US hardcourt season - Tennis 2011

[R_A]

Bit too late to be calling it the 2011 Season of Tennis but I thought i'd start a thread leading into the US Open.
It starts with 2 Masters back to back then a week off before the US Open.

The draw for Montreal is out, and it's Djokovic/Fed, Nadal/Murray. I've picked Murray to make the final of this because he always does well on this stretch, and Djokovic to beat Fed though it should be a tight match.

Always hard to pick winners but if Djokovic can win IW and Miami, and Madrid and Rome back to back, all against Nadal, no doubt he can do it here too heh.

Feel free to discuss your thoughts and predictions here!

 

[Pieguyfly]

Djokovic is looking hard to beat anywhere to be honest. I'm looking for him and Murray to make statements...otherwise the big 4 at the US open semis...all of them are looking in some pretty great form.

 

[R_A]

Yeah looks like that. I think Federer would want to play Djokovic rather then Nadal, and Murray vice versa. I don't think it matters who Djokovic plays, but I don't think Nadal would like to run into Murray. Murray also has a good chance at Federer with the exception of the US Open. He might nab a win in the Semi (unlikely as they are 3 and 4) but Federer would get the better of him if they played in a US Open Final.

 

[R_A]

Murray bows out of the first round! Have to admit, with the unpredictability that is Murray, I did not expect a second round (first for him) exit.

 

[Pieguyfly]

The big 4 at the semi finals. Who predicted it? MOI! :dancing:

Now I'm looking for Murray to boop Nadal, not sure if he will though. What was really heartening for me was Janko Tipsarevic making the quarters, second/third favourite player for me. Always been a top sportsman...really zen like in his mind.

Almost forgot to add; Stosur in the semis as well. C'mon BABY!

 

[Pieguyfly]

Stosur through to grand final...

BUT NOBODY SUPPORT HER. She always does terribly when people start paying attention to her!

 

[Madman]

Serena Williams had nothing against Sam. She is Australia's first female grand slam singles champion in 31 years

 

[Pieguyfly]

Serena Williams had nothing against Sam. She is Australia's first female grand slam singles champion in 31 years

I'll be honest, I slept in. But what an achievement aye?! She held fast through both sets I hear, just went bezerk.

 

[Ms.Nobody]

It was an amazing win. Boy didn't Williams crack the sh*ts saying to the umpire.

'I hate you'

'If you see me walking up the hallway, go the other way'

'Weren't you the one who screwed me last time too'

'You're unattractive on the inside'

Loser

 

[josh2010]

Good stuff Stosur!!!! Great Win. Would be good if we could compete in the mens comp!

 

[Madman]

Serena also said that she never complains

 

[Madman]

Novak beat Nadal pretty easily in the final 6-2 6-4 6-7 6-1

 

[Joel]

If Fed can win one more Grand Slam, I will consider the best ever. Especially at 30 where winning them are unheard of.

 

[Pieguyfly]

If Fed can win one more Grand Slam, I will consider the best ever. Especially at 30 where winning them are unheard of.

I dunno. Nadal really had the wood over Federer towards the end of the rivalry. The only reason Nadal wouldn't catch Federer's record is because there's another player by the name of Novak, who is pretty literally unbeatable at the moment. I just can't see him losing many games if he keeps this up. To be honest if this goes on for another year you'd have to consider Novak as the greatest player ever not in terms of longevity, but meaning if you matched Novak's against Federer's peak then he'd come out trumps. It's easy to say Federer has won 15 or something majors, but for the first few he didn't have to face a prime Novak and/or Nadal, whereas Novak and Nadal have to compete with each other plus Fed which means they have to share it amongst themselves. Fed didn't have to share for a while.

That being said, he has been so great for so long and for ages we thought we'd never see something as great for a long time after Federer's prime, but let's face it; what we're seeing from Novak this year is the greatest yaer of the modern age from any player considering the competition he faces. He's defeated arguably the two greatest players ever multiple times on the big stage. You may hate him, but as an achievement i'd imagine it'd rank up there.

 

[R_A]

I think Nadal having the wood on Federer is mainly on clay. On hardcourt and grass its way more even and probably unfair to judge Federer on h2h because Federer is better on clay then Nadal is on hardcourt. If Nadal made a few more Australian Open and US Open finals even in 08 and 07 when he was playing really good, Federer would have beaten him. It's probably also a mismatch because Nadal targets Federers backhand with his forehand 90% of the time.
Anyway the most important thing for Novak now is to manage his schedule and make sure he doesn't burn out. And of course win as many majors as possible heh. Main focus should be the French though. 6 is what some of the greats like Becker etc got up to but if he got as close as he could to 10 with all 4 he could be in the top 5 of all time. And yes that means surpassing Sampras IMO. But a lot depends on how he goes so we'll see.
And very very stoked to see Stosur win. Couldn't believe Serena had to resort to cheating to get back in that game. Bloody hell.

Added after 2 minutes:

Partly agree regarding Federer, but Roddick, Safin, Hewitt etc were all World No 1's so I guess he could only play who was in front of him. But at times even at how good they were Federer made them look like top 30 players. Not top 5 players lol. The Federer/Nadal/Djokovic trivalry is similar to the Borg/McEnroe/Connors 30 years ago. Very very nice to have. Not as similar in style but just having that quality there.