ATP Masters: Madrid 10/12-10/19/2008

[missinandre]

woot woot woot! RAFA!!!

[aedra1119]

I have to remember to breathe :)

Me too!

Vamos Rafa!

[amenssen]

3rd set tiebreak, gilles is 3 for 3 in these this tourney

[missinandre]

They are both so tired, they can't even run.

[craighickman]

3rd set tiebreak, gilles is 3 for 3 in these this tourney

He goes for broke in the tiebreaks. And his shots land in.

[Madame]

Allez Gilles :bleus2:

[aedra1119]

This feels like a Davis Cup match.

[tennisbrp]

These guys have me so tense I've done about 100 more push-ups than planned. I owe it to them if I lose a few lbs and look buff tonight...

[Vlad]

OMG! What a match!

and Simon sins after Rafa's ball is out by a 3mm.

Amazing performance from both players.


Congrats!!! :)

[aedra1119]

OMG. Congrats Gilles!!! :overhead_clap:

[dryrunguy]

One of the best matches of the year. Absolutely phenomenal. Congrats, Gilles. You deserved it.

[amenssen]

that is effing unbelievable, screw the contests, that was sweet, hooray for Gilles. he played absolutly incredible

[jjnow]

Wow. Roger and Rafa both slain. Wasn't expecting that.

Way to go, Gilles!

[craighickman]

5/22 break points?

That's even worse than Andy Roddick.

I guess Andy Murray will win his second shield tomorrow.

[Madame]

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Bravo Gilles !

What a match
The guy has guts.
And he beat Rafa in MAdrid !!!!!! :bleus::bleus:
I wouldn't have bet on it.
Tremendous

[luvs10s]

Great match. Congrats Gilles. Rafa :sad:

[Drop-shot]

Great match. Congrats Gilles. Rafa :sad:

co-sign

[ptmcmahon]

The king of the 3rd set tiebreak! Nearly lost to Andreev in his first match, and now in a final. Props to Simon.

(and props to the baby for not waking up during the match so I could see the end) :)

[verucasalt]

Congrats Gilles. Awww Rafa. Valiant effort.

[Vlad]

5/22 break points?

That's even worse than Andy Roddick.

I guess Andy Murray will win his second shield tomorrow.


We should never underestimate Simon. I think he will be tired, but he has a shot.

[kayce]

That was insane. I was starting to doubt it was going to get over before I had to leave for work! Great job and congrats to Simon! Such a great match!


But poor Rafa!

[suliso]

Wow. Roger and Rafa both slain. Wasn't expecting that.

Way to go, Gilles!

Unfortunately I did expect it... Only I didn't think Simon would do it - I had Murray beating Nole in the final...

[Vlad]

Unfortunately I did expect it... Only I didn't think Simon would do it - I had Murray beating Nole in the final...

I missed Roger's match... did he play bad or Murray just played better?

[jjnow]

Unfortunately I did expect it... Only I didn't think Simon would do it - I had Murray beating Nole in the final...
I had JMDP beating Roger. I thought after he made it past him, he could take Andy. Not to be.

[suliso]

I missed Roger's match... did he play bad or Murray just played better?

Murray played very well in the third set, particularly on his serve. But Roger also started to make a lot of errors on his forehand side. It's just not as reliable these days as it was during his best years...

[patrick]

I missed Roger's match... did he play bad or Murray just played better?

Murray played better after making a tactical adjustment in the 2nd set.

[patrick]

Great match as Gilles won another deciding tiebreak:

Andreev - Saved match points
Blake - Won easily in the 3rd, 6-4
Ginepri - Saved match points
Karlovic - Broke him 3 times after being down a break each time and dominated 1st and 3rd set tiebreaks.
Nadal - Saved 17 out of 22 break points and won despite winning 3 less pts than Rafael

Will Gilles pull off a surprise again tomorrow against Murray?

[Foxykhat]

OMG!!!! I cannot believe I'm seeing right.

Rafa won the first set easily enough, and I thought it would be the same in the second. When I checked the scores on my blackberry I saw 7/5 second and 1/0 Rafa in the third. I figured ok, I'm sure Simon is gonna go away. My jaws dropped when I saw the score on livesScore when I got home, because ESPN only mentioned the Murray/Fed match. I totally can't believe this! I'm loving Simon more and more not because of this win, I've been a fan for a while and he's scalped both Roger and Nadal. WTG!

I've now got JMDP, Simon and Wawrinka along with Fed and Nadal as my atp faves. Nalbandian and Davydenko are on suspended.

Foxy

[MeganFernandez]

What is it Megan said the other French players call Simon? Poussin? (Hatchling?)

It's hard not to root for a small guy fighting so hard. Rafa fans excluded, of course.

Aw, you remembered my blog. Warms my heart.

