2016 Gerry Weber Open...ATP 500...Halle, Germany

[don_budge]

Once again it is Roger Federer in the house. He is making a desperate attempt to get himself prepared for Wimbledon. It has been setback after setback for him ever since he slipped in the bathroom and caused a knee to somewhat blow a cog. The loss to Dominic Thiem last week means zero if he can get his legs somewhat under him this week.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/halle/500/draws

The field doesn't look very tough on paper. Conceivably Federer could find himself in the finals here this week. If he wanted to. But it might be more prudent to get in a couple of matches and duck and cover for some R & R. I have no idea how he plans on staging his comeback at Wimbledon. But you can bet your bottom dollar that PREPARATION is his mantra. Does he need to win for confidence? Maybe so. It is the human condition to doubt themselves until they have passed through the fire over and over. Even the many times champion needs to feel that invincibility. The fire in blood.

Or is it more important at this point to gage the rest of it...the physical side of it. He can play a couple of matches and then go off with his Physio's to get in the prerequisite reps in. The one thing he has to get on a perfect track is that service motion and the only way to do that under pressure...is to put it under pressure. Federer is probably playing to win this week...at least in some sense of the word. It might have a different definition in the Federer lexicon than it does in Webster's.

Where is Dominic Thiem? He is in the other half of the draw. Wouldn't that be interesting to see a rematch in the finals? I wonder if Federer is physically up for it.

[gzhpcu]

Federer wins and so does Thiem. Impressive how Thiem has adapted to grass. He hits forcing shots and finishes them off at the net!

[stotty]

The field doesn't look very tough on paper. Conceivably Federer could find himself in the finals here this week.

It isn't a strong draw but there are still a few tricky customers to negotiate. It will be interesting to see how he progresses. Don't forget this is a tournament he can normally win in his sleep.

Goffin and Zverez are looming in Roger's half.

Either Nishikori or Thiem should make it to the final.

Roger needs to start playing better towards the latter end of the tournament if he is to win it. He needs a good tournament here to progress to Wimbledon with. Like you I think it's a big ask...but as the Italians say: hope is the last thing to die.

[stroke]

I feel like Fed will still be in the top 4 favorite s, per the oddsmakers, to win Wimbledon.

[stotty]

I feel like Fed will still be in the top 4 favorite s, per the oddsmakers, to win Wimbledon.

Federer is 12-1 at the moment over here. So he is certainly not expected to win. I will be curious to watch how the odds change with each round he wins at Halle.

Me, I look at the scorelines when it comes to the top three. I don't even have to watch their matches to have a good idea of form. When Nadal and Federer are at their peak, the rarely have three-setters against the rank and file. It's usually straight sets and easy. They usually win 6-3 6-2 or 6-4 6-1...that type of thing. Djokovic can be prone slightly more careless at times. Nadal and Federer always like to be real efficient and give nothing away.

Federer had tight sets in his matches all last week and that worries me. It means he's not playing all that well. He certainly cannot afford to be expending extra energy over five sets at Wimbledon, that's for sure.

[klacr]

Federer wins and so does Thiem. Impressive how Thiem has adapted to grass. He hits forcing shots and finishes them off at the net!

You mean...how its supposed to be done.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Roger Federer and Company...2016 Gerry Weber Open

It isn't a strong draw but there are still a few tricky customers to negotiate. It will be interesting to see how he progresses. Don't forget this is a tournament he can normally win in his sleep.

Goffin and Zverez are looming in Roger's half.

Either Nishikori or Thiem should make it to the final.

Roger needs to start playing better towards the latter end of the tournament if he is to win it. He needs a good tournament here to progress to Wimbledon with. Like you I think it's a big ask...but as the Italians say: hope is the last thing to die.

Roger Federer prevailed...though somewhat unconvincingly against Jan Lennard Struff who is currently ranked #88 in the world and was a wild card into the tournament. Stuff actually seemed to be pushing Federer around the court quite a lot forcing the once mighty Swiss Maestro to retrieve trying to stay in a lot of points. Struff seemed to be dictating play a good portion of the time from the backcourt before Roger finally prevailed...unconvincingly 6-4, 7-6. Roger really struggled against an opponent he should be able to slice and dice. Where was the serve and volley? Where was the net attack? Roger allowed this to become a backcourt duel and this is what Struff wanted. Hmmm...Malik Jazen next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DYfndh4u_k

Sergy Stakhovsky to play David Goffin in the second round for the right to play Federer should he make it through his next round. An interesting match up but one that should see Goffin get the upper hand in. It's interesting in the sense that Stakhovsky beat Federer at Wimbledon some years ago to make a name for himself. Wouldn't it be interesting to see him play Roger again on a grass court? How would Roger react to serve and volley being played against him?

