Indian Wells - 2019

https://bnpparibasopen.com/score-center/draws/

https://bnpparibasopen.com/score-center/order-of-play/


Predictions:

1. Djokovic — 7. Thiem
3. Zverev — 5. Anderson

4. Federer — 6. Nishikori
2. Nadal — 8. Isner
die



Go Fed......Go Osaka......Break a leg Djoko!!!

Thanks Jahu.

Suprised to see Fed....though for him it is a good tournament. a day rest in between and only bof3.

Has Nadal again one of this dead easy draw from his friend Larry?

Hell, ello, eloooo!

Tennis is back!

The sun is shining, the skies are blue....and all those great players are together again!

I have just checked and Tsits is out. Mega   
We've got to tame that fire somehow!  I don't mind. I like it's there.

Well...I didn't expect that.   A minute of  for Tsits. No whys. It happens.
Look forward to the next surf of fun.

OK, then...(still  ) I've got Nole in the draw...no sidetracking now, at least.

I saw a clip of him hitting with Stan. M a a a A n! Those guys can hit that ball. Nole was striking the ball so cleanly and well, such depth, it looked like a match not practice. He is really superb.
So I am excited!
Also saw the last point of his doubles match with Fabio, they beat Raonic and Chardy, were down big time in the first set. Nole sealed it with a great smash, oh yes!

Anyways....apart from Tsits losing, the one to watch is the final. I want Nole to win this one.
And play great like he did in Oz.

IDEMOOOOOOOOOO!

Tsi could be going through a niggle injury or something. Not a big deal.

Interested in seeing Nole.....his easy win v Nadal give him too much credit. I'd like to see how he does against hard hitters.

Is there ever a time you'll simply put a loss down to a bad day or the opponent's skill?

Yes. Fed had a bad day v Nadal at FO05 for instance.

Regarding opponents skills. They always play a role but I try for instance to understand why a better player on paper tend to lose to a much lesser player.

Tsitsipas got owned by FAA in the juniors, so no surprise to see him struggling against him again.

Slippy wrote:Tsitsipas got owned by FAA in the juniors, so no surprise to see him struggling against him again.

I had no clue that FAA was a junior too. Maybe there is no luck in it then. We'll see next time.

Tenez wrote:I had no clue that FAA was a junior too.

How could you not?  He is the "next big Canadian superstar" - a LOT of talk about him since when he was 15 or maybe even before then.  He is two years younger than Tsitsipas.

That said, I saw him play (once only, and on TV not live) last summer and I was not immediately awed by him.  Not nearly as much as when I first saw Kyrgios (well before he beat Rafa at Wimbledon) or when I first saw Shapo.  But I did get the impression that he is quite mature and focused - it may well be that he could play flashier shots and is just not interested in doing so, which maybe made him look a little less exciting to watch.

Kyrgios, Coric and Tsitsipas all lose their first matches.  And Kyrgios and Coric are not even so young anymore, when will they be winning if not now?

Fed a little insecure today, BH sucks, serve sucks, net play sucks, broken with 6 BPs on his serve, looking bad on set 2 !!!

Wins in 2 - 6:1, 7:5.

Federer started well - clean, aggressive, solid but after the first set it went downhill. Plenty of double faults, not enough on the ground strokes.

Hopefully he will play better the next round.

Tsi is overrated. Again, beating Fed in a slam since mid 2018 is not news, not a mince feat but far from an unsurmountable one. Tsi got owned by Rafa at AO.

FAA has been supposed to be the next big thing for a while, not sure excatly how well he plays though, well enough to beat Tsi or other top 20 often enough, but not sure if we can count on him to win something real big anytime soon...

Tsi is young.  Nadal beating him isn't a surprise - Nadal always has an advantage v one handed backhanders.  Your comparison is absurd.

Nadal is on his way out, Tsi is on his way to his peak.

Daniel2 wrote:Tsi is young.  Nadal beating him isn't a surprise - Nadal always has an advantage v one handed backhanders.  Your comparison is absurd.

Nadal is on his way out, Tsi is on his way to his peak.

He can only beat Nadal ( and other top guys ) when he is going deep into tournaments to face them. Playing them more often will help him learn how to overcome them.

If he has reached top10 and still is losing to unseeded, his progress will be slow. He has time on his side, but then that doesn't make him special. 


