Roddick Faces Chardy in Tokyo; Wozniacki Bids for No. 1 in Beijing

Go Milos!!!

October 6th, 2010 at 10:59 pm

We in Canada have been waiting – oh so patiently – for a singles tennis hero for a long time.

Daniel Nestor has been carrying the weight of Canadian tennis on his back for nearly 20 years and has done the country proud. Before he retires he will have more doubles wins than anyone, a career golden slam and will have deservedly earned a place in the hall of fame.

Frank Dancevic has all the tools, but plays so spotty he can never seem to put 4 or 5 matches together in a row. Plus he has been hampered by injury.

Milos is 19 still, and he has been making a bit of noise. Today was a learning experience, but there is no shame in losing 6-4, 6-4 to Rafa, who said the following about the Canadian after the win –

“It was a good win for me against a difficult player,” said Nadal. “He can become a very good player. I don’t know when but he will be very close to the top positions. I was under big pressure to break his serve, I did very well to convert two out of two break points.”

2 for 2 in break points was sure better than the 2 for 26 last week when Nadal was defeated in Bangkok.

Milos Raonic, by making defeating Alves and Ilhan to get into the draw and by taking our Serra before showing respectability against Nadal, is now Canada’s top singles male player. He will be close to being ranked 150 on Monday, moving well over 30 spots for 2 consecutive weeks (last week he made the Quarters in Kuala Lumpur and gained 37 spots. A good 2 weeks!

Canadian tennis fans will be keeping an eye on Milos, who moved to Canada from Montenegro at age 3, and we all wish him well.

October 7th, 2010 at 9:09 am

“Canadian tennis fans will be keeping an eye on Milos, who moved to Canada from Montenegro at age 3, and we all wish him well.”

Indeed Gordo – thanks for the post!

October 7th, 2010 at 10:16 am

i will be watching milos too. see him once in montreal i think. he played against F.gonzalez. the match went to the third set…very close.

I knew then the guy has a lot of talent. good to see he keeps on improving. his ranking will improve quicky if he continues to play more atp tournaments. great to see..

October 7th, 2010 at 6:19 pm

grrrrrr! i just lost my long post. very annoying.

Ok, let me try to peace it together again

hello contador.
it was a top guys day today. make it a little easier would you say? lets see how you did.

TOKYO
Nadal vs milos (winner nadal) =1 pt
Roddick vs Chardy ( winner a-rod) = 1 pt
Monfils vs seppi (winner la-monf) = 1pt
Troicki vs melzer (winner troicki) = 0 pt

3/4 = 75%

i see why you picked melzer. i would have done the same too. the guy is haveing the best year of his carrer…but struggling since american hc for some reason.

troicki can be flashy too…remebering his perfomance with djoko at USO

BEIJING
ferrer vs Lu (winner ferrer) = 1 pt
Soderling vs almagro (winner soda) = 1 pt
Murray vs montanez (winner mozza) = 1 pt
ljubicic vs dolgo (winner ljube) = 0 pt

3/4 = 75%

big improvement in tokyo from yesterday.

is ljubicic of IW back? hmmmm! muzza has to be careful.

October 7th, 2010 at 6:46 pm

we need contadors next round picks

October 7th, 2010 at 7:33 pm

draw coming out tomorrow nigh for shanghai kimberly…tick tick tick

October 7th, 2010 at 7:49 pm

Can’t wait. Have a few thoughts.

Not sure how to handle federer.

These tourneys r often the ones with strange winners. But somehow I have a feeling no matter what happens in tokyo I won’t be able to resist putting rafa in my winner column.

No idea what murray will bring either. he’s looked pretty strong in bejing. Ditto nole.

Feds got to be motivated. He at least has a great shot of getting back number two rank.

Thoughts?

October 7th, 2010 at 9:18 pm

i agree with you. it is not easy to know how federer will do. it is his 1st tournament back more than a month off. i dont want to speculate too much but i am just hoping he does well there..

muzza is rusty a little too, even though he is won his match today, he was struggling. he was broken twice. one each set..good thing he was able to recover. i am hoping he picks up his level, tough matches are coming up

sure, nadal is the hot guy this season. he probably has a higher chance of winning than other guys.

but the good thing is “no one knows”. let the games begin.

