Masters 1000 Paris

[stroke]

Very tough draw here obviously. No Fed or Novak. Nadal #1 seed. The top 8 seeds of course get 1st round bye. !st round matches of note: Stan vs Evans, Gasquet vs Fritz, FAA vs Cilic, Hugo Humbert vs Ruud,

[glacierguy]

Thanks stroke, was wondering if thread had been started, and here it is. Looking forward to Stan v. Dan tomorrow (I think), don't care who wins, both likeable.

[don_budge]

2020 Rolex Paris Masters...ATP 1000...Paris, France Match of the Day (Stan Wawrinka vs. Daniel Evans)

Thanks stroke, was wondering if thread had been started, and here it is. Looking forward to Stan v. Dan tomorrow (I think), don't care who wins, both likeable.

Yeah...he is doing a great job isn't he glacierguy? But stroke...please include the draw sheet in your opener. Just for the sake of clarity.

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/cu...chtype=singles

Once upon a time in Europe there was a city that loomed large on the horizon and it was named Paris, France. But that city doesn't actually exist anymore. Not in the year of our Lord 2020. By definition. Much as the original sport of tennis no longer exists. It doesn't exist for much the reason that Paris doesn't exist any longer and that is because it has so fundamentally change by definition it no longer resembles what used to be. It is no longer even a reasonable facsimile. I visited Paris some five years ago and was shocked to see policemen/women patrolling the streets sporting machine guns. I asked the Parisians that we were sitting with at an outside cafe what the hell that was about. "There has been trouble"...is what they said. It continues on to this day. Paris is on lockdown not only from the so called pandemic but because of a spike in terrorist activity. Ahhhh...the beauty of the multi-cultural society that the European Union created out of a once and proud continent. They really mucked it up...much the same as the powers that be did to tennis. It's interesting how tennis metaphors life sometimes.

It was only a week ago that I wrote that "Match of the Day" status had to wait for later rounds in the current environment of professional tennis. Most of these initial rounds are meaningless as the only real contenders are warming up and just flexing their muscles waiting for the real deal to begin around the round of sixteen or the quarterfinals. As a good American I realize that rules are made to be broken and there are exceptions to the rule. We can make an exception for this match between Stan Wawrinka and Daniel Evans.

Evans had an interesting week last week. By defeating Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals in the featured "Match of the Day" in Vienna, Austria he found himself in position to play a lesser ranked player for a spot in the finals. In a fascinating side note there Austria found itself to be the victim of another Islamic terror attack last night. Austria is no longer Austria as of today. These events have a way of changing things so they are unrecognisable in the future. But anyways...now Daniel Evans finds himself playing Stan Wawrinka who he knows quite well as he has come out on the short end of the stick four times against "Stanimal". Well he used to be "Stanimal". He no longer is that...he has changed as well. See how that works.

This is a match not unlike the match that Evans played against Grigor Dimitrov. Wawrinka has him outgunned on just about every front yet in the four matches that they have played Evans has made a pretty decent showing in three of the four. Only in one match did Wawrinka manage to routine the more diminutive Evans. Evans has pushed him as far as he could without getting the win. Is today the day? Last week lost in the first round and he has really been struggling to regain his old form. The proposition is rather similar to the Dimitrov question for Evans. Hopefully Paris will remain intact for the remainder of this tournament. It's day to day here in Europe. It's a big day for America as well...it's all on the line. Donald Trump has to win for America to have a fighting chance in 2021. It's going to be dicey...for Evans, Trump, Paris, Austria, America and Europe. Mark my words.

[stroke]

Good stuff db, unprecedented times and I do not like the odds.

[stroke]

Stan won a routine 1st set vs Evans, and Evans is fighting very hard late in 2nd to extend match to 3. Stan a very tough match up for Stan with his firepower. Stan obviously one of the very few players on tour that has a backhand about as good as his his very good forehand.

