2016 Mercedes Cup...ATP 250...Stuttgart, Germany

[don_budge]

Thank God that's out of the way. The preview of the post Roger Federer Culmination Point. Roger appearing in Stuttgart. God willing.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/stuttgart/321/draws

It's only an ATP 250 level...but Roger is in the draw. Hoping for the best.

[stotty]

Looks a decent event. A good one for Roger to play in to assess his game and tune up. He may have to play Thiem or Lopez in the semi if the draw pans out. Let's fasten our seat belts and hope for best...

[gzhpcu]

Thiem's first opponent will be Sam Groth, who won his first match against Marchenko solely with his serve...

[stotty]

I like Thiem. I think he has the potential to be good. The only worrying thing for me is that he did nothing different when he played Djokovic at the French from when he lost to him at the Miami Open. The two games were close to identical. Thiem went for shots that weren't on and played the big points poorly in both matches. Great up-and-coming players learn quick, very quick. I hope this isn't going to be a quality he is missing.

It will be interesting to watch Thiem this week....

[klacr]

Thiem is #7 in the world this week. Welcome to the top 10 Kid!

Bring on the grass court season.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Roger Federer..."The Living Proof"

Thank God that's out of the way. The preview of the post Roger Federer Culmination Point. Roger appearing in Stuttgart. God willing.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/stuttgart/321/draws

It's only an ATP 250 level...but Roger is in the draw. Hoping for the best.

Finally a real tennis tournament. By definition there must be at least one real tennis player in a tennis tournament to truly be a tennis tournament. I swear the French Open is no longer a tennis tournament any more than Paris is truly Paris.

But here we have the "Living Proof" in the draw which makes it one of the very last true tennis tournaments ever to be played. One of our last glimpses of not only Roger Federer...but of tennis itself. Roger Federer versus Taylor Fritz...an American hopeful. Much along the lines of Donald Trump. But in this particular matchup don't expect any mercy from Roger and don't expect any respect from Taylor. Respect in this sense of the word should refer to Taylor's desire to defeat the "King of Tennis". His Royal Highness. Federer is expected to answer some questions about the state of his state...of being. Relatively "inactive" from competitive tennis all eyes are on Federer to scrutinize his form. I can imagine that the whole tour is curious about his form. Every move he makes is about how a particular move relates to Wimbledon. Every step he takes.

"Baby Fed" Grigor Dimitrov is already disappeared thanks to the "Jolly Green Giant" Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro. Here's a guy that has been sorely missed the past couple of years. This game needs more diversity...doesn't it? I think so.

Florian "The Quirk" Mayer defeats Viktor Troicki. Now "Quirky" may just well qualify as "diversity" but you must check with the thought police first to see if it is ok. Political Correctness in vogue as it is. But Florian sees things in a different way which is a good thing nowadays. His game does not even resemble the "modern game" in many senses of the definition. His shot selection and his technique defy the conventional wisdom which is why I find him so darn refreshing. I might get reprimanded for this thought...oh well. The herd mentality in the tennis world is metaphoring life.

Dominic Thiem? Of course I've been watching him but fail to see anything that is going to change the game. He falls into the monotony of the modern game. Dominic is hardly earth shattering although his results and ranking are improving. He might win multiple majors...but still not the Dominator. He takes big swings with a big racquet. His repertoire in the forecourt is limited. Repertoire in the forecourt in "modern tennis" terms is the equivalent of monotonously talking about "stop balls" which is the european equivalent of the drop shot. Modern tennis tries to make a cult out of the drop shot...the crowd oohs and ahhs every time someone gets within spitting distance of the net as if they have traversed a mine field under machine gun fire to get to the prize. The herd loves it...herd mentality being what it is. What is the play when faced with the drop shot? It's become the sixty thousand dollar question. Novak? Andy? Will you offer a view on such a critical turn of events in the modern game of tennis?

But Thiem's draw may prove to be mildly interesting...it isn't going to change anything as it is. But Sam "The Bam" Groth has a mighty serve and he has some other things to back it up. He is just short of being one dimensional in the traditional modern tennis sense of the word. He does go to the net which makes him an anomaly. So if Thiem does get past Groth he may find Sergy Stakhovsky waiting for him providing Stakhovsky gets by Mikeal Youzney. Sergy is a serve and volley wannabe at times. A lot of if's...but just trying to find something of interest other than Roger Federer. Afterall...even Roger needs a supporting cast to make him look up to his potential.

Carry on fellows...so sorry to interrupt. I'm just musing out loud.

[bdole]

Don, your quote of "Big swings with a big racquet" in reference to Thiem says it all for me. Except I see it as a positive. He was making shots at the French that very few players are capable of defending. And had they not been playing on the red clay, I believe many would have been winners against even Djokovic.

I see him making a deep run at every grass and hard court tournament he plays the rest of the year, as long as he doesn't run into one of the Big Three.

[don_budge]

Blast away...and Intellectual Tennis Tactics

Don, your quote of "Big swings with a big racquet" in reference to Thiem says it all for me. Except I see it as a positive. He was making shots at the French that very few players are capable of defending. And had they not been playing on the red clay, I believe many would have been winners against even Djokovic.

