Berdych, Wawrinka Meet In Rotterdam Final; Vanni Surprises In Sao Paulo

I just saw Andy’s match against Simon, Simon played well, credit to him, but Andy played really embarrassing match, his game, timing, body language, muttering …it looks like he is going back to preLendl period, let us hope it is just temporarily AO hangover.

February 14th, 2015 at 8:22 pm

OK, go Berdych, I forgave you being a pri€k against Almagro in Melbourne, everybody deserves second chance, I know that very well;)

February 14th, 2015 at 8:30 pm

big berd over stan the man wog boy? i am leaning that way too. berdych is defending the title and stan already won chennai, whereas tomas lost in doha. all that said, the h2h certainly favours stan: he’s 10-5 over berdych.

February 14th, 2015 at 11:07 pm

I pick Berdych in this match.

February 15th, 2015 at 4:37 am

I would give Berdych the edge,he seems to have played the better tennis this week,these players seem to come to life when the top four are not playing….

February 15th, 2015 at 7:02 am

Wawrinka in 2 tight sets or maybe 3. Superior big match mentality with power hitting ability of his own.

February 15th, 2015 at 8:08 am

Who’s the pick,Sean?

Stan is the man in this one for me.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:07 am

Good call by everyone here for Berdych to win. … The only problem. Stan is the better player almost any day of the week.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:23 am

congrats tp stan and i assume key will win over anderson. berdych just can’t seem to win in the big matches: losses in doha final to ferrer and the final here. is rotterdamn last year the last time he won a title?

February 15th, 2015 at 11:42 am

kei… that’s my spelling machine’s fault. lol.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:43 am

Wawa it was! :-) expected him to win since he can match tomas for power, big shots but also posses a big match winning pedigree! By the way: is this-bizarrely- wawrinka’s first ever 500 point title? If so the set is officially complete: 250 (Chennai), 500 (Rotterdam), 1,000 (monte Carlo), 2,000 (Australian open). He’s won on every surface now (fast/slow HC, clay, indoor) just needs a grass title to complete the surface set. That’s for latter, for now: well done Stan! 2/3 title with the loss being in the 5th set v Novak at AO semi final: outstanding tennis so far. Controversial statement: he more than Andy right now deserves to be top 4 atleast.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:49 am

PS: don’t forget he also won davis cup, and lost a hard fought WTF semi finalv RF last year. So Stan is either winning or going down fighting v a top 2 player for a while now. A genuine top tier player without a doubt.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:51 am

Congrats also to tomas. He won a tough set, and played well in third set also, fighting till end. He’s stepped up and has made some ground on the top tier for sure.

February 15th, 2015 at 11:53 am

I think Stan exchanges ranking with Berdych. Stan up to no.7 Berdych down to no.8.

February 15th, 2015 at 12:30 pm

Congrats to Stan,and bad luck Berdych,Stan is a GS champion and has that ability to turn matches round when not playing his best,and play the big points better,Berdych has the talent and game,but has no plan B….

February 15th, 2015 at 2:48 pm

yes, perhaps it’s tactical with berdych. when one thing isn’t working can he adjust and go to a second approach? that’s a key aspect that could be holding him back from bigger success.

February 15th, 2015 at 4:02 pm

the kei/anderson final will start soon; they’ve never played, but i would expect kei to win. anderson is a bit like berdych in terms of adjusting his game plan, or not.

i see that nishikori is the poll winner here on the front page as to which player out of the young guns is likely to make it to number 1 in the world.

interestingly, it’s not raonic or dimitrov who are coming in second in the poll; it’s nick the kid!

February 15th, 2015 at 4:07 pm

Stan finally gets that 500! He had some dicey matches at the beginning of the week, but he always shows up when he has to play the bigger players. Dismissed Raonic who had no return game and showed Berdych that he’s not the only one who can hit the ball hard. Wish Tomas hadn’t shown sour grapes in the trophy presentation by saying it was only a few points that stopped him from winning the title. Give credit where credit is due.

Great beginning of the year for Stan w/ two titles and the highest number of match wins on the tour. Hopefully, he’ll have a good showing at Indian Wells and keep his great season going.

February 15th, 2015 at 4:14 pm

“Wish Tomas hadn’t shown sour grapes in the trophy presentation by saying it was only a few points that stopped him from winning the title. Give credit where credit is due.”

i didn’t see it so i don’t know what tone it was spoken in emily, or the context, but in a way that’s true right? maybe tomas was trying to find the positives in his run??

February 15th, 2015 at 5:02 pm

I think he was still a bit shocked he lost, since a lot of people were predicting he would win (including a few people on this thread). It did seem like he was trying to, like you said, find the positives, but I’d never heard a runner-up imply that the winner was almost lucky to win.
True, he had a great week and Stan didn’t destroy him like he did at the WTF, but it was a weird way to end his comments during the presentation. Stan then congratulated him and said he hoped Berdych could come back and win the title again, so he was clearly not bothered.
Maybe Berdych was thinking about the rankings and the Doha loss along with his difficulty w/ changing tactics mid-match. He showed his mental struggles again, and when your opponent is able to change their game and come back to win, it might be difficult to swallow. This wasn’t as bad as when he didn’t shake Almagro’s hand, but it’s just another little nagging incident that contributes to his unlikability on court.