[stroke]

Stan too good. Sometimes you just have to say the other guy is just a better tennis player. Stan at that level is going to beat Dan every time. Interestingly, the Hawkeye stats at the end of the match revealed Stan produced almost identical RPM's off his forehand and backhand for the match, both sides very heavy RPM's. Such a quality ball off both sides. That is most unusual, if not stand alone. And then throw in a serve that is clearly better than Dan's and there you have it.

[stroke]

Gasquet wins in 3 over Fritz. The announcers pointed out that Gasquet has more tour wins than any French player ever. Pretty impressive. Speaking of heavy balls off both sides, Gasquet's spin rates for the match off both sides were almost identical to Stan's.

[don_budge]

Good stuff db, unprecedented times and I do not like the odds.

Interesting times...for sure. From the looks of some empirical evidence Donald Trump should get four more years. Hope to God he does. More on that later.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/11/october_surprise_this_race_is_over_.html

An interesting match as well between Wawrinka and the new darling of the tennisplayer.net forum...Daniel Evans. Too much firepower from Wawrinka. But Evans made it interesting...very, very interesting. I only watched the first few games of the first set and it looked like Stan was going to roll him. But to his credit Evans made a game of it. Evans doesn't have much of a forehand and his serve isn't all that great either...but he makes the best of them with being clever rather than powerful. If these bigger hitters were to play in his fashion they would be awfully tough to beat. Just as we were discussing a Denis Shapovalov correlation last week. By the way...the choice of Youzney is a great choice based on his style of play. But does he have the "coaching instinct" necessary to get his charge to perform. Coach's should be hired to maximise performance.

[stroke]

Youzney who knows if he the total package as a coach. His understanding of the game as a player was top shelf in my book, and Denis does seem to respect him. So far, we have seen more calmness from Denis, but certainly not much Youz in his tactical approach to matches.

[jimlosaltos]

Youzney who knows if he the total package as a coach. His understanding of the game as a player was top shelf in my book, and Denis does seem to respect him. So far, we have seen more calmness from Denis, but certainly not much Youz in his tactical approach to matches.

Are you seeing any improvements in Shapo's return game? When Youzney first joined him, I could see Shapo trying more conservative shots but numbers don't show results yet. Shapo's serve game is already top 10 but his return numbers remain quite poor. IMHO he seems to either go for way too much or block back a sitting duck -- no in between. Youzney was a good returner and, of course, also has a one-handed backhand, so I'm optimistic he'll help.

[stroke]

Youzney really knew how to shorten up his forehand backswing and kind of block the ball back(without going to a more continental slice kind of grip in order to do so). Gasquet who also has a big forehand swing was doing that today well vs Fritz. Denis needs that. Fed is the master of that technique, just getting the racquet out in front with body weight positioned forward, feet on the ground. Stan tends to go to a continental slice type forehand return when he does it. Not as effective to me. Either that or just way back like Nadal and swing away.

[stroke]

Ugo Humbert takes the 1st set tiebreaker vs Tsitsipas and just won it. Stef is playing well and Ugo looks very comfortable matching his level. He looks like top 10 could happen sooner rather than later.

[stroke]

Ugo wins in 3.5 hour match over Stef. He played liked he belonged the whole time. He looked absolutely physically spent though at the end, and we all know how physically demanding these Masters 1000's are, having to recover so quickly for another highest level opponent. But Ugo definitely announced himself today. That venue would have been absolutely rocking for that match in normal times.

[klacr]

Had the privilege to watch Humbert at Delray Beach Open earlier this year. Very crafty player, high tennis IQ, multiple gears and to top it all off, he's a lefty. I had a feeling he would give Tsitsipas issues.On top of all of his skills, Humbert is a nice, young man. Generous with his time to all the fans and tournament sponsor social events (I usually despise those but Ugo did very well.)

Kyle LaCroix, USPTA, PTR
Boca Raton, FL
SETS Consulting

[stroke]

Kyle, good thoughts. Glad to see your input again.