Rotterdam-ATP 500

[stroke]

Seeds:
1-Medvedev
2-Stef
3-Zverev
4-Rublev
5-RBA
6-Goffin
7-FAA
8-Stan

Murray a WC vs Haase. Stan vs Khachanov. Goffin vs Struff. Kei vs FAA. 1st round of note. A tough field even without the 3. Nadal withdrew. I am surprised he ever entered. We all know all he is looking at right now. Rafa definitely physically faltered a bit in 5th set vs Stef. If a couple of these guys can extend him like that at FO, who knows, his monopoly may come to an end. I still won't believe it until he does not win it for 2 years.

[don_budge]

Ok...surprise me. First of all, there is no Roger Federer. The potential for an overall snooze fest is enormous. Nice try though. I have perused the draw and even with the most optimistic spirit and hopefulness I see one match that might be of any interest. Just one match. Sure...there are a number of matches that can be dressed up as "interesting". It might be interesting to see where exactly Andy Murray is in the food chain. My suspicions are that he has a tough road to hoe in order to reach even the semblance of where he once ate his way too. Wawrinka too. He has more or less struggled to recover any sort of form since his last injury. The rest of them...all pretenders. Except the one match that might be of interest and that may never materialise either based on the lack of consistency by the performers.

Only Stefanos Tsitsipas versus Daniil Medvedev have any hope of saving the day for this draw laden with boring drones of tennis players. Not a single player stands out with a flair. Any kind of style whatsoever. Tsitsipas has been really inconsistent and probably spends a good deal of time looking in the mirror before his matches. Medvedev has been a tad more consistent and this will be a good test for him as the top seeded player. On paper, he should dominate his way to the final. Realistically we must wait and see.

So far Nadal's withdrawal is the big news. That gets a huge yawn from yours truly. Who cares? Ditto for his chances at the French. Nobody cares. The tour lost all of its allure and glamour with Roger being relegated to injury/retirement zone. The "deadly virus" has done anything to revive it. It only gives it a surreal 1984ish feel. Something out of the future. Something so painfully monotonous and lack of any diversity it is painful to watch. Strange too, for all of the want of diversity all we have are the cookie cutter boring drones. The passion has been surgically removed from the game. Much as I suggested back in 1984..."they have taken all of the art out of the game!" Thirty-seven years later the game is dead in the water. Unrecognizable from the original. A mere facsimile and a poor one at that. The best player in the world so one dimensional and lacking in any all court game. The two best players. All of the players. Nobody listened then. Nobody listens now. Who cares?

The only hope for the tournament rests on the fruition of the one match that might be of any interest and that is no guarantee. Did anyone see the semifinal between these two at the Australian Open last month? I didn't think so.

Can somebody give stroke a spot on? Come on...Man!

[stroke]

Murray is the favorite over Haase. Not so sure about that at all.

[don_budge]

Murray is the favorite over Haase. Not so sure about that at all.

Do you wanna bet?

[glacierguy]

The Lajovic/Wawrinka v Rublef/Kachanov doubles had some entertainment value. Clearly singles players playing doubles, but still better value than a lot of the singles matches. And they were occasionally smiling!

Will watch a bit of Murray later...

[stroke]

I watched some of the Kei/FAA match, 2 guys that seem to produce top 10 tennis at times. Kei won in 2 sets, 1st one in a tiebreaker. FAA had the biggest shot on the court with his forehand, but Kei is just so solid off both sides. That BHP stat article on the value/difference making in men's pro tennis of a high quality backhand(the article pointed out Kei had a very highly rated bh using the author's measuring system) was on full display this match. FAA just made way too many bh errors. Kei did not.

[stroke]

If Murray can get through Haase, no given at all, he will have the green goblin next. Very tough draw.

[stroke]

1st set 6-1 Haase. Murray in his prime, his greatest attribute was his court coverage, not any particular weapon, no model type 3 going on there. He is just not there ready to compete at a 500 level anymore it seems to me.

[stroke]

Well that is a remarkable win by Andy in 3. He looked to me to be the 2nd best player on the court but he willed it out. A great win. Now he has to play Rublev(probably). Just a tough way to stay relevant.

[stotty]

Murray turned that final set around nicely. He was assertive and moving pretty well in the end. Still a way to go to be anything like he was...but not a bad effort.

What you never see on TV is the way Murray takes the pace up and down in rallies. He has a decent sliced backhand for a two-hander...probably the best of the two-handers actually. The Brits have always had decent slice backhands until the more recent generation. But, as I was saying, Murray mixes things up more than you'd realise on watching him on TV.

I can't get used to these crowdless matches. It's like tennis undressed...without packaging...no stockings and suspenders so to speak.

It's a decent entry with a good line up of players. Be interesting to see how far Murray progresses.

[stroke]

Murray turned that final set around nicely. He was assertive and moving pretty well in the end. Still a way to go to be anything like he was...but not a bad effort.

What you never see on TV is the way Murray takes the pace up and down in rallies. He has a decent sliced backhand for a two-hander...probably the best of the two-handers actually. The Brits have always had decent slice backhands until the more recent generation. But, as I was saying, Murray mixes things up more than you'd realise on watching him on TV.

I can't get used to these crowdless matches. It's like tennis undressed...without packaging...no stockings and suspenders so to speak.

It's a decent entry with a good line up of players. Be interesting to see how far Murray progresses.

Spot on. No fans is just so bad. You are correct to me about his 1 handed slice for a 2 hander. The only one I can think of better is Tomic, but I know that is probably minority opinion.

[don_budge]

Do you wanna bet?

Pay up.

[stroke]

Pay up.

I cannot believe I missed a pick.

[don_budge]

I cannot believe I missed a pick.

Yeah...turns out it was an uncanny pick. Hasse looked to be invincible...at least he looked to be that way to Murray in the first set. He was moving Andy wherever he wanted him to be. He was noticeably using a liberal amount of drop shots as well. Andy just looked...in a word, old. Or maybe washed up. I didn't stick around for long but I did see the tie-break in the second and at this point do not even now what the score was in the third. It had to have been a herculean effort for Sir Andy in his current state of disrepair. I will tell you what...as big of a duffis Andy may be at times...the tour sorely misses him as one of the regular "Big Four" much as it misses Roger Federer too. Those bookies know how to pic 'em.

[stroke]

They are a savvy bunch, those oddsmakers. I really have a hard time understanding how anyone would choose to regularly(or at all) do business with them.