The 2017 In Between Grand Slam Thread

jr86

Miami and Indian Wells are both very slow surfaces too and Federer won those. So Roland Garros is well achievable.

lostcat wrote: »

agree about nadal not having had to beat much thus far, although the same could be said about Federer really. Both are playing pretty well (Federer playing better) but the tour is a bit of a mess apart form those two.

We seem to be finally seeing the end of the 'lesser lights' of that older generation (Tsonga, Berdych, Gasquet et al) as they are being gently supplanted in the ratings by the 20-25 age group.

As for Nadal and Federer, they can only beat what is in front of them. Federer must see this as a fantastic chance to win the French and finally get that 2nd slam. however, he can 'hit the lines' in clay and still see plenty of balls come back at him, so we will see.

looking forward to seeing if Djokovic / Murray can make a stab at consistency in Madrid / Rome.

Nadal looks to have a relatively tough draw in Madrid so it might be the first opportunity to see what he's really made of these days. His MC and Barcelona routes to the title were farcical, although that ain't his fault

Madrid is the quickest clay "main" event out there and he's been well beaten by Murray the last few years

Murray has been given a kind draw so it's an opportunity for him to hit some form. He'll probably put in a token effort in Rome after a title last year.

Novak's head is clearly all over the shop at the moment and doesn't look in nearly the right mind-frame to win anything. I still don't feel confident ever writing him off though. I've little doubt he'll dominate the tour in the near future again, but how near who knows

The ATP looks to be at its weakest point since the early 00s. A few years back guys like Berdych, DP, Tsonga were tremendous players in their own right yet rarely even made slam semis. We're probably now entering an era were "default" slam wins become more regular. It's hard to see Federer riding on this wave for all that much longer given his age profile

yerwanthere123

jr86 wrote: »

Miami and Indian Wells are both very slow surfaces too and Federer won those. So Roland Garros is well achievable.



Nadal looks to have a relatively tough draw in Madrid so it might be the first opportunity to see what he's really made of these days. His MC and Barcelona routes to the title were farcical, although that ain't his fault

Madrid is the quickest clay "main" event out there and he's been well beaten by Murray the last few years

Murray has been given a kind draw so it's an opportunity for him to hit some form. He'll probably put in a token effort in Rome after a title last year.

Novak's head is clearly all over the shop at the moment and doesn't look in nearly the right mind-frame to win anything. I still don't feel confident ever writing him off though. I've little doubt he'll dominate the tour in the near future again, but how near who knows

The ATP looks to be at its weakest point since the early 00s. A few years back guys like Berdych, DP, Tsonga were tremendous players in their own right yet rarely even made slam semis. We're probably now entering an era were "default" slam wins become more regular. It's hard to see Federer riding on this wave for all that much longer given his age profile

It's a shame the three likes of Berdych and Tsonga to have been stuck in such a strong era, they're good enough to have eked or a couple of slams imo, certainly when you consider some of the slam champs from the early 2000's. I wouldn't have minded seeing Ferrer win one too, I know he doesn't exactly play the most exciting brand of tennis but for hard work and tenacity he deserves one.

jr86

Yeah for me it's a shame Ferrer never won one. He was well good enough from 2011-13 to sneak one or two but that coincided with the "top 4" more or less at the top of their game.

We'll probably see Serve-specialists like Raonic and "solid" players like Goffin and Theim winning some handy slams in the near future. These players don't hold a candle to players like Berdych and Tsonga at their best.

yerwanthere123

All hail Eugenie, our new tennis overlord :eek: Or not. She beat the world #258 who's just back after 15 months out

Joking aside though, my respect for Bouchard went up a little tonight. She talked the talk before this match, but very few would've thought she could walk the walk. Let's hope she keeps it up now. Kerber up next, who she oddly leads the h2h against 3-2, and 2-0 on clay.

Floppybits

It was a good win for Bouchard last night, great to see what she can do when she is motivated. Hopefully this gives her the kick she needs to get back to get back competing at the latter stages of the competitions.  Could never warm to Sharapova.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Floppybits wrote: »

It was a good win for Bouchard last night, great to see what she can do when she is motivated. Hopefully this gives her the kick she needs to get back to get back competing at the latter stages of the competitions.  Could never warm to Sharapova.

I think Bouchard was hilariously over the top with the whole Sharpova thing over the last few weeks. Good for her though if she kicks on from that win and gets back to the top of the sport. Unfortunately it's just as likely that she'll get double bagled in her next match. We shall see though.

