ATP 500 - Erste Bank Open (Vienna)

Who wins in Vienna (2024)?

  • Alex de Minaur

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Frances Tiafoe

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Lorenzo Musetti

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Alexei Popyrin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
Over in Austria, Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur headline the field. Wildcards Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori are also in the draw.

view-dome-Vienna-St-Peters-pseudo-Gothic-Votive.jpg


Top seeds:

1. Alexander Zverev [3]
2. Alex de Minaur [9]
3. Grigor Dimitrov [10]
4. Tommy Paul [13]
5. Frances Tiafoe [15]
6. Lorenzo Musetti [18]
7. Jack Draper [19]
8. Alexei Popyrin [24]

Tommy Paul and Karen Khachanov are coming in on the heels of a title in Stockholm and Almaty, respectively.
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
Mensik and Popyrin battling it out so far. A couple of break points for Mensik, and one for Popyrin already.
 
This could be an interesting tournament from the point of view of the race. AdM with a chance to play himself onto contention, possibly even into 8th if he wins, depending on results in Vienna. Paul or Dimitrov could put themselves into convention with a win. Meanwhile, if Zverev wins here, it'll put him into second in the race. Should he enter the Finals as #2, we could potentially get Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic in the same group ...
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
This could be an interesting tournament from the point of view of the race. AdM with a chance to play himself onto contention, possibly even into 8th if he wins, depending on results in Vienna. Paul or Dimitrov could put themselves into convention with a win. Meanwhile, if Zverev wins here, it'll put him into second in the race. Should he enter the Finals as #2, we could potentially get Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic in the same group ...

AdM is through, but looking a bit rickety. Cobolli up next for Taz.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
It's Thiemover. :cry:

I still can't believe a wrist injury derailed Thiem's career and he never regained his former success.

Was cruel to see how Darderi pummelled over and over again his one-handed backhand, a bit like Paul was able to do against Dimitrov and Dommi unable to escape with success more often than not. Usually it was Thiem who was hammering away inside-out, stepping in to deliver a crisp down the line backhand or going inside-in once the opening was there.

Where has this player gone? Lack of movement, lack of his big forehand and in the end of his beautiful backhand drive too, sad to see if you witnessed his mighty strokes in epic duels. All things pass away but who could have thought seven years ago that the 'Price of Clay' and king Nadal would step down in the same year?

Had to have a drink today. To new goals Dommi and thanks for the great moments!
 
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Gotta love Mensik. Irresistible!
Yah man. Would like to see the kid do well. Good job to get through against Popyrin in straights. Was hoping Michelson too could do well, but he's out to Giron.

...............Had to have a drink today. To new goals Dommi and thanks for the great moments!
I'll join you in raising a glass to Dominic - cheers, wishing him a happy, healthy future.

As for the contenders here, can Tommy show the focus / excellent form he did at Stockholm? I'd like to see a youngster or Grigor / Lorenzo win this title.
 
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Arak

Legend
Anyone watched Tiafoe match? It seems he shouted FU at the umpire at close range after winning the first set. Not sure what happened there. He should have been disqualified especially that this is the second similar offence in a very short period of time.
 

KantenKlaar

Hall of Fame
Anyone watched Tiafoe match? It seems he shouted FU at the umpire at close range after winning the first set. Not sure what happened there. He should have been disqualified especially that this is the second similar offence in a very short period of time.
I watched with one eye, reading with the other and saw something going on. Could not make out what it was about, just thought Tiafoe was skating on thin ice.
 

Winner Sinner

Hall of Fame
Nice victory for Berrettini after a long battle with Tiafoe. In my opinion, the level that the Italian will have in this last part of the season will determine the fate of the now imminent Davis Cup f8.
 

NaDjoFed

Professional
Nice victory for Berrettini after a long battle with Tiafoe. In my opinion, the level that the Italian will have in this last part of the season will determine the fate of the now imminent Davis Cup f8.

Italy should be the favourite there, both in single matches (Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini), also in doble with one if not the best double couple (Vavassori/Bolelli). I expect an Italy - Spain final. The "old" Spanish guys besides Alcaraz are in great form.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Italy should be the favourite there, both in single matches (Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini), also in doble with one if not the best double couple (Vavassori/Bolelli). I expect an Italy - Spain final. The "old" Spanish guys besides Alcaraz are in great form.

Watch quite a bit of Berrettini against Tiafoe and my impressions are:

1) Skills age well, his serve plus was often clinical and neutral balls to his forehand meant trouble.