I do think he is special, but will he fulfil his promise? Time will tell.

Daniel2 wrote:Tsi is young.  Nadal beating him isn't a surprise - Nadal always has an advantage v one handed backhanders.  Your comparison is absurd.

Nadal is on his way out, Tsi is on his way to his peak.

You are the one who says absurd stuff many times and then start being disrespectful to others. Tsi is young, yes, it is a fact. He has time on his side, yes. Can he beat Nadal when Nadal is retired from tennis? Yes. Nadal has always had an advantage against SHBH of his height or only slightly taller. Otherwise he also has had difficult times against tall players with fire power, even SHBH. Nadal has a good record against pretty much everybody so you would expect him to beat most players, especially in slams. However, this was on HC and this was not just Nadal beating him, it was about Nadal owning him, it was a beat down, Tsi was left clueless.

Again, your last statement is a fact too, but if one is on his way out and the other one on the way to his peak, how soon shall we expect Tsi to beat him? When do we decide Tsi is a special talent or just a very good #NextGen player, like we have seen a few? Only time will tell...

Right now however, I can agree there are a lot of positives for him. He is the youngest top 10 player. He has already gone further in slams than the other young guy who happens to be top 3 (even though I dislike his game, when for Tsi I like his game for the most part, just dislike his gamesmanship). But again, he will have points to defend later and should be expected to perform better in smaller tournaments than we have seen so far from him, so again, only time will tell.

Saying your comparison is absurd is not being disrespectful - it's a view on your view.

Grow a pair of balls.

Time certainly will tell, which is why I am perplexed so many feel the need to write him off at this age as overrated - with no long term data at all to go on.

If you look at Federer's first few years, you'd say the same then too - and how silly would you now look?  I prefer to wait for the data to come in.

Theim, for example, has the time but is gearing to a gross disappointment.  Kyrgios is in the balance - if he can sort his head out, he'll do well.  Raonic is the biggest disappoint this generation - the data is in.

But some players - Coric, Tsi for example...  Way to early to judge.

A view on a view is fine, but you have many words at your disposal and more often than not they are insulting or just have a derogatory meaning. Maybe if you had an IQ above 160, I would understand why you look down on people but from the various posts you wrote you clearly don't... And I don't need another pair of balls or whatever, I am actually quite straightforward and courageous when some courage is needed, but here we are writing in a forum, so even your being condescending doesn't mean anything except that you can be rude.

Enough with this anyways, back to the subject. I do not think people on this forum say Tsi plays badly or is not an excellent tennis player, most people who dislike him on otf share my opinion about his attitude. Also, how can you think that saying someone is overrated is the same as writing them off? My point is actually exactly that because there is not enough data, we should not conclude he is the next big thing etc. There are so many variables. So from what I see, people who start seeing Tsi as the savior of tennis, the next Fed or whatever are just jumping the gun...

As for Federer, he is an exception more than the rule in tennis. He is a relatively late bloomer for a contender GOAT, especially considering that all other many slam winners in the Open era had started winning slams earlier than he had. Funnily enough, at his time, the guys his age who won slams started winning earlier too but then he just eclipsed them 2-3 years down the road...

So Tsi not winning a slam now is  obviously not alarming, but not for the reason you are mentioning as you cannot take Federer as an example as his case is so peculiar. A better reason would be that in this day and age, where the top players can play better for longer thanks to better technology, better nutrition, better training, better science etc. it takes longer for the younger talents to win something substantial as they are playing in the exact same conditions (with the same technology etc.) as the ones the older greats have had much more experience with...

sphairistike wrote:
So Tsi not winning a slam now is  obviously not alarming, but not for the reason you are mentioning as you cannot take Federer as an example as his case is so peculiar. A better reason would be that in this day and age, where the top players can play better for longer thanks to better technology, better nutrition, better training, better science etc. it takes longer for the younger talents to win something substantial as they are playing in the exact same conditions (with the same technology etc.) as the ones the older greats have had much more experience with...

Indeed. And people do not realise that youngsters getting coached by their local coach or going on the junior tour is not going to be enough to get to the levels of the pros who have been touring the tour for a decade. There is no coach who can train you play Nadal or Federer until you are exposed to them enough times.