Bouchard was up for it. Sharapova, even without the drugs ban, was always a fake person and you can't really like her.
Would like to see Bouchard concentrate on her tennis and do well - hopefully that was not just a once-off. Maybe drop that lawsuit against the US Open for example or settle it up quick.

Floppybits

Some good matches in the Men's draw today, the top 2 that stand out to me are the Nadal/Kygrios and the Dimitrov/Theim matches.  I expect Nadal to win but Kygrios will push him all the way.  A Nadal scalp on clay would be a real feather in Kygrios's cap and I think he will go all out to get that.  In the other match Theim should come through. I looks like a close match but it all depends on what Dimitrov turns up.

Bouchard goes through again even though technically Halep retired at 5-0 down in the second set.
Can Bouchard bring consistency to the court now or is this just a flash-in-the-pan run that she has showed before a few times and then crashes out of the next 5 tournaments in the first round...?

yerwanthere123

glasso wrote: »

Bouchard goes through again even though technically Halep retired at 5-0 down in the second set.
Can Bouchard bring consistency to the court now or is this just a flash-in-the-pan run that she has showed before a few times and then crashes out of the next 5 tournaments in the first round...?

Too early to tell with Bouchard. Yeah she's got a couple of decent wins this week, but let's remember that this is just Sharapova's second tournament back and Kerber is playing like trash this year anyway. I'll be surprised and impressed if she can beat Kuznetsova on clay, so for now I think it's a flash in the pan.

mickmackey1

Presumably Genie will now pull out of her contract with Nike, as she no doubt disapproves of their links with Shazza... lol.

Seriously it was quite impressive of her to make a stand, albeit she gives off such a smug and conceited vibe.

Murray beaten again, shambolic.

jr86

Murray and Novak look to be just going through motivational slumps. Djokovic now has the Career Slam, while Murray has finally made world #1. It's hard to really blame them really when you think about it, they've worked endlessly to achieve these goals. Even the slightest slump at the top level is significant

Murray in particular giving a token effort in non-slams is nothing new though

Re the Nadal Kyrgios post above, Kyrgios's Grandfather died a week ago and he admitted himself he wasn't in near the right mindframe for this event

yerwanthere123

Welcome back 60uchard :pac:

Floppybits

jr86 wrote: »

Murray and Novak look to be just going through motivational slumps. Djokovic now has the Career Slam, while Murray has finally made world #1. It's hard to really blame them really when you think about it, they've worked endlessly to achieve these goals. Even the slightest slump at the top level is significant

Murray in particular giving a token effort in non-slams is nothing new though

Re the Nadal Kyrgios post above, Kyrgios's Grandfather died a week ago and he admitted himself he wasn't in near the right mindframe for this event

I wasn't aware of that. I had thought that this would be the type of match Kygrios would be up for and was disappointed with the way the match turned out.

Hard to know with Murray if it's a bad patch or is he just trying to find some form after being off with injury. He was the same when he came back after the back surgery. I notice Lendl hasn't been with him so far for the clay court, Is he going to join him for the lead into the french. I think he needs Lendl around to keep him on a even keel. The grumbling at the box has crept in now and that doesn't happen as much when Lendl is there.

What ever happened to Djokovic at Wimbledon last year still seems to be affecting him now and his mojo is gone. He needs to appoint a new coach soon, someone that can getting him firing on all cylinders again.

mickmackey1

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Presumably Genie will now pull out of her contract with Nike, as she no doubt disapproves of their links with Shazza... lol.

Seriously it was quite impressive of her to make a stand, albeit she gives off such a smug and conceited vibe.

Bouchard crushed by kuznetsova. You're right her speaking out against Sharapova - she managed to come out badly of it herself by being too "high and mighty" in her statements.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

glasso wrote: »

Bouchard crushed by kuznetsova. You're right her speaking out against Sharapova - she managed to come out badly of it herself by being too "high and mighty" in her statements.

Generally speaking I've never really had a problem with Bouchard but I agree with the above. She's perfectly entitled to her opinion, and we know she's not the only one who has it, some of the players in Stuttgart expressed similar sentiment. Bouchard somehow managed to make it all about her though, like it was some sort of personal grudge and she was avenging all of tennis by beating Sharapova, despite the fact she'd already lost since coming back.

On a lighter note, did anyone see this on twitter...

Floppybits

Nishikori has pulled out of his match with Djokovic today. Nishikori has a wrist injury.

RosyLily

Halep into another Madrid final. She's playing so well. Hope she goes far at RG. Her final vs. Sharapova there a few years ago was great!

