CAMELOT FANTASIES

Unseeded but dangerous Philipp Kolschreiber won his match against Herbert and will now face Rafael Nadal who opens up in the quarterfinal.

#3 Milos Raonic was sent off the premises by wildcard and #120 in the world, Peter Gojowczyk, 6-4, 6-4. Raonic just doesn't look good on grass. Ball gets too low for him, especially the slice, and he doesn't have good enough footwork.  Even his big serve can't help him. Clay is better for him.  He needs the bigger bounce, which helps him get to the ball.  Gojowczyk will now meet the Columbian, Alejandro Falla who can play well on grass.

#4 Kei Nishikori beat Gael Monfils in 3 sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.  Kei played the steadier of the two.  Monfils was poor and good, more of the former.

Andreas Seppi had to withdraw in his doubles match due to a virus early this morning. Swiss pair, Roger Federer and Marco Chiudinelli, recipients of the walkover, decided to come on the court anyway for practice, and "some" fans showed up to see the living legend.





Respectfully,
masterclass

Quote from: Clay Death on June 10, 2014, 08:58:03 am

http://www.tennisexplorer.com/live/#inscore_ifheight_xdc_7410

Thanks for this. Camelot is one stop shopping. We have the articles, the scores, the schedule of play, now all we need are air conditioned seats in the stadium. Life is good.

Well, today was a day of a couple of big upsets, but maybe not surprising under the circumstances.

#1 seed Rafael Nadal lost quickly in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, to a very aggressive Dustin Brown playing in his home tournament.
Nadal looked tired from his Roland Garros efforts and simply didn't look like he was adjusting to the grass at all, and Brown was not letting him get any rhythm and was playing quite well, mixing up some big shots with some nice touch shots.
The combination of these things made for a short match, and Rafa was sent back to Mallorca in under an hour.  I guess he should rest a few days and head off to Wimbledon and practice, practice, practice.

Bjorn Borg rarely played a grass tourney before Wimbledon after Roland Garros.  Was it because he was so good on grass that he didn't need one?

No.  He needed a lot of work to transition. But instead of playing a tournament so soon after Roland Garros wins, he almost always went to a small club in Cumberland, England and practiced about 4-5 hours/day with top grass court players until he felt comfortable on grass.
The first few days were always very rough.  His practice partners said if they didn't know it was Borg on the other side, he could have been a club player, he was so bad at first.  But by the end of his practice sessions, he was ready to take on the fast grass of Wimbledon.  And did he ever.  No one has surpassed his 5 straight Wimbledon wins.  No one yet has equaled his record of 3 channel slams, even now that the grass at Wimbledon bounces higher than it used to. It is still a difficult transition.  In addition to the great Borg, only 3 other great players in the Open Era have managed it, in their younger years. Nadal is one (twice), Federer another. Laver, of course, last did it when he was 30.

Why doesn't Rafa follow in Borg's footsteps?  Well, these days the tournament directors like Weber in Halle pay big money to players like Nadal to come play.  I think Nadal got around 1/2 to 3/4 of a million to play in Halle.  And he doesn't get taxed as much in Germany as he would in England. Don't know if he sold enough tickets or not to make it a good value for the tournament, but what can you do?

Speaking of Roger Federer, the #2 seed had a bit of a scare in Halle, but managed to come through against Sousa . He lost a tight opening set, no breaks, in the tiebreaker.  He was serving very well, but was not returning well at all, and Sousa was playing lights out tennis, red-lining his game, hitting very hard and not missing much.  In the second set, the tide turned as it often does, as Federer upped his level a bit, started returning much better, and Sousa's level finally dropped.  After Sousa was broken and Federer took the second set, Sousa could not find that high level again, and Federer got better and took the third easily.

Dr. Ivo Karlovic lost to Lu in two tiebreakers. It just didn't go his way, and he couldn't do much against the quick Lu, who is decent on grass.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Dustin has a huge serve lady TT.


he can be pretty tough at times.

Quote from: masterclass on June 12, 2014, 01:08:52 pm

...Rafa was sent back to Majorca in under an hour.  I guess he should rest a few days and head off to Wimbledon and practice, practice, practice...


Respectfully,
masterclass

For sure. The media commitments alone are enough reason to take off immediately following the French. Hopefully, he'll rest and practice at Wimbledon like he's planned.
Hmm, looks like I was just about right... 

Look what Rafa said yesterday:

“Now, I’ll leave to Majorca but not sure I will play because I need to rest and then want to fly to Wimbledon Wednesday early morning,” he continued.

Hopefully when he arrives at Wimbledon, he'll be practicing as much as possible.  The British media, fans, and Wimbledon activities can take a lot of time away from the top players, interviews, press conferences, and social gatherings. 

That's another reason that Borg went to Cumberland. Only a few people knew about it, and he was left to himself a lot more than he would have if he had gone to London early.  They would have hounded him and not have let him alone. He was like a rock star.  He always had to leave from back exits to avoid being mobbed.

Respectfully,
masterclass