US Open Round 7 (Day 11)- with Game Fixtures

noleisthebest wrote:

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:I think Stan is the best player to watch these days.

Agree, for me it is Stan and Haas these days.

Never, nobody comes even close to Fed.

I meant among top players.

Djoko started the match in the third gear and as he realized it was easily more than enough he started shifting down until he came to a crawl and let Misha break him, so now back up to third gear again.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:I think Stan is the best player to watch these days.

Agree, for me it is Stan and Haas these days.

Never, nobody comes even close to Fed.

I meant among top players.

Oh, I thought you meant the VERY top....

Tennis Fed played in that first set against Robredo was just so sublime, those FHs and volleys, dear me......    

noleisthebest wrote:Just imagine, Richard, the Lionheart in the final....giving a post match interview to Gilbert....and Nadal packing his bag trying to leave the court in a hurry  

Let's not go there; the reality will be so much harder to take then.

noleisthebest wrote:Tennis Fed played in that first set against Robredo was just so sublime

I actually kind of agree with this.  Maybe not outright sublime, but he did not play badly at all. People see a straight set loss so everyone is very smart and say how poorly Fed was playing.  By and large, it was a better performance than many of his recent ones.  He was very aggressive and not shanking or mishitting nearly as much as he often does.  He was also moving to his forehand a bit better than in most of his recent outings.

Tactically, I do not think it was necessarily the right way to play against Robredo, but he would have had to play that way against Nadal the next round, so it sort of made sense to stick with it - if he cannot take out Robredo that way, no hope against Rafa anyway.  Also, he made some poor decisions on some big points or else the result could have ben better.

On the other hand, while I do not think he was all that bad, it was a far cry from the Fed of old.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Just imagine, Richard, the Lionheart in the final....giving a post match interview to Gilbert....and Nadal packing his bag trying to leave the court in a hurry  

Let's not go there; the reality will be so much harder to take then.

I know Nadal is a very fit guy these days, but at the end of the day you just have to stare him back in the eyes across the net and go for it.
Riche has never show that particular trait, but you never know...remember Rosol?
You would have said exactly the same thing had I said Rosol was going to beat him.

People really have their day and Richie has his weapons, I just hope he discovers he has a heart, too as that could make all the difference, just like with Stan against Murray today.

Ooooh, Nole will be fuming after squandering this set, see him annihilate Youzhny in the 4th!  

Oops.  How about Rafa + 3 SHBH?  JS, would you like that?

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Tennis Fed played in that first set against Robredo was just so sublime

I actually kind of agree with this.  Maybe not outright sublime, but he did not play badly at all. People see a straight set loss so everyone is very smart and say how poorly Fed was playing.  By and large, it was a better performance than many of his recent ones.  He was very aggressive and not shanking or mishitting nearly as much as he often does.  He was also moving to his forehand a bit better than in most of his recent outings.

Tactically, I do not think it was necessarily the right way to play against Robredo, but he would have had to play that way against Nadal the next round, so it sort of made sense to stick with it - if he cannot take out Robredo that way, no hope against Rafa anyway.  Also, he made some poor decisions on some big points or else the result could have ben better.

On the other hand, while I do not think he was all that bad, it was a far cry from the Fed of old.

I disagree 100% .
I think people gloss over Federer's past and judge his tennis only by results. I don't.
The way he played against Robredo is the most difficult way to play and nobody has played like that during this USO.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Come on Nole!!!!!!  

Ah I almost forgot that not everyone will be asleep here at this moment.  Good luck to your man, we will need him on Monday.

I was but then woke up...it's my 2 week USO sofa scenario.
I'll be away for the weekend, but will try to see SFs on Saturday.
Yes, if it comes to that final, it comes down to Nole to save tennis from death....he's got to do it!!!!!!!

It would be monumentally tragic if Nadal won this USO, I hope people realise the full horror of that option.

I love Nole's no-passarant determination, the mad glint in those eyes....it's so unique and I missed it when I was cheering for Fed against Robredo.
Nole has endless belief....it takes one to know one

Oh, that was one sweet SBHDTL from Misha, you can't beat that shot in tennis, Stan hit the exact same one earlier!  

noleisthebest wrote:I disagree 100% .
I think people gloss over Federer's past and judge his tennis only by results. I don't.
The way he played against Robredo is the most difficult way to play and nobody has played like that during this USO.

