Topic: Tennis League All Thread - page 49. (Read 202833 times)

Yeah, Nadal looked awesome, he didn't look like he missed a lot of time due to injury. But I have to say that it wasn't Nadal who started playing better in the 2nd set it was Thiem who started playing worse IMHO. I'm not sure why whether due to fitness issues or something else but Domi looked like he was the one who was out for a year with an injury. It was one way traffic in the second set.

I see a headline that Australia are through to the quarter finals.
Looking at the group standings on the website I dont think they are updated yet, it is showing
Australia win/loss 1-1

Poland and Croatia are the only two with 2-0


That was a fairly strong performance from Nadal particularly in the second set to win that 1-6.
The commentators were in awe of his performance and fitness after being out for so long.

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Yea I heard about Djokovic injuring his wrist and then pulling out of the mixed doubles. I wonder
how serious that is going to be. It might be very minor but here we were before Christmas talking
about hoe resilient Novak is.

The second set was easier for Nadal and he managed to break Thiem's game several times and had no trouble ending the match on the first match point, but I'm actually hoped that Dominic Thiem would show something different in the second set, but he seemed difficult to get out of the pressure, great comeback for Nadal, and the next round will be against Karatsev/Kubler,
And also in the women's section yesterday, Naomi Osaka managed to win and tomorrow she will face a quite difficult match against Karolina Pliskova, this should be an exciting match if Pliskova can play tennis at her best level.

After a tough fight, it was Nadal who won the first set. From the beginning, consecutive points came, and the points got leveled at 5–5. From this point, Nadal took the lead 6-5 and had a break point, winning the set 7-5. The final point was crucial, it went to the fourth set point, and Nadal won it. This is going to be a winning match for Nadal, and that marks a great comeback for him after a break of almost one year.

Are you guys watching Nadal vs Thiem right now? The match was quite interesting and both were still solid without anyone having their game broken, I think this first set will be decided by a tiebreak. This is a match that is quite eagerly awaited by tennis fans and Nadal looks very ready for this tournament, he played doubles too but lost in the first round.

And Novak Djokovic, who played in the United Cup, reportedly suffered a wrist injury during training but it has not been confirmed and he managed to beat Jiri Lehecka to make Serbia 1-1 and managed to win through mixed doubles where he did not play and was replaced by young Serbian player Hamad Medjedovic.

Today Poland defeated Spain despite great performance by Davidovich Fokina. Swiatek won her match against Sorribes Tormo and then Poland's Swiatek and Hurkacz destroyed Spain's Sorribes Tormo/Davidovich Fokina 6:0, 6:0. Poland wins 2:1.

Australia outperformed USA 2:1. Taylor Fritz lost to de Minaur, Pegula won against Tomljanovic and Hunter/Ebden won in the decider 6:3, 6:1 against Pegula and Ram.

France - Germany 2:1
Norway - Croatia 2:1 

Yes for sure, two doubles specialists v two singles players in a doubles match should be
always able to win and that they did.

For todays matches so far its United Kingdom v USA and its 1-1 so far. Katie Boulter is
on a roll beating Jessica Pegula over 3 sets and Taylor Fritz beating Cameron Norrie
over 2.

This tie now depends on the doubles match:
Fritz/Pegula v Skupski/Boulter,
The US pair are favourites @ 1.44 v 2.75 for the UK pair, they might just pull that off!

Zverev beat Sonego 6-7(5) 6-3, 6-4 and later team Germany won mixed doubles 6-3, 6-0.

Kerber losing against Paolini is not surprising, Angelique is back from maternity leave so I wasn't expecting great performance from the German.

Tomljanovic losing to Boulter is also not shocking. Ajla hasn't played on a high level for quite a time already.

de Minaur v Norrie result is somewhat unexpected, I agree. de Minaur showed below average performance on home soil.

The Netherlands v Norway was an interesting match, the Dutch won it in mixed doubles: Dutch veteran and captain Wesley Koolhof and doubles specialist Demi Schuurs helped their country bounce back, defeating Casper Ruud and Ulrikke Eikeri 7-6(5), 7-5. Pretty logical move from the Dutch team me thinks as doubles players have more chances in mixed doubles than individual stars.     

Well I'm watching Sonego v Zverev currently, its on serve with some great play so far.

Earlier Paolini beat Kerber!

Yesterday Spain beat Brazil 2-1 in a doubles decider

and interestingly/surprisingly United Kingdom beat Australia 2 -1 without relying on
the doubles match. Boulter beat Tomljanovic and Norrie beat de Minaur, would have expected
the opposite of both matches.

and the Netherlands beat Norway 2-1 with the help of the doubles match. Ruud beat Griekspoor
which would be expected.

