Atp 250 - Portugal Open 2013

jaggy

Talk Tennis Guru
And I bet the reason is outside of Europe (and a few other places where they teach geography) no one knew whe the hell Estoril is! I bet 99.9% of Americans ,don't even know where Portugal is and couldn't find it on the map.

Many Americans couldnt find America on a map.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
And I bet the reason is outside of Europe (and a few other places where they teach geography) no one knew whe the hell Estoril is! I bet 99.9% of Americans ,don't even know where Portugal is and couldn't find it on the map.

Portugal is like suburban Spain. Kidding.

But, it is Spain's neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula. Generally west of Spain, but also south of a portion of Spain, since it's coast doesn't run the entire length of the peninsula.

I was a total geography nerd as a kid. I would sit and listen to headphones and look at my parents' world atlas. And, I would look at metro area and state maps in the gigantic road atlas that people used to take on trips. Gave me a general sense of where everything is in relation to other things. I'm betting kids aren't doing that much these days.
 

batz

G.O.A.T.
Estoril has a famous motor racing track - it's also one of the best colours ever produced for a car (BMW Estoril Blue)
 

THESEXPISTOL

Hall of Fame
Estoril has a famous motor racing track - it's also one of the best colours ever produced for a car (BMW Estoril Blue)

Here we go! ;-)

Portugal is like suburban Spain. Kidding.

There's a funny story about that. A portuguese clothing brand paid Jonathan Togo and Eva La Rue from CSI MIAMI cast to visit Portugal and make a few appearances on public events in order to represent the brand.
When a few reporters asked Togo what he liked the most about Portugal he said that he loved Paella (Spanish food) and couldn't wait to party in Ibiza (Spanish island). And he was actually quite surprised and even doubted when they told him the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is portuguese.
The brand was very embarrassed.
 

wintintu

Hall of Fame
Portugal is like suburban Spain. Kidding.

But, it is Spain's neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula. Generally west of Spain, but also south of a portion of Spain, since it's coast doesn't run the entire length of the peninsula.

I was a total geography nerd as a kid. I would sit and listen to headphones and look at my parents' world atlas. And, I would look at metro area and state maps in the gigantic road atlas that people used to take on trips. Gave me a general sense of where everything is in relation to other things. I'm betting kids aren't doing that much these days.

I had a fascination with geography as a youngster too - still do really! World capitals etc! Maybe we should start a geography thread! But yeah not a bad idea to change the name from Estoril Open to Portugal Open
 

merwy

G.O.A.T.
And I bet the reason is outside of Europe (and a few other places where they teach geography) no one knew whe the hell Estoril is! I bet 99.9% of Americans ,don't even know where Portugal is and couldn't find it on the map.

I'm Dutch and I've never heard of Estoril, no idea that it was in Portugal. But are you serious about not being able to find Portugal on a map? You should be able to.. it's right next to spain. If you can locate Spain on a map, you can locate Portugal as well.
 

wintintu

Hall of Fame
My friend..........they had some fun a few years ago testing Americans on geography.........something like 33% of those asked to point out FLORIDA on a map picked the location of CAPE COD, Mass --------- quite a few thousand miles to the north.

Show the avg Yank a map of Europe and they might, maybe just might get 3 or 4 of the countries. And I'm talking about college educated ones!

Portugal the "red headed step child" for sure overshadowed by Spain.........I'm French and knew where Estoril was when I was a kid......we learned about he whole Iberian region before I was 10!

this amazes me
 

THESEXPISTOL

Hall of Fame
Is the food in the town / province really that magnificent? Every time I hear about the tournament I start dreaming about vinho verde.

I'm a little biased because i'm portuguese. But the food there is magnificent. You got great meat dishes like in any region of Portugal and in that particular region you've got the best seafood dishes in the world. You would be amazed.
Vinho Verde is very nice, almost every kind of that wine comes from vineyards in my region. We are very proud in our heritage as winemakers.
 

egn

Hall of Fame
And I bet the reason is outside of Europe (and a few other places where they teach geography) no one knew whe the hell Estoril is! I bet 99.9% of Americans ,don't even know where Portugal is and couldn't find it on the map.

