The 2013 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Floppybits

walshb wrote: »

Blindingly obvious that he's below all three? Look at the recent head to heads in slams. How is he blindingly below Novak or Federer?

Ah come on, Murray is ahead of Federer now and has been for the last year or so. I just think he is just below Nadal and Djokovic. I feel for Murray to beat either of those 2 he needs to be on top of his game for the whole match to win, the other 2 I feel can beat Murray playing just below their best.

Now I feel Djokovic has Nadal's number and is the one player who Nadal fears. Djokovic's problem this year I think is his intensity and concentration, I think that had dropped from 2011/2012. If Djokovic can get that intensity and concentration back he will be practically unstoppable next year. I expect his number 1 goal will be to win the French beating Nadal along the way.

But that's just my opinion.:)

walshb

Anyone think the rest/layoff for Andy could be as beneficial as it was for Nadal this year?

walshb

Floppybits wrote: »

A

Now I feel Djokovic has Nadal's number and is the one player who Nadal fears.

Couldn't agree more, even though Nadal has pegged him back from the 7 straight losses over the past 2 years. I love their match ups for the very reason you mention. Novak plays Nadal with no real fear. He just plays his game and does not try to change it too much. Novak seems faster/stronger and even as physically fit.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

walshb wrote: »

Anyone think the rest/layoff for Andy could be as beneficial as it was for Nadal this year?

I don't know. Nadal was only resting his knees, Andy's had proper surgery and has had to do rehab and all that so I'm not sure it'll have the same effect. Being away from the game for so long might make him hungrier mentally though.

Floppybits

walshb wrote: »

Anyone think the rest/layoff for Andy could be as beneficial as it was for Nadal this year?

I think it will affect his game. As the injury was to his back he may have to alter the way he serves to protect his back, also he may have to change the way he moves about the court. I think it was Becker who had to change his serve due to a back injury.

WaterLily.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I don't know. Nadal was only resting his knees, Andy's had proper surgery and has had to do rehab and all that so I'm not sure it'll have the same effect. Being away from the game for so long might make him hungrier mentally though.

I definitely think that it will make him more motivated and hungrier in the slams next year. I know after Wimbledon a lot of his problems were obviously caused by his back but it did seem as well that after his win he was just exhausted and drained mentally and probably emotionally as well. He didn't seem to have the intense drive we had been seeing from about Wimbledon or even Rolland Garros 2012 throughout the US summer hard-court season.

I think he looked like he needed a break anyway imo. The couple of weeks he took off in July weren't enough. Obviously he would rather not have had to take an enforced break because of surgery but I think it will do him a lot of good, not only physically obviously, but mentally.

yerwanthere123

Murray recently said that he felt he wasn't able to generate as much power on his shots as he should, so it'll be interesting to see could there possibly be a more powerful approach to his game when he returns. It certainly wouldn't hurt anyway

That being said though, I'm not expecting too much when he returns in Melbourne. Realistically he's not going to be winning the title after so long away.

WaterLily.

^ No I agree with you there, I'd say the first slam he will really be focussing on is defending his Wimbledon title. Australia is probably too early and clay is his weakest surface.

Can't believe I just wrote that Andy Murray will be defending a Wimbledon title!! I hope he is successful in retaining it, I would really love to see that.

Yeahhh, I'm not thinking too far ahead at all :rolleyes:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Murray said himself at the US Open that he found it really hard to get motivated for training or anything after the high of winning Wimbledon. It's understandable. It's not just like he won any old slam there, years and years of pressure and media attention and all that jazz. So yeah... I think this break will probably have done him the world of good. Mentally I don't think there'll be any problem it just remains to be seen how he is physically.

RosyLily

Serbia 1-2 Czech Rep in Davis Cup final.

Berdych and Stepanek gave the Czechs the advantage earlier today. They beat the Serbian pair of Zimonjic and Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6. Could all come down to Tomas tomorrow. If he beats Novak he'll clinch the Davis Cup for his country. However, Berdych has only won 2 of his 16 encounters with Djokovic and he's never beaten him on a hard-court.

So, it could boil down to the very last match: Dusan Lajovic vs. Radek Stepanek. My money's on the Czechs.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Would love if Tomas could clinch it tomorrow against Djokovic. Unlikely though given the home support.

