albertobra
Hall of Fame
Not sure Key will go through Gasquet, and haven't see Nishi play actually, but I was impressed by Gasquet today. Very sharp and calibrated groundstrokes, some killer dropshots and serving well.
2018 Tokyo - ATP 500
- Thread starter Meles
- Start date
I Am Finnish
Bionic Poster
Sheesh, he sure has come a long way. I refuse to watch him unless it's live, so I'll take your word for it that he's been playing well all week.
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
Let's pray that Shapo sends the Bullsheet Russian packing
PeteD
Legend
300 DF's this year is already outdated of course, since Shap hit several more against Struff, including one in Set 2 TB that almost sealed the fate of the young man. Luckily Stuff either got hurt, tired, or just hit a lull. But as for DF #1, Shap's working on keeping his crown!
PeteD
Legend
Med has been taking his meds this tourney. He also won Winston Salem and another hard this year. And lets face it Shap got lucky against Struff last round. We'll see tonight. I might not see the whole match. I don't pass out but I do go to sleep.Let's pray that Shapo sends the Bullsheet Russian packing
Gary Duane
Talk Tennis Guru
What is interesting: Shapo is close to Fed in aces per game. Fed was .61 the last time I checked, all surfaces, career, meaning that for every 10 games he plays, expect him to average 6 aces.
Shapo was .60 last week, career. For a young player, this is very good. He is .56 this year, still not too bad for a young guy. But for regularly DFing, he's up there with these guys:
Philippoussis
Becker
Groth
Rosset
When you subtract DFs from aces and average by game, Karlovic has a net of 1.2 career, AS, meaning in every 10 games he's going to have a net 12 points that no one hits after subtracting DFs. He is, of course, the standard bearer.
Fed is .46, which is of course good and probably second only to Sampras for guys 6'1 or under.
Shapo is .13, just above Nadal at .12
Draw your own conclusions. Mine is that Shapo has amazing talent but at this point has a very low tennis IQ.
PeteD
Legend
That's fascinating stuff. The Karlovic stat is amazing. I bet Milos has a good net average, with his good second serves. Maybe not this year though.
As for Shapo, he could be showing low IQ, maybe he's just kinda goofy teenager. Hope it's the latter and grows out of it.
GrassCourtFan
Legend
That conclusion is unsupported by the data.
I’d just conclude that he has poor control over his second serve.
I’d just conclude that he has poor control over his second serve.
I Am Finnish
Bionic Poster
If you look at the h2h Gasquet is a bad match up
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
Just look at what Shapo is trying to do when he racks up majority of these double faults, it's generally always the more low percentage 2nd serve for Shapo (ad side down the Tee, deuce out wide), plenty of times with a little extra pace involved. I just think he needs to calm the F down somewhat, and go with a little more margin, especially on the bigger points.
Gary Duane
Talk Tennis Guru
Karlovic, Isner and Raonic top the list at 1.18, 1.09 and .90, and to show you how amazing that is, Roddick, in 5th place, is .76. Roddick leads everyone at his height.
Sampras, at #15, leads all players we have stats on over the last 17 years or so for his height, .55, and he DF-ed way more than today's players because he didn't have poly to put more safety on the 2nd serve, but also because he was a gambler. What we don't have are stats on different points - how many DFs on BPs, now many happen at deuce, now many at 40/30, 40/15, 40/love. I suspect, though I can't prove it, that Pete was very smart about WHEN he DFed. No one his height even comes close on this stat.
I think his aces are encouraging. He's very loose. At around 6' he seems to have the livest arm, and he gets a ton of work on the ball. I think all the DFing is immaturity.
gogo
Legend
Sorry I wasn't there last night, Meles. I was working on my beauty sleep before heading off to work, where I was focused on improving the direction of humanity! No small task! (o.k., I was simply headed off to work, where I do believe we do a great job.)
gogo
Legend
I agree. Where I have taken some hope is what I saw in Davis Cup. Denis was doing his usual go-for-it-all on every shot and not being terribly successful. He came out in the final set and started hitting loopy shots. Yes, I said Shapo was hitting loopy shots. He won the set. I believe the DC coach convinced him to change his tactics. Shapo saw that it worked.
