Indian Wells

The draw is out.

Fed's draw looks ok, but given how well he has been playing and how poorly the rest of the tour has done, most draws would look ok.  It is weird to see Cilic seeded #2 in a Masters 1000.

Djokovic is in the draw, seeded #10, in the bottom half with reasonably easy first few rounds:  1st round bye, a qualifier in Rd2, and then scheduled to meet Nishi and Delpo in rounds 3 and 4.  Delpo is tricky on paper but I still do not believe he can be a real threat without a BH, so it will depend on how well Nole is playing.


http://11f4k830or6yrwagw43qiccz-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MDS.pdf

Link to draw added (Tenez)

Delpo is deadly and has just won a tournament. He does have a BH - not as good as his forehand - but he has the deadliest forehand in the game when it clicks.  He's probably going to be very tough to beat. His serve is also ridiculously good.  I don't get why you write him off so easily. And this is not Djok at his peak, either.  Djok will be lucky to get passed Nishikori in current form. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yynn_G4TTNQ

Agree that del boy is, or should be, about as well situated as he ever has been since his first wrist injury.  I like the way he conducts himself on Court, and I'd really like to see him push on and do well, pick up another slam and, at some stage, his first Masters, although not too much at Fed's expense again!

If Fed were to win IW I wouldn't begrudge del boy a win in Miami.

On paper Fed's draw looks OK, with the highest ranked guy in his Q (i.e. between him and retaining #1) being Thiem, whose 2018 schedule thus far already looks as though his mind is wondering in the direction of the clay season.

I can’t believe Nole drew Delpo again!

Shame to see Stan and Goffin not playing.

Goffin is such an unlucky, fragile player.

I'm curious how the courts will be. Ellison still owns the tournement but since his friend Nadal isn't playing and Tommy Haas (Federer's friend) is TD, maybe the courts aren't as sticky as they have been. 
The dry desert air should speed it up anyway.

gallery play wrote:I'm curious how the courts will be. Ellison still owns the tournement but since his friend Nadal isn't playing and Tommy Haas (Federer's friend) is TD, maybe the courts aren't as sticky as they have been. 
The dry desert air should speed it up anyway.

I'd think that any re-surfacing or significant change to the set up of the courts will need to have been too long in advance for Nadal's late retirement to have influenced them.  Anyway, IW has suited Fed well in the last few years - finalist or better in 2012, 2014, 2015, & 2017; he did not compete in 2016 and in 2013 he lost to Nadal in the QF.

barrystar wrote:

gallery play wrote:I'm curious how the courts will be. Ellison still owns the tournement but since his friend Nadal isn't playing and Tommy Haas (Federer's friend) is TD, maybe the courts aren't as sticky as they have been. 
The dry desert air should speed it up anyway.

I'd think that any re-surfacing or significant change to the set up of the courts will need to have been too long in advance for Nadal's late retirement to have influenced them.  Anyway, IW has suited Fed well in the last few years - finalist or better in 2012, 2014, 2015, & 2017; he did not compete in 2016 and in 2013 he lost to Nadal in the QF.

One extra layer of paint without sand could make a difference..

I think Larry being Nadal’s personal friend will have known about Nadal’s retirement long before the rest of us.

gallery play wrote:

barrystar wrote:

gallery play wrote:I'm curious how the courts will be. Ellison still owns the tournement but since his friend Nadal isn't playing and Tommy Haas (Federer's friend) is TD, maybe the courts aren't as sticky as they have been. 
The dry desert air should speed it up anyway.

I'd think that any re-surfacing or significant change to the set up of the courts will need to have been too long in advance for Nadal's late retirement to have influenced them.  Anyway, IW has suited Fed well in the last few years - finalist or better in 2012, 2014, 2015, & 2017; he did not compete in 2016 and in 2013 he lost to Nadal in the QF.

One extra layer of paint without sand could make a difference..

Maybe, but I'm sure they don't just slap a bit of paint on a week or two before the year's =5th biggest tournament with men's and women's singles and doubles draws not to mention qualifiers and see how it goes just because one of the top two guys has had to withdraw.

IW main draw starting slowly today...with Shapo playing Berankis.

All young SBH-ers are in Fed's quarter - Shapo, Tsitsipas, Thiem.

Can someone remove this silly banner over the log in box, please?

Which banner?

Think she means the lovely picture of the Murray camp, featuring Jez and his fist pump.

Tenez wrote:Which banner?

some add that covers the entire log in box (I assume it's for video games...world of tanks/big farm/welcome the prince of saudi... or stg)
Impossible to log in on the ipad with desktop version.
On the laptop 3/4 of the box are covered, so it's possible to log in...only just.

