Tennis League All Thread

[casperBGD]

~snip
Djoković gave a really strange interview after the match. He is sort off ill, he has some disease that came back and sap his strength. It is not covid but he does not want to talk about it. Seems like he had problems with that disease at the begging of the career and then nothing until now.

it could be a Vajda missing disease
he is probably the best coach in the world, and Djoko decided to let him go, it will be hard to get back on a track without him

did not watch the match, but this is second lose in a row, in third set, and with humiliating result (1:6 Fokina, 0:6 Rublev), does not look as just strength issue, he had same three set match yesterday, and played strong in third
will be interesting to see what will happen next

[Ratash]

We have to admit that Djokovic is not the same recently many gamblers lost their bets because of him he showed really poor performance on the first and last sets he lost at least a set in all his games in belgrad atp which is unusual for him i hope he get better soon i think he can give more to tennis.

[Kemarit]

~snip
Djoković gave a really strange interview after the match. He is sort off ill, he has some disease that came back and sap his strength. It is not covid but he does not want to talk about it. Seems like he had problems with that disease at the begging of the career and then nothing until now.

it could be a Vajda missing disease
he is probably the best coach in the world, and Djoko decided to let him go, it will be hard to get back on a track without him

did not watch the match, but this is second lose in a row, in third set, and with humiliating result (1:6 Fokina, 0:6 Rublev), does not look as just strength issue, he had same three set match yesterday, and played strong in third
will be interesting to see what will happen next

Yeah, it was really strange on how this year, he started so poorly, is father time has finally caught up with him? Or he is suffering from disease or injury that he is not telling the public. He seems to be not in shape I speculate that it could be a combination of factors including his mental health as well because that's one aspect of his game. But if he lose focus in a game, every thing crumbles.

[Jating]

Although Alcaraz won, he didn't cover the handicap so my parlay got destroyed.

Rublev defeating Djokovic in Belgrade, wow, I thought that Djokovic will win this game in 2 sets.  But Rublev plays solid and it so happen that Djokovic win the tie break in the 2nd set. But then Rublev destroys him 6-0 in the final set.

Djoković gave a really strange interview after the match. He is sort off ill, he has some disease that came back and sap his strength. It is not covid but he does not want to talk about it. Seems like he had problems with that disease at the begging of the career and then nothing until now.

What do you mean Alcaraz did not cover the handicap? He won 6:3 6:2 in the final, meaning +6.5 got covered. i don't think anybody even offered something over 4.5.

Maybe you have missed my previous post about my bet on Alcaraz:

Rublev though has an easy game against Fognini. I have a parlay with him and Alcaraz at handicap but the Alcaraz vs De Minaur has been suspended.

So it was a bet not on finals but on semis, him against De Minaur and it's obvious that he didn't cover it because it was a very close match.

As for Djokovic case, I thought that he has somewhat recovered mentality as I have said. But nah, the way he lost that final set strange, and he said that he has run out of gas.

But we should give credit to Rublev though, he has been hot early this year.

[Daniel91]

We have to admit that Djokovic is not the same recently many gamblers lost their bets because of him he showed really poor performance on the first and last sets he lost at least a set in all his games in belgrad atp which is unusual for him i hope he get better soon i think he can give more to tennis.

We need to understand that Djokovic has played only a few matches this year and that he is not completely ready yet.
Due to the vaccination situation, Covid Đoković could not play in many tournaments, and therefore he is not at the right level yet.
Probably everything that happened in Australia psychologically affected him as well.
I expect his level of play to rise slowly and he will be fully ready for the GS in Paris.

[aoluain]

We have to admit that Djokovic is not the same recently many gamblers lost their bets because of him he showed really poor performance on the first and last sets he lost at least a set in all his games in belgrad atp which is unusual for him i hope he get better soon i think he can give more to tennis.

We need to understand that Djokovic has played only a few matches this year and that he is not completely ready yet.
Due to the vaccination situation, Covid Đoković could not play in many tournaments, and therefore he is not at the right level yet.
Probably everything that happened in Australia psychologically affected him as well.
I expect his level of play to rise slowly and he will be fully ready for the GS in Paris.

