Indian Wells ATP 1000

[stroke]

Semis have Med as a strong favorite vs Tiafoe, and Alcaraz as a favorite over Sinner. Sinner Alcaraz should really be good. Both players in fine form, and Sinner definitely has the firepower to get it done. Tiafoe, he looked great vs Norrie, but we all know Med will give him nothing. Tough loss for Fritz, but the Sinner forehand was the biggest shot on the court. He really has easy power off that wing, kind of like Bash, Fognini, and Karatsev. It is all about managing the errors off of it, and Sinner really seems to be making progress there.

[stotty]

Meddy - the most technically sloppy player on tour with the most skewed ball toss - gets the job done against Tiafoe. I am a fan of neither player but it certainly was quite a tussle. Meddy just couldn't seem to put the kid away...until finally he did. The wall versus the bludgeon, and the wall won. Nice game but I wouldn't want to sit through it again.

Looking forward to Carlos versus Sinner...if I can stay up that long.

[stroke]

Meddy - the most technically sloppy player on tour with the most skewed ball toss - gets the job done against Tiafoe. I am a fan of neither player but it certainly was quite a tussle. Meddy just couldn't seem to put the kid away...until finally he did. The wall versus the bludgeon, and the wall won. Nice game but I wouldn't want to sit through it again.

Looking forward to Carlos versus Sinner...if I can stay up that long.

No doubt the Alcaraz Sinner match is the match of the day.

[stroke]

Alcaraz the slight favorite over Med. A little surprising, as Med has been the favorite ro win the tournament until now. Clearly, the oddmakers are liking what they are seeing with Carlos.

[tommyhorton]

congrats to Francis to getting to a 1000 semi for the first time and competing to the very end vs Mevedev. He is more than a bludgeon player, he has great feel on all shots with underspin. I think he needs a better second serve to consistently beat the top players.

[stroke]

I have never seen anyone break down the wall of Med like that. Very impressive. I guess that is why the oddsmakers determined Alcaraz was all on a sudden the favorite.

[jimlosaltos]

I was at Indian Wells for the semis and finals. Some great, entertaining tennis. I don't think I've ever seen so many straight-set matches that were great.

I'd never seen Medvedev in person before but my main impression live was how astonishingly fast he is and how good his anticipation is. I'm used to saying "Fast for a 6 ft in guy .... about Zverev, a few others. But you can take the modifier off -- he's just fast. Period. Is it possible that Alcaraz and Medvedev are the two fastest players in men's tennis now?

As for the men's final, Alcaraz poses a major match-up challenge for Medvedev. BUT this is about the slowest court in men's tennis when temperatures are below 70, and about the worst for Medevev to meet Alcaraz on. So, I don't know how Sunday's result projects to the pair's future meetings.

Also, Medvedev had a great deal more trouble with the wind, which was substantial during the final and affected many of the matches this weekend. I'm not sure if it was obvious on TV, or if the announcers stressed it, but all six matches seemed to turn on who was more affected by, or who best handled the wind.

Taylor Fritz described perfectly what happened to Medvedev in describing his own loss: roughly "Sinner played the wind much better. When I hit with the wind behind me everything flew long. When I hit into the wind, it fell short."

Early sequence set the stage for the men's final. Cross court backhands, Medvedev looking like he could do this all week. Alcaraz changed down the line and Medvedev pounced clubbing a forehand into the open court --- except it went 4 feet long. When the wind was behind him, everything flew. When he hit into the wind, he couldn't end a point. A weakness of his flat shots ?

Turning to Alcaraz-Sinner, strangest match of the weekend. At times Sinner looked to be controlling play and court position with his deep forehand, then his serve took a Sabalenka-esk walkabout. Sinner, who's not known for this, simply misplaced his first serve and couldn't find it. Only got something like 48% of first in play in the second set. In a critical break game, Sinner missed six (6) consecutive, identical serves. Just kept trying to hit a kick-slice wide in the ad court and every one was too wide.

Jannik was chattering at Cahill and making potions of cutting over the right-top of the ball but he just couldn't do it. Lost the feel.

[stroke]

Thanks Jim for the info there, I did not know the wind was that bad there. They did not talk about it hardly any on the TV coverage. Yes Med and Alcaraz may be the 2 fastest players on tour. Don't know who would win a 60 yard dash between those 2, but I would pick Alcaraz. The demon is very fast also.

[jimlosaltos]

A couple of questions for the forum. First, I was trying to tell some friends that Carlos Alcaraz had "the best drop shot since ..." and I couldn't finish the sentence.

I don't know, Marcelo Rios? John McEnroe? Tony Roche?? Anyone got a better one? That alone might beat Medvedev on any surface.

Secondly, if Carlitos is going to attack second serves like this (⬇︎ ), his play needs its own nick name. SABC for Sneak Attack by Carlitos? Or SABA {pronounced like Saber with a New Jersey accent) for Sneak Attack by Alcaraz ala' his boyhood idol Fed's SABR?

