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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:31:13 GMT -5
Post by Old Hag on Jan 20, 2013 13:31:13 GMT -5
Having a test in an early match is good to get "match tough" for the women's players - gives them a chance to play through the nerves, etc. Ofcourse it's irrelevant for current SEWTA because Serena's not going to lose. Not to be mean, but that's media babble nonsense.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:48:57 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Jan 20, 2013 13:48:57 GMT -5
OMLulz, Stan had 4-4* 15-40 second serve AND 30-40 second serve
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:49:52 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Jan 20, 2013 13:49:52 GMT -5
Figures I am up until 3:30 for all the crap then sleep through the epic I beat you, I stayed up for the BAG loss. That was fun, at least. Yeah I watched the first four games and was like "NID zzzzz" OMG HE HAD ANOTHER BP
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:50:29 GMT -5
Post by janie on Jan 20, 2013 13:50:29 GMT -5
Figures I am up until 3:30 for all the crap then sleep through the epic I beat you, I stayed up for the BAG loss. That was fun, at least. What did you think of Aga's serve? tennis.com claims it's much improved.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:52:33 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Jan 20, 2013 13:52:33 GMT -5
He had a 4th BP in this game! Don't tell me he actually breaks and served for the match at 5-4.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 13:55:44 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Jan 20, 2013 13:55:44 GMT -5
He doesn't.
I'll stop unlive-blogging this, sorry.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 15:59:40 GMT -5
Post by Grarliner on Jan 20, 2013 15:59:40 GMT -5
I went to bed (after 3 am) when Novak broke to open the third set. I was expecting to arise today to find that Stan lost 1-6 7-5 6-2 6-1.
Not quite sure what to say about all that. I have never seen Stan play that well. It was an incredible start ... I can't remember the last time Novak was getting thrashed that badly. But he couldn't serve out set two from 5-3 30-15. I remember thinking that he really needed to get it to 40-15 ... 30-30 would ratchet up the pressure and it did. He suddenly couldn't make his first serve.
But what an effort to actually stay in the match and win another set. I didn't see the four BPs at 4-3. Should he have won this?
I can't help but feel that Novak won this one on reputation - he was legitimately being outplayed. Can he use super-defense to still win this? Yes, maybe. But now I sorta think he is vulnerable.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:02:09 GMT -5
Post by Grarliner on Jan 20, 2013 16:02:09 GMT -5
I beat you, I stayed up for the BAG loss. That was fun, at least. What did you think of Aga's serve? tennis.com claims it's much improved. Her first serve has improved. She did hit seven aces in a pretty brief match against Ana. But the second serve is still incredibly slow. That is what will hurt her against the three ladies ahead of her (and maybe Na Li too). By the way, A-Rad was pretty good last night. She was charged with only four unforced errors. Ana lost 2 and 4 with more winners than errors. Speaking of Ana ... is she capable of varying her service direction on the deuce side? She sliced every serve I can remember out wide. She never went down the tee.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:10:37 GMT -5
Post by Lady on Jan 20, 2013 16:10:37 GMT -5
I went to bed (after 3 am) when Novak broke to open the third set. I was expecting to arise today to find that Stan lost 1-6 7-5 6-2 6-1. Not quite sure what to say about all that. I have never seen Stan play that well. It was an incredible start ... I can't remember the last time Novak was getting thrashed that badly. But he couldn't serve out set two from 5-3 30-15. I remember thinking that he really needed to get it to 40-15 ... 30-30 would ratchet up the pressure and it did. He suddenly couldn't make his first serve. But what an effort to actually stay in the match and win another set. I didn't see the four BPs at 4-3. Should he have won this? I can't help but feel that Novak won this one on reputation - he was legitimately being outplayed. Can he use super-defense to still win this? Yes, maybe. But now I sorta think he is vulnerable. Stan had break points at 4-4, and yes, he should have won at least 1, the one that the line judge stole from him. The rest, well maybe he could have done more, but that was Novak against him. Novak actually had break points on Stan serve for 5*-3 lead in the final set, and Stan saved those, so it was just a very well-contested match. You should definitely see 4th set tie-break, it contained some incredible points and THAT set point that won Stan the set was just breathtaking.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:15:01 GMT -5
