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2015 Australian Open…ATP 2000...Melbourne, Australia

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  • #31
    Wake up…to Roger Federer to Andreas Seppi

    The other morning I woke up as if on cue at four o'clock out here in nowheresville Sweden. I returned upstairs and ducked into my little office instead of moseying into my room to return to sleep. I knew I couldn't sleep…Roger was scheduled to play at four-thirty. Grigor Dimitrov was finishing off a rather game old guy named Marcos Baghdatis (he's 30).

    Roger was chatting rather amiably with chair umpire before the celebratory coin toss as he waited for Andreas Seppi to get off of his butt to attend the meeting at the net. Roger began this match losing the coin toss but ironically, Seppi elected to receive. I didn't make it through the first set though before I went back to hit the hay and to be honest I didn't think that Roger needed me against Andreas Seppi who he had routinely whipped, smashed and treated like a red-haired, left-handed, freckle-faced and unwanted stepchild. Seppi had only won one measly, meaningless set to Federer in those ten pastings. One losey set!

    When I woke up it was two sets to one to Seppi. Seppi had won the first two sets and Federer had managed to struggle the third one home. Uh oh…I thought to myself…another Gael Monfils fiasco in the making.

    Was Federer up a break in the fourth? I cannot remember. I had to leave and go out to the stable as the three mares were getting a manicure. It's part of my deal here in Sweden…part time stable boy. It gives me a roof over my head and three meals a day but on this occasion it was the horses hooves over my Federer obsession. My tennis obsession. It is only a hobby until it comes to a Roger Federer match. His tennis is so easy on the eyes.

    Well the rest is history. I managed to catch interviews of both Federer and Seppi…and I managed to catch a good deal of my good friend Mats Wilander chatting up the horsey-faced Barbara Schett. I hope nobody is offended that I refer to her as horsey-faced…but on the other hand who cares. Can the world possibly be any more stupid?

    vcr10s has been piping in from time to time on this one and rather dead on the money too. Federer didn't play well. He played rather lousy as a matter of fact. I only say this based on what we have come to expect from him in terms of Grand Slam performances. But this one was a glimpse into the future and Mats sort of backed me up on this one…he doesn't feel Roger is showing up to the Slams to win anymore. He thinks he has lost that kind of desire…he mentions that he shows up because he loves to hit the tennis ball. Thoughtful comment Mats…he says some things that nobody else thinks of or even dares to say sometimes. My favorite was his reason Swedish tennis has slipped so far…the kids are fat and lazy to say nothing of the socialism upbringing.

    Roger Federer played like crap. I didn't say he pussy-footed around but he did play like crap and like vcr10s observed the shot between the legs was rather a typical example on the day. Seppi was returning hard and deep down the middle and Roger seemed to be having a hard time getting out of the way of the ball all day long. So many times this happened…I don't ever recall this happening.

    The speed of the courts? They are on the quick side compared to the normal venue for modern tennis sand laden tennis courts. Federer said so earlier in an article. Seppi backed him up and his assessment was the fastest that I have heard. My ears prick up when mentions of court speed are made. Mats Wilander said as much. But he made a rather curious comment…actually he made several. But he said that the fast courts may have favoured Seppi because Roger tends to mishit his forehand and particularly on low "sliding" balls. Roger isn't the only one (the ATP3 forehand may be suspect in this regard in general)…but on this particular day he was having a difficult time with the whole game and he pretty much said so in his interview. He said that he played "passive"…in private he was heard to say that he played like a pussy. Which by one definition is a "weak, cowardly or effeminate man". Personally I think he was being a little hard on himself but I certainly understand his sentiment.

    And it's true. But the question is why. Mats said that Roger has different priorities these days. He has four children…just like that. He has a wife. Things have changed. He's a bit older. He doesn't see life or possibly even tennis as he did a couple of years ago. He's maturing and at the same time his body is in decline when it comes to playing professional tennis. But he surely should have prevailed in this match. So what gives?

    Perhaps he didn't sleep very well for whatever reason the night before. Lord knows he has a lot of things on his mind. Who knows? But he played as if he hadn't slept very well…it can effect the vision and the concentration. Playing into that hot sun seemed terribly difficult for him. Everything was a struggle for him. He didn't execute his game plan. He couldn't attack behind his serve because he was serving like shit (for Roger Federer) that is. He couldn't make the journey to the net. He couldn't coax the short ball out of his opponent as if he seemed to lacked the strength to do it. Once at the net…he was tentative. He could not maintain pressure on his opponent…rule number one in the Bill Tilden book of tennis tactics.

