lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
|
Post by lt on Nov 25, 2010 17:59:21 GMT
I think the doubles final is streaming live (for free). I think I saw that on ATP.com. And it looks like TTC is now battling Comcast--TTC wants to be on Comcast basic and Comcast is refusing. TTC has gone to the FCC for help.
I did skip it, I'm afraid. I got into the arena in the middle of the match tiebreak so I watched on the TVs set up at the arena. I wish I had gotten to see them lose because I saw them on TV win their match against Dlouhy and Paes this morning. Poor Dlouhy and Paes. This was just not their tournament.
They were, and I loved them. It was funny because they both wear Lotto. The colors were complementary and the arena is kept so dark that I really liked seeing the bright colors. Goodness knows it was better than Rafa's mess of an outfit. I really thought when David broke back in the second set that he was going to get to a third set. Darn. Just like with his match against Roger, you could see David struggle to get his game to work. . . but he couldn't do it. I have a question re: how to pronounce David's name. When he did his little intro package he definitely did not pronounce his name Daveed. It was more like Dahvid. But he's not the easiest person to understand when he's talking english because he talks so softly. Is Daveed the wrong way to pronounce his name? I know I was pronouncing Feli wrong for ages until I heard Verdasco mention his name.
John Cleese walked by me on Tuesday! Maradona did the day before but since I know nothing about soccer I didn't know who he was until the next day. All I knew was the crowd was astir when walked by so I knew it was someone big. I also walked past Jonas Bjorkman after the match. Nice to see Bjorkman become such a champion for Swedish tennis in his retirement.
On Wednesday I had an afternoon to kill before my flight so I went back to the arena to see who was practicing (and to see Harry Potter--what better place to see a movie set all in England but England?) and saw Melzer and Petzschner again. That makes it one match and two practice sessions. Weird. I also caught a quick glimpse of Murray as he was leaving his practice session. He's tall. They had a big screen set up in the Fan Zone (where two of the practice courts are) so I saw a bit of Roddick losing. I do hope he wins tomorrow against Djoker. I'd hate for Roddick to lose all three round robin matches.
Oh, and how much I loved the hotel I stayed at is how much I will NOT be flying Virgin Atlantic again. I'm of completely average height and as soon as I sit down my knees were hitting the seat back ahead of me. And I'm of completely average width and I was all squinched into the narrow seat. Thank goodness I had an aisle seat so I could stretch my legs out once and a while. And bad inflight entertainment on the way back because the plane was so old. And you know how they advertise those single pods for the first and business class people? Granted, they looked way better than what I was sitting in but they didn't look nearly as big and comfortable as I thought they would.
|
|
lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
|
Post by lt on Nov 26, 2010 15:46:41 GMT
I did see the guy who plays Arthur in the BBC's Merlin 'cause I'm watching the Rafa/Berdych match on TV and he's sitting next to Uncle Toni right now. He's not with Rafa's people, he appears to be on the other side of a mini-barrier.
And, boy, Rafa and Berdych are not friends, huh?
|
|
|
|
Post by breezybee on Nov 26, 2010 16:08:29 GMT
Yeah, I'm reading online about some sort of dispute regarding a call Rafa challenged. I think there is a bit of bad blood there, same as Nadal and Soderling. Did it get worse after that lt?
Nadal has been really vocal this tournament. He got all up in the supervisor's face when Djoker took such a long time about his contact lens. He was pissed that he was getting hassled for taking too long between points but Djoker could take as long as he wanted with his eye. Of course, Nadal could quit taking 40 seconds between each point and then the umpires wouldn't be on his case all of the time.
I'm sure Djoker did have a problem with his contact lens but he's lost so much credibility due to his plethora of ailments. He'll probably have a chapped lips incident during his Roddick match.
|
|
|
|
Post by mooncreek on Nov 26, 2010 18:52:39 GMT
I would have figured a contact lens incident would have made more sense if Djokovic was playing Roddick. He's had everything else.
