Racquet braket
I entered. I took maybe 10 minutes.
You don't need to be a member of anything.
I entered. I took maybe 10 minutes.
You don't need to be a member of anything.
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upsets
Well I might be in trouble already! I picked Rafa to make the semis and Stan W. to make the round of 16.
Oh well, at least I don't bet on tennis!Comment
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You are not alone!
An awful lot of pink (lost choices) on my bracket. I had Nadal beating Wawrinka in the round of 16, but losing to Federer.
Isner and Paire are the only seeds left in that eighth of the draw, so it's a pretty good chance for Isner to get to the quarters against Fed. Or for Hewitt.
I like Janowicz's chances of getting past Stepanek next (very tough match) and then Almagro in the 32's to play Fed in the 16's. That could be a huge match. Jerzy has to get used to serving more of those 135+ serves.
In the 7th eighth, Tsonga/Gulbis is a huge 2nd round match. I've got Gulbis losing to Cilic in the 16s, but first he has to get past Tsonga. They may have to resod the court after that match!
On paper, Murray's run to the quarters is pretty straight forward. Only #32 seed Robredo and then #20 Youzny in the 16s in the way. I thought Troicki might be tough; should have picked that.
donComment
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I love Steve Darcis as much as the next guy but I didn't expect him to beat Nadal. And certainly not in three sets.
Darcis is a veteran. Who's played on the big courts before and although the chances were slim, as a competitor, he had belief and confidence.
People may say Nadal was injured and all that, but let's applaud Steve Darcis for showing up, manning up, stepping up, and giving Wimbledon a jolt on Day 1. Rafa probably was injured, but was not going to give excuses.
Maybe I'm a bit old school...but I believe that no matter the circumstance, when you decide to step on a tennis court for a match that you are 100%. No excuses. If you step on the court and know you are not 100%, act like it. There is a difference between being hurt and being injured. If you are hurt, keep playing. If you are injured, don't.
Hypothesizing on Nadal, his knees, his future, his impact on the game is certainly inevitable from us and the rest of the tennis public. But just for this next 24 hours, lets give credit to Steve Darcis and show his game some respect. A one handed backhand, good foot speed, not afraid to approach the net, and a nifty slice backhand passing shot. What's not to love? Let us celebrate his victory.
Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca RatonComment
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Just think of the Darcis camp!
Kyle makes a great point. I didn't see the match, but I saw Darcis beat Young at Indian Wells in a 3rd set tb in 2012. Solid player, but nothing amazing. His career will be defined by this win. See his interview on the ATP website.
Check his record and you see what a long record of hard work he has. He actually won an ATP 500 in 2008 (Memphis over Soderling, his last top ten win). Bounced around from as low as 44 to 120 over the last 5 or 6 years.
I really like his modesty and the frank way he answered the questions in the interview. He acknowledges that it was an off day for Nadal, but a great one for him.
Just think of the joy in his camp of supporters to see him have such a victory. If you've ever coached anyone in anything, you have to feel good for them.
donComment
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Clear the deck...For Roger Federer
Boy oh boy! In one fell swoop. They cleared the deck for Federer to make one last charge. If he can just bow his neck for two weeks he has all of the cards now. It's a matter of playing roulette...Russian style.
Sorry...I have roulette on the brain after having read Dostoyevsky's "The Gambler" the other day. What a novel...it make me want to go and put it all on one spin of the wheel.
But at any rate...Roger the "Riverboat Gambler" was in fine form yesterday and he blasted the Romanian Hanescu into next week. Two rather routine matches stand between him and the winner of Janowicz and Almagro...not that either of those are given a spot against "The Man" either. Both are playing respectable opponents. Just ask Nadal about respectable opponents.
I watched Steve Darcis lose to Michael Llodra at the French on clay. Respectable yes...Nadal slayer...unlikely. Big question marks. Perhaps Nadal is jockeying for position here...for the U. S. Open the only Slam title he doesn't own. A bit of rest...some hard court specific training. Medications? His camp timed his performance peak for the French brilliantly. Who knows? Who cares for that matter. He lost first round last year too...the ensuing drama was compelling to the tennis world. Gave them something to talk about. That "Nadal slayer" has sort of vanished into obscurity from where he came.
