The Tennis Thread

[Faulkner]

I know. I almost had a heart attack watching that. One of the most intense tiebreakers I've watched. Too bad Kohlschreiber wilted in that third set.

[Soapsuds]

It was a great match that ended after 1am. Yeah, you could tell DelPo ran out of gas because he should have won the match.

I was surprised how well Kohlshreiber played. His game has been tailing off the last few years. Nice to see him playing well again.

[Soapsuds]

Steve Trump Johnson has pulled out of his QF match against Cilic....his ankle that he turned over yesterday.

[Faulkner]

Yikes, Thiem goes out to Sam Effin' Querrey.

[Soapsuds]

Thiem looked tired. Sam still sucks. He is one awful player who gets lucky once in a blue moon and wins a big match.

 

1. Thiem has played too much.

2. Thiem's matches were also schedule at 10pm and finished till after midnight.

3. Sam's matches were always on first.....a clear disadvantage for Thiem.

 

Maybe it will give Thiem time to rest for the bigger tournaments with Indian Wells and Miami coming up. They are worth more points and Thiem already won this tourney last year.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

Thiem often plays too much, LOL. Last year he had this same issue.

 

I missed the match completely so I can't honestly speak to what happened but Sam seems capable of pulling off the occasional win, especially if the better player is not playing consistently during the match.

 

Sometimes it's also matchups in tennis. Have Thiem and Querrey played before? What's their head-to-head?

 

Many of the top players in Dubai are dropping like flies too! Not sure what's happening this week.

[Faulkner]

Apparently Thiem beat Querrey in straights at last year's Acapulco. That was their only previous meeting.

 

Novak is playing Kyrgios for the first time right now, and Nick is in scary form on serve. I remember that Nick beat Fed the first and only time they played.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Faulkner

[Soapsuds]

Well the Acapulco tournament is over for me...LOL  I don't care for who is left. Not a fan of any of them.

[DramatistDreamer]

Nick is sort of like DelPo in the way that neither fear playing the top guys (the one exception for Nick is Andy Murray, which he seems to have a bromance with but fumbles when he plays).

 

I also think the major difference between DelPo and Kyrgios is that Nick has expressed a hatred  of tennis,which I don't think is just hyperbole- I believe him. Andre Agassi, in his memoir expressed the same hatred of tennis. Interestingly enough Andre spoke about Nick's talent and potential to win majors in the future but also cautioned that only Nick could make the decision to train effectively enough to make that happen, no one else could convince him. Only Nick could decide that he wanted it and would go after it. Agassi's interview was very interesting. He seemed to sympathize with Nick, in a way yet he also said, coaching him would probably be a waste of time unless Nick decided he wanted to put the effective training in.

[Soapsuds]

IMO Kyrgios is overrated. He has one awful backhand even though many of the ESPN cast rave about it. His forehand is too blah for my tastes and his serve too. And don't get me started on his lousy attitude at times....LOL

[ChitHappens]

Novak, please get Boris on the phone!  

[Faulkner]

Kyrgios defeated Novak, who completely collapsed in that last game. Until that last brain fart of a game, I actually thought Novak played the best I've seen him play in a while. He was just up against a hot opponent.

 

Seriously, Kyrgios' serve was basically unplayable. One of the commentators said it was Sampras-like, and that's pretty accurate.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Faulkner

[Soapsuds]

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His game has completely gone off the rails.

[DramatistDreamer]

Sorry but I disagree with the assessment of Kyrgios being overrated.

 

If anything, he doesn't know what he wants. If he were to train at the level that the other guys in the Top 15 trains, he'd be getting better results far more consistently. He hasn't even had a coach for a year now.

 

He's beaten Roger, Rafa and now Novak.  He'd have beaten Murray by now, if he didn't think that Murray hung the moon.

 

Jerzy Janowicz was overrated when he was cast as tennis' next giant killer (having only beaten one of the big four). I don't know whether Nick will ever fully realize his talent but I don't put Nick in that category with the likes of Rosol or Janowicz.

 

[Faulkner]

I'm not too worried about Novak. I thought he was in decent form today against a huge server he'd never played before. I think there's reason to be optimistic based on his performance.

 

Interestingly, Nishikori has beaten Kyrgios all three times they've played. Gasquet has beaten Nick five times (same as Murray) but lost to him twice.