ATP WTA United Cup 12/29/22 - 1/8/23

[ashkor87]

Watching Badosa Dart live on YouTube..in case people don't know how to watch it..
Badosa playing well .has the power needed on this slowish court

[ashkor87]

Badosa seems to be injured a bit. Leg somewhere..disturbing. She is not a great mover at the best of times .

[ashkor87]

it is the first week of 23 and Swiatek already hit a 'shot of the year' contender in doubles aganst Kazakh! she is unbelievable! then she tweeted asking Federer if he approved, which he did, breaking a long silence on Twitter, apparently... the round the post shot was Federer's signature, now it is Swiatek's I guess!

[Suliso]

Nadal has started his season 0-2...

[Deuce]

^ ... if you count novelty tournaments.

[Suliso]

He's not scheduled to play anything else before AO.

[ashkor87]

Swiatek vs Bencic was a great match - playing Swiatek must be like single combat against Achilles - she is so quick and so relentless!

[ponchi101]

Nadal has started his season 0-2...

I was just reading a bit about that.
It is not only that he has started 0-2. Since his abs injury at Wimbledon, he has now played 10 matches, and has lost 6. He is 1-6 in his last 7, his sole victory being that dead rubber at the WTF against Ruud.
Of course, I have not been able to see anything here (they are not showing any tennis yet) but the article I read was saying that his SERVE point of contact is considerably lower and further in front. I did see that at the WTF; he just can't stretch high enough to generate consistency and variation of his serve. Tim Henman was saying that because the toss is lower now, he can only slice the serve.
So, it might be that the abs injury has changed his mechanics. And that is always a very iffy thing. Right now, I see him as maybe 4R at the Aussie. With luck.

[Suliso]

It could still be that Ruud is #2 for AO. He needs one extra win.

[ti-amie]

[ashkor87]

On paper, at least, Poland looks the strongest, with Switzerland and Greece next....too difficult to tell, though! How seriously will everybody take it, how much rust, chemistry between the players, all unknowns...

Holding up thus far, though Italy and US have surprised me. The women have made it possible! ..I would not expect US to get past Poland now, especially seeing how well Swiatek is playing doubles! .Greece vs Italy will hinge on how the respective second Players do..hard to tell, Greece may get more support from the locals?

[ashkor87]

One of the questions I am trying to get a handle on..in mixed doubles, is the quality of the male player more important or the quality of the female player? As a doubles player, of course. ..theory of constraints tells us a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, which would imply it is the female player who will swing it...this United Cup will give us some insights...

[ponchi101]

Always heard that the woman is more important. The reason why both Martina's were such great mixed players. Especially Navs: it made no difference to her if the guy across the net fired a missile at her; those hands could handle any shot.

[ashkor87]

Nadal has started his season 0-2...

I was just reading a bit about that.
It is not only that he has started 0-2. Since his abs injury at Wimbledon, he has now played 10 matches, and has lost 6. He is 1-6 in his last 7, his sole victory being that dead rubber at the WTF against Ruud.
Of course, I have not been able to see anything here (they are not showing any tennis yet) but the article I read was saying that his SERVE point of contact is considerably lower and further in front. I did see that at the WTF; he just can't stretch high enough to generate consistency and variation of his serve. Tim Henman was saying that because the toss is lower now, he can only slice the serve.
So, it might be that the abs injury has changed his mechanics. And that is always a very iffy thing. Right now, I see him as maybe 4R at the Aussie. With luck.

Yes, probably right...YouTube does have some highlights videos usually...anyway very sad if Nadal is injured and unable to serve..

[ponchi101]

I would not say he is injured. I would say they are trying a new serve that will not injure him.
For such a top player, he has to be the one player in all of history that has tinkered with his service the most. Not only his toss, but his grip too. He has changed it at least 3 times in his career. I would say even more.