WORLD TOUR FINALS 2012, London

Tsonga seems to be happy to oblige

I felt the surface if the practice court which is the same as the one they are playing on. There seems to becloads of sand in, it's so rough and must fluff the balls really quickly.

Interesting. It seems slow anyway.

Beautifully poised is this match. Come on Willy.

Nole looking a bit unhappy about stg. Not his fiery self tonight

This game coming up will be a big test of Jo's mentality.

And around we go. More enjoyable than the Murray match I sat through after work.

noleisthebest wrote:Nole looking a bit unhappy about stg. Not his fiery self tonight

Agree.

Now that was limp from Djokovic that FH.

Why oh why doesn't Jo attack like that on his own serve.

Bit of gut check here. Djokovic pulling out some massive first serves there. Tsonga missed a trick on 2 secnd serves at 30-0. Kudos to Nole.

TB here we come.

LK - You have to agree that Djoko is quite athletic. He moves very fast and is very agile without having to put on a muscle coat like Murray.

Quite. Not the most though. Murray is quick up and down the court. Not the best mover from side to side though.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Nole looking a bit unhappy about stg. Not his fiery self tonight

Agree.

I am trying to cheer him on now!Love 40 Idemo Majstore!Oh this ine didn, t go through it's tie break now my cheering worked!!!!

YESSSS!!!!!

Nole coming to the fort. Tsonga with it all to do.

Tsonga is playing pretty well for his standards, Nole a bit below that's why the match is even

Allez Nollez!

Nole inside the court on Tsonga's second serve, thought you may be interestedTenez,

Nole's ballstriking is really elegant!

My batteries are low one last shout IDEMO NOLE!!!!!

And now the long journey home into the night....

Home sweet home!

Singles Group A qualification scenarios after the completion of the 1st round of the event's group stage:


DJOKOVIC qualifies on Wednesday if:
DJOKOVIC defeats MURRAY in 2 sets.
DJOKOVIC defeats MURRAY and TSONGA defeats BERDYCH.

MURRAY qualifies on Wednesday if:
MURRAY defeats DJOKOVIC and BERDYCH defeats TSONGA.

---

Trying to work out which sesion Murray and Novak play on Wednesday, and worked out it's the evening one.
Had to look at last year's schedule and was amazed to see the matches of the first day last year:
Federer- Tsonga (funny, that was the last match - final, too)
and wait for it: Nadal - Fish!!!!!
Then on Wednesday, Fed bagelled Nadal in the evening session, so I'm gathering Murray has to lay Novak evening session. Gulp if they don't because I'm ab out to get a ticket

Evening session sold out on the official website, tickets available for afternoon only
But just found some on viagogo...for twice as much....do I really want to drag myself all the way to Greenwich again to see Murray AND pay for it....

no. It's as nice from cosy home.

Tenez wrote:no. It's as nice from cosy home.

I hate to admit it, but you are right

Today's matches:

1.
Federer vs.
Tipsarevic


This should not be very difficult for Fed to win, but off late he has been struggling with his timing. So I'm not sure how will the match turn up to be, but Fed should find a way to win regardless.

2.

Ferrer vs.
Del Potro

Delpo has been in good form winning 2 tournaments indoors, but so is Ferrer. I have always taken Ferrer to be Delpo's worst match-up, but this match might be a bit different given Ferrer may be a bit tired from the emotional Paris win. So that could work in Delpo's favour a bit. My take will be a close 3 setter with 1 TB set, and Ferrer edging it out in the end.

Sorry NITB, I fell asleep after Djokovic broke in the second

I shall try and catch up with it later if I can.

legendkillar wrote:Sorry NITB, I fell asleep after Djokovic broke in the second

I shall try and catch up with it later if I can.

Main thing was I was there and saw everything
Although I was in two minds about it last night, I'm now reconsidering going to see the Murray Djokovic match tomorrow night, sunshine and blue sky have that effect on me

noleisthebest wrote:

legendkillar wrote:Sorry NITB, I fell asleep after Djokovic broke in the second

I shall try and catch up with it later if I can.

Main thing was I was there and saw everything
Although I was in two minds about it last night, I'm now reconsidering going to see the Murray Djokovic match tomorrow night, sunshine and blue sky have that effect on me

What I did enjoy was the FH war in the TB. Nole finally taking the Tsonga FH on cross court.

It doesn't bode well for Murray's chances tomorrow.

