Federer, Murray, Roddick Headline Paris Wednesday

I thought maybe the Nole/Monaco match isn’t tomorrow, but I checked and they are up on center court after Roddick/Neminen. Third is Murray/Nalby, then Isner vs Llodra, then Fed vs. Gasquet and finally Simon versus Soda. On court 1 Ferrer, Davy, Melzer, Cilic and Ljub are all playing as well, not to mention others. LOTS of good tennis up tomorrow!

November 10th, 2010 at 2:00 am

gasquet already made the top 10 and the year end champs even. so based on the fact he’s already been in the top ten, i’d say yeah he has the potential.

November 10th, 2010 at 5:39 am

that’s funny guy, but consider: does Hewitt have the potential to get into the top 10? After all. he was #1 for 70 weeks.

November 10th, 2010 at 7:43 am

Roddick looked really good. Him and gulbis will be a very interesting match up. Djokovic looked pretty solid as well. Now going to watch murray/nalbandian…

November 10th, 2010 at 8:03 am

Nalbandian breaks for 2-1, and looks in tip top form. Murray not out of bed yet, though, so judgement reserved.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:07 am

Berdych also looked good yesterday. I know he was playing Serra, but he gave him a Federer like beat down in 47 minutes losing only 1 point on serve. It’s the best match he has played in quite a while. I think he is going to beat Davy/Bellucci and give Nole a tough match.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:12 am

Haha, dimwitted, Murray is indeed not outta bed, do you see him slipping and sliding and limping? He looks like tinman in need of oil Geeze!

November 10th, 2010 at 8:13 am

Nalbandian aces to take game – but no, let. Then he loses a scintillating rally going for a really difficult backhand smash. he still pulls the game out – sometimes, he would just have sulked. Good game in prospect?

November 10th, 2010 at 8:13 am

wow,nalbandian is on fire,and is bullying murray all over the court.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:15 am

easy service game for Murray at last for 2-5. Nalbandian generally looking very very good. Of course, this is his spiritual home, you might say. Could we be seeing another electric Nalbandian run?

November 10th, 2010 at 8:20 am

1st set Mr Nalbandian.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:24 am

Great play from nalby. Nalby giving good variety and really complete points, making young Murray look awfully UN-athletic. let’s see if Andy gets something together this set…

November 10th, 2010 at 8:26 am

aha, Murray holds serve 1st game second set looking VERY snappy, terrific reflexes at the net. Rather sloppy final point from Nalbandian. Change of momentum in the offing?

November 10th, 2010 at 8:29 am

Again, Murray thwarts a threateningly rampant Nalbandian with reflex play at the net. Damn good reflex play at that. Murray seems a natural at s and v – if he can only work on this, he could be the natural favourite for Wimbledon this year. I don’t think anyone does s and v as good as him at the top of the game. He has an instinctive sense when to use it, no good automatically doing it these days, and when he does it, he’s at home.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:42 am

Haha, RIDICULOUS lob right on the baseline from nalby. Second set much better for Andy, he is really coming through at the net.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:53 am

One Murray serve apparently timed at 141 mph – slightly hard to believe, but anyway, his serve is looking beautiful. What a weapon on top of everything else. Nalbandian still playing very well, but I’d guess Murray edgeing this match at the moment.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:55 am

yes, dari, that was a cracker lob. They always look out, those long ones, from a telly viewer’s perspective – and Murray’s. Caught the line, though.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:57 am

a sarcastic smile directed by Nalby to the umpire, followed by 2 loose points, and the set is Murray’s and the Nalbandian racket is history. When Nalbandian pulls out the sarky smile, his fans have got to worry. In his great runs a couple of years ago, I’ll bet his facial expression barely altered.

You’ve got to think Murray strong favourite to win this now. He’d be slight favourite even if Nalby’s mind was under control – but is it?

