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You wait ages for a tricked up Davis Cup ... (2020 tennis)

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    You wait ages for a tricked up Davis Cup ... (2020 tennis)

    ... then two come along. This ATP one in Australia seems designed to stick two fingers up to the ITF one, inviting 24 teams not 18 (although that will lead to loads of dead rubbers) and awarding ranking points (which they stopped doing for Davis Cup a few years ago).

    They haven't stopped with the tinkering there, though - doubles matches, if required after the two singles, will be played no-ad and match tie-break if one set apiece. Is that deliberately to ensure the doubles match is done with as soon as possible? Seems a bit of an insult to any specialist doubles players going out there to play, who may end up being the equivalent of substitutes only expecting to be brought on for extra time if needed in football tournaments.
    Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 05-01-2020, 09:38.

    #2
    Those sound like good points to me, Rogin, but I can't really think beyond the bush fire/smoke pollution issue at the moment. It's going to overshadow tennis for the whole of January, isn't it?

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      #3
      So, in a desperate attempt to seek calming distraction from scary global news, I'm looking to the start of the WTA Tour. Three events next week: the Premier (470 points for champion) in Brisbane, and two Internationals (280 points for champion), in Shenzen and Auckland.

      Eight of the current WTA top 13, including the world top 3 and Konta seeded 7th, are going for the higher-ranked event., while Bencic and Sabalenka top the bill in Shenzen, and Serena tops the bill in Auckland (with up and coming Anisimova seeded 3rd there).

      Heather Watson and Harriet Dart are both starting the qualifiers for Brisbane.

      Here's hoping Janik treats us to his usual expert surveys this year.

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        #4
        Dart loses to Putintseva in Brisbane Q1 but Watson wins, and must be favourite in her Q2 match against local wildcard Storm Sanders whose highest ever ranking is 202 and who is currently ranked 378.

        The GB men lose 2-1 in matches (all matches went to a deciding set) to Bulgaria after things looked so good with Norrie winning first then Evans winning his first set against Dimitrov. Chances of making the knock out stage now look slim, given that only the best 2 runners up from 6 groups go through.

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          #5
          Well, shows how much I know. Watson lost her Q2 match against Storm Sanders. So British interest in the Brisbane main draw is limited to Konta.

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            #6
            ,, and as Konta crashes out to Strycova in round 1, British interest in the Brisbane tourament ends before Monday morning UK time. Not a great start to the year for British women's tennis.

            But the British men's team have won against Belgium and kept their slim chances of progression to the knock out stage of the ATP Cup alive for the time being.

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              #7
              Meanwhile, the air quality impact of the bush fires threatens to delay the start of the Aussie Open.

              https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...arting-on-time

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                #8
                So am I suddenly the only OTFer who gives a toss about the tennis at the moment? Is it just that the ATP Cup is disapproved of and the WTA events too minor, or is it that world news is too grim for anyone to be able to summon up an interest in lesser tennis events?

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                  #9
                  Janik's been on footy posts too. Maybe he's gone off tennis.

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                    #10
                    I appreciate this thread as I didn't know about this cup at all. They should have called it the Davies Cup to really wind the Davis Cup people up.

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                      #11
                      Good to know that, dm.

                      The British men scrape through to the quarter finals after topping their group by way of set count tie-break ahead of Belgium and Bulgaria Edmund loses in the first round in Doha.

                      And A. Zverev has had an ATP cup to forget, losing all three of his singles matches, against De Minaur, Tsitsipas and Shapovalov.

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                        #12
                        Britain lose 2-1 in their QF against Australia, but Dan Evans' win in his match against rising star De Minaur could mean he scrapes into the seedings for the Aussie Open: he will clearly be on a new personal ranking high next week and his current "live" ranking is #31.

                        Sharapova goes out in the first round in Brisbane after moaning about being put on an outside court. She's currently ranked in the 140s and was a WC entry.

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                          #13
                          The ATP will be pleased with that (the Aus-GB quarter-final). There was a risk that none of the knockouts would get as far as the nailbiter of a match tie break, not only does the first one do just that but it results in the hosts beating Britain.

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                            #14
                            So, the ATP Cup final is between Serbia and Spain. Hmm, does either of those countries have a top level male singles player?

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                              Janik's been on footy posts too. Maybe he's gone off tennis.
                              I was on holiday with bad internet connections.

                              But I've got absolutely zero interest in the new form Davis Cup or the stupid thingamajig that ran last week.

                              Serena winning an actual proper tournament, now that is worth mentioning. Long overdue, of course.

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                                #16
                                I'm curious as to why Nadal and Novak have taken this tournament so seriously. Are the ranking points very high? Are their penalties for skipping it?

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                  I'm curious as to why Nadal and Novak have taken this tournament so seriously. Are the ranking points very high? Are their penalties for skipping it?
                                  Maybe they are both patriotic and love playing for their countries.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Janik View Post

                                    Serena winning an actual proper tournament, now that is worth mentioning. Long overdue, of course.
                                    I think I was the only one to mention her on the "year end top 4" prediction thread.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Sporting View Post

                                      Maybe they are both patriotic and love playing for their countries.
                                      Good point. It's too simplistic just to assume that tennis is selfishly ego-driven.

                                      I think the ranking points system rules out Serena being Top 4 unless she stops being so selective, which seems extremely unlikely in her circumstances (and why should she care about Top 4 at this stage of her career?). She's also not won a Slam for a while (12 Slams over 3 years if she fails to win the Aus Open), so there is some decline there, even though she can beat anyone anywhere on her day.
                                      Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 12-01-2020, 14:18.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Sporting View Post

                                        Maybe they are both patriotic and love playing for their countries.
                                        Unfortunately, perhaps too much so:

                                        https://twitter.com/JasminMuj/status/1216440660670255105

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                                          #21
                                          https://twitter.com/stu_fraser/status/1216807657501147136

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                                            #22
                                            Indeed. This Aussie Open is going to be memorable for non-tennis reasons. Smoke affecting the qualifying rounds.

                                            https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/51100706

                                            Meanwhile, Evans through to the QFs in Adelaide.

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                                              #23
                                              Results overnight not too bad - OK, so Evans and Edmund lost their respective QFs, but Edmund took Isner to two close tie-breaks and Evans took Rublev to a deciding set, so presumably solid performances. And Watson beat Mertens in her Hobart QF (an even which Watson won a few years ago, but beating Mertens is quite a result for her relative to more recent peformance).

                                              I'll resist nabbing the Aussie Open thread titling privilege on the assumption that Janik is going to rejoin the world of OTF tennis commentary soon and treat us to his usual Rolls Royce level analysis. Pending the start of a dedicated thread, I'll just note that given his first ever seeding, Evans could not have hit a tougher draw - his notional R3 opponent is one Novak Djokovic, who does tend to do rather well in Melbourne.

                                              Very difficult to choose a thread title for the Aussie Open anyway. Do you ignore the air quality crisis, have a sombre title about it or make an attempt at "smoke"-punning levity? I'd rather not risk striking the wrong note.

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                                                #24
                                                Harriet Dart qualifies for the Aussie Open, and indeed with very convincing scorelines in all 3 of her qualifying rounds.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Decent win for Dan Evans over Kohlschreiber in R1 of Rotterdam. He'll face either Fognini or Khachanov in R2.

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