Choosing the "most difficult way to play" is neither here nor there.  You can choose the most difficult way to play and be miles away from your old self.  To the extent that there is element of luck involved and one can play well yet lose, it is true that results are not all that matter, but beyond that I disagree (100% as you would put it).  This is not ballet, aesthetics are irrelevant.

noleisthebest wrote:Ooooh, Nole will be fuming after squandering this set, see him annihilate Youzhny in the 4th!  

And as I was saying...6:0  
Nole looks ready to rip his shirt  

Finally, bed time ...  

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I disagree 100% .
I think people gloss over Federer's past and judge his tennis only by results. I don't.
The way he played against Robredo is the most difficult way to play and nobody has played like that during this USO.

Choosing the "most difficult way to play" is neither here nor there.  You can choose the most difficult way to play and be miles away from your old self.  To the extent that there is element of luck involved and one can play well yet lose, it is true that results are not all that matter, but beyond that I disagree (100% as you would put it).  This is not ballet, aesthetics are irrelevant.

I was not talking about aesthetics.
The way he played was truly special, the sheer heart in every one of those shots, the execution was just a cherry on the top.
A very big cherry, indeed  

The heart does not really matter either and execution, while quite good and better than the score suggests, was not where the Fed of old used to be.

gallery play wrote:

Julia Santamaria wrote:

gallery play wrote:
yeah, that 's what happens when you're talking crap too often

Why such an aggressive response, do you have anger management problems?

Maybe you're a nice guy but you do talk crap often, better?

  Sorry JS but that was funny....yet quite correct.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:I think Stan is the best player to watch these days.

Agree, for me it is Stan and Haas these days.

Never, nobody comes even close to Fed.

I meant among top players.

It's very simple. A nice winning game is much better to watch than a great losing one.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Tennis Fed played in that first set against Robredo was just so sublime

I actually kind of agree with this.  Maybe not outright sublime, but he did not play badly at all. People see a straight set loss so everyone is very smart and say how poorly Fed was playing.  By and large, it was a better performance than many of his recent ones.  He was very aggressive and not shanking or mishitting nearly as much as he often does.  He was also moving to his forehand a bit better than in most of his recent outings.

Tactically, I do not think it was necessarily the right way to play against Robredo, but he would have had to play that way against Nadal the next round, so it sort of made sense to stick with it - if he cannot take out Robredo that way, no hope against Rafa anyway.  Also, he made some poor decisions on some big points or else the result could have ben better.

On the other hand, while I do not think he was all that bad, it was a far cry from the Fed of old.

In those first 2 sets I don;t even think it was a far cry from Fed of old. Fed had tight matches in the past too against much worse players than now. The main difference in that last match was the 2/16 BP conversion rate!!! He never played with confidence...and then indeed mouvement started break down in that 3rd set ...prbably end of 2 set even.

Tenez wrote:

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:I think Stan is the best player to watch these days.

Agree, for me it is Stan and Haas these days.

Never, nobody comes even close to Fed.

I meant among top players.

It's very simple. A nice winning game is much better to watch than a great losing one.

I guess that's a pretty accurate explanation.
 
Although i rank Stan's game more than 'nice'. I think he has a great game but usually has difficulties to make it a winning game.
It’s intresting (yet typical coach stuff) what Norman said about him:

"It's not easy but I knew that he has it," Norman told BBC Radio 5 live.
"He's shown in the past, on and off, that he has it. It's a little bit a matter of self-belief and having a good team around him that he believes can take him to the next level.
"Then of course it's a lot of hard work. Day in and day out you have to speak about these things, because it still doesn't come naturally to Stan. He still doesn't really believe in himself 100% all the time.

It’s the pressure points when he loses his believe but without that pressure he basically outhits everyone. That first set (no pressure) in Melbourne this year was comparable with the best sets the greats of tennis have ever played.

Anyway, it looks like there will be a Swiss player at the wtf after all

Tenez wrote:

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:I think Stan is the best player to watch these days.

