Paris Masters 1000

[jimlosaltos]

Very subdued performance from Dimitrov who seemed physically below par. Shame, he such a lovely player to watch. He hit some gorgeous sliced backhands early on in the match.

When Grigor retired vs Tiafoe in the US Open quarters, he mentioned not being able to recover the way he used to. I believe he had a 5 setter with Rublev before Tiafoe. Couldn't do 2 in a row.

[jimlosaltos]

Zverev takes our Rune-AH.

Khachanov up a set but down a break vs Ugo.

Big opportunity for all of them with Sinner/ Alcaraz/ Djoko all out each differently.

[stroke]

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2024/10/31/does-mpetshi-perricards-backhand-even-matter/

[stotty]

https://www.tennisabstract.com/blog/...d-even-matter/

That's a really interesting article and just shows how each individual player needs to weigh up how their shots (not just backhands) might be employed in the best way. Those small percentages are so important at the upper echelons of tennis.

More worrying, for me at least, is GMP's return of serve stats. If a player can't return serve well, then titles of any note are going to be very few and far between.

[stroke]

Zverev played probably the best match he has ever played. His forehand was about a strong as his backhand, and he served like one of the best servers in the world, which he is.

[jimlosaltos]

Zverev played probably the best match he has ever played. His forehand was about a strong as his backhand, and he served like one of the best servers in the world, which he is.

Number 2 in the world now, at least in the YTD totals. In the final vs Ugo, Zverev won 91% of his first serve points, and 79% of his second serve points.

I'm a bit surprised to see Zverev at 2 in the YTD or "Race" standings. But Alcaraz left the door open with an early R3 departure here.
Alcaraz left complaining at the court being fast. Odd to see an offensive shot maker complaining about a court being not too slow but too fast.

Performance at Turin WTFs could shake up the year end rankings and thus the seedings next year.
An undefeated tour champ could get a max of 1,500 points Winning a semi and 2 round robins is worth 800. So ... maybe a 900 point swing between the top two results.

Zverev could be seeded number 2 at the Australian Open, and Djokovic could (just by eyeballing this) be anywhere from 6 (his current rank) to 9.
It's been a long time since Djokovic had a seeding that low at his best event, the Aussie.

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[stotty]

Well Zverev is a better player than many give him credit for. He's won six ATP 1000 events and got to two (or is it 3) grand slam finals. So he's in the ballpark. His first serve is humungous and his two-hander is the best out there in my view. His forehand has got better, which has helped him win some key matches. Going forwards, it's whether he can find the bottle to go one step further and win a slam. I have a sneaking feeling it's one ambition where he might fall short.

[jimlosaltos]

Well Zverev is a better player than many give him credit for. He's won six ATP 1000 events and got to two (or is it 3) grand slam finals. So he's in the ballpark. His first serve is humungous and his two-hander is the best out there in my view. His forehand has got better, which has helped him win some key matches. Going forwards, it's whether he can find the bottle to go one step further and win a slam. I have a sneaking feeling it's one ambition where he might fall short.

Well put. I believe today's title is Zverev's 7th Masers 'shield'.

That puts him ahead of everybody else that's still playing and hasn't been one of the Big 3.

[stroke]

Well put. I believe today's title is Zverev's 7th Masers 'shield'.

That puts him ahead of everybody else that's still playing and hasn't been one of the Big 3.

Yes he has creeper up on some pretty big names in the Masters 1000's Titles history books. I think he will get a Major at some point.

[stroke]

https://open.substack.com/pub/hughclarke/p/zverev-vs-humbert-paris-masters-final?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1t7zzc