Has that lesson lasted? Probably not 100%, but I did see him play some 'buy some time shots' and some 'let's set up the point construction with some more conservative shots' in Tokyo. And they paid off. He'd be out of the tourney by now if he hadn't used them.
In his post-match interview Denis eluded to biding his time and not always going for it. So, I think his brain knows this makes sense, and it will take a couple of years for him to build it into his instinctive play. THAT is why I think Denis actually will continue to improve.
GrassCourtFan
Legend
IMO he's always had that variety. I remember at the US Open 2017, when he beat Tsonga, that's part of what really impressed me - he was mixing it up, loopy shots with flat balls, constructing points instead of just swinging away.
The transition to a higher level means doing the same thing, but bigger - i.e. his "go for it" shots of a year ago need to become his "rally balls" of next year. And he's doing it! His backhand looks super solid to me now, even though he's hitting it really hard still. He didn't take anything off of it, he just practiced and made it more consistent.
Same thing with his serve. I completely disagree that he needs to take something off of it and be more conservative with it to get it in. He needs to hit it just as aggressively as he's hitting now, and improve it so he's not missing as many.
The transition to a higher level means doing the same thing, but bigger - i.e. his "go for it" shots of a year ago need to become his "rally balls" of next year. And he's doing it! His backhand looks super solid to me now, even though he's hitting it really hard still. He didn't take anything off of it, he just practiced and made it more consistent.
Same thing with his serve. I completely disagree that he needs to take something off of it and be more conservative with it to get it in. He needs to hit it just as aggressively as he's hitting now, and improve it so he's not missing as many.
gogo
Legend
We'll have to disagree to some point. I agree that he changes things up, and occasionally takes some speed off a ball, but I've never seen him play a match where he used the non-killer style for more than a stroke or two in a row for such an extended time.
PeteD
Legend
Shapo tries too hard on 2nd serves due to lack of confidence in his ground game.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Odd as Med's game is quite similar to Simon.Sheesh, he sure has come a long way. I refuse to watch him unless it's live, so I'll take your word for it that he's been playing well all week.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
I on the other hand did stay up and watch not having much beauty to preserve by a sleeping process. But it was on the TV in my bedroom away from my computer. Hope you're watching tonight @gogo as improving the direction of humanity can wait to after Shapo wins this thing. #Sleepisfortheweak
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
Lol, please, not that again.....Odd as Med's game is quite similar to Simon.
gogo
Legend
But Shapo doesn't start play until 1am or so tonight (EST). I've got Thanksgiving grocery shopping and meal planning to do early in the A.M. followed by major house cleaning (after a 50 hour week, last week, as senior management at work). There are only so many hours in the day. I fit tennis fandom in where I can.
P.S. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to my fellow Canucks here on TT Tennis!
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
But Shapo doesn't start play until 1am or so tonight (EST). I've got Thanksgiving grocery shopping and meal planning to do early in the A.M. followed by major house cleaning (after a 50 hour week, last week, as senior management at work). There are only so many hours in the day. I fit tennis fandom in where I can.
P.S. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to my fellow Canucks here on TT Tennis!
I'm making ham, potato scallop, and beans. The ham will be cooked for 6 hours at 275 with cloves, basted often using ginger ale and maple syrup with a slight broiling at the end to brown it a little.
Meles
Bionic Poster
GrassCourtFan
Legend
Shapo and Med on court!
Some great points already. Shapo with a deft lob, it's good to see him using (or trying to use) some feel this week.
Some great points already. Shapo with a deft lob, it's good to see him using (or trying to use) some feel this week.
Meles
Bionic Poster
I think Med is going to get him this time with his consistency at this event.
GrassCourtFan
Legend
Shapo gets broken to love - 1 fh error, 1 df, one good dipping pass from Med and then another forehand unforced error. Not a good start.
Meles
Bionic Poster
He's going to be tempted into blowing Med off the court which won't be all that easy given his defense this week and in St. Petersburg.
Meles
Bionic Poster
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