On a side note...it just may give Stotty's boy Benoit Paire enough breathing room to step up into the spotlight. Nothing would make me happier...well nothing except perhaps...
This is Wimbledon. Roger has a different look on his face than he has had the past couple of months. The sneer is back. Once more he can smell it...just like napalm in the morning. It smells like...victory. He's got a whiff of it now with Nadal and Wawrinka evacuated out of his quarter final bracket. He see's himself going deep...a possible rematch against Murray. What a compelling tournament already...especially if you just happen to be like Roger Federer. Classic tennis has approximately one more more breath remaining.
Last edited by don_budge; 06-25-2013, 01:14 AM.Comment
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Nadal
I watched some of the Nadal/Darcis match on Tennis Channel tape delayed. Nadal's backhand was terrible. He missed lots of seemingly easy balls. He wasn't moving very well either.
Give Darcis credit, he played well. He took his chance for his "win of a lifetime" and didn't choke or backdown. Great Job!!Comment
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What's looming...in the Future?
It's a rainy day in Sweden...I wonder how it is in London where The Championships are being played out...and the roulette wheel is spinning. Black or Red? Zero!!! Gentlemen place your bets. You guys gotta read "The Gambler"...I know bottle has.
Five out of the original ten Americans left. Reynolds, Blake, Kudla, Isner and Ram. Perhaps one left after this round. The American Eccentric.
If there is one interesting match...if you had to pick one which one would it be? I will take Jerzy "Joe" Janowicz versus Radek Stepanek and look for youth to have the advantage...although to discount experience would be foolish. But with the break neck speed at which the game is being played from the backcourt that's the way it is. But Stepanek is a complete player and he can change the tempo of matches...he must absorb the initial storm and onslaught of the Pole and try to wear him down mentally. Brains over brawn...a lost art.
Yesterday I watched Florian "The Quirk" Mayer try to change the tempo on Novak Djokovic and he gave it a Herculean effort. John McEnroe commentating was a huge bonus. Unfortunately Florian is just a bit too quirky, particularly on the forehand side, to have the combination of sting and control of tempo to pull it off. But he clearly demonstrates what I assert...there is a niche in the game for the complete player. The one that can adapt their games to the conditions and their opponents...when the A game is in absentia. Florian gave Novak an assortment of underspins and off speed balls that very nearly take the Serb out of his high tempo...but not quite.
I watched Tommy Haas and this is a match that is looming in the not too distant future...Djokovic and Haas. Haas didn't look to be as sharp as he had been in the past several months and he isn't as young as he used to be. Djokovic is in complete control of everything that is possible to control so it will take a masterful performance by the experienced veteran and even then there is a question of stamina...can he keep the pressure on his opponent to see the match through to completion. Even so both players have two matches in front of them before this match becomes a reality...it is all speculative at this point. In tennis...it doesn't pay to look to far ahead. Best to focus on that point in front of your nose.
But since we are indulging in a bit of speculation here...why not give the potential Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Martin Del Potro match a bit of a nudge here...somehow I see our man saying "nudge something with your elbow" in the backswing...talking about the ATP forehand guy. Rick. But this would be a wonderful test for both players...I think. The winner of this match would have a real chance of getting their foot in the door on the way to the semifinals.
But down in the bottom half and todays matches it is another ball of wax. How long will it take us to forget Steve Darcis. One day? Two? Steve Who? Lukasz Kubot is doubly inspired now to take out the man who took out Rafael Nadal. That's how it works...the search for the mental edge. Inspiration. It comes from anywhere you can dream it up and Kubot can think of nothing else except the reprieve that he got courtesy of Darcis and he would dearly love to repay him...by sending him packing for home with a one way ticket to Polookaville. Benoit Paire...may just be waiting for the winner hoping to cash in on the demise of Nadal as well. Opportunists!
