ATP Tour Final - The Draw

I know. Its baaaaaaad.
Almost like a death warrant.

I am trying to remember how it was last year as I went and saw both semis.

Nishi-Nole was in the afternoon and Stan-Fed evening.

Bu they were in different groups I think. Nole must have been top of his group, so it's not a pattern that is repeated obviously.

It must be Nadal that asked for it.

I am not sure it's Nadal....Nadal is just concerned with Djoko...I don't think he thinks as far as the final.

Tenez wrote:I am not sure it's Nadal....Nadal is just concerned with Djoko...I don't think he thinks as far as the final.

Mmmmm....you're probably right, I must be still traumatised from Nadal!
Will I ever recover....

Djko is going to sort him out fairly easily tomorrow.

Tenez wrote:Djko is going to sort him out fairly easily tomorrow.

Actually the match could be interesting.

Just to check and compare fitness again.

Who will be forcing long rallies?
Where will Nadal play: behind or on the base-line?

Nole has no reasons to be nervous, so he has the advantage there as Nadal won't be his super confident self tomorrow.

But if he somehow won...

Fed said how he expects Nadal to "continue to prepare" in the off-season and how he'll be tough to beat in AO.

Here it is:

"Maybe for his standard it's not the best season. What is he going to finish, top five? It's still a good season.
Everybody would take that except maybe a few players at this tournament. The rest would all love to be in his shoes.

I think he's going to get stronger. With some time to practice and reassess his game, he's going to be tough to beat in Australia. I believe that."

Similar from Nole, too:

"It's a fact that he's been playing better and he's been raising his level ever since US Open.
You can feel that he's starting to get comfortable on the court, starting to play better.

The couple of matches, first couple of matches he played here against Wawrinka and Murray showed that, showed that he feels more confident, shows that he's starting to miss less, serve efficiently, use his forehand much better."

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Djko is going to sort him out fairly easily tomorrow.

Actually the match could be interesting.

It can but I'm not sure Nadal has now got anything to  beat Djokovic. If Djokovic plays poor and keep giving free points, that's a different thing. The match is totally on Djokovic's racquets and legs.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Djko is going to sort him out fairly easily tomorrow.

Actually the match could be interesting.

It can but I'm not sure Nadal has now got anything to  beat Djokovic. If Djokovic plays poor and keep giving free points, that's a different thing. The match is totally on Djokovic's racquets and legs.

True, but hasn't he said so in that famous:"I say Nadal is beatable" clip, all the way back in 2006!

Nole has not played well against Fed and Berd.
Mind you, Fed was majestic, so that may have had stg to do with it.

There could be a physical problem. He was a step too slow on quite a few shots which is very unlike him.

One thing's for sure, I won't be hiding behind the sofa on Saturday!

Nadal trying to play from the baseline, but not within himself.
Don't know whether he ever will.
As things are now, he'll need an even slower court in order to dominate from there.

Regardless of his court position, though, in essence, his tennis has not changed.
His BH swing is too long for playing on the baseline, too.

Being faster - at least it's watchable now!

I love Ferrer's stubborn grr-grr mode!

Does well to come back from 0:3 to 4:3.

Actually, Nadal's only real hope of any proper domination is to change his FH grip to semi-western.

All this muscle with western grip from the baseline is a waste of time...

Great news!
Federer signed up to play Stuttgart (grass) till 2017!

Pa-ba-ba-bam-pa-baaam - ALLEEEEZ!!! diva:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/federer-agrees-play-stuttgart-tournament-2017-35322196

So when Nadal served for the set, he is not confident on the baseline and moves back again...and gets broken despite all Ferrer's choking.

His tennis is metaphorically in no man's land atm.

Poor Ferrer, from all that ploughing and tilling the ground, keeping his head down...he's forgotten how to walk tall!

Really thought Ferrer deserved better against Murray and Stan. Today I thought he would be spraying balls long or into the net and gift an easy 2-0 win here.

I can't believe how many typos I had in my posts...all corrected now.

AceofDeath wrote:Really thought Ferrer deserved better against Murray and Stan. Today I thought he would be spraying balls long or into the net and gift an easy 2-0 win here.

Murray is too physical for Ferrer now.
Stan was just too good.

Hopefully he'll deserve his 200 points today.

Actually, that's a good word for him: he doesn't win matches - he earns them.

Watching that Ferrer-Nadal match now it doesn't seem likely that Nadal is afraid of any fitness issues.

He has already won the group and yet he grinds out a win here with countless long rallies.

ETA: Or he just has zero belief that he can beat Djokovic despite the rather lackluster performances of the latter.

Win or lose, this is a great oportunity for Nadal to gain some much needed competing practice.

