Dolgopolov in Form

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

Dolgo's form on the road to Roland Garros is, in a word, "scintillating."

Yes, I know one match does not form make, and we've all seen Dolgo blow hot and cold since he first broke into the top 100 in January, 2010. One match he dazzles us, the next he disappoints us.

If his first round Monte Carlo match vs. J.I. Chela (with 21 winners against Chela's one) is any indication of his current form, Alex Dolgo fans are gonna enjoy this clay season all the way to it's destination, Roland Garros! Next step on that road is Dolgo v Tomic in less than an hour.

So what's your prediction?
Will Alex stay on track and surpass his best French Open showing of third round? He's currently no. 21 on the ATP world tour rankings and no. 28 on today's Race to London, having improved two levels already this week with his first round victory ...

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

Dolgo consolidates the early break, 3-0

hummin along that road so far!

btw, Bernie's dad is there, looking PO'd ATM

ledwix · Apr 18, 2012

Dolgopolov must be Tomic's most frequent opponent on tour. He's played him 5 times and has only 65 career matches.

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

ledwix said:
Dolgopolov must be Tomic's most frequent opponent on tour. He's played him 5 times and has only 65 career matches.

really? I thought it was only four times. maybe one was in challengers? at any rate, of the four I know of, only one was finished in straights, so on paper that might happen again today.

regardless, Dolgo takes the first set with a break, 6-2
more errors than yesterday to start, but he's dialing it in. Lookin like Alex is gonna take this one in straights ...

niff · Apr 18, 2012

Hope Bern can take this set.

kimbahpnam · Apr 18, 2012

Love Game said:

wth....where's the racquet? Trippy.....

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

kimbahpnam said:
wth....where's the racquet? Trippy.....

it's there ... but this is just a screen cap, which can't capture fast motion very well at all, so that means the racket is moving very fast

i know you know that already ... it's a good point to show that dolgo has a very fast service motion indeed ...

=====

woof! :shock:
second set almost complete turn-around, atomic taking it 75

Zildite · Apr 18, 2012

Classic hot and cold Alex.
Win in the bank. Djokovic in the next round

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

Zildite said:
Classic hot and cold Alex.
Win in the bank. Djokovic in the next round

aaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!! ooops looks like the monte carlo road w/b a short one after all

Bernie did play a lot better in the second set, but Alex went cold in addition, donating 22 UEs that set! :shock:

ah well, it's been fun, Alex ... see ya in madrid

Bobby Jr · Apr 18, 2012

Just watched this match. Man, if Dolgopolov could channel his efforts and not have the lulls he so often does he would be a permanent top 10 player. He's one guy who, with a little more consistency, would be the no-one would want to see in their section of the draw.

On another note, he should try to coax Fabrice Santoro to play some doubles with him. I'm sure Santoro would still be pretty handy at doubles. They would make an amazingly entertaining combo.

pennc94 · Apr 18, 2012

Bobby Jr said:
On another note, he should try to coax Fabrice Santoro to play some doubles with him. I'm sure Santoro would still be pretty handy at doubles. They would make an amazingly entertaining combo.

I know what you mean, but I am not sure their "shenanigans" translate well to doubles.

Love Game · Apr 18, 2012

Bobby Jr said:
Just watched this match. Man, if Dolgopolov could channel his efforts and not have the lulls he so often does he would be a permanent top 10 player. He's one guy who, with a little more consistency, would be the no-one would want to see in their section of the draw.

On another note, he should try to coax Fabrice Santoro to play some doubles with him. I'm sure Santoro would still be pretty handy at doubles. They would make an amazingly entertaining combo.

Top 10 ... that's what I was wondering about the other day. The highest Alex has been ranked was no. 13 in January of this year, but now he's no. 21

His game is high risk, and I'm not sure, but sometimes I think he'd rather lose a match than play conservatively ........ seems he should rise in the rankings during the clay season, but there's a lot of competition for the top 10 spots, tho I'd like to see him make it by RG

Bobby Jr · Apr 18, 2012

Love Game said:
His game is high risk, and I'm not sure, but sometimes I think he'd rather lose a match than play conservatively ........ seems he should rise in the rankings during the clay season, but there's a lot of competition for the top 10 spots, tho I'd like to see him make it by RG

I agree... but, with only minor improvement in consistency, he would be a fundamentally better player than Fish, Isner, Tipsarevic or Almagro.

Marius_Hancu · Apr 18, 2012

good task to focus on tomorrow

Love Game · Apr 19, 2012

Marius_Hancu said:
good task to focus on tomorrow

focus is the word. dolgo's as limber as djoko, but he's not as strong. he has maybe as good movement around the court, but he takes more chances ... here goes ...

