take the bin out for her, and it is usually almost empty with an occasional bottle of Bacardi Breezer

btw, that's not her in the photo...she doesn't smoke, looks much "younger" and wears pink lipstick EVERY DAY!!!

Tenez wrote:yes as it is linked. If one can control the ball so well, he can put the ball where the opponent doesn't expect it.

You're right.
I had a little thought about it, contact with the ball and its control are the essence and heart of tennis.
I suppose that's why I enjoyed Fed's  tennis in Cincy so much as he played some mind-blowing passages of S&V-ing with such ease, like knife through butter.
That and the endless variety on his BH were a sight for sore eyes. That's where he stands out from all other SBH-ers.
All they produce are drilled CC and occasional DTL shots. That's it.

It must thrill him to be able to play like that in this era. It's the ultimate way of conquering the slow conditions.
You can see that quite a few players are trying to revert the mindless physical tennis as it is only leading to early career grave of injuries and it's no fun playing like that, either.
I think Dimi must be the only player who is going the opposite way, in fact.
Even Murray is trying to mix in some attacking, and he surely was the most passive of all top players.

I have actually taken interest in observing how every individual player is doing it, because they are all doing it differently due to their ability, it's fascinating.

I had a serious laugh the other day when a guy told me (after I suggested he needed to try and hit the ball flat, not spin it like mad and last 10 minutes as he originally complained and started the conversation with) that flat hitting is "for women" and it's called "WTA tennis" on some Youtube channel where he gets his coaching tips from....and yes...muscly spinning is called "ATP tennis" ...

I hope Fed's back holds for at least another year, shame the season is coming to a close as he is just beginning to play his new tennis with this larger frame.
Still, he's got Davis Cup in the pipeline, but I somehow don't think he cares about it as much as a lot of other players.

noleisthebest wrote:Thanks SB and Polly

My neighbour who lives across the road turned 100 on Monday!!!
She received the card from the Queen on Saturday (as it was the Bank Holiday Monday) and the old school she was - waited 3 days to open it on the day itself.

She started receiving visitors at 11.45 as she needed time to, in her own words, "make herself look beautiful".

She outlived three husbands (no children), and so far, I've counted three dogs.



Her house is a museum, nothing's changed from the day she bought it...
I take the bin out for her, and it is usually almost empty with an occasional bottle of Bacardi Breezer

btw, that's not her in the photo...she doesn't smoke, looks much "younger" and wears pink lipstick EVERY DAY!!!

You have not changed!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks, T!
I'm trying my best

Funny thing happened tonight. I went out for dinner and remembered I had a match organised for 9 tomorrow morning, so I texted the woman I was supposed to play asking if we could move it for after 11 as I'd probably be tired because of being out for the birthday.
She texted me back with these words: "yes it's OK. It's my birthday today, too!!! It's amazing."

How about that!!!!!

Yes....good one.