2019 Swiss Indoors (Basel) - ATP 500 Thread
- Thread starter Enceladus
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HetTheGreaterer
Banned
EllieK
Hall of Fame
He looked like crap last year and still managed to win it.
TearTheRoofOff
G.O.A.T.
Serving nukes out of a tree is an underrated tactic.
HetTheGreaterer
Banned
Sorry to tell you that m8
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
No Fed-Stan match thread!?
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
Stan pulled out with a back injury.
King No1e
G.O.A.T.
The handsome one?The handsome one held his nerve and defeated Zverev. Good job!
Say what you will about Zverev's tennis, but he's easily the best looking player on tour.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Not willing to provide the home crowd with an all-Swiss quarter-final eh? Very disappointing.
Stan has had a very lacklustre history at his country's premier tournament. In 13 appearances in Basel, he has made the semis only twice (2006 l.to Gonzalez, 2011 l.to Federer). He fought hard against Tiafoe earlier on and didn't call the trainer on at any point (as far as I could tell) so I can't help but wonder if this sudden back problem is mainly an excuse to avoid playing Fed?
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Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
I caught the 3rd set and like you, I didn't see anything amiss physically with him. He was pumped up and happy to win...Not willing to provide the home crowd with an all-Swiss quarter-final eh? Very disappointing.
Stan has had a very lacklustre history at his country's premier tournament. In 13 appearances in Basel, he has made the semis only twice (2006 l.to Gonzalez, 2011 l.to Federer). He fought hard against Tiafoe earlier on and didn't call the trainer on at any point (as far as I could tell) so I can't help but wonder if this sudden back problem is mainly an excuse to avoid playing Fed?
They've both said in the past that they don't like playing each other and it's probably even more the case now being in Basel and Federer nearing the end of his career. I wouldn't doubt it at all that this was something like that. In fact, it's the first thing I thought.
Federer and Del Potro
Bionic Poster
"Check your paypal account, Stan. Thank you for your custom"
oldmanfan
Legend
Not willing to provide the home crowd with an all-Swiss quarter-final eh? Very disappointing.
Stan has had a very lacklustre history at his country's premier tournament. In 13 appearances in Basel, he has made the semis only twice (2006 l.to Gonzalez, 2011 l.to Federer). He fought hard against Tiafoe earlier on and didn't call the trainer on at any point (as far as I could tell) so I can't help but wonder if this sudden back problem is mainly an excuse to avoid playing Fed?
An informed twitterer said it happened in the final game against Tiafoe.
Maybe this moment?:
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
I missed that somehow. The last game was a really long one lasting 11-12 mins. My stream cut out for a moment. Maybe that's when it happened. Still, his celebration didn't look like an injured guy celebration and check this out from last year.
https://www.ubitennis.net/2018/10/stan-wawrinka-withdraws-basel-due-back-injury-ends-season/
Maybe it's legit... I dunno.
oldmanfan
Legend
It's very likely to be legit.
I really don't have a reason to doubt Stan. It's not like he has been 50:50 against Fedr on HC, not to mention indoors, to make this seem like he's throwing the match. He's won zero out of 23 matches against Fedr outside of clay, most of them on HC and a few on grass. Also, this is Basel, his home tournament. If his health was not at risk, it stands to reason that he'd show up for the fans, his respect/friendship with Fedr, and take the likely loss, based on their history (tanking or not). He showed up at RG15 and beat Fedr, no? And he fought and beat Fedr to win MC too, even though he was down a set.
Stan pulled out very early for this match, so his condition might be worse than we think (or maybe he's being SUPER cautious bc he's much older now and still wants to play for as long as he can).
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
Those are all good points and I could be wrong, but I think their friendship is why he would do it instead of the other way around. The way I see it is that Federer was going to win anyway. Stan knows it, Roger knows it. It's a way to avoid all the running and time on court for the bigger picture when it comes to both guys. They would never admit it. Normally I wouldn't make this type of assumption btw. Just feel that way this time around.
oldmanfan
Legend
I hear ya. I just don't share the same opinion.
