Monday, November 21, 2011

Second Serving: Day 1 WTF's: Federer Loves Indoor Courts and More

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Editors Note: From this point forward, The Fan Child will refer to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as the "WTF's." Please take note.

Now, let us dissect day 1...

Rafa? Roger? Anybody? Beuller?

Was it just me, or did it seem like everybody had a difficult time maintaining an elite level today. Roger was guiding the ball rather than driving it. Rafa's forehand was too round, and his slice was too fluffy. Jo-Wilfried was asleep for the first 30 minutes. Fish was good at times, but his forehand lost its will at others.

In other words, it wasn't necessarily pretty...

Let's Talk About Day 2 Then:

Murray-Ferrer and Djokovic-Berdych are on tap for Monday. Here are some stats/ analysis:

Murray leads Ferrer 5-0 on hard courts, but let's not forget how tough Ferrer played Muzz in their biggest match of 2011. Ferrer won the first set and also pushed Murray to second and fourth set tiebreakers in their Australian Open semifinal match.

Djokovic on His Shoulder:

"I have been serving almost 100 percent the last two or three days," said Novak. "So for me the shoulder is fine at this moment." My worry: Almost 100 percent? I'm not sure that's such thrilling news...

Tracking Back to Noah's PED rant:

Read about it: Rafa's reaction, Uncle Toni and Ferrer were quoted in this Telegraph Piece.

Fed With Gimel:

On Sunday, Tennis Channel aired Fed's interview with Justin Gimelstob on the practice courts (filmed at least a day before his first match). Federer expressed minor concerns about the speed of the London courts. "I think conditions are a bit faster here. I'm still struggling a little out here a bit actually, so that's a little bit of a slight worry, but I still have another day to prepare," said the five-time WTF titlist. "The thing with Tsonga, and with Fish -- because he's also in my group -- is they can sort of hit you off the court."

Fed also said that indoors are a great love of his: "This is where I did the breakthrough, back in '98 actually. I went to the quarters of Toulouse, and then the year after that I had the breakthrough beating Moya, who was world No. 4. So I think indoors has always been sort of my first love on tour."

Doubles?

You want dubs? We got your dubs...

Both doubles tilts went to Match Tiebreaks today, and both ended 11-9. The Indo-Pak express had the balls to serve, up 6-3 vs. Nestor and Myrni, but still lost. One of the teams I know the least about, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski (Who? The ATP website is calling them 'Polish Power') pulled a big upset against Zimonjic and Llodra in the other 11-9 Match Tiebreak.

On Monday, The No. 1 Bryan Bros. will battle Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner. Incidentally, the Bryans own a 4-0 vs. MelPetz. Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes will face Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau for the first time in the other round-robin tilt.

The O2 Arena: an awesome tennis venue:

Check out this photo of the 02 Arena ready for tennis. The court looks like an oasis of light. This is rock-n-roll tennis, baby. Let's hope the players follow suit tomorrow...

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