Post by Grarliner on Jan 20, 2013 16:15:01 GMT -5
I went to bed (after 3 am) when Novak broke to open the third set. I was expecting to arise today to find that Stan lost 1-6 7-5 6-2 6-1. Not quite sure what to say about all that. I have never seen Stan play that well. It was an incredible start ... I can't remember the last time Novak was getting thrashed that badly. But he couldn't serve out set two from 5-3 30-15. I remember thinking that he really needed to get it to 40-15 ... 30-30 would ratchet up the pressure and it did. He suddenly couldn't make his first serve. But what an effort to actually stay in the match and win another set. I didn't see the four BPs at 4-3. Should he have won this? I can't help but feel that Novak won this one on reputation - he was legitimately being outplayed. Can he use super-defense to still win this? Yes, maybe. But now I sorta think he is vulnerable. Stan had break points at 4-4, and yes, he should have won at least 1, the one that the line judge stole from him. The rest, well maybe he could have done more, but that was Novak against him. Novak actually had break points on Stan serve for 5*-3 lead in the final set, and Stan saved those, so it was just a very well-contested match. You should definitely see 4th set tie-break, it contained some incredible points and THAT set point that won Stan the set was just breathtaking. I have the feeling that this is the last chance Stan is going to get to really make a huge impact in a Grand Slam. It makes me sad that he lost in this way. By the by, to echo was Paean said earlier, there does seem to be more opportunity for coming to the net against Novak than most players exploit. Stan did do it, but he could probably have shortened more points that way. We will see what Berdych is able to do tomorrow. I have a feeling that it will be a close one in spite of Tomas' dreadful h2h.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:15:40 GMT -5
Post by Wagasi on Jan 20, 2013 16:15:40 GMT -5
I slept in for the classic About Ana's deuce side slice serve, she was doing that against JJ throughout the match too. I thought it was just good strategy, apparently not.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:16:50 GMT -5
Post by Grarliner on Jan 20, 2013 16:16:50 GMT -5
I don't think she has another option, seriously. Also, her toss still wanders which might be why she's always going to the slice.
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Day 7
Jan 20, 2013 16:58:58 GMT -5
Post by Old Hag on Jan 20, 2013 16:58:58 GMT -5
I beat you, I stayed up for the BAG loss. That was fun, at least. What did you think of Aga's serve? tennis.com claims it's much improved. Looks the same to me. She's had that "sneaky" ace ability with her accuracy for years. And her 2nd serve will still get killed by the top players. Meanwhile, BAG is terrible. Hit forehands as hard as possible near the sideline, hope they go in, they rarely do, announcers think she could have won, blah blah blah. Except for the 1 1/2 game period where she realized, "Herp Derp Aga pushes everything because I'm an error machine, let's go to net!" which worked, then Aga hit one crazy BH pass and that stopped forever. BAG has improved that sideways toss on her serve for the most part. At least there's that. But, her serve is ugly anyway.
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Day 7
Jan 21, 2013 10:26:32 GMT -5
Post by Traveling Man on Jan 21, 2013 10:26:32 GMT -5
Regarding BAG's serve, why is she slicing it out wide in the deuce court on every point? It's not like her serve is Dementieva or anything.
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Day 7
Jan 21, 2013 12:35:24 GMT -5
Post by Old Hag on Jan 21, 2013 12:35:24 GMT -5
It's kind of Dementieva. Her instinct is to toss too low and to the right in general, along with the wild tosses she used to do more in the past. She's obviously been told to toss higher which she remembers at times, but habits die hard. Her toss puts less pressure on your shoulder and back, and ends up in more slices and flatter serves with less margin for error, then you end up accepting to slice everything because that's most effective. I think BAG has had some shoulder issues too, that can lead to the Dementieva technique.
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Day 7
Jan 21, 2013 13:03:47 GMT -5
Post by lexpretend on Jan 21, 2013 13:03:47 GMT -5
The first time I noticed BAG's toss going awry was her first RG final vs. Justine, which was the first time she'd really choked, ever (weird to remember a time when she was considered mentally strong). Then it just never got back to normal! But even with the shitty toss, her serve is one of her two useful strengths these days.
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