Wow, that's an impressive lineup! Looking forward to seeing Angelique Kerber and Alex Zverev in action for Team Germany. The groups also seem competitive, especially with the inclusion of top players like Novak Djokovic. Should be an exciting tournament!

Djokovic is a machine, physically and mentally on top of his game, he is definitely the one to
beat and its going to be difficult over 5 sets in the Grand Slams.
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Yes, but every machine has it's expiration date. Newer model will be released and the old one will be scrapped. I mean he is 36 years old and he is approaching the end of his career. Yes, he is fit and using that ultra-healthy diet and stuff but you can't trick time. I really think that 2024 will become the beginning of the end for Nole.
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I have to agree that even he is machine but now reaching out to his expiry and now it's time for him to give up and try to have some other role because things are taking changes quickly, but one thing is surely now we are going to miss few things from this era like we will have no players like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer they were one of the best and done many historic things which are going to stay for the long time new era players not have enough consistency and professional approach like them which keep them at this level for long time.

Most of the new generation players are going to have inconsistency and lack of quality as well which will bring ATP just like we have WTA with many winners in every year without any long term good quality player able to stay with his consistency and quality.

But you are talking as if someone here claimed that Djokovic doesn't age. Everyone is aware that he is not getting any younger and that he will one day have to retire like everyone else. But that is not the point of our discussion. The point is that he is the GOAT already and it doesn't matter whether someone likes him or not. He is actually not my favorite player. But I have to admit that he is the most impressive player across all surfaces whereas without a doubt Nadal is the king of clay. But it's craziness to see that Djokovic is healthy on such a high level. He isn't suffering from serious stuff like Nadal is. I am just wondering whether this will go on for maybe two or three more years? If this is once again going to be a remarkable season for him, he could be tearing down the 30 GS titles wall. That would be nuts.

Yes, but every machine has it's expiration date. Newer model will be released and the old one will be scrapped. I mean he is 36 years old and he is approaching the end of his career. Yes, he is fit and using that ultra-healthy diet and stuff but you can't trick time. I really think that 2024 will become the beginning of the end for Nole.

Looking down through the team sheets for the United Cup its interesting to see the absence
of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz for teams Italy and Spain.

Ive been reading Sinner wont make an appearance until the middle of January for the Kooyong
Classic in Australia.

I wonder how these tournaments really feel about top players appearing at their event
and knowing that they are not going to get 100% from the top players...although there is
decent prize money.


Djokovic is a machine, physically and mentally on top of his game, he is definitely the one to
beat and its going to be difficult over 5 sets in the Grand Slams.

Medvedev isn't really serious competition for Djokovic. When I say serious competition I mean a player who can consistently beat Djokovic. Of course it is possible for Medvedev to win a game against Djokovic, but over the course of a year I doubt that if they were to meet five times that Medvedev could ever win the majority of the games against him. Djokovic is in top condition physically and mentally and in contrast to Medvedev, Djokovic never gives up on games. Medvedev sometimes gets mentally derailed and plays as if he hated the sport.

Yeah, I checked the roster and another comeback is expected: Angelique Kerber will be playing for team Germany alongside with Alex Zverev.

Apart from Kerber there are lots of big names participating:

Iga Swiatek, Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Maria Sakkari, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Caroline Garcia, Marketa Vondrousova, Casper Ruud

...and of course, Novak Djokovic!

Here are the groups:

Group A (Perth): Spain, Poland, Brazil
Group B (Sydney): Canada, Chile, Greece
Group C (Perth): Great Britain, USA, Australia
Group D (Sydney): Italy, Germany, France
Group E (Perth): Czech Republic, China, Serbia
Group F (Sydney): Netherlands, Norway, Croatia

You are certainly right about that. Neither of them pushed themselves to the limit. But it is always good to watch when the two of them test each other. There is always a bit of psychology involved.


This tournament starts in about 6 hours and the first match will be between Davidovich Fokina and Seyboth Wild.

Nice to see these two playing each other but its really only a pre-season training session
I doubt they were giving it all at the risk of picking up an injury at this stage. I doubt if
Djokovic would be put out by that, he will be focussing on Grand Slams I would say.


That sounds like she is easing back into it and not putting too much pressure on herself
early on in the season.

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There is another competition running ATM - The United Cup, its happening in Australia.

Yeah, Naomi is always a pleasure to watch. It's incredible that she has already won 4 GS titles early in her career! If not for her mental health issues, she could have won many more Grand Slams I'm sure of it.  But she is still young (she's 26) and she can still win at least some 5-6 titles if lucky.

Look what she herself has to say:

Djokovic and Alcaraz have just played against each other at the Riyadh Season Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia. The match went over 3 sets with 6:4 each and Alcaraz won narrowly in the end. The two have now played against each other a total of 6 times and both has won 3 times.