ATP 500/250: Rotterdam, Memphis, Buenos Aires

With top 10 looking like this atm:


1 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 14,330
2 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) 10,580
3 Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) 5,710
4 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG) 5,370
5 Ferrer, David (ESP) 5,280
6 Murray, Andy (GBR) 4,795
7 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 4,540
8 Federer, Roger (SUI) 4,355
9 Gasquet, Richard (FRA) 2,950
10 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) 2,885


Perhaps it's not a surprise Murray has come out of woodwork and playing in Rotterdam.
Injured Delpo has 500 points to defend as I think he beat Fed there last year in he final.

Match of the day:

Kohlschreiber - Strakhovski

So Nadal is not going to SA? losing nearly 1000 points within the 3 tournaments he played last year?

No, it's the stomach virus this time...He may be turning up in Rio next week.
Maybe Amri's "sources" know a bit more

Match(es) of the day:

Youzhny-Sijsling
JJ - Benneteau

Hopefully he will play in Rio, he didn't play last year and I know Brazilian fans will want to see him.

Just had a look at Dimitrov - Tursunov, one demoliton set each...rallying from the baseline in 22 shot rallies to their hearts contents...and the court is not even slow!

Similar tennis, but better serving (that Sock can really bomb them away!) between Mannarino and Sock.

Match(es) of the day:

Del Potro - Monfils
Murray - Vasselin
Tsonga - Cilic

Just saw the 2nd set TB between Gasquet and de Bakker...what a horrible player and ugly BH...I can't believe he took Gasquet to two TBs, and won the first one!!!!

Monfils grinding life out of Delpo...who doesn't even seem to mind !
Next time I hear about their injuries, I won't feel sorry about them....

Delpo's FH sizzling, giving Monfils a lesson in how it's done!

Monfils is a fast learner
Unleashes a few of his own FHs and breaks back to 5:5.

I can"t stand it when commentators droole over Murray's ugly tennis, every average shot is wrought in metaphors, every wince and body clutch with tender tones of ooohs and compassion...meanwhile Vasselin who is actually providing beauty and elegance  on the court gets NOTHING!
And just like with Nadal, masses buy it all.
Murray is the most over-hyped player I can remember....

So i finally got my vip tickets for Rotterdam. Just the thursday night session (Murray and Sijsling). That's shabby but i can't complain. This company offes my aunt and me tickets for years now but we both hardly know anyone from that company. Still, we do not hestitate to get us free wine in the companies stand .

I guess it's a louzy edition for Krajicek. He perhaps has written off Federer as the visitors favorite a bit too early and besides: the tournament is suffering a great deal under the Olympic Wintergames (Holland is winning medals like crazy).

Good on you GP. You'll see Delpo too isn't ? Must be quite awesome to see his FH. I have seen them all at the top bar Delpo.

For some reasons I have not had a look at the Olympics yet....not even the medal table yet!

Nothing like a bit of VIP treatment now and then!

Tomorrow, some excellent matches on, starting at 10.00 AM:
Dimitrov - Gulbis
Berdych - Mahut
JJ - Haas
Gasquet - Kohlschreiber
Delpo - HP Mathieu

Dolgopolov - Chardy

And a retro battle between

Baghdatis - Hewitt

gallery play wrote:
I guess it's a louzy edition for Krajicek. He perhaps has written off Federer as the visitors favorite a bit too early and besides: the tournament is suffering a great deal under the Olympic Wintergames (Holland is winning medals like crazy).

I didn't even know winter olympics were on until I saw a photo of Sharapova carry Russian flag (or flame?) on tennis.com...and a minute or two of that ridiculous "sport" called curling, on a TV screen while queuing in a bank...

And to think I used to live for those events as a child, have scrapbooks with cutouts from newspapers....I can't watch it any more, athletes look so different - everyone's got to have their trademark "celebration" , tattoo, hairstyle...
It has really become one mega circus!

Tenez wrote:Good on you GP. You'll see Delpo too isn't ? Must be quite awesome to see his FH. I have seen them all at the top bar Delpo.

For some reasons I have not had a look at the Olympics yet....not even the medal table yet!

Unfortunatly Delpo plays this afternoon. I have seen him the previous years though. Indeed, he's great to watch. Especially when you're sitting close to the court: it's fascinating how controlled he can hit a range of shots with so little net clearance. Obviously his length combined with his relative aggressive court positioning helps him.

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:
I guess it's a louzy edition for Krajicek. He perhaps has written off Federer as the visitors favorite a bit too early and besides: the tournament is suffering a great deal under the Olympic Wintergames (Holland is winning medals like crazy).

I didn't even know winter olympics were on until I saw a photo of Sharapova carry Russian flag (or flame?) on tennis.com...and a minute or two of that ridiculous "sport" called curling, on a TV screen while queuing in a bank...

And to think I used to live for those events as a child, have scrapbooks with cutouts from newspapers....I can't watch it any more, athletes look so different - everyone's got to have their trademark "celebration" , tattoo, hairstyle...
It has really become one mega circus!

Well, Holland completely dominates the speed skating so that makes it pleasant to watch. But i actually like to watch some other sports too, f.i. the snowboard halfpipe and freestyle are quite spectacular, ice hockey and of course skiing (especially downhill).

I saw a bit of Gulbis - Dimitrov today, and although it was a straight set win for Gulbis, it was a quality, entertaining match, both played well, Gulbis's groundstokes really hit through the court, whereas Dimi surprisingly had a lot more pace on his BH which looked quite nice today, but again, with him, too much baseline, not enough all-court. Still, was a more flairful player. Gulbis served really well when he needed to, and that made the final difference.