Got a lot of good, new pix for youz guys, but it will take hours to do post processing and I have a hit-and-run trip to Tokyo next week. Between the 11 hour flights, airport lines (How do I create a QRC for vaccination proof in hiragana or is it kanji?), and the 17 hour time difference, I may recover for the Fourth of July. Meanwhile here's one of Alcaraz hitting a service return. No, really. This is a return, perhaps a SABC or SABCA or SABA? Leaning 'Say-Bah" now.

filedata/fetch?id=100134&d=1679427002&type=thumb
Caption: Alcazar in final at Indian Wells, Sunday (c)jfawcette
#

[jimlosaltos]

Here, is Rocket Rod Laver leaving our hotel for the Indian Wells finals. He was on the fan-cam repeatedly over the weekend.

At 84 he carried his own bags to the courtesy car.

filedata/fetch?id=100136&d=1679433256&type=thumb

I realized how much my tennis has in common with the tennis greats.

Like The Rocket, I carry my own bags.

Like Fed, I cry when I lose

Like Rafa, I can say: “I have no sense of humor about losing” ... & ... “Losing is not my enemy...fear of losing is my enemy” ...
I'm so much like them, it's scary


P.S. Invoking Poe's Law. Poe's law is an adage of internet culture saying that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, such as an emoticon, any parodious or sarcastic expression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views.

[stotty]

A couple of questions for the forum. First, I was trying to tell some friends that Carlos Alcaraz had "the best drop shot since ..." and I couldn't finish the sentence.

I don't know, Marcelo Rios? John McEnroe? Tony Roche?? Anyone got a better one? That alone might beat Medvedev on any surface.

I've watched Alcaraz play around half a dozen times and I have never seen anyone drop shot as consistently well and so stone dead....amazing.

Roger was good and Mac just as good. Mac beats them both hands down when it comes to the drop volley.

Good to see the Rocket looking trim and carrying his own bags. I doubt he'd have it any other way despite the fact there would be a stampede to carry those bags for him.

Do you ever put that damn camera down, Jim?

[florin]

About Carlitos, we visited the JC Ferrero Academy last fall, my daughter had the opportunity to see him train, do stretching with him and his team and he even watched her play for 5 min. What a boost of confidence for a 10 years old kid having behind her Ferrero and Carlitos. I was impressed by his humility, i was expecting that a number 1 and USO winner have a different schedule from the rest of the academy, but he was there in the gym with all the kids for 1 hour, still a teenager, goofing around and giving high-fives. I was in search of the magic potion, how the heck they made him so good….. and after a week i can say that i never saw someone working so hard. The week we visit was before the Paris master, he played only indoor, and you knew he was training, even from the parking lot, the sound of tennis balls hitting the metal wall was so loud that was hard to focus on the nearby courts, one of the coaches told me he hits harder in practice and that they made his stop going to the gym because he was exaggerating with the weights. Now we’re big Carlitos fans!

[stroke]

Ferrero seems perfect as coach/mentor for Carlos. Ferrero was a real professional that got all he could get out of his career. Always respected and respectful as a player. As far a drop shots, Carlos is top shelf no doubt. Certainly the best since Federer. I am not certain he is better at it than Fed(yet), but he is at least as good at it. His forehand, I don't think I have ever seen anyone hit clean forehand winners past Med. And his backhand is no picnic, particularly his return of serve on that side, which is such an attribute.

[jimlosaltos]

Do you ever put that damn camera down, Jim?

Not often

I once had a player's overhead smash brush my hair as I looked down at my camera to review shots. Nearly got a full facial. Front row at San Jose.

A second time, a player's overhead was about to hit me in the face as I looked down at my camera, but Shelby Rogers crashed into the wall right in front of us to deflect the ball.

Friend in the seat next to us said Shelby did that, risking herself to save. me. Probable not true, but the story is too good not to use anyway <g>.

[jimlosaltos]

Tennis Fanz,

Since I've become the unofficial stat searcher for TPN, I've dug around for a few from Indian Wells that might be of interest to you. Just listing stats is dull, so I'll pose them as answers to assumptions some random fan might hold. All stats here from the ATP's "Second Screen"

Random Fan: Medvedev returns from the backwall like every other grinder, just so he can get every return back in play.

Stat: Actually, Medy's final vs Alcaraz is like several others he's had with top players that I've looked into. Medvedev gets FEWER first serves back in play than his top opponents but he hits his returns ~20% harder than they do. Moving back gives him time to swing out. Medy does get more second-serve returns into play, but not firsts. {Of course, if you look at one of his matches vs a lower ranked player he gets more in, but that's expected because he's higher ranked.}

filedata/fetch?id=100151&d=1679686757&type=thumb

RF: Man, Alcaraz is really smacking the ball. (That's an actual quote of mine during the match.)

Stat: Actually, both Medevev's peak and average forehand speed were higher than that of Alcaraz. Don't shoot the messenger! And, no, I didn't believe it either, but there you are. Alcaraz with 3001 RPMs ave on his forehand did hit with a lot more spin.



filedata/fetch?id=100152&d=1679686814&type=thumb


RF: Alcaraz is hitting through Medvedev.

Stat: Despite hitting far more winners than Medvedev, Alcaraz predominantly did NOT hit his forehands anywhere near the baseline. Instead, the vast majority of his forehands landed short and wide, with lots of spin dragging the Russia off into the side seats.

filedata/fetch?id=100153&d=1679686851&type=thumb

Sinner item in response that follows.

So there, Random Dude. Take that <g>

#