ATP 500/250: Rotterdam, Sao Paolo, Memphis

Forget about it you 2, Rao is going to win Rotterdam.

bets anyone?

I'm hoping for Berdych winning, but I think Stan will win Rotterdam.

Atm possibly Kim.

Rao will.

well maybe not

Stan Da Man will win Rotterdam.

We had three chokers in the SFs today, and of the three, Stan is the last behind Raonic and Berdych.

Yes I hoping he will win now. Shame Rao did lose again though I prefer Stan, Rao has more potential.

Same old faces making finals. Dimi going nowhere, and Berdych and Stan in the final. I like Stan, but how much longer before we start seeing new players breaking through?

I hope that Stan wins tomorrow. Berdych is more boring than Nole.

summerblues wrote:I hope that Stan wins tomorrow.  Berdych is more boring than Nole.

luvsports! wrote:Atm possibly Kim.

It's on then.
Vamos Tomas

What is Vamos/Come on in Czech ?

Figuring out how to most annoy LS just after Berdych has handed Stan a crushing in tomorrow's final.

10-5 here we come

After Berdych took his cap off he's a new man, anyway unless we're talking about Fedal H2H is irrelevant

Also if we can forget about the last 5 matches the H2H is 5-5 #clutchingatstraws

Tenez wrote:Yes I hoping he will win now. Shame Rao did lose again though I prefer Stan, Rao has more potential.

You have been saying that for a long time, and I can see where you may be coming from...big serve, tons of power on the FH.
To me, that's enough to make him a very difficult opponent and keep him in top 10.

For a player with a big serve and big FH game to start winning slams, he needs to be loose and relaxed which he definitely is not.
He is a tightly wound up coil inside and will crack as soon as he sees perceived pressure.

Also, his BH is quite average.

But his biggest weakness os that inner tightness. Probably because he relies on the serve too much.

Not the fedal head to head!

Rao's biggest weakness is his size and relatively poor movement. Not much he can really do about those. But I agree with you that a decent top 10 player is the best I can see him do.

Kim Jong-Un wrote:After Berdych took his cap off he's a new man, anyway unless we're talking about Fedal H2H is irrelevant

How is he a new man?

summerblues wrote:Rao's biggest weakness is his size and relatively poor movement.  Not much he can really do about those.  But I agree with you that a decent top 10 player is the best I can see him do.

Poor movement, and he just doesn't have the groundstrokes to sustain the attacking play like Del Potro or Cilic could.

noleisthebest wrote:

Kim Jong-Un wrote:After Berdych took his cap off he's a new man, anyway unless we're talking about Fedal H2H is irrelevant

How is he a new man?

He's not really, just trash talking on behalf of Berdych just before he's going to play Stan is proving particularly difficult considering he's lost his last 5 matches against him.

It will be an interesting match, for sure.

From what I saw of Berd this week, he plays the same as always, even safer in fact.

Naturally, he is more confident indoors, but I feel Stan's FH is going to make the difference.
He has been playing really loose this year and I like it.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Yes I hoping he will win now. Shame Rao did lose again though I prefer Stan, Rao has more potential.

You have been saying that for a long time, and I can see where you may be coming from...big serve, tons of power on the FH.
To me, that's enough to make him a very difficult opponent and keep him in top 10.

For a player with a big serve and big FH game to start winning slams, he needs to be loose and relaxed which he definitely is not.
He is a tightly wound up coil inside and will crack as soon as he sees perceived pressure.

Also, his BH is quite average.

But his biggest weakness os that inner tightness. Probably because he relies on the serve too much.

You right about the tightly wound up coil inside...but those can break free...if he works hard on his BH for instance and discover his own confidence. That will happen when his hair cut get loose too.

Stan at his age was in the mid 20s. Even though he lost yesterdsay.....it was pretty close and his returns are much more aggressive nowadays.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Yes I hoping he will win now. Shame Rao did lose again though I prefer Stan, Rao has more potential.

You have been saying that for a long time, and I can see where you may be coming from...big serve, tons of power on the FH.
To me, that's enough to make him a very difficult opponent and keep him in top 10.

For a player with a big serve and big FH game to start winning slams, he needs to be loose and relaxed which he definitely is not.
He is a tightly wound up coil inside and will crack as soon as he sees perceived pressure.

Also, his BH is quite average.

But his biggest weakness os that inner tightness. Probably because he relies on the serve too much.

You right about the tightly wound up coil inside...but those can break free...if he works hard on his BH for instance and discover his own confidence. That will happen when his hair cut get loose too.

Stan at his age was in the mid 20s. Even though he lost yesterdsay.....it was pretty close and his returns are much more aggressive nowadays.

Very true.
A breakthrough win could make all the difference in his case even with current BH.

Yes, that hair...

summerblues wrote:Rao's biggest weakness is his size and relatively poor movement.  Not much he can really do about those.  But I agree with you that a decent top 10 player is the best I can see him do.

He won't need better mouvement if his BH improves. His eye/hand coord will improve so will his timing and anticipation. That will boost his confidence quite a bit.

Sampras on Fed, Dimi and S&V:

"Roger moves the way I did, and Grigor Dimitrov has a good, all-round court game. Both stay back more than I did. I was a natural serve-and-volleyer. Those guys are pretty much extinct today."

