Tennis Forever

[VinodKumar's]

But to me it looked like to take the rhythm of Stan who was in good touch. I felt Stan must have won in 3 straight sets but that lone set by Nadal is a surprise to me.

Thats what annoyed me. Stan was confused and got irritated when NAdal did not attempt to reach the balls but served well and hit hard fore hands at break points. He could have retired from the match.

[VinodKumar's]

குளோசப்பில் பிரசுரமாகும் நடாலின் ரத்தம் வழியும் இடது உள்ளங்கை மூலம் வாழ்க்கை, விதி ரேகைகளை பார்க்கையில் இந்த முறையும் ஆஸி அவருக்கே!

Was this strategy ?

[venkkiram]

Was this strategy ?

Nope.. what would have thought about prediction if Nadal won the title? Like the majority, I also predicted Nadal would be defeating Wawrinka.

[ajithfederer]

Sample this Hindu Headline

Wawrinka stops injured Nadal to claim maiden Grand Slam title http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis...cle5620226.ece

Very happy for Stan the Man!! You deserved it for the complete game you have. Way to go as he breaks into the top 3.
Didn't watch the match but as the media plays out it looks like the same old "No one beats a healthy Nadal"

[ajithfederer]

Saw the match till two and a half sets. Lost interest and slept through the middle of 3rd and opening of 4th and woke up again to see Wawrinka serving for the match. The 1st and opening of the 2nd set was amazing as Stan pummeled away with all the points. The interesting thing happened when Nadal went out for a medical timeout as the idiotic chair umpire said to the repeatedly questioning Stan that he didn't know what the reason for his timeout was. Crowd booing Nadal was the final touch. Nadal was all and out when he served for the previous service game itself as he couldn't move like he always did in the court. And the rest is as they say history.

(Now onto something that i always wanted to write here for sometime)

Roger-Rafa rivalry might have been great but in hindsight i think it might have just killed the sport already. It is the same thing over and over with the expected results. Hit 2 his backhand-make him run around- win the pt with an error/winner. Sure, the rallies might seem interesting but it is (pardon my lack of a better example)like watching a Rajnikanth film. I can understand how seasoned tennis viewers may dislike this. You know what to expect and how it will play out at the end. IT IS BORING. The top 4 (excluding Murray may be) and the ATP are complicit in this disaster. I don't see powerful servers( pete/Goran) wrestling the initiative away from the opponent, no 1-2 service pt winners, serve/volley, no drawing opponents to the net, no lobs. no slices, no dropshots, no variety at all. Even yesterday's match is a replica of the above. Serve was a powerful and a potent weapon which I always loved to see on the court. Nowadays it all boils to who can slug it out more on the court. The result is what you see in terms of Nadal's/other player's injuries!!!!!> What's the friggin point, ATP??? . I for some reason don't want to blame Nadal, even though its his own downfall playing such physical tennis all the time.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

New Rankings-
1) Nadal- 14330
2) Djokovic- 10620
3) Wawrinka- 5710
4) Del Potro- 5370
5) Ferrer- 5280
6) Murray- 4720
7) Berdych-4540
8) Federer- 4355

[raagadevan]

Stan Wawrinka:

"It's an amazing feeling. I saw Roger winning so many Grand Slams in the past, so now it's my turn to win one". "I will need time to realise what I did in these two weeks. Because at the end, even if Rafa was injured, I think I deserve that Grand Slam because I won against Djokovic, the number two, and I won against Rafa". "I had an amazing two weeks, and I was playing my best tennis ever."


Rafa Nadal:

"It's Stan's day, not my day". "As I said before, I try my best and it was not possible for me today. I'm obviously disappointed and very sad about what happened. But that's life, that's sport. I really had a lot of great moments in my career. That's a tough one. I'll just accept it and try to keep working hard for what's coming".

[JamesDap]

ajithfederer: On the other hand, Nadal and some of the other top players should take some part of the blame. During Bercy 2012, commentators openly hinted that the players had asked for the surface to be slowed down. As I said earlier in this thread, if you want to play brutal tennis on slow courts, then don't complain about too many matches leading to injuries. This style of play is also a factor in injuries. Even though women's tennis is pretty boring (imo) after the retirements of Henin, Clistjers, Hingis, etc, they don't have such long relentless rallies. Even their baseline rallies are more attacking, 'first strike' in nature. Either the players on ATP should play more attacking or they should stop pressurising tournament organisers to slow down the courts even further. Faster courts (and, importantly, lighter balls) will lead to more outright winners and shorter rallies. Even yesterday, Wawrinka was depending more on excellent shotmaking than on matching Nadal toe to toe in athleticism. How was it that he could generate such pace on one handed backhands on the same court, so much that Nadal couldn't even get to some of those winners. Maybe because he wasn't putting so much topspin to slow the f down? :P

Anyway, I think the Federer-Nadal rivalry by itself was fine because Federer never had the patience to go down the brutal route the whole hog. He always tried to finish off the point (albeit unsuccessfully). The problem started when Djoko finally decided he was ready to match, in fact outdo, Nadal for stamina and endurance. From that point on, tennis became a lot more physical.

