Tennis

[billygomberg]

huge break for Andy Murray since Djokovic (1) and Federer (3) are inexplicably on the same side of the draw again.

Tsonga, Ferrer, Del Potro and Mardy Fish are also in Murray's half, of the top 10 players.

it's a huge break for everyone on that half of the draw, really. Glad Fish got the win today, didn't see Goffin but hey, he's still playing!

my hope is that, as a legit underdog, Rosol can at least get past Kolschreiber, which gives him a shot against Brian Baker or uh...Benoit Paire. but we'll see, this has just gotten a lot more interesting, esp for only the 2nd round.

also - the tournament website really sucks this year.

[jon abbey]

the tournament website really sucks this year.

thank you! it's fucking embarrassing.

[Enforcer]

Crazy upsets happen but I can't fathom a healthy Nadal losing that early in the tournament, usually he can just crank up the effort and overcome any other struggles with his game just by outrunning the ball. How did this Rosol do it?

[jon abbey]

he just played unbelievable, Nadal only had 16 unforced errors the whole match. I didn't see too much of it, but he got up a break early in the fifth set and closed it out in incredible fashion. he won the last three service games at love, seven aces in his final thirteen service points, and the other six didn't last much longer. on Nadal's games in between, he just hit the ball literally as hard as he could on every swing, which led to some incredible winners, more misses and exceedingly quick service games.

Nadal looked off in his first match too, though, maybe he's got something wrong with him.

[billygomberg]

he just played unbelievable, Nadal only had 16 unforced errors the whole match. I didn't see too much of it, but he got up a break early in the fifth set and closed it out in incredible fashion. he won the last three service games at love, seven aces in his final thirteen service points, and the other six didn't last much longer. on Nadal's games in between, he just hit the ball literally as hard as he could on every swing, which led to some incredible winners, more misses and exceedingly quick service games.

Nadal looked off in his first match too, though, maybe he's got something wrong with him.

yeah Nadal really, generally, got outplayed. the most impressive part of Rosol's game for me was not the consistently great play (especially in the 5th set he had a number of "oh wow" groundstrokes and aces), but that he kept his head on and stuck with what was working, after he lost the 1st set, after he lost the 4th set, and just didn't let Nadal pry an opening. most players who have these kinds of matches against Nadal just disintegrate when it comes time to closing out the match, but Rosol just kept hitting winners.

Something was definitely off with Nadal's head - Rosol got in there very early and Nadal just couldn't find his way into the match. After such a dominant performance at RG, I was kind of surprised, but who knows.

[Enforcer]

Buccigross Tweeted today that Nadal has not won a tournament on a surface other than clay since October 2010. Assuming that's accurate, maybe this isn't as shocking as it seems.

[jon abbey]

Buccigross Tweeted today that Nadal has not won a tournament on a surface other than clay since October 2010. Assuming that's accurate, maybe this isn't as shocking as it seems.

maybe that sounds a little worse than it is? October is close to the end of the season, Djokovic dominated all surfaces in 2011, and 2012 has predominantly been clay tournaments so far.

[jon abbey]

now Federer in a ton of trouble, down two sets to the #29 seed Benneteau.

[Enforcer]

Buccigross Tweeted today that Nadal has not won a tournament on a surface other than clay since October 2010. Assuming that's accurate, maybe this isn't as shocking as it seems.

maybe that sounds a little worse than it is? October is close to the end of the season, Djokovic dominated all surfaces in 2011, and 2012 has predominantly been clay tournaments so far.

I thought the same thing, although as far as wondering how he lost all those matches to Djokovic, I guess it's a chicken-egg type question.

[crawjo]

When Federer fails to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, that will signal to me that the world is finally coming to an end. The last time he failed to reach the quarters of a major championship was the 2004 French Open. To me that's the most amazing statistic of his entire career, more impressive than anything else and the clearest proof, for me, that he is the greatest tennis player who ever lived.