I mean, Stan had less belief before his first win against Fedr, but I'm not sure if Stan has ever given Fedr a walkover, and they've played 26 times. Now that he's beaten Fedr 3 times, he has even more reason to believe that he can win, even on hc. And again, this is Basel, the least likely place Stan would disappoint the live audience by not showing up, especially against Fedr. For the Swiss fans, this is the most marquee match, and those are both of Fedrinka's home fans.
Stan (34yo) came from playing a full tourney last week (losing the finals in 3 against Murray). He just played 2 matches on back-to-back days only 3 days later, with a grueling 3 setter against Tiafoe. This is the end of the season, so his body may simply be worn out, resulting in the reported injury. You chose to be skeptical of it, and that's fine, but I chose to believe what Stan is telling us.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
it's Federer's fault
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
This is the second most predictable matchup in tennis after Djokovic-Nishikori. Even if Wawrinka didn't pull out there wouldn't be anything interesting about this match.
RF-18
Talk Tennis Guru
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
This is a different situation, no?
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
Breakpointerer
Legend
NahiNikal laude...
Pehli fursat mein nikal...
HetTheGreaterer
Banned
Do you even know hindi/gujarati??!!
Breakpointerer
Legend
I know hindi, I'm Indian lolDo you even know hindi/gujarati??!!
Fedforever
Hall of Fame
Perhaps he didn't want to risk his HtoH?Not willing to provide the home crowd with an all-Swiss quarter-final eh? Very disappointing.
Stan has had a very lacklustre history at his country's premier tournament. In 13 appearances in Basel, he has made the semis only twice (2006 l.to Gonzalez, 2011 l.to Federer). He fought hard against Tiafoe earlier on and didn't call the trainer on at any point (as far as I could tell) so I can't help but wonder if this sudden back problem is mainly an excuse to avoid playing Fed?
Breakpointerer
Legend
Not much to risk though, I mean it's terrible anyway, what's another loss?Perhaps he didn't want to risk his HtoH?
Fedforever
Hall of Fame
I don't know about Stan but I'm sure there's a quote somewhere from Fed saying the only player he didn't like playing was Marco Chiudinelli. I can't find it again immediately though.
I'd imagine Stan doesn't enjoy playing Fed very much.....
TearTheRoofOff
G.O.A.T.
Pelka O'Reilly NUKING his way to a one set lead.
Enceladus
Legend
That would be an even weaker final opponent than was Chris Lewis in the 1983 Wimbledon final, where losing to John McEnroe.
SeeingDusk
Hall of Fame
Who does federer play next?
Breakpointerer
Legend
Winner of Tsitsipas vs Krajinovic
Harry_Wild
G.O.A.T.
Watch replay of Tsitsipas vs. Krajinovic match. Krajinovic takes 1st 6-3! Big win for Krajinovic if he can win the 2nd set!
HetTheGreaterer
Banned
The small kid has other ideas though
FedGR
Professional
The handsome one?
Say what you will about Zverev's tennis, but he's easily the best looking player on tour.
Latetothegame
Semi-Pro
The handsome one?
Say what you will about Zverev's tennis, but he's easily the best looking player on tour.
Frank Bannister
Semi-Pro
I think it was during Miami Federer said he'd prefer if Stan was never in his section. Sometimes he contradicts it I think because he sort of has to since Wawrinka would never advance if they always avoided each other. A lot of their contests are without emotion. It's the match up I enjoy the least and from what I can tell and read, it's true for them too. Whipping your friend's ass over and over again can get old and strain the friendship after a while. I don't think Federer is selfish enough to enjoy doing it repeatedly.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Man, I don't find either Zverev or the Greek remotely attractive. Horses for courses in this case. As they say, taste can't be disputed.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Pretty much an impossible trivial statistic to match...both SFs feature fourth time scheduled matchups within the same season and the matchups never occurred before this year. fedr ruined the symmetry by giving the walkover to Shoesypas in Rome. They are 1-1. AdM leads 3-0 vs Reilly Big Opelka.
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