Acapulco

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Very good matches round 1 on tap. Isner vs Verdasco, Dimitrov vs Cressy, JB vs Zverev, Mannarino vs Fritz coming up day 1.

[glacierguy]

Court looks pretty slow. JB & Zverev in a battle.

It's over, finally. That court is dreadful. They may as well have moonballed to each other. 2nd set apparently longest ever tie-break set at 1hr 51mins. Feel bad for the energy both expended.

[stroke]

Court looks pretty slow. JB & Zverev in a battle.

It's over, finally. That court is dreadful. They may as well have moonballed to each other. 2nd set apparently longest ever tie-break set at 1hr 51mins. Feel bad for the energy both expended.

I saw that match ended up at the latest time in ATP history at at 4:54am. More great scheduling by a tournament. The match took the court at past 1am and went nearly 3.5 hours.

[stroke]

NDTVSports.com: Video: Alexander Zverev Repeatedly Hits Umpire's Chair With Racquet After Loss In Mexican Open Men's...
https://sports.ndtv.com/tennis/video...-match-2784153

Keeping it classy.

On an unrelated note, Nadal is now off to a best ever for him 15-0 start to the season.

[stotty]

NDTVSports.com: Video: Alexander Zverev Repeatedly Hits Umpire's Chair With Racquet After Loss In Mexican Open Men's...
https://sports.ndtv.com/tennis/video...-match-2784153

Keeping it classy.

On an unrelated note, Nadal is now off to a best ever for him 15-0 start to the season.

It gives insight into why he might be the wife-beater people say he is. It certainly doesn't help his case to lose complete control like that. Look at it like this: Zverev is an a young, spoilt brat of an athlete worth millions mistreating an older man on a fraction of his pay in a way that is so disrespectful it's alarming. In no walk of life should one man treat another like that, period.

If he was a child, you would take his racket off him, stick him in the naughty corner, and stop him playing for 6 months. Works a treat.

[stroke]

It gives insight into why he might be the wife-beater people say he is. It certainly doesn't help his case to lose complete control like that. Look at it like this: Zverev is an a young, spoilt brat of an athlete worth millions mistreating an older man on a fraction of his pay in a way that is so disrespectful it's alarming. In no walk of life should one man treat another like that, period.

If he was a child, you would take his racket off him, stick him in the naughty corner, and stop him playing for 6 months. Works a treat.

Certainly agree, he should to me be banned from playing any ATP tournaments at least 3 months. I am sure it will not happen. I certainly feel like he is guilty of domestic abuse with Olga, but she is not interested in pressing charges. To me, no where to go on that for ATP. He is no doubt an entitled brat with a temper problem. Not the first. It just really needs to be dealt with. It is all about consequences. At least he wears a mask and is vaccinated, and I hope boostered.

[jimlosaltos]

Court looks pretty slow. JB & Zverev in a battle.

It's over, finally. That court is dreadful. They may as well have moonballed to each other. 2nd set apparently longest ever tie-break set at 1hr 51mins. Feel bad for the energy both expended.

TV Announcer on replay: "It's as if they asked Rafa to design the court for them: Slow, grainy, light balls."

[jimlosaltos]

Certainly agree, he should to me be banned from playing any ATP tournaments at least 3 months. I am sure it will not happen. I certainly feel like he is guilty of domestic abuse with Olga, but she is not interested in pressing charges. To me, no where to go on that for ATP. He is no doubt an entitled brat with a temper problem. Not the first. It just really needs to be dealt with. It is all about consequences. At least he wears a mask and is vaccinated, and I hope boostered.

Zverev "withdrawn" i.e. suspended from tournament. I assume there will be a suspension but we'll see. Sad.

[jimlosaltos]

Rafa on playing American Koslov: A little bit of a strange match,” Nadal said after his win. “Kozlov has a different style than most other players, so you need to be very careful. Sometimes you are able to win points in a row, but then if you start to play at his rhythm, it’s very difficult because he has great control from the baseline and he’s very smart.”

Negligible stats from Acapulco matches, but Brad Gilbert guesses than Koslov's first serve was around 80 mph, second perhaps 50 mph.

I vaguely remember John McEnroe losing a doubles match where he was baffled by an opponent's ~60 mph serves. Maybe the teams will come to me later, or someone else recalls.

https://www.tennis365.com/atp-tour/rafael-nadal-strange-match-personal-milestone/

[stotty]

Rafa on playing American Koslov: A little bit of a strange match,” Nadal said after his win. “Kozlov has a different style than most other players, so you need to be very careful. Sometimes you are able to win points in a row, but then if you start to play at his rhythm, it’s very difficult because he has great control from the baseline and he’s very smart.”