I see him making a deep run at every grass and hard court tournament he plays the rest of the year, as long as he doesn't run into one of the Big Three.

bdole...I was making a more or less derogatory blanket statement about the state of the game of tennis...modern tennis. From what I have seen of Thiem recently it wouldn't surprise me if he was to become one of the Big Four and maybe sooner rather than later. He is definitely coming on strong recently and we have sort of measuring his progress for the past year or so here on the forum.

The context of my remark is that I am anticipating, lamenting as it were a "post Roger Federer culmination point" where tennis either makes a turn or it just keeps plodding in the direction the momentum seems to be taking it. I am of the school of thought that the game has devolved from its original intention. You would have to be blind to not see the progress of Dominic Thiem but will he make any real difference to the game? In the big picture?

Roger Federer up a break on Taylor Fritz in a match that was halted by rain yesterday. Florian "The Quirk" Mayer worked his unorthodox magic against a fellow countryman and is waiting the winner of Federer/Fritz. Juan Martin Del Potro, Dominic Thiem jockeying for position. Del Potro looking to recapture his form from yesteryear and Thiem the up and comer. Here's another player of interest...Radek Stepanek. Stepanek up against Marin Cilic. Not a bad matchup for Stepanek if he can neutralize the power and speed of Cilic with his tactics of days gone by. Intellectual tennis tactics.

One can only wonder if the velcro grass will give Stepanek, Stakhovsky and Federer the opportunity to play all court tennis along with some serve and volley. Can subtle tactics overcome brute force any longer?

[don_budge]

Roger Federer vs. Taylor Fritz

Dominic Thiem over Sam Groth in a really ugly match. It was very, very choppy. Between the two players there wasn't much to find between them for what one might say...elegance.

Roger on the other hand was not in pure Federer form...but he was Roger. Whenever he is on the court there is something redeeming about the game. But the danger is when he disappears as was witnessed at the French Open. There the interest just was sucked out of the air.

Taylor Fritz has the look. Too bad he doesn't have a nice one hand backhand...he might be the type of player to carry the mantel. As it is he is another "Next Generation" player that may well compete for titles but will have little overall effect on the game. Same as Thiem...they both look to be in the same boat. Tremendous athletes to be sure but it is the nature of the game that is being dictated to them.

On the grass it happens much to quickly with the bazooka equipment. There is very little time to truly transition from backcourt to forecourt...no sooner than the approach shot has been attempted then the ball is rocketing back at a million miles an hour. There isn't any time to move forwards. Tennis has an interesting culmination point here.

[don_budge]

An Unknown Thought...about Roger

I never knew this before.

http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/2901

[gzhpcu]

Thiem played well against Groth. Not easy to play against a player who hits so many aces. Good win for Stepanek too. Roger had a tough match.

[stotty]

Federer versus Thiem. Both men are playing their chances right down. Federer says he has low expectations of himself this week; Thiem says he has no expectations due to limited grass court experience. You take your pick...I know who I'm picking.

[gzhpcu]

Federer versus Thiem. Both men are playing their chances right down. Federer says he has low expectations of himself this week; Thiem says he has no expectations due to limited grass court experience. You take your pick...I know who I'm picking.

Same here...

[don_budge]

A couple of things...about a couple of guys

Federer versus Thiem. Both men are playing their chances right down. Federer says he has low expectations of himself this week; Thiem says he has no expectations due to limited grass court experience. You take your pick...I know who I'm picking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6GWlE2lT4

Roger Federer versus Florian Mayer..."The Quirk" threw everything at Roger but the kitchen sink...come to think of it he threw that in too. Once I said something about somebody's technique and said it was unorthodox but somebody objected to the word unorthodox so I substituted "quirky" just because...well just because. Florian Mayer has been struggling as of late. He is currently ranked at #236 in the world. Yesterday he was all that a rusty Roger Federer could handle and he saved the best for when he needed it in a couple of tie-breakers. Thank God for tie-breakers...eh Roger? I'm not so sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO70h_kPRII

Dominic Thiem versus Mikael Youzhny...A "routine" win for the world's new top ten player and future contender for the title spot. Actually it was anything but routine for the world's #7 against the world's #76. Youzhny is another player who has been somewhat down on the luck lately but he is resurrecting himself from the challenger tour and it was a pretty good showing against Dominic Thiem. It looked to me that it was younger legs that won that match for Thiem as Youzhny actually seemed to in control of the play from the onset. See the video of the first set. Thiem wore him down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHACHh2IJEw

Juan Martin Del Potro versus Gilles Simon...Juan "The Jolly Green" Argentine is yet another player who has struggled for the past couple of years with injuries. Here is his latest reinvention of himself hitting predominately one hand slice backhands against Gilles Simon. It proved pretty effective apparently...I didn't see the match and could only stay interested for five minutes of the video. Del Potro wore him down and beat him 6-0 in the third.

[don_budge]

Who?

Federer versus Thiem. Both men are playing their chances right down. Federer says he has low expectations of himself this week; Thiem says he has no expectations due to limited grass court experience. You take your pick...I know who I'm picking.

It looks to be Thiem's time.