Congrats to all the Stan fans! He definitely upped his game today against Nole. AFter the Tsonga-Wawrinka game was so tight and came down to Wawrinka saving a lot of break opportunities, I was expecting Nole to win comfortable. BUT, Stan brought a high level today and kept it going right until the end. The amount of quality shots he made on his backhand was unbelievable. Felt like it was Nole's turn to win one on clay, but hard to suggest Stan didn't deserve it today.
The French is the tough one. Barring injury she should do it.Originally Posted by Redsfaithful
Redsfaithful (06-07-2015)
Good call on Wawrinka MWM.
I think my mistake in this tournament was seeing Wawrinka handle Federer and thinking "man, Federer struggled" instead of "wow, Wawrinka is playing great."
Onto grass season.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
I think Djokovic was spent and I really don't think it's much more than that.
That's just silly... and shows a considerable lack of knowledge on the guys at the top of tennis, and makes me wonder if you even watched the match today.
Last edited by MWM; 06-07-2015 at 09:22 PM.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Yeah, thanks pro.
Djokovic was clearly tired.
Djokovic is the better player, Wawrinka played out of his ugly shorts to win, which is a bit easier when your opponent had to play the day before.
Novak looked tired to me, and it's even the headline and in the body of major stories online.
Good for Stan, he'll finish his career with two majors where he pulled off upsets thanks to his magical one handed backhand.
Last edited by Dom Heffner; 06-07-2015 at 09:50 PM.
I thought Wawrinka was the only guy with the actual game to beat Djokovic. But he had to play a near perfect match, which he did today (except that really bad game in the first set where he was broke). Djokovic is almost impossible to beat when he's playing like he's been playing this year. Nothing gets by him and his offense has been better than ever, and he's now serving better than he ever has. He's looked as close to unbeatable as Nadal did a couple of years ago and Federer once was. He's hardly even been pushed all year.
The reason I thought Wawrinka was the only guy capable of beating him is that it would take someone with a seriously powerful baseline game. Stan is one of the few guys with power to hit it by Novak, but he had to be aggressive and precise. If he's off at all, Djokovic tears him up.
But no one who's followed tennis over the past couple of years is all that surprised by the outcome. They may not have predicted it, but it wouldn't be a surprise. Wawrinka is one of those few players who can beat anyone on any given day. Del Potro was another. They lack the consistency of the top players, but they have serious game. It's a very short list of players who have the arsenal of Stan Wawrinka.
I thought this article captured it perfectly basically saying Djokovic had little control over today's outcome.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/french15/s...-stan-wawrinka
People were going to play the exhaustion card if Wawrinka won regardless, but I didn't see it. At the beginning of the match, McEnroe was saying that he thought Wawrinka's semi was more taxing physically because he played a near 4 hour match in over 90 degree temps. Djokovic's semi was in the evening and next morning. Djokovic played about an hour the day before. I'm not saying it was easy, but Djokovic has won many matches based on his conditioning. I don't think anyone was going to beat him when he's playing like he did today.
The first set was pretty close, but Wawrinka outplayed Djokovic handily over the next 3 sets. To think that Djokoic having to play a set and a half on Saturday was the difference between him being soundly beaten and him winning soundly is silly. Wawrinka hit a lot of sick shots all day. How anyone could have watched that match and concluded that it was simply Djokovic being spent really has no idea what they're talking about.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Djokovic is a better player, but it's not so black and white to think that he's always going to win unless there are some kind of extenuating circumstances. Federer is a better player and Wawrinka pretty much dominated him from start to finish. Plus, Wawrinka had just as difficult a semi to recover from, if not moreso because of the heat.
These 2 guys have played 4 times in the last 10 grand slams and they've gone to 5 sets each time, with Wawrinka winning 2 of them. The only loss Djokovic has in Australia in the last 5 years is to Wawrinka. He's got the game to play with anyone on any given day, and he showed it today. Novak didn't look all that tired to me.
Last edited by MWM; 06-07-2015 at 11:17 PM.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Novak has impeccable conditioning. I don't buy that's why he lost.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Fair enough gentleman.
I saw it differently as did news outlets, but not all saw it that way I suppose.
Maybe I'm just a sore loser.
Are you a Novak fan? I don't dislike him, but he leaves me cold. I can't really figure out why.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
I used to be a bigger Novak fan than I am these days, ironically. I respect how great he is, but sometimes his overly defensive style isn't as aesthetically pleasing. Djokovic is playing better offense than he has in the past, but Novak is a master of just returning the ball and forcing the other to make a mistake. He gets more aggressive at times, but he also sits back and plays backstop a lot. He can do it because his incredible athleticism and court speed. It's incredibly hard to get anything past him. When I would watch Fed and Nadal, they would hit plenty of "wow" shots that made it fun to watch.... at least for me. Novak's "wow" moments are more "how did he get to that". Nadal used to get to balls I didn't think he had a chance at but he would return it with a down the line winner. Novak hits a slow deep ball that allows himself time to get back in position and doesn't allow the opponent to hit a highly aggressive shot.
But there are more ways than one to win a tennis match. Novak is better than anyone I've ever seen at covering the court and frustrating other players. It doesn't fit my eye as well as other styles, but it's just as effective. I think when all is said and done Novak will have 12-15 slams to his name. But watching him him play Andy Murray is downright painful.
BTW, I haven't seen widespread news stories about Djokovic being tired in the final. There's been reference to it, but I've seen very few that have attributed his loss to that. Most of what I've read has been that Wawrinka played about as good a match as a guy could play.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
You're not alone. He does not strike me as a likeable guy for some reason. He's a good player but I just can't jump on his train and I don't think he is better than the other greats in their prime. He seems like a real competitor though.
Nick Kyrgios just beat Stan Wawrinka with zero class, including saying in full television audio that another player had slept with Stan's girlfriend. One of the most bizarre matches I have ever seen.
Kyrgios apparently wants to be a villain, and I think this will be an interesting story line to watch.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Article with more details:
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/...-1227481880632
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
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