ATP 1000 Coupe Rogers 2013, Montreal, Canada

[klacr]

between klacr and tennis_chiro. Who will submit first?

I won.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

Me thinks that the jury is still out on Jerzy. Yes...he is awesome at times but against the first two opponents in this tournament he struggled and won in three set on both occasions. Not that either of those guys were slouches but he is going to have to learn to get his head in the game from the first point until the end. He spends too much of his time on the court where he seems to be betwixt and between. Not focused. At odds with the game...perhaps with himself.

But of course it is hard to ignore the serve...or rather the potential of his serve. He double faulted nine times against Nadal and when he was under pressure it showed. It looks as if he is struggling with the timing which is unfortunate considering the guy is 6' 9" tall or something like that. His grip appears to be a bit too strong...sort of continental perhaps...but he needs to be more around towards the backhand grip. He needs more spin on his serve...he steps up and blasts the first one and then he is left with a second serve that doesn't have adequate spin...he get nervous and with his little pin point stance he loses the feel and his comfort zone. I believe that John's comments about the pinpoint in his "Role of the Legs" article this month might be a good read for Jerzy.

His use of the drop shot is a good strategy as it brings these guys that play strictly from the baseline in out of their comfort zone but if he overuses it they use it against him.

He certainly is intriguing though. He has a lot of what is lacking on the tour in general...charisma. He is not afraid to show his emotions but he will have to guard against being flamboyant for the sake of being flamboyant. Some of his stuff is borderline grandstanding and he doesn't want to get the reputation of being a "hot dog". It was kind of funny though how he was "over apologizing" when he hit net cords. Both hands high in the air for an inordinate length of time.

I think that the jury is still out on Jerzy. The thing about the top players is the consistency of their performances week in and week out. He served for the first set against Nadal and he served a very weak game as he is struggling with his confidence on his serve. If I were him I would submit some video to TennisPlayer.net so that we might have a bit of a look see...if you know what I mean.

All good points don_budge. Once he matures, whenever it might be, pretty sure he'll clean his game and mental strength up a bit. Let's hope so.

Berdych is winning this week. I can feel it. I saw it in a dream. Don't ask.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

It's a race...

between klacr and tennis_chiro. Who will submit first?

[don_budge]

Nadal defeats Janowicz 7-6, 6-4

Watching this Nadal-Janowicz match. Janowicz had the first set on his racquet.

The more and more I watch Janowicz, the more I like him. I really like him.

I wasn't sold on him during Paris Indoors last year, but I'm buying lots of stock now. Hope there is still room on the band wagon. (Not giving up my seat on the Berdych Bandwagon though. Never)

The more I see him, the more I see my younger self. Physically imposing, likes to attack, variety, occasionally goes big on 2nd serves, unpredictable and an enormous variance in quality of play can change mid-game. Sometimes we're geniuses and sometimes we are the complete opposite. Sometimes our variety and choice of options gets us in deeper trouble but desire to play perfectly or make the low percentage shot is our undoing. Sadly, its not because we don't recognize it's a low-percentage shot, we do, we see it, but we're confident we can hit it...until we miss it. There's still so much to learn and so much room to grow, but we'll get there. One day.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Me thinks that the jury is still out on Jerzy. Yes...he is awesome at times but against the first two opponents in this tournament he struggled and won in three set on both occasions. Not that either of those guys were slouches but he is going to have to learn to get his head in the game from the first point until the end. He spends too much of his time on the court where he seems to be betwixt and between. Not focused. At odds with the game...perhaps with himself.

But of course it is hard to ignore the serve...or rather the potential of his serve. He double faulted nine times against Nadal and when he was under pressure it showed. It looks as if he is struggling with the timing which is unfortunate considering the guy is 6' 9" tall or something like that. His grip appears to be a bit too strong...sort of continental perhaps...but he needs to be more around towards the backhand grip. He needs more spin on his serve...he steps up and blasts the first one and then he is left with a second serve that doesn't have adequate spin...he get nervous and with his little pin point stance he loses the feel and his comfort zone. I believe that John's comments about the pinpoint in his "Role of the Legs" article this month might be a good read for Jerzy.

His use of the drop shot is a good strategy as it brings these guys that play strictly from the baseline in out of their comfort zone but if he overuses it they use it against him.