Both Tomas Berdych and "Downtown" Dustin Brown have fallen to Marcos Baghdatis. Alexander Zverev is next in his sights. Baghdatis relishes a good dogfight and we shall see if Zverev can say the same thing. Does he have the heart of the pit bull or is he a cocker spaniel. Zverev is another of the players who are being touted as "Next Generation" hopefuls. That is exactly what they are too...hopefuls. Largely untried and untested in the big theaters they are being promoted very heavily by the tennis "brain" trust to try and salvage the professional game. All that I can say is good luck...the tennis is very one dimensional and the grass only seems to exasperate the issue. They play virtually the same game on all of the surfaces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qOWcFfYs6Y

So moving on down to the bottom half of the draw we have Dominic Thiem and nobody else. Dominic won his match yesterday against a very competent clay court player in Joao Suares. It looked to be a clay court match too...Dominic resorting to playing deep behind the baseline a good part of the time. He did come to the net sporadically when he had pasted something into the corners where he could come in and mop up the point with a routine bunny put away volley. Was there some serve and volley? I didn't see a whole lot of it on a consistent basis. It looked like a couple of clay court players playing on grass to me. But there is the possibility of a match of interest in Ivo Karlovic and Dominic Thiem should it materialize. Karlovic must get by "Cabbage Patch Kid" and Thiem must get by "Tasmanian Devil". Is that hopeful enough? As the Italians like to say.

You can forget about Kei Nishikori though. Once again he has disappeared off of the radar due to an injury. For a number six player in the world this seems to happen far too often. This is what you call a watered down sport. The level has been falling for years. Skills that were once staples of the game are gushed and lauded by commentatoes and lame fans alike. Whenever someone concludes something at the net it is treated as a major triumph instead of routine grass all court play. Drop shots are oohed and awed provided they aren't botched and misplayed.

[stroke]

Federer is 12-1 at the moment over here. So he is certainly not expected to win. I will be curious to watch how the odds change with each round he wins at Halle.

Me, I look at the scorelines when it comes to the top three. I don't even have to watch their matches to have a good idea of form. When Nadal and Federer are at their peak, the rarely have three-setters against the rank and file. It's usually straight sets and easy. They usually win 6-3 6-2 or 6-4 6-1...that type of thing. Djokovic can be prone slightly more careless at times. Nadal and Federer always like to be real efficient and give nothing away.

Federer had tight sets in his matches all last week and that worries me. It means he's not playing all that well. He certainly cannot afford to be expending extra energy over five sets at Wimbledon, that's for sure.

I just saw those odds. Not surprisingly to me, at the number 4 and 5 favorite to win the tournament(right behind Fed at #3, is Raonic and Kyrios. I just watched those 2 play in Queens in which Milos won in 3.

[stotty]

Roger Federer prevailed...though somewhat unconvincingly against Jan Lennard Struff who is currently ranked #88 in the world and was a wild card into the tournament. Stuff actually seemed to be pushing Federer around the court quite a lot forcing the once mighty Swiss Maestro to retrieve trying to stay in a lot of points. Struff seemed to be dictating play a good portion of the time from the backcourt before Roger finally prevailed...unconvincingly 6-4, 7-6.

Yes, the scoreline tells me everything. That should have been 6-3 6-3 without the need to get out of cruise control. No one has been better than Federer at beating fodder outside the top ten...or even the top five. At his best he barely needs to break sweat.

I just saw those odds. Not surprisingly to me, at the number 4 and 5 favorite to win the tournament(right behind Fed at #3, is Raonic and Kyrios. I just watched those 2 play in Queens in which Milos won in 3.

I will be curious how Raonic and Kyrgios fair at Wimbledon. And add to those Thiem and Zverez. Raonic, Kyrgios and Thiem ought to make the quarters on paper with their game-style. Zverez maybe the third or fourth round.

[gzhpcu]

Thiem demolishes Gabashvilli.

[stroke]

Yes, the scoreline tells me everything. That should have been 6-3 6-3 without the need to get out of cruise control. No one has been better than Federer at beating fodder outside the top ten...or even the top five. At his best he barely needs to break sweat.



I will be curious how Raonic and Kyrgios fair at Wimbledon. And add to those Thiem and Zverez. Raonic, Kyrgios and Thiem ought to make the quarters on paper with their game-style. Zverez maybe the third or fourth round.