Want to arrange a bet that's 10% of your yearly salary for the rest of your life that I can prove this horrible assumption wrong with ease.

My friend..........they had some fun a few years ago testing Americans on geography.........something like 33% of those asked to point out FLORIDA on a map picked the location of CAPE COD, Mass --------- quite a few thousand miles to the north.

Show the avg Yank a map of Europe and they might, maybe just might get 3 or 4 of the countries. And I'm talking about college educated ones!

Portugal the "red headed step child" for sure overshadowed by Spain.........I'm French and knew where Estoril was when I was a kid......we learned about he whole Iberian region before I was 10!

You expect me to believe an American in college can't point out Florida on a map and would point to Massachusetts. Sorry, what did he ask like 5 American tourists who were drunk out of their mind and dropped out of high school? As I know zero people who went to college who can not distinguish between Massachusetts and Florida.

Please tell us about yourself, explain what makes you so qualified to make ridiculous assumptions about a whole nation? Congrats on learning about the geography of Spain, Portugal and Andorra by age 10! Hold on let me get you a gold star to tape your message board posts on your fridge.
 

MindoverMatter

Professional
As an American, I understand how enjoyable it is to poke fun at us - we like to do it to ourselves a lot of the time - but please don't take anything of these things seriously lol. I'm sure we can all point out Florida on a map. As well as Portugal.

But now that we're on the topic, can you point out Indiana on a map? As far as I know its about the same size as Portugal, and since apparently you know so much about the geography of other countries surely you must know where Indiana is? I do. In fact, I think I knew the entire United States when I was ten.
 
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thejackal

Hall of Fame
I first knew of estoril because of the F1 track. not the most exciting circuit though.

a girl I know is there right now I think. I ll have to ask her about the food. she's the defending champs in the wta doubles draw so I guess last yr it was good enough for her
 

Ico

Hall of Fame
I first knew of estoril because of the F1 track. not the most exciting circuit though.

a girl I know is there right now I think. I ll have to ask her about the food. she's the defending champs in the wta doubles draw so I guess last yr it was good enough for her

Last year's WTA doubles title champions are not participating this year. Who are you talking about?
 

thejackal

Hall of Fame
Last year's WTA doubles title champions are not participating this year. Who are you talking about?

ur right. thought zhang shuai would be there w a diff partner. chia-jung chuang had wrist surgery so shes still out. kind of a shame. a lot of undefended points.
 

Onehandedbackhand

Professional
By the way, I HATE Ferrer playing this tournament. Absolutely hate it.

Yeah, he lost to Tursunov, but trying to "warm up" against this draw will not help him at all going into a 1000 event. He also has no points to make up here.

I don't get this at all.
 
Why has the tournament changed from being in Estoril to Oeiras, even though it's being played in exactly the same place as before?
 
Estoril has a famous motor racing track - it's also one of the best colours ever produced for a car (BMW Estoril Blue)

That is indeed a great color. Though I'm more fond of the orange Koenigsegg used to have on their cars (because a properly done orange is always fantastic, especially on a supercar).
 

W.P. Mayhew

Semi-Pro
Why has the tournament changed from being in Estoril to Oeiras, even though it's being played in exactly the same place as before?

Because the location of the tournament wasn't in Estoril, and even though it's not really in Oeiras either, it's closer to Oeiras than to Estoril. I guess that's why the organization chose to go with Portugal Open instead of Oeiras Open.

Here's a map
VfQO39y.jpg
 

THESEXPISTOL

Hall of Fame
By the way, I HATE Ferrer playing this tournament. Absolutely hate it.

Yeah, he lost to Tursunov, but trying to "warm up" against this draw will not help him at all going into a 1000 event. He also has no points to make up here.

I don't get this at all.

I only took notice today that, in order for Ferrer to attend, the portuguese #1 ranked player João Sousa was not given an Wildcard by the organization. When this decision was made it was already too late for Sousa to attend the qualifying. SHAME ON THE ORGANIZATION! CALL IT PORTUGAL OPEN WITHOUT THE #1 PORTUGUESE PLAYER ON IT!

Why has the tournament changed from being in Estoril to Oeiras, even though it's being played in exactly the same place as before?

