2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters...Shanghai, China...ATP 1000

[don_budge]

As we slowly take those last steps in a "Journey to the End of the Night" as Ferdinand Celine suggested way back when. We have Roger Federer in the house. For how long it becomes increasingly evident it won't be forever. I suppose the masses of sheeple will amuse themselves with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. It is beyond me how they will but such is the condition of society. It is built on herd mentality. The blind leading the blind. The fact of the matter is that the sun is dipping into the horizon on the tennis world. I am not certain that I could take it any longer as it is. After all...this is a world where don_budge could not wait for the men's final to be over at Wimbledon. The greatest event in tennis reduced to a meaningless marathon. Dark day ahead Tennis World.

Case in point. Two ATP 500 tennis tournaments last week with many of the top players in the world participating and nary a word on this forum. Of course this forum has dwindled as well from its former self. Casualties of time...mental illness and just lack of interest. Boredom. One cannot even watch an entire tennis match with the best player in the world without becoming dreadfully bored after two minutes. It is just another tired rerun that you have seen so many times before.

Roger to the rescue...but how long can he keep it up? In the second round he is projected to play Marin Cilic but that isn't carved in stone. Marin is 4-2 against Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Albert being a virtual unheard of ranked at #48 in the world rankings. My only hope is that Roger at least makes it to the quarter finals to keep this tournament alive. Without him...it is dead in the water. Just like the two events played simultaneously last week.

At least one forum contributor is paying attention as glacierguy...the climate change advocate who is suggesting against all odds that the climate is virtually dependent upon the sun and not Greta Thornberg...noted that Andy Murray is making headway in his comeback from hip surgery and associated problems. True enough. I have been watching Andy in the absence of Federer and he is definitely making headway. I have to give this guy tons of credit for showing the guts to come back from wherever he was. I've never been a fan and in all likelihood never will be but credit to he who deserves it. The tour has missed Andy badly since he went away. The Big Three is not the same as The Big Four. It was missing a wheel. Soon it will be missing the engine. The thing that has been powering it for the past how many years?

It is going on two years since I resigned my tennis teaching job here in Sweden. Can't say that I miss it one little bit. I have found something that I love more. Golf. But I do miss some of the students. Some of the people. Tennis is a wonderful game. God's gift to mankind in terms of recreation. How did it become such a struggling entity? Does tennis somehow metaphor life as I have led you to believe? Or not? I was just thinking the other day as I was walking through the woods with the dogs. Well a dog and a wolf to be exact.

[don_budge]

Second Round Action 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters...Roger Federer versus Anybody

Top billing goes to Roger as usual. All else is secondary when he is playing. After all...he is the "Living Proof". The sole surviving dinosaur playing the game of tennis the way it was designed to be played. The way it was engineered. Philosophically Correct (PC). Heads exploding. I love it. The chaos. The chance to reorganise. Anyways...please continue. Thank you...I will.

Batting second in the lineup today is Andy Murray versus Fabio "Fabulous" Fognini. Sir Murray has made a positive impression on me. Not that anybody really cares...just FYI. But Andy has always been a little deceptive in terms of what his composition really is. On the outside he is whining and feigning injury. Pulling up lame. Grasping at an injury. I forget what I used to call it when he did that. That's how long he has been gone. But here he comes in the outside lane. Little by little making up for lost time. Great to watch. Give him credit where it is due. Further proof of the lack of bias in the don_budge view of things. Purely objective. Ha...put that in your pipe and smoke it.

In the third spot is the guy who is showing a nasty disposition when it comes to lack of respect for not only the "Big Three" or the "Big Four" depending on whether Murray makes it back or not...but Daniil Medvedev versus Cameron Norrie is the meat and potatoes of todays lineup. Medvedev comes to the court with exactly the right attitude now. The other guy is going to have to prove to him that he deserves to win. He doesn't give a hoot who it is. This is a prerequisite attribute of a tennis player. It doesn't matter if the other guy is going to eventually kick your ass on any given day but you have to show up thinking that you can win. "Mr. Pencil" had the U. S. Open in the bag...just about. But the rascal "cheated" him out of a victory. The stalling and shenanigans managed to ruffle Medvedev just enough to go along with the fatigue of chasing the tennis ball around the globe to the point where he had played the most matches in some many days leading up to that fateful day. He got behind but never lost sight of the prize. He came up short...and trust me it was plenty controversial as the shills in the announcers "role" could not ignore the fact that Nadal was pulling out all of the gamesmanship ploys he had. McEnroe and McEnroe made numbers comments and the crowd was booing. Daniil to his credit even crossed the net where grandstanding Nadal was prostrate on the court celebrating without going to the net to shake his opponents hand. Another obvious faux pas. Trust me...he doesn't care in the least. He is as bad as Greta Thornberg..."The Climate Kid". I wonder what Daniil said to Nadal. Nadal did not look amused. Nor should he be.

