2021 In Between Grand Slam Thread

yerwanthere123 · 20-03-2021 6:13pm

lostcat wrote: »

Djokovic joins Nadal, Federer and Thiem in avoiding Miami, looks like European Clay is the next time we will see anything like a complete field on the mens side.

Thiem isn't playing either, so the event is very sparse. Will be the first time since Bercy 2004 that either Federer, Nadal or Djokovic haven't played a masters. Will be a pretty open event, and a glimpse at what awaits the ATP in a few years time when all three are retired.

Karatsev wins his first ever title at the age of 27, beats Lloyd Harris in the Dubai final. Now climbing to #27 in the rankings, he was #253 as recently as last August. Harris had a fine run too, had to win two qualifying matches and then beat Thiem, Krajinovic, Nishikori and Shapovalov along the way to reach the final. Tsitsipas-Zverev final in Acapulco in the early hours of tomorrow morning, could be a decent match.

On the WTA side, it's been an uncharacteristically solid start to the season for Muguruza, two finals and then a title in Dubai, her biggest title since 2017. Will be interesting for the clay season if she can keep it going. Nice to see Kvitova win the title in Doha too, her 28th career title. #30 won't be long coming I'm sure.

Also been impressed by Swiatek's start to the season. She got comprehensively beaten by Muguruza in Dubai but she'd been doing well before that, winning her second career title in Adelaide after a very solid Australian Open. Will be looking forward to seeing what she can do during the clay season also.

whiterebel · 20-03-2021 6:41pm

Karatsev was unplayable yesterday against Rublev a lot of the time. In the other semi final it seemed to be difficult to hit through the court, then Karatsev comes on and hits winners from all angles. Forehand, backhand it didn’t seem to matter. I didn’t think Harris would be able to manage what was his 8th match in 8 days. He’ll be sore tomorrow.

Hector Savage · 22-03-2021 12:15pm

Karetsev, what a turnaround for a player that was throwing matches in a betting scandal a few years back - allegedly

these are exhibition matches from last year but were bettable .

el midhawy is ranked ~ 600 and is a terrible player who cannot win a single match at ITF level
odds of 8.00 in that match so it was enough for karatsev to bet 2k against himself to make 16k

days earlier he only sold the 1st set against the same player.

that el mihdawy player is so bad that even in his best day he could not win more than 2 games vs karatsev in a set
the problem is that it is hard to catch the players when the money is coming from 1 account, it has to be coming from a lot of accounts for it to be reported at the tennis integrity unit, obviously the betting account was never in his name, he has a friend of a friend of a friend etc. who operates it.

Mad stuff

[Deleted User] · 23-03-2021 1:05am

bummer for him that the prize money for the winner in Dubai is nearly 75% down from last year at just under $150k

lostcat · 23-03-2021 11:57pm

glasso wrote: »

bummer for him that the prize money for the winner in Dubai is nearly 75% down from last year at just under $150k

he will be ok, his elevated ranking will get him into better paying tournaments for the next while, he should be able to make some hay while the sun shines.

Murray out of Miami with a groin strain, the road back for him keeps getting longer unfortunately. I assume it's not possible to get a wild card into a slam like Wimbledon? he may need one..

I don't comment much on the women's game as I don't watch enough, but have to give a hat tip to Halep for her keepie-uppies, impressive! (and no, the irony is not lost on me..)

yerwanthere123 · 24-03-2021 12:59am

Del Potro having yet another knee surgery. Don't think we'll be seeing him back on court again unfortunately.

[Deleted User] · 24-03-2021 8:35pm

Was more to highlight the effect of covid on smaller tournament prize money tbh

Haven't looked at the tournament line ups that closely compared to last year but may well mean that some bigger players couldn't be arsed travelling for some tournaments like that at the moment

lostcat · 25-03-2021 8:56pm

glasso wrote: »

Was more to highlight the effect of covid on smaller tournament prize money tbh

yeah it is an issue, but it I think it will affect players where Karatev was (i.e. those the wrong side of rank 100) rather than where he is ranked now.

