Federer, Verdasco Winners; Djokovic, Murray Play Tuesday

Tried to watch dolgo/federer live stream today, but it was delaying and pausing, etc. Some ppl have done a great job of the short match on YouTube, if anyone is interested in getting a glimpse of the match up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=t4wIOpZNTdc
That’s part 3 and the first two will be there by related links.
Also a sight to see, after dolgopolov takes a spill at the 10:00 mark, you get 5 mins of roger sitting on a bench with dolgopolov on the floor a meter away getting treatment. Roger finds a way to chat and even a little joke it looks like. Never seen quite that site, looks like roger may have even tried to help him with his shoe or something there at the end!

November 1st, 2010 at 11:19 pm

Dari,

Thanks for the link! Yeah Fed haters need to see the vid, Fed class all the way. Given AD time and respect to get over it. No arrogant behavior here, as usual, as much as the anti-Feds want to stir the witching brew….it’s all a wishful dream for them.

Go Fed. AD, get well, hope to see the long hair back!

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:14 am

hi dari, hi skeeze.

yup. plenty of you tube links (3 in fact) of the full basel match. And it was good to see fed helping out dolgopolov. As you say skeeze. A class act, but would we expect anything less? No response necessary.

It didn’t look as if the turn on the ankle was ‘too bad’. May be just a sprain? Hopefully nothing worse than that.

He really is a great player to watch – One of the basel broadcasters described him as a ‘jack in the box’. He ‘springs’ everywhere!

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:16 am

Here is a nice link.

http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2010/11/01/roger-shows-his-caring-side.aspx

November 2nd, 2010 at 4:28 am

I watched the replay on ESPN3 and you could see the court is oddly sticky. DO ran for the ball and tried to slide but did not move.

Watch out today, Djoko, you love to slide but you may twist and ankle.

I think this is Fed’s personal Grand Slam event he feels he must win. Too much pressure before the Paris Masters. Save it for the one tourny you never won.

November 2nd, 2010 at 9:16 am

You know what impressed me when I put Fed’s year in perspective?! Since Mardid he reached final in all torunaments he played, except the Slams (the ones which count the most).

– Madrid: final
– RG: Quarter
– Halle: final
– Wimbledon: quarter
– Toronto: final
– Cincy: winner
– US Open: Semis
– Shangai: final
– Stockholm: winner
– Basel: ???

6 finals of the last 9 tourneys (Basel he reached final last 4 years, so I think he will kept the trend). Even though he is not winning as much finals as he did, at least if he keeps reaching those the titles will come.

November 2nd, 2010 at 10:04 am

Fed did better during the smaller tournaments this year than GS. That’s interesting especially that he did not care about them in the past. I guess he finally realized that he needs the small tournaments to stay on top since his he did not really deliver during GS. The young guys are all over him. Well, Fed do what you can.

November 2nd, 2010 at 10:31 am

actualy point wise fed was the second best in slams

November 2nd, 2010 at 11:08 am

Thomas that was quite nice. As for.oleksandr I suppose this is the best time to get injured, with only one big tourney left. Well done for him this year, he has a lot of people looking out for what he can do in 2011!
Now to catch up in valencia…

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 pm

conty Ernests is playing well so far. Nole has his hands full with all that firepower! Gulbis’ forehand is a scorcher. You see that and think, why isn’t this guy in the top ten? Oh yeah, but … sigh.

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Djoko has started comfortably, 4-2. He’s looked strong at the net, missing 1 bad one, which would have given him deuce and shot at breaking. He is serving fine. When he got a chance in the 6th game, he did not miss it. Perfect. He looks spirited enough to defend his title. If his results this year are any indication (he’s defended two already, Dubai and Beijing), he should be able to make it 3rd time.

Talented Earnie is hanging in there, playing defense on return and offense on serve. There is a definite beauty in his power. He cannot be playing patiently if he wants to make it a match. He still has to work on figuring out when to go for his shots and when to hold back.

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:36 pm

awww, close one in the gulbis/novak match, i thought gulbis mighta fought off that last break after getting back into it for a minute. maybe he will get the second set. i really like novak, but i would like to see ernests come through, he needs some W’s!

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 pm

A couple of FH errors from Djoko, Earnie breaks back and is in the set, 4-5. Like in those last 2 points, he should continue hammering on the 2nd serve on the rise. For now, can he hold, already down 2 BPs? Djoko gifts Earnie 3 errors in a row. Sensational wide FH from Djoko from inside the court and back to deuce. A bad BH and wild FH from Earnie gives Djoko the first set, 6-4. It can be over quickly if Earnie does not put his acts together.

November 2nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm

i am it “He still has to work on figuring out when to go for his shots and when to hold back.”

Yes, precisely. Like Ernie a lot. But hope Nole can hold here.

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:12 pm

Hi Jane,
Now with the break and hold, Djoko is certain run away with the match. This is a good tennis but lacking in competitiveness. I just wish Earnie played a little bit better consistently and make it more difficult for Djoko.
Did you know Earnie played a film (or films) when he was in his teens, well, his mom is an accomplished actress so acting must come more smoothly to him?