Just below is Lleyton Hewitt and the rastaferian Jamaican born "Downtown" Dustin Brown. I was in Jamaica for New Year's in 1989 or 1988, I cannot remember which. It's all a blur. I do remember meeting this beautiful Jamaican girl name Marcie who introduced me to a cabdriver down in Negril. I asked him to take me to some waterfalls...you know someplace exotic. You gotta be careful when you get off the beaten path when you are a tourist though. So he drives off into the boonies somewhere in the forest and all of a sudden there is a village and the whole village is coming to greet us. I was a little nervous. But the beautiful friendlies guided us to a cave where on either side of us a child took us by the hand so that we would slip and fall and led us down into a cavern deep below the surface of the earth. There...they lit up a huge spleef and bathed in a spring of fresh water that probably led to some waterfall who knows where. Now the young ones were playing percussion on the walls of the cavern. I looked at my companions and exhaled the words..."Rock and Roll". Our kids play in basement bands...they are playing on the walls of the cave. Well...what's more the locals couldn't have cared less which year it was...it was all the same to them. What difference did it make...89 or 88. They still got up the next day...ganja and the beat. They never missed a beat of their music...what's it called again. Reggae? What an interesting spectacle that match will be. Come to remember...Marcie, the beautiful Jamaican girl, ended up in Germany. I wonder? She seemed to be a sweet soul...she kept in touch with me for many years...even dropped in on me in Detroit without any warning. That was a surprise. She hadn't changed. She had this innocence about her.
But all in all...it's "The Man" who is waiting and taking it step by step. Eyeballing only the opponent in front of him. He's too smart to get ahead of himself. He is an opportunist now too. He knows his good fortune that the two toughest opponents in his part of the draw have disappeared. Sneer Roger...sneer. Measure your steps.
The other match of the day...or just maybe it will be the match of the day is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ernesto Gulbis. This could be a doozy. A donnybrook. Everything below this is a snoozer...but Andy Murray could just sleep walk his way to the semi's. Don't anybody wake him up. Right...Stotty?
So looking over the lineup today on www.livescorehunter.com...the lineup today for me will look like this for matches of interest:
12.30pm (In Europe)
Hewitt vs. Brown
Isner vs. Mannarino
Janowicz vs. Stepanek
Suarez Navarro vs. anybody (what's in a name bottle?)
3.30pm
Tsonga vs. Gulbis
Darcis vs. Kubot
6.00pm
Federer vs. somebody
Got your bets on the table...read 'em and weep.
Last edited by don_budge; 06-26-2013, 12:35 AM.Comment
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"Remember, when you walk out on court to play a match you are declaring yourself 100% fit" - David Lloyd.StottyComment
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Dustin Brown serve and volleying off his first and second serves...what's going on?
Has don_budge been teaching him on the quite. I'm impressed.
StottyComment
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Dustin Brown really has a quick service motion that Hewitt had a very difficult time with, and we all know Hewitt has a very good service return.Comment
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It is a very relaxed motion from a very relaxed player. You get the feeling watching that it is not going to break down under pressure, not much to go wrong with it. It looks as relaxed as Feds motion to me,Comment
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Decimated draw...
Anyone any idea what's going on in this tournament? I get home from a hard days work and find the draw decimated. Federer gone...Tsonga...Gulbis looking doubtful with injury...Sharapova...Hmm...funny day at SW19.StottyComment
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Amazing opportunities
Tremendous opportunities for Gulbis (didn't know he was hurt too), Janowicz, Paire, Dimitrov and even Ferrer who will now definitely move into 3rd in the rankings even if he goes no further. I was disappointed to hear Jerzy say he wouldn't be serving and volleying that much. What a nice demonstration by Stakhovsky. And that key one-handed backhand pass.
And a lot of unknown women are going to get a lot of exposure. Serena should win without the drop of a set unless she falls too. Kvitova could be dangerous, but she is so dangerous to herself too much of the time.
donComment
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