2) On hardcourt he struggles against flat strokes into his backhand but also with his forehand as he wants to make hay there.

3) Against flat hitters like Tiafoe his slice can keep the cross-court exchange pretty neutral.

4) His movement was never elite and this was Foe’s biggest advantage. Not much inside-out or inside-in threat once the rally started and sometimes compromised strokes.

——-

a) Elo reflects his current strenght better than the ranking

b) RBA could be a bad matchup for him in Malaga, would need a good game plan…

c) Sinner/Berrettini could make a very strong pairing, huge serves and good net skills and good break chances with Sinner returning. Would still go with Vava/Bole
 

Winner Sinner

Hall of Fame
Italy should be the favourite there, both in single matches (Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini), also in doble with one if not the best double couple (Vavassori/Bolelli). I expect an Italy - Spain final. The "old" Spanish guys besides Alcaraz are in great form.
Yes, on paper the Italian team should be the favorite, not always theoretically having many weak points. Here it is on paper since the practice is a completely different matter. At the level of second singles player, every outcome of any matchups can be a lottery precisely because both Berrettini and Musetti for different reasons at the moment do not convey great guarantees on hard indoor surfaces. In theory they can win as they could lose with anyone. The Bolelli-Vavassori pair is one of the best in the world, results in hand but I don't think they are the best among the participants, there are the Australian and the American ones who are absolutely no different, moreover let's remember that in national doubles competitions they see high-level singles players at Alcaraz giving their availability much more frequently and can upset the various balances of values consolidated over time in the discipline. Which is why if I were Volandri (captain of Italy) even in doubles I would completely rely on Sinner, trying to exploit his qualities in the service-return combination, exactly like in the last edition. The problem is that a Sonego, who is his ideal companion for automatisms and feeling, will almost certainly not be called up, so any pairing with Sinner will have to be improvised.

However, the United States and Spain are very close to Italy in terms of values, I would not underestimate Germany itself if Zverev were to offer its availability. Australia is also very competitive on paper.
 

Winner Sinner

Hall of Fame
Against Giron Zverev reached the highest single-match rating of 2024, taking away the record from Sinner's performance against Dimitrov in the Miami final. Djokovic climbs to third position against Safiullin even if I don't understand whether the one in Shanghai or Monte Carlo.
 

KantenKlaar

Hall of Fame
Italy should be the favourite there, both in single matches (Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini), also in doble with one if not the best double couple (Vavassori/Bolelli). I expect an Italy - Spain final. The "old" Spanish guys besides Alcaraz are in great form.
You are so right. Looking forward to this.
 

Bastion

Semi-Pro
What is the minimum expected from Mensik to make a statement of "I have arrived on the scene to compete and challenge" in 2025?
 

Winner Sinner

Hall of Fame
I have already said, Mensik is the potential response best equipped to counter the Sinneraz duopoly in the future. I have rarely seen a more physically structured player than him at his age. Obviously, that structure combines very solid basic fundamentals.
 

robyrolfo

Hall of Fame
Nice victory for Berrettini after a long battle with Tiafoe. In my opinion, the level that the Italian will have in this last part of the season will determine the fate of the now imminent Davis Cup f8.
Not so sure what Berrettini's role will be in Davis Cup. See below...

Italy should be the favourite there, both in single matches (Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini), also in doble with one if not the best double couple (Vavassori/Bolelli). I expect an Italy - Spain final. The "old" Spanish guys besides Alcaraz are in great form.
I think there are so many questions about what Italy will do. Who will play #2 singles? Musetti is probably stronger overall, but sometimes he looks lost and unmotivated, whereas Berrettini is always giving 100%. But then Berrettini is still fragile physically, so that's an added risk.

Then, in doubles, do you go with the specialist pairing? Seems like you have to use Sinner there, like they did last year, and so who does he play with? As someone said, Sinner-Berrettini could be an interesting doubling pair, since both serve so well, and both have decent volleys and good size/height.

Sinner and anyone vs Alcaraz-Nadal in a deciding doubles match would be AMAZING to watch.
 

Winner Sinner

Hall of Fame
Not so sure what Berrettini's role will be in Davis Cup. See below...


I think there are so many questions about what Italy will do. Who will play #2 singles? Musetti is probably stronger overall, but sometimes he looks lost and unmotivated, whereas Berrettini is always giving 100%. But then Berrettini is still fragile physically, so that's an added risk.

