US open prediction game: Day 6

could not watch but what I read here and the result will make me sleep well.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Have a good time, SB.
See if you can catch a bit of Ostapenko, Rubi and Manna.

Thanks.  As always, it was an enjoyable day.  I only got to see Rubi out of these three.  I had never seen him before.  But he does not really do it for me at all.  He is just a ball basher.  I saw Shapovalov practice for 15 minutes and in that time he hit more spectacular shots than Rublev in 1.5 sets that I saw.

The only intriguing thing about him is his face.  I had not watched him before so was not prepared for it.  He looks like some half-mad tortured soul right out of Dostoyevsky.

Interesting.

To me, he is still a Little Dragon who is so frustrated he is still Little.

But def a 100% classic Russian.

summerblues wrote:Great finish by Roger.  He did not want to go to TB.  Very nicely done.  The way Roger stepped it up in the last game also showed that Roger indeed had some gears to spare.  I thought that Lopez was actually playing quite well himself, which makes tonight's result even more impressive.

That said, Lopez is a good match-up for Fed.  But so is Youzhny and yet Fed struggled against him.

All in all, a very encouraging match.

I don't know whether it's good or bad he had to "step up" in round three.

I was hoping he would keep those extra gears for week 2, or QF onwards.

He clearly didn't want another 5 setter, so chose to go dip into his magic gold dust reserves.

p.s.
didn't see the match either

Wow!
I just read that Federer's now moved to 2nd place on the Mr Ace list, with only Dr Ivo in front.

Fed needs another short 3 setter before his 1/4 v Thiem or Delpo.

Can Dolgo finally shine and make me happy after all the hope and disappointment on him I've had for years.

He certainly can....whether he will......

Over 5 sets...i'd say 20% chance.

Hope he will be in a slicing mood, boy he can slice when he wants!!

Yes but slice don't do much to Nadal. He only fears pace.

Assuming that Nadal will meet Federer.  Nowhere near certain.  Fed has tricky opponents and Dolgopolov is on fire at moment, so don't be surprised to see Nadal booted.

As you'd see from my posts during the match, i was thrilled at Federers standard. I could barely believe it but just as I knew after a few points in the first two rounds that he was poor, I could see he was flying from the off. The back was flexible on serve and backhands, he was reaching wide easily and the unforced errors cut down despite it being a very attacking match.

I watched Nadal on re-run today and wasn't impressed against a poor opponent.

It's switched around, Federer looks like the favourite for the event but it can turn again.

If Fed and Rafa were to meet, they would also be playing for #1 spot  - whoever would win the match would be #1 after the USO.

Am I correct that this would be the first time they would be playing a match directly for #1 spot?

No it's not the first time. Wimbledon 07 and/or 08 Also had number 1 on the line.

I do not know about W07 but I specifically checked W08 (because that was the one I also thought might have been) and it was not technically for #1.  Even though Rafa won, he only claimed to #1 later that summer.

After Wimby 07

Fed has 7140
Nadal has 5605

If you add 800pts to Nadal and take away 800 to Fed then Nadal goes first.

I remember there the 5 in a row and number 1 on the line for Fed....huge pressure...plus Borg and Pete Watching.

Amazing achievement!

Ok I just watched the Fed/Lopez first 2 sets. Fed looked certainly better...but still heavy legs to me.....which is normal of course. Hopefully the short 3 setter and extra day will help him further.

You'd agree no sign of any back trouble?

bogbrush wrote:You'd agree no sign of any back trouble?

I would not go as far..but certainly looked much better. It looked (to me) more tired legs than back but I am not that good that I can differentiate a back concern from heavy legs.

Oh come on, there was zero evidence of a back problem. None whatsoever. He could hit have reached, twisted or bent as he did unless free.

He looked in excellent shape to me, and as he said his back was fine in R2 and has been shown to b right, he said his fitness felt good.

bogbrush wrote:Oh come on, there was zero evidence of a back problem. None whatsoever. He could hit have reached, twisted or bent as he did unless free.

He looked in excellent shape to me, and as he said his back was fine in R2 and has been shown to b right, he said his fitness felt good.

So now suddenly he never lies?

I am not saying his back was hurting. But from what I saw he looked heavy footed....very different from a clear back problem.....but he was not as quick on his feet as we have seen him this year...and that's perfectly normal when you have played 2 5 setters in a 3 days!

He didn't this week, no.

As I said before, it looked to me like he was being sincere and Tenez / NITB "evidence" for an injury was calling Federer a liar and chalking every single negative thing to injury.  No doubt if Federer loses, it will be the back AGAIN.  At what point do you just swallow your pride, guys, and admit you were wrong?  Fanboyism will always make you look daft!

At least Bogbrush has the sense to look at this objectively.  If you did this more often, Tenez/NITB, you wouldn't jump up and down banging drums for an inexperienced 18 year old who was never near favourite to take this title.  It's very rare that any player does something at that age.,  Not even Federer did. 

Rational and objective approach will end up making you correct a whole lot more than guesses and wishes.
If Federer was remotely injured or having problems, he wouldn't have played the way he did.  And at 36 years old, frankly, any day he isn't suffering some sort of niggle is a bonus.