    He was poised to take the fourth set in the tie-breaker and he was up the mini-break early on. But he was serving into the sun…which is terribly hard to do when you haven't slept well. He double faulted when he could have been consolidating his mini break. He could have been changing ends at 4-2 up instead of tied at 3-3. It was a lot of things…it was everything. It was if some little old mob guy came into the locker room and said to him…"this ain't your night Kid". In the end it was a rather lucky pass by Andreas Seppi that got it done. Roger approached the net as aggressively as he had all day. He knifed as good of an approach volley deep into the forehand as he had all day. But Seppi…who was rock solid all day…ran it down and sort of floated it high and deep perfectly down the line and into the corner and it was over. It was all over…except for the crying.
    Last edited by don_budge; 01-24-2015, 04:37 AM. Reason: for clarity's sake...
    don_budge
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    • #32
      Jerzy Janowicz…a Gael Monfils moment

      Originally posted by tennis_chiro View Post
      Okay. I've had it. It's not even just frustrating to watch him anymore. It's just boring to see the tactics he employs in his matches. 1/11 in break points at this point in the match down 2 sets to love, on serve 3/4 in the third set. Could it have anything to do with the way he plays those break points. And he's only won 7 of 12 net points; that's one trip to the net every 2.5 games!

      don
      Gael Monfils took the legs out from Jerzy. Jerzy had a Gael Monfils moment…go ask Roger Federer about these types of moment. Five set of Gael Monfils tennis is particularly exhausting. Monfils jerks you around the court with the best of them. You win the battle but lose the war in the end.

      I won't refer to Jerzy as your boy any longer. He showed some promise but he is not up to the task of leading the league. He mentioned in an interview that he had "some personal problems". Lord knows what that meant. He seems like a great guy and I wish him the best. I do wish that he would drop that two handed backhand and find some spin on his serve and get to the net a couple of hundred times a match.
      Last edited by don_budge; 01-24-2015, 12:19 AM. Reason: for clarity's sake...
      don_budge
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      • #33
        Empty Hisense Arena…the sign of things to come?

        I am watching Grigor Dimitrov warm up with someone unknown in an empty Hisense Arena. Just the two of them…plus it appears to be Grigor's coach. Grigor spent a good deal of time starting the rally at the service line and closing onto the net. Now practicing his serve…and following it into the net.

        A sign of things to come? No swinging volleys. The smell of change is in the air. It won't happen over night…as Mats Wilander said to me last year at the "Kings of Tennis" trainer symposium.
        don_budge
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        • #34
          Gilles Simon versus David Ferrer...

          It's been an uphill battle all night long for Gilles. Ferrer, aka EveryReady Energizer Bunny" has been on top of him right from the get go. Ferrer was up two set to zero…then he was up two set to one and 5-1 in the fourth serving for the match. Simon has clawed his way back into it and now Ferrer is serving to stay in the fourth and to get into a tie-breaker.

          It's been a really good set from a player suddenly playing as if he has nothing to lose. Simon has repeatedly exploited Ferrer down the line with lightening strikes from both sides. Now it's a tie-breaker. Can Simon sustain his charge?
          don_budge
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          • #35
            It looked to me Roger ran around too many backhands and in doing so, left too much court to cover to his forehand. Almost kind of like a Nadal style. Raonic has the biggest shot left in the tournament. McEnroe on air called it the best serve in the history of tennis, and he said it is getting better.

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            • #36
              "A Shot in the Dark"…Seppi on match point

              Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post
              Seems to me that the final point was pivotal. If Seppi's passing point had not hit the corner, maybe Federer might have won the tiebreak, then it would have been open...
              On Friday afternoon in Melbourne, expectations for Roger Federer 's season decreased drastically when he shockingly lost to Andreas Seppi, the 46th-ranked player in the world, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in the third round of the Australian Open...


              In this article is a video clip of this shot gzhpcu refers to. It sort of reminds me of the meteor that Djokovic hit off of a Federer serve at the U. S. Open a few years ago to rob Federer of a big match. Lightning in a bottle. If only this shot had not nestled into the corner so softly…it may indeed have been a different story.

              A quote from the article...

              "Truly, this result was more about Federer losing than Seppi winning. By any measure, it was a rotten day at the office. His backhand lacked punch. His movement was sluggish. The shanks that were so prevalent in 2013 made an unwelcome reappearance. Leading in the second-set tiebreaker, Federer played a few loose points and quickly lost the set. After a valiant fightback to win the third set, Federer played another lousy tiebreaker—double-faulting away a lead—and it was arrivederci…"

              …sums it up.
              don_budge
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              • #37
                Originally posted by stroke View Post
                It looked to me Roger ran around too many backhands and in doing so, left too much court to cover to his forehand. Almost kind of like a Nadal style. Raonic has the biggest shot left in the tournament. McEnroe on air called it the best serve in the history of tennis, and he said it is getting better.
                I wish somebody would use Raonic as example to discuss palm up vs. palm down serves.