I feel like Kyrgios has the most game of those 5, but being a total douche makes it really hard to predict how he will fare. Watching him play Raonic, it looked to me like he did everything better, forehand, backhand, movement, hands/feel, better than Milos. Milos has a slightly better serve and maybe slightly better volleys. Nick being Nick basically lost the Queen's match to Raonic. I have a feeling Nick will never get it, complete lack of self awareness.

[gzhpcu]

IMHO, Thiem is the most complete and promising of them all. Mature too...

[don_budge]

Roger Federer and Company...2016 Gerry Weber Open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1cDBx6vekE

Here's Roger Federer against Malek Jaziri who is currently ranked #64 in the world. Federer wins 6-4, 7-5 after being down 3-0 in the second set. Still not looking "fit for fight" as he looked to almost pull up lame chasing down a lob over his head at 1.54 in the video highlight clip. Next up...David Goffin who does appear to be fit for fight...as far as David Goffin goes. Goffin is pound for pound one of the best competitors out on tour but not perhaps the most talented player. He is currently ranked #11 but he shows up to play at every tournament no matter the venue. Federer is 4-0 head to head but Goffin has his teeth in this tournament and he sees Federer as a huge scalp and he knows that he is ripe for the taking. This could be a little bit dicey for Roger.

I think that Federer misses the influence of Stefan Edberg as Edberg had Roger thinking a bit innovatively and outside of the box. Here in the highlights clips lately Roger appears to be rather passive about approaching the net and reluctant to press the issue there.

Just below Goffin and Federer in the top half is a very interesting match pitting another of the "Next Generation" hopefuls, Alexander Zverev, against a rather gritty and competitive veteran in Marcos Baghdatis. As I mentioned before Baghdatis has already bagged Berdych and "Downtown" Dustin Brown without dropping a set. Zverev has a pretty impressive win over Viktor Troikii to go with a withdrawal in the second set by fellow German Benjamin Becker. Good stuff in terms of contrast. I wonder if either player has any intention of pressing the issue at the net. Probably not on a consistent basis judging by the wear pattern of the grass at Halle.

Philip Kohlshreiber (#25) and Dominic Thiem (#7) take the court against each other for the second time in some days. Dominic managed to get his first win over Kohlshreiber in the finals of the Mercedes last week so Kohlshreiber has renewed incentive to take it to the "New Kid on the Block". Thiem resorted to his default game against Temuraz Gabashvili, who is ranked #95 in the world. Thiem played tit for tat against Gabashvili in the first set before taking the second going away. The first set looked to be a clay court match being played out on grass as both players hugged the baseline...judging from the wear of the grass. The wear don't lie.

I was going to say that the Baghdatis/Zverev match was the most interesting but as it is...each of the quarterfinals matches has a pretty good storyline. Even if the style of play is more or less predictable. But this last match between Andreas Seppi and Florian Mayer may just have a bit of a contrast of styles. Actually Florian Mayer is going to be a contrast against just about anybody he plays because of his UNORTHODOX style. Florian "The Quirk" Mayer plays the ball any old which way that he feels like it. He adapts to the situation and attempts to beat his opponents not only with brute power but with change of spins and speeds not to mention placement. Keep in mind the old axiom of "What is Power?". Control is power. What is Control...a combination of speed, placement and spin. Or something like that.

The question is one of Roger. The rest of it is background noise. As Roger goes...so does tennis. From all appearances it looks to me as if he is not at full speed. He is more tentative off the backhand side and more tellingly...he is not full machine on the serve. This is perhaps a sign that the back is not completely healed but he is gamely doing his best to complete his preparation for the big "W" coming soon. Providing the weather holds out...did somebody mention rain?

[don_budge]

David Goffin versus Sergy Stakhovsky...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRSu_RpsBcw#t=464.262720536

Interesting match here as Sergy Stakhovsky has David Goffin guessing and second guessing for answers to a style of play that breaks the monotony of the match.

Stakhovsky unfortunately hurts himself serving for the second set and the match. He doesn't win another game before losing 4-6, 7-5, 2-0 retired. It would have been interesting to see Roger Federer against Stakhovsky but Goffin isn't going to waste this opportunity or his perhaps good fortune in winning this encounter with Stakhovsky.

[don_budge]

Dominic Thiem versus Florian Mayer...

This is a match I would like to see. Is a Thiem/Federer final too much to hope for? Not if you are Italian...or Swiss.