I managed to see Shapo-Berankis.
Good, sweat-free tennis in which Shapo could shine.

Some fantastic shots: BHs, FHs, serves and especially volleys.

The boy has fantastic hands and feel for the game.

Being 18, he is obviously work in progress, needs to get a little sharper in "easy" points, but it's always very difficult to get the right balance of attacking and building a point, in which Federer is a total master.

So that's the gap Shapo needs to bridge in order to rule.

But talk about a young player mastering the technology...he can pull off some amazing angles and hit corners from anywhere.

Some insights from Shapo himself (including comment on the speed of the IW court):


========================================================================

"I felt really comfortable. The fans really helped me out. I always play well when they're cheering me on. There's a lot of Canadians and even Americans cheering me on so it's pretty awesome."

Shapovalov was ranked outside of the Top 250 at the start of 2017, he's now No. 44.

"A year ago I was playing ITF Futures and ATP Challengers and I feel very lucky to be here in Indian Wells. It's definitely one of the best tournaments I've ever been to.

I don't see myself as a favorite in any match. I'm still very young on the tour and there's many players I haven't played. But I definitely do go out in these matches with confidence and I believe in myself that I can beat any of these guys."
I feel like the ball is really traveling through the court, and the court is pretty slow. It's a good combo for me. I have time to take my big windups and go for my shots.

(Though it seems he's already on the fastest track to the top, he's benefitting even more these days from having his mum (and first-ever coach), Tessa with him.)

"She's the reason I'm here today. I'm lucky she's putting in an effort to leave her club and travel with me [this season] as much as possible, I don't think there's anyone in the world that knows my game better than her. I think she knows my game better than me to be honest."

========================================================================

Not sure how honest he is with this comment he doesn't feel like a favourite in any match.

Also, last night, I didn't like how he made Berankis wait before he took ages to get a new racquet AFTER the time was called.

Shapo, we are watching you!!!

So the courts are slow..he says. The desert sand probably landed on it while the paint was drying off.

Federer opens vs Delbonis 7pm local time. They only played once before, and Delbonis won. He will try to defend his perfect record vs Roger tomorrow.

well there are some great matches today:
Thiem-Tsitsipas (battle of young SBH-ers, will Thiem be able to grind Tsits like Shapo the other week?)
followed by
Shapovalov-Cuevas (really excited about this one!, though Shapo seems to have a shoulder problem, had an MTO in hi last match))

also
Rublev-Fritz (he is so boring)
Dimitrov-Verdasco (of the two I actually prefer Nando...at least he has a decent FH and is a scream as a character)
Chardy-Fognini (two nice talents who never won anything)

and

Federer-Delbonis...(only Federer can pull this off as watchable)

Camera panning over IW, it looks really nice.

I know it doesn’t have tradition and it’s all Larry’s $$$, still, I appreciate the effort he is putting in, more than USO.

I so want Tsitsipas to beat Thiem who has become a 100% grinder.

Anyone watching?

One set all...the match is boring.
Thiem grunting, playing clay tennis, Tsitsipas nothing special but better game than Thiem...

noleisthebest wrote:Camera panning over IW, it looks really nice.

I know it doesn’t have tradition and it’s all Larry’s $$$, still, I appreciate the effort he is putting in, more than USO.

I so want Tsitsipas to beat Thiem who has become a 100% grinder.

Anyone watching?

It was not Larry who set it up. It started way before he became a billionaire.

No not watching. Going out in a minute....My son is back from France and we are catching up.

I thought mum would've cooked him stg nice...enjoy!

Cedreic is being pathetic, goving Taitsipas 2 time violations.

The match is hotting up nicely. 

Tsits a very fiery character and a good competitor.


Baggy in his box...nice to finally have Greeks on tour!

Switching to Shapo-Cuevas!

I know Shapo is only 18, but he doesn’t loom 100%.
Slower on his feet than usual, and not explosive.

He looks edgy and tired....

Shapo’s woken up.

I like Cuevas, but Shapo is in a different league and shouldn’t lose this match.

Cuevas is actually poor today, but somehow plodding along with average level.
Shapo has had some superb winners and yet only managed to return the break.

Tennis is funny like that...

Actually, Shapo’s returning is his weak spot...he has squandered so many easy points because of it.

How on earth did Shapo manage to lose the TB.

He even did not see the lob was out when he returned it...

He is almost casual...

What can I say!

noleisthebest wrote:I thought mum would've cooked him stg nice...enjoy!

No way...my son wants to go to all the restaurants he has been missing in France....most Indians and Chinese.

Zverev losing the 1st set from a break up. Due to bad errors and good play from Fritz.

Quite a good match between Rublev and Fritz.....Rublev throwing it away but some very impressive rallies.

