ATP 1000 Coupe Rogers 2013, Montreal, Canada

[don_budge]

Of all the Americans in the draw at the beginning of the tournament none remain after the first round. John Isner bows to Canadian Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Good fight from Isner...probably exhausted from his previous week where he lost to Del Potro in the finals.

A Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal semifinal possibility looming...although much work is yet to be done. Radek Stepanek has repeated his dramatic Davis Cup result over Nicolas Almagro in a first round match. Practically everyone is there...except for Roger Federer. He's in Switzerland nursing a sore back, sleeping in his own bed and fiddling with his new racquet. I hope that it is the right stick for him.

Tomas Berdych looks to have a reasonable draw with David Ferrer a possibility in the quarterfinals with Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Murray playing in the projected quarterfinal in the same half.

I thought that I would start this thread to see if anything of interest materializes in the lead up to the 2013 U. S. Open Championships. We shall see what we shall see.

[klacr]

There's interest from me don_budge! Thanks for starting the thread.

As far as Isner's loss goes, This article says it all...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/sp...ears.html?_r=0


Djokovic looked very solid in his win over Florian Mayer.
Nadal, Murray and Berdych are playing today. Still early in event but we'll see how things shake out. Hoping for a big summer from Berdych. As usual.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Federer needs a more powerful stick. Looks like it is too flexy, and he needs to string at 59/61 vs/alu.

[don_budge]

It isn't a Slam...but it's a rainy day in Sweden

So there isn't a whole hell of a lot to do...besides looking out of my window at the peaceful Swedish countryside.

But they are playing tennis in Montreal and there are eight tennis matches of relative interest to the tennis playing world. In four of them the opponents have never met each other...at least not on the tennis court. That's interesting...sort of. Remember there isn't much to do.

Djokovic vs. Istomin...Novak leads 2-0. Soon to be 3-0.

Nishikori vs. Gasquet..."Cocaine Lips" leads 2-0. Make it 3-0.

Nadal vs. Janowicz...Never played before. Nadal baptizes Janowicz...but not without a fight from "Jerzy Joe".

Matosevic vs. Paire...Never played before. Paire wins...in deference to Stotty.

Berdych vs. Pospisil...Never played before. Berdych in a butt spanking.

Davydenko vs. Bogomolov...Tied at a victory apiece 1-1. Two Russians...one a U. S. transplant. Give it to Snowden...I mean Bogomolov as a possible spy. Davydenko two three setters in two days...Bogomolov coming off a big win against David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4. What gives with that?

Del Potro vs. Raonic...Never played before. Del Potro wins in the battle of the Titans. Unfortunately one of them is not as mobile as the other.

Murray vs. Gulbis...Murray leads 5-0. Make it 6-0 in spite of that fishy swimming forehand that is all the rave.

Yawn....

[klacr]

The more and more...

Watching this Nadal-Janowicz match. Janowicz had the first set on his racquet.

The more and more I watch Janowicz, the more I like him. I really like him.

I wasn't sold on him during Paris Indoors last year, but I'm buying lots of stock now. Hope there is still room on the band wagon. (Not giving up my seat on the Berdych Bandwagon though. Never)

The more I see him, the more I see my younger self. Physically imposing, likes to attack, variety, occasionally goes big on 2nd serves, unpredictable and an enormous variance in quality of play can change mid-game. Sometimes we're geniuses and sometimes we are the complete opposite. Sometimes our variety and choice of options gets us in deeper trouble but desire to play perfectly or make the low percentage shot is our undoing. Sadly, its not because we don't recognize it's a low-percentage shot, we do, we see it, but we're confident we can hit it...until we miss it. There's still so much to learn and so much room to grow, but we'll get there. One day.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Nadal defeats Janowicz 7-6, 6-4

Watching this Nadal-Janowicz match. Janowicz had the first set on his racquet.

The more and more I watch Janowicz, the more I like him. I really like him.