[jon abbey]

Federer is 196-18 in Grand Slams since that 2004 3rd round exit, with 14 titles. that's pretty good.

[Enforcer]

When Federer fails to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, that will signal to me that the world is finally coming to an end. The last time he failed to reach the quarters of a major championship was the 2004 French Open. To me that's the most amazing statistic of his entire career, more impressive than anything else and the clearest proof, for me, that he is the greatest tennis player who ever lived.

Yeah, it is pretty amazing. I think you're probably right that he's the greatest. My one nagging issue is that there's this one contemporary who beats him every time they play. But I can't make a stronger argument for "best ever" than Roger, so it's probably him.

[crawjo]

When Federer fails to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, that will signal to me that the world is finally coming to an end. The last time he failed to reach the quarters of a major championship was the 2004 French Open. To me that's the most amazing statistic of his entire career, more impressive than anything else and the clearest proof, for me, that he is the greatest tennis player who ever lived.

Yeah, it is pretty amazing. I think you're probably right that he's the greatest. My one nagging issue is that there's this one contemporary who beats him every time they play. But I can't make a stronger argument for "best ever" than Roger, so it's probably him.

Part of that though is the fact that Nadal is the greatest clay court player of all time, and Federer is SO good that he actually is able to consistently reach the finals in clay tournaments, where he usually has to get his brains beaten in by Nadal. All time on clay courts, Nadal is 12-2. On all other surfaces, Federer is 8-6. To be sure, Nadal has Federer's number, but then Nadal doesn't have the consistency that Federer has, and at this point you probably could make a case that Nadal himself is one of top 5 or so men's players of all time.

[Enforcer]

Part of that though is the fact that Nadal is the greatest clay court player of all time, and Federer is SO good that he actually is able to consistently reach the finals in clay tournaments, where he usually has to get his brains beaten in by Nadal. All time on clay courts, Nadal is 12-2. On all other surfaces, Federer is 8-6. To be sure, Nadal has Federer's number, but then Nadal doesn't have the consistency that Federer has, and at this point you probably could make a case that Nadal himself is one of top 5 or so men's players of all time.

I didn't know Federer had the edge on non-clay surfaces. Yeah, that pretty much seals the argument for me. I agree.

[jon abbey]

Serena and Kvitova both pull out tough matches, setting up a potentially epic quarter (have to favor Kvitova).

and Sharapova goes down, some revenge by Lisicki from her semifinal loss here to Maria last year.

[billygomberg]

Serena and Kvitova both pull out tough matches, setting up a potentially epic quarter (have to favor Kvitova).

and Sharapova goes down, some revenge by Lisicki from her semifinal loss here to Maria last year.

Serena looked pretty vintage against Kvitova, rarely letting the defending champ into the match.

I'm actually pretty excited about how the women's side is lining up - good matches today in general (some loose games in Lisicki/Kerber but Kerber really pulled off a gutsy win), Azarenka looking really dominant in the first set.

looks like the Djokovic/Federer semi is all but inevitable given their next opponents (barring more injury to Federer - how rare is that, of all Federer stats, that he takes a real injury timeout?).

personally hoping for Ferrer/Tsonga semi bc I'm pretty tired of Andy Murray.

[jon abbey]

it's been a major snoozer of a tournament so far besides the Nadal upset, hopefully things will pick up in the semis.

[billygomberg]

it's been a major snoozer of a tournament so far besides the Nadal upset, hopefully things will pick up in the semis.

i'm actually amazed at how accurate this statement is. I'm basically checking in on the draws and peeking at a few matches, hoping for something good (did alright today with some women's matches, but no big surprises or high-tension acts).

[crawjo]

Today's match between Radwanska and Kirilenko was pretty good. Certainly nothing earth shattering, though.

[jon abbey]

Today's match between Radwanska and Kirilenko was pretty good. Certainly nothing earth shattering, though.

And kind of killed by the fact that they had to put it on hold for hours at 4-4 in the third, before switching courts.