Wow, isn't he in love with himself..
And doesn't it cross his mind where he'd be in current era...no way he'd survive with the SBH..and no wonder Agassi can't help himself winding him up.

on Raonic:

"He is knocking on the door to win a major.
He’s getting close.He has the monster serve, he’s very competitive and he moves well for a big man. If he has a fault, it’s trying to go for the big shot, when it’s not there. He needs to find his rhythm out there, when he’s not hitting the ball great, knowing how to throttle it back a touch. That should come with more experience."

...yes, and that's because he is so tight inside.
Having said that he's beginning to show a bit more variety, which is good.

GO STAN!!!

JEDEMMMM TOMASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

CHUM JETZE STAN THE MAN!

Huge hitting to hold from 15-30.

Berdych absolutely lacing every shot here.

Come on ! Great play from Tomas

1 set all! Another 3 setter between these two. ALLEZ STANNNNNNN!

so typical ffs

4-1

Berdych breaks straight back. Still with the break Stan but this isn't over yet.

Championay championay olay olay olay!

Eurgh

noleisthebest wrote:Sampras on Fed, Dimi and S&V:

"Roger moves the way I did, and Grigor Dimitrov has a good, all-round court game. Both stay back more than I did. I was a natural serve-and-volleyer. Those guys are pretty much extinct today."

Wow, isn't he in love with himself..
And doesn't it cross his mind where he'd be in current era...no way he'd survive with the SBH..and no wonder Agassi can't help himself winding him up.

So true. True also that he would not have done better than llodra in those surfaces against those current players. 14 slams but 0 on clay. Yet at his time players were not using the new strings....In fact he was losing to new strings kuerten on hard already in 2000 so imagine on clay! I guess he knows that but he can't help bigging himself up. He was known to have a huge ego on tour and I don;t think he is any different now. If anything he is probably trying to compensate.

on Raonic:

"He is knocking on the door to win a major.
He’s getting close.He has the monster serve, he’s very competitive and he moves well for a big man. If he has a fault, it’s trying to go for the big shot, when it’s not there. He needs to find his rhythm out there, when he’s not hitting the ball great, knowing how to throttle it back a touch. That should come with more experience."

...yes, and that's because he is so tight inside.
Having said that he's beginning to show a bit more variety, which is good.

Actually on this I think he is right...from what I saw yesterday.

Will Stan overtake Berds in the ranking tomorrow? I think so but not sure.

http://live-tennis.eu/

Level but just behind it seems. If he does well at Marseille he can sneak ahead.

luvsports! wrote:http://live-tennis.eu/

Level but just behind it seems. If he does well at Marseille he can sneak ahead.

Bizarre. Not sure how it works. He has 2 500s at 0pts....not sure why this one is not replacing of them!

Last week we had 3/3 SBH winners, this week it's 2/3 - Stan & Cuevas. Not bad at all

Just saw Nishi beat Big Kev...his ball-striking is a pleasure to watch, so light and fast.

Here's a question:
Who's going to win a slam first Nishi or Raonic?

Looks like Stan did overtake Berd in the ranking!

1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) 13,045 0 18
2 Federer, Roger (SUI) 9,205 0 19
3 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 5,745 0 19
4 Murray, Andy (GBR) 5,460 0 21
5 Nishikori, Kei (JPN) 5,205 0 21
6 Raonic, Milos (CAN) 4,980 0 23
7 Wawrinka, Stan (SUI) 4,550 1 20
8 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 4,460 -1 24
9 Ferrer, David (ESP) 3,865 0 24
10 Cilic, Marin (CRO) 3,690 0 21

So this is what I thought. Stan overtakes Berdych...and deservedly so. Quite interesting to see that both trail behind Raonic.

between Rao and Nishi I am not sure cause Nishi is also a serious chocker. Nishi is older I believe so shoudl be in better position, especially since his mouvement and BH are clearly better than Rao.

I'll go for Rao....just.

Yes, Nishi is a big choker.

Interesting how so many players are. Tough to suppress emotions.
Experience can help (Stan) but some remain the same all their career (Berd).

Nishi is more of a character choker, doesn't seem to have the corazon for fighting, with Raonic it's the lack of winning confidence.

Plus, there is huge pressure of expectations on both...the longer they fail to deliver, the worse it will get - Dimi is the case in point.

Will be interesting to see how they deal with it.

noleisthebest wrote:
Here's a question:
Who's going to win a slam first Nishi or Raonic?

Raonic won't win a Slam.. By the time Fed/Nadal/Djokovic are done, he would have missed the bus. Or others would have gone ahead of him. Unless something happens like the US open 2014.

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, Nishi is a big choker.

Interesting how so many players are.

Easy...All those who go for their shots!

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, Nishi is a big choker.

Interesting how so many players are.

Easy...All those who go for their shots!

Fed doesn't choke!

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, Nishi is a big choker.

Interesting how so many players are.

Easy...All those who go for their shots!

Fed doesn't choke!

That's however the impression he gave when facing nadal. Missing 10BPs in his first set at the FO 07 can certainly be seen as choking. messing up all those BPs and SP v Nadal woudl confirm that as well.