I wasn't sold on him during Paris Indoors last year, but I'm buying lots of stock now. Hope there is still room on the band wagon. (Not giving up my seat on the Berdych Bandwagon though. Never)

The more I see him, the more I see my younger self. Physically imposing, likes to attack, variety, occasionally goes big on 2nd serves, unpredictable and an enormous variance in quality of play can change mid-game. Sometimes we're geniuses and sometimes we are the complete opposite. Sometimes our variety and choice of options gets us in deeper trouble but desire to play perfectly or make the low percentage shot is our undoing. Sadly, its not because we don't recognize it's a low-percentage shot, we do, we see it, but we're confident we can hit it...until we miss it. There's still so much to learn and so much room to grow, but we'll get there. One day.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Me thinks that the jury is still out on Jerzy. Yes...he is awesome at times but against the first two opponents in this tournament he struggled and won in three set on both occasions. Not that either of those guys were slouches but he is going to have to learn to get his head in the game from the first point until the end. He spends too much of his time on the court where he seems to be betwixt and between. Not focused. At odds with the game...perhaps with himself.

But of course it is hard to ignore the serve...or rather the potential of his serve. He double faulted nine times against Nadal and when he was under pressure it showed. It looks as if he is struggling with the timing which is unfortunate considering the guy is 6' 9" tall or something like that. His grip appears to be a bit too strong...sort of continental perhaps...but he needs to be more around towards the backhand grip. He needs more spin on his serve...he steps up and blasts the first one and then he is left with a second serve that doesn't have adequate spin...he get nervous and with his little pin point stance he loses the feel and his comfort zone. I believe that John's comments about the pinpoint in his "Role of the Legs" article this month might be a good read for Jerzy.

His use of the drop shot is a good strategy as it brings these guys that play strictly from the baseline in out of their comfort zone but if he overuses it they use it against him.

He certainly is intriguing though. He has a lot of what is lacking on the tour in general...charisma. He is not afraid to show his emotions but he will have to guard against being flamboyant for the sake of being flamboyant. Some of his stuff is borderline grandstanding and he doesn't want to get the reputation of being a "hot dog". It was kind of funny though how he was "over apologizing" when he hit net cords. Both hands high in the air for an inordinate length of time.

I think that the jury is still out on Jerzy. The thing about the top players is the consistency of their performances week in and week out. He served for the first set against Nadal and he served a very weak game as he is struggling with his confidence on his serve. If I were him I would submit some video to TennisPlayer.net so that we might have a bit of a look see...if you know what I mean.

[don_budge]

It's a race...

between klacr and tennis_chiro. Who will submit first?

[klacr]

Me thinks that the jury is still out on Jerzy. Yes...he is awesome at times but against the first two opponents in this tournament he struggled and won in three set on both occasions. Not that either of those guys were slouches but he is going to have to learn to get his head in the game from the first point until the end. He spends too much of his time on the court where he seems to be betwixt and between. Not focused. At odds with the game...perhaps with himself.

But of course it is hard to ignore the serve...or rather the potential of his serve. He double faulted nine times against Nadal and when he was under pressure it showed. It looks as if he is struggling with the timing which is unfortunate considering the guy is 6' 9" tall or something like that. His grip appears to be a bit too strong...sort of continental perhaps...but he needs to be more around towards the backhand grip. He needs more spin on his serve...he steps up and blasts the first one and then he is left with a second serve that doesn't have adequate spin...he get nervous and with his little pin point stance he loses the feel and his comfort zone. I believe that John's comments about the pinpoint in his "Role of the Legs" article this month might be a good read for Jerzy.

His use of the drop shot is a good strategy as it brings these guys that play strictly from the baseline in out of their comfort zone but if he overuses it they use it against him.

He certainly is intriguing though. He has a lot of what is lacking on the tour in general...charisma. He is not afraid to show his emotions but he will have to guard against being flamboyant for the sake of being flamboyant. Some of his stuff is borderline grandstanding and he doesn't want to get the reputation of being a "hot dog". It was kind of funny though how he was "over apologizing" when he hit net cords. Both hands high in the air for an inordinate length of time.

