ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[suresh]

A nice take on the GOAT

[prasen9]

This is one of the things I have always admired. His humility and just being a gentleman.

[Varma]

I have read the transcript of this interview in US Open's website which had no mention that these particular 3 questions were asked by a kid. So, I thought it was a cheesy question from a stupid journalist . It's kinda cute to see that coming from a kid...very cute

- Varma

[prasen9]

I just checked. At the Australian, Federer lost 7 sets. At Wimbledon, I think it is 0. The hard-court season will certainly be more competitive.

Already in the first round, Federer had to deal with competition that he did not have at Wimbledon. He may very well win the tournament but it will be more competitive. His game is more lethal on grass but hard courts, being slower than grass, does not give as much of an advantage as grass does.

[Varma]

In his post match interview Federer cited the courts being slow (I think he meant slower than previous years) and lack of preparation as the reasons for his R1 struggle. He said that he had to focus more on taking care of his back issue than preparing for the open in the two weeks since pulling out of Cincinnati masters. Of course, we all know that Tiafoe is no push over. Even though most of the big names are missing at this year's Open, Federer has enough challengers to make his campaign a very tough one.

- Varma

[prasen9]

Yep. I think as Sin Hombre said or someone said here or someone did not say here and I read elsewhere --- basically I can't remember things as well these days, Federer possibly overplayed the number of tournaments than his body can take. Although I am not a fan nor a hater of Federer, I find what he is doing fascinating. He is trying to set a trend, a formula. I am interested in the question of what is the smallest number of tournaments you can play and realistically still remain match-fit and competitive. I doubt that even Federer could just drop in and play at the Grand Slams and win or do well. You need some practice or match-practice. So, what is the minimum if you know that your body can only take so much and are guaranteed wild cards at the tournaments even if your ranking falls. It will be fun to see what Federer does next year given that it seems that he possibly has some niggles going into the USO. Let's say that he skips the French. For the other Grand Slams, before each GS he schedules in 6 weeks of rest followed by two weeks of top-tier tournaments in the same type of court. And the rest of the year, he picks and chooses a few more top tournaments. Will this be optimal for his body?

So, yet another 5 setter in R2. Whatever be the cause, he certainly has more competition than at Wimbledon where it was a walk in the green park.

[sameerph]

Nobody is having a walk in the park at this US open. 3 of the 4 finalists at the recent big 2 masters tournaments ( Montreal, Cincy) - Zverev, Krygios and Dimitrov have fallen by the wayside and all of them were touted to having a great chance. Federer is the only one remaining from the finalists of those 2 tournaments and he is also struggling. Really difficult to pick a winner from here.

[prasen9]

I agree. The conventional wisdom would be that the final is: Nadal/Federer v Cilic. But, random people are creating havoc in this USO. So, who knows. More power to random people.

[PKBasu]

Sasha Zverev needs to figure out how to peak at the right time. There's no point winning the Italian Open (Rome Masters) and then falling early at the French Open, or winning the Canadian Open (Rogers Cup) and then getting knocked out in R2 at the US Open.

With Murray and Sasha Zverev out, their half of the draw is ridiculously easy compared with the half containing Nadal and Federer.

[Varma]

Sasha just got out of his teens. When you compare him with the triumvirate of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic (in terms of translating expectations to big title wins) he is probably only behind Nadal and ahead of the other two. I predict him to win at least one GS next year. He is too god not to.

- Varma

[PKBasu]

Cilic now struggling against Shwartzman, who leads 2 sets to 1.

[Varma]

The bottom half has become a joke! After 2 rounds, the only seeds remaining in this section are: Cilic (5), Pouille (16), Carreno-Busta (12), Querry (17), Zverev (23), Isner (10), Anderson (28). One of Zverev-Isner will be knocked out as they lock horns in R3. The highest seed remaining in this half - Cilic (5) - is down 2 sets to 1 (6-4, 5-7, 5-7), and down a break in the 4th set to Schwartzman. We will have to wait and see what surprises week-2 will spring for us!

- Varma

[Varma]

In juniors, 16 year old Southern Californian, Govind Nanda, has won his Q1 match against the Argentine 4th seed, Agustin Tirante, 0-6, 6-1, 6-0. I guess we will have to start keeping an eye on him.

- Varma

[prasen9]

This is the tournament for some random guy to win if they can manage Federer, Nadal, Goffin, Cilic or better still, some other random guy does the work for them. They will possibly not have an easier (with respect to quality of opposition) in the future.

[Varma]

Schwartzman did all the hardwork and started to choke right at the threshold. He broke Cilic twice in the 4th set to serve for the match (leading 5-2). Cilic broke him and held serve to make it 5-4. After a handful of dueces in the 10th game (Cilic had Ad at least twice), he won it on his first match point. Now the seeds in the last 16 (at best) would be...

10, 12, 16, 28, 29
or
12, 16, 23, 28, 29

Canadian teen Shapavlov (who split the first 2 sets with Kyle Edmund in their R3 encounter) could be a surprise packet in the bottom half.

- Varma