Tbh, I saw both matches there yesterday, and to me, Berdych and Tsonga were in good form compared to Nole and Murray.
They both looked under the weather and labouring, Nole is in some serious inner turmoil, I have never heard him make the sounds he made last night before.
He was OK, far from his best.
Murray, I don't know how he won that match, it was definitely the case of Berdych losing it.
Tsonga had good spells, seems that Nole owns him mentally, he looked at the crowd in despair a couple of times, I felt sorry for him a bit.
He's a nice, happy soul.

Well Murray since the US has taken grinding to a whole new level. It was a shame Berdych just lacked the ummppphhh to hit winners over a long period.

Djokovic has been in strange form since Australia TBH. Has often looked sluggish and vulnerable in the first 6-7 games in the first set of matches. Least however he does have the extra gear shift should he get on top in matches.

Tsonga you have to say had some big opportunities in that match and didn't do enough. 30-0 up on the Djokovic serve and done nothing on the next 2 points on the 2nd serve in terms of the return. Rasheed has a lot of work in front of him.

Can't wait to see how Federer is today.

Tsonga's backhand is really weak and it shows when he starts rallying, he just can't compete with Nole from the baseline, which is no shame as Nole really rules there, but he did have excellent spells of pushing Nole well behind the baseline with his forehand, that was great to watch, it was quite enjoyable at times, but from close I was a bit disappointed with Tsonga's volleying, although he did have a really good one.
He needs to clean up his game and work on being a pure attacking player and forget about the rallying efforts.
When I watched him practise with Gasquet before the match, I could clearly see how much better Gasquet strikes the ball, it was amazing, in fact.

Berd was brilliant in the first set, lovely attacking tennis, I was nicely suprised to see him use the whole court, and then he lost focus briefly, Murray broke him and that was it. Very little fight & grit in Berd, sadly.

I have seen Gassy up close on the practice courts and his timing is breathtaking. However unfortunately he doesn't have the weight in his shots. Shows really where the game is at the moment.

legendkillar wrote:I have seen Gassy up close on the practice courts and his timing is breathtaking. However unfortunately he doesn't have the weight in his shots. Shows really where the game is at the moment.

I am not sure about that. He generates quite a lot of power despite standing way too far back because his technique and timing is excellent. He only misses the lungs and because of that the head. Besides he is now top 10 with Almagro and being top 10 with a SHBH means there is a lot of potential there, shoudl they speed the surface a bit.

legendkillar wrote:I have seen Gassy up close on the practice courts and his timing is breathtaking. However unfortunately he doesn't have the weight in his shots. Shows really where the game is at the moment.

Actually, he has quite a bit of weight in his shots in my opinion, I'm guessing his serving could be better and that what lets him down, you don't need much at their level, one chink in you armour and you're lagging behind, which is why Fed has been so good for so long.

Some of my impressions from yesterday :


https://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k619/noleisthebest/

Looks like you had a very good seat again.

I did. Just bought a ticket for Djokovic Murray tomorrow. Afternoon session. Couldn't help myself

well done NITB.

The work schedule here is crazy at the moment and I can't get the time off. No-one wants to swap with me!

It was sad last night during the break before the second set that Sky carried out a Poll on who would win the WTF. A staggering 50% went with Murray. I really wish people would vote with their brains! Federer got 33% of the vote and Djokovic 17%.

We'll find out on Wednesday who is more likely to win...but I am not surprised by those 50%. It's normal to see the crowd voting for their favourite....especially if as I said...he is.

However Djoko seemed keen to win yesterday so though his mind might not be there...it looks like he is not ready to give it away like last year.

Nicely done first set for Federer 6-3.

63 1 all in 38 min...Even if Fed were to take EPO it woudl not be of much use!

Great rally to break a second time in the second set.

Such control and variety. Fed was such a joy to watch.

He really showed emotions after winning that long rally. Seldom see that. What a great point.

What a joy to watch. Still number 1 in the world in that kind of form.

I found him slow on his legs at times but I am not sure whether that was due to some laziness as he seemed over confident at times wondering whether it was worth chasing all balls.

Great BH again, it helps so much to have lower bounces. I guess this is what helped him in WImbledon too despite the very slow balls.

SR wrote:Such control and variety. Fed was such a joy to watch.

He really showed emotions after winning that long rally. Seldom see that. What a great point.

Yes our posts crossed but same feeling!

Tenez wrote:
However Djoko seemed keen to win yesterday so though his mind might not be there...it looks like he is not ready to give it away like last year.

Oh, his mind was all there. Just didn't show it the 1st set.