500 levels tournaments were just about worth going to for most players even pre-covid.

In a related matter, Popisil went off on a very strange rant - during a match - about being seriously abused on a zoom call by the Chair of the ATP. There must be war behind the scenes about prize money etc. Popisil is a key driver of the newly formed 'Players Union' who are... somewhat at odds... with the ATP over prize money and all that.

Joe_ Public · 03-04-2021 5:37pm

Barty v Andreescu coming up should be a good final in miami. Been a good tournament though osaka rather let the side down again with a tame enough exit. Barty is favourite but have a feeling Andreescu might give a flash of her serious potential today.

Joe_ Public · 03-04-2021 7:17pm

Guess i couldn't have been more wrong about that. Andreescu retires at 3-6 0-4, just completely bossed from the outset, long before the slip that precipitated her retirement. Seriously good serving from barty, hard to stop in that form.

yerwanthere123 · 04-04-2021 2:19pm

Didn't see the women's final but shame to hear how to went. It's been a great return to form for Andreescu after over a year out of the game, hopefully a sign of things to come. I guess Barty's answered a few questions for those who doubt the legitimacy of her being #1... but I still think it's ridiculous she has 2000 points on her ranking for a tournament that she won almost two years ago. Same with Andreescu and her Indian Wells points.

The men's side has been interesting too, baby Korda is a nifty little player. Reminds me of a younger Zverev when he used to try and occasionally hit winners. Hoping the final is good later. I thought one of Medvedev or Tsitsipas might step up to the plate in the absence of the big 3, but not to be. Sinner is first teenager to reach the Miami final since Djokovic back in 2007. He's also the fourth teenager to reach the final overall, the other three being Agassi, Nadal and Djokovic. Bodes well, I wonder how many more masters final he'll reach in the coming years.

[Deleted User] · 06-04-2021 12:47am

Nadal and Djokovic not even bothering to go the Masters 1000 events now in the current climate.

lostcat · 06-04-2021 8:38pm

Well, Hurkacz wouldn't have been my guess as the next new Masters champion but he beat a few bigger names on the way and looks a tidy player. Hard to imagine Sinner not having a much higher ceiling than him however if he keeps progressing.

Talk of the FO being postponed is not what I wanted to hear, maybe they are not willing to (can't afford to?) hold it behind closed doors again. Most of the bigger fish are due to play Monaco next week, with Federer looking to return for Madrid at the start of May.

whiterebel · 08-04-2021 2:09pm

FO back a week. I doubt that is the last move on it though, this new Breton variant isn't good news.
Toni Nadal to coach FAA should be good news for Felix. I'd say Toni still has some magic left for the right player.

whiterebel · 08-04-2021 6:31pm

Musetti beats Evans in a really good match. He is some player, and Alcaraz looks like he could beat Lopez in Marbella. He has some speed around the court.

lostcat · 08-04-2021 10:46pm

whiterebel wrote: »

.
Toni Nadal to coach FAA should be good news for Felix. I'd say Toni still has some magic left for the right player.

That's interesting, I would have thought that the somewhat.....oldschool.....training techniques which worked on a young Rafa might not be entirely acceptable to todays youngsters. Maybe Toni has mellowed in the meantime...

dominatinMC · 09-04-2021 11:58am

lostcat wrote: »

That's interesting, I would have thought that the somewhat.....oldschool.....training techniques which worked on a young Rafa might not be entirely acceptable to todays youngsters. Maybe Toni has mellowed in the meantime...

Acceptable? If these guys want to have any chance of winning, maybe they should ditch the entitlement and embrace the hard work.

lostcat · 09-04-2021 3:02pm

dominatinMC wrote: »

Acceptable? If these guys want to have any chance of winning, maybe they should ditch the entitlement and embrace the hard work.

Yeah, I know, but there's a wider debate/mentality shift out there.

On a broader societal level one keeps hearing about 'millennials' having a very different take on life and life/work balance. Whether they are right or wrong is kind of beside the point, it's a thing. Look at the recent Goldman Sachs issue, look at 'old school' hard nosed football managers not having quite the same success..and so on.

