US Open prediction game! Day 9

Joker for one man and one woman. Higher points than usual.

Stephens (10) vs Sevastova (50)
Delpo (10) vs Isner (15)
Serena (25) vs Pliskova (15)
Nadal (5) vs Thiem (30)


Sevastova, Delpo, Serena (joker), Thiem (joker)

I still don’t understand why these points aren’t just expressed as odds, so Delpo 1, Isner 1.5 or Nadal 1 Thiem 6.

Can anyone explain?

Cor if there was a time for Thiem to come to the party, it's now!

Thiem is highly unlikely to win, the question is whether he can make it tough.

Is the weather still supposed to be hot & humid?

I’m going for Thiem. Rafa is playing pretty well and moving very well but I have some doubts about his stamina after playing 2 x 4 sets consecutively. If this goes long I think Thiem has a real chance.

Of course the humidity may also play a part. I have no idea who is better in humid conditions - I expect Rafa is.

Isner might scratch here, it’s killing him.

They’re saying this is worse than Australia.

Anything will do, as long as he doesn't win. He won't last a set against Nadal.

Courier's a pretty good commentator but unfortunately, like most Americans, he can't keep his mouth shut or more than a few seconds.

Last time Thiem and Nadal played in humid conditions, Thiem won in 3 sets in Buenos Aires.

Emancipator wrote:Anything will do, as long as he doesn't win. He won't last a set against Nadal.

Yep

Then again, not sure DelPo would looking at him. Certainly not if he has to go to five here.

Delpo getting this match, 2:1 up. 

Come on Thiemmmmmmmmm

Bagel in 24 minutes.

Don't  know what to think.  Rafa looking oddly listless.  He barely moved on many of the serves.

One assumes he will wake up.  Still, only two more sets needed for Thiem, so he has a chance now.

Rafa is waking up.

Here we go. Rafa breaks and will serve for the set

Rafa duly takes the second set, though not without more drama.  Thiem broke right back with some stellar play, but then threw in a bunch of unforced errors to get broken again.

Shame he gave that set up too easily.  Rafa was not yet at his best.  One feels Rafa will only improve as the match goes on.  Thiem is already starting to feel more pressure and is going for too much on his shots.

Thiem broken serving for the third set

Now 5:6. If he loses this set, bedtime for me.

Emotional

I can only hope Thiem goes back home in tears, crying his heart out on what might have been possible.

He needs to build on this loss. No need to be proud of a good match. Nadal won and that is the bottom line. Don't be Khachnov or Dimi. 

If one get proud of only pushing Nadal close, they will only get that far. Unless you cross the line, it doesn't count.

So wishing good luck for Thiem. I think he can win RG19.

Thiem is showing progress though his game is still based on the options of power, more power or failing that even more power.

Nadal looking like a beast and now has more than 2 days to recover for the semi.

I give Del Po very little chance. Most probably Rafa will win in 3, max 4 sets.

Which mean we now have to hope Screech comes through the other half - can things get any worse? 

Slow conds could favour Delpo over Nadal.

Tenez wrote:Slow conds could favour Delpo over Nadal.

and if it were really fast conditions? would that favour Rafa? cos I dont think so

Tenez wrote:Slow conds could favour Delpo over Nadal.

DelPo was physically close to going by the end of the Isner match, he has no hope.

Nadal appeared able to make light of the conditions and be running around as well as ever after 4.5+ hours in sweltering conditions. Amazing stamina.

US Open is just French Open V2. Nadal will take this title easily.

But Delpo was not that far off at the French to trouble Nadal until his injury got worse. With a steadier bounce and a tired Nadal (he is 32 and at 32 one doesn;t recover as well)...proof is his bagel he got from Thiem....so I will keep my hope high.

good thing for nadal is he has one more day than usual to recover

but delpo is for sure the biggest threat he could meet apart from djokovic and probably federer

Tenez wrote:But Delpo was not that far off at the French to trouble Nadal until his injury got worse. With a steadier bounce and a tired Nadal (he is 32 and at 32 one doesn;t recover as well)...proof is his bagel he got from Thiem....so I will keep my hope high.

I found that odd. How did he start tired and get better? He'll have warmed up before the match.

Terrible result from this morning. I stayed awake whole night and in the end nadull scraped through , playing same shitty tennis.

Does nitb not post here any more?

bogbrush wrote:

Tenez wrote:But Delpo was not that far off at the French to trouble Nadal until his injury got worse. With a steadier bounce and a tired Nadal (he is 32 and at 32 one doesn;t recover as well)...proof is his bagel he got from Thiem....so I will keep my hope high.

I found that odd. How did he start tired and get better? He'll have warmed up before the match.

