GrandSlamFantasyTennis.com Forum
Where Tennis Fans Discuss All Things Grand Slam!
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
You must sign in (above) or create an account to post a reply
Ok, so the last few weeks have been a bit wild for men's tennis and it seems like there are so many contenders for the title this year. Obviously Federer is still a threat, although not as much as in previous years. But Nadal just lost to Baghdatis and del Potro is not even playing. I would love to see Fed win another, but I think that Soderling or Murray might take the title this year. Who do you think will win this year?
I think Nadal will take it all - his loss to Fish was a fluke, and he's going to bounce back from that and kick ass.
I think Nadal will take it all - his loss to Fish was a fluke, and he's going to bounce back from that and kick ass.
Baghdatis took out Nadal in Cincy, not Fish.
Anyway, I think this might be the year for the dream final of Nadal and Fed at the US Open. Murray would have to get by Berdych and Nadal to get to the finals, and I'm not sure he would win both of those matches. Fed got a pretty easy section to me. He got a pretty shaken Roddick and Djokovic (no trademark wins at all for Novak). He will most likely have to go through Soderling, but he's beaten Robin like 13 out of 14 times or something. Nadal is going to have some challenges for sure: Ferrer, Verdasco or Nalbandian will be his quarter and then most likely the Berdych-Murray winner in the semis, but I think he will come up good.
I doubt Rafa will make the final this year. I hope he does, but I doubt he will. I think maybe Murray, though his draw is tough. Perhaps Nalbandian. Or Ferrer. Or Berdych. Or even Verdasco, though that's doubtful.
It seems obvious Fed will. Not only does Fed own Soderling, but with Soderling's long strokes, he likes slower courts better. He has enough power to hit through a slow court. Really fast hard courts are not his forte. They're Fed's. Roddick and Djokovic are obviously serious rivals, but Fed has regained his form.
Last edited by DonDenman (Aug. 27, 2010 8:05pm)
Its all about the big hitters and big servers this year, that means Federer, Berdych, Roddick and Murray, I think the winner will come from this quartet, quarters or semis at best for Nadal, sorry Rafa, Djokovic the same, Ill go Federer versus Murray with the Fed Express to win his 17th GS Title!
Actually, Soderling hits harder than any of them and has no chance at all. But in Fed, Murray and Roddick you pick three of the game's premier hard court players -- and Berdych has been in incredible form on all surfaces all year.
Actually, I like Murray to beat Fed in the final IF Murray can manage to get there. He's the best hard court player in the world at this point, in my opinion. I think Fed beats anybody else in the final. Berdych SHOULD beat him, but he's still too new to the big matches and gets too nervous on big points. Nalbandian is a dark horse, but I believe he has an outside chance to win it all if he gets on a roll and gets some help from the wind.
I disagree - I think Soderling had a good chance of getting to the SF and even the final. It's Roddick who has the mental block that will prevent him from winning this thing again. He will probably be gone before the QFs.
Roddick's game is built for hard courts. He plays too passively and he's not the best problem solver, but he's a gamer. NO WAY he's out before the quarters.
Soderling's strokes are WAY too long for him to have any chance on a court this fast, and he doesn't move well enough, either. What's more, now that he's figuring out he really won't be #1 -- ever -- I doubt how long his motivation will last. If he's still in the top 10 in two years, I'll be utterly amazed.
Last edited by DonDenman (Aug. 30, 2010 10:51am)
I'm not sure how many of you are aware of it, but both Aiur and I have blogged a bit since the tournament started. To me, at least, the topics are interesting. I hope you'll read them, maybe find something in them thought provoking, possibly even to the extent of making a comment. That would be cool.
Thanks and enjoy a great tournament!
Those are great posts!! You guys really know your stuff. what do you think of Baghdatis' loss in the first round - seems like that might shake it up a bit.
Kind of you to say so, Kim.
I was fairly shocked by Bags' loss, to be honest. I had considered Fish only a very slight favorite over him in R3, so I stayed away from both of them. If Fish can get past Djokovic, his match with Roddick is a tossup as I see it.
The real shocker so far is happening right now. Michael Llodra leads Tomas Berdych 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-2. Llodra is a former doubles specialist who has for years been a dangerous floater in the singles draw on all surfaces, especially fast hard courts and grass. So in a way this is not that surprising, even if it does seem totally shocking at the moment. Unless he can pull off a miracle comeback, Berdych just had an awful result in his best year. Had could have made the quarters.
Last edited by DonDenman (Sep. 1, 2010 1:49pm)
Upsets are starting to happen now huh Don!
Roddick and Berdych gone, I would have expected them to both reach the quarters but not this time, my prediction of Fed v Murray is starting to take shape already.
The draw has opened up for someone to make a deep run when not expected, who will it be???
Roddick clearly was unable to summon enough energy to put up a fight. Obviously, even a "very mild" case of mono does very bad things to one's stamina. I and many others expected Roddick to make the semis. Now, in that quarter of the draw, one of the quarterfinalists will be either Monfils or Davydenko or Gasquet and the other will be either Fish or Djokovic. I expect Fish or Djokovic to make the semis, though Davydenko could. Monfils or Gasquet, probably not.