November 10th, 2010 at 9:03 am

well, Nalbandian pulls back to 1-1, but bit fortunate. Again, the sarcastic smile over call of let – he subsequently only won point with lucky net cord, Murray otherwise primed to pass and gain 30 all. As it was, game went to deuce. The point about criticising sarky smiles etc is absolutely not to make a pseudo moral point – it’s just a)pointless, umpires NEVER retract on this one and b)Nalbanidan himself becomes distracted. The flow goes out of his game, and this man without a big serve needs flow, rhythm, whatever.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:13 am

oh, dear, Murray shaking his wrist, gone back to his chair. Hope not a resurgence of the old injury. Both players have been making errors of late, nevertheless, Murray has started to look impressive, which has boded very well for rest of tourney. And now this. Got to hope it’s a just a little niggle.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:22 am

Murray holds and looks ok. I was watching the match when he first damaged his wrist – it was against Volandri, I think, in germany (Vol had recently got to the Rome final having beaten among otherd Fed, so he was in good nick). Murray was taking Volandri apart – and then he suddenly pulled up short, looking in agony. He continued to play, but it was no good, and he had to retire. This time, it looks ok. Fingers crossed.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:31 am

Murray, when he’s not serving aces or 135 mph 1sts, is giving his second serve a damn good whack – and it’s paying off. Sign of things to come?

November 10th, 2010 at 9:36 am

Phew! Glad Andy’s through. And Nole too. :) One match at a time.

Looks like Roddick really took it to Nieminen.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:42 am

Well, Nalby was, well, Nalby. Looks like at any given time he can beat anyone anytime, then a crucial miss here and there, boom.

Murray’s serve; stellar.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:43 am

Murray breaks more due to Nalbamdian’s errors than anything else this time, and he finishes the match appropriately with a lovely piece of serve and voleyin. I do hope hope hope he continues with that and brings it to Wimbledon – it’s sorely needed there, I’ve kept hoping Federer would do it, but he doesn’t you know, and Murray absolutely has the tools to do it if fed won’t. Thought match a bit scrappy towards end, but even so, Murray done well in difficult draw, and I assume can only get better.

November 10th, 2010 at 9:46 am

In interview with Petchey, Murray confirms his calling on the trainer more precautionary – slight twinge, the alarm bells ring. I didn’t know he spent 9 or so weeks off last year with wrist injury. It seems he tweeted a few weeks ago that he had hurt his wrist on one of those console games. Even what you joke about says something.
Murray confirmed that he really went or his second serve – at last! – with some at around 112.m.p.h. That’s almost Isner like. He also declared himself pleased to have had the option of changing his game to s and v as he was getting nowhere in first set from the base line. And he confirmed that he’d like to do more of that. Definitely in Paris, obviously, and no doubt O2. For me, the big question will be Wimbledon. I don’t see him beating Nadal there unless he develops his serve and volley game. Grass being what it is these days, that won’t be easy. But that’s it, isn’t it. Why should it be easy?

If Federer and Murray meet, that’s going to be a humdinger. Can’t wait.

November 10th, 2010 at 10:09 am

d.r., Yes Murray was out for a long while after the USO. I didn’t realize it was nine weeks. But I know he didn’t play any of the Asian tournaments.

BTW, didn’t Fed beat Gasquet 1 & 1 recently or was that someone else? Can’t remember.

November 10th, 2010 at 10:14 am

Murray did play the asian swing, he played shanghai and beijing (I think)

November 10th, 2010 at 10:45 am

JJ, I was referring to last year: Andy M hurt his wrist in his match with Cilic and then was on hiatus for a bit.

I read in match summaries that Nole wasn’t looking too sharp but luckily for him neither was Monaco. I think Llodra might be tough for Nole to beat. He’ll have crowd support and at the moment he’s taking apart Isner. Hmmm.

Speaking of Murray v. Cillic, they’ll meet again next round. Murray has the last win, this year at the AO. I think he can do it again if he plays like he did again Nalby.