I think that the jury is still out on Jerzy. The thing about the top players is the consistency of their performances week in and week out. He served for the first set against Nadal and he served a very weak game as he is struggling with his confidence on his serve. If I were him I would submit some video to TennisPlayer.net so that we might have a bit of a look see...if you know what I mean.

All good points don_budge. Once he matures, whenever it might be, pretty sure he'll clean his game and mental strength up a bit. Let's hope so.

Berdych is winning this week. I can feel it. I saw it in a dream. Don't ask.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

between klacr and tennis_chiro. Who will submit first?

I won.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[tennis_chiro]

Still high on Jerzy

Disappointing to see the array of ue's and df's. But it is great to see that his weapons work so well against even Nadal. He had a couple of weeks off because of his arm and he is missing a lot more than he was at Wimbledon. He can't handle that kind of layoff. Of course, Nadal was rusty as well.

But I love to see him take the game forward and finish with good classic volleys. I would like to see more serves in, less double faults and a few more blocked returns that would get the point started more often and then more forays to the net.

Jerzy is good on the baseline, but not if he just stands there and tries to trade with guys in the top 20; only if he transitions to the net and finishes the point. Otherwise, the speedsters will just neutralize his power until he misses before they do.

Don't understand the double-faults. D_B is probably right that he needs more spin, but I think the biggest contributor to his progress right now would be someone like Bob Rotella (Golf is not a Game of Perfect). At 6'8", he shouldn't ever double fault, especially with the nice rhythm he has for his motion. I think he has to do the Nicklaus thing of visualizing the shot before he hits it and really gathering himself before he serves a little more.

I'm seeing signs of more maturity in the way he fought through calls he didn't like in the first two matches this week and stayed focused pretty well after dropping that first set. He played poorly when you consider double faults and ue's, but he was really only a couple of points from winning the match: 6-5, 30-30 in the first and his feet didn't move for that duck volley and 3-0 up in the second set. Plus he had at least 7 untouched dropshot winners against Nadal. That's amazing.

I would love to see him come under the influence if not the actual full-time coaching of someone like Stefan Edberg (Is Tony Pickard still around?) to get him to take advantage of the serve-and-volley and chip-and-charge tactic a little more to throw his opponent off. He gives so many points away going for winners on returns of first serves.

But he really is a lot more fun to watch than most.

don

I forgot to say it was a great opportunity missed. He could have had this match. Nadal was very rusty and struggled with many shots he never misses normally. That would have put him in the quarters agaist a qualifier, Matosevic. Probably couldn't have handled Djokovic who looks awfully good to repeat right now and Murray has just dropped the first set against Gulbis.

[don_budge]

Fun to watch...but

But he really is a lot more fun to watch than most.

Absolutely.

The thing about his forehand grip and the lack of exaggerated topspin...on the other hand he seems to be much more comfortable hitting under the ball. Underspin on drop shots and on volleys.

He is extremely intriguing and I couldn't agree with you more about his getting to the net. Some of the volleys that he hit against the net looked like he was born to volley. He is so comfortable playing in the middle of the court with his slice backhand...he has a lot of possibilities. In order to serve and volley though he will need to have a command of a dozen different serves to each court and he hasn't shown that yet. He is old enough to know this stuff. If he had 15 year old Stefan Koslov's feel for the game he might just be a legitimate contender...but as it stands now he lacks the consistency of a top ten player let alone a top four. But he has all of the potential in the world so the question is...do the people behind him have the vision? Do they have the plan?

Sometimes it seems that it takes players playing the whole court a little longer to mature but if he is going to do it...it should be sooner than later. He definitely is a player to watch.

[stotty]

That forehand drop shot of Jerzy's is one of the best I've seen. He can steer it onto a dime.