[don_budge]

Second Round Action 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters...Roger Federer versus Anybody

Batting second in the lineup today is Andy Murray versus Fabio "Fabulous" Fognini. Sir Murray has made a positive impression on me. Not that anybody really cares...just FYI. But Andy has always been a little deceptive in terms of what his composition really is. On the outside he is whining and feigning injury. Pulling up lame. Grasping at an injury. I forget what I used to call it when he did that. That's how long he has been gone. But here he comes in the outside lane. Little by little making up for lost time. Great to watch. Give him credit where it is due. Further proof of the lack of bias in the don_budge view of things. Purely objective. Ha...put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Clutch and grab. A favorite Murray ploy. Just remembered. Clutch and grimace. Like the fake soccer player injuries. He loses the first set with "Fabulous" in a tie-break. Decent performance. Murray 4-3 head to head with Fognini prior his injury. Fabio not a push over for Andy.

[stroke]

Not that it matters what I think, but I do think Nadal will overtake Fed in the all time Majors. To me, no doubt, Roger is inimitable, the easiest on the eye player ever, stand alone. But I see Rafa winning more FO's and overtaking Roger. Not that it really matters, these 3 are just the best ever. The tennis community will be studying Roger and the Nadal forehand long after they have retired.

[stroke]

Clutch and grab. A favorite Murray ploy. Just remembered. Clutch and grimace. Like the fake soccer player injuries. He loses the first set with "Fabulous" in a tie-break. Decent performance. Murray 4-3 head to head with Fognini prior his injury. Fabio not a push over for Andy.

I watched the match. Nothing has really changed to me, Fabio is simply a better tennis player than Murray, pre or post surgery. Fabio just has not realized his potential, as Andy has to me.

[klacr]

Fognini/Murray was exactly what I expected. High drama from two drama queens. I respect the flair and talent of Fogging and the effort and blue collar workmanship from Murray.
Federer had some moments of Federer-esque brilliance against Ramos.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Roger Federer...Revenge as Motivation

Federesque. Can we add this word to the lexicon. The tennis lexicon. The definition of Federesque...CLASS: Grace under pressure. Love the punctuation don_budge. Roger comes out and just looks Federesque. The clothes...everything in order. The epitome of organization. The wristband matches the shirt. The socks always the appropriate color. Starting off easy on the eyes...a strokism. Then it's off to the races. Measuring his opponent who had the great misfortune of beating Roger a year ago at the same venue. A repeat? Not to be. Roger played beautifully. He even had his opponent graciously applauding some of his beautifully concocted play. He's a CLASSIC. In this case as always he is measuring his steps with the prize only in the back of his calculating, controlling mind. His eyes are narrowed. Only seeing that point in front of his nose. A lesser opponent? You wouldn't know it from the "Federer squint". Peering out at his opponent and calculating just what it will take to beat him to the punch. On a given point. During the entirety of a given match. Over the course of the tournament. He measures his steps. Pacing himself. Pacing on the court. Never in a hurray. Keeping his pace. Just under rushing his opponent on his serve as he swiftly sticks to the cadence of play. Bing...bang...bye...your serve. He never tries to effect the cadence of his opponents serve and plays to his pace. This is Federesque. This is something to be aspired to.

I watched the match. Nothing has really changed to me, Fabio is simply a better tennis player than Murray, pre or post surgery. Fabio just has not realized his potential, as Andy has to me.

"Fabulous" was the better player yesterday. Narrowly. Not much difference between them. But the difference over their careers was the difference in potential realised. What separates them in this regard? Interesting question. Intestinal fortitude? Italian tennis players have always been questioned in this regard. Way back in the day. Murray demonstrated what got him to the top. It wasn't necessarily talent. Perhaps an arrogance that tells him that he belongs at the top. Near the top anyways. He demonstrated that yesterday in spades. Fognini is a beautiful player too. Extraordinarily gifted perhaps. Certainly in the looks department. What a look. The swashbuckling gait thrown in. Like a pirate. Dark and swarthy. But Sir Andy with the milk toast countenance. But something underneath eggs him on. The two were trading some great exchanges from the backcourt. Two of the better backhands in the game. Both can be very aggressive on that side. Interesting match up. Interesting to see just how far Murray can take this. He is incrementally raising the bar on himself and he really applies the whip to his own behind. Good show Andy. Maybe this is the mystery of the Englishman. Looking somewhat like a softie but underneath the battling fighter.

