In between Grand Slams tennis thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

Sorry I knew that, I meant the rest of the weeks games.

I'm over at it on Saturday so I'm trying to find out who I'll see. I'm guessing this group but not sure of the matches.

They probably won't make the Saturday schedule until they see which matches are important. Like if one of the matches is a dead rubber they'll schedule accordingly so the players who make the SF will have enough time off, things like that.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

They probably won't make the Saturday schedule until they see which matches are important. Like if one of the matches is a dead rubber they'll schedule accordingly so the players who make the SF will have enough time off, things like that.

Makes sense, thanks for the info!

Anyone been to this event before? what are they like for bringing cameras in to it (I have an SLR so hard to hide!) and what are they like for bringing food into the arena?

I've been before for different things but not for the tennis.....

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

Makes sense, thanks for the info!

Anyone been to this event before? what are they like for bringing cameras in to it (I have an SLR so hard to hide!) and what are they like for bringing food into the arena?

I've been before for different things but not for the tennis.....

I've never been but most tennis events are fine for cameras as long as you don't use flash during play. Don't know about food. I'm sure they sell stuff there but if you mean bringing your own food with you I don't know.

RosyLily

Deleted User wrote: »

Makes sense, thanks for the info!

Anyone been to this event before? what are they like for bringing cameras in to it (I have an SLR so hard to hide!) and what are they like for bringing food into the arena?

I've been before for different things but not for the tennis.....

I went to the final last year. It was amazing!! It's a really fun atmosphere. Loud and so unlike Wimbledon.

I brought my camera (a small Nikon) and there was no problems with it. I just turned off the flash if I wanted a pic when play was going on. Not sure about the food thing; I just got some in one of the restaurants at the O2. No-one searched my bag going in iirc so you might get away with a sandwich!:)

Hope you get closer seats than I did...felt slightly dizzy when walking down steps. See my photo and you'll understand.:pac:

RosyLily

RosyLily wrote: »

I went to the final last year. It was amazing!! It's a really fun atmosphere. Loud and so unlike Wimbledon.

Great, I can't wait. Going on Saturday so assuming it'll be group B which will mean seeing Federer which is great and then the final on Monday so fingers crossed the big guns bring their A game!!!

RosyLily wrote: »

I brought my camera (a small Nikon) and there was no problems with it. I just turned off the flash if I wanted a pic when play was going on. Not sure about the food thing; I just got some in one of the restaurants at the O2. No-one searched my bag going in iirc so you might get away with a sandwich!:)

Cool, I'll chance my camera in that case.

Ah I just want snacks to keep me going moreso. I'm a big eater so need to keep myself sustained without paying £14 for a slice of pizza or whatever overpriced stuff they have there this time!!!

RosyLily wrote: »

Hope you get closer seats than I did...felt slightly dizzy when walking down steps. See my photo and you'll understand.:pac:

LOL I think my seats are in a similar position!!!

cgpg5

If Andy got his first serve percentage to average about 70 anyway per game I don't think anyone could beat him! So frustrating today.

6 break points missed in the first, one a drop shot with an open court in front of him :mad:

Eating the Berdych second serve, but when the Czech finds those first serves and when his forehand is on song, he's a tough customer to play against

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

10BP's missed by Murray now. Does he know what he's supposed to do with them?

Ah shiznitt! I jinxed it He took one, eventually.

cgpg5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

10BP's missed by Murray now. Does he know what he's supposed to do with them?

Ah shiznitt! I jinxed it He took one, eventually.

To be fair Berdych starts pulling out insane serves when facing break points. It's crazy stuff

However in the last game of the first Andy missed 2 good opportunities to break alright. Couldn't have done anything about the rest

cgpg5

Good win Andy! Level now on h-2-h too

Good to get through that. Berdych is a damn tough player. Wouldn't rule him out yet, he should beat Tsonga and has beaten Nole before. Best of 3 can cause upsets.

Not trying to tempt fate but Andy should progress no bother now

He'll fancy himself here. Looked mighty determined out there

JUST WORK ON THAT FIRST SERVE :P :pac:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

cgpg5 wrote: »

Not trying to tempt fate but Andy should progress no bother now

Not necessarily. The fact that Tomas took a set off him could make things complicated at the end of the group stage. Like he said on court he won two matches a few years ago and Delpo got through by winning one extra game.

Everyone seems to think Novak isn't with it at all because of his Dad being ill so it'll be interesting to see how the match this evening goes.

cgpg5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Not necessarily. The fact that Tomas took a set off him could make things complicated at the end of the group stage. Like he said on court he won two matches a few years ago and Delpo got through by winning one extra game.

Everyone seems to think Novak isn't with it at all because of his Dad being ill so it'll be interesting to see how the match this evening goes.

First match is always tough... I'd be surprised if Murray didn't win his next two so points diff will be irrelevant then.

If he loses to Nole and beats tsonga he'll still qualify most likely as Nole will then have 3 wins you'd imagine

You'd get very high odds on Murray failing to progress and rightly so

Tox56

Murray understandably had a bit of a come down after the US Open, and I'm not totally convinced he is over it. Hopefully he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get up for games in the same way for a while.

Then again he could well win this and prove me totally wrong.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tox56 wrote: »

Murray understandably had a bit of a come down after the US Open, and I'm not totally convinced he is over it. Hopefully he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get up for games in the same way for a while.

Then again he could well win this and prove me totally wrong.

Same problem he's always had though, slow start and trouble serving it out. He could easily have lost serve when trying to serve that out today if Berdych had hit a few better shots. That kind of thing is fine in best of 5 sets, but it's very dangerous in best of 3.

cgpg5

Tox56 wrote: »

Murray understandably had a bit of a come down after the US Open, and I'm not totally convinced he is over it. Hopefully he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get up for games in the same way for a while.