Nadal for instance, in that respect was an exception as he came on tour with a power unseen, so all players had, in a way, to get coached by him and get used to his power and spin. Having that power so young made him very different. Djokovic, helped by his DHBH was the first able to find the solution but he still had to wait to be 24 to beat him consistently.

We have to have this in mind when talking about that new generation. Djoko and Nadal (the most dedicated of their generation) did not have to suffer as much as this one to reach the top:

- First top players then were not nearly as pro as now.
- But more importantly, they came on tour with a new material and learnt their game with it while the then top players had developed a game with smaller frames and nat gut. This is the very reason they did not last nearly as long as Djoko and Nadal.

So the exception there is Federer....who learnt and developed his game with old material on fast courts but was talented enough to stay with the then new generation. Without that amazing talent he would have no chance.

ertain to There is no coach who can train you play Nadal or Federer until you are exposed to them enough times. 

Right. But how is one going to get such exposure if they keep losing to random unseeded players?  And this precisely my issue with anyone after Djokovic (who is making the most of this situation raking slams) . There is no one after Djoko who is good enough to keep getting to face Fed/Nadal/Djo enough times late in the tournaments so that they get experience to play against them. I'm not expecting them to thrash Fed/Nadal/Djo. No. 

But at least be certain to win against everyone else. Then only they will get to face the top guys enough times. And then perhaps to the next step of beating them.


But alas!! They are just not good enough even to dominate anyone. Djo is the last dominant player. After that, it will all be distributed just like the women's tour since last few years.

Its a reality already happening. Serena was the last dominant player of WTA. After that everyone is ordinary, they win slams, they get to #1, but then they will lose to unseeded at random tournaments. By the start of 2nd week the highest seed remaining last USOpen was #14 Serena. You see the situation?

 Men's tour is clearly heading in this direction.

rotla, it takes a few years of gathering momentum to start dominating...especially in today’s competition.

Even Serena was not dominating in the era of Clijsters, Henin, Mauresmo, JJ, Davenport etc...

Tsits is legit. He will be winning slams. I’ll be waking up at 3 am to watch his matches for sure. (and that hasn’t happened for a long time)
Will he dominate like Nole and Fed (and Rafa on clay) do/did?
Does it matter....

He may, he may not.

Bottom line is, we have a bunch of talented young players and I look forward to the future of tennis. (so long as the Piques & the likes don’t ruin its integrity).

Slippy wrote:Tsitsipas got owned by FAA in the juniors, so no surprise to see him struggling against him again.

That’s funny, didn’t know that.

I watched FAA recently, he lost two matches in a row to Djere who is nowhere near as good as Tsits (mind you, it was on clay).

So it must be that junior “ownership” thing. Or maybe a niggle as Tenez suggested.
I can see similar dynamics between Zverev and Rublev ...I am sure Tsits will find the way. A young lion learning to roar. He is special.  

He is the kind of player that needs a few more years (hopefully less)  to fully mature on tour, to be purged by various fires. He has the same hunger and appetite as Nole did at that age.

And that you cannot buy, a born champion.

"The greatest of all time not winning slams and trophies immediately - but that doesn't count, as it invalidates my argument"  isn't really a good reply.

My point stands (if Fed were around at the start of his career now - you'd be saying "He beat an aging Sampras and blew it to Henman...  Nothing special!). Some of you have become clairvoyants on a player's future if they aren't winning out of the blocks at age 20.  It's ridiculous.

wow Shapo gave Cilic a good lesson!

Nadal making Schwarts wait on almost his every serve.

Nadal DTL BH has improved so much. This is a shot he hardly used in 2010-2013.

Nadal does run a lot and can still do it at 33 soon.

This is what I don't quite understand. Those guys should be feeling it physically at their age but they don;t. They have the experience and know how of old foxes and bodies of spring chickens.

Tenez wrote:wow Shapo gave Cilic a good lesson!

Haven't seen but great result!
I hope he's turned his mindset around. I read somewhere IW is very fast this year, is that true?

I think it is fast. You don;t have too long rallies and serves are fast so that's always a sign.

But it is also a very high bounce so it's harder to hit the ball flat. Schwartz is struggling timing it.

Tenez wrote:Nadal DTL BH has improved so much. This is a shot he hardly used in 2010-2013.