Negligible stats from Acapulco matches, but Brad Gilbert guesses than Koslov's first serve was around 80 mph, second perhaps 50 mph.

I vaguely remember John McEnroe losing a doubles match where he was baffled by an opponent's ~60 mph serves. Maybe the teams will come to me later, or someone else recalls.

https://www.tennis365.com/atp-tour/r...nal-milestone/

There is a thread somewhere on the Tennisplayer forum which I started when I first saw Koslov play at junior Wimbledon when he was 15 years old. He caused quite a stir back then, but a few of us wondered how he was going to transition onto the men's tour as he was underpowered and it was hard to see how his game could be beefed up enough to be able to live with the way the tour was going. Koslov subsequently never really made the jump from juniors to men's tennis in any meaningful way...yet I see he's still out there trying.

[DavidLHagler]

In regards to Jim Los Altos - could it have been Cyril Suk? I remember him rolling serves in very slowly, Peter Fleming and Mac would crush returns, and he'd make these tough first volleys. I'll dig through the records and see if I can find the result.

[jimlosaltos]

In regards to Jim Los Altos - could it have been Cyril Suk? I remember him rolling serves in very slowly, Peter Fleming and Mac would crush returns, and he'd make these tough first volleys. I'll dig through the records and see if I can find the result.

Name sounds vaguely familiar. Thanks!

[jimlosaltos]

There is a thread somewhere on the Tennisplayer forum which I started when I first saw Koslov play at junior Wimbledon when he was 15 years old. He caused quite a stir back then, but a few of us wondered how he was going to transition onto the men's tour as he was underpowered and it was hard to see how his game could be beefed up enough to be able to live with the way the tour was going. Koslov subsequently never really made the jump from juniors to men's tennis in any meaningful way...yet I see he's still out there trying.

Really? Well, ATP has him ranked 130, which I believe is just about on the cusp of making a living playing tennis, which can't be all bad

https://www.atptour.com/en/players/stefan-kozlov/ke64/overview

And this: "Peaked at No. 2 in junior rankings on 27 January 2014. Posted 105-37 record on ITF Junior Circuit from age 13 to 16 with wins over fellow #NextGenATP players Lee, Opelka, Rublev, Santillan, Tiafoe, Tsitsipas and A. Zverev. Grand Slam junior runner-up in singles at 2014 Australian Open and 2014 Wimbledon, and in doubles at 2014 Wimbledon w/Rublev. Ended junior career with 2014 Orange Bowl titles in singles and doubles w/Mmoh."

[jimlosaltos]

Watching last night's Acapulco semis, I was struck by one common theme: Seemingly every time Tsitsipas or Medvedev attempted to change direction and go down the line with a forehand, they missed badly. And the same way. Very late, hitting the ball outside the doubles alley. Now, Meddy tends to be a bit more erratic on the forehand side, but Stef has a great DTL forehand.

Announcers have said the courts are "extremely slow", so why do both players seem rushed on that shot? Both lefty opponents hit with a great deal of topspin on their inside-out forehands (obviously with Rafa, but Cam, too.)

Is the court so gritty that the reportedly light balls leap if they're hit with much topspin?

I don't believe in coincidences. Ideas?

P.S. Medvedev really went 0-11 on break points?

From Tennis.com:

"Incredibly, Nadal saves seven more break points, raising Medvedev's missed count to *ELEVEN* in the last two games. So much to take in during that 20-minute game: drop shots, unforced errors, serve and volleys against break point, ridiculous passing shots on the run, never knowing who would emerge as the cat or the mouse each point. Unfortunate for the Russian he couldn't convert, as the scoreboard doesn't show how close this set has been at the moment. Nadal has played 47 points on serve compared to the Russian's 17 in this set. Rafa leads 4-2.

https://www.tennis.com/news/liveblog/live-now-daniil-medvedev-rafael-nadal-acapulco-semis-australian-open-rematch

[stroke]

One thing beyond obvious in the Nadal Medvedev match, the Nadal forehand by far the best shot on the court. Medvedev better movement by far at this point in their careers, better serve, better backhand(to me). Nadal has only the forehand advantage, which is huge, better overhead, better volleys.