Barcelona rain delay quarters

[jimlosaltos]

Rain leads to tough scheduling, merely to finish the quarterfinals

Whole bunch of players have to play two matches in one day.

1) Winner of Munar v Alcaraz in morning has to play winner of Tsitsipas vs Dimitrov "After Suitable Rest".

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/barcelona/425/daily-schedule

2) Also winner Musetti v Schwartzman vs winner Tiafoe FAA.

3) winner Norrie vs Fucsovics plays winner de Minaur v Harris

[jimlosaltos]

Anybody not watching Alcaraz vs Tsitsipas should tune in right now. Just close your office door, or close Zoom.

Or as Sir Andy Murray put it: " Tsitsipas and Alcaraz are brilliant to watch Loads of variety, great movers"

Bad match up for Stef, as Alcaraz is the only person I've seen be able to attack his second serve. Just brutalizes it. And the drop shots are murder on clay.

On one second sliced out wide in the deuce court, Carlos blasted a scorching return that almost hit the baseline. Stef hit a spectacular, half-volley forehand into Carlos' backhand corner. So, Carlos merely hit an outright DTL winner running diagonally backwards. No problem.

But, by golly, Stef, down 2 breaks, evened it. Gutsy stuff.

5-5 in the second.

Also, some spice. On break point, Stef hit a passing shot at Alcaraz's head that the Spaniard could only duck. Alcaraz stared at him walking all the way back to the baseline, then stood and kept staring as Stef refused to look at him. I couldn't well from the TV angle, but it looked like Stef hit his pass from well behind the baseline, so Carlos is a bit thin skinned if he can't take that.

Holy Cow!

Down a set and two breaks, Stef comes back to take the second set. On to the third., because of the rain delays both players are in their second match of the day.

Remember all the stink about Tsitsipas taking long restroom breaks between sets? Stef is out there practicing serve while everyone waits for Carlos to take an e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d break.

[jimlosaltos]

Oh, boy. Tsitsipas apparently forgot/ doesn't know the difference between taking a break on change-over vs between sets.

Gets a 2 point penalty for changing his shirt, one per 25 seconds over.

Screams at chair, citing extremely long bathroom break (between sets) by Carlos earlier.

"If you're wrong (I think on the time taken by Carlos, but maybe on the rule) you should be fired."

Chair "I don't make the rules."

Carlos closed it out: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

[jimlosaltos]

Update: I'm told Tsitsipas actually got three (3) consecutive point penalties - one for each 25 sec late, plus one for a delay arguing about them.

As for Carlos' long break, it isn't clear to me if it was legal or not. Tennis TV reported it was 7 minutes 30 seconds long. Somebody actually measured it at 6 min 25 second. Take your pick. It seemed interminable. Tsitsipas must have hit a dozen serves was he was waiting.

Supposedly players can get 3 minutes for the break -- BUT starting up when they reach the bathroom -- PLUS up to 2 minutes toad from the bathroom, PLUS time to change .... 2 minutes break for set break and then 2min(Attire)+3min(Toilet)+2xwalking time

And the 90 seconds time for the changeover apparently doesn't count against their 5 minutes. Carlos waited until nearly a minute into the 90 sec change over before leaving. Presumably someone could wait 89 sec then leave. ..... so, I recently did my taxes so I don't want to go through all that. I don't know if the players' each should include an accountant or a lawyer to figure that out.



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[stroke]

I was watching during the Tsitsipas penalty points, did not know what exactly was going on as the telecast on TennisTV did not have any commentary. Tsitsipas was more upset and vocal than I have ever seen him. All the Alcaraz winners bombarding him and the huge crowd support for Carlos did jot help.

[glacierguy]

Wow, the Alcaraz/Tstsipas match was entertaining. For the first set and a half, Alcaraz was unstoppable, blasting winners at will and nailing every drop shot. Tsitsipas was so rattled that he clearly tried to decapitate Alcaraz at the net on last point of first set. (He tried again later in the match to cement his unsportsmanlike reputation.) The second set was looking like a walkover for Alcaraz, two breaks up, until his hot streak abruptly ran out and Tsitsipas won a set that looked well beyond his reach. Alcaraz took a pretty long toilet and change of clothes break at the end of the second set, which appeared to upset Tsitsipas, the master of tactical toilet breaks (no, we haven't forgotten the Murray match). At 0-3 in the third, Tsitsipas disappeared off court. The umpire didn't tell us what was going on, and when Tsitsipas returned the umpire, I think, tried to explain that Tsitsipas had broken the rules and was being docked points. This led to a heated, but not Zverev-level argument. Tsitsipas tried to justify his absence by claiiming that Alcaraz's break at the end of the second set was too long. The sight of Tsitsipas having a rant about a perceived injustice that he himself had famously committed previously was priceless. After that there was not much left in the match, Alcaraz stuffed Tsitsipas.

[stroke]

Nice recap Glacier. Yes it is hard to feel sorry for Stef here, even though I like him as a player.