Which man will win in Indian Wells, CA?

Which man will win Pacific Life Open?


  • Total voters
    177
  • Poll closed .

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
After missing about six returns in a row after having 0-30 on Moyas serve, 1st game 2nd set, Blake finally decided to chip a backhand return. Amazingly, he got it in play and won the pt.

Dont know why he always tries to come over the ball on backhand returns.

Anyway, he got the break. Hopefully he'll wrap this up in straights so I can catch some of the Nadal - Young match.
 
Blake really irritates me in his tactics sometimes, but lately he is starting to accept that his “go for broke” style of play isn’t going to cut it in all situations. On another note, it was shocking *at least to me*, that Moya has met 11 times.
 

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
Blake got broken and went right back to the low percentage backhand return strategy. Missed three backhand returns last game trying to come over the ball.

I think because he chipped the 1st return he got and moya hit an approach shot winner he felt he had to do more on the backhand returns.

Anyway, Gimelstob is clowning Bartoli's service motion right now.

I saw her play on Sat, she has a wierd stance on her service returns also.
 
For a guy who went to Harvard, James Blake may well be the dumbest player on court to ever hold a top 10 ranking. He does not even know the meaning of percentage tennis, his shot selection is mind bogglingly horrendous, and he doesnt have the faintest clue how to construct points.
 

Nadal_Monfils

Semi-Pro
Yea it's really annoying how Blake just goes for a winner almost every shot and then in his interview after the match he says that he plays his best when he's going for his shots and not playing passively. But there's a difference between playing passively and going for a winner on every shot, Blake needs to find a happy medium in between these to play his best.
 

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
As fast as he is, he should just start the pt of by chipping his backhands in play, like that Fed guy does. Giving ur opponent free pts doesnt make winning easier.

On another note, I wish they would get this Bartoli off and show the Nadal - Young match.

I hope the coverage doesnt end at 3pm, that would suck
 
What is Young going to do against Nadal. He cant serve him off the court, he cant attack the net effectively enough vs someone who passes as well as Nadal, he cant overpower him with flat deep drives off the ground, he cant win long grinding rallies over Nadal.
 
T

TennisandMusic

Guest
its 3-2 on serve at deuce with Young serving.

He seems like he could end up being pretty good but both his execution and attitude on court show his age. I'm not a big fan of acting cocky when you win a nice point and then slamming your racquet when you lose one, but if he can get his head on straight he seems like he could be a fun guy to watch. He's hanging in there in the second set but it also doesn't seem like Nadal is playing all that great.
 

Katlion

Semi-Pro
Jesse Levine just took the 2nd set against Stan 6-4.


I have never see the guy play, only thing I know is he's a lefty and played a little for the Gators.

Anybody with some info on his game? :confused:
I don't know much about his game, but I do know that Roger asked him to go to Dubai to practice with him last year because he wanted a lefty sparring partner. He was the only one that agreed to go and hit with Roger in 110 degree weather. And Roger Federer asked a bunch of kids too. Most of them thought it was a joke and that it wasn't really Federer, but yeah, that is all I know about Jesse Levine.
 

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
I don't know much about his game, but I do know that Roger asked him to go to Dubai to practice with him last year because he wanted a lefty sparring partner. He was the only one that agreed to go and hit with Roger in 110 degree weather. And Roger Federer asked a bunch of kids too. Most of them thought it was a joke and that it wasn't really Federer, but yeah, that is all I know about Jesse Levine.

Berankis went to Dubai to practice with Federer at the same time also.
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
For a guy who went to Harvard, James Blake may well be the dumbest player on court to ever hold a top 10 ranking. He does not even know the meaning of percentage tennis, his shot selection is mind bogglingly horrendous, and he doesnt have the faintest clue how to construct points.

He's like the Mark McGwire of tennis. Always goes for the home run but strikes out alot. Never just going for base hits when necessary. Same like Blake, never plays smart percentage tennis. He's literally got no brain on a tennis court, same for Roddick. But they have big weapons to even out their stupidity on the court.
 

Gasquetrules

Semi-Pro
A good surface for Gasquet?

Gasquet has posted a couple of impressive wins so far --especially the second-round win over Soderling in straight sets. He handled Chela with ease. The court seems to be slow, so I expect a straight-set win over Blake. Blake has never beaten Gasquet, and he'd need a fast surface to get a win. I look for Gasquet to win in straights.

Haven't seen yet who wins the Mathieu-Tsonga match. But I think Gasquet should have the best shot at a win against Tsonga on a slower hardcourt. He has a winning record against both players. So I'm looking for a Gasquet-Nadal quarterfinal match. If Nadal isn't 100 percent, Gasquet could pull the upset. He always seems to take the first set against Nadal and often gets the early break in the second but runs out of gas. Let's hope Nadal's knees are tender.