This tournament would have been important for Djokovic as its a home tournament
but I would say his sights are set on Roland Garros, If he gets some more matches
under him he will be fairly close to fighting fit.


Great win by Alcaraz having played his semi final on the same day. I have to say
though de Minaur gave a great account of himself to come fairly close in the semi.

[romero121]

We have to admit that Djokovic is not the same recently many gamblers lost their bets because of him he showed really poor performance on the first and last sets he lost at least a set in all his games in belgrad atp which is unusual for him i hope he get better soon i think he can give more to tennis.

We need to understand that Djokovic has played only a few matches this year and that he is not completely ready yet.
Due to the vaccination situation, Covid Đoković could not play in many tournaments, and therefore he is not at the right level yet.
Probably everything that happened in Australia psychologically affected him as well.
I expect his level of play to rise slowly and he will be fully ready for the GS in Paris.

This tournament would have been important for Djokovic as its a home tournament
but I would say his sights are set on Roland Garros, If he gets some more matches
under him he will be fairly close to fighting fit.

The last Serbia open is a big stress reliever and it has helped him test his physical fitness. Now until the Roland Garros he can be the no.1 player, after which based on some point calculation there is possible chances of rank variation based on match win/losing. Novak Djokovic not playing a lot of tournaments due to the vaccination has affected his play. Hope he'll give a big comeback.

[aoluain]

There are still a few tournaments to play before Roland Garros, currently playing are Estoril,
Portugal and Munich, Germany but I done see him listed as participating in either. After these
there is Madrid, Rome both are ATP1000 tournaments and then Geneva.

Interestingly AFAIK Alcaraz doesnt appear in either Estoril or Munich, I would say his next appearance
will be Madrid?

[Trofo]

There are still a few tournaments to play before Roland Garros, currently playing are Estoril,
Portugal and Munich, Germany but I done see him listed as participating in either. After these
there is Madrid, Rome both are ATP1000 tournaments and then Geneva.

Interestingly AFAIK Alcaraz doesnt appear in either Estoril or Munich, I would say his next appearance
will be Madrid?

Top players usually skip these smaller tournaments and just play masters before grand slam. More than enough tennis for anybody capable of passing few rounds. You can see top players on these smaller tournaments only when they are lacking match fitness and chasing as much as possible competitive games before the RG. Like Thiem this week.

[Cnut237]

Djoković gave a really strange interview after the match. He is sort off ill, he has some disease that came back and sap his strength. It is not covid but he does not want to talk about it. Seems like he had problems with that disease at the begging of the career and then nothing until now.

If it's an illness that he doesn't want to talk about, and which is sapping his strength even some considerable time after he has recovered, then it sounds very much like Covid. I can imagine that if he caught it, given his well-publicised lack of vaccination and all the chaos around his deportation from Australia, then he would be extremely reluctant to admit he'd caught it. IIRC he did catch Covid quite early on in the pandemic, but of course there is nothing to stop someone catching it twice, especially with the later variants.

The problems earlier in his career that sapped his energy were dietary, weren't they? I think it was the switch to a highly-restrictive and gluten-free diet that transformed him from being a good player into a world-beating superman. I don't think his current issues could relate to that.

Of course the problem could be simply that after all his time off, he's a bit rusty and not fully match-fit... and just doesn't want to admit it.

[babygun]

If it's an illness that he doesn't want to talk about, and which is sapping his strength even some considerable time after he has recovered, then it sounds very much like Covid. I can imagine that if he caught it, given his well-publicised lack of vaccination and all the chaos around his deportation from Australia, then he would be extremely reluctant to admit he'd caught it. IIRC he did catch Covid quite early on in the pandemic, but of course there is nothing to stop someone catching it twice, especially with the later variants.

The problems earlier in his career that sapped his energy were dietary, weren't they? I think it was the switch to a highly-restrictive and gluten-free diet that transformed him from being a good player into a world-beating superman. I don't think his current issues could relate to that.

Of course the problem could be simply that after all his time off, he's a bit rusty and not fully match-fit... and just doesn't want to admit it.

It seems to me that Djokovic is just making excuses. Everybody would have expected that he would have won but he lost and as you mention, he doesn't has played a lot of matches so he is missing some match rhythm.
He is indeed gluten intolerant but already made the switch to the diet a long time ago.