November 10th, 2010 at 10:56 am

dr: Thanks for that excellent match commentary, missed it earning a crust. Very worrying re wrist, it’s his achilles heel:(
JJ: not last year he didn’t, after Davis Cup his first tournament was Valencia, am pretty sure of this. Injured that damn wrist at tournament just b4 USOpen 2009.
jane: looks as if it were easy for Novak:)

November 10th, 2010 at 10:58 am

jane: gr8 minds :)

November 10th, 2010 at 10:59 am

margot, crossed in the ether. :)

November 10th, 2010 at 11:04 am

No real upsets today (so far). But I’m watching Ferrer/Fognini on tennis channel and that annoying music is driving me crazy!? Is it coming from another court and can the players hear it? Or just the audience on television, I wonder?

November 10th, 2010 at 11:49 am

….earning a crust? What is that? :)

November 10th, 2010 at 11:50 am

Skeezer

pulling in the sheckles….

actually, it’s quite interesting to consider the etymology. Presumably you have crusts of bread in the US, Skeezer (the end bits of a loaf)? In England, they tend to get thrown away (not by me, I love burnt toast crust with lashings of butter and proper marmelade, that’s why I’ll probably bow out when my time comes with a heart attack), so they symbolise cheap and lowly food. So in Dickens, for instance, a prisoner might be thrown a crust of bread and be expected to feel grateful for it. Thus to talk about “earning a crust” is a self-deprecating way of referring to earning a living. Got to keep going, you know – that sort o thing. Oddly enough, even some very rich people use this terminology. I expect they think it makes them cool.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:20 pm

Looking like Ferrer will be the first upset …

November 10th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

Jane, it’s still early…but Fognini is taking it to Ferrer (so far). Of course, he (Ferrer) just broke back in the 2nd set.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:25 pm

And of course the infamous “let them eat cake”, said or not said. But a reference to the loaf ends, for the poor to gnaw on.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

Fot, yep, should always hold off on making judgment in Ferrer’s matches; he may be back on track.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:27 pm

Very cool info…tx :)…with a tad added of “pulling in the sheckles”, or in my parts “makin the mon for the hon”.
Come here and not only talk tennis but get an education at the same time, Shaaammmoooon!

November 10th, 2010 at 12:30 pm

I didn’t know that the courts in Paris have been completely redone and are now faster. Here’s a blurb on its benefits and the players having to adjust since it’s different from last year:

http://af.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idAFJOE6A90G520101110

November 10th, 2010 at 12:31 pm

Watching Murray today, something occurs to me. Most Fed fans – so far as I can see – have been anxious that Federer should resuscitate his early s and v skills. And they have hoped that the advent of Paul Annacone as coach signals something like this might happen. Well, there have been slight hints of it, but nothing too dramatic I wouldn’t say. Whilst Murray’s serve and volleying today bordered on the truly accomplished. And if he continues to have success in this department, might it not rub off on Federer?

About a year or so ago, there was a furious discussion on this site about Federer’s supposed arrogance in claiming, in some interview, that the up and coming had all learnt from his example, whilst he himself had not gained reciprocally, as it were. I don’t want to resurrect that argument, which in any case I always thought was overblown. But I do wonder now whether Murray might influence Federer? It’s all very well a coach urging his man to adopt such and such, but I’d have thought Federer will always tend to be a bit reluctant, not really trust himself in this tricky area. Just get passed a couple of times – uh-oh. On the other hand, the spectacle of one of his main rivals making real inroads precisely by doing what he has been so cautious about – it might just serve as a goad.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:39 pm

dimwhitted recluse – Murray may have success in ‘matches’ playing that style, but he needs to be more consistent before anyone ‘copies’ what he’s doing. When Murray really gets in a crunch, he seem to fall back on his ‘comfortable’ style of not being aggressive. So I think he has to prove that he is committed to the more aggressive (or S&V) style for an entire tournament – not just one or 2 matches.

November 10th, 2010 at 12:57 pm

Murray’s serving and net play were indeed impressive today. O however noticed quite the opposite from the baseline in the first two sets. Balls that he normally tracks down he was flailing at and missing, and his own shots were sailing out. I wonder if this is something he will only do when his “usual” is not working out or something he will go directly to as the first strategy. Nice to see him popping that serve as the match went on, though!

