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You pretty much nailed it. His conditioning is not all in. A lot of his errors were a break down in his form, looking tired. I doubt he will ever address this. To be a very top player, you have to take conditioning off the table. It is a given. Nadal for the match 64 winners, 27 errors. Those are brutal numbers from Nadal. Thiem and Wawrinka are all in with their conditioning. But we all know what they will be seeing from Nadal. They are not favored. They are clearly a worse match up vs Nadal than Nick. Nadal is looking very strong out there. Unlucky(for the other players) 13 on tap at FO.
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Fed is a massive favorite. One can put $1200 on Fed and win $100 if he wins.Comment
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Interesting match from Roger Federer today. To say the least. An understatement. But there you go. Three one handed backhands in the quarters and it is just too bad Stefanos is another year away from developing more potential. It could have been four. But more later. First things first. I have my priorities you know. Number one is you know who. Gym time. Ugh!Comment
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There were a couple of points there in the match when Sandgren looked like a good bet. About seven of them.Originally posted by stroke View PostComment
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Certainly if someone had put a lot of money on Fed, they may have had some kind of breakdown before celebrating the winComment
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Federer does his best Houdini. Amazing how he manages. No panic shown in his emotions. Just calmness and confidence. Federer admitted he was lucky and considering he should have lost twice in this tournament, he has to feel like playing with house money.
Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Delray Beach
SETS ConsultingComment
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Match of the Day...Roger Federer vs. Tennys Sandgren
The match started at 5 AM here in Sweden and by the time I got to the set it was two sets to one to Sandgren. I heard via the announcers that Roger was having some sort of physical issues and by the score and the attitudes of the announcers the best that I could have said at the moment was that Roger was a hero for playing it out. It didn't seem as if he had a snowball's chance in Australia of pulling this one out.
So I ate breakfast and came back. Hmmm...very interesting. Roger is hanging on in the fourth set. I went out and cleaned the stable and when I came back I expected it to be all over. But to my surprise the announcers were still calling the match and luckily for me I got there for the beginning of the tie-break. What a tie-break it was. It looked as if it was all over for Roger once again as they held serve to 3-3 but Sandgren broke a Federer serve and then held two of his own to take him to 6-3...triple match point. On the first one Roger missed the first serve and then Sandgren clipped the tape after a nineteen shot rally. Roger hits a service winner to save the second...the fifth match point save of the match. Sandgren served the third match point of the breaker to the Federer forehand which he blocked in similar fashion that he did on the John Millman last point of the match...right in the middle of the court. Tennys advances to the net with a somewhat tentative topspin forehand to the Federer backhand and Roger hits a high percentage shot crosscourt that Sandgren volleys to the Federer backhand again. Now this is the most important shot of the whole match as the volley is neither deep or penetrating...Federer plays down the line and catches Sandgren out of position. He manages a forehand volley but it is right to Roger and he makes the split second decision to take it in the air with a swinging top spin forehand volley to save the third match point.
At 6-6 Sandgren hits a service winner for 6-7 Federer to serve. He misses the first serve but he makes the second to begin a rally where they trade 18 straight topspin shots before Roger slices a backhand short inside the service line. Now Tennys has to make a split second decision of his own...should he retreat after hitting the short or approach to the net...he decides to approach and nets the backhand. Big first serve and Federer smashes for his first set point. Ace for Tennys...8-8. Federer wins another longish rally for his second set point...9-8. Sandgren in control of the point at the net...he clips the baseline. Federer looks to the umpire for the call but there is none. He lobs high over Sandgren's head and Tennys retreats behind the baseline to smash...long.
I watched the first three games of the fifth. Sandgren had lost his belief that he could win this match and Federer had an iron grip on it. I walked away. Took the dogs for a walk. When I got back the jury was in...an incredible escape. Roger lives to play another day. Novak Djokovic next. The Invincible Novak I might add. He looked impenetrable against the big Canadian lug...Milos Raonic. He made Milos look like an oaf and that was some doing seeing as nobody else had any answers for the big serving Raonic. So Roger has his hands full. Again. Who knows? He used up two shots in the game of Russian Roulette so as klacr says...he is playing with house money. Put an empty chamber in that gun...Nicky!
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Great couple of wins for Alex against 2 quality contenders. He was out of sorts completely with his serve problems at the ATP Cup and appears to have sorted it out and regained his confidence with his groundstrokes, which can be overpowering.Comment
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Nadal and Theim in a first set tie-break. I just got here for a couple of points...4-2 Theim. But it almost appears that Theim is wearing on him. I have noticed that Theim does this to his opponents with his constant barrage.Comment
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So the first set goes to Dominic Theim and Nadal looks to be on the defensive which doesn't necessarily bode well for him. Now he is up against a younger opponent with fewer miles on his legs and brimming with confidence...so far. Let's see if Dominic can handle the pressure and see if Nadal can regroup physically.Comment
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Nadal leads 9-4 in the head to head and 12 of the 13 matches have been on clay. The lone hard court result went to Nadal in a fifth set tie-break at the U. S. Open in 2018.Comment
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Exactly, we will see. Thiem does seem to have the belief and game plan. He looks very strong. Fitness is off the table, he is all in.Originally posted by don_budge View PostComment
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Nadal the Cheater...
After losing the first set Nadal has begun his slowdown tactics that are designed to get into his opponents head and throw off his rhythm. The announcers...Brad Gilbert and John McEnroe have been commenting on it. Now Theim self destructs on his own serve and is visibly unnerved by the histrionics of the biggest cheater ever on the professional tennis tour. It is all about winning at any cost. Milking the shot clock. The towels. The ticks. The obsessive nature of his rituals. All by design. The water bottles. The potty breaks. The walking of the lines. The waiting for his opponent at the net. No accidents. Control. If you cannot control what is going on during the points then you start with what is going on between the points.Comment
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Ha...he gets a warning. He goes to the chair and argues..."you don't like good tennis" to the umpire. What a jackass.Comment
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It definitely got in his head. He just spoke to some kind of tournament official. This is something. If Thiem gets this set, I don't think anyone would say Nadal is still the favorite. I did not see how long Nadal went over the shot clock after that extended point, or how soon after that point she started the shot clock. It was certainly an interesting time to enforce the rule.Comment
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