Paris Masters 2017

Fed comes across as stubborn.

This year he wanted Wimbledon so he didn’t play on clay as he didn’t want to risk anything. (apparenlty his knee doesn’t like clay post surgery).

But maybe he got all that out of his system now and is free (in the head).

Imagine how good he felt all year! And how bad he felt the year before during the long break.

Or maybe, subconsciously he is scared of reinjurng the knee and ending the career...who knows...

It’s hard to plan and keep things consistently under control over a season.

Look how long it took him to come back fresh to his best tennis in Basel after AO (and IW/Miami).

Uso concrete season was a drag.

Things have to be sped up for Fed for him to last...but bloody Nadal can’t win on it.

Well deserved first set to Krajinovic.

Yes, shame the excitement took over and he got broken at the start of the 2nd.

Nice to watch someone playng free range tennis.

Good to see Sock win and he can play at WTF now, spare us that useless Busta.

Well done to Krajinovic to finally play something else and not challengers, he is 25 ffs.

Jahu wrote:Good to see Sock win and he can play at WTF now, spare us that useless Busta.

Well done to Krajinovic to finally play something else and not challengers, he is 25 ffs.

Busta being out is not a given, Nadal may not play WTF so Busta is the first replacement.

The final was anything unlike a TMS final, more of an ATP250 final. Poorly played points too often, most of them ending is silly shots.

  Krajinovic played better to beat players ranked above him, Sock was mostly collecting the leftovers. Under half normal circumstances, he can no way win a TMS, he hasn't even won a ATP500 .

Yes that was weird. Paris is often a weird tournament. Badly timed. Especially right after Basel/Vienna!

It's a shame cause in theory it shoudl be one of the more exciting one reg year end finish.

Here's the interview with Petar Popovic, Krajinovic's coach (ex Karlovic's coach)

A nice and rare unPR-ed peek into tennis life:
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"Phew, it was incredible! Even I who always set high goals for my players was surprised at one moment.
Especially how calm Filip was in the 3rd set TB when he was 0:3 vs Isner who had 80% of 1st serve. Hats off to him, I am proud of him!

(asked how he was able to prepare and calm Krajinovic down before the match)

"Filip had to "act" a bit...He looked composed, but inside he was boiling. You know, he slept a total of about 15 hours in the last 4-5 days.
Because of the adrenaline he had about 2-3 hours of sleep every night.
The crazy adrenaline started with his match vs Querrey.
But he proved he was up to the task."

(so how did he calm Krajinovic before matches?)

"How...I was brainwashing him with the lines like - Filip, only this match! That is going to change everything!...or we stay in the room, listen to music, then talk, visualise how and what he should do in a match...then I tell him we've got to sleep, but both of us are awake only lying with our eyes closed...We drop off at about 2-3 am, and wake up at 6!
And then the same the next day.
I am sure if Filip had a few more hours of sleep he would have beaten Sock easily. He really needed just a little more energy" (nitb agrees with that!)

(the key moment was getting a w/o from Nadal)

"Wooooow, that was the moment! The adrenaline peaked, went through the roof. We both cried when we heard the announcement: - Nadal is withdrawing due to injury, Filip is in the semi-final!-
All our emotions stopped, we started remembering how we started from zero. Filip had financial problems, he lacked confidence, and on top of that was unlucky.
But he earnt this chance!
And he used it because he beat Isner in the semi-final.
I repeat, had he been fresher, he'd've beaten Sock. You saw it for yourself, tiredness caught up with him in the third set.
Several parts of his body were in pain.
He had severe pain in his foot, one of the quads as well as in ribs muscle.

(Popovic pauses and then continues with talking about preparation for the match vs Nadal)

"We had the practice session after Rafa who looked completely ok.
There was no indication he would possibly withdraw from the SF.
Absolutely nothing.
Filip went back to his room, had a shower, and kept asking me questions non-stop...like how to deal with that spin, will it be too strong or ot, what to do with BPs both his and Nadal's, he just kept pacing  the room restlessly.
I could see it wasn't funny any more and things got out of control so I thought of an idea how to calm him down - he had 2-3 stiff drinks!

If he was tested after that match, they would have probably told him not to do it again. (laughs)
I had to relax him somehow, he was really emotional. And then the news with Nadal not playing.
That joy cannot be described with words.
Then we had to tel Spanish journalists how sad we were and that we understood etc...in a way we were sorry Filip who was playing in excellent form could not take on Nadal, but we were happy, too."

(Popovic talks of his beginning with Krajinovic)

"After winning the challenger in Rome, I told him he can break top 20. That was a mad statement because he was in the 100s at the time.
Filip is one of the few players without holes in his game. He can do anything, he just needed guidance. He has a champions mind and cockiness he lost throughout his career because of his many injuries and lack of confidence. All he needed is for someone to put it all back into its place.
During his career, he was playing smaller tournaments and watching the big ones on TV.
He thought that it was some other tennis Nole, Rafa and Roger were playing.
But he can play with them.
He proved in paris he is twice as good as he think he is.
He realised he cold play against the best at their level, that all he needed was the belief he can."

(dinner with Nole in Paris)

"Nole took us out for dinner: Filip, Troicki, Zimonjic...We had a wonderful time. So much positive energy. We haven't seen each other for a long time so we had a great chat. Nole of course had lots of valuable advice for Filip.

We could also see he missed the tour, he couldn't stop talking...but we'll be al together soon in 2018."

(commenting on his celebration after Isner match)

"I couldn't control the emotions. I simply felt huge joy so I took my shirt off. I had to express it somehow!"

so...maybe GP is right after all..Nadal faking the injury and getting ready to pounce in London!

This was up there with the USO. Un-inspiring.

Have you got your card?
No, have I haven't got it.

Who are you?
Rafael Nadal.

...ah Ok.

https://twitter.com/Sport__Reporter/status/927150654342221825

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That's the problem when balding too fast!

when I saw that video in the news, I thought, that guy surely is an OTF poster