RosyLily

Djokovic is 2 sets up on Berdych and he's just broken him to go 2-1 up in the 3rd. Looking likely that it'll be a Serbian win. All comes down to the final match.

RosyLily

Djokovic wins it. 2-2 now.

RosyLily

Radek Stepanek wins it for Czech Republic again. Read on Twitter that some of the Serbian crowd started to leave during the last match. Really disrespectful to Dusan Lajovic imo. I know he had a slim chance of winning but that's beside the point. It's just plain rude!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Happy the Czech's won again. I doubt Berdych will get a look at any big trophies in his own career so it's great to see him get ones with his country.

Lots of suggestions that Djokovic should have played the doubles. Clearly people don't realise how useless he is at doubles, and just how good Berdych and Steps are.

WaterLily.

I'm glad the Czechs won it, I'm not Tomas' biggest fan but I'm happy that he didn't finish 2013 without a trophy; he's too good a player not to have won anything this year. Also, without Tipsarevic Serbia are a one man show and that isn't really what the Davis Cup is about, as brilliant as Djokovic is.

RosyLily

+1 about Djokovic in doubles. Surprising how bad he is. Definitely the worst of the top 10, if not more!

Delighted for the Czechs. I see Petra tweeted a pic of her watching it with the caption 'Pojd Rado!!'.:)

Slashermcguirk

I agree that Djokovic playing the doubles would'nt have won it for the Serbs. He is phenomenal at singles and almost unbeatable in Davis Cup. However I wouldnt say he is useless at doubles, he has won an ATP title in doubles (Queens) and that was with little or no practice.

The other top 3 players have hardly set the world alight in doubles either. I think Berdych and Stepanek would have won regardless.

RosyLily

Chris Kermode made ATP President. Good choice. He did a great job with Queens and the World Tour Finals. LTA missed out on appointing him as their Chairman imo.

yerwanthere123

Paul Annacone has been appointed Sloane Stephen's coach, his first time coaching a WTA player (I think). Simona Halep has also parted ways with her coach, which seems bizarre considering how good her season was.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Be quite a shock for Annacone going from the ballet like movements of Federer to the feet stuck in cement lack of movement of Sloane Stephens.

yerwanthere123

I've always thought Sloane was a fantastic mover around the court and that her defense is one of her best assets? Probably not quite as good as Federer though :pac:

Contenders for WTA shot of the year. Aga very obviously has this in the bag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNVpzcLyrRw

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^Anytime I've watched her she's terrible. She's quite fast when she does move but her actual footwork is terrible. She's so lazy at times (90% of the time) too.

yerwanthere123

Yup, her passivity is her worst trait. If she actually cops on to herself next year and starts caring about the non-slam events she'll easily be top 10. Without a doubt she has top 5 potential. Well, in my opinion anyway.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Yep. She does well in Australia, gains lots of points, moves up rankings. Makes next to no effort for a few months, slides back down a bit, has to start over again at the next slam. Rinse. Repeat.

Even if Annacone just improves her attitude they should see some success.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Sharapova has hired Sven Groeneveld as her new coach.

He had been working with that Team Adidas thing recently but clearly not any more.

yerwanthere123

Tomic hard at work preparing for Melbourne:
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/bernard-tomic-enjoys-nightclub-lapdance-amid-schoolies-week-celebrations/story-e6frfmq9-1226765388915

RosyLily

The bit that surprised me the most about the article was that Tomic is 52 in the rankings. Thought he was lower down.

yerwanthere123

^ Same! I would've thought that he was just inside the top 100.

When I saw the article originally I initially thought fair enough, he's young, it's the off season and he's celebrating his 21st, surely even he's entitled to a night out? Then I saw that it was his 4th night out this week, and my sympathy waned somewhat. It's interesting to see in the article he said something about how he said he's gonna start training hard "next week", which is exactly what Thomas Druet said he used to say. Clearly he has still made no progress with his attitude to the game.

