28 Comments on Player pages

  1. Not quite sure which thread I should be on to discuss the upcoming Davis Cup.

    I read somewhere that delPotro may play. Bearing in mind the bad blood that has existed for so many years I was surprised that he agreed (if he has) when he has played so few matches since he came back from surgery and the heavy load of a DC weekend against the Serbians could so easily undo all the hardwork he had put in to get back to form. A battle with Djokovic is the last thing he needs.

    The weekend promises to be a corker and the encounter between France and Australia will be fascinating – no love lost between that lot; hope Hewitt can keep his charges under control ?

  2. Gussie: Should have asked you the question in the first place. Thanks for clarifying 🙂

    My brain is totally befuddled trying to keep track of the past few week’s tournaments – not helped by following on livescores and loss of sleep when I could watch live action. Davis Cup action requires a wet towel round the head.

  3. Nick Kyrgios rants at umpire: tennis is ‘biased’ and ‘ruined’

    Kyrgios was incensed when Mourier gave him a code violation for hitting into the stands a ball that had been thrown to him by a ballperson during the first set. At the next change of ends, Kyrgios disputed the umpire’s judgement and claimed the official would not have acted in the same way had it been a player of the status of Rafael Nadal involved.

    “Anyone else, like Rafa did that, you would keep it cool,” Kyrgios said. “This game is biased as anything. You all know it as well. It’s biased as shit, this game. What else has it got to hide? It’s ruined. Absolutely ruined.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/m … and-ruined

  4. Rafael Plaza (a Spanish Journalist) 7 minutes ago: “Rafael Nadal NO jugará más esta temporada. Dice adiós a Basilea, París-Bercy y Londres.”/
    “Rafael Nadal will NOT play more this season. He says goodbye to Basel, Paris and London.”

  5. Watched Djokovic doubles match yesterday. He appeared relaxed and free from the various injuries that troubled him in recent months. Doubles has never been his cup of tea, but from the way he played, I assume he only entered to have some match practice before his opening singles and had no intention of advancing beyond the first round. If I am wrong, and that was not the case, he will have trouble staving off some highly motivated competition at Bercy this week.

  6. On another thread, Mary has brought up the issue of the 20 second rule. I wonder what Nadal fans think of a shot clock being introduced in tennis. I think it would be a good idea, though I’m not sure about the number of seconds -probably somewhere between 20 and 30. Does anyone support one? If so, what do you think the allotted time should be?

    • Better than what they do now.

      I say make it 20 seconds to prove what a farce it is now and how it’s targeted to specific players.

      Make sure the clock starts as soon as the ball is dead on every point.

      It would be a veritable shit show. Tennis would collapse.

      Bring it on I say.

      Never happen.

      • Completely agree. ATP and ITF implemented the silly rule to please Fed. It was put in the rule book only to ensure that players did not waste time with tantrums. It was not meant to be enforced for players just going through their usual tennis service routine. In other words it was meant to discourage disruptive behaviour , not to force players to shorten their normal service routine.
        But thanks to Fed it is now used selectively to throw Rafa off his focus. People talk endlessly about how umpires let Rafa use up more time but nobody talks about how Federer is always given a favorable schedule and rigged draws so that he is always fresher than his opponent. Except when something unexpected happens like Delpo obstinately giving Fed a tough fight in the olympics 2012 so poor Fed for a change was less rested than his opponent ( Muzz) in the final.

      • Yes, if the clock started once the ball was dead, 20 seconds wouldn’t be enough. But even if it should be 30 seconds, I think applying a rule uniformly is always better.

        Is it true that Rafa is selectively targeted? I’ve seen many players receive time warnings, but it does seem quite arbitrary. And (from what I’ve observed) the warning often seems to come at a quite important point in the match, which is hardly ideal. Another reason to have a clock. The fewer opportunities for favouritism/bias to creep in, the better in my book.

    • Did you watch IPTL exho tennis in the past few years? They did have a shot clock and time given was 20 seconds I think. It’s an exho; and Rafa hardly went over the time limit (of course sometimes he did but not so often). However it’s like a fast four tennis format and they play only a set at a time (if I’m not wrong) so not a good gauge whether players (Rafa in particular) were ok with the shot clock and 20 seconds time limit.

      I wonder would they try out a shot clock at the year end 21 and under championship; they want to try out some new rulings or changes, during that event.

      • I am sure players do not need to focus much or tire themselves out in an exho so we won’t know till it is implemented in grand slams.

  7. The shot clock must be started as soon as the ball is dead. The umpire should not be allowed any discretion on when to start it. When that happens, as hawkeye correctly predicts, tennis will be a shit show. I am looking forward to it so that the idiocy of the fed worshipping ATP and ITF is exposed

  8. 20 seconds once the ball is dead with no discretion is the rule in the ITF (25 on ATP).

    So as I said, agree to bring in the shot clock for consistency for ALL players.

    Again, never happen, as it would prevent its intended intent when the rule was changed in 2012 shortly after Federer complained.

  9. It certainly not only Federer who wants a shot clock (I’m not even sure he’s officially in favour of it). 538 did a piece on it a few years ago:

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/does-tennis-need-a-shot-clock/

    The actual time allowed, to me, seems less important than having a uniform standard. Pretty clearly, if they made it long enough (40 seconds, say), it might make little difference at all to the status quo. I think starting it from when the ball is dead on the previous point makes the most sense.

  10. Nah was never a problem for decades until 2012 when Federer complained in March, Nadal came within two slams of Fed and the rule was changed in September.

    Bring it back the way it was, or enforce the new rule as is with a clock to expose the farce for what it is.

    All I have to say on the matter. Ancient topic anyways that has been beat to death.

    • Olly MARCH 16, 2018 AT 6:57 PM,

      Rafa’s GOAL is to play. Playing will depend on his health.

      An excerpt from Uncle Toni’s interview on Thursday:
      “I spoke with him [Rafa] and his goal is to play it [Davis Cup],” said Toni. “Obviously, we, or rather he, will see how he is. If he’s recovered, then surely he’ll play.”

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