February 15th, 2015 at 5:19 pm

yeah maybe emily; i think tomas is probably hoping for bigger things this year, given that he’d gone out and secured a new coach, etc, so it’s probably a mixture of disappointment and trying to take away positives. as i said, i really think sometimes he’s misunderstood in how he comes across so i try to give him the benefit of the doubt. good that stan was so amiable about it. he’s clearly in good form to start the season, so that bodes well for another strong year for him. congrats – i think you said he’s your favourite, which is cool. he doesn’t always get the appreciation he deserves. the first set or two between he and nole at the AO left me breathless at its pace; stan’s backhands were like lightning bolts! :)

February 15th, 2015 at 5:35 pm

Something about Stan’s BH. It is deadly accurate if you give him angles and power shots, the more angles you give him, the more you try to push him off the court, the harder you hit the less chance you will win the point (almost zero chance. If don’t give him the angles, if you force him to hit his BH from the middle of his BH side, little bit higher balls with more spin and Stan is yours for taking, and his FH tends to shank or go to net. I remember people on TX talking about his win against Nishikori at AO, but Nishikori played excatly into Stan hands, either Chan didn’t do his homework or Nishikori didn’t follow through his instructions. Stan has raw power that hardly anybody can match, you will not beat him just with power.

February 15th, 2015 at 6:22 pm

Jane, Stan is my fave and the AO semi final was a bit of a gut punch, since he had his chances. I’m really happy he was able to bounce back and a win a tournament he hasn’t played in 10 years.
Wog Boy, great deconstruction of Stan’s game and I’m not going to disagree w/ most of your analysis. His forehand can be unreliable and the BH needs to fall just right, but he can handle anyone in a rally. Berdych had been playing power tennis and he thought that would be enough in today’s final. However, I would argue that the AO win wasn’t a screw up on Kei’s part. Stan learned a lot from losing to him at the UO and changed his tactics in a way Nishikori wasn’t expecting. He improved his serve and he took the match into his own hands; he won it as opposed to Kei losing it.

February 15th, 2015 at 6:48 pm

good points wog boy.

February 15th, 2015 at 6:48 pm

Congrats to Stan for this great win. I thought Berdych was playing some remarkable Tennis and yet for Stan to upstage him really needs some taking. Stan as a player today is rediscovering his wonderful potential and he has more confidence in his abilities. Especially the Australian Open victory last year made him a different player and he really began to believe that he belongs to the top league.

Commiserations to poor Berdych. He was really playing some amazing Tennis in this particular tournament and yet came short. He is very unlucky as a player and that is what some times happens in Tennis when even your best efforts tantalizingly comes short of conquest. Nevertheless, he needs to take this defeat in his stride and just philosophize that by this defeat he is just postponing his victory. Only such an pragmatic attitude can keep you going in this incredibly competitive sport.

February 16th, 2015 at 1:51 am

Emily i know i was one of the posters that tipped Berdych as i thought he played the better tennis during the week,although i was actually pulling for Stan,and thankfully he won anyway,i think as Brando said Stan is the better bigger match player with more power that not many players can match,and plays the bigger points better….

About Tomas comments maybe he did have a point?but it was niether the time or the place,and tennis can be about such small margins a few points here and there,but Stan was the player that raised his level after losing that first set,and Tomas couldnt cope with it,end of….

February 16th, 2015 at 5:34 am

The word lucky is one adjective that gets over used at certain times for certain players on this forum,and really p*sses me off,lucky in this match lucky in that match etc etc,well all players have their share of luck,and you make your own….

February 16th, 2015 at 5:41 am

to call Stan the Man lage, fatso or overweight might push the boat a little.

fitness wise he does have room to improve. Why hasnt he taken that room to get his clearly slight tubby in check.

If he can win slam and reach finals with this fysiek what could be done with a regular size for elite player?

February 16th, 2015 at 7:00 am

large like lardo

February 16th, 2015 at 7:01 am

Stan is one of the fittest players on tour, when was the last time a player outlasted him? He has a different body type from most other players, more muscular w/ broad shoulders, but he is not fat.

February 16th, 2015 at 11:29 am

a guy losing 0 in 5th set can be labelled as outlasted.
I appreciate different body with more muscles but he has a bit to much around waist area and the tummy.

He would have killer body for normal people… but as a potential elite wannebe it just aint good enough.

February 16th, 2015 at 1:48 pm

You’re welcome to your own opinion, but sorry, not getting dragged into this

February 16th, 2015 at 4:31 pm

Something that is clearly visible for everyone to see can hardly be dubbed an opinion but is a fact.
Without the ten pounds extra Stan might well be a contender for #1.

February 17th, 2015 at 12:49 am