Turin aka ATP Tour Finals

[jimlosaltos]

Here are the two groupings. Which two out of each groups makes the single-elimination round aka semifinals?

Nadal
FAA
Ruud
Fritz

Tsitsipas
Medvedev
Rublev
Djokovic

[stotty]

I'll take Nadal and FAA to top group 1 and Novak and Meddy to top group 2.

[stroke]

I like FAA and Fritz group 1, same as Stotty group 2.

[jimlosaltos]

Too bad Holger Rune fell one slot short of qualifying. Would have stirred the pot.

Tough for me to gauge whether Rafa is engaged and tournament ready. He certainly wasn't in Paris only weeks ago.

It's no fun without picking at least one upset, so ....

1) Rafa & FAA
2) Djoko & Tsitisipas (Stef has won this before ! )

[stroke]

I will not be surprised if Nadal does not drop out if he gets into an extended first match and cannot get the win.

[stroke]

Ruud defeats FAA in the 1st singles match. Nadal vs Fritz up later today. It will be interesting to see how Nadal looks. He looked really labored to me his last tournament match.

[jimlosaltos]

Ruud defeats FAA in the 1st singles match. Nadal vs Fritz up later today. It will be interesting to see how Nadal looks. He looked really labored to me his last tournament match.

Agreed, ditto Laver Cup. Seems no fumes plus there's his first child.

[stroke]

Agreed, ditto Laver Cup. Seems no fumes plus there's his first child.

Well we know an alternate that is ready.

[jimlosaltos]

Well, Fritz has now beaten Rafa two times in a row -- Indian Wells title match & at Turn WTF? I did not yet see.

https://www.nittoatpfinals.com/en/news/nadal-fritz-turin-2022-sunday

7-6(3), 6-1 as in Paris, on that superficial basis alone, it looks as if Rafa went away in the last set?

Fritz after the match. Interesting commentary of playing Rafa.

"The court's definitely fast. For me, fast is good for my serve, it's good for my backhand," he explained in his on-court interview. "I feel like different speeds always have parts that help my game, and parts that hurt my game. On a slower court, I have so much more time to kind of load up on a forehand.

"On a court like this, I can lean into my backhand and hit it deep cross to Rafa's forehand, and it makes it a but tougher for him to step in and crush it. On a slower surface, he gets time on the forehand when I go backhand cross, and it's probably done for me. So I'd say that's where it helps me the most on the ground against him."

[stotty]

It's a good surface for Fritz coupled with an under par Rafa. I wonder if Rafa is burning out after his last couple of performances where he has let matches go it felt like to me.

Fritz played a superb match. His backhand was about the best I have seen it and his game matches up quite well to Rafa's in that context.

[stroke]

It did look to me Nadal just knew he was done after losing the 1st set. Certainly it is a whole new look for Nadal there. Rublev takes out Medvedev in 3 brutal sets. Rublev was bossing things out there. Meddy's serve is what kept him in the match. I wonder if Meddy will ever get to number 1 again. He is giving up such quality of shot it seems.

[jimlosaltos]

It did look to me Nadal just knew he was done after losing the 1st set. Certainly it is a whole new look for Nadal there. Rublev takes out Medvedev in 3 brutal sets. Rublev was bossing things out there. Meddy's serve is what kept him in the match. I wonder if Meddy will ever get to number 1 again. He is giving up such quality of shot it seems.

Just stumbled across an interview with Rafa before this event started. Rafa said he threw up in Paris and doesn't know why.

https://rafaelnadalfans.com/2022/11/...paris-masters/


“In Paris I hadn’t raced for a long time and I had a little stomach problem. I was vomiting, at the end of the third set I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t say anything at the time because it didn’t make sense. I was sick for a day and then I was able to train normally”.

Courier on courts: "So he’ll still be hard to beat but I don’t like the conditions. It tends to be fast in Turin,” he added.

Otherwise on Rafa's health:

“Jim Courier made an interesting point that the good news for Rafa is that there seems to be no evidence of the foot problem. The foot seems okay. It didn’t seem to be a problem at Wimbledon, the US Open, or again here. So at least that seems under control. I don’t know about the abdominal. I still don’t think he’s serving like the real Rafa. I didn’t see it against Tommy Paul. I don’t see the comfortable extension that he once had. So I’m a bit concerned about that,” Flink said.

[stroke]

We will find out for certain how much Rafa has left at RG, or maybe a clay court event leading up to it, to a lesser extent.

[stroke]

Well, all I have to say about the Novak vs Stef match is it the best straight set win match I have ever seen. Novak just seems to have no problem showing all these players they will never be as good as he was, which to me is beyond obvious. These are the hard numbers, if anyone is interested.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2upr2iF11iWni13t8

[stotty]

Well, all I have to say about the Novak vs Stef match is it the best straight set win match I have ever seen. Novak just seems to have no problem showing all these players they will never be as good as he was, which to me is beyond obvious. These are the hard numbers, if anyone is interested.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2upr2iF11iWni13t8

I only caught the second set but it was really impressive. The bottom line was Novak missed nothing he wasn't supposed to. He played close to perfect.