Love Game · Apr 19, 2012

Oh my. Didnt see this coming. Dolgo takes first set from Djoko 6-2

sillymonkey · Apr 19, 2012

What a lovely way to wake up...go dolgo

The Bawss · Apr 19, 2012

Dolgo owning the resident GOAT. I like it.

JayChu · Apr 19, 2012

The Bawss said:
Dolgo owning the resident GOAT. I like it.

You do realize that the resident GOAT is suffering from a tragic loss as he found out that his grandfather passed away a few hours ago.

Love Game · Apr 19, 2012

JayChu said:
You do realize that the resident GOAT is suffering from a tragic loss as he found out that his grandfather passed away a few hours ago.

omg that's terrible for him. no wonder he seems distracted. brave of him to play under the circumstances.

fanTAStic BH by Alex there. He's putting the no. 1 thru his paces, and novak is up a break here in the second, soooo

to tell the truth, it might be easier for novak if he doesnt have to play more matches at this tragic time.

ZeroSkid · Apr 19, 2012

If only Nishikori managed managed to win against berdych he could of owned dogopolov like he did in shanghai, why nishikori, why!

Connors Fan · Apr 19, 2012

I just love Dolgo, got to see him at Indian Wells. He was the only player I specifically wanted to watch play.

Sadly, once he reached Nadal, he simply seemed overmatched, and his game didnt translate very well against him. Most fun player to watch right now for me.

Marius_Hancu · Apr 19, 2012

played well against Djoko, except at the end
not enough mentally tough

Mainad · Apr 19, 2012

ZeroSkid said:
If only Nishikori managed managed to win against berdych he could of owned dogopolov like he did in shanghai, why nishikori, why!

If he had beaten Berdych he would be facing Murray whom he has not taken a set off in their only 2 meetings and if he had beaten Murray he would be facing Djokovic or Haase. He would never have come across Dolgopolov!

ZeroSkid · Apr 19, 2012

Mainad said:
If he had beaten Berdych he would be facing Murray whom he has not taken a set off in their only 2 meetings and if he had beaten Murray he would be facing Djokovic or Haase. He would never have come across Dolgopolov!

Oh I thought he would be facing the winner of Novak's match, having said that every time nishikori has faced murray he has had nothing left in the tank, like in shanghai when he beat tsonga, berdych and dolgpolov, and then had to face berdych and the he played all of his matches in 5 sets including the win over tsonga at the Australian open and then he had to face murray, I'm not saying he would beat murray but I do think he could have taken a set.

Bobby Jr · Apr 19, 2012

Marius_Hancu said:
played well against Djoko, except at the end
not enough mentally tough

Yep, and a matter of only a couple of inside-in forehands which clipped the tape earlier in the set.

His temperament which swings between amazing game-craft and all-out winner hitting would make him almost unbeatable if he could just get better at picking his moments to do each. I hope his game matures as he ages - he is so interesting to watch when he's playing well.

boramiNYC · Apr 19, 2012

I don't know about Dolgo. He seems to be going through the stylistic limit. Last year was his Cinderella moment but other players are figuring him out. And his loss in Casablanca was so revealing how couldn't save himself when hitting that limit. His confidence might erode slowly once he starts losing more to lower ranked players. Novelty of his game is wearing out and I don't know how he can make any real improvement in his game.

Love Game · May 14, 2012

Two Minutes to Match

My prediction is Dolgo in 2 or 3, maybe 3

Love Game · May 14, 2012

wow it's windy out there.
their tennis togs are blowing around like flags.

carlos bernardes mentioned something about the wind vis-a-vis court grooming

Russeljones · May 14, 2012

Their 1st meeting, interesting.

Russeljones · May 14, 2012

Verdasco's toss is funny

Marius_Hancu · May 14, 2012

what was this
bagel, ret.???
not too good for RG

rainingaces · May 14, 2012

My question to alex is why Douflopalotov?

There was nothing much wrong why him no fight this one.

Warmaster · May 14, 2012

Marius_Hancu said:
what was this
bagel, ret.???
not too good for RG

From what I could see of it, he appeared to have some stomach problems, but I'm not sure.

rainingaces · May 14, 2012

Warmaster said:
From what I could see of it, he appeared to have some stomach problems, but I'm not sure.

I think that bagel he ate gave him diarrhoea.

SLD76 · May 14, 2012

he is still reeling from the effects of blue clay.

coloskier · May 14, 2012

SLD76 said:
he is still reeling from the effects of blue clay.

I guess no one told him that he was supposed to play on it, not snort it.

