US open prediction game: Day 8

Oh good god, are we back to "injured" fed again????

These forehands by Del Potro just can't be understated.

Tenez wrote:So can Rublev beat his idol? Nadal

Haha, is Rafa really his idol?  That is very interesting.  When I was watching Rublev on Saturday, somehow - I thought shockingly at the time - the first player he reminded me of was Nadal.  Maybe it was not so shocking after all.

It went like this:  Earlier in the morning I went to see Rafa's practice session.  I had never seen him live before.  I only watched the first 5 minutes or so but it was unlike any practice session I had seen before.  He was not trying various things, he did not start it easy.  He was doing one thing only:  hammering the cover off the ball, shot after shot.  He hit everything as hard as he could, with no obvious other purpose than that.

Then later in the day, I went to see Rublev play his match.  He is so unlike Rafa in many ways.  Far more aggressive, far closer to the baseline, but the first thing that struck me as special about him was the same as Rafa earlier - he was just hammering absolutely everything.  I actually did not like his game too much, there was not really much to it other than that incessant ferocious pounding of the ball.

Wtf dont rush Thiem!!!


Probably only Soderling could match Delpos FH, and occasionally Stan.

Another big test for Thiem here. Reckon he's less than 50% to hold here.

Slippy wrote:Another big test for Thiem here. Reckon he's less than 50% to hold here.

Yeah and every single time it goes to Del's forehand... it's over!

What a point for 30-30!

Hahaha what a point!!!

Give us a TB!!!

MP MP holy shit.

Come on Thiemmmmm

Crowd split = American whites vs Illegal latino emigrants 

What a point for 40-40 as well!

One of these players will be extremely disappointed.

I still can't work out who Federer would prefer.

Probably Del Potro.

Thiem had no challenges left.

What the Hell!

And then loses on a DF on a challenge! What a win for DP!

One of the best matches ive ever seen.... What an ending too!

WOW!

Great match, wanted Thiem to win a little more than Delpo, just cause young,

Great for Delpo.  Perfect for Fed too (if he can win tonight).  He would get Delpo, and a tired one too.

So, I started watching at 1-6 0-3 with talk of when DP would retire. After that it was pretty routine for him!

Hope Fed does it in 3 and stops mucking about.

summerblues wrote:Great for Delpo.  Perfect for Fed too (if he can win tonight).  He would get Delpo, and a tired one too.

I don't think so.  Del Potro isnt like ordinary players and Ive heard this before and seen him come out playing great.  He's the worst player fed could face in QF at this point.

Yes, but this Delpo is only like 70% of USO GS Delpo.
If the old top 4 in good mood were on the other side of the Net tonight, Delpo would of gone home.

BTW, Fed should send Andy a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.  If Andy had not pulled out, instead of Kohli, Fed would have likely been playing Querrey tonight.  I think that would have been more dangerous - Querrey looked ominous last night.

Daniel wrote:

summerblues wrote:Great for Delpo.  Perfect for Fed too (if he can win tonight).  He would get Delpo, and a tired one too.

I don't think so.  Del Potro isnt like ordinary players and Ive heard this before and seen him come out playing great.  He's the worst player fed could face in QF at this point.

Agree with this. I think Fed will still win but DP is definitely the tougher of the two options.

summerblues wrote:BTW, Fed should send Andy a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.  If Andy had not pulled out, instead of Kohli, Fed would have likely been playing Querrey tonight.  I think that would have been more dangerous - Querrey looked ominous last night.

And having to play Del Po and then prob Nadal?  And having to play 10 games in the first two sets almost going out?  I'd hold off on any flowers.

Yeah, I'd not be complacent but he's not Superman.

He was helped by no real variety coming from Thiem. Just hitting.

Daniel wrote:

summerblues wrote:BTW, Fed should send Andy a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.  If Andy had not pulled out, instead of Kohli, Fed would have likely been playing Querrey tonight.  I think that would have been more dangerous - Querrey looked ominous last night.

And having to play Del Po and then prob Nadal?  And having to play 10 games in the first two sets almost going out?  I'd hold off on any flowers.

I suppose you are right.  If Andy had pulled out before the draw, Fed would have been in the bottom half, and that would have been even nicer.

Ok, so Fed goes 2 sets up. Be nice to tie this one up in 3 and get his feet up.