October 7th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

hi guys.

my second round picks were horrible in tokyo if put altogether, Kimmi. 50%.

beijing – 6 of 8 is pretty good.

quarters-

tokyo:

nadal over tsurnov
roddick over monfils

(the other two matches? i dunno. is there an end to g-lo and nimenen? seems like if i pick one i should pick the other too but..)

g-lo over troiki
sexy over niemenen

or vice versa

beijing:

i really want to stay up for the djokovic simon! simon is moving better than ever but the top serb has more power. gilou only beat djoko once – marseille 2008.

djoko over simon in 3
murray over bald bomber in 2

and the other two matches i am really uncertain. the popper has disappointed me but i’ll pick him again – same goes for davy. would not bet on these two.

soda over ferrer
davy over isner

October 7th, 2010 at 9:40 pm

Kimmi and Kimberley:

Here is Federer’s most recent take on his form:http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sports/2010-10/07/c_13546123.htm

It’s remarkably optimistic. I hope he doesn’t come to regret his words.

October 7th, 2010 at 9:50 pm

nadal will beat g-lo or troiki and surely make the final.
if roddick beats monfils then steps or troiki, a roddick – nadal final would be great!

hoping for a djoko – murray final in beijing too.

i would think federer will be rusty.

October 7th, 2010 at 9:54 pm

contador – if in doubt go for the higher seed..oops doesnt always work that way lol. agree, i should have put together all your second rounds picks…yes tokyo is 50%, a much better score there.

dont worry though. it is a great practice and you are not too bad.

gendel, thanks for the link. i will check it out. i read few links today that fed is now in china/hongkong..doing some few errands..ready for shanghai. he better be ready. go fed

October 7th, 2010 at 9:59 pm

LOL!- classic federer in grendel’s link

i want to believe him too. i miss federer. would be great if he won shanghai and beat ” the best” in the process. c’mon!

October 7th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

“now that he’s physically and mentally stronger.” It is interesting that Fed’s saying this when it’s been only a month since the USO, but I think he’s right that he still has the game to beat everyone; it’s just a matter of how consistently he can bring it.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

jane – that is federer for you. he has to say something. he will not believe he cannot beat the best, even though his results in gs has been poor.

i think he will believe he can beat the best until he retires. that is a good spirit imo..it also makes the game interesting, giving his fan some belief.

what he needs to do is just walk the talk.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:17 pm

Grendel thanks for the link.

But fed will make me nervous in shaing hai as I’ve got nothing to base my picks on other than his word. I still don’t know what happened at uso. He played so well for five matches and then match 6 shanks, serves in the toilet, ground game goes on sabbatical. In my opinion he really should have lost in straights. Yet he almost won the match and was in the final. I know this is comijng from a rafa fan but I feel he would have been crushed in the final but who knows.so he’s tricky because can play stellar(vitually uneatable if his top game is there), play terrible and win, or lose. I think I will hedge and take him to a semi but not further unless somehow the way the draw pans out urges me to take him farther. But too many points to not win by taking him out early.

Contador–tokyo I ditto your quarter picks.

Bejing I will go w djoko, bald bomber, ferrer and davy. All tough to call.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:18 pm

i’m not bad Kimmi but i’m not that good. now if i had more time and the tennischannel. or better yet, follow the tour…in person…

shanghai will be fun. but if i were betting, i certainly wouldn’t bet every match!

October 7th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

contador – its not easy to predict these matches. thats why the betting company have a very good business going on.

when you have people like berdych losing early, and people like G-lo and nieminen kicking butt..who can predict that?

yes, shanghai. i will go with my first instict and stop second guessing. (hopefully it works this time) I have second guessed before and it did not work….the only thing i get is “if only i stayed with my first pick”..

