Australian Open 2018

[gzhpcu]

Roger is the only player with a complete game. Great, well placed serve, great groundstrokes, solid volleys, tries to keep exchanges short, comes forward on short balls, hits unexpected dropshots. Shame no coming player has his talent.

[stotty]

I watched a replay of Nadal v Cilic. I had watched the first two sets but not the rest. In the first two sets. Nadal was playing so well. His court positioning was far better than usual and he was even returning from much nearer the baseline. Nadal is at his best working inside the baseline rather than defending in my view. Moving his opponent from side to side with his forehand until opponents run out of legs to cover the court. I like this method. Roger dispatches shorter balls but Nadal seizes the rally once inside the baseline and batters his opponents around. Different to Roger but just as effective.

But as the match wore on, Nadal started to stand further and further back to the point where is was ridiculous. He was returning first serves from the linesman lap again. This is why I have questioned Nadal's tennis IQ in the past. Cilic has a superb wide serve as does Roger. Nadal is relying on hope to break their serves. It's suicide. Why, why, why does he adopt this crazy tactic? And, worse, by retreating like this he denies himself the chance to ever work inside the baseline.

[arturohernandez]

I watched a replay of Nadal v Cilic. I had watched the first two sets but not the rest. In the first two sets. Nadal was playing so well. His court positioning was far better than usual and he was even returning from much nearer the baseline. Nadal is at his best working inside the baseline rather than defending in my view. Moving his opponent from side to side with his forehand until opponents run out of legs to cover the court. I like this method. Roger dispatches shorter balls but Nadal seizes the rally once inside the baseline and batters his opponents around. Different to Roger but just as effective.

But as the match wore on, Nadal started to stand further and further back to the point where is was ridiculous. He was returning first serves from the linesman lap again. This is why I have questioned Nadal's tennis IQ in the past. Cilic has a superb wide serve as does Roger. Nadal is relying on hope to break their serves. It's suicide. Why, why, why does he adopt this crazy tactic? And, worse, by retreating like this he denies himself the chance to ever work inside the baseline.

I have been thinking about Nadal, Dimitrov, and especially the women. The general approach now is to wait at the baseline and just keep pushing your opponent around. Almost all the players will wait for a ball and then try to move an opponent or wrong foot them.

Fed is the only one who consistently looks to move in and hit the ball inside the court. He can smell a short or a weaker slower ball.

Halep also did this better than Kerber.

My sense is that Cilic did this sometimes but not all the time.

With all the two handers out there it is just not as natural for them to come in and cut the ball off and attack.

Dimitrov and Thiem are interesting because in principle they should be able to do that.

So I just think players are just not as well trained in quick reactions, half volleys, improvisation and all the things that Fed experienced growing up.

He grew up serving and volleying on grass. It is instinctive for him to finish at the net and I am sure he got passed many times.

Nadal did not experience this and my sense is that he just needs more time to hit the ball.

He can improvise like Fed but it is much harder for him.

Under stress he retreats because it is more comfortable for him to play that way.

Most players are these days.

And Fed continues to basically dominate by just taking the oxygen out of the room and creating a vacuum.

Players can't breathe as he is pushing them to react more and more quickly.

His match against Chung should be really interesting.

Chung's serve seems to be a bit weak so I have a feeling that Fed will be exploiting that from the get go.

[don_budge]

The Self Appointed Commissioner of Tennis...The Great John McEnroe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-5DRoJpDs

He does a little lambasting of Alexander Zverev. Mats Wilander followed with comments of his own regards the "Golden Child". I wonder if Zverev will ever recover. I think he needs an attitude adjustment.

[don_budge]

Hyeon Chung Match Play Record for 2017

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/hyeon-chung/ch27/player-activity?year=2017

He has had a nice little run in the Australian Open but his win over Novak Djokovic may just be a bit overrated because Djokovic was less than 100%. Taking a look at his 2017 record may give us a more realistic appraisal of his chances of upsetting Roger Federer for a spot in the finals. It will depend a lot on his ability to withstand pressure. I don't think he has known pressure like a semifinal match against the likes of Federer in a Grand Slam. Federer will be looking to applying pressure on Chung right from the toss of the coin.

He's a bit of an unknown. A wild card. But Roger Federer is no stranger to this situation and he will have a game plan and hopefully will not pull a "Goffin" here.

[arturohernandez]

The Self Appointed Commissioner of Tennis...The Great John McEnroe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-5DRoJpDs

He does a little lambasting of Alexander Zverev. Mats Wilander followed with comments of his own regards the "Golden Child". I wonder if Zverev will ever recover. I think he needs an attitude adjustment.

My feeling is that Zverev is really good but he is just not nimble inside the court to become a multiple grand slam champion. As much as Nadal stays back he would attack inside the court in his prime. He worked tirelessly to improve his net game and so he was able to incorporate this part of his game.

Djokovic was unique. I just don't think that Zverev can physically do what Djokovic did. He is just not mobile enough.

Even Cilic improved his serve.

My bet is on one or more of the guys around 6 feet to be the next great player/s.

It's not mental to some extent. If only Mischa and Sasha could merge into one.

