OT: Pro Tennis Thread

[wco81]

Someone was pointing out that Wozniaki is #1 only because she plays in every tournament.

Serena is seeded 28 because she hasn't been playing much. But if she goes on to win it or at least take out a lot of high-rated players, the ATP rankings are going to look silly.

Is there any extra compensation for a high ATP ranking? Maybe sponsors give them bonuses and certainly winning enough tourneys to get that ranking brings more money.

[JackB1]

On the subject of strings, the magic word these days is 'Luxilon'. I remember in my glory days that natural gut was the string to get but I realized that it took a big chunk out of my wallet before I settled for something more like Kevlar which I recommended to my players. Hybrid is a word you hear a lot too these days but I wouldn't recommend 'Luxilon' to a club player. If you don't have good stroke mechanics, poly will gladly expose them for you. If you have a sore elbow or shoulder, it's a sure bet you'll be taking a break from tennis after playing with this particular brand.

It is a stiff unforgiving string but quite durable even with the smallest gauges. What poly does allow you to do is to swing harder so that you can impart more spin to the ball and not have it put a hole in the back fence. The truth is with poly you can hit harder, but only if you are capable of hitting harder properly.

But for the Pros it is a gift sent from heaven. The poly has a dead feel so they can swing hard to create more spin with less length. Its poor tension maintenance isn't a problem as they get multiple racquets restrung daily, whether they play with them or not.

And while at this time of the year a lot of players start falling like flies, don't be surprised if the current strings have some say in their bodies although ultimately I think the horrible long and arduous schedule have to do a lot with players getting injured.

Great post 10s. Even for a non-string geek like myself, that's very interesting stuff, so I'm going to pick your brains a bit more, if you don't mind. Since I started playing competitively again at the beginning of 2009, I've used 3 different strings, none of which I know a lot about. I chose the first because it was what the guy at the club who was stringing my rackets used. Then when I broke strings one day and he wasn't around, the head coach offered his services and a string he felt would be good for my game. I went along with that and didn't think it was any better or worse really. Then I won a big roll of this stuff (http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpag ... TCF17.html) as part of a prize in the type of mickey-mouse tournament I tend to enter. It's actually a different string in the same range as the one I had been using just prior to that. I started using it and again noticed little difference. I feel very sensitive to surface changes and I'm always whinging for a while when I move from tennisquick, to synthetic hard, to clay, to omni and the ball comes through in a different way. But for strings, the only thing that really seems to affect me is tension. Maybe it's also due to the fact that the strings I've used recently were all very similar. I really don't know because I haven't been interested enough...maybe until now. I'm not even sure if what I'm using is similar to the kind of professional string you're speaking about.

Another thing you mentioned is the durability. Ten years ago, I'd break strings once every 2/3 weeks, playing maybe 6/7 hours a week. I've only got two rackets, so when I hadn't broken strings in either over two months after stringing the rackets with the stuff in the link above, I got a bit paranoid. I had a couple of tournaments approaching and I was afraid I'd break strings in both rackets during the same match. In the end, I decided to go ahead and restring the rackets without waiting for the strings to break. The durability is amazing IMO even with lowish tensions creating more friction of the strings rubbing against each other. I want to keep playing for a few more years so I'm definitely going to keep an eye on the strains I'm beginning to feel in my playing arm. Maybe a change of strings rather than a reduction in tension could be in the offing based on what you're saying.

Good point too in terms of differentiating between amateurs and pros. The degree to which lower-level players should follow the example of the pros in terms of equipment is debateable. I mean, just because Soderling plays with a 400-gram racket...

Rhymes...Cyberflash is a copoly or a softish-poly, but it's still a poly. If you are concerned with arm strain ot tennis elbow, you could use a softer cross like a multi or better yet natural gut. If you want even softer feel, try a soft multi or gut in the mains and your Cyberflash or any soft copoly in the crosses. My personal favorite combo is a natural gut in the mains and a soft copoly in the crosses. I string the gut mains a little high to reduce all that power (58) and the less powerful copoly crosses at around 52-54. You can go very low with copoly's since they don't have a lot of elasticity. You also have to match your strings /tension to the type of game you play. Fast, whippy basliners need lots of spin, so they go full poly. Touch players like softer feeling strings. Flatter hitters maybe something in the middle like a gut/copoly hybrid. If your swing is more compact you need more power with lower tension. YOu need to find some combo that lets you hit a deep rally ball with "comfortable effort". This way you have power in reserve when it's needed.

[10spro]

Someone was pointing out that Wozniaki is #1 only because she plays in every tournament.

Serena is seeded 28 because she hasn't been playing much. But if she goes on to win it or at least take out a lot of high-rated players, the ATP rankings are going to look silly.