November 10th, 2010 at 1:19 pm

fot, that music is intense, wth?! That is a shame if it is that loud to the players. Just heard Richard gasquet and roger announced on the other court, though. That is helpful!

November 10th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

I like the know the name of that weird sounding intro song they been using all week for the players. Almost sounds like the Gorillaz’s.

November 10th, 2010 at 2:00 pm

Wow, a really tough call for gasquet on that one. Rog hits one just clipping the line, gasquet stops point to challenge, bernardes calls it out himself, and then roger challenges that! Hawkeye says the ball just made it on the line, and roger gets his bp back and converts it. So much happens so fast in tennis!

November 10th, 2010 at 2:21 pm

Fed looking good….again

November 10th, 2010 at 2:23 pm

skeeze: just chewing on a hard earned crust…;)
dr: of course u must return nasty names with humour or all is lost and u end up looking dafter than your assailant.
re Anglo- Saxon, think “Blotmonath” is such a wonderful word, t’is pity it’s lost. T’is all.
All players must learn Murray’s mantra re Fed. “Do not let him get in front!”
dr again: Wow, suggesting Andy could teach Fed something…wow again, that’s thin ice ;)

November 10th, 2010 at 2:34 pm

Congrats Fed. Tough opener against the Gas man playing in front of the home crowd. Quality stuff :)

November 10th, 2010 at 2:52 pm

Roger looked quite good today, well done!

November 10th, 2010 at 3:17 pm

The only real “upsets” to speak of thus far today are Llodra over Isner and Wawrinka over Ljubicic, though neither are truly shocking.

Simon versus Soda should be good. 2-3 H2H in favour of Soda, so a close match up. Last they played, however, was in 2008.

November 10th, 2010 at 3:22 pm

According to Tennis Channel Fed is the 1st player to ever win a 250, 500, 1000 and slam in the same year.

November 10th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

Nelta, I saw that too. So during Roger’s run between, say 2005-2007 he never did that? Or during Nadal’s great run, he never did that? It would probably have to be someone like Roger or Nadal to accomplish it since they are the ones to win almost all the slams. But I can’t believe that had never been done before. Interesting….

November 10th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

I know Fot. It’s hard to believe that Fed or Rafa haven’t already done that. I thought Rafa did it in 2005, but I guess he didn’t win a 1000. Montecarlo, Rome, Montreal and Madrid which he won that year were all 500s back then. Those are all masters shields though right? Were masters shield tournaments only 500 back then?

November 10th, 2010 at 4:21 pm

Nelta and fot, it’s clearly not true… a quick look at Wikipedia shows that in 2006 federer won 3 slams, the finals, four masters, 1 500 (tokyo), and 3 250s.

So I don’t know what the tennis channel meant but it definitely wasn’t right if that’s it…

November 10th, 2010 at 4:24 pm

Yup Eric. Someone screwed up with the stats at Tennis Channel. It’s already been done.

November 10th, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Gasquet was reported to have said:”I was too good too soon” – a poignant comment. Tennis Planet did a photo of him fairly recently, he was balancing the ball on top of his head and looked for all the world like a great tragic clown. It was a quite extraordinary picture and said far more than a dozen articles.
At the beginning of the 2nd set (I think) there was a game which epitomised the gasquet mentality. Down love forty, he fought back valiantly to deuce. And then he relaxed, and barely did more than roll the first serve in. It was as if he were saying,”look how well I’ve done to catch up; but you can’t really expect me to do any more; perhaps he’ll give it to me”. Federer, on the other hand, despite the fact that the match had no tension whatever, was generally pretty focused. He had a job to do and that’s what he did. Did anyone see that extraordinary slice at the beginning of 2nd set (again), where the ball spun over a yard – it was like a huge leg break. Apparently it was some sort of mishit, but I couldn’t see why. Quite a good weapon to have in your armoury if you could reproduce it.