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm

Hi i am it, yeah I saw a clip of Ernie acting when he was younger. I just wish he’d get it together more consistently too. While I wanted Nole to prevail here as he has plenty of points to defend in the next two events, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Gulbis make it tougher. He can string together some amazing shots, and then he dumps in a bunch of silly errors. Too bad. Come on Ernie; show the desire to keep it going consistently; and don’t end so lamely. : /

Meanwhile, way to go Nole! His backhand was awesome today – the slice and the razor up the line.

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Andy and Novak through :) sorry conty only saw second set but Gulbis looked awful rusty.
BTW dory and dari, r u twins ;)

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm

what a pity to lose on a dbl fault :( novak really knows how to hit a ball. he can hit really hard and with tremendous form on BOTH sides. nice to watch.

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm

Congrats to all the winners of this morning, Djoko, Ferrer, Tipsy, Trocki, Gasquet, Giraldo, Murray, and others. Lots of good matches to catch up today.

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm

margot, but for a wee blip in the second, Murray looked really strong against F-Lo I though.

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:40 pm

margot, i wish i knew this dory. sounds familiar, but i can’t think! hopefully he or she will post again soon so i can check em out!
i must say this is shaping into a really nice fall season. tennis channel has really made it nice they even play the 250 tournaments, a week late, but you still get to see semi’s and finals if your guy made it that far :)

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:40 pm

(thought, not though) – and yeah, congrats to all the winners. Hope Tipsy and Troicki, along with Nole, can all keep their form for the DC finals. The French are playing well too, with Monfils hitting stride and Simon & Gasquet doing better. Rumour has it that Tsonga’s knee it out again. Sad for him, so many injuries.

Anyhow, am off for the day. Have a good one all!

November 2nd, 2010 at 2:43 pm

Muzza thru. nice muzza. davy and cilic wins too..good to see.

nalby on the court now..go nalbandian. hope he brush out the rust he had last week…bad loss to simon in montpellier.

sorry dear gulbis..but djoko is not ranked # 3 for nothing. better luck next time.

I see melzer and ljubicic decided to pull out of basel..make sense. both have been playing too much tennis last week. Monfils still playing..great

November 2nd, 2010 at 5:23 pm

“Hope Tipsy and Troicki, along with Nole, can all keep their form for the DC finals”

ah jane, tipsy is playing the fed tomorrow. I hope he does not miraculously win. just been reminded on 2008 aussie open match between fed and tipsy. go federer!

November 2nd, 2010 at 5:25 pm

nalby is up a set and a break. ok, i kind of expected him to win but somewhere at back in my mind i was thinking “you never know with nalby”.

needs to keep it up now..no getting broken when serving for the match!

November 2nd, 2010 at 6:00 pm

managed to stream the djoko – gulbis match. of course i knew djoko would win. there was really no doubt, considering how bad ernie has been for…almost 6 months now? yeah. :/

but today i thought his tennis really showed how talented he is and yet, once again, how very clueless he appears about winning a game, set and match. i’m shaking my head. i don’t know if he’ll ever get it. he doesn’t have to play tennis or do anything and admits he’s not a fan of the sport = not a winning recipe. by the time he matures and catches on, who knows… i give up on gulbis, again. watching him lose like that just makes me frustrated.

on a happier note, rumor on the livestream chat board from an insistent croatian fan is that marin is in love. we all know something has been slowing him down the last half of the season, right? i guess i hope the gossip is true – way better than injury or illness, being in love, i think. maybe he calms down and starts winning again…very sweet. go cilic! nice win over chiudinelli today.

federer should be ready to handle janko. but tipsy is a lot tougher, trickier opponent than dolgopolov. cmon, fed!

saw the 2nd set murray – feli. was not the best set for muzz. still, i think he’ll pick his level up and defend valencia. have to outrun ferrer to do it, maybe.

monfils played so well to win montpellier last week. i will be surprised if he gives such a serious performance in valencia.

November 2nd, 2010 at 7:42 pm

Troicki has kicked it up a notch since the USO.

November 2nd, 2010 at 8:36 pm

didnt see any of the matches contador. i know muzza was broken once..first round matches are always tough. his serve was so and so too. hope he picks it up as the tornamnet goes..

you know, muzza is not too far away from djoko in the race..if he finish strong these coming tournaments he could have a chance to finish the year no 3 for the first time or maybe no 2. federer, djoko and muzza are pretty close at the mo. good luck to all

contador – cilic in love ??? really!! ok, i can take that reason if he starts picking it up quickly. the slump has been too long. wake up cilic! great win today by the way, needs to keep going..basel is tough but a big win is always possible.

November 2nd, 2010 at 9:08 pm

Sean, Dolgopolov is not Russian, and never was.
Ironically, he is #1 in his country, as for now.
Is it so hard to be careful with nationalities of at least the top-100 players? Alas, on all the most known tennis sites there occur numerous confusions with those Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, etc. Who cares, really…

November 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 pm

Dolgo is Ukranian but he’s pretty damn close to being Russian. I don’t mean that in the “Ukranians and Russians are the same” kind of way, I would never ever say that. But the eastern part of Ukraine is generally Russian speaking and cultured and I’m pretty sure that’s how Dolgo is. I didn’t talk to him personally but I talked to his girlfriend and she’s Russian so I’m guessing he is too.