Then, in doubles, do you go with the specialist pairing? Seems like you have to use Sinner there, like they did last year, and so who does he play with? As someone said, Sinner-Berrettini could be an interesting doubling pair, since both serve so well, and both have decent volleys and good size/height.

Sinner and anyone vs Alcaraz-Nadal in a deciding doubles match would be AMAZING to watch.
Who knows in the future, but for me Berrettini>Musetti regardless and on every surface. I won't be misled by Musetti's elegance and class, if he's physically well Berrettini is a decidedly more solid and consistent player. You rightly underlined his resilience, but Berrettini is also technically a perfect player for modern tennis with a deadly serve-forehand combination. The unknown remains precisely his physical fitness, because a Berrettini at the top, in addition to being indisputably a top 10 player, is also a player who rarely beats the top players but just as rarely loses to inferior players. Musetti has a long way to go before reaching the level and consistency of Berrettini for the 2019-2022 period. So essentially I'm not discussing your assessment of the pros and cons so much as considering Musetti a stronger player. Absolutely not for me.
 
How many of the following Open Era ATGs started their slam-winning ways with at least two slams in the first year?
  • Connors
  • Borg
  • McEnroe
  • Wilander
  • Lendl
  • Edberg
  • Becker
  • Sampras
  • Agassi
  • Federer
  • Nadal
  • Djokovic
Answer: Only Connors, with 3. Everyone else began with just one slam.
Interesting facts - Jannik will be added, with his 2 slams this year.

As for the qf's today, just watched Lorenzo through against Sasha, having come back after losing the first set- good win by him. With LM there's always a risk of a wobble, but AZ isn't especially consistent of late either. He'll play Jack next, who beat Machac, taking the 3rd set comprehensibly. Not sure why JD looks like he's about to drop, but is often quick around the court. Given my penchant for the beautiful game, hope LM gets through, but JD the more likely candidate.

Kachanov / Berretini now - KK holds first game of the match under pressure. Who'll win it? Edit: Don't know who'll win it, but KK dismantled MB in the 1st set, hope the 2nd is more of a match.
 
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So de Minaur is the only contender still in action this week ... Race may turn out to be a bit of a damp squib, although AdM could make it back into the top 8 with a win in Vienna, and then he and Ruud would be on 3845, only 65 points behind Djokovic heading into Paris. But I don't particularly trust de Minaur to pull off a win here. Will he even get past Mensik today?
 
....... But I don't particularly trust de Minaur to pull off a win here. Will he even get past Mensik today?
Know what you mean, man, ADM looked tired. The comeback from injury will probably take time to settle into. Never been a fan of the dude's game but respect his efforts. Mensik is one of the kids on my watch list as a potential future contender for big titles, but he too seemed a tad out of sorts. ADM did enough to get through, will play Khachanov in the sf, who had a straight sets win over Berretini and has had more time to recover. It's looking like a Draper / Khachavov, final but I wouldn't bet even my plate of Stilton and apple chutney on it.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Watched quite a bit Vienna this week and I like the surface speed and dimensions there. Some general observations:

1) Players with weak drive bh often struggle in prolonged rallies. Latest victim was Matteo against Karen which kept pinning him down with good cross-court angles. Good slices can help but the ball bounces high enough to take away most of the bite and may open up the forehand.

In his current form Matteo is also unable to run around often enough on the quicker surfaces to unload his big fh hammer. Some desperation bh dtl and weak defense was followed up with a net attack. Karen attacked into Matteo‘s forehand with good pace and by stretching him into a run. Basically punishing his movement above else and getting errors and slices.

In short more players can now execute the fairly simple game plan against a clear weakness.

2) Lots of variety from plenty of players compared to five plus years ago, more drop shots, slices and net attacks. The high level of fitness makes it difficult - unless a player has a clear weakness - to get an advantage from neutral with just good baseline balls. Many feel forced to inject risk into an exchange by going big or changing it up.

Very difficult to properly assess the ‘success rate‘ of this variety as it certainly disrupts the opponent and keeps him on his toes and closer to the baseline. Players like Zverev and Medvedev have become wiser to short balls but are getting dragged out of their comfort zone more often.


3) Instead of serve and volley we now see now quite often serve plus and volley. A big serve forces a shortish ball, big forehand draws the error or a weak high ball. Big serve plus guys like Mensik, Draper, Shelton are clearly primed for it.
 
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