Then again he could well win this and prove me totally wrong.

He won't be 100% up for this*, he even hinted so himself in the interview beforehand. He mentioned the AO a few times and how that was his primary focus regardless, despite it being a couple of months away. He made the mistake in the past of putting too much into non-slams and then coming up short in the big ones. He's fast learning

*I'd doubt any player truly will. End of a long season and all that, Maybe the guys outside the big 3 will see it as a great chance to win the 5th biggest event on the calendar!

cgpg5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Same problem he's always had though, slow start and trouble serving it out. He could easily have lost serve when trying to serve that out today if Berdych had hit a few better shots. That kind of thing is fine in best of 5 sets, but it's very dangerous in best of 3.

To be fair Andy has started a lot slower. He had two comfortable holds to start (as did Berdych) before he found himself with 3 BP's. Berdych pulled 5 monstrous serves out to rescue the game- nothing Andy could have done, although I was fuming at the time :P. Then it was a bit of a freak break (Andy reeling from the previous game), but Berdych held well from there to take the set. I was disappointed to see him not break Berdych on the last game, that dropshot i mentioned above was criminal. But you're absolutely right when you say slow start in the sense of the first set. Some of Andy's errors were poor indeed.

To be fair in the last game, Andy did what he had to do he wasn't going to try anything fancy. I think he realised he wasn't playing Nole and kind of relaxed too much on that double fault :pac: but he knew Berdych was halfway into the changing rooms during that game


If Tomas could actually discover a second serve who knows how good he'd be!

walshb

Bedrdyc on his day has the beatings of any player. He is very tough. Solid win for Andy

cgpg5

walshb wrote: »

Bedrdyc on his day has the beatings of any player. He is very tough. Solid win for Andy

Would have loved if he drew Fed

That would have been intriguing!

I know Fed is killing him on head-to-head but you can't help but feel Berdych is in his head when it comes to big games

cgpg5

JWT needs to start going for some killer shots against serve. It's always the same, he's just not good enough against serve against the top players.

Nole a break up in the second, 1 set to love (7-6(4)), and has just won his last 12 points on serve :eek:

EDIT- It's now 16 unanswered on serve. JW not interested in changing tactics at all. Nole one game away

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

This season has been quite a write off for Jo. Glad he's hired a coach for next season.

cgpg5

Nole was poor in the first but seemed to gain confidence by some very silly (and sadly all too common) errors from Jo.

Would love to see Jo beat Berdych but unlikely

Hopefully 2013 will be a good year for him.

Supporting big Jo is like paying for the sins of a past life

He's so talented but mentally he just is so inconsistent. Hopefully his new coach lets him do what made him so good/exciting in the 1st place whilst helping to polish off the rest of his game and toughen up his mental game.

walshb

cgpg5 wrote: »

Would have loved if he drew Fed

That would have been intriguing!

I know Fed is killing him on head-to-head but you can't help but feel Berdych is in his head when it comes to big games

Bedyc is a nightmare for Federer. Off the top of my head I think he did him in Wimby a few years ago and also beat him in the U.S. this year? He matches well vs. Federer.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

First and probably only time I will ever be cheering for Roger Federer. I'm going 6-2 4-2* (Janko retires)

cgpg5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

First and probably only time I will ever be cheering for Roger Federer. I'm going 6-2 4-2* (Janko retires)

LOL

Na I'm actually still shouting for Tipsy would you believe! Not that it'll matter, Fed will probably clean up in his first game.

6-4, 6-2

Later on will be good, come on Ferrer!

Ferrer 6-3 6-7 6-4

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

cgpg5 wrote: »

Later on will be good, come on Ferrer!

Ferrer 6-3 6-7 6-4

:eek:

Vamos Delpo!

cgpg5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

:eek:

Vamos Delpo!

Not a great Delpo lover, though for no particular reason seems a nice guy and is a damn good player but just never warmed to him for some reason

Not that I'm basing my prediction on that at all, I really think Ferrer will have enough to beat him

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

cgpg5 wrote: »

Not a great Delpo lover, though for no particular reason seems a nice guy and is a damn good player but just never warmed to him for some reason

Not that I'm basing my prediction on that at all, I really think Ferrer will have enough to beat him

I want Delpo to win but I'd be happy with a good match at this point. The doubles have been better than the singles so far.

cgpg5

cgpg5 wrote: »

Not a great Delpo lover, though for no particular reason seems a nice guy and is a damn good player but just never warmed to him for some reason

Not that I'm basing my prediction on that at all, I really think Ferrer will have enough to beat him

Probably due to his beefs with Murray! Which is part of why I like him! He gives it back to moany Murray!

cgpg5

Deleted User wrote: »

Probably due to his beefs with Murray! Which is part of why I like him! He gives it back to moany Murray!

He's had one beef with Murray I remember, which was on court so I wouldn't even call it beef and it lasted about less than a minute

He gives nothing back to Murray, Andy's "moaning" is at himself and his own game, no player is dumb enough to get sucked into it

cgpg5

cgpg5 wrote: »

He's had one beef with Murray I remember, which was on court so I wouldn't even call it beef and it lasted about less than a minute

He gives nothing back to Murray, Andy's "moaning" is at himself and his own game, no player is dumb enough to get sucked into it

You are correct, I was joking though. In that one instance he gave back to Murray who then threw a strop.

Murray is a moaner though, no inverted commas needed! It doesn't matter what he's moaning at, he never seems happy. It's the reason he is so unpopular. It's a pity really as he's supposed to be far nicer behind the scenes. If he could bring with him the on court persona that he had when he played the mixed doubles in the Olympics, over to his singles game, I would find him a lot more endearing. It's a pity because he's such a brilliant player but I just can't warm to him at all.