P.S: But there are actually plenty of volleys, lobs, smashes, drops, slices, etc in contemporary tennis. They probably just get sandwiched between the uber brutal groundstrokes. There are three Wawrinka serve and volley winners in just the highlights package (i.e. probably more instances of serve and volley in the entire match). Even Nadal does an occasional S&V these days, maybe coaxed by Toni to attack and spare his knees a bit.

[raagadevan]

Things we learned from the Australian Open...

Stop with the "Fed is dead" stuff, etc...

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/federer...ry?id=22198983

[ajithfederer]

MUST READ:

BRAIN GAME ANALYSIS
Brain Game: Stan's Tactics Revealed
Melbourne, Australia

by Craig O'Shannessy
|

27.01.2014

Stanislas Wawrinka played the best set of tennis of his life to set up a stunning victory over Rafael Nadal in the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne. Wawrinka had to overcome nerves and an injured Nadal to close out the match but a smart game plan and outstanding execution early on set up the victory.

Wawrinka described his opening set as the “perfect start” for good reason. He won 11/11 first serve points including 3/3 serve and volley points and was 5/5 at the net. “I was moving well, feeling really aggressive, and I played my best set for sure by far,” he said.

Wawrinka’s domination over the World No. 1 to lead 6-3, 2-0 was built around strategic primary patterns (used 7 or 8 times out of 10) when the score was close and then employ secondary patterns (2 or 3 times out of 10) when he was ahead and the scoreboard didn’t apply extra pressure to the riskier tactic. The key was making Nadal unsure what was coming by getting the mix right to disguise the master plan.

Primary - Attack the Forehand
Wawrinka built his set-and-a-break lead with the clever tactic of going after Nadal’s forehand wide in the Ad court. Nadal is always looking to gravitate to his right to turn a backhand into a forehand in the deuce court, so Wawrinka often went wide in the Ad court early in the point to take advantage of this subtle movement. Nadal committed five forehand errors during this period, all in the Ad court, and four of them were sliding defensively as wide as the alley. Wawrinka wasted no time attacking this area, winning the opening point of the match by twice pressuring Nadal deep and wide, forcing a forehand error long down the line.

Primary - The Backhand Cage
Wawrinka constantly put Nadal on defense by hitting to his backhand out wide behind the alley in deuce court exchanges, which had three main benefits for Wawrinka: Nadal had no backhand winners in the first 11 games, it made it tough to hit his favorite run-around forehand in the deuce court and it created a lower percentage, wider angle to go down the line to neutralize the point to Wawrinka’s backhand. Wawrinka’s curling, cross-court forehand essentially put Nadal’s backhand in a cage. Wawrinka broke Nadal for the first time at 1-1, 15/40 with one of these excessively wide rally balls that Nadal could only manage to slice back, bouncing before the net.

Secondary - Backhand Down-The-Line
This was a masterful tactic from Wawrinka that was a crushing blow to Nadal every time it landed. Wawrinka hit the down-the-line backhand winner for the first time at 1-1, 40/15 off a low backhand slice down the line from Nadal. It won Wawrinka the game with a huge exclamation point. He hit it like a rocket as a passing shot in the following game. Nadal could not handle it, leading to the first break of serve of the match. The next time The Swiss used it was with Nadal serving at 1-4, 30/15. Wawrinka crushed three consecutive backhands cross court then pulled the trigger down the line for a spectacular winner. Just the threat of having such a huge weapon without always using it creates doubt and uncertainty in Nadal’s baseline movement and shot selection.

Secondary - Serve and Volley
The scoreboard dictated this clever surprise tactic as Wawrinka did it six times in building his set-and-a-break lead – never when he was behind in the point score; once with the point score tied and five times when he was ahead in the point score, including twice at 40/0 where the pressure was minimised. Wawrinka won five of six and what was interesting was the way he went about it – a sprint to the net with no split step, which enabled him to get well inside the service line when he had to hit a volley.

Nadal’s back injury early in the second set ended Wawrinka’s spectacular play as he now encountered a new opponent who served softer, took more risks and used less patterns. While it seems logical that an injured opponent should be easier to play, quite often it’s the complete opposite as Wawrinka’s brilliant tactics no longer applied. Clarity was replaced with nerves, and as is often the case, Wawrinka hoped Nadal would miss.

Wawrinka battled himself during the third set, which he lost, and for most of the fourth until he got the final break of serve to go ahead 5-3 and then served it out for an incredible, rollercoaster victory. The best set of his life laid the perfect foundation for the best win of his life and the fulfillment of a dream to become a Grand Slam champion.

Craig O'Shannessy uses extensive tagging, metrics and formulas to uncover the patterns and percentages behind the game. Read more at www.braingametennis.com.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Ten...-Wawrinka.aspx