The venue is in the same exact location as before, in Oeiras, at the National Sports Center of Jamor.
It was only named "ESTORIL OPEN" because Estoril has/had a tourism program that included ATP-WTA-Tennis/Formula1-Racing/MotoGP/Golf/Food/Sailing and tennis was a great propaganda for that particular region.
Estoril and Cascais are also the hometown of cocktail parties socialites and the so-called "high society", so they must had thought it would give a more aristocratic theme to it.
 
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stringertom

Bionic Poster
My friend..........they had some fun a few years ago testing Americans on geography.........something like 33% of those asked to point out FLORIDA on a map picked the location of CAPE COD, Mass --------- quite a few thousand miles to the north.

Show the avg Yank a map of Europe and they might, maybe just might get 3 or 4 of the countries. And I'm talking about college educated ones!

Portugal the "red headed step child" for sure overshadowed by Spain.........I'm French and knew where Estoril was when I was a kid......we learned about he whole Iberian region before I was 10!

Since when is a 1,200 miles distance "quite a few thousand miles"??? It's really pathethic to poke fun at an entire nation's supposed problem with geography when you can't even master the subject yourself, especially when you live in one of its two biggest states and a top 10 city.
 

tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
I 'll possibly bet on the match Elias vs. Istomin

my choice would go to Elias, great clay player on challenger tour, vs. Istomin, not great these last weeks especially on clay

What do you reckon?
 

THESEXPISTOL

Hall of Fame
I 'll possibly bet on the match Elias vs. Istomin

my choice would go to Elias, great clay player on challenger tour, vs. Istomin, not great these last weeks especially on clay

What do you reckon?

That's a good one. Elias is in great shape and is a decent claycourter. He should win, unless things are tight then Istomin's experience will an important role.
 
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tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
That's a good one. Elias is in great shape and is a decent claycourter. He should win, unless things are tight then Istomin's experience will an important role.
thanx for your opinion, i placed 30€ @1.80
we'll see tomorrow

Ferrer struggling to Edouard Roger Vasselin

I assume Ferrer will not reach the french open semis this time
 

Onehandedbackhand

Professional
Ferrer struggled, but pulled it out.

At his age, one of two things is going to come from this. A. He's going to work harder and make one final run...or B. It's the end of Top 5 Ferrer.

Odds are it's the latter, but I'm sort of intrigued. For the last five years, he's beaten everyone but the very top, and now he's having some trouble with mere mortals. We'll see what happens.

I still hate him in this tournament though.
 

tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
I 'll possibly bet on the match Elias vs. Istomin

my choice would go to Elias, great clay player on challenger tour, vs. Istomin, not great these last weeks especially on clay

What do you reckon?

That's a good one. Elias is in great shape and is a decent claycourter. He should win, unless things are tight then Istomin's experience will an important role.

thanx for your opinion, i placed 30€ @1.80
we'll see tomorrow

Ferrer struggling to Edouard Roger Vasselin

I assume Ferrer will not reach the french open semis this time

Elias 3/6 6/1 6/4
Was really nervous closing the match but he did it
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3fees

G.O.A.T.
Seppi d Falla 6-4, 6-0
Wawrinka d Ramos 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
Elias d Istomin 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Robredo d Haase 6-4, 6-4
 

norbac

Legend
Stan has a chance to win this. Ferrer has not been playing all that well lately.

Maybe Robredo can win another clay title....?
 

3fees

G.O.A.T.
Seppi d Robredo 6-4, 6-3 in to semi also.

Ferrer d Hanesu 6-4, 7-6(2)

Semifinals are Set in Portugal Open:

Ferrer vs Seppi

Wawrinka vs Busta

Looks like

Wawrinka v Ferrer or Seppi
 
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Mainad

Bionic Poster
Barring an upset in the other semi, it's panning out to be a Ferrer-Wawrinka final which most of us suspected would be the case. Ferrer leads their H2H 7-3 and is 5-1 on clay including their most recent encounter in the final of 2013 Buenos Aires. So history is on Daveed's side but, then again, he's been a bit wonky lately so an in-the-zone Stan could have his chance to finally turn the tide and claim this one.

Can't wait to see how this one will pan out!
 
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