It goes without saying that someone looking to be top 20 in the world in the field of - whatever - needs to be extremely driven/focused as well as extremely gifted. But the US Marines 'break them down to build them up' looks like it only generally works anymore in, well, the Marines.

it will be interesting to see how they get on, it smacks a bit of Murray/Lendl, but Murray is a glutton for punishment in a way that say.. Zverev...may not be.

whiterebel · 09-04-2021 4:00pm

Toni will bring something new to FAA's game, no doubt. Whether it is a mental thing or tweaks to his game he'll improve. He must want it badly to approach uncle Toni, which is a good start. If you want it badly enough you will always be able to bring something better to your game; look at Fed with Edberg, Nadal with Moya, ND with Becker, Massu with Thiem. I think you can see with Zverev he's just not willing to go the extra. I'd love to see Shapovalov get someone to bring him to the next level.

whiterebel · 13-04-2021 3:28pm

Medvedev tests positive. Apparently has been practicing with Nadal and ND for the last 2 days........

josip · 13-04-2021 3:43pm

whiterebel wrote: »

Medvedev tests positive. Apparently has been practicing with Nadal and ND for the last 2 days........

Djokovic would probably be safe enough after contracting Covid during his Adria Tour cock up last year.

whiterebel · 13-04-2021 3:49pm

josip wrote: »

Djokovic would probably be safe enough after contracting Covid during his Adria Tour cock up last year.

You can get it a second time. They say immunity last 3-6 months after having it.

josip · 13-04-2021 4:16pm

whiterebel wrote: »

You can get it a second time. They say immunity last 3-6 months after having it.

I think it's a bit longer than 3-6 months.

As seen in previous studies, the number of antibodies ranged widely between individuals. But, promisingly, their levels remained fairly stable over time, declining only modestly at 6 to 8 months after infection.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lasting-immunity-found-after-recovery-covid-19
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/health/coronavirus-immunity.html

whiterebel · 13-04-2021 5:32pm

josip wrote: »

I think it's a bit longer than 3-6 months.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lasting-immunity-found-after-recovery-covid-19
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/health/coronavirus-immunity.html

Not according to recent examples in Ireland. It seemed to shake the whole immunity belief. They were going on 3 months, now up to 6. 3 in Galway got it a second time, and that has to be within 12 months. Those articles seem to say "May", "hope" "up to" and "hopefully" quite a bit.

I won't be trusting any of them until they have a lot more data. Anyway, back to the tennis....

Floppybits · 15-04-2021 2:27pm

Dan Evans has beaten Djokovic at Monte Carlo. :eek:

josip · 15-04-2021 2:42pm

Floppybits wrote: »

Dan Evans has beaten Djokovic at Monte Carlo. :eek:

Changing of the guard

gmisk · 15-04-2021 3:09pm

Floppybits wrote: »

Dan Evans has beaten Djokovic at Monte Carlo. :eek:

I saw that.
Djokovic must have had a shocker, is Dan Evans not also generally terrible on clay? I think he has only won a couple of matches on it in last few years!

Hector Savage · 15-04-2021 3:17pm

Wow, really at this point Djokovic should just skip clay, there is no point battling to the final of rolland garros to lose badly to a superhuman pumped up machine that will continue to dominate clay for the next decade.

Focus on Wimbledon, Olympics and USO, and all back for AO next year, those events he actually has a shot at winning ...

whiterebel · 15-04-2021 3:51pm

gmisk wrote: »

I saw that.
Djokovic must have had a shocker, is Dan Evans not also generally terrible on clay? I think he has only won a couple of matches on it in last few years!

Evans played quite well, but ND hit 45 UEs. Evans served and volleyed and used the defensive slice and drop shots a good bit. The joys of practicing with Fed I think.

yerwanthere123 · 15-04-2021 4:16pm

Well done Dan :cool:

2021 In Between Grand Slam Thread

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