Rotterdam ATP 500

[jimlosaltos]

I have NOT yet seen the Sinner-Medvedev final, but discussing online it with a friend he had some interesting thoughts. So, I marked up a couple of stats to share.

First, I had been impressed all week with Sinner's serving and thought this would be a good test. BUT completely out served by Medvedev. Velocities almost identical but Meddy not only got more in, he had more accuracy. Consistently drew attackable shots of his service, and dominated rallies of 0-4 shots. Sinner got hardly any free points off his first service. Both had nearly identical results behind second serves.

In this image I combined first- service placement for Medvedev to the ad court (on your left) compared to Sinner on the deuce court (to your right). All four variations are equivalent. Medvedev got 69% of his first serves in vs 57% for Sinner despite serving consistently closer to the corners and sideline.

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Result Medvedev won 42 vs 29 points on rallies of 0-4 shots. Medvedev converted 7 of 12 break points over 3 sets, Sinner 4 / 6 BPs with 2 breaks converted in the first set.

Sinner hit more winners, and the fastest shot at 110 MPH but Medvedev had higher average velocity on both forehands and backhands (a half smidge).

filedata/fetch?id=99820&d=1676833603&type=thumb
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[stroke]

No one has ever retrieved/scrambled better than the Wall of Med from 10 feet behind the baseline, over and over again. If Sinner had a decent drop shot, it would have been very helpful to his cause, but he simply does not really own that shot at all. Most attempts are either way short or too far from the net, most way closer to the service line.

[jimlosaltos]

No one has ever retrieved/scrambled better than the Wall of Med from 10 feet behind the baseline, over and over again. If Sinner had a decent drop shot, it would have been very helpful to his cause, but he simply does not really own that shot at all. Most attempts are either way short or too far from the net, most way closer to the service line.

Got to watch it through last night. In the end, it was quite a serving exhibition by Medvedev. First set, endless backhand, crosscourt rallies. Both have great backhands, Medy will do it all day and Sinner cooperated. Then, Sinner needed to find a way to win points, changed directions a few times and they worked! Then, they stopped working. I don't know why.

1) This is where the announcers say, "Medvedev's relentless pressure builds on you ...".
2) Or, it's "regression to the mean".
3) Or, Medvedev got them just that half smidge deeper or faster that was enough to draw errors.

Both players appeared to be fighting colds, although Medveev's coach seemed to be suffering the most.

Regardless, nice to The Octopus back to better form.

[stroke]

Meddy takes out FAA. Meddy is something. Such an ugly game. All of us in our dreams would much prefer to have FAA's game, but he could not get through the Wall of Med.

[don_budge]

Meddy takes out FAA. Meddy is something. Such an ugly game. All of us in our dreams would much prefer to have FAA's game, but he could not get through the Wall of Med.

Ugly? I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Why is his game ugly and compared to whom? He actually looks rather indistinguishable from most of the players on the ATP tour. All of the service motions on the tour look convoluted to me. They are ugly. Is Novak Djokovic pleasing to watch? I don't think so. Not aesthetically pleasing in the sense of a Roger Federer. He sort of wins ugly...and he nearly wins all of the time. The modern game is reduced to ugly. Maybe it is because Medvedev is Russian. There seems to be a lot of anti-Russian bias these days. For the last hundred years or so. I don't think he is any uglier than any of the other players on the tour. Certainly no uglier than his opponent yesterday. FAA...I think that is his moniker that the forum collectively likes to refer to him as. Felix Auger-Aliassime. Mr. Pencil has outdiagrammed Felix six straight times now for a head to head of 6-0. I guess he has out-uglied Felix six straight times. Actually Medvedev is rather graceful in the sense he is 6' 6" tall. His movement is almost on a parallel as Novak Djokovic's. Almost as in almost. Almost only counting in horseshoes and hand grenades. You have to have superlative movement to create the defensive wall ala Djokovic...or Mr. Pencil. Aka...Daniil Medvedev. The dreaded Russian. These days if you are a Russian you are almost automatically a Rasputin. Forgotten are Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Not to mention the other great names in Russian history. Vladimir Putin...many would argue.

One thing is for certain from the don_budge point of view in viewing professional tennis...Medvedev outserved Auger-Aliassime. I don't have the statistics in front of me. Then again...I don't need them. There is something a bit different in the Medvedev service motion in this tournament. I haven't actually watched him much. I may have seen a couple of points yesterday. Perhaps a few from an earlier match. But in my mind's eye I seem to recall something a bit different. If I happen to see a bit of his floor mopping of Sir Andy today I will take a deeper dive. Unstatisically speaking. For all you data nerds out there. Dataism. The New Religion...of AI and the transhumanists. I know you are out there.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2023/da...-control-life/

If Sir Andy happens to turn the tables...then I will have to stand corrected. I'm hedging in advance. Just in case you know. Nobody's perfect.

[stroke]

I like Med. Clearly to me he is a funny, thoughtful, intelligent guy, whether he is from Russia or not.