One of the commentators disclosed the fact (which i didn’t know anyway) that the Federers were on the verge of staying in South Africa in 1973. My immediate reaction: lucky South Africa to have Roger as their own. My second reaction, that’s nonsense, obviously there would have been a different sperm to the one which actually did the business. My 3rd reaction, that’s nonsense too since anything different at all, however slight, would have altered the configuration. My 4th reaction: supposing that had happened with Fed and Nadal? My 5th reaction, what if it had happened with the top, say, 200 players? Perfectly plausible, remember, since we’re positing only very tiny changes in circumstance. Would we now be furiously be debating the relative merits of the currently #201 and #202 players?

Clearly not. Mysteriously, other players – no doubt, on balance, just as good as the current top 200 – would have filled the vacuum. The “how” of this, however, is so completely inexplicable that one’s head is just spinning at the thought of it all.

Fot – that’s a fair point. I guess I was kind of assuming that Murray may have turned a corner, and will continue in his current vein. Of course, if Murray and Fed meet in the semis and Murray wins playing a lot of s and v, I’d be amazed if this didn’t influence Federer. In fact you could argue, in a devious sort of way, that for Federer to lose to Murray in this manner might do his game the world of good. The proverbial kick up the backside. You can’t say he doesn’t need that so far as his remaining ambitions in the slams are concerned.

margot – “blotmonath” yes, it’s the heavy consonants, isn’t it, tremendously basic sound. I always think the translations of Chaucer are (however skilful) sort of bloodless and effete. The original language of Chaucer is so full of life and vigour, not to mention handled by a poet of genius. And the great thing is, we can understand the bloody stuff. But I suppose one day, it will become as impenetrable as Anglo-Saxon. That’s time for you – bummer, eh?

November 10th, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Actually Eric, prior to 2008 it appears that the masters shields were 500 points, not 1000 so Fed didn’t win 1000 points at a non slam. Slams were only worth 1000 and are now 2000. Technically Tennis Channel is correct, but it only happened because the ATP doubled the points so it is kind of dumb to come out with this as a new record. It’s really already been done by both Fed and Rafa.

November 10th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

Federer asked for Paris to be a faster hard court and they granted him his wish. Obviously a fast hard court suits his game big time.
I think Llodra will be a very difficult match up for Nole precisely for that reason. He’s a natural serve & volley guy and he will do great on a court as fast as this one. Novak will have to dig deeper to beat him this time, I think.

November 10th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

Well that clears it up. So ‘technically’ Roger did it this year…but ‘unofficially’ – it was already done by Fed and Rafa. I tell you – you can manipulate stats any way you want for what you want to prove! The Tennis Channel just did it! lol!

November 10th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

Dimwitted, I’d never heard of the word blotmonath, but some words last an amazingly long time. My mother (mind you, she was born in 1897)referred to ants as emmets, and I recently discovered that this comes from an Anglo Saxon word “oemet”. So she was using a word 900 years old!

November 10th, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Nina, I’m sure Roger wasn’t the only one to request a faster court. He doesn’t have that kind of power! lol! Plus, he’s not even French. Usually the court surface helps the ‘home players’. I read that Roger said he didn’t mind that court being fast since almost all the others had been slowed down. I didn’t read that he requested it and they ‘granted him his wish’. In fact, Roger plays better on a mid-slow court (to me) – like Basel instead of a super fast one. He just said it’s good to have variety.

November 10th, 2010 at 4:51 pm

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww34/mooraie/Fedou/843757f5.jpg

November 10th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

didnt see any of the matches. thanks guys for the commentary, enjoyed each one of them.

I am very happy muzza came thru today, his match sounded tough. i kept staring at the live score hoping he would win. so happy he did.

next, cilic! we all remember what happened in their last match. USO 2009. will we see revenge or redemption? Cilic is not the same man as he was last year USO..but one can never tell, he might wake up on the right side of the bed and everything clicks.
hope todays’ match has sharpen muzza up a little, he needed a tough match today imo after that horrible lost to monaco in valencia.

very happy federer is thru too. hope he gets easy one from sexy stepanek ala basel :)

November 10th, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Wow,soderling absolutely thumped simon 6-4 6-0.