Nadal was not tired in set 1, Thiem was just red lining and Nadal couldn't pick his serve at all.

Wow. wrote:Does nitb not post here any more?

More rarely now, had a personal tiff with Tenez of some sort.

Wow. wrote:Terrible result from this morning. I stayed awake whole night and in the end nadull scraped through , playing same shitty tennis.

I don't know if it was the same shitty tennis, I think Nadal tried to play aggressively and actually played a very good match. 56 net approaches overall, which I guess isn't as many as Federer in a 5 setter, but it is actually more than the vast majorities of modern baseliners in today's day and age.

Do you think that Nadal can win US open?

Wow. wrote:Do you think that Nadal can win US open?

Yes I think he can.
Firstly though, hopefully the two days of rest will help him recover from this epic vs Thiem. If so, and if he can play again like he did against Thiem, you'd have to have him as marginal favourite vs Del Potro (who is in the best form I've seen for years) and marginal underdog against Djokovic.
Hopefully Nishi and Cilic can do us all a favour and knock out Djokovic in the semi

But djoko vs Nadal, djoko will take the bigger prize. I thought that Nadal will be out in QF because of the effort he has to out in against khachanov and basilashivli. Nadal will be little tired against Delpo but Delpo himself seemed to be wearing a patch on his back. A fit Delpo will send Nadal packing on Friday. Nadal will get tired at some stage if he doesn't then there must be some doubts raised in what we have been saying all these years about the magic potion.

I think Cilic will get rid of Nishi. Night match winner (djoko) will have slight disadvantage coming to the semi final match and so will Nadal. I am sure it just can't be easy recovering from the late late finish..

Wow. wrote:But djoko vs Nadal, djoko will take the bigger prize. I thought that Nadal will be out in QF because of the effort he has to out in against khachanov and basilashivli. Nadal will be little tired against Delpo but Delpo himself seemed to be wearing a patch on his back. A fit Delpo will send Nadal packing on Friday. Nadal will get tired at some stage if he doesn't then there must be some doubts raised in what we have been saying all these years about the magic potion.

The two day gap makes a big difference for recovery, so hopefully that is enough time for Rafa. Let's not forget Federer won 3 tough 5-setters in the space of 4 matches aged 35 at Aus Open.
As for Del P sending Nadal packing, well it's possible, but Nadal has beaten him recently at USO 2017, FO 2018, Wimby 2018.

Absolutely felt for Thiem. Gutting way to lose. Hoping this contributes more and more to character building.

Problem with Thiem is that he is not a smart player. I did not see the match but I suspect he had everything to beat Nadal....bar an ounce of brain.

Well done Nishi! Such an underrated player in this forum. Agree he often has health and mental issues....but his best game is the best out of the remaining player. Problem is he struggles finding it under pressure.

dont see nishi harming novak

Not surprised Thiem lost even though it was much closer than I expected after third set.  He should have found a way to win either set 2 or 3.  In the second set Rafa was not yet playing very well, and then in the third set Thiem was serving for the set.  Those two lost sets killed it for him.

Looking at the scores he was never all that close in the fifth - in fact he was 0-40 on his serve at 5:5 so lucky to even make TB.  The closest he got was at 5:4 in TB, but with Rafa to serve.

Oh well.  At least he kept Rafa up there for 4+ hours.  Hopefully Delpo will also at least make it difficult for Rafa.

It is so annoying - as long as Rafa is in the tournament I cannot freely root against Djokovic. 

Tenez wrote:Well done Nishi! Such an underrated player in this forum.

He isn't underrated here, he is just a mega disappointment, otherwise most here like him, he just didn't deliver what was hoped for in last 5 years.

Ninja is more nimble and can run if fit, maybe he can hurt Djoko finally.

Jahu wrote:Ninja is more nimble and can run if fit, maybe he can hurt Djoko finally.

I will only support Nishi over Djoko if Delpo beats Nadal. Djoko is the safer bet here v Nadal.

Of course....

Tenez wrote:

Jahu wrote:Ninja is more nimble and can run if fit, maybe he can hurt Djoko finally.

I will only support Nishi over Djoko if Delpo beats Nadal. Djoko is the safer bet here v Nadal.

Yup - that's me too.  Frankly the player left in the draw I actively like is Del Potro - Nadal I actively dislike, and Djoko v. Nishikori is 'meh' all round for me - I think Nishikori is a very interesting player, but unfortunately he lacks the necessary physical strength/big weapon - call it what you will -  to get over the final hurdle so he is a frustrating player to follow.

Looks like we're all on the same page. I'd give it to Nish if I could but that's really not going to happen in this Universe.