The dispute call: have never seen Rafa get that angry. At one point in his rant, he actually threatened to stop playing! Not knowing what he'd said at the time of the match, I kind of figured after that Berdych was screwed.
ETA: Though, supporting the Nadal and Berdych not getting along part, here's Berdych's comments about that:
“It just shows how the referee is probably scared of him and just let him talk with him too long,” world number six Berdych, whose chances of reaching the semis on his debut at the tournament vanished, told reporters.
“I was waiting while he was talking for like three minutes. He was like sitting there and he’s not going to play, stuff like that. It’s not the mistake of Rafa. It’s the mistake of the referee. He just needed to show him that it’s not like he can do whatever he wants on the court.”
|
|
|
|
Post by breezybee on Nov 26, 2010 20:44:35 GMT
I can not believe Djoker came out to play Roddick wearing an eye patch. Did he forget the cane and seeing eye dog in the locker room?
|
|
|
|
Post by GrandSlamGuru on Nov 27, 2010 0:41:33 GMT
Ha! I saw the eye patch too. He just can't help himself with all the theatrics. He looked like a damn fool.
|
|
lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
|
Post by lt on Nov 27, 2010 0:51:03 GMT
I missed the beginning of the match so I didn't get to see the eye patch. Although I'm going to steal this:
for every time I talk about Djoker. Hope you don't mind, grandslamguru. I really wish Roddick had been able to play better against him. I wasn't too surprised that Ferrer went down 0-3 but I'm kinda shocked that Roddick couldn't win a match.
breezy, like mooncreek said, it was that Rafa got so very angry about the call. It was weird. The commentators talked about some incident that happened in Madrid between Rafa and Berdych but I don't know what that was about.
|
|
|
|
Post by breezybee on Nov 27, 2010 1:13:20 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by acre on Nov 27, 2010 12:47:36 GMT
Holy shit I now seem to get TTC! I was searching to see if there was any tennis to record and it all came up Tennis, Tennis, Tennis - when I suddenly noticed there wasn't the notice that "this channel can not be recorded". Did a doubletake, checked it out and presto. I don't even have it in my channel listing(favorites) cause it was a non-entity for me, so I had to look at the listing to even know the channel number. I have ATT U-verse for anyone else who maybe doesn't know they've suddenly acquired it.
So yay for me, but I still think it sucks that too many are shut out of coverage since it's not in the package level of like ESPN. Sorry I missed what seem to have been some good matches. And now I'm all nervous for Fed, that maybe he's used up all his best play and is due for a letdown. He was going gangbusters at that last tourny and whoosh out at the semi's, and obviously Djok is a player who can legitimately beat him, even at the big occasions. Unlike, say, Murray - who can definitely beat Roger except on the big occasions!
I actually think that Djok is kinda funny with the eyepatch. Yeah, it's silly, and it highlights a negative incident, but I think he has at least a little sense of humor about himself. Which would be a remarkable achievement considering the level of worship his family has about him, really what chance does the guy have? I think there's good basic material there, warped by the atmosphere and adulation he's surrounded with.
Of course I'd like to see a Roger-Rafa final, especially considering their semi opponents are not my favorite guys. Murray, Djok, don't love them. Don't hate them, and have to acknowledge they have great and entertaining games, but even apart from that "everybody" wants the big Roger-Rafa matchup. Except "sniffle" I expect Roger would lose that, and that's never fun for me. But hey, get to the final at least.
Thanks for all the reports lt.
|
|
|
|
Post by falafaclese on Nov 27, 2010 14:59:54 GMT
Congrats acre! Enjoy! Hopefully it's a permanent change for you.