November 10th, 2010 at 6:29 pm

so llodra beat isner in easy straight sets.. didnt see that coming.

did anyone see this match? what is happening to isner serve? this is suppose to be one of the fastest surfaces, you would think big servers would do well..but he gets broken twice, once each set. on the other hand he couldnt do anything on llodra serve…not looking good for isner i am afraid.

November 10th, 2010 at 6:32 pm

Colin, what a lovely story. Perhaps if someone went around the country interviewing old people, preferably in isolated rural areas, a whole gamut of such names might be compiled.

I remember Simon couple of years ago ghosting up to the net and kind of startling his opponent. Today against Soderling, in the second set (and at set point in the first) he carried this whole ghosting technique a couple of stages further, since he just faded meekly out of existence. A surprising performance from a generally tenacious player.

November 10th, 2010 at 6:39 pm

Does anyone know why Djokovic has a day match against homeboy Llodra??

November 10th, 2010 at 6:44 pm

Kimmi, I saw just a little bit before I got bored. Isner’s serve seemed somehow lumpish after watching Murray’s zippy crackers. Don’t know whether that was an illusion. Llodra’s not to be sneezed at, mind, on a fast court like this – he could prove a handful for Djokovic tomorrow. Goodnight.

November 10th, 2010 at 6:48 pm

Nelta, they just doubled the points across the board, right? So what I assumed happened was that because of the minor changes to the ranking system and tournament categories their computer told them it was the first time someone had done this, but it’s not even correct in a technical sense if you translate the categories correctly from one set of terms to the other. An understandable mistake but still a mistake.

November 10th, 2010 at 7:16 pm

A mistake on their part, I mean. Obviously in the strictest possible (completely meaningless) sense they are right.

Anyway, yes, Simon did not put up much of a fight against Soderling…I want the old Gilles back, not this new model who seems unable to deal with anyone who actually wants to win!

November 10th, 2010 at 7:21 pm

Kimmi, Cilic and Murray have played once since last year’s USO, and that was at this year’s AO, where Murray won, fairly handily.

I agree with d.r. – think Nole could be in for a tough one tomorrow.

November 10th, 2010 at 7:35 pm

Nelta, I saw the ticker info on the stat for the GS, Ms, 250 and 500 and I thought to m yself, even roddick did that because back in ’03, when he won this GS, he won Tornto, cincy, DC and another smaller 125 tourney. However, at that time, the tourneys carried a different point award. Now that thye have doubled the points, it’s looking like a record that’s broken by Fed, but in reality it’s only a record because of the new points awarded to the various tourneys. Even the GS points are now doubled, not to mention the prize money that has been increasing each year, which also causes a record break.

__________________
Eric: …”they just doubled the points across the board, right? So what I assumed happened was that because of the minor changes to the ranking system and tournament categories their computer told them it was the first time someone had done this, but it’s not even correct in a technical sense if you translate the categories correctly from one set of terms to the other. An understandable mistake but still a mistake.”

Exactly my interpretation of what has happened to create a new record. It’s one of the reasons why the GOAT debate is difficult,(I don’t subscribe to the GOAT stuff anyway) because so much has changed with respect to prize money, racquet technology, surfaces, points awarded per tourney, et al. Anyway, if it makes ATP feel they are being impressive why steal their thunder. The saying that “it’s best to leave fools in their ignorance” (I’m not saying ATP are fools)

November 10th, 2010 at 7:49 pm

jane – yes i forgot about that. and Cilic was playing very well at the AO. well, murrat better come good from the beginning.

maybe because of fast court llodra feels good here. i still give nole a bigger chance..

November 10th, 2010 at 7:49 pm

“murrat” lol. Murray ofcourse!

November 10th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

Cilic is fully capable of outplaying Murray. Murray’s weird mix of spins and paces don’t bother him and he has enough power to hit through Murray.