October 7th, 2010 at 10:34 pm

for u guys staying to watch matches..enjoy. its is almost my bed time in this end of the world. good night.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:37 pm

Fed will get back #2 after Shanghai in all likelihood. Djoko has to try to defend Bejiing, which won’t be easy with Simon, Soda, and Murray all still in the field, and then he was in semis in Shanghai last year, so he has to equal or better that result, whereas Fed didn’t play in Asia at all last year. There are only 400 points between them right now. Murray will have a tougher time trying to eclipse Nole and take #3 as he is about 2000 points behind. But it’s not out of the question entirely, He didn’t play Bejing or Shanghai last year, so all points are gravy. He did win Valencia, so he has to defend that or pick up points now to compensate, but he can really only add until WTF – he lost in R16 in Paris.

Kimberly, if Fed feels confident, usually that makes him a good bet. The only thing is rustiness, but that’s unlike to affect him unless he gets a tough first/second round draw.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:40 pm

kimberly.

that interview as i said is so classic federer. federer in my mind is a legendary optimist! why shouldn’t he be? he really is the greatest in his mind, and in mine.

however, since i have no idea what it’s like to be him, i’ll go more on how he has been playing. the semi at us open was a good result imo, since he did make it to the final in toronto and had to beat berdych and djoko to get there. then he won cincy- yeah, his draw ended up being easy there but so was rafa’s draw until the final for his us open win.

just the way it works. a win is a win.

federer does make shanghai more interesting.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:43 pm

bon nuit, Kimmi

October 7th, 2010 at 10:44 pm

Jane, I think djoko will win bejing and at least defend his semi in shaing hai. Rankings after shing hai will be more determined by what fed does or doesn’t do. Is nole playing basel again? That and paris might be where he could lose some. But let’s see. He plays well on this surface and typically performs well at end of year and does murray.

Fed (except for wtf)and rafa have never been really big at end of year. Rafa because of surface and/or fatigue and fed from lack of interest in my opinion.I think he skipped asia and lost to benneteu in paris. And the year before I think he pulled out against blake the year before.

I wonder if ernest will return to stockholm.

October 7th, 2010 at 10:57 pm

ahh jane. you almost sound like i do when i write about ernie.

djoko can do it. he can win beijing and go deep or win shanghai.

simon might be trouble but soderling has not been playing well. maybe he is thinking about federer in baastad! ( as someone here was joking )

we’ll see if soda pop can beat ferrer. davy has not been too great. the names are big in beijing but they are not all in form.

muzza gets 2 more wins and yeah – beijing final should be a cracker. but this is indoor hc and djokovic’s time to shine.

Kimberly –
no don’t go ernie!

but he is as the brits would say, “cheeky.” i bet he does go.

October 7th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

er – i mean stockholm. federer will be in stockholm…

October 7th, 2010 at 11:09 pm

Ugggh!!! I wrote a long post and it didn’t take.

Did you guys see delpo is not in shaing hai?

I bet ernie will go. But hopefully he will stay in his hotel and out of trouble!

October 7th, 2010 at 11:34 pm

Hope you two are right about Nole; he needs to defend another title and he could use a big one this season – he has only Dubai so far. Thankfully, his USO run and his efforts at Davis Cup have brought some lustre back to his 2010 season. But it’d be nice to see both Nole and Murray hold up another trophy before year’s end. : /

Kimberly, I just checked, and yes, Nole has Basel scheduled again. After Shanghai he has Basel then Paris. Murray has Valencia then Paris. Fed has Stockholm, Basel, then Paris. Rafa just has Paris, so far as I can see. I wonder if he’ll make a push at WTF this year? He’s never won one, so that’s probably another feather he’d like in his cap.

October 8th, 2010 at 12:01 am

Kimmi, “what he needs to do is just walk the talk.” lol, yep you’re right. It’s a good attitude.

October 8th, 2010 at 1:06 am

OMG – djoko crushed simon…

Roddick is out by a wisker

soda popo not popping

can’t be too suprised about roddick and soda..they have not been too great recently.

c’mon g-lo. ATP site keep writing ruthless rafa (second day in a row) ..dont think anydoby has a chance in tokyo

October 8th, 2010 at 6:34 am