[aoluain]

If it's an illness that he doesn't want to talk about, and which is sapping his strength even some considerable time after he has recovered, then it sounds very much like Covid. I can imagine that if he caught it, given his well-publicised lack of vaccination and all the chaos around his deportation from Australia, then he would be extremely reluctant to admit he'd caught it. IIRC he did catch Covid quite early on in the pandemic, but of course there is nothing to stop someone catching it twice, especially with the later variants.

The problems earlier in his career that sapped his energy were dietary, weren't they? I think it was the switch to a highly-restrictive and gluten-free diet that transformed him from being a good player into a world-beating superman. I don't think his current issues could relate to that.

Of course the problem could be simply that after all his time off, he's a bit rusty and not fully match-fit... and just doesn't want to admit it.

It seems to me that Djokovic is just making excuses. Everybody would have expected that he would have won but he lost and as you mention, he doesn't has played a lot of matches so he is missing some match rhythm.
He is indeed gluten intolerant but already made the switch to the diet a long time ago.

I take all excuses with a pinch of salt now as far as Djokovic is concerned, he hasnt
handled himself in a positive way this year.

As regards other big name players, Nadal and Medvedev - Nadal has said he will "Try" to
play at Madrid and Medvedev is back practicing, you see there is nothing like the pull of
the GS to get the big guns out and about.

https://tennishead.net/i-really-want-to-play-rafael-nadal-confirms-return-from-injury-in-time-for-roland-garros/

https://newswep.com/sports/daniil-medvedev-resumed-training-on-the-court-after-surgery/amp/

[Cnut237]

I take all excuses with a pinch of salt now as far as Djokovic is concerned, he hasnt
handled himself in a positive way this year.

As regards other big name players, Nadal and Medvedev - Nadal has said he will "Try" to
play at Madrid and Medvedev is back practicing, you see there is nothing like the pull of
the GS to get the big guns out and about.

I'd definitely agree that what Djokovic says and does is sometimes very different from the truth, as can be seen with his notorious feigning of injuries whenever he gets into trouble in a big match... followed invariably by a miraculous recovery once he's had a break and time to disrupt his opponent's momentum. Probably the illness is just an excuse, yes.

And for Nadal and Medvedev the stakes are pretty high, they need to be back for the French Open. Nadal because it's his best chance of another slam, and going 22-20 over Djokovic, and knowing that if he doesn't win it, Djokovic is most likely to win and go level 21-21 in slams with him. And Medvedev because as it stands he won't play Wimbledon, and so will lose out on a huge potential haul of ranking points there, so he needs to make the most he can at Roland Garros.

[Kemarit]

If it's an illness that he doesn't want to talk about, and which is sapping his strength even some considerable time after he has recovered, then it sounds very much like Covid. I can imagine that if he caught it, given his well-publicised lack of vaccination and all the chaos around his deportation from Australia, then he would be extremely reluctant to admit he'd caught it. IIRC he did catch Covid quite early on in the pandemic, but of course there is nothing to stop someone catching it twice, especially with the later variants.

The problems earlier in his career that sapped his energy were dietary, weren't they? I think it was the switch to a highly-restrictive and gluten-free diet that transformed him from being a good player into a world-beating superman. I don't think his current issues could relate to that.

Of course the problem could be simply that after all his time off, he's a bit rusty and not fully match-fit... and just doesn't want to admit it.

It seems to me that Djokovic is just making excuses. Everybody would have expected that he would have won but he lost and as you mention, he doesn't has played a lot of matches so he is missing some match rhythm.
He is indeed gluten intolerant but already made the switch to the diet a long time ago.

But the way he lost though and the reasons, according to him is that he didn't have the legs. I think he has his rhythm back because he has reached the finals for this tournament. So it's not about his rhythm, nor his diet. Maybe he was really affected mentally by all the media specially the drama in the Australian Open.

[aoluain]

Update on the tournament in Munich, Top seed Zverev has been beaten in the Round of 16
by Rune with what seems like an easy enough win 3-6, 2-6.

