Turin aka ATP Tour Finals

[stotty]

Tsitspas over Medy was awesome.
24 pt tiebreaker.
Octopus served for match and lost Over one hour between Tsisi's first match point and his last.
Fans of S&V? Won't see much better than Stef,'s wide slice tonight.

Meddy had the third set in the bag but blew it really badly...fell apart actually.

[stroke]

Nadal Ruud a good match for what is essentially a dead rubber. Nadal is playing it as if he has to win to advance to the Final 4. Ruud certainly not phoning it in for a player that in this tournament has nothing to play for.

[jimlosaltos]

I saw it. Quite the battle. Tsitsipas looked way more comfortable with proceedings than Medvedev, and he looked like the better tennis player. If I had to bet, Medvedev will not get back to number 1. Tsitsipas definitely made a big impact on the match with a lot of s and v tennis. And 24 forehand winners. Such a bigger forehand than Medvedev.

Rewatched and enjoyed Tsitsipas vs Medy even more the second time.

This image shows what Medvedev had to do to win the second set tiebreak - go gonzo on an overhead smash from the Turin logo {Make that Torino logo}. Cropped from TennisTV vid

It was match point for Tstisipas at 10-9. Tsitsi goes out of camera to his forehand fetching a put-away forehand, then out of camera to his backhand fetching the swing volley - then out of camera back to his forehand trying to retrieve a second smash -- only to have Medy put that lob with a smash away from the logo behind the baseline!

Only took another 65 minutes for Tsitsipas to get from his first match point to his final (fourth?) watchpoint and win it.

And the point at 11-11 all. Insane. 27 grueling shots with Tsitsipas, out of breath, butchering a drop shot because he couldn't run any longer. Recovered. No problem. Oh, to be 24 years old.

Here's the regular highlight video of both Tsitsi-Med and Novak kind of routining Rublev 8:34 min

https://youtu.be/LFQ0XBCPCKA

This 5:08 min vid is interesting. Ground level (almost) view from one side of the entire tiebreak takes only 5:08 min with all the non-action edited out.

https://youtu.be/ZWKJk5VRdU0

filedata/fetch?id=99103&d=1668719904&type=thumb

[jimlosaltos]

In a supposedly "dead rubber" for BOTH players, Djokovic tops The Octopus in a hotly contested battle. 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) to top Red Group with a 3-0.

Novak goes into his semifinal while Meddy goes home oh for three.

Djoko: "Being able to find the last drop of energy to come back into the match. At 4-5 I managed to read his serve and anticipate well and got myself in a good position. I started off very well in the tie-break. Tough three matches for him, losing 7-6 in the third in all three matches.

https://www.nittoatpfinals.com/en/news/djokovic-medvedev-turin-2022-friday

This by Mark Petchy (ex player now analyst). When Medvedev has severs over 70% on his first serves on a hard court, he has won 39 matches on lost only one, that was to Djoko in Astana.

Make that 39-2 now (both to Novak).

Another poster noted the Meddy shares the Tour Finals futility award with Verdasco of years back. Here are Medy's losses

Rublev 76 36 67... 2 pts away
Tsitsipas 36 76 67... 2 pts away
Djokovic 36 76 67... 3 pts away

[jimlosaltos]

There's an American in the semifinals of the ATP Tour Finals in Turin

I know. I know. It's shocking. And perhaps it is more online disinformation, but here it is:

Fritz Reaches SFs In Turin, Downs Felix In Winner-Takes-All Clash

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/auger-aliassime-fritz-turin-2022-thursday

"the American clawed past Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2 to reach the semi-finals on debut at the prestigious year-end event."

[stroke]

There's an American in the semifinals of the ATP Tour Finals in Turin

I know. I know. It's shocking. And perhaps it is more online disinformation, but here it is:

Fritz Reaches SFs In Turin, Downs Felix In Winner-Takes-All Clash
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/auge...-2022-thursday

"the American clawed past Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2 to reach the semi-finals on debut at the prestigious year-end event."

I have always liked Fritz' game. It was very interesting vs FAA. Both have very good serves, I slightly prefer Fritz. Forehands about even at their best. Fritz unquestionably has a better backhand. Neither good at net, not nearly as competent as say Tsitsipas, who I would not call a great volleyer. FAA better court coverage, but Fritz not bad.

[stotty]

Good display by Rublev. I only caught the last set but he looked very dominant.

Fritz has nothing to lose and playing so well that he must be in with a shout against Novak. That said, the tournament is Novak's for the taking on current form.

[stroke]

Good display by Rublev. I only caught the last set but he looked very dominant.

Fritz has nothing to lose and playing so well that he must be in with a shout against Novak. That said, the tournament is Novak's for the taking on current form.

Novak a strong favorite with just over an 83% implied probability of winning per the oddsmakers. I too think Fritz has a decent chance, but no doubt, Novak at his best beats anybody.

Stef had a beautiful 1st set vs Rublev, but could not maintain that level, or regain it in the 3rd set for that matter. All credit to Rublev though staying strong. Rublev to me lost his fight a bit vs Novak early in the 2nd set after losing the 1st set. Obviously, this did not happen vs Tsitsipas.

[stroke]

https://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/November-2022-(1)/Tool-Time-Tsitsipas-Disses-Rublev.aspx

This is interesting, Stef may just be better off keeping this to himself. Tennis is not a beauty contest ha. But I do like Rublev's response.

[stroke]

Fritz loses a very small margains 1st set. Fritz has the game to beat Novak, but doing it is another thing. That Fritz western forehand is huge when he gets his feet set.

[stotty]

https://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-...es-Rublev.aspx

This is interesting, Stef may just be better off keeping this to himself. Tennis is not a beauty contest ha. But I do like Rublev's response.

I know what Stef means. I know what McEnroe meant also. But unfortunately (or fortunately), for Stef, and for Mac back then, there is more to competitive tennis than merely being more talented than the other player. Roger certainly came to accept that since he knows he is more naturally talented than Rafa and Novak put together. He also knew each has other qualities which are just as valuable as natural talent. The great thing about Roger is he was so well rounded about tennis. I found it hard to fault him in any aspect of the game.

[stroke]

Observation from this Novak Fritz match. The cameraman really likes Taylor's girlfriend, who is getting a record breaking girlfriend camera time. I will say she is an absolute world class tennis girlfriend.

[stotty]

Perfect tie-break by Novak---other the first match point. Shame for Taylor. He has such a great attitude and a terrific game. My cameraman never panned to Taylor's girlfriend once.

[stroke]

I know what Stef means. I know what McEnroe meant also. But unfortunately (or fortunately), for Stef, and for Mac back then, there is more to competitive tennis than merely being more talented than the other player. Roger certainly came to accept that since he knows he is more naturally talented than Rafa and Novak put together. He also knew each has other qualities which are just as valuable as natural talent. The great thing about Roger is he was so well rounded about tennis. I found it hard to fault him in any aspect of the game.

I think Roger is going to always be the gold standard for tennis technique, and the gold standard for easy on the eye tennis. Stef's game is easy on the eye also, but there is nothing to be gained by him talking about it. Very early in Roger's career, he lost to some player whose technique was not nearly as good as his(which was the case every time he lost ha), and Roger talked about it, just about like Stef did here about Rublev. Roger never did that again. Stef would be well served to do the same.

[stroke]

https://www.tennis.com/baseline/articles/stefanos-tsitsipas-family-drama-atp-finals-hits-ball-at-dad-apostolos

I think Courier is spot on here about Stef.