The problem is whether Cilic’s head is still stuck in that fog that he’s been in since AO.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:07 pm

margot: Today it appeared that Andy M was in a walkabout mode in the first set. I was hoping he’d pick up and get moving, and he did just that. I thought of you probably hiding behind the sofa, and swearing at him. LOL. Anyway, good that he got through.

I was surprised to see Monaco playing so well again, but he made a few fatalistic errors which cost him the match. Anyway, good to see all the top seeds moving through as should be the case.

Andy R seemed to be in fine form today, but he was playing vs. Nieminen, who’s not a super dynamo, and he’s not the correct barometer to guage how well Roddick is playing. I’m hopig that Andy doesn’t get suckered in too much by Gulbis’ disguised drop shots, which are very effective when a player is playing 10 feet away from the baseline. I hope Andy comes out in agressive move as opposed to defensive.

November 10th, 2010 at 8:48 pm

I would be quite surprised if gulbis can do any damage to Andy. I remebermthem playing at USO once and it was a very hyped up match, the year gulbis played the quarters of the French and actually took a set off rafa at Wimbledon and andynhandled him pretty easily. But you never know, that’s tennis.

Verdasco, monfils hmmmm. I didn’t even pick verdasco to get this far but that’s a tough one to call.

Fed, stepnak, come on. As I said above never know but this isnnot a tough match for fed.

Novak, llodra….llodra is good (and great to look at in my opinion) but not that good. Although I fear Novak will eventually run out of gas but I would say one or two rounds more in. Prob just in time to cement his losing record to roddick.

Davydenko berdych, I’ll go with my draw challenge pick of davydenko.

Ferrer meltzer, hmmm, ferrer is becoming one of my beloveds but I fear this match for him as he played a third set tb today. Will cross my fingers and hope for ferrer but have a feeling fed may have a date with meltzer.

November 10th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

Murray cilic, uh Murray. Marin has failed to impress of late. Don’t tell my mother in law that though shes Croatian.

Soderling wawa, I heard soda was sick? His result sure didn’t show it though. I’m going with soda.

November 10th, 2010 at 10:35 pm

Kimberley, the commentators said Sod was feeling off against Simon. Given how Simon was playing (the biggish points) that didn’t matter much.

Sorry I missed Roddick/Gulbis since I hear it was pretty good. Just caught Roddick’s interview with Petch, and he made a couple of interesting points: when asked what players behind the scenes thought of the fast court, he grinned and replied “depends who you ask”. He added that he thought it was only fair for players like himself that a fast court like this was thrown into the mix given what most courts are like these days. Speaking for myself – and as a fan of tennis here, neither a Nadal nor an anti-Nadal fan – it would have been good to see Nadal in this tourney and to see what he made of the conditions.

Kimberley again – Roddick’s other point concerns Gulbis. Petchey asked him what he thought he needed to do. Roddick replied noone was in any doubt of Gulbis’ talent. He added (roughly speaking), there were lots of players outside of the top ten who were capable of terrific stuff, the thing about the top ten is they could do it again and again. “Repeaters” was the word he used, seeming to imply that this was an in-jargon word. Interesting. He concluded diplomatically “he’ll be alright”. Leif Shiras, a wise old bird – who b.t.w. remarked on how difficult it is to get past Roddick, that for a powerful aggressive player he has a mean defence and is also a deceptively good mover, personally I’ve always thought this for what it’s worth it’s just that he doesn’t always get the mix right – thought Gulbis’ time could come in a couple of years. To win grand slams? Leafy grinned wisely. There are a lot of players out there, aren’t there, he said,who you think SHOULD win grand slams, Nalbandian, Murray..All in all, though, not a bad report….

Apparently, only Verdasco can get in the way of Roddick appearing in O2, and he’s got to get into the final. There can’t be any real doubt Roddick’s in, and that’s as it should be. It will be a much more exciting tournamnet for his presence.

November 11th, 2010 at 6:57 am

Dimwitted-thanks for the info, interesting comments.

If Verdasco makes it to the final I would be in shock. He would have to beat Murray and Fed.

November 11th, 2010 at 7:54 am