Zverev has really gone off the boil since probably his outburst and loss of self control
at Mexico earlier this year.

Well done to Rune though with what seems like a fantastic performance.

[Juggy777]

If it's an illness that he doesn't want to talk about, and which is sapping his strength even some considerable time after he has recovered, then it sounds very much like Covid. I can imagine that if he caught it, given his well-publicised lack of vaccination and all the chaos around his deportation from Australia, then he would be extremely reluctant to admit he'd caught it. IIRC he did catch Covid quite early on in the pandemic, but of course there is nothing to stop someone catching it twice, especially with the later variants.

The problems earlier in his career that sapped his energy were dietary, weren't they? I think it was the switch to a highly-restrictive and gluten-free diet that transformed him from being a good player into a world-beating superman. I don't think his current issues could relate to that.

Of course the problem could be simply that after all his time off, he's a bit rusty and not fully match-fit... and just doesn't want to admit it.

It seems to me that Djokovic is just making excuses. Everybody would have expected that he would have won but he lost and as you mention, he doesn't has played a lot of matches so he is missing some match rhythm.
He is indeed gluten intolerant but already made the switch to the diet a long time ago.

But the way he lost though and the reasons, according to him is that he didn't have the legs. I think he has his rhythm back because he has reached the finals for this tournament. So it's not about his rhythm, nor his diet. Maybe he was really affected mentally by all the media specially the drama in the Australian Open.

@Kemarit I feel that Djokovic has let overconfidence sink into him, and he’s forgotten that as an athlete he needs to constantly work on himself and his game, and furthermore he allowed himself to be dragged in this vaccination drama which could have been avoided. Also I feel that he needs to go back to the basics and stop making excuses and work on himself and only return when he’s 100% fit, because I like him when he’s at his best and not like this where he’s just making excuses.

[Trofo]

Just watched Dalien against Gasquet match, this was my first time watching Dalien and probably my last. Very annoying player without any shots and screaming like a little girl even on easy ground strokes. I had some money on him and after set 1 even I cheered Gasquet to win

Madrid started for girls today so some good matches there but I did not have time to make any bets.

[Cnut237]

I feel that Djokovic has let overconfidence sink into him, and he’s forgotten that as an athlete he needs to constantly work on himself and his game, and furthermore he allowed himself to be dragged in this vaccination drama which could have been avoided. Also I feel that he needs to go back to the basics and stop making excuses and work on himself and only return when he’s 100% fit, because I like him when he’s at his best and not like this where he’s just making excuses.

I don't know, that doesn't sound like Djokovic. He is one of the ultimate competitors, I don't think he ever really loses through overconfidence, and he's built his whole career on ruthlessly maintaining his physical form, so I don't think he needs to work on himself. And he's well-used to dealing with pressure and being the centre of attention, he's had that most of his career. The only time I think the pressure may have got to him was the US Open final last year, on the verge of both the calendar slam and (what was then) a record 21st slam in total. But in general, he's well able to cope with it.

But yes, I'd agree that whenever he's in a bad situation, he always starts making excuses or more often, mid-match, feigning injury.

[KennyR]

Just watched Dalien against Gasquet match, this was my first time watching Dalien and probably my last. Very annoying player without any shots and screaming like a little girl even on easy ground strokes. I had some money on him and after set 1 even I cheered Gasquet to win

Madrid started for girls today so some good matches there but I did not have time to make any bets.

I haven't watched the match, but the first set has ended with a hard fight whereas the second set completely on the side of Richard Gasquet. Today in the quarter final Richard Gasquet plays against Sebastian Baez. Being an young player this match looks like a win for Sebastian Baez.

[Kemarit]

Just watched Dalien against Gasquet match, this was my first time watching Dalien and probably my last. Very annoying player without any shots and screaming like a little girl even on easy ground strokes. I had some money on him and after set 1 even I cheered Gasquet to win

LOL, I'm not familiar with this player, maybe I will check out the highlights of this match and see if for myself,  

Madrid started for girls today so some good matches there but I did not have time to make any bets.

I haven't make any bet yet, but I see some upsets already, Pliskova lost to fellow Bouzkova in two sets.

Sabalenka as well to Anisimova in three sets.