He certainly is intriguing though. He has a lot of what is lacking on the tour in general...charisma. He is not afraid to show his emotions but he will have to guard against being flamboyant for the sake of being flamboyant. Some of his stuff is borderline grandstanding and he doesn't want to get the reputation of being a "hot dog". It was kind of funny though how he was "over apologizing" when he hit net cords. Both hands high in the air for an inordinate length of time.

I think that the jury is still out on Jerzy. The thing about the top players is the consistency of their performances week in and week out. He served for the first set against Nadal and he served a very weak game as he is struggling with his confidence on his serve. If I were him I would submit some video to TennisPlayer.net so that we might have a bit of a look see...if you know what I mean.

[klacr]

The more and more...

Watching this Nadal-Janowicz match. Janowicz had the first set on his racquet.

The more and more I watch Janowicz, the more I like him. I really like him.

I wasn't sold on him during Paris Indoors last year, but I'm buying lots of stock now. Hope there is still room on the band wagon. (Not giving up my seat on the Berdych Bandwagon though. Never)

The more I see him, the more I see my younger self. Physically imposing, likes to attack, variety, occasionally goes big on 2nd serves, unpredictable and an enormous variance in quality of play can change mid-game. Sometimes we're geniuses and sometimes we are the complete opposite. Sometimes our variety and choice of options gets us in deeper trouble but desire to play perfectly or make the low percentage shot is our undoing. Sadly, its not because we don't recognize it's a low-percentage shot, we do, we see it, but we're confident we can hit it...until we miss it. There's still so much to learn and so much room to grow, but we'll get there. One day.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

It isn't a Slam...but it's a rainy day in Sweden

So there isn't a whole hell of a lot to do...besides looking out of my window at the peaceful Swedish countryside.

But they are playing tennis in Montreal and there are eight tennis matches of relative interest to the tennis playing world. In four of them the opponents have never met each other...at least not on the tennis court. That's interesting...sort of. Remember there isn't much to do.

Djokovic vs. Istomin...Novak leads 2-0. Soon to be 3-0.

Nishikori vs. Gasquet..."Cocaine Lips" leads 2-0. Make it 3-0.

Nadal vs. Janowicz...Never played before. Nadal baptizes Janowicz...but not without a fight from "Jerzy Joe".

Matosevic vs. Paire...Never played before. Paire wins...in deference to Stotty.

Berdych vs. Pospisil...Never played before. Berdych in a butt spanking.

Davydenko vs. Bogomolov...Tied at a victory apiece 1-1. Two Russians...one a U. S. transplant. Give it to Snowden...I mean Bogomolov as a possible spy. Davydenko two three setters in two days...Bogomolov coming off a big win against David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4. What gives with that?

Del Potro vs. Raonic...Never played before. Del Potro wins in the battle of the Titans. Unfortunately one of them is not as mobile as the other.

Murray vs. Gulbis...Murray leads 5-0. Make it 6-0 in spite of that fishy swimming forehand that is all the rave.

Yawn....

[GeoffWilliams]

Federer needs a more powerful stick. Looks like it is too flexy, and he needs to string at 59/61 vs/alu.

[klacr]

There's interest from me don_budge! Thanks for starting the thread.

As far as Isner's loss goes, This article says it all...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/sp...ears.html?_r=0


Djokovic looked very solid in his win over Florian Mayer.
Nadal, Murray and Berdych are playing today. Still early in event but we'll see how things shake out. Hoping for a big summer from Berdych. As usual.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Of all the Americans in the draw at the beginning of the tournament none remain after the first round. John Isner bows to Canadian Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Good fight from Isner...probably exhausted from his previous week where he lost to Del Potro in the finals.

A Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal semifinal possibility looming...although much work is yet to be done. Radek Stepanek has repeated his dramatic Davis Cup result over Nicolas Almagro in a first round match. Practically everyone is there...except for Roger Federer. He's in Switzerland nursing a sore back, sleeping in his own bed and fiddling with his new racquet. I hope that it is the right stick for him.

Tomas Berdych looks to have a reasonable draw with David Ferrer a possibility in the quarterfinals with Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Murray playing in the projected quarterfinal in the same half.

I thought that I would start this thread to see if anything of interest materializes in the lead up to the 2013 U. S. Open Championships. We shall see what we shall see.