Even if Gasquet doesn't get past Nadal and make the semis, he is going to pick up some good points this year in Indian Wells. He lost third round last year to Roddick.

Really, the biggest problem Gasquet faced in his draw was Robin Soderling. And he surmounted that hurdle surprisingly easy. I hope Gasquet goes deep into this event.

If this court is as slow and high-bouncing as the court was in Montreal a couple years ago, Gasquet could go to the finals just as he did in that event. But he will have to get that first win over Nadal.
 
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Gasquet has posted a couple of impressive wins so far --especially the second-round win over Soderling in straight sets. He handled Chela with ease. The court seems to be slow, so I expect a straight-set win over Blake. Blake has never beaten Gasquet, and he'd need a fast surface to get a win. I look for Gasquet to win in straights.

Haven't seen yet who wins the Mathieu-Tsonga match. But I think Gasquet should have the best shot at a win against Tsonga on a slower hardcourt. He has a winning record against both players. So I'm looking for a Gasquet-Nadal quarterfinal match. If Nadal isn't 100 percent, Gasquet could pull the upset. He always seems to take the first set against Nadal and often gets the early break in the second but runs out of gas. Let's hope Nadal's knees are tender.

Even if Gasquet doesn't get past Nadal and make the semis, he is going to pick up some good points this year in Indian Wells. He lost third round last year to Roddick.

Really, the biggest problem Gasquet faced in his draw was Robin Soderling. And he surmounted that hurdle surprisingly easy. I hope Gasquet goes deep into this event.

Tsonga plays Nadal before Gasquet would play either of them.
 

Gasquetrules

Semi-Pro
Tsonga vs Nadal

Didn't realize Tsonga would play Nadal next round. Thought he would meet Gasquet first.

Well, let's hope Tsonga takes Nadal down. This really could put Gasquet into the semis.
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
Didn't realize Tsonga would play Nadal next round. Thought he would meet Gasquet first.

Well, let's hope Tsonga takes Nadal down. This really could put Gasquet into the semis.

Gasquet still has to beat Blake and if he got through that he'd have to get through Nadal or Tsonga which I can't see happening for him.
 

Vision84

Hall of Fame
Yeah he has a pretty sweet one hander. Baghdatis always frustrates me watching him. He is making to many errors on his forehand right now.
 

leonidas1982

Hall of Fame
James Blake was impressive against Moya. The backhand return down the line has become a real weapon. I think James might have one of hes best years yet, he no longer loses to unknowns. Blakes having a solid yr soo far, just the titles that evade him.

Agreed. So far, he seems to be using other weapons that I wished he would use more often: slice backhand more, come to the net more often, increase serve percentage, and follow the serve to net when possible. It should be a good match up against Gasquet; although Gasquet is 2-0 against Blake.
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
What an argument between Canas and the umpire! If only they allowed the umpire, players and spectators see a slow-motion replay... the way we see it on TV, there would not be stupid arguments like that. But I guess the ATP has many more years to grow (smarter).
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
Djokovic is preparing to play now with Kohlschreiber. Anywone else thinks his hair-style looks like the one of Tim Henman?
 

diegaa

Hall of Fame
What an argument between Canas and the umpire! If only they allowed the umpire, players and spectators see a slow-motion replay... the way we see it on TV, there would not be stupid arguments like that. But I guess the ATP has many more years to grow (smarter).

what was that about?
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
I missed seeing the shot, plus the argument was all in Spanish, and I couldn't understand it. The commentators weren't saying much... just listening. But on the slow-motion replay there was a winner Monaco hit that was clearly ON the line and the umpire called it good. I believe Canas was arguing that the umpire should have called it out. I think this is the first time I see Canas beeing so voicy.
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
If Indian Wells is 2-3 hours behind Eastern time, then I am already watching LIVE tennis from yesterday.... Isn't this fascinating?
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
I see the advertisement for Sony Ericsson. So, The Ericsson, which was the former sponsor of Key Biscayne pulled out from the sponsorship, only to become the WTA's sponsor?
 

Nadal_Monfils

Semi-Pro
What dumb return of serve by Kohlschreiber on set point for Djokovic. He tries to hit an outright winner on a second serve return instead of making Djokovic earn the set he just hands it over to him.
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
Djokovic wins 6-2 6-3. Kohlschreiber had 47% first serves and 23 unforced errors. Had he played like he played Roddick... it could've been different.
 
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