Russeljones · May 14, 2012

Dolgopolov seemed absolutely fine physically. He was struggling with the wind and just couldn't find any sort of form. I guess he simply gave up.

Nostradamus · May 14, 2012

Russeljones said:
Dolgopolov seemed absolutely fine physically. He was struggling with the wind and just couldn't find any sort of form. I guess he simply gave up.

Nando's big muscles were just too intimidating.

jakemcclain32 · May 14, 2012

Russeljones said:
Dolgopolov seemed absolutely fine physically. He was struggling with the wind and just couldn't find any sort of form. I guess he simply gave up.

Pansy ass thing to do if he did. Lots of players get a bagel and come back strong.

If there was nothing wrong, and he quit, i've lost all respect for him.

Russeljones · May 14, 2012

Think about it, the guy has plenty of shots, it must be the stuff between his ears that's holding him back.

Rob_C · May 15, 2012

Russeljones said:
Dolgopolov seemed absolutely fine physically. He was struggling with the wind and just couldn't find any sort of form. I guess he simply gave up.

jakemcclain32 said:
Pansy ass thing to do if he did. Lots of players get a bagel and come back strong.

If there was nothing wrong, and he quit, i've lost all respect for him.

Russeljones said:
Think about it, the guy has plenty of shots, it must be the stuff between his ears that's holding him back.

Do you guys have The TennisChannel?? Did you guys watch the match?? The commentators said he hadn't eaten in two days. If that's true I dont know what he was doing out there in the 1st place. Pull out and let a LL at least give a legitimate effort.

Love Game · Jun 28, 2012

Rob_C said:
Do you guys have The TennisChannel?? Did you guys watch the match?? The commentators said he hadn't eaten in two days. If that's true I dont know what he was doing out there in the 1st place. Pull out and let a LL at least give a legitimate effort.

hmmm ... interesting question ... what would be the reaction by spectators if they heard a player had withdrawn because he SAID he hadn't eaten for two days? I wonder whether witnesses would have to be called, given the fact that fans tend to be sceptical of anything they suspect is an "excuse."

========================

anyway ... I'm looking forward VERY MUCH to seeing Alex's performance on one of the show courts (finally). He's playing Benoit Paire on Court 16. Their match is 3rd after McHale/Johansson and Falla/Mahut.

go, Dolgo, gooooooooo!!!

ruerooo · Jun 28, 2012

Russeljones said:
Think about it, the guy has plenty of shots, it must be the stuff between his ears that's holding him back.

That and his blood disorder.

He's ranked #21 in the world. I'm not sure I'd even be playing, with health problems like he's got.

Makes it worse when people who don't know what he's struggling with criticize him for other things.

:-?

Stinkdyr · Jun 28, 2012

I haven't seen Dolgopolov play in a while. Is he still trying to look like Martina Hingis?

rainingaces · Jun 28, 2012

Real good form against paire. Dolgo is a mug and always will be.

Love Game · Jun 28, 2012

Stinkdyr said:
I haven't seen Dolgopolov play in a while. Is he still trying to look like Martina Hingis?

At every opportunity .....

Love Game · Jun 28, 2012

ruerooo said:
That and his blood disorder.

He's ranked #21 in the world. I'm not sure I'd even be playing, with health problems like he's got.

Makes it worse when people who don't know what he's struggling with criticize him for other things.

:-?

Hi, ruerooo!

do you by any chance happen to remember the name of that syndrome? I've only heard it mentioned once and I looked it up on that day. Thought I'd never forget the name ... but, of course I have forgotten. all I remember is that, as you said, it's a blood disorder ... it's rare, it's genetic, and it requires intravenous infusion every so often.

Must admit I was looking forward to the match today, but with all the buffering and fuzziness of the free stream, didnt see much, finally gave up. the part I did see was, I must admit, not Alex at his best. He actually did look tired, even looked disappointed with himself. Seemed listless, washed out, and Paire has been performing pretty well lately. In fact, Paire's grass court record this year is now 5-1.

just checked the stats. for the year of 2012, dolgo has played 30 matches in toto and has won 16 of them. Contrastingly, paire has played 33 matches and won 18 of them. Not much of a difference, so the point about how alex is currently ranked 21 (while benoit is ranked 51 atm) is a valid one.

Netspirit · Jun 28, 2012

LG, I like your new Wozzy avatar.

Love Game · Jun 30, 2012

Netspirit said:
LG, I like your new Wozzy avatar.

Thx, Netspirit!

just noticed the name of your city for the first time. never having been that far north, myself, I looked it up ... quite nice ... seems well planned, not too overgrown at all ... do you enjoy it?

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