Lajovic - Chung TB was quite entertaining.

Very poor from Federer so far. UEs galore.

And the pretender next #1 loses again.. Dimi is absolutely dim when faced with quality play ( no matter who the opponent is ). He is not going to stay in top-10 by year end..

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I thought mum would've cooked him stg nice...enjoy!

No way...my son wants to go to all the restaurants he has been missing in France....most Indians and Chinese.  

That is a compliment I would take, India has some extremely vast variety of food, so vast that a lifetime may not be enough to try them all. And they are all so unique.

Apart from some of the 3rd world country problems, India is best place to live.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I thought mum would've cooked him stg nice...enjoy!

No way...my son wants to go to all the restaurants he has been missing in France....most Indians and Chinese.  

That is a compliment I would take, India has some extremely vast variety of food, so vast that a lifetime may not be enough to try them all. And they are all so unique.

Apart from some of the 3rd world country problems, India is best place to live.

I certainly want to go to India soon. I went West too may times....but never been East of Prague.

summerblues wrote:Very poor from Federer so far.  UEs galore.

From what I’ve seen so far, IW has been disappointing.
Looks like the courts favour grinders again.

Highlights a bit inconclusive, as ever I guess, and the stats paint a picture of a tight match, or a match in which Fed is doing no more than the bare minimum to overcome his opponent.  A few shanks for the Fed, and, rather reminiscent of what Shapovalov was saying, Delbonis seems to have plenty of time to wind up his heavy ground strokes from the back of the Court (what an ugly serve).  Fed not seeming to be able to hustle him and take time away from him, which tends to be what happens when he's really flying.  I'd imagine that a break and time to think about how the match is going would usually benefit a thinker with a huge wealth of match experience and a high quality team to draw on like Fed - particularly if he's not been 'robbed' of momentum by the timing of the break.

I recorded the match and watched it all this morning. Federer was quite poor and finding it very hard to get past a guy with heavy shots when the court is so difficult to rush him.

The stats show this; he’s barely scored more points while serving far more than half the points. As you’d expect therefore he’s won fewer points on return than his opponent and is ahead because he converted his one bp while saving the two he gave up.

Hopefully an earlier resumption will slightly improve the speed of conditions. Had it carried on last night then Federer was nothing like certain to win.

We'll see - if this is down to the conditions that's really stupid of the Tournament. This interview is very interesting about how modern players are very good, but lack variety.  Setting up a really important tournament to let one-dimensional players with heavy shots duke it out from the back of the Court is not the way forward I think.  This is a good interview from a guy who knows his stuff.

Well knowing the relationship between the guy owning the event and a certain other player I can only imagine what a disappointment to them both it was that he pulled out of an event so carefully crafted to his advantage.

I read that Nadal stayed with Ellison during 2015 and knocked up with him; he plays 5 times a week on clay, his favourite surface.

I really hope you are wrong, but....

I always remember his face when Nadal got completely murdered by Federer here last year. It was like thunder.

I imagine that the guidance this year was intended to redress the situation.

I guess it’s his train set, his privilege.

barrystar wrote:

Highlights a bit inconclusive, as ever I guess, and the stats paint a picture of a tight match, or a match in which Fed is doing no more than the bare minimum to overcome his opponent.  A few shanks for the Fed, and, rather reminiscent of what Shapovalov was saying, Delbonis seems to have plenty of time to wind up his heavy ground strokes from the back of the Court (what an ugly serve).  Fed not seeming to be able to hustle him and take time away from him, which tends to be what happens when he's really flying.  I'd imagine that a break and time to think about how the match is going would usually benefit a thinker with a huge wealth of match experience and a high quality team to draw on like Fed - particularly if he's not been 'robbed' of momentum by the timing of the break.

I saw that clip and Fed seemed to move ok....Often like that at the beginning. I remember last year it took him a bit of time before finding his rythme on the court in IW too.

Yeah, I was relaxed about the movement. Commentator said this sort of thing - cool weather, slow, plus interruptions - was not what a guy with a history of back trouble would want but I don’t think there was any kind of difficulty.

His issues were with a dogged opponent who was hitting heavy and high in sludgy conditions at night.

Fed looked OK physically, I agree.  His opponent looks to have one of those games that's difficult to break down, and he's played 4 matches in the Americas since Fed's last match at Rotterdam.  He's a tougher opponent than his ranking of 67 suggests.

barrystar wrote:Fed looked OK physically, I agree.  His opponent looks to have one of those games that's difficult to break down, and he's played 4 matches in the Americas since Fed's last match at Rotterdam.  He's a tougher opponent than his ranking of 67 suggests.

Fed still shanked much more than he usually does and I don't think it's delbonis as much as finding his timing on this court.