Is there any extra compensation for a high ATP ranking? Maybe sponsors give them bonuses and certainly winning enough tourneys to get that ranking brings more money.

The ATP rankings have been inconsistent since it's creation. Yes, it ranks you according to your performances and tournaments that you play, and to be fair to Wozniacki she's been arguably the most consistent player for the past 12-14 months and the computer takes that into consideration despite her never winning a GS.

On the other hand players used to drop off because of injuries or suspicious reasons (protecting their better performance for the last season) and the rankings was little changed. So the tour made it officially for all players to attend a minimum amount of tournaments without being punished.

As for Serena, yes she's been injured but considering how she's been a top player for the WT especially during GS tournaments, they could and should have ranked her higher, say around 12th to 15th spot but there's another case where the computer takes over a more balanced human decision.

[JackB1]

looks like another washout today

lots of good matchups on tap......Fed vs Tsonga, D. Young vs Murrah, Roddick vs Ferrer

[rhymes450]

Many thanks to both 10s and Jack for the input. I'll probably try to stick with what I'm using at the moment, unless I run into physical problems with my arm. Jack, I'm sure it would be worth trying the combinations you suggest,but I know myself... I'd never stop experimenting. I'd be thinking that if I'd strung the cross strings at 51 instead of 49, I mightn't have missed that sliced approach shot at 4-4, 30-40 in the third etc, etc. Essentially, I'm pretty happy with the equipment I've got and I'm reasonably satisfied that after a defeat, the loss has been because I haven't played well or because the other guy was better.

[rhymes450]

looks like another washout today

lots of good matchups on tap......Fed vs Tsonga, D. Young vs Murrah, Roddick vs Ferrer

Yeah, and now the schedule looks very rough, particularly for the players in the bottom half. Apart from the matches you mention, the Isner v Simon match could be an interesting contrast. Fish, in his post-match press conference after losing to Tsonga, said that John Isner was capable of winning the tournament. Not sure about that but I guess he's going to be holding serve a lot, which won't make things easy for his opponents. Very interesting tournament...shame about the weather

[10spro]

The top half definitely has an advantage with the rain delay. Federer will be looking for some revenge as Tsonga seems to have found his number the last 2 matches they played. Should he beat Roger again, I think he can make it all the way to the finals.

[rhymes450]

Wouldn't argue with that. His recent record with Fed is obviously very good and he's also got a few wins against Djokovic in the past. I'd still have him as an underdog in both those matches but he's got a huge game and I think he's more complete than say Isner. He's a dangerman for sure.

[JackB1]

Good wins today by the last 2 Americans still in there......Roddick and Isner.
But I dont think either will get past their next opponents.

looking forward to Tsonga/Federer tonite

[rhymes450]

Good wins today by the last 2 Americans still in there......Roddick and Isner.
But I dont think either will get past their next opponents.

looking forward to Tsonga/Federer tonite

Agreed. Two excellent wins but I think you're right in suggesting that they'll be second favourites against Murray and Nadal. They've got their chances though. By all accounts, Isner's forehand was really hot today. Good win against Simon, who's similar in style to Murray in many ways. The Scot has more variety though and that could be a crucial difference. From the little I've seen of Rafa, he's playing pretty well so Roddick's probably going to have to put in a big performance to have a chance.

Tipsarevic probably knows Djokovic's game better than most. He was edged out in the first but a he's break up in the 2nd. Very good match. Hope to catch the Fed/Tsonga match but it's gonna start pretty late here in Spain.

[10spro]

Top four men advance to the semis. Nadal just destroyed Roddick. Have a feeling it'll be a Nadal-Federer final for some reason which apparently will take place on Monday.

[rhymes450]

Top four men advance to the semis. Nadal just destroyed Roddick. Have a feeling it'll be a Nadal-Federer final for some reason which apparently will take place on Monday.

You could be right and if it does happen, it'll mean that they'll have met in all four slam finals. Andy Murray becomes only the 7th man in the open era to reach the semis of all four slams in the same year. Rafa looked formidable yesterday. Roddick did what he could. He didn't really look like he was running on a full tank but fair dues to him for doing a professional job and holding on to his serve 3 times in the final set, when a bagel certainly didn't look out of the question. Thought his after-match conference was interesting, where he spoke of the player dispute, his tournament and the treatment of tennis in the media. Here's the link for anybody that way inclined with a few minutes to kick around:

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/video/2011- ... promo=home

Hope it leads directly to the press conference or at least gets you close.

The tournament is absolutely red hot with this semis line-up and the Serena- Wozniacki women's semi to boot. Should be a great day of tennis today.

[10spro]

Unbelievable 5 setter between Djokovic and Federer. The Swiss had his match points chances but just couldn't beat the stubborn Serb who came back from two sets down. Federer's first serve just deserted him a bit in the last set and eventually Djoko took his chances by playing more aggressively which payed off for him.