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                • #38
                  Originally posted by don_budge View Post
                  I managed to catch interviews of both Federer and Seppi…and I managed to catch a good deal of my good friend Mats Wilander chatting up the horsey-faced Barbara Schett. I hope nobody is offended that I refer to her as horsey-faced…but on the other hand who cares. Can the world possibly be any more stupid?
                  It appears that you know horses-- good!

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                  • #39
                    Gauging the pace of your own game...

                    POST 2000

                    Wilander came out with an interesting comment about Murray today, I hadn't heard anyone mention this fact before. He said Murray, earlier in his career, thought he was hitting the ball much harder than he actually was. Coaches had to tell to him he wasn't hitting the ball as hard as he thought. I can relate to this because when I was younger I thought I was hitting harder than my peers when in actual fact I was hitting quite a bit slower. My peers were hitting first serves at 100mph. I thought I must be doing 110mph. Turns out I was only 90 mph...at a push.

                    You never get to return your own serve or play against yourself. I found it amazing Murray misgauged himself as poorly as me.
                    Last edited by stotty; 01-24-2015, 12:31 PM.
                    Stotty

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by stroke View Post
                      It looked to me Roger ran around too many backhands and in doing so, left too much court to cover to his forehand. Almost kind of like a Nadal style. Raonic has the biggest shot left in the tournament. McEnroe on air called it the best serve in the history of tennis, and he said it is getting better.
                      Generous of McEnroe to bestow that honor upon Raonic. However, I think I'll take the best serve in the history of tennis and place it in the rightful hands of a man who won 14 grand slams named Sampras. Or a guy with 17 grand slams named Federer. Or even the dutch guy that won the 1996 Wimbledon Title named Krajicek. But that's an entirely different thread.
                      Let's see Raonic play big, career defining matches where the only thing working may be the serve and it keeps him in it. Or lets see him serve out a game for a grand slam title. Then we'll see what he's truly made of.

                      I'll give you the speed, but I'll take the consistency, placement and ability to reach back and pull myself out of trouble with an ace or unreturned serve almost at will.

                      Kyle LaCroix USPTA
                      Boca Raton
                      Last edited by klacr; 01-24-2015, 02:39 PM.

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                      • #41
                        Originally posted by don_budge View Post
                        I am watching Grigor Dimitrov warm up with someone unknown in an empty Hisense Arena. Just the two of them…plus it appears to be Grigor's coach. Grigor spent a good deal of time starting the rally at the service line and closing onto the net. Now practicing his serve…and following it into the net.

                        A sign of things to come? No swinging volleys. The smell of change is in the air. It won't happen over night…as Mats Wilander said to me last year at the "Kings of Tennis" trainer symposium.
                        Embracing the net. Good for Grigor. Mats is right, it won't happen overnight. But you can't start a fire without a spark.

                        *Cue Courtney Cox*
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs

                        Kyle LaCroix USPTA
                        Boca Raton

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                        • #42
                          Originally posted by klacr View Post
                          Generous of McEnroe to bestow that honor upon Raonic. However, I think I'll take the best serve in the history of tennis and place it in the rightful hands of a man who won 14 grand slams named Sampras. Or a guy with 17 grand slams named Federer. Or even the dutch guy that won the 1996 Wimbledon Title named Krajicek.

                          Kyle LaCroix USPTA
                          Boca Raton
                          The winner...Goran
                          Stotty

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                          • #43
                            KLACR feeling no pain!!

                            Berdych looking awfully good up 2 sets to love. Kyle must be enjoying this.

                            don

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                            • #44
                              Keep 'em coming...

                              Originally posted by licensedcoach View Post
                              POST 2000
                              Looking forward to 3000! Always a gentleman. Always positive. Never a retaliatory comment. Thank you for your participation here on the forum. At .91 posts per day you are on a par with bottle.
                              Last edited by don_budge; 01-25-2015, 01:37 AM.
                              don_budge
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                              • #45
                                Originally posted by don_budge View Post
                                Looking forward to 3000! Always a gentleman. Always positive. Never a retaliatory comment. Thank you for your participation here on the forum. At .91 posts per day you are on a par as bottle.
                                Thanks for the nice post. I will work relentlessly toward post 3000 have no doubt about that.

                                Seppi just wins the first set against Kyrgios, much to the joy of my Italian family, and especially my wife who thinks Seppi is a bit of a dish. Long way to go yet...
                                Stotty

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