50th edition of Djokovic-Nadal tomorrow. Djoko leads the H2H 26-23 and has won the past few matches. I'd give the edge to Nadal. He should take advantage of Nole's slump.

lostcat

Well, so far nadal looks more or less like nadal, and djokovic looks not much like djokovic, could be a quick two sets....

mickmackey1

Djokovic had won the last 15 sets v Nadal until now

mickmackey1

So Nadal wins but I don't think Djoker was shocking, in fact I think he would have beaten most players in the draw. But his intensity is clearly gone down several notches, whatever the reason.

Nadal's resurgence is nearly more surprising, there were times over the last 2 years when he looked a dead docket physically. But at stages out there today it was difficult to tell him apart from the 2008 version.

lostcat

mickmackey1 wrote: »

So Nadal wins but I don't think Djoker was shocking, in fact I think he would have beaten most players in the draw. But his intensity is clearly gone down several notches, whatever the reason.

Nadal's resurgence is nearly more surprising, there were times over the last 2 years when he looked a dead docket physically. But at stages out there today it was difficult to tell him apart from the 2008 version.

its time to admit that Nadal is back at something like a high level, I couldn't decide whether he was improving or everyone else was just poor, now I think he is improving.

as for Djokovic, there seem to be fundamental flaws in the way he is playing when compared to this time last year, serve, depth of shot, clarity of thought/consistency of level from game to game.
theres a lot to sort out before he can think about winning a slam again.


talk doing the rounds is that Agassi might be lined up as his 'coach'. This would be interesting but it would only be a part time thing I think, I don't think Agassi could stick it being on the circus 12 months a year.

Floppybits

Nadal has been very impressive in the Clay court part of the season, there is no denying that. He has been helped by the fall off in form of both Murray and Djokovic.   He is definitely the favorite for the French.  Rome will be interesting to see what Murray, Djokovic and Wawrinka turn up. Wawrinka if he is bothered could be a big threat to Nadal in Paris but it is hard to see it at the moment because he hasn't been arsed at these build up tournaments and I wonder if he is saving himself for a go at the French open.

paulie21

Fed pulls out of RG. Obviously feels better chance of winning Wimbledon

lostcat

paulie21 wrote: »

Fed pulls out of RG. Obviously feels better chance of winning Wimbledon

good choice although it will be a kind of a shame if he only plays 5-7 tournaments a year for the next couple of years...then again it only adds to the hype

The chances of him puling something or whatever in Paris was probably too high, and he's taking a look at Nadal and saying, well, really whats the point?

Djokovic himself could do with acquiring an injury and taking a month or so off to sort himself out / get a new coach in place / mindfulness himself back into a bit of form.....

mickmackey1

Says he hopes to return to RG in 2018. Wouldn't put much store on that, considering he said 2 weeks ago he was still planning to play this year.

lostcat

Floppybits wrote: »

Nadal has been very impressive in the Clay court part of the season, there is no denying that. He has been helped by the fall off in form of both Murray and Djokovic. He is definitely the favorite for the French. Rome will be interesting to see what Murray, Djokovic and Wawrinka turn up. Wawrinka if he is bothered could be a big threat to Nadal in Paris but it is hard to see it at the moment because he hasn't been arsed at these build up tournaments and I wonder if he is saving himself for a go at the French open.

No better man than Stan to be able to flick it on and off like that..

lostcat

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Says he hopes to return to RG in 2018. Wouldn't put much store on that, considering he said 2 weeks ago he was still planning to play this year.

Despite Nadals current form, I really don't think he will get a better chance to win another FO than now, if he was really interested in acquiring a double career slam.
I assume he decided to write off the full clay season in January but held off on announcing the FO decision until now out of decency / PR / whatever

Floppybits

lostcat wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

Nadal has been very impressive in the Clay court part of the season, there is no denying that. He has been helped by the fall off in form of both Murray and Djokovic.   He is definitely the favorite for the French.  Rome will be interesting to see what Murray, Djokovic and Wawrinka turn up. Wawrinka if he is bothered could be a big threat to Nadal in Paris but it is hard to see it at the moment because he hasn't been arsed at these build up tournaments and I wonder if he is saving himself for a go at the French open.

No better man than Stan to be able to flick it on and off like that..

Yeah that is the frustrating thing about Stan, he couldn't really give a rats arse about the ATP events, its like I will enter because I have too and if I do well so be it and if I go out early well no skin off my nose.   Hopefully a competitive Stan turns up at the French Open, at the moment it is looking like the french open will be a procession for Nadal. He seems to be the only one interested or in some sort of form at the moment.

mickmackey1

Stan looks to have lost some power and stamina, he is 32 after all. I think his days of just flicking a switch are winding down. Nadal 's crazy clay workload should have some consequences but not for Nadal it seems.