As Jimmy Connors would say: 'This is what they came for, this is what they get...'

[rhymes450]

Unbelievable 5 setter between Djokovic and Federer. The Swiss had his match points chances but just couldn't beat the stubborn Serb who came back from two sets down. Federer's first serve just deserted him a bit in the last set and eventually Djoko took his chances by playing more aggressively which payed off for him.

As Jimmy Connors would say: 'This is what they came for, this is what they get...'

Amazing drama! Two turning points for me. The first, when Fed failed to hold in the 2nd game of the 3rd and then looked sluggish in his footwork (tired I guess) more or less from there on in, and the second, when those match points slipped by on his serve. It's got to hurt a lot to let a 2-set lead slip, then put in a truly epic performance in the 5th to set up a huge win (I think it would have been one of the wins of his career considering how the momentum was so much against him going into the 5th), only to see it slip away. Great performance by Djoko. You can't take anything away from him. Not sure if Fed can recover from this one.

[wco81]

Saw the highlights. Djoko may be #1 but he's so unlikable and taunting the crowd isn't going to help his cause.

And who's shocked that Wozniacki lost today?

[10spro]

Saw the highlights. Djoko may be #1 but he's so unlikable and taunting the crowd isn't going to help his cause.

And who's shocked that Wozniacki lost today?

Yeah, Serena will take the title today. She's in another world, when healthy.

[rhymes450]

Saw the highlights. Djoko may be #1 but he's so unlikable and taunting the crowd isn't going to help his cause.

And who's shocked that Wozniacki lost today?

Yeah, Serena will take the title today. She's in another world, when healthy.

I'd go along with that, tho' I've seen almost nothing of Wozniacki. Don't follow the women's game but I was fortunate enough to catch the 2nd set of Serena v Azarenka. That was a damn good set of tennis. Caught a bit of Stosur's win over Serena at Roland Garros 2010 but Serena looked way below her best that day IMO. Despite that, Stosur had a lot of trouble closing it out. Stosur's got a fair bit of power on the forehand side. Not sure if that's going to be enough to put Serena under pressure tonight.

I feel a bit sorry for Federer. Obviously he's won so much, that might seem a bit ridiculous but the guy must be feeling like the proverbial bucket of sh*t today.

[10spro]

Well, what do you know about Stosur? Surprised she won the finals and more so in straight sets.

[rhymes450]

Stosur played a fabulous match. Great forehand, great kick serves, great feel on the backhand slice for a two-handed player. Matt Cronin (whose opinion I'd have a lot of time for) pointed out in his pre-match analysis on the official US Open website that Serena "moves better" (than Stosur). On the basis of what I saw yesterday, I'd have to disagree. Stosur gave an exemplary display of compact footwork to make space for the shots and long strides to run balls down. The way she finished the match with an absolutely huge inside out forehand return of serve from the ad-court (wonder what speed that shot clocked in at) was indicative of her dominance. Presumably, she doesn't play that well all the time. Otherwise, she'd have won at least a handful of slams IMO.

[10spro]

It took almost 20 minutes to finish just the third game of their second set. What an epic game that was. Match in progress, a beauty in the making.

[rhymes450]

Yeah great game but Rafa is getting very few cheap points on his serve and then Djoko just sails through an easy hold. Rafa's making it a war of attrition as best he can. This set is crucial, I guess

[10spro]

Yeah great game but Rafa is getting very few cheap points on his serve and then Djoko just sails through an easy hold. Rafa's making it a war of attrition as best he can. This set is crucial, I guess

I think so. Djoko just broke him, if he loses this set, it'll be hard for Rafa to come back from 2 sets down. Not the way the Serb is playing. Just solid stuff from him, he's been answering those low one handed backhands from Nadal with no problem. If anything, he needs to have better control of his forehand today, that's been wild at times.

[rhymes450]

Crucial hold for Rafa, only his third of eight service games. Djoko is peppering the baselines with those returns. Nadal is really suffering on serve today

[10spro]

Crucial hold for Rafa, only his third of eight service games. Djoko is peppering the baselines with those returns. Nadal is really suffering on serve today

Well, Djoko's returns have been amazing so far, he has pinned Rafa to the baseline as you mentioned and has been so steady with his groundstrokes. It's back on serve again in the third set for Rafa.

[rhymes450]

Crucial hold for Rafa, only his third of eight service games. Djoko is peppering the baselines with those returns. Nadal is really suffering on serve today

Well, Djoko's returns have been amazing so far, he has pinned Rafa to the baseline as you mentioned and has been so steady with his groundstrokes. It's back on serve again in the third set for Rafa.

Rafa's played a couple of amazing games to stay in it. When other players would be in the shower by now, he's actually upped the pace. Even if he goes down in 3, he's giving it everything