ATP Finals

[jimlosaltos]

I knew he had never beaten Novak but not sure about the other two. Not that it matters. He's developing quickly and is going to beat everyone in his path at some point. As stroke said, his attitude is terrific. You can't help but root for him.

I still miss Roger though. No one matches his shotmaking.

Here's some nostalgia to help ease your/our pain
From Indian Wells 2017

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[stotty]

Here's some nostalgia to help ease your/our pain
From Indian Wells 2017

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Never ceased to amaze me how well Roger watched the ball. Borg was the same. Eyes glued to it.

[stotty]

Finally, ATP site is running now, so I double checked.
Jannik Sinner indeed had never beaten any of these three players before this year: Medvedev, Djokovic, and Rune. Now, he's beaten all 3 for a combined 4 straight wins.


H2H

Sinner 1 Djokovic 3
Interestingly, Sinner's first win comes the only time they've met on a hard court.


Sinner 1, Rune 2
All three of their matches have gone the distance, if one includes a retirement at 2-5.


Sinner 2, Medvedev 6

All 8 of their matches have been on hard courts and prior to Sinner's pair of wins on this year, Sinner had only won 3 sets out of 15 they played. Sinner's two wins this year required him winning tiebreaks on 3 of their 5 sets.
#

Impressive what Sinner has done here. Beating Novak was obviously a good result but even more impressive might be turning round his 0-6 deficit to Meddy. Beating Meddy is always a good benchmark I think.

[jimlosaltos]

Perhaps one reason Sinner didn't tank the dead (to him) rubber is the Big Lire er Euros

Four players top $1 Million dollars (imagine me doing my best Dr. Evil from Austin Powers imitation )
And there are more <bags of money emoji> to come!
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[stroke]

Sinner and Novak are the favorites to meet in The Final. There have been huge crowds there for all the matches. The Tournament evidently is somehow adding a few more seats for the semis and final, as the demand is certainly there.

[stroke]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/u5t98Wj2HHME1dXt6

Sinner wins 1st set with huge crowd support.

[stotty]

Meddy really has let things slip here in the third set. I think the crowd are getting to him, not surprisingly.

[jimlosaltos]

Sinner wins in 3 sets that was a role-reversal of Medy winning their match in Rotterdam finals (if I recall correctly).

There Medy stayed rock solid forcing Sinner to red line. Today, it was Medy that red-lined. Worked to even things in the second, fell apart in the third.

Since Sinner is a former ski great, "In Rotterdam, Sinner got out over his skis. In Turin, it's the Octopus leaning over his tip and face planting."

ATP TDI stats on Jannik. Layman's summary: AWESOME EVERYWHERE ! <g>

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[jimlosaltos]

Craig O'Shannessy/ Braingame on how players no longer fear Djokovic's backhand (He's echoing what I've posted here, therefore he is a GENIUS ! <g> )


Craig: "Keep an eye on the number of forehands and backhands he hits against Alcaraz this evening. If the Spaniard can force the Serb to hit an overabundance of backhands in the Ad court, that is going to make it easier for Carlos to find run-around forehands on his own baseline. That could be the match right there."

In round robin play, Djokovic has been unable to attack with his forehand as much as the other players.

Total Forehands Hit

1. Djokovic = 49.1%
2. Medvedev = 51.8%
3. Sinner = 55.6%
4. Alcaraz = 56.0%

[jimlosaltos]

Small detail but nice improvement that ATP app shows more detail on the surfaces in H2H

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[stroke]

Siinners ball striking in full flight something to behold.

[jimlosaltos]

Some analysts said Cahill has had Sinner watching vid of Agassi explaining this.

Regardless, Sinner might just be displacing Djokovic as having "The Best Down The Line Backhand", especially since Novak hits far fewer these days than he used to.

This shows 17 DTL BH "Winning Plays" {which I presume includes more than outright winners} vs Medvedev by Sinner vs 7 point losers.

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[jimlosaltos]

As I tune in, Alcaraz-Djoko are on serve, the Spaniard serving at 2-3.

So far, Alcaraz has put every one of 11 first serves in play and faced no BPs, while Djokovic has had to save 2 BPs.

Early days but ....

[stotty]

I think you'll find Novak's down the line backhand will be the best in the world tonight against Carlos. I don't think the shot has gone away.

[stotty]

Novak has come out on high alert, deeply aware of the damage Carlos do, hitting big second serves and desperately trying to find a length to keep Carlos at bay. Novak plays so incisively straight out of the blocks against Carlos. I think he is more fearful and wary of Carlos than he ever was of Roger, which is saying something.

4-3 to Novak.