Agree, for me it is Stan and Haas these days.

Never, nobody comes even close to Fed.

I meant among top players.

It's very simple. A nice winning game is much better to watch than a great losing one.

Fed's game never looked losing to me in that match, except maybe in the third set.
While he is playing, Federer is believing he can win so he plays to win and that always looks great, even when/if he loses the match.
Losses will feel horrible, of course because they will chip away at the confidence which is essential for a player like him.
So it's a bit of a catch 22.

Stan is good, but he is far from best to watch, his footwork and movement leave a lot to be desired, there are many other very attractive players to enjoy on tour, as well, for me, at least.

Last night for example, I enjoyed watching Murray lose more than Stan win.

What I like about Stan's game is that it looks powerful,solid and "compact"....in fact, more solid than it is.

YOu are right he is better than "nice to watch" but more often than not he loses...which gets us back to the "great losing game".

And NOrman is spot on on the self belief. That's something so tough to acquire...especially when facing such fit players as nowadays who do not give you any easy points.

In the past (essentially the 80s and 90s) the game belonged to shot makers so you coudl go for your shots knowing the opponent would too and it was a shooting contest...but know this physical dimension is so mentally difficult for those shot makers.

Tenez wrote:What I like about Stan's game is that it looks powerful,solid and "compact"....in fact, more solid than it is.

YOu are right he is better than "nice to watch" but more often than not he loses...which gets us back to the "great losing game".

And NOrman is spot on on the self belief. That's something so tough to acquire...especially when facing such fit players as nowadays who do not give you any easy points.

In the past (essentially the 80s and 90s) the game belonged to shot makers so you coudl go for your shots knowing the opponent would too and it was a shooting contest...but know this physical dimension is so mentally difficult for those shot makers.

Yes, and that's why Stan's victory last night was so sweet, enjoyable and important, he's made a big breakthrough by beating a physical player with shot-making AND at the late stages of a slam.
He managed to expose ALL Murray's weaknesses as well.
Good luck to him.
I would not mind at all if he beat Nole, but don't think he will because Nole has a better spirit than Murray.
At this stage of the tournament, unless Richie stops Nadal, someone else must do it, and Nole has a better chance than Stan.

Tenez wrote:What I like about Stan's game is that it looks powerful,solid and "compact"....in fact, more solid than it is.

Yes, you can still feel the air of fragility, but Stan didn't show much of it last night, he just was not afraid of Murray and Murray was taken aback by it. Again, this big win will mean more confidence for Stan and so on...

Unfortunately it goes the opposite direction for Fed atm.
It really is a great shame he missed all those BPs.

I just wish people would stop burying him all the time. He must feel it and it must hurt him despite the great support he gets from a lot of people.

I agree Nole has more chance than Stan to stop Nadal....especially in a slam final.

I just wish Nole will not waste too much energy.

Tenez wrote:I agree Nole has more chance than Stan to stop Nadal....especially in a slam final.

I just wish Nole will not waste too much energy.

Tell me about it!!!!!

And that's not just tomorrow, but in general.
You can see he is trying hard to make his life easy by learning to volley, but he is a base-liner at heart and I just wish he hit his FH a bit flatter, I think that would help more than volleying almost.

I did not realise that men's final will be on Monday....so having a day in between is actually quite good for Nole.

...but really how strange is it to have a final on Monday!

Not very 2bh, they have it all the time with the rain delays.

It is so stupid though, just play the first round over 2 days not 3, then you have a sunday final. But they love their super stupid saturday.

Yes but it is different to have it on Monday because of the rain and organise on Monday. Imagine it rains on Monday we have a Tuesday final....Why not Wednesday 11 am?

I think it is a good thing to have a day between semi and F for sure....but why can't they do like the other 3 slams????

its america. nuff sed

Here are my predictions for the semis
Women SF: Serena&Azarenka, Serena to win the final
Men SF: Nole&Richie

I have just realised if Nole beats Stan this will be his 4th consecutive USO final (and 7th straight SF), not bad.....imagine if the draws had not been rigged and he did not have to play all those SFs against Fed.....

I think he is at 14 consecutive GS sf's which is very impressive!