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Post by breezybee on Feb 19, 2012 14:54:16 GMT
Well that was some pretty imressive play from Roger. Quite a change from yesterday. He just never gave Del Potro any rhythm.
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 19, 2012 16:36:23 GMT
Definitely an improvement on yesterday.
And Vika just won too. She's still undefeated this year at 17-0.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 19, 2012 16:45:45 GMT
I think Roger just knows what to do against del Potro. It seemed clear in the match last summer and has carried over.
Vika is doing a very good Djokovic impression. She's got his swagger on the court.
fafaclese - I'm kind of curious what kind of player you mean as comparison to Elena. There are one-slam wonders like Gaston Gaudio and Thomas Johansson but neither had an asterisk with their runs - both had amazing streaks that year of winning and beat legitimate opponents in the final. All of the ladies first-time winners last year still earned it. The one final that comes to mind that could go to your point was when Petr Korda beat Marcelo Rios at AO - between Korda's later suspension and Rios being a jackass, I doubt either had much goodwill.
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 19, 2012 17:33:40 GMT
You know, mooncreek, I almost deleted that post because I couldn't really think of a good example of that, then I thought it would at least be a decent philosophical question even if I couldn't think of a good real life example. For a moment, I thought about that span of time when the top players weren't going to the Aussie Open, but the players who won during that time were very accomplished in the other slams as well. Then I thought about what if Mauresmo had not won a second slam after Henin withdrew from the Aussie final that year, but even if she hadn't won Wimby that year, she already had so much good will and respect before that, that I don't think it would have mattered. I guess Korda/Rios makes the most sense in comparison even though it's not exactly the same thing. I don't know.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 19, 2012 19:01:53 GMT
falafaclese - Actually, after the point I do know one that nearly happened - Mariano Puerta. He had his results starting from the 2005 French Open annuled as a result of his drug suspension. Technically still in the books as the guy who Rafa beat for his first major, that could have been a disaster. You still won't hear a commentator mention this guy.
As I looked up Puerta's run that year, I realize that Davydenko did in fact have one great chance to make a Grand Slam final. He'd beaten Coria, likely the biggest threat in that half of the draw, earlier in the tournament, and had been up 2 sets to 1 on Puerta in their semi.
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 19, 2012 20:52:43 GMT
I never saw it, because it happened right at the end of the time when I wasn't really following tennis, but with regard to Gaudio, could you look at Coria's yips as an asterisk? And feel free to jump all over my completely clinical analysis, but just based on my review of his results around the time, he had a good run of tournaments right before, but was just okay before the clay season started that year, and it doesn't look like he lit the world on fire afterwards. That, coupled with the fact that Coria seemed to disintegrate in the middle of that final (without significant increased pressure from Gaudio?) and then was never the same after might fit the bill. I don't get the sense that Gaudio was particularly disliked as a player or a person, but I also didn't get the sense that he would have been seen as a major threat except for the period of time right after he won the French. Coria, on the other hand, was an established top ten player at the time, and just inexplicably (?) melted down after being in control of the match. Did people at the time think of it as a choke rather than the lower ranked player playing up to the occasion?
ETA: I just noted that he had a good year on clay the next year, so maybe that analogy doesn't work after all, although his results did fall off after that. He seems to have had an impressive run that started with his RG win, but which was not sustainable. Perhaps that's too reductive an analysis.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 20, 2012 4:51:35 GMT
Most everyone agrees that Coria choked in that final. My memory is fuzzy but IIRC Gaudio stepped up near the end of the match but losing the lead was nearly all Coria. But when I think of the term "asterisk", I think there's something that makes the win not legitimate. Coria isn't the first to choke away a final but I wouldn't call the beneficary someone who didn't deserve the win.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 24, 2012 4:55:36 GMT
To lose in a French tournament to a French qualifier ranked #388 who had previously been entering qualifying in challengers and, while he is young at age 20, had no juniors achievements to speak of - I'm thinking that Fish won't skip Memphis next year. It was actually tough to find information about the match even though this is the biggest upset to a Top 10 player in over four years.