RosyLily

I worry Tomic will end his career with nothing noteworthy to his name. Just a player that had potential and did nothing with it.

yerwanthere123

Well it's certainly looking like that at the moment. He's got time on his side, he's still only 21, but how long can we continue making excuses for him? "He's only young", "he'll grow up", "he'll get rid of his father eventually". People have been saying this for at least 2 years now and still no change. When his father assaulted Druet at the start of the year I think most thought this was a turning point, but still no change. It's sad really.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I really don't see the issue with this latest thing. It is the off season. So he takes a week or two to get it all out of his system. In the grand scheme of things, and even just in regards his own previous behaviour, I don't think this is a big deal.

yerwanthere123

^ Four nights in one week though? It seems excessive, even for off season.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It's progress that he's left it until the off season to do it

He was spotted out 4 times but he doesn't seem to have been drunk at all, or naked wrestling, or running away from police and hiding in his house from them.

Rjd2

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

he doesn't seem to have been drunk at all, or naked wrestling, or running away from police and hiding in his house from them.

Really, what a ****ing square if not:D

yerwanthere123

Article that ranks the court speeds of all 2013 tournaments. How accurate this is is open to question, as it goes by purely the ratio of aces per court, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Amazing just how slow Indian Wells is!
http://heavytopspin.com/2013/11/19/the-speed-of-every-2013-surface/

yerwanthere123

Sharapova is back in action, played an exho with Ivanovic in Colombia. She lost in 3 sets, but it's looking good so far for a return in the new year.

MisterAnarchy

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Article that ranks the court speeds of all 2013 tournaments. How accurate this is is open to question, as it goes by purely the ratio of aces per court, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Amazing just how slow Indian Wells is!
http://heavytopspin.com/2013/11/19/the-speed-of-every-2013-surface/

Interesting article indeed.
London courts are also way down the speed which backs up the belief that the Tour Final courts have been dramatically slowed down to suit Nadal.

yerwanthere123

Can't remember if it was posted in here at the time, but the WTA points distribution has been changed for 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_WTA_Tour#Points_distribution

Newer version makes more sense in my opinion.

yerwanthere123

Andy wins Sports Personality of the Year Richly deserved

Alfred Borden

yerwanthere123

^ Saw this too, I enjoyed it

yerwanthere123

Great news, James McGee has made the cut to play the Australian Open qualifiers

RosyLily

Boris Becker is now Djokovic's head coach. Marian Vajda is still on the team but he'll be travelling less with Djoko. Interesting appointment. Hope it lasts longer than Sharapova-Connors team!

yerwanthere123

Apparently Nicole Vaidisova is now going out with Kvitova's ex Adam Pavlasek

edit: Which is significant because Petra is dating Nicole's ex-husband.

Alfred Borden

Will Roger ever win another grand slam do yee think? just cant see it and thats a horrible thought

yerwanthere123

Raf32 wrote: »

Will Roger ever win another grand slam do yee think? just cant see it and thats a horrible thought

He'd need a lot of luck, and I can only see it happening at Wimbledon. Basically he'd need to avoid 2 of the top 3 and try and recapture some of his old form in the final. Personally, I'd like to see him win one more and retire pretty much straight away afterwards.

If 2014 is as bad for Fed as 2013 was I can't see him playing on much longer, if it all. His ego is too big to suffer humiliation like that.

Alfred Borden

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

He'd need a lot of luck, and I can only see it happening at Wimbledon. Basically he'd need to avoid 2 of the top 3 and try and recapture some of his old form in the final. Personally, I'd like to see him win one more and retire pretty much straight away afterwards.

If 2014 is as bad for Fed as 2013 was I can't see him playing on much longer, if it all. His ego is too big to suffer humiliation like that.

Agreed think Murray might be his best bet if he had to face one the other big ones, would be horrible not to see him go out on a high and instead just slipping down the rankings, hope Nadal does not pass his total but looks likely.

yerwanthere123

On recent form I'd say Murray would be his worst bet to be honest! I think he's possibly the best grass-courter in the game right now.
I don't want Rafa to overtake Fed either but even if he does I think most will still remember Federer as the better player.

Johnmb

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

He'd need a lot of luck, and I can only see it happening at Wimbledon. Basically he'd need to avoid 2 of the top 3 and try and recapture some of his old form in the final. Personally, I'd like to see him win one more and retire pretty much straight away afterwards.

If 2014 is as bad for Fed as 2013 was I can't see him playing on much longer, if it all. His ego is too big to suffer humiliation like that.

I actually think the US Open is his his best bet. The faster surfaces suit his game best, and the US is still the fastest of the Slams.