Ferrer is a perfect opponent for that. Nadal is loving these mindless CC 20+ shot "rallies"

And Ferrer is doing a lot more running here, too.
I feel sorry for him

I think I said earlier that I would not be surprised if Ferrer were to win this one. he might not but the gap between those 2 has always been very close....even in 2013!

I really like Henman's commentating. At first even his voice annoyed me but he makes lots of sense most of the time and his voice is not that bad. Better than most actually.

Where do you get Henman?
I'm stuck with bombastic Goodall and Koenig on tennistv.

BBC

noleisthebest wrote:Where do you get Henman?
I'm stuck with bombastic Goodall and Koenig on tennistv.

They are not bad either.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Where do you get Henman?
I'm stuck with bombastic Goodall and Koenig on tennistv.

They are not bad either.

I'm not complaining, just wish they'd talked a bit less.

They can both be excellent when they want to.

luvsports! wrote:BBC

Didn't know BBC were showing tennis this week.
I may watch Murray-Stan with them.
Or maybe not.

It will probably be unbearably overhyped.

BBC only has 2pm matches and probably the final.

Nadal will be exhausted for his semi tomorrow.

What makes you say that?

noleisthebest wrote:What makes you say that?

He just had a 3 hour semi with David Ferrer; he'll be completely shattered.

DONALD TRUMP wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:What makes you say that?

He just had a 3 hour semi with David Ferrer; he'll be completely shattered.

Back to your good old jinxing self, hey?

Don't worry, if he was able to beat Federer in that AO 2009 final after that 5 set slugfest with Verdasco, this will be a piece of cake.

Plus he will have you to cheer for him there!

And not to mention Tenez!

Now if that doesn't push him across the finish line I don't know what will!

Anyway, have a fabulous time!

DONALD TRUMP wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:What makes you say that?

He just had a 3 hour semi with David Ferrer; he'll be completely shattered.

Regardless he would have lost.

Tenez wrote:

DONALD TRUMP wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:What makes you say that?

He just had a 3 hour semi with David Ferrer; he'll be completely shattered.

Regardless he would have lost.

Yes but atleast he would have been able to try and fight, no ? For sure

noleisthebest wrote:
Plus he will have you to cheer for him there!

I will try to be louder than ever before. Considering buying a spanish flag from that otherwise useless crap ATP shop right outside the entrance (honestly they should just close it down for a NIKE store, may as well).

noleisthebest wrote:
Anyway, have a fabulous time!

Thank you !
A treat to watch him twice in the space of one week. I didn't think he'd get to semi-finals; but he's there and has played some nice tennis too so I'm already pleased. I don't mind if he loses but I want to see some real FIGHT.

yes i d like to see a good fight between Djko and Nadal....their last matches might not have been as representative as their current level.

I fear that Nadal may simply never have the game to beat Djoko again. It was close when both were younger...but Djoko has gone a few levels up since. Nadal's only hope is to try to get the ball earlier....but even that might work against him.

Now We have a tough match to predict ahead.

I think Stan should get through. he will be able to move Murray around and Murray did not seem 100% 2 days ago.

Tenez wrote:Now We have a tough match to predict ahead.

I think Stan should get through. he will be able to move Murray around and Murray did not seem 100% 2 days ago.

So who are you going to support here?

I reckon three sets.
And I'll go with Stan.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Now We have a tough match to predict ahead.

I think Stan should get through. he will be able to move Murray around and Murray did not seem 100% 2 days ago.

So who are you going to support here?

Stan of course.

Oh, Stan's sweetheart is in the box this evening.  

It's going to be Stanimaaaal edition tonight!

noleisthebest wrote:Oh, Stan's sweetheart is in the box this evening.  

It's going to be Stanimaaaal edition tonight!

Must mean Kokkinakis is in central London too then.

Stan is playing well...Murray should drop form soon ...

DONALD TRUMP wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Oh, Stan's sweetheart is in the box this evening.  

It's going to be Stanimaaaal edition tonight!

Must mean Kokkinakis is in central London too then.

you are so mean.

Tenez wrote:Stan is playing well...Murray should drop form soon ...

Yes, he is, no panic even after that scrpping winner from Murray.

So glad he got fitter, he can finally play his game.

OUCH!!!!!

The ex-wife is in the box too!!!!!

noleisthebest wrote:OUCH!!!!!

The ex-wife is in the box too!!!!!

This is callng for some cheese, wine and crackers!

Stan sure knows how to have memorable SFs in O2.

Murray's moving so much better than 2 days ago.....very bizarre.

Stan has so much more potential than Murray.

If only he was just half as "professional" as Murray.

Tenez wrote:Stan has so much more potential than Murray.

If only he was just half as "professional" as Murray.

I'm actually glad he's not.

oh yeah...I liked that C'Mon from Stan....it must have sounded awful for Murray.

Great bold tennis from Stan!