ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Gorgeous Fed drop-shot to take the first set.

And Djokovic shirt change!

They were both pretty great in the first set but both fell off in the second, especially Djokovic

Murray just cut some of his own hair off on the first changeover

2nd set was the worst novaks looked since like fall 2014

Murray is sooo tetchy today

ugh are we gonna have to deal with a Rafa resurgence then

So, assuming Fed beats Kei, Djokovic only needs a set vs Berdy, right? For someone who just got thumped in his 2nd RR match, Novak has about a 95% chance of qualifying... ND-TB has been a match-up at three of the last four WTFs and ND's margin of victory has only gotten wider each time.

Sorry, four of the last five. 3rd set t/b in 2011 (when Novak was spent, and subsequently lost to Ferrer and alternate Tipsarevic (who came within a point of making the semis)).

that Federer miss just now, oh my god

this looked like it was following the pattern of "fun first set, loser collapses in second" but Nishikori's won four games in a row from 1-4 down!

For someone who just got thumped in his 2nd RR match, Novak has about a 95% chance of qualifying

one of the oddities of RR is that in a group with two significantly better players, assuming form holds the match between those two big names is one of the least important in terms of who gets out of the group

ie for Nole vs Fed to matter for anything other than group standings, either Nishikori or Berdych have to throw a spanner in the works at some point

anyway this was the Federer miss, which gave Nishikori a BP, which he then took

https://twitter.com/Renestance/status/667366364395479040

Ridiculous single-handed bunt pass from Kei

Nishikori peaking from 1-4 down again, that stop volley!

damnit Kei just fell away in the final couple of points

Second point of the final game was a treat though - angles and spins galore.

my goodness, Murray's defence

bad job by andy in that tiebreak, smart of stan to just back up & let andy fuxx up

what a bizarre collapse

this comparison strikes me as so obvious that surely it's been made before but Murray = ATP Jankovic in so many ways regarding needless and inexplicable psychodrama

WAIT SVETA'S DOG HAS HIS OWN INSTAGRAM

https://instagram.com/thedolce27/

that's a great dog

it is!

strange resolution there was hoping murray could get his shit together and get it to a 3rd

it looked like he was going to for a second. pretty strange match but happy for Murray that his unpleasant week in London has been put out of its misery at last

really hope Stan and Roger reprise last year's dramatics, that was the one match I missed (the only one that was worth watching obv)

BAGEL HA, NOVAK

No bagel but that's more than enough to convince me that this will be over 6-3 6-2 so I can go to bed and get up early for Roger/Stan.

Which I'm going to miss for the second year running -_-

lmao Novak toying with Rafa for fun in this game, these casual experiments in dropshot-lob combos and he wins both points anyway

H2H finally evened at 23-23!

Novak is 21-22 against Federer, got a chance to even that back this week.

And next year we take the lead in both H2Hs, hopefully :)

yea the drop shots were not good

rafas current game is 1 of the least likely to give novak trouble tbh, hes just not going to lose long rallies regularly

23-23 vs Rafa
22-22 vs Fed

Fed got Dubai, Cincy and the YEC round robin
Nole got Wimbledon, the US Open, the YEC final (and IW and Rome)

Kind of amazing that their rivalry in 2015 breaks down so simply. Even two days after getting dominated by Federer in RR, the bookies had Nole as the heavy favourite today. Mediocre match though, to conclude another generally mediocre YEC (the two Nishikori three-setters notwithstanding)

Has to be said that Novak's 2015 is probably the best season of the last two decades. Two more years like that and he's the GOAT, not Federer. I mean, how many M1000s has he won? It's insane, nobody's ever dominated that tier while also racking up the slams at such a rate.

@jrcunniff: Djokovic completes best year of career, going 82-6.

Earns 16,585 ranking pts out of possible 18,790.

@jrcunniff: Since the 2014 U.S. Open, Djokovic has played 20 events, won 14 of them, and compiled record of 99-7 (5-4 vs Federer, 94-3 vs all others)

Federer 2006 was 82-5 (losing to Nadal four times and Murray once). Fed had three consecutive years at 92% W/L or better; Djokovic has just posted his second (after 2011), Nadal has had one (2013).

They're all around 82% career-wise. It's a toss-up at this point. You'd fancy a rejuvenated Nadal to win one more Roland Garros before he quits, and Novak to win anywhere from three to eight more Slams before he reaches Roger's age. Roger might have a Wimbledon left in him.

They're still not Guillermo Vilas ;) (145-14 in 1977; never mind the %-age, feel the quantity)

I think Fed played ok yesterday, I'm just not sure how you attack someone who is hitting every backhand to within 30cm of the baseline.

Djokovic's second 90%+ year, I mean.

it's still so incredibly weird to me that GBR are in the davis cup FINAL

I only have the dimmest memories of '78. Buster M beating Gottfried from mp down at a purpose-built venue in the middle of the CA desert? And 19yo McEnroe winning his two singles easily. But I don't think I've ever seen footage - it was only newspaper reports.

And Edmund is a decent high-end Challenger level clay-courter so could conceivably win his opening singles. It might be over by Saturday. To lose against Spain, Argentina, France, etc on this surface would be no disgrace. But Belgium would be a real downer.

Edmund's got a lot of potential to be more than that in the future imo. Anyway, Goffin's looking incredibly tight, Edmund's completely relaxed and bullying him around the court. 5-0!

(Got to think Bemelmans is going up against Murray to save the energies of Darcis or Coppejans to take on Edmund on Sun if it comes down to that) (it should be Coppejans if they've got any sense, who's an erstwhile junior rival of Edmund and leads him 2-0 on clay, including once this year)

Edmund held an 12-min opening service game, sped out to 5-0 in the next 20 minutes, then it turned into a bit of a struggle but he got it done 6-3. Long way to go though and Goffin's got his teeth into it now.

tempted to watch the next rubber because if you squint Bemelmans looks like Justine Henin.

oof @ Goffin freezing up even more

hands over double break with terrible DF

hands over double break with terrible DF

― lex pretend, Friday, November 27, 2015 1:46 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

repeat down set point ://///

lmao @ the cut-away to Clijsters in the crowd looking absolutely disgusted

Goodness. I came back in here to retract my statement above because I thought Edmund was up against Bemelmans. Didn't think he would trouble Goffin.

Goffin now a break up in set three.

I've only seen two games (the last two games) but I'd be amazed if Edmund does any better than 2-6 in the decider. :/

seemed like Edmund got a bit sloppy at the start of the third and Goffin seized his chance, and now he's finally stopped choking is just out-manoeuvring Edmund...

I've seen lots of comebacks but so rarely such a 180 from "frozen and terrified on court" to "free-flowing and confident"

Murray really lucky not to be broken there...