Talk About Tennis 2.0

Kanepi, unlike Cornet, is someone who really deserves a long-awaited slam breakthrough to a round she's never reached. She's been terrific in slams for a long time.

Unfortunately, it looks like Swiatek is harnessing her talent and will win in three sets. I hope to be wrong.

Deuce wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:47 am The 'match predictor' that the broadcast I'm often stuck with shows is useless.
At the beginning of the match and the beginning of every set, they put up the 'chance of winning' percentage - they overlay it over the court surface. And every time, whoever wins the first set is predicted to be the winner - by a large percentage.
Tonight, they had Swiatek as the large favourite as the match began - 72% chance of winning the match. After the first set, they had Kanepi with an 85% chance of winning the match. After needing 9 set points to win the set.

Where do they come up with this stuff?
And, more importantly - why?

Some wealthy executives' analyst son needed a job.

I keep reading here that the courts are slow.

I keep hearing from the commentators that the courts are fast, which jibes with what I've thought about the Aussie Open courts for several years. Is there proof one way or another who is right? It seems like it would be pretty easy to quantify.

Indian company Infosys, generates it with AI, no human involved

jazzyg wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:59 am I keep reading here that the courts are slow.

I keep hearing from the commentators that the courts are fast, which jibes with what I've thought about the Aussie Open courts for several years. Is there proof one way or another who is right? It seems like it would be pretty easy to quantify.

Relative to, say, the USO..they seem to be sort of medium-paced, and they appear to play differently by day and by night...

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:23 am Indian company Infosys, generates it with AI, no human involved

There is no intelligence - artificial or genuine - involved in these 'who will win the match' predictions.

That was one of the better match points...

Early prediction - Collins will beat Swiatek, but then lose meekly to either Barty or Keys.

History is not on Daniil's side here. Nobody in mens tennis ever won his 2nd grand slam immediately following the first. So, despite FAA being "good matchup" for him, I have a feeling that DM will lose today.

First_Time_Winner_______Slam_____________Next_Slam_result
Bowrey,_William_________AO-68____________Did_Not_Play
Kodes,_Jan______________FO-70____________R128
Smith,_Stan_____________USO-71___________Did_Not_Play
Gimeno,_Andres__________FO-72____________R64
Nastase,_Ilie___________USO-72___________Did_Not_Play
Connors,_Jimmy__________AO-74_(Dec_73)___Did_Not_Play_
Borg,_Bjorn_____________FO-74____________R32
Orantes,_Manuel_________USO-75___________Did_Not_Play
Edmondson,_Mark_________AO-76_(Dec_75)___R128
Panatta,_Adriano________FO-76____________R32
Tanner,_Roscoe__________AO-77_(Jan)______Did_Not_Play
Vilas,_Guillermo________FO-77____________R32
Gerulaitis,_Vitas_______AO-78_(Dec_77)___Did_Not_Play
McEnroe,_John___________USO-79___________Did_Not_Play
Teacher,_Brian__________AO-81_(Dec_80)___Did_Not_Play
Kriek,_Johan____________AO-82_(Dec_81)___Did_Not_Play
Wilander,_Mats__________FO-82____________R16
Noah,_Yannick___________FO-83____________Did_Not_Play
Lendl,_Ivan_____________FO-84____________SF
Becker,_Boris___________W-85_____________R32
Edberg,_Stefan__________AO-86_(Dec_85)___R64
Cash,_Pat_______________W-87_____________R128
Chang,_Michael__________FO-89____________R16
Gomez,_Andres___________FO-90____________R128
Sampras,_Pete___________USO-90___________Did_Not_Play
Courier,_Jim____________FO-91____________QF
Stich,_Michael__________W-91_____________QF
Agassi,_Andre___________W-92_____________QF
Bruguera,_Sergi_________FO-93____________Did_Not_Play
Muster,_Thomas__________FO-95____________Did_Not_Play
Kafelnikov,_Yevgeny_____FO-96____________R128
Krajicek,_Richard_______W-96_____________R128
Kuerten,_Gustavo________FO-97____________R128
Rafter,_Patrick_________USO-97___________R32
Korda,_Petr_____________AO-98____________R128
Moya,_Carlos____________FO-98____________R64
Safin,_Marat____________USO-00___________R16
Ivanisevic,_Goran_______W-01_____________R32
Hewitt,_Lleyton_________USO-01___________R128
Johansson,_Thomas_______AO-02____________R64
Costa,_Albert___________FO-02____________Did_Not_Play
Ferrero,_Juan_Carlos____FO-03____________R16
Federer,_Roger__________W-03_____________R16
Roddick,_Andy___________USO-03___________QF
Gaudio,_Gaston__________FO-04____________Did_Not_Play
Nadal,_Rafael___________FO-05____________R64
Djokovic,_Novak_________AO-08____________SF
Del_Potro,_Juan_Martin__USO-09___________R16
Murray,_Andy____________USO-12___________Final
Wawrinka,_Stanislas_____AO-14____________R128
Cilic,_Marin____________USO-14___________Did_Not_Play
Thiem,_Dominic__________USO-20___________QF
Medvedev,_Daniil________USO-21___________????


Not surprisingly the best performers were Lendl and Murray who lost quite a few finals each before finally winning the first ))

Collins is another Sabalenka for me. I’m a fan based on her off court personality, and I actually love her game when she’s on. But she does have me cringing sometimes watching her. Sabalenka yesterday (the first time I’ve seen her this tournament) had me wanting to turn the TV off, especially with that attempted handshake. I can’t help but root for the girl though, I just hope she learns to drop all this drama or else she won’t have many fans left

If Felix wins this match, it may finally be the turning point that propels him forward toward being a regular member of the top 5 or so.

I don't think he will win it - Medvedev is just too 'match smart'. Though he's only 25 years old, Medvedev's intelligence is like that of a person much older. And he uses that to his advantage, outsmarting his opponents in virtually every match. As I'm typing this, he has just shown another example of this - Felix broke him to go up 6-5 (1st set), but Medvedev immediately broke back. And it didn't surprise me one bit.

So Felix has a huge task ahead of him. But if he can somehow pull it off tonight, it might act as proof to himself that he belongs among the elite, and that kind of confidence and self-belief is extremely important.

First set FAA!!

Something is happening in this match. I don't know if it's something odd, or strange, or unusual... but it is something unexpected...
Felix is controlling the match to this point (ahead a set and 5-3 right now). Medvedev looks quite flustered - he's throwing in more double faults than usual (where the second serves are not close)... he's often caught out of position and has to scramble... he's making lots of unforced errors... This is not the Medvedev we know.
Whether he's not feeling well physically, or whether it's Felix's play that is frustrating him, I don't know - but he's not his usual self. He almost always figures out a way to get the upper hand in a match. But thus far tonight, he hasn't figured it out.

At least part of the reason for that is because Felix is playing well. But every time I start to think that this might be the most solid I've seen Felix play, he'll throw in an unforced error. So there's still room for improvement in this match from Felix.
Of course, there's still time for Medvedev to figure things out properly and come back, too...

They're closing the roof now because of rain - might that be the change/catalyst that Medvedev needs?
Whatever happens, the evolution of the match promises to be interesting...

It might be just what Mick was writing - nobody ever wins the first two Slams and if so got to lose to someone. FAA is good enough to take advantage.