Fognini/Murray was exactly what I expected. High drama from two drama queens. I respect the flair and talent of Fogging and the effort and blue collar workmanship from Murray.
Federer had some moments of Federer-esque brilliance against Ramos.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Drama Queens? What was going on between them? I was watching in Italian. Didn't see what sparked the back and forth but both were into it. It carried over to the end. I don't know if Murray even shook Fognini's hand. Murray continued the discussion with the umpire well after the match. He wanted that one. Fognini denied him.

Daniil Medvedev through...very quietly and very efficiently. No muss...no fuss.

[don_budge]

Stefanos Tsitsipas...Back on Track?

The trolley had seemed to have left the track in a sense. Victories over opponents that seemed likely weren't to be. Victories over opponents that were unlikely were more unlikely than when he was an "up and comer". What is going on with Stefanos Tsitsipas?

An incredibly huge win over the young and "up and coming" Felix Auger-Aliassime to put a stop to the young Canadians two match winning streak against him. Felix has always been a tough out for Stefanos....even in the juniors. But today he has turned back the young upstart in straight set tie-breakers. No rest for the weary though...he has another worthy opponent coming up and one that beat him in his downturn for the past months...Hubert Hurkacz. Should Tsitsipas prevail as he should...but there are no guarantees...he might just earn a match with one Mr. Djokovic. Now that is interesting. This match with Hurkacz is looming large. A couple of things. We have seen Roger Federer deal with an opponent who had the audacity to beat him yesterday. He dispatched him with a vengeance. Stefanos just might have this kind of larceny in his heart...being of Greek origin. Shades of Zorba. But this is a telling point of sorts...does he have this kind of heart? One that can steel itself in the face of all comers...big and small. Auger-Aliassime was a big stepping stone and the next is a logical progression with all of the possibilities of the kind of match that Tsitsipas must be longing for. But the test here is not to look ahead. Keep your head down and focus on that all important point directly in front of your nose. Take care of the business at hand and the eventualities will find their way to your doorstep.

An alternative theory of the disappearance of young Tsitsipas is that he was working harder off of the court than usual. Conditioning? I have to concede that the gym may be a mitigating variable in the modern game. I know he was playing a lot of doubles as well. He may have been sacrificing a bit of the present for the future. Now that would be genius. Instead of resting on the laurels which would be the natural inclination he may have been doubling down on his success and accepting some losing as an investment for the future. Alexander Zverev is a good example of the laurels inclination and it doesn't look as if it has paid off for him very handsomely. It's a mental dilemma. Once you get a taste of success why punish yourself? But if that is indeed what Tsitsipas has done it makes him all the more compelling in my eyes.

The rest of it appears to be window dressing for the moment. All eyes on Federer's section of the draw where another potential matchup looms. The two Russians...Alexander "Softy Sasha" Zverev against Andrie "Raskolnikov" Rublev. If the punishment fits the crime watch for an "upset" here from our featured server of the month. Rublev disappeared there for a while with some injury issues but he has returned with a sneer on his face deserving of his nickname. The sneering Raskolnikov. Last week Tstisipas played a smart match in his own estimation as he kept the ball on the Zverev forehand a lot of the time. Andrei has a huge forehand and if he is punishing it...look out!

[stroke]

It looks to me like Fed has a very good draw with his half. Rublev looks like maybe his biggest threat from making the final, though unlikely Roger will lose to him twice in a row. Novak's half has way more road blocks, but if Novak stays interested, I guess we will see the same ol in the final.

[stroke]

Novak is in vintage clinical form vs Denis and Denis has no real answers, even though he is playing well. Roger needs to constantly bring Novak forward with the short slice and just hit it at him or pass him, really testing his volley skills for the entire match. Roger to me is the only player that could maybe be successful with this pattern. He to me could very well frustrate Novak if Novak sees what he is doing and is unable to volley well enough.

[don_budge]

2019 Shanghai Masters...Round of Sixteen Match of the Day

As usual the nod goes to Roger Federer vs. Anybody. Anybody this morning in Sweden...evening in Shanghai...is David Goffin. Goffin is still feeling the burn of the 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 shellacking that he was on the losing end of at the U. S. Open earlier in the year. Roger had to be playing awfully good to take advantage of Goffin like that. Ordinarily one might suppose that Goffin might be out looking for some revenge of his own. But after a hurt dance like that he might just as soon take the day off. He is probably a little frightened. Federer will be advised to push the pedal to the metal and get this over with as efficiently as he can. But he knows the score and will take it one point at a time. Measuring steps.

It looks to me like Fed has a very good draw with his half. Rublev looks like maybe his biggest threat from making the final, though unlikely Roger will lose to him twice in a row. Novak's half has way more road blocks, but if Novak stays interested, I guess we will see the same ol in the final.

