Talk About Tennis 2.0

These courts seem slow...with spin having a lot of impact.

I was saying that earlier today (to my GF). Opelka's ace count was rather low, for him.

They've said the paint on the court is very gritty, so it favours the faster players/defenders/clay-courters (e.g. Ruud, FAA) more than the heavy serve-and-forehand (Opelka, Berrettini) guys.

I'm about 20 minutes behind live, but there's been some very high quality in this FAA-Berrettini match. I think it was the third game of the second set where Felix had at least three exceptional points, and Berrettini one also. This may be an exhibition, but it's FAR from hit-and-giggle tennis.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:02 am

I believe Nick is sending this photo in with his application to be the next James Bond.

If team World can beat neither Berrettini nor Ruud, on paper the weakest two Europeans, then I don't see them having much chance this year.

That was not a bad match at all. Actually, pretty good.
Commentator down here: "Berrettini's best BH passing shot came in the last point of the match". I agree.

I find it interesting that both Mac and Borg are showing that their personalities during their playing days were not facades. Mac is pacing like the man whose pregnant wife has been in the delivery room for 4 hours. Borg is sitting down, waiting for his flute of champagne.

The Matteo-Felix match was the longest in Laver Cup history. Granted, that's a very short history. But since we're talking about matches that are two sets and a first-to-10 tiebreaker, 2:52 gives a good indication of how competitive it was.

Berrettini said in the on-court interview after the match, that when he agreed to also play doubles later tonight, he was not expecting the singles match to be so long!

The 2019 matches were very competitive as well, with many matches going into a super tiebreak. It's definitely not a garden variety exhibition, it's closer to an ATP Cup or Davis Cup where the effort is the same as it would be in a tour match. It's just the limited nature of who can play makes it feel like an exhibition and makes it seem like it shouldn't appear on the ATP's schedule.

BTW. All of the players using HEAD racquets are using a new one with black/red cosmetics. They look like all are the same, a variation of the RADICAL line. But Zverev and Rublev use GRAVITY's.
Any idea if this is just a one time thing for this cup?

I think there should be an option in the poll for 'It's not relevant'. That would certainly be my pick.

It would not surprise me in the least if at least some of the matches are 'fixed' - that is, the winner is determined before the match begins - to create more interest or 'drama'.

The louder the P.A. announcer at the venue yells, and the more fancy light shows there are, the more desperate they are to aggressively sell a weak product in most cases.

The main thing I like about the Laver Cup is the grey court, and how the red and blue shirts, and the yellow/green ball, contrast with it.
It's also sometimes interesting to see how the players relate to one another, trying to differentiate between the phony niceness and the genuine.

Seems like subbing in Jack Sock for Shapo would've made that a more certain point for Team World, but luckily they got it anyway and it appears some of that is because John asked him to lead the team conference before the match tiebreak and talk best strategy there. Jack has been a strength for Team World in every year it's been held, which is impressive given the condition he's shown at times in recent years.

I've watched highlights of all matches on Youtube. And actually liked a quality of tennis very much. In singles anyway. Maybe team Europe sacrificed doubles match, not substituting Berrettini after his long match. And Zverev is a horrible doubles player. But given the format of 1-2-3 points, when the importance of each day increases - what happened on Day 1 does not affect the result all that much.

I read that Carillo did commentary yesterday though?