Fed looking better now.

summerblues wrote:BTW, Fed should send Andy a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.  If Andy had not pulled out, instead of Kohli, Fed would have likely been playing Querrey tonight.  I think that would have been more dangerous - Querrey looked ominous last night.

I don't think I've ever read that sentence before.

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:So can Rublev beat his idol? Nadal

Haha, is Rafa really his idol?  That is very interesting.  When I was watching Rublev on Saturday, somehow - I thought shockingly at the time - the first player he reminded me of was Nadal.  Maybe it was not so shocking after all.

It went like this:  Earlier in the morning I went to see Rafa's practice session.  I had never seen him live before.  I only watched the first 5 minutes or so but it was unlike any practice session I had seen before.  He was not trying various things, he did not start it easy.  He was doing one thing only:  hammering the cover off the ball, shot after shot.  He hit everything as hard as he could, with no obvious other purpose than that.

Yes I know...his opponents UEs counts are easier to get this way than trying to paint lines with isky shots.

Then later in the day, I went to see Rublev play his match.  He is so unlike Rafa in many ways.  Far more aggressive, far closer to the baseline, but the first thing that struck me as special about him was the same as Rafa earlier - he was just hammering absolutely everything.  I actually did not like his game too much, there was not really much to it other than that incessant ferocious pounding of the ball.

I agree. But to me this is a form of talent. Especially doing it without the big arms.

Fed MTO

bogbrush wrote:Fed MTO

Indeed.

MTO for Fed.

summerblues wrote:Fed looking better now.

Give it up SB! Just ask the specialists!

Tennis is my Drug, Federer is my healer, now thats LOVE!

But coming jogging out. Hopefully nothing special, maybe he's getting massaged.

This match should end soon.

Tenez wrote:Give it up SB!  Just ask the specialists!

I don't know man.  I think between now and the end of the USO you will be an emotional wreck.  A specialist or not, you will see ghosts everywhere.

I imagine you all nervous watching Fed's every move, with your wife avoiding living room and TV lest you start snapping at everything in your agitation.  But who knows, maybe I am all wrong, you are coolness personified at home, and your wife barely knows you are a Fed fan.

Did Mats genuinely just say that Lopez doesn't have a big serve?

Slippy wrote:Did Mats genuinely just say that Lopez doesn't have a big serve?

Haha.. that is funny unless he was confused between Mark Lopez and Feliciano Lopez. Feli is one of the best servers out there.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:This match should end soon.

I thought the same after the first two sets of Thiem-Delpo.

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:Give it up SB!  Just ask the specialists!

I don't know man.  I think between now and the end of the USO you will be an emotional wreck.  A specialist or not, you will see ghosts everywhere.

I imagine you all nervous watching Fed's every move, with your wife avoiding living room and TV lest you start snapping at everything in your agitation.  But who knows, maybe I am all wrong, you are coolness personified at home, and your wife barely knows you are a Fed fan.

....yeah...or I simply see it and you don't.

Tenez wrote:....yeah...or I simply see it and you don't.

But of course

Annoying.  ESPN feed has been crashing my computer tonight, so I have been watching these matches on my phone.

i am not sure we can trust the speedometer. Kholi just serve a 70mph first serve than Fed coudl not return.

Serve it out, please.

Cool.  It was an ok performance.  Not phenomenal, but not horrible either, and he got an easy win out of it.

I think he should be able to handle Delpo.  Delpo's FH is deadly, but Fed will be able - more than other players - to keep the ball away from it.

So, on to the QFs we go.

Carreno Busta the only player to yet drop a set.  Here is how many sets each of them have dropped so far:

Carreno Busta - 0
Querrey, Anderson, Rublev - 1
Schwartzman, Nadal, Del Potro - 2
Federer - 4

So, Federer is a standout with 4 dropped sets.  However, his sets have in general been relatively quick, so in terms of the total time spent on the court so far he is in the middle of the pack:

Querrey - 6h 36m
Carreno Busta - 8h 29m
Anderson - 8h 47m
Rublev - 9h
Federer - 9h 20m
Schwartzman - 10h
Nadal - 10h 5m
Del Potro - 10h 29m

Here, Querrey is the clear standout - having spent almost two hours less on the court than the next most efficient player.