Andrei Rublev plays Alexander Zverev in the second tier match of the day and this might turn into some sort of interesting turn of events. Zverev has beaten Andrei like a red-haired stepchild in their two previous meetings. Zverev has an attitude about him as if to say he doesn't appreciate such rude treatment and he might just be in the bad mood to hand out some of the same to Zverev this time. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't...or couldn't. Two very impressive rounds so far in the Borna "Born Again" Coric takedown followed by a rather rude 6-2, 6-0 beating to John Millman who has been in pretty good form lately. Didn't he make it to the finals last week? Zverev was shaky against Jeremy Chardy and the shakes might just spill over into the match with Rublev. Rublev is coming on strong. Two defeats in a row to Zverev is only going to exasperate Zverev's motivational problems. Rublev is hungry for big scalps.

Novak is in vintage clinical form vs Denis and Denis has no real answers, even though he is playing well. Roger needs to constantly bring Novak forward with the short slice and just hit it at him or pass him, really testing his volley skills for the entire match. Roger to me is the only player that could maybe be successful with this pattern. He to me could very well frustrate Novak if Novak sees what he is doing and is unable to volley well enough.

On any kind of slick court Novak Djokovic...currently the best tennis player in the world...would be vulnerable to any all-court player worth his salt. Under the conditions played in 1972 grass courts I believe that he would be extremely vulnerable to any player in the top 100. He doesn't have a mid court game, approach game or anywhere near competent net play. John McEnroe would absolutely eat him alive. You tactical theory of how to play Djokovic is sound but the problem is that there are no players that possess the game to apply it. Except for Roger that is. What you are theorising is exactly how McEnroe went about dissecting the Björn Borg game way back when. It made for spell binding tennis by the way. Anybody seen any spellbinding tennis lately other than Federer vs. Anybody? Shapovalov does not possess he necessary skills to apply this nor does he have the patience. Denis is in love with hitting the ball as hard and mindlessly as he can. He has no plan B. Mentally he isn't up to it either.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread...Stefanos Tsitsipas has an enormous test in front of him today. If he can answer all of the questions today he just might earn a bigger match tomorrow. Stefanos is a player who potentially could apply the tactics stroke writes about. He talks about playing intelligently. We'll see what happens today before we get ahead of ourselves but I like the idea of discussing stroke's proposal (one that I have surely discussed before too) in a possible Tsitsipas matchup with Djokovic. Djokovic must first beat John Isner who actually has one of the better head to head records on the tour with Djokovic.

Dominic Thiem just might be a factor in this tournament as well. His draw is favourable leading up to a possible showdown with Federer which would hands down be the match of the day should it occur. Daniil Medvedev looked impressive today in the sense he struggled to find his A game. He managed to win playing subpar which just so happens to be one of the key hallmarks of champions.

[stroke]

I can't really see Stef employing this tactic effectively vs Novak. His slice bh is not close to Roger's and he cannot take the ball as early off either side. His touch and volley skills are not really close to Roger to me. I am more talking about Roger, who has no problem going right at a player at the net, a la Lendl vs McEnroe, doing so as a theme to their match.

[stotty]

playing well. Roger needs to constantly bring Novak forward with the short slice and just hit it at him or pass him, really testing his volley skills for the entire match. Roger to me is the only player that could maybe be successful with this pattern. He to me could very well frustrate Novak if Novak sees what he is doing and is unable to volley well enough.

It's just so difficult to do in real life, even for Roger. At Wimbledon Roger did everything right and still lost...and in his own backyard. A hard court doesn't offer the same playing characteristics as a grass court to enable Roger to deliver the type of virtuoso performance which is required. Once Novak starts hitting that great length of his it negates the options of his opponents. It's amazing how Novak, with half the repertoire of Roger, has been able to dominate him.

I like the draw. Could be some interesting matches coming up.

[stroke]

It's just so difficult to do in real life, even for Roger. At Wimbledon Roger did everything right and still lost...and in his own backyard. A hard court doesn't offer the same playing characteristics as a grass court to enable Roger to deliver the type of virtuoso performance which is required. Once Novak starts hitting that great length of his it negates the options of his opponents. It's amazing how Novak, with half the repertoire of Roger, has been able to dominate him.

I like the draw. Could be some interesting matches coming up.

Nothing speaks louder to me to Novak's greatness than his results playing against the 2 great ones, Roger and Rafael.

[stroke]

Stefanos hits 34 winners vs 22 errors to take out Novak. Quite impressive. 20 forehand winners, and per the match stats, he had a significant rpm advantage off the fh vs Novak's.