If you're wondering how this result is possible, the clue is that Albano Olivetti is 6'8" and there was nothing on his ATP profile indicating his height when I was checking up on him during the match (it's since been updated). So essentially, Fish discovered his qualifier opponent was a Karlovic during warmup.
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 25, 2012 1:30:22 GMT
I was thinking that that is still no excuse for someone at Fish's level, but then I checked his record against Karlovic, and it's 1-5, and Karlovic won their last meeting. Hmmm. I wonder if he scouted Olivetti at all, or if he saw him for the first time in the locker room right before the match? Either way, I'm sure he wasn't thrilled by the height. Still i can't believe someone at his level couldn't handle a match like that.
I left for work this morning with Jankovic firmly in control of the second set against Agi Radwanska. I was really surprised when I checked the score later, and saw that Agi had served JJ a bagel in the third set. Another fact that surprised me was when I checked Agi's record for the year, and saw that the only player to beat Agi this year so far was Vika. She's really maximizing her physical potential.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 25, 2012 17:34:29 GMT
According to the interview, Fish didn't know anything about the guy until the warmup. My biggest issue with the loss is that Fish took a qualifier for granted - he should have at least found out the basics.
Fish will get grief, and deservedly so, but think about what Karlovic and Isner managed to do before anyone knew who they were: Karlovic beat #1-seed-and-defending-champ Lleyton Hewitt first round of Wimbledon and Isner went through a series of third set tiebreakers against quality opponents (highest ranked victim was #12 Haas) en route to the Washington final when ranked in the 400s.
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Post by printwhore2012 on Feb 26, 2012 3:03:11 GMT
JMDP and Llodra in the final! Like JMDP but I love Mika, he never ceases to make me laugh. Juan is too strong not to take this title but I'm rooting for Mika.
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Post by breezybee on Feb 28, 2012 14:19:10 GMT
I just read that Martina Navratilova is going to be on this season's Dancing with the Stars. I'm having trouble picturing Martina being graceful in some slinky number. She's an amazing athlete and one of my all time favourite tennis players but ball room danicng? Maybe not so much.
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Post by harry24 on Feb 28, 2012 15:18:05 GMT
She could hardly be worse than Monica Seles, who was probably the worst woman contestant I can remember on DWTS. And it would give me someone to root for, which I haven't had in years. And, yes, I watch DWTS. What of it?!!!!!
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 29, 2012 17:31:21 GMT
Eight of the top ten men played Dubai - and seven of them made the quarterfinals! Lone loser is Fish, who isn't playing like an even decent player this year but doesn't have many points to defend until Wimbledon. He will likely stay in the Top 10 until the summer. Isner is right now ranked #11 but would need a strong run at a Masters event mixed with a nice clay result or two to actually make the jump to Top 10 before the French Open (the gap is over 600 points).
After watching Marko Djokovic play Andrey Golubev, I have to say I feel a little bad for him beyond the nonsense around getting that wild card in the first place. Marko is clearly copying Novak's style, even wore a shirt of Novak's that had "Nole" on it. But when your own parents think your little brother is the "special one" and your older brother is Novak, you're kind of fucked no matter what.
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Post by harry24 on Mar 2, 2012 15:31:13 GMT
I'm enjoying watching the Dubai tournament this week (thanks to having TTC again). The commenting has been good, but I am getting so sick of the British commenters (especially the woman, whose name I keep missing) constantly ending their statements with a question. "He really is going strong, isn't he?" "It's a shame about the bad call, isn't it?" Any Brits on this board? Is this common over there?
I know Mary Carillo has adopted this habit, and it drives me even crazier with her because she sounds so affected when she says it. But these announcers say it even more. [/end of rant]
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