November 2nd, 2010 at 10:53 pm

the usual free live streams have had dicey coverage but i managed to catch some tennis, Kimmi. and the bit about cilic. true? who knows. i’ll buy it. the in love thing sounded like a happy excuse.
: )

didn’t see soda’s match but the score looked like he had an easy win over montanes, which is slightly surprising. and davy won too but his opponent was somebody i had to look up – an 18 yr old spaniard named javier marti. and berdych, another player who hasn’t been on fire lately, has a match he should win with a qualifer tomorrow, kamke. roddick and querry could be good. go roddick! isner should make it past robin haase.

fun matches this week in basel and valencia!

yeah, ukraine has dolgopolov (tigger), stakhovsky, and marchenko in the top 100, not bad. speaking of bulgarians, dimitrov lost his challenger match. not a good day for a couple favorites. another boohooo…

November 2nd, 2010 at 11:14 pm

I like the love story re: Cilic. Best to go with that! I agree with you conty that Murray’s looking good at Valencia; Davy has a decent record against Andy but Davy has been out of form. Murray usually beats Hotsauce and Simon. There’s Soda and Ferrer in the draw, but they’re both on the other side so he can’t meet either before the finals.

Kimmi, yes if Murray could gain at Paris, he could overtake Nole as he has a lot of points to defend in the next two events. So #3 and #4 could potentially change hands before year’s end. Fed doesn’t have much to defend at Paris and 400 points only at WTF (same as Murray and Nole) so he should hold onto number 2, I would think.

ATP shows Fed at 7495, Nole at 7145 and Murray at 6125. All have to defend this week 300-500 points, so Paris and WTF will make the difference (Fed’s defending 410 at those two events, Murray’s defending 490, and Nole’s defending a whopping 1400).

November 3rd, 2010 at 1:39 am

Seems very tough jane, the better u do, the better u have to do :( Perhaps they should all start from zero each year……

November 3rd, 2010 at 1:59 am

margot, the race is a good indicator of how they do on the year; I wish the ATP would still post it. But yeah, defending is the hard part. It doesn’t really matter anyhow, in the sense that number 3 or 4 is rather inconsequential for Nole or Murray since they’ll still be slotted similarly in the draws for the first slam next year. Number 2 matters more in terms of seeding/draws at the slams I suppose. However, the competition is difficult these days no matter what – so many good players.

November 3rd, 2010 at 2:20 am

Ben, you definitely know more about Dolgopolov than me, great. Yet, you are well off mark, starting from the first sentence of your reply. “Pretty damn close to being Russian…Russian speaking…”, not saying about brilliant “girlfriend logic”, lol, indeed. You probably don’t realize how provocative such the remarks and errors sound for many fans not belonging to those “big geopolitical cats”. What about to be simply correct, not touching very risky issues, absolutely unwanted at a tennis site? I am not a tennis blogger/journalist or even a very-long-term fan, but have no problems to keep in mind that Azarenka is Belorussian, Hanescu is Romanian and Chiudinelli is Swiss, hey, even that Sharapova is Russian in spite that she speaks English far better than her “mother tongue”, I suspect.
P.S. The Dolgopolovs (his father was an ATP player, too, see the ATP site) were/are permanent citizens of Kiev which is by no means that eastern part of Ukraine, btw.

November 3rd, 2010 at 8:13 am

Leon, that you’re so offended by my remarks is quite amusing. I get what you’re saying, but I just don’t think that’s the case with Dolgopolov. Like I said, I didn’t speak to him personally so I’m not 100% sure what he considers himself, but you’re examples are a little too far. Chiudinelli and Hanescu aren’t nearly as close to being Russian as someone from Ukraine. Especially Chiudinelli, who confuses a Swiss for a Russian?

But I wouldn’t be surprised if Azarenka considers herself Russian. I’ve never met her so I really have no idea, but I wouldn’t put it past her. My family comes from Belarus but when someone asks me my nationality I say Russian. It’s how I was brought up, it’s my culture and my language. I have a number of friends from Kiev in particular (because that’s like the only part of Ukraine people live in apparently) and they’re all Russian speaking and consider themselves Russian more than Ukranian.

Are you going to tell me Gabashvilli, Golubev, and Korolev aren’t Russian because the ATP site tells you they play for a different nation? Well I can tell you first hand that they are, in fact, Russian.

November 3rd, 2010 at 8:44 am

Ben, I have nothing to add to what I have already said. For some people it happens too hard to simply acknowledge they were (even if occasionally) wrong. Instead, they are eagerly ready to expand the “discussion”, inventing new doubtful and ambiguous arguments, twisting opponent’s words, so on. I am in healthy mind not to continue in such a manner, with all my respect. After all, I address Sean who’d better correct her sentence. Then back to tennis, some interesting matches are coming soon.

November 3rd, 2010 at 10:12 am