Reminds me of my comment on Wimbledon semi-final:

noleisthebest wrote:I also think Nadal's tactics were wrong vs Nole, he was the aggressor and ran out of steam in the fifth, he didn't bank on Nole being as confident and consistent. Nole simply rose to the occasion which is what I expected to happen.

So, I am sure Nadal will not play the same when they meet next.

Scary thing is Nadal has room for improvement...I can see him drilling flattened BHDTL in the off-season, he does not have that shot yet.

On the other hand, Nole has even more scope to get better...(in this semi, he really didn't have to play "anything special"...which is amazing when you think how well Nadal played...he just did to Nadal what Nadal does to all those who try to beat him with attacking tennis - brought everything back...and it is equally amazing what is required of a player to be able to to "only" that...and that Nole s the only player who can actually do it) esp when his confidence kicks properly into all of his shots.
I was impressed with some of his volleys in Wimbledon.

I just hope USO is not as slow as last year, and that Nole is not in Fed's half.

Has he got that shot now?

Tenez wrote:But it is also a very high bounce so it's harder to hit the ball flat. Schwartz is struggling timing it.

Not watching. Saw the score of the first set and a break down in the second so not tempted.
The conds must be favouring Rafa, otherwise no way would he be steamrolling Schwartzy, he is a tough cookie from the baseline.
Yesterday, he thrashed another player, forgot who it was.
This all reminds me of OZ open. Too strong for the entire field bar Nole.
Didn't study the draw, but Fed's in his half, right?

Semis could be interesting in that case.

noleisthebest wrote:
Has he got that shot now?

It's still a risky shot by his standards but he plays it much more and pacier than in the past.

One has to be blind not to see Nadal's improvement...and we know many are.

Nadal is playing well so far this year

Federer looked superb, Stan was a bit erratic.

Kohli hahaahah sends Djoko home 

DEC1M7 wrote:Nadal is playing well so far this year

He is. A bit more aggressive but unlike 2015...it's landing. I'd like to see this Nadal v fresh Fed.

There are a few players who I never hear heard off or still young making serious entries in the draw.

This Hubert Hurkasz, Shapo, Struff or even Krajinovic are coming to age. Its not going to be easy for the old guard from now on. Funny though that it took again an experienced player like Kholi to beat an another experienced player.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
Has he got that shot now?

It's still a risky shot by his standards but he plays it much more and pacier than in the past.

One has to be blind not to see Nadal's improvement...and we know many are.

Everyone improves in shot-making with time. What starts diminishing with age is a young fast reacting body to execute those shots time and again. 

Plus with time your opponents start getting a better read on your game and work a plan to counter it.

Tenez wrote:There are a few players who I never hear heard off or still young making serious entries in the draw.

This Hubert Hurkasz, Shapo, Struff or even Krajinovic are coming to age. Its not going to be easy for the old guard from now on. Funny though that it took again an experienced player like Kholi to beat an another experienced player.

I would wait for Slam results for them to really have some positives. I hope 2019 will be a good year.

I wouldn't hold your breath anyone, I doubt the Slams are going to any youth this year. In fact the big question is whether they're going anywhere but to Djokovic.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Everyone improves in shot-making with time.

Wow...now you say this as if it was obvious. Something I kept saying for years and was denied by most, including you I think.

What starts diminishing with age is a young fast reacting body to execute those shots time and again. 

Yes but the question is when is this decline really noticeable? Certainly not 26! Is stamina declining or improving with age? Looks like it is getting better up to 32 or 33. And more importantly is this decline overtaking than shot/timing improvements? If so what age provides the best shot making/fitness ratio?

Experience tells us now it is not 26 nor 27.

Plus with time your opponents start getting a better read on your game and work a plan to counter it.

Once again, it shows your views have changed in the last few months/years? on that matter. Good to see.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:There are a few players who I never hear heard off or still young making serious entries in the draw.

This Hubert Hurkasz, Shapo, Struff or even Krajinovic are coming to age. Its not going to be easy for the old guard from now on. Funny though that it took again an experienced player like Kholi to beat an another experienced player.

I would wait for Slam results for them to really have some positives. I hope 2019 will be a good year.

Hoping too but it's interesting that like the TDF, slams get to be won by older players as stamina and experience are more valuable than any slight loss in sheer fitness.

bogbrush wrote:I wouldn't hold your breath anyone, I doubt the Slams are going to any youth this year. In fact the big question is whether they're going anywhere but to Djokovic.