Then we would have a multiple grand slam champion.

[stotty]

Hyeon Chung Match Play Record for 2017

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/hyeon-chung/ch27/player-activity?year=2017

He has had a nice little run in the Australian Open but his win over Novak Djokovic may just be a bit overrated because Djokovic was less than 100%. Taking a look at his 2017 record may give us a more realistic appraisal of his chances of upsetting Roger Federer for a spot in the finals. It will depend a lot on his ability to withstand pressure. I don't think he has known pressure like a semifinal match against the likes of Federer in a Grand Slam. Federer will be looking to applying pressure on Chung right from the toss of the coin.

He's a bit of an unknown. A wild card. But Roger Federer is no stranger to this situation and he will have a game plan and hopefully will not pull a "Goffin" here.

The chances of Chung beating Roger are about as low as they come I would think. The best we can hope for is for Chung to take the first set and make Roger work for it. The problem is Roger is so fast out of the blocks and it's virtually impossible to hang to him once he's in front. The one thing both Novak and Rafa have, in the past, been able to do is peg Roger back and stop him bolting in front. But you have to be darn good to do that and I am not sure Chung is that good, even in his present fine form.

Chung's has a strange serve....narrow base and no weight transfer.

[stroke]

My feeling is that Zverev is really good but he is just not nimble inside the court to become a multiple grand slam champion. As much as Nadal stays back he would attack inside the court in his prime. He worked tirelessly to improve his net game and so he was able to incorporate this part of his game.

Djokovic was unique. I just don't think that Zverev can physically do what Djokovic did. He is just not mobile enough.

Even Cilic improved his serve.

My bet is on one or more of the guys around 6 feet to be the next great player/s.

It's not mental to some extent. If only Mischa and Sasha could merge into one.

Then we would have a multiple grand slam champion.

I have always felt that Zverev's game most closely resembles Novak's. I think he will win multiple Majors. I do not think he will ever be as good as Novak(to me the 3rd best player of all time). As far as no one having the complete game of Roger, I certainly agree. No one ever has had it and I don't think we will ever see anyone that can duplicate it. Micha and Sasha's game merged would certainly be an improvement, but still not anywhere close to Fed. I think it was you that said one time that you thought Nadal would certainly like to play like Fed, but that was not possible. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Nadal with his 10 French Open's, has done plenty. He looks like the 2nd best of all time to me. Wilander has too much to say. A couple of years ago, he was saying that Fed's record vs Nadal was poor basically because he did not have the necessary cojones.

[bottle]

I have always felt that Zverev's game most closely resembles Novak's. I think he will win multiple Majors. I do not think he will ever be as good as Novak(to me the 3rd best player of all time). As far as no one having the complete game of Roger, I certainly agree. No one ever has had it and I don't think we will ever see anyone that can duplicate it. Micha and Sasha's game merged would certainly be an improvement, but still not anywhere close to Fed. I think it was you that said one time that you thought Nadal would certainly like to play like Fed, but that was not possible. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Nadal with his 10 French Open's, has done plenty. He looks like the 2nd best of all time to me. Wilander has too much to say. A couple of years ago, he was saying that Fed's record vs Nadal was poor basically because he did not have the necessary cojones.

Watch out for Quadzilla.

[stotty]

Some of the Next Gen....

Player	Age	Ranking	Titles
Alexander Zverev	20	4	6
Nick Kyrgios	22	17	4
Lucas Pouille	23	18	4
Andrey Rublev	20	32	1
Borna Coric	21	46	1
Karen Khachanov	21	47	1
Denis Shapovalov	18	50
Hyeon Chung	21	58

Who will be the first to win a slam?

[don_budge]

Chung's has a strange serve....narrow base and no weight transfer.

Obviously you and Federer are on the same page. Roger chooses to return serve and breaks Chung immediately. Now he goes to work with his serve. He needs to serve lights out.

[don_budge]

Obviously you and Federer are on the same page. Roger chooses to return serve and breaks Chung immediately. Now he goes to work with his serve. He needs to serve lights out.

A perfect start and Chung looks to be a fish out of water. He cannot match the experience of "The Old Man". Old man experience. Chung is obviously overwhelmed. Roger served 20% in his first service game but managed. The Chung serve doesn't have enough mustard on it to make a dent in Federer's return game. Roger has given him a steady diet of sliced backhand...varying the depth, speed and spin. He has effectively taken Chung out of his comfort zone. Way out of his comfort zone. In fact...you might say he is in his discomfort zone.

[don_budge]

Down 1-4 in the second set Chung takes a medical timeout. He has a blister or something on the bottom of his foot. I remember having problems like this way back in the good old days...you just played on. No wonder these guys are wearing pink these days.

This timeout seems to be going on and on and on. Pussy tennis. Now he is finally lacing up his shoes. I hope Federer just puts the pedal to the metal now and makes this kid his mother never had him. Gamesmanship? Pound him into next week. These guys use these timeouts to change the momentum of the match. Modern tennis sucks.

[don_budge]

Chung quits...unfucking believable.

[stotty]

So many injuries this year...desperately disappointing. Money back, please!