Must say.. I am really liking Thiem's play so far!
Saw the second set, and he really matched Murray; Andy clearly not at his best, but Thiem played a great set for a 20 year old.
I remember first watching Thiem play against Muster, in Vienna Open in 2011 when he was 17, his game looks a lot more consistent now. Still a long way to do, he's only ranked 115, but he has the potential to break into the top 30 hopefully within the next few years.

Of course I will support Nadal until the day he retires, but that may be quite soon, and it doesn't look like there's a new established player who has impressed me.
Raonic and Janowicz, well for both I don't like their gamestyle. Dimitrov is ok, but very frustrating to watch, certainly mentally one of the poorest. And Harrison is really mediocre, a poor man's Ferrer.

Finally then a young player who I may support, let's see now if he has the mettle to challenge Murray in this decider...

Eurgh... Murray breaks first, double faults and slice costing Thiem.

Good quality match from both... Murray slightly too solid at the end.

Very entertaining and interesting match in more than one way between Berd and JJ.
Looks like it's going into the 3rd set.

Come on Tomaaaaaass

That was an excellent match from start to finish!
It's always interesting to watch two relatively evenly matched players, esp attacking ones: what is it that makes the difference and how momentum swings.
Lots of power on display, but of the right, shot-making kind, some great FHs from both.

It is a shame Fed is not playing here, nice court speed, plus it's indoors...  

Delpo - Gulbis next!

They're not evenly matched though NITB, Berdych is on another level.

Actually JS, JJ is a better player.

Berdych considerably better, uses his serve more intelligently, has a more potent forehand, backhand I'd say is around equal. JJ has a tendency to spray the ball around, Berdych despite being aggressive can play with much more discipline.

Berdych really is one of the best players in the world, you just feel if he was mentally that bit stronger he would have won as many slams as Murray.

Amri, you sound just like he BBC commentators - all crowd pleasing cliches saying nothing...
What do you mean by Berdych serving "more intelligently"? Did JJ serve "stupidly" ?
The only thing Berdych did better in this match was return.
JJ is a lot more dangerous, just inexperienced, give him a year or two and he will be very tough to beat.
Having said that, I don't like his violent grunting at all. It has got even worse than last year, esp on serve.

Berd has good groundstrokes but not much game, is too heavy to be moving inside the court.
As soon as he faces a good returner - he is cooked.

By more intelligently, I am talking about the positioning of the serve and the variation in placement.
Janowicz has a more pace on the serve, but Berdych has a better serve.

I don't know how much Janowicz will improve in the future, he's 23 currently, but Berdych at the moment is able to generate more pace from his ground strokes, and play with more discipline and controlled aggression.

Gulbis wins.. Great performance.. and wonderful match.

Shame I didn't get to see any of it, Gulbis must have played really well, I did not expect him to win today.

Cilic is another inferior version of Berdych.

Hopefully Andy can get through and set up a final against Tomas too, that is one if my favourite match ups.

Murray playing pathetic tennis...he just does not know what to do with all those muscles as he seem only to be pushing ball back all the time, looks really funny.
Cilic cracking his serve, you can see Goran has had his imput here.

Muray also noticably louder than usual, it's not just mouthing it to/at himself any more, he is trying to intimidate Cilic, as well...

It was quite enjoyable watching Murray lose to Cilic, he,he...

Gulbis - Berdych should ve very good tomorrow!
Hope to see a bit of Sijsling, too, looks like he is in good form.

I had a look at that Thiem player, so happy SBH is alive and kicking!

Could it be Gulbis first 500?

I think so, I'd like him to take it.

He's up against Bossych... let's not count our chickens.

Tomas will ruthlessly expose Gulbis's flaws I feel, looking forward to the match.

606v2 really very quite these days it seems.

The first I ever saw Thiem in that clip above.  Great to see he is a SHBH.  Going through my memory, I do not think I ever rooted for a double hander.  If we do not get a SBH replacement at a decent enough level after Federer retires, I do not know what I am going to do...

Should not get too carried away just yet.  Dimitrov was not yet 18 when he took a set off Rafa, and we are still waiting for him to finally break through.

On that note, I was quite disappointed to see Dimitrov lose to Gulbis.  I have high hopes for him for this year - top 10 and beyond.

SB, this is a quote from me during the Murray Thiem match.

Julia Santamaria wrote:Must say.. I am really liking Thiem's play so far!
Saw the second set, and he really matched Murray; Andy clearly not at his best, but Thiem played a great set for a 20 year old.
I remember first watching Thiem play against Muster, in Vienna Open in 2011 when he was 17, his game looks a lot more consistent now. Still a long way to do, he's only ranked 115, but he has the potential to break into the top 30 hopefully within the next few years.

Of course I will support Nadal until the day he retires, but that may be quite soon, and it doesn't look like there's a new established player who has impressed me.
Raonic and Janowicz, well for both I don't like their gamestyle. Dimitrov is ok, but very frustrating to watch, certainly mentally one of the poorest. And Harrison is really mediocre, a poor man's Ferrer.

Finally then a young player who I may support, let's see now if he has the mettle to challenge Murray in this decider...  

He seemed to move well, was able to generate pace from both wings.

However his consistency did cost him, and there were times he played too passively.
He's 20 I think, and just outside the top 100, I don't know if he'll make it at the top yet. All we can say so far is that he's got the potential.

I only ever saw Thiem in that clip that nitb posted here, so obviously I know nothing about him.  Something about his forehand rubs me the wrong way a bit, but he plays with a SHBH, so I will forgive him.  I still think I prefer Dimitrov overall.

Are you a Schiavone fan SB?

I do not follow ladies' tennis much these days.  I probably prefer Schiavone to your average WTA player, but no, would not quite say I am a fan.

Would about Berlocq?