Tennis Forever

[raagadevan]

If anyone is interested in trivia, superstitions and/or statistics, Tsonga's lucky number seems to be #13! He was seeded 13 in Rogers cup 2014 which he won, and was also seeded 13 in the only other Masters-1000 tournament that he has won to date, the 2008 Paris Masters!

[omega]

Federer's ground game was pathetic today. But I liked the way he compensated with some spectacular net game expecially in the 2nd set. Those pickup volleys were out of the world. Atleast he made a match out of it. If not for his net game & serve the score wouldn't have looked this decent...

[JamesDap]

^^ So is Edberg modeling Fed's game along the lines of his own style (shades of which were always there in Fed's game anyway)? More serve and net game and less groundstroke domination. That is how it was in the Wimbledon final too and possibly one of the keys to Djoko's victory because he simply wasn't pressurised enough on his own serve games. I think this strategy might help prolong Fed's career in terms of physical effort but maybe not so much in terms of winning titles. He has won lots of matches this year but only two titles, neither of which were 1000 series.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

CK, its kind of unfortunate that he hasn't been able to convert his good streak to titles. But he's been very close to winning in atleast two to three - Indian Wells, Wimbledon come to mind. I would definitely draw my conclusions once the year finishes.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

Federer's ground game was pathetic today. But I liked the way he compensated with some spectacular net game expecially in the 2nd set. Those pickup volleys were out of the world. Atleast he made a match out of it. If not for his net game & serve the score wouldn't have looked this decent...

He hardly won rallies today. Its kind of amazing as to how the second went to the breaker.

[omega]

I will not be surprised if Federer loses early @ Cincinati.
He is a 5 times champion & loves the pace of the court. Will have to see how he gets going...
Winning 5 matches in as many days could be impossible at this stage.

Anyway the proposed opponents,

2R - Pospisil
3R - Monfils
QF - Murray
SF - Berdych / Raonic
Finals - Novak

[JamesDap]

Think he should have a better indoor season this year than last. Still, the weakness on the return game is a problem.

[omega]

3/4 semi finalists from Toronto have lost in their first match @ cincy. We will know shortly if fed will join them.

[raagadevan]

Federer beats Pospisil 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. Other winners include Djokovic, Ferrer and Murray.

[raagadevan]

Djokovic loses to Robredo in the third round 6-7, 5-7.