There would certainly be nothing unusual about either Djokovic or Davydenko making the semis. Fish has broken into new territory with his weight loss and greatly improved conditioning. Because Davydenko is still coming back from injury and Djokovic is suffering from breathing and serve problems, I see Fish as the favorite to make the semis out of that group, which is a little surprising. If both Davydenko and Djokovic were completely healthy, Fish would certainly be seen as a guy with an outside chance to come through anyway.
If Monfils or Gasquet somehow make it through to the semis, that will be truly astonishing. I give it a 10% chance of happening.
All Berdych's departure does is help insure that Murray makes the semis. Most folks, myself included, predicted a Murray/Federer final. Unlike most of them, I think Murray will win that match if it occurs.
Last edited by DonDenman (Sep. 2, 2010 2:02pm)
Prior to the tourney I had concerns for Roddick, and to be honest I'm not sure why I picked him. The Berdych lost totally has me baffled though. He's put together his best season and I thought he turned the corner to being a contender every 'Slam, but maybe not.
Llodra is always dangerous, especially on fast surfaces. He has had big wins in singles every so often for a long time now. I don't see him knocking off a top player as much of a surprise.
I, too, had concerns for Roddick because of the mono. I picked him because I underestimated how much it had taken out of him. You could see the tank was pretty much empty against Tipsarevic.
By the way, nice call on Gasquet in your pre-tourney blog, Aiur. I doubted you on that one, but your guy came through. He's up on Davydenko two sets and two breaks. Nice. Of course, Davydenko is still struggling to recover from injury, but still, it's an impressive win.
I know Llodra is a cagey veteran, but Berdych has been on fire lately and his huge serve and forehand should translate well to the fast hardcourt.
As far as the Roddick situation is concerned, I guess I picked him because everything I heard was that the mono was behind him. We all know how well Andy plays in New York, so if he was healthy no way I was leaving him off my team.
Gasquet is my boy. He is up there with Wawrinka and Kohlschreiber IMO as guy's with the best one-handed backhand, and he was rolling today. He also mixed up the serve quite well, ripping some in the 120's, spinning some in and utilizing superb placement.
I'll take Gasquet's backhand over Wawrinka's. Not sure about Kohlschreiber. His is pretty good, too. Maybe best.
However, I've seen Gasquet tank so many matches it's unreal. He just quits, often for no apparent reason. His timing goes off for a couple of games and he just throws in the towel. If he could get his head together, he could do great things. But mentally he's always been weaker than Safin, even. Has that changed?
Last edited by DonDenman (Sep. 2, 2010 4:44pm)
Nah, he still quits on matches when things aren't looking good. I think late in his career he'll look back and wish he played every point like Rafa does.
At the end of the day, Gasquet (or Robredo) was part of the perfect team. Nicely done.
I got Djokovic. Just the big two and Novak for me.
Too much Murray, Roddick, Isner, Nalbandian and Simon here. Before the tourney started, that looked like a very good team to me. :-D
In wake of Nadal's easy-looking wins over Verdasco, then Youzhny, I bet you guys are feeling a bit stupid about writing him off so quickly! You forget that he's made the Semis the last 2 years in a row (and only lost there last year because of an inch-long tear in his abdominal muscle, as well as the irresistable play of Del Potro, who then beat Federer) and has returned to the near-unbeatable form he displayed in 2008. Besides, it's clear by his statistics that he's far better prepared and willing to win this year: twice as many aces (34 going into the semis, 37 I believe coming out) as last year, not losing a single set going into the final, and of course only suffering 2 breaks THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT. Fed or Djokovic (though most likely Roger...I think we'd always pick him first!) will stand in Nadal's way now, but in my opinion now is the time for Nadal. All the signs of his play and of the events of the tournament, like the early exits of Roddick, Berdych, and Murray, point to the reality of a Spanish reign at Flushing Meadows...VAMOS RAFAEL!!!
Last edited by Adrian (Sep. 11, 2010 2:15pm)
Clearly Rafa changing his grip on his serve (and thereby gaining an extra 12 mph or so on the first serve) two days before the tournament was the best adjustment any player has made in years. Maybe ever. If he wins, and I think he probably will, that will be the reason.
Not only did we have no clue the change to his serve would occur, but also Rafa had not played all that well in Canada and Cincy. I think you always have to have both Fed and Rafa on your team, but NO ONE saw this run coming this year. I figured Rafa would make the semis again this year and win it in a year or two.
So thanks, but no, I don't feel stupid in the slightest. No reason to. Nor do I feel clairvoyant. If I were, I would have had Youzhny, Wawrinka, Monfils and Gasquet on my team.
Novak Djokovic is through to the US Open final!!! Every Nole-loving bone in my body jumped at the sight of that. Well done Novak, that's a change after all those shaky years.
Interesting final set up. Too much excitement this close to bed time for me!
Last edited by SophieG (Sep. 11, 2010 5:55pm)
GO NOLE!!!!
he had an epic match and a classic fifth set against roger, and im glad that novak gut it out. now the question is who will win the final. i think rafa can go all the way and win
I will be shocked if Nadal does not win tomorrow. He is playing such amazing tennis, and Djokovic must be tired from his 5 setter.
Posts [ 1 to 25 of 34 ]
You must sign in (above) or create an account to post a reply