But I really don't think his forehand is good enough. Sure, he slams plenty of winners, but misses lots too. That simply isn't good enough if you're trying to break into the "top four territory". He seems to struggle with balls hit at his body....gets jammed....this happened numerous times in the match.

Strange he gets tight on his serve. I really can't explain that one. I notice he holds the racket higher up the handle than most, too...unusual these days.

I thought Nadal was very average in the match, yet he managed to pull the match out of the bag. He wasn't moving well...worrying. He is a lesson in himself on how to play matches. That boy plays a tight match when it's crunch time.

[klacr]

All good points don_budge. Once he matures, whenever it might be, pretty sure he'll clean his game and mental strength up a bit. Let's hope so.

Berdych is winning this week. I can feel it. I saw it in a dream. Don't ask.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Did I just predict Berdych would win the tournament this week?

Unless the rules of tennis have changed I'm pretty sure losing 7-6 to Pospisil in the 3rd set means Berdych cannot win Montreal. Can someone confirm this rule just to be safe? Beyond consoling right now. This draw was perfect for him.

This loss hurts. I seem to say that every time he loses.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Try again...

Djokovic vs. Istomin...Novak leads 2-0. Soon to be 3-0.

Nishikori vs. Gasquet..."Cocaine Lips" leads 2-0. Make it 3-0.

Nadal vs. Janowicz...Never played before. Nadal baptizes Janowicz...but not without a fight from "Jerzy Joe".

Matosevic vs. Paire...Never played before. Paire wins...in deference to Stotty.

Berdych vs. Pospisil...Never played before. Berdych in a butt spanking.

Davydenko vs. Bogomolov...Tied at a victory apiece 1-1. Two Russians...one a U. S. transplant. Give it to Snowden...I mean Bogomolov as a possible spy. Davydenko two three setters in two days...Bogomolov coming off a big win against David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4. What gives with that?

Del Potro vs. Raonic...Never played before. Del Potro wins in the battle of the Titans. Unfortunately one of them is not as mobile as the other.

Murray vs. Gulbis...Murray leads 5-0. Make it 6-0 in spite of that fishy swimming forehand that is all the rave.

Ok...I suck at prognosticating...nothing new under the sun. I was right on the first three then I couldn't buy a pick. I was right about Nadal and Jerzy though...a good fight by Jerzy. He is undaunted in defeat. He served terrible so he will save it for another day. Matosevic I had never heard of before...curious to see how he stands up to Nadal. Berdych...another lament for poor klacr. Davydenko and Raonic...who cares? Gulbis over Murray...alert the media.

Tonight...the quarterfinals

Pospisli over Davydenko...just for klacr. It was no fluke Canuck. Raonic and Gulbis...why not Ernesto? Djokovic vs. "Cocaine Lips"...easy enough barring a snowball from hell. Nadal and Matosevic...do bears poop in the woods?

[klacr]

Ok...I suck at prognosticating...nothing new under the sun. I was right on the first three then I couldn't buy a pick. I was right about Nadal and Jerzy though...a good fight by Jerzy. He is undaunted in defeat. He served terrible so he will save it for another day. Matosevic I had never heard of before...curious to see how he stands up to Nadal. Berdych...another lament for poor klacr. Davydenko and Raonic...who cares? Gulbis over Murray...alert the media.

Tonight...the quarterfinals

Pospisli over Davydenko...just for klacr. It was no fluke Canuck. Raonic and Gulbis...why not Ernesto? Djokovic vs. "Cocaine Lips"...easy enough barring a snowball from hell. Nadal and Matosevic...do bears poop in the woods?

Davydenko pulls the rip cord just three games in. Pospisil moves on to semis. I appreciate don_budge picking Pospisil over Davydenko saying it's not a fluke. But sadly, Davydenko's performance made me even more upset for what could have been "the week" for Berdych knowing it could ahve been him in the semis. I just can't win.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton