Dubai ATP 500

[stroke]

https://www.betus.com.pa/tennis/picks/atp-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-odds-draw-preview-02-26-2023/

[stroke]

FAA takes out Cressy in 3 sets. Cressy played well, he was only broken once(in the 3rd set), but he threw in 25 double faults. His two 1st serve game plan does give one reason for pause.

[jimlosaltos]

Novak taken to a deciding tiebreak, 6-3 3-6 7-6(1), by 130th ranked Tomas Machac.

Novak hit 8 double faults, faced 10 BPs vs only 6 so, of course, he won in the TB .

Djoko seems to be going for more, tactically or for practice? Top serve 130 mph, ave 123 mph. This high DTL forehand on the line.

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[stroke]

Novak looks clinical, 28 winners, 12 errors, in a routine win over an in form opponent, Griekspoor.

[don_budge]

I watched a bit of all four matches. Perhaps a total of 10 minutes. I miss Roger Federer. A total snooze fest...so far. That might change. The exciting pairings of Novak Djokovic/Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev/Andrey Rublev looming tomorrow. Has anyone watched a single entire match? Whenever Roger Federer played I was glued to the match. Any match...was match of the day. Roger versus anyone. Match of the day? Take your pick.

[jimlosaltos]

I watched a bit of all four matches. Perhaps a total of 10 minutes. I miss Roger Federer. A total snooze fest...so far. That might change. The exciting pairings of Novak Djokovic/Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev/Andrey Rublev looming tomorrow. Has anyone watched a single entire match? Whenever Roger Federer played I was glued to the match. Any match...was match of the day. Roger versus anyone. Match of the day? Take your pick.

Interesting point. I do find myself watching chunks of matches a lot more often lately. Fast forward to the end of a set, etc.

3 hours is a lot to invest in a match that is highly repetitive. Take one cross court rally and put it on an endless loop ... ?

[stroke]

March of the day Novak vs Wall of Med. Med won 21 straight points, the last 21 points, to finish off poor Coric today. I am fairly certain I have never seen that before. Novak just did what he almost always does to get his win over a very good Hurkacz. We all know who the favorite is, but who knows.

[stroke]

Oddsmakers giving Wall of Med a lot of respect. Novak is only at an implied probability of winning at 66%. That is very low for Novak.

[stotty]

March of the day Novak vs Wall of Med. Med won 21 straight points, the last 21 points, to finish off poor Coric today. I am fairly certain I have never seen that before. Novak just did what he almost always does to get his win over a very good Hurkacz. We all know who the favorite is, but who knows.

I seem to remember someone telling me Roger won 35 points in a row on serve once...which seems outrageous.

[stroke]

Not surprised, this was 21 on the trot period. Safe to say I guess, whatever record we are talking about, the 3 are in the conversation.

[don_budge]

March of the day Novak vs Wall of Med.

Wall meet wall. Remember that electronic ping pong game. The precurser to video games. Wall of Medvedev. Wall of Novax. In terms of modern day tennis...this is fascinating stuff. But to talk about it is one thing. Somebody please watch the entire thing and not miss a single point because you find the play spell binding. Man...Federer was like that. Spellbinding. Maybe some of that was because there was so much lacking in the rest of the field. Imagination! That's what is missing. Creativity! Spontaneous.

Coric disappears once more into the ether. A side not on "Born Again" Coric...he cut his teeth at this tournament so many years ago. He took out Andy Murray in the semis I think it was. Roger was next in the finals and Coric was jumping up and down in Federer's face at the coin toss. Roger seemed to be a bit surprised if not outrightly annoyed. He can hide his feelings you know. If he would sneer you better watch out. He gave the upstart a serious spanking. I remember writing about the scene some years ago. The forum has been good to me. I have been good to the forum. One of the better relationships of my lifetime. Not without a "misunderstanding" or three. I truly loved this place.

[don_budge]

Wall meet wall. Remember that electronic ping pong game. The precurser to video games. Wall of Medvedev. Wall of Novax. In terms of modern day tennis...this is fascinating stuff. But to talk about it is one thing. Somebody please watch the entire thing and not miss a single point because you find the play spell binding. Man...Federer was like that. Spellbinding. Maybe some of that was because there was so much lacking in the rest of the field. Imagination! That's what is missing. Creativity! Spontaneous.

Coric disappears once more into the ether. A side not on "Born Again" Coric...he cut his teeth at this tournament so many years ago. He took out Andy Murray in the semis I think it was. Roger was next in the finals and Coric was jumping up and down in Federer's face at the coin toss. Roger seemed to be a bit surprised if not outrightly annoyed. He can hide his feelings you know. If he would sneer you better watch out. He gave the upstart a serious spanking. I remember writing about the scene some years ago. The forum has been good to me. I have been good to the forum. One of the better relationships of my lifetime. Not without a "misunderstanding" or three. I truly loved this place.

A side note on "Born Again"...not a side not. Typos...typos...typos. I barely care anymore. Hrmph...

[stroke]

Some match here Novak and the Wall of Med.

[stroke]

It was a really good match. Truth be told, Novak's winners to errors ratio was not good enough to take Med at the level he was playing at.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4knBpNUQw1SLenwL7

[jimlosaltos]

It was a really good match. Truth be told, Novak's winners to errors ratio was not good enough to take Med at the level he was playing at.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4knBpNUQw1SLenwL7

IMHO Djokovic felt forced to come out of his comfort zone in an attempt to over-power Medvedev.

Going for a lot on his service, and a lot on his forehand, while Medvedev played his regular game.

Djokovic made more UFEs on his backhand alone than Medvedev did in total.

Djokovic won short rallies ( 0-4 shots 41-38) while Medvedev won the longer ones (0-9 shot rallies, 10-5).

It seemed telling to me than in Medvedev's last two service games, Djokovic abandoned his normal "Lock Down Mode", and twice went for drop shots but lost both points. The first was butchered into the bottom of the net, the second was an excellent drop shot - inside out forehand, almost grazed the net and landed short. But Medy came from the logo to cover it and redrop for an outright winner, leaving Novak standing in his backhand corner a spectator. (At least that's my impressionable memory)>

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Service vs Return: Medvedev wins hands down 78% first serves won vs 67% BUT Djoko won more total points 29-28.

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