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Tennis - General Discussion

D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I mean, on paper, Djokovic's is harder, what with it having every single present slam-defender in it. In reality...
 

Deadman

Member
I hope wawrinka can get some form together before the davis cup final. Maybe get 2nd in his group and then bow down to federer in the semi final.
 

Diamond

Member
The groups are done:

Djokovic
Wawrinka
Berdych
Cilic

Federer
Nishikori
Murray
Raonic

I'm really curious to see how Cilic will play. He can reasonably shoot for the second qualifying spot.
Federer group can be a bloodbath if Nishi isn't injured and Raonic still mentally apt after his M1000 final. With his Paris form, it's not even sure Roger will qualify.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Djokovic, Cilic & Nishikori, Raonic :p

I can't see Raonic going through. All three of the players in his quarter are extremely good against servebots. While he has won against Federer recently, and a few times against Murray and Nishikori, almost all of those wins were exceptional circumstance that involved the other player being in poor form, injured, or exhausted. Even if Raonic peaks and wins a match, the chances of managing to do so twice, i.e., enough to qualify, and with one of those wins convincingly to make him the 2-1 qualifier, just seem too high.

Additionally, Cilic has done nothing of note after the U.S. Open. That 6-2, 6-1 loss to Murray was an embarrassment. I don't even think he was the best player in the U.S. Open as a whole, Nishikori was just exhausted after his marathon run and Cilic happened to be the better player in the final. I would be really surprised if he did any better than 1-2, with the 1 against Wawrinka.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Just got back form the court. OMG....one of my doubles matches was super crazy.

We were up 4*-0 and SOME FUCKING HOW, they came back to make it 4-4. The guy we were playing is a super blabber mouth (all in good fun) but it made my partner super nervous. Like, when one of us would miss our first serve, he would go, "Do it again!" He's really good at the net, so whenever either of us would miss a shot, he would hit it back to us and go "What'cha got?", trying to induce another error. It definitely worked on my partner; he missed like 20 overheads and a bunch of easy shots, lol.

And he keeps yelling about the "great American comeback" every time they win a point, lol.

We stop the bleeding and finally hold to make it 5-4*.

Fast-forward to the tiebreak.. This tiebreak was RIDICULOUS. They went up 6*-3. We, SOMEHOW, got back to 6-6. Each side had SEVERAL set points at one point.

Fast-forward to 10-10. I'm serving. It's all on me again.

ACE.

FUCK YEAH BITCH! lol 11-10*.

They hit it out and we win 12-10. Phew!

After that, I played a singles match (against a guy I beat 6-1 a few weeks back).

Not to be a sore winner, but it always cracks me up how when I'm playing fuck awesome, my opponent always finds some excuse as to why they're not winning. I hit like 4 aces, a BHUTL winner, a bunch of inside out FH winners, some overhead smashes and I returned every one of his serves.

Him: "I don't know why I'm playing like garbage"
Me: "Mmm hmm." lol

I had a set point for a bagel, but he somehow held serve. Maybe I got bored. But I served it out and won 6-1.

And one thing I've learned after perfecting my BH: if you hit a regular backhand, and then SLICE the next shot, your opponent will hit it into the net 90% of the time. At least this is a good tactic on the club level.
 

Faith

Member
I can't see Raonic going through. All three of the players in his quarter are extremely good against servebots. While he has won against Federer recently, and a few times against Murray and Nishikori, almost all of those wins were exceptional circumstance that involved the other player being in poor form, injured, or exhausted. Even if Raonic peaks and wins a match, the chances of managing to do so twice, i.e., enough to qualify, and with one of those wins convincingly to make him the 2-1 qualifier, just seem too high.

Additionally, Cilic has done nothing of note after the U.S. Open. That 6-2, 6-1 loss to Murray was an embarrassment. I don't even think he was the best player in the U.S. Open as a whole, Nishikori was just exhausted after his marathon run and Cilic happened to be the better player in the final. I would be really surprised if he did any better than 1-2, with the 1 against Wawrinka.
What?

Did you miss his quarterfinal, semifinal & final match?
 

MIMIC

Banned
Oh, the WTF groups are out? Looks....decent. Should make for some VERY interesting matches. Kinda funny how all of the slam winners are in one group.

At least Murray and Djokovic aren't in the same group (but will somehow inevitably play each other anyway)
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
What?

Did you miss his quarterfinal, semifinal & final match?

I didn't think either the quarter or finals were so impressive. I watched the replays, and while at the time I was super impressed by Cilic's serve, with hindsight I think the real issue was Nishikori - his reaction times and anticipation were completely dead, he's normally an incredible RoS, perhaps the best after Djokovic, Murray and Ferrer, but here he was just not with it at all - reading the serve incorrectly, or just not really taking his chances with it. Given he couldn't ever break, the rest of the match was a foregone conclusion, really - Cilic didn't have to do anything superlative in the rallies. Cilic's quarterfinal was also just beating a lacklustre Berdych. The Federer match, he was pretty awesome in, because his ground-strokes in that match were stunning, but he's not replicated that in any match before or since. It'd be like saying Verdasco is a big threat because of his match with Nadal at the AO.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
...and the first match is going to be Nishikori vs. Murray! Probably the most 'important' one in terms of deciding amongst those who you'd expect to qualify. Should be good fun. Head to head is 4-0 for Murray (3-0 at ATP level) and Nishikori has never taken a set off him in any context, but they've not played in almost two years (since Brisbane 2013) and Kei is a lot better. Also important insofar as that this is (probably) going to be the match that decides who the 4th seed is for the Australian Open, unless Wawrinka rr Berdych's form recovers dramatically or Raonic GOATs this group. I like both players, so won't be too upset in either case. I think I'll support whoever looks to be in the best form, with the hopes they make it interesting in the semis.
 

LuuKyK

Member
My guesses are: Djokovic and Berdych & Federer and Nishikori.

I am really unsure about that second group though. Literally any combination could happen there.
 

Dispatch

Member
lHYubDa.jpg

From Reddit...
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I'm off to the noon and evening sessions next Thursday. Can I work out who I might expect to see yet?

It'll be a Group B session, so you'll see either a) Federer-Murray and Nishikori-Raonic or b) Federer-Nishikori and Murray-Raonic.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Player's Council votes to give President of Player's Council an award in thrilling shock news!
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
Player's Council votes to give President of Player's Council an award in thrilling shock news!

he resigned earlier this year, and that still wouldn't explain why he won it 4 years in a row before becoming the president.

but more important is the 12 years in a row as the fan favourite. at least most people still recognize good tennis when they see it.
 
just put nishikori/murray on....man, nishikori has got this

I saw him at the US open this year. Really liked his style of play. Hope he wins this match
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Really solid set from Roger. Looking good.

Edit:

Poor game here. Was up 40-0 and now it's a struggle.
 

Reyne

Member
Nice. First set was a breeze, but then Fed looked as if he was in trouble the entire second set. And then Raonic doesn't win a point in that tie-break lol.
 
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