Rafa really does look like a vacationing pensioner. It's really quite an interesting confluence of color. Has Rafa put on some muscle? he looks a bit thicker (in a good way). In spite of Rafa's get-up, this is a pretty good semifinal match between Rafa and Moose so far.
|
|
|
|
Post by acre on Nov 27, 2010 16:40:41 GMT
Thanks fala. Lordy, I have to say I think Rafa looks just awful! Take a good looking, supremely fit athlete and do everything you can to make him look bad? That outfit, yikes. And though I'm sure he has barely an ounce of body fat, I do think he looks too bulky, too thick. Not that he's over-bulked up and it's hurting him like it did Jankovic, his results are fantastic. But it's the worst I've ever seen him look, and seriously, it has to take some effort to make him look so bad, when he just naturally looks good.
Fun to see that it's a competitive match, though not surprising really. Murray has always been a tough match up for him. Still expect him to win though. They're all crazy competitive, but Rafa does seem to just want it even more than the rest of them. Sheer refusal to lose. Well, we'll see, I could be proved wrong - Murray is also the real deal.
|
|
|
|
Post by falafaclese on Nov 27, 2010 17:35:54 GMT
Good match! I was surprised that Rafa wasn't able to serve it out the first time, but to have that match end in a tiebreak is kind of fitting given how they were both playing today. I was rooting for Rafa though, so I'm happy. Too bad for Murray though. I like him, and he was definitely playing well today. He deserved a win too. Now I just hope the second semi ends the way I'd like it to.
|
|
|
|
Post by acre on Nov 27, 2010 17:58:28 GMT
Yeah, I kept leaving the match and then checking back and was amazed how it just kept going! That one had to hurt, well for either of them, soooo close. I like Rafa better than Murray, but in my Fed-centric view of the world, I think I'd prefer him to face Murray in the final, I think his odds are better. Not that beating Djok is by any means a given!
It is great though to see these truly top players compete all at once, it's easy to see that they really are the best, and the nature of most tourny's is that you don't get too many of these matchups. They've put on quite a show overall. The top 4/5 have really asserted themselves - I say 4/5 cause I do think generally Murray is a better player than Sod, even though he dropped below him in the ranking.
Now it's nailbiting time for me, waiting for Roger. Oh, and I see the Bryan's lost, I'm surprised noone has commented, they are so universally reviled here. Not that I like them, either, but I just don't really care about doubles anymore - how can I, when I never see any?
|
|
|
|
Post by mooncreek on Nov 27, 2010 18:48:52 GMT
acre - you are safe calling them Top 4 again since Murray passed Soderling with his win over Ferrer. He certainly played like one today.
|
|
lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
|
Post by lt on Nov 27, 2010 19:25:15 GMT
That's a good point. Beaker and his family dynamic has the air of a child actor around it.
acre, so glad you now have the TTC and really glad you noticed before the end of the season.
I was ecstatic to watch the Bryans lose. There was a lot of gamesmanship and poor sportsmanship (on both sides) going on in that match. There was leaping over the net when winning a point and everything. Quite ugly. The chair ump had to step in and defuse the situation at one point.
There is really no excuse for TTC to not show doubles. They have the time and with most people having high definition the quick points are really visible. Good doubles is breathtaking--especially since most of the singles players don't rush the net like all the best doubles players still do. And I'm watching my Max right now. He and Mahesh are up a set over the Poles and I would just love to see them play Nestor/Zimonijic tomorrow. For anyone with TTC--the doubles final is at 10:30 am ET tomorrow. For those without, the ATP site has free streaming of the final.
Sad for Murray but happy for Rafa. Although, knowing that Andy could take over the 3 spot if he had beat Rafa and if Roger beats Djoker did have me rooting more for Andy. Big picture stuff.
eta: Oh, and something that has been bothering me watching on TV--TTC should not have a crawl. The news is never current so it doesn't work like ESPN's crawl does and is distracting.
eta2: How much do I love when teeny little Davidoff (Mahesh's coach) gives big tall Nikolai Mirnyi (Max's dad) a hug? He doesn't even come up to his chest. And YEAH! Max is back in the finals! Playing against his 2011 partner. . .
|
|