The sheer talent of some of those youngsters could hopefully cut through years of experience. But like you I am not holding my breath.

Djoko losing today shows he might not be as invincible as thought.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:But it is also a very high bounce so it's harder to hit the ball flat. Schwartz is struggling timing it.

Not watching. Saw the score of the first set and a break down in the second so not tempted.
The conds must be favouring Rafa, otherwise no way would he be steamrolling Schwartzy, he is a tough cookie from the baseline.
Yesterday, he thrashed another player, forgot who it was.
This all reminds me of OZ open. Too strong for the entire field bar Nole.
Didn't study the draw, but Fed's in his half, right?

Semis could be interesting in that case.

Why aren't you watching? Just because both Nole and Tsi are out? Not a big loss, there are many very good players left to watch with some quality matches and shots. Also, you should be watching the doubles at least, as your two favorite players are playing together and winning matches (at least 2 so far), yes, you guessed it, Nole+Fognini is doing well in the doubles tournament!

Fed did well against Stan, good to see, but Edmund is today and he has been playing well this tournament... And not sure how Fed will feel as even though it was just an hour match, it was rather late vs. today much earlier, so not sure how many actual hours of rest he got. It could be interesting to see if Fed can play well and win a relatively easy match to be fresh for the rest of the tournament as QF and SF will not get any easier, especially with the way Rafa is playing (but to be fair, we cannot be 100% sure of his level as we have seen him often destroy the field to then lose rather easily against Nole or even Fed, e.g. AO 2019, Shanghai 2017 to name a couple).

Glad for Shapo, I only caught a few glimpses of it and Shapo seems to have got his acts together at least for this tournament. Could be Shapo vs. Fed in QF, then hopefully Nadal vs. Fed in SF. The F will depend on who wins the other half, which seems pretty open...

DEC1M7 wrote:Nadal is playing well so far this year

Indeed, he has been playing well. I actually like this new more aggressive version of Nadal, especially when he does not waste time btw points, then he becomes watchable. But as I said in my previous comment, he can beat the field rather easily playing like that, however it is a different story vs. Nole or Fed (at least on HC). But as these two seem more inclined to lose to someone from the field, either because of lack of focus/motivation or lack of focus/age resp., Nadal can win many points. Clay will be interesting this year, as Thiem also seems to be picking up steam now...

sphairistike wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:But it is also a very high bounce so it's harder to hit the ball flat. Schwartz is struggling timing it.

Not watching. Saw the score of the first set and a break down in the second so not tempted.
The conds must be favouring Rafa, otherwise no way would he be steamrolling Schwartzy, he is a tough cookie from the baseline.
Yesterday, he thrashed another player, forgot who it was.
This all reminds me of OZ open. Too strong for the entire field bar Nole.
Didn't study the draw, but Fed's in his half, right?

Semis could be interesting in that case.

Why aren't you watching? Just because both Nole and Tsi are out? Not a big loss, there are many very good players left to watch with some quality matches and shots. Also, you should be watching the doubles at least, as your two favorite players are playing together and winning matches (at least 2 so far), yes, you guessed it, Nole+Fognini is doing well in the doubles tournament!

Fed did well against Stan, good to see, but Edmund is today and he has been playing well this tournament... And not sure how Fed will feel as even though it was just an hour match, it was rather late vs. today much earlier, so not sure how many actual hours of rest he got. It could be interesting to see if Fed can play well and win a relatively easy match to be fresh for the rest of the tournament as QF and SF will not get any easier, especially with the way Rafa is playing (but to be fair, we cannot be 100% sure of his level as we have seen him often destroy the field to then lose rather easily against Nole or even Fed, e.g. AO 2019, Shanghai 2017 to name a couple).

Glad for Shapo, I only caught a few glimpses of it and Shapo seems to have got his acts together at least for this tournament. Could be Shapo vs. Fed in QF, then hopefully Nadal vs. Fed in SF. The F will depend on who wins the other half, which seems pretty open...

If you must know, I am in the middle of divorce, so have plenty on my plate to deal with on a daily basis.
I also prefer to play than watch tennis, so all free "tennis" time goes there.

Hopefully, it all goes back to "normal" soon.

Amazing half volley from Fed at the end..10'05"

Nadal has had another cakewalk.  There's nothing at all to get excited about at this point.