Reportedly, Poussin was Simon's nickname from the other French players, and i was told it meants "small." Translation dictionaries show that it means "chick," as in baby farm fowl. But maybe it means something else colloquially. This summer, commentators kept saying how small he is, but he's not. Unless they know something I don't. He's slight and swift, but not short at all.

Someone at the Indy tournament nicknamed him the French Fry, which I loved, but it didn't stick.

[MeganFernandez]

What is it Megan said the other French players call Simon? Poussin? (Hatchling?)

It's hard not to root for a small guy fighting so hard. Rafa fans excluded, of course.


Aw, you remembered my blog. Warms my heart.

Reportedly, Poussin was Simon's nickname from the other French players, and i was told it meants "small." Translation dictionaries show that it means "chick," as in baby farm fowl. But maybe it means something else colloquially. This summer, commentators kept saying how small he is, but he's not. Unless they know something I don't. He's slight and swift, but not short at all.

Someone at the Indy tournament nicknamed him the French Fry, which I loved, but it didn't stick.


Simon does have chicken legs, though. Chicken legs and french fries... I'm hungry.

[Vlad]

Murray played better after making a tactical adjustment in the 2nd set.

Murray can adjust to any opponent better than anyone I have seen. He can do it midmatch too. His emergence this year has been really impressive, perhaps most impressive after Rafa's Wimbledon win.

[Madame]

I sure hope Gilles beats the hell out of Andy Murray tomorrow. :bleus:
And I hope he doesn't come to Lyon. The men needs a big rest before coming to play in Paris where I shall see him live :)

[TalkAboutTennis]

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2008

PISTA CENTRAL start 1:30 pm
[4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) vs [7] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)



Starting at 4:00 PM

G Simon (FRA) vs [4] A Murray (GBR)

[patrick]

Madrid final between Gilles Simon and Andy Murray

http://ziucchiradio.altervista.org/watch.php?id=300

[tinamarie]

a live stream? that's awesome. thanks a lot, Patrick:)

[Foxykhat]

I have to go get ready for church but GO SIMON!!!

Foxy

[patrick]

Andy win set 1 at 6-4 but is serving to force a 2nd set TB at 5-6.

Gilles has picked his play up. Andy holding serve easily so far.

[patrick]

Tiebreak here we come.

[patrick]

2-1 in TB for Gilles and Gilles to serve

[patrick]

Andy 3-2 TB and serving. BH winner after being patient in rally.

[patrick]

3-all. Gilles with CC BH volley for winner. Andy to serve.

[patrick]

5-4 Gilles in TB. Andy to serve.

[patrick]

Gilles 6-5 TB and serving for the set.

[patrick]

6-all TB. Gilles hit BH into net after aggressive play by Andy

[suliso]

Gilles almost pulled another rabbit out of the hat. But almost was not good enough.

[patrick]

7-6 Andy TB. Andy FH return winner and is serving.

Andy wins the match as Gilles deflected volley barely fails.

Andy 6-4,7-6(6)

[oohsalmon]

Yuck.

[patrick]

Andy made some tactical errors in the tiebreak by using the drop shot but managed to overcome it.

[verucasalt]

Congrats Andy!

Glad you decided to actually play, and not over-use the drop shot.

[luvs10s]

Congrats Andy.

[amenssen]

workman like performance from Murray but enough to win the chanpionship, I don't know about the 4 drop shots in the tiebreak. he did win it though I suppose

[morct]

Gilles almost pulled another rabbit out of the hat. But almost was not good enough.


A fun match to watch, glad Murray won it in the end.

[tinamarie]

congrats, Andy.that was truly impressive.


what a great tournament for Simon though as well. He was so close to be out in the first round already and instead he beats the world number one in the semis. after all the long matches he had to get to the final, he didnt seem to have much left to give today, though...
I truly hope he'll make it to Shanghai anyway.Allez! :)

[owendonovan]

Yuck.

Ditto

[rabbit]

Congrats, Andy! First, Gilles Muller in the US Open and then, even more so, Gilles Simon here in Madrid, beating top players with patience, shot making and mental fortitude. Bravo to Gilles!

[owendonovan]

I think it's going to take years for me to warm up to Murray, a nice looking face and good disposition goes a long way with me and he hasn't got anything near that.

[bea26]

I think it's going to take years for me to warm up to Murray, a nice looking face and good disposition goes a long way with me and he hasn't got anything near that.

How about an accent? That usually counts for sumthin'.

[owendonovan]

How about an accent? That usually counts for sumthin'.

Well if his accent was a little more northern gaelic Scottish, he could probably pick up a point or 2 but he's just kind of seems to be one of those miserable Scots.

[bea26]

Well if his accent was a little more northern gaelic Scottish, he could probably pick up a point or 2 but he's just kind of seems to be one of those miserable Scots.

Height? Balance?

[owendonovan]

Height? Balance?

The uneven facial hair growth just kinda skeeves me out. Makes me think there's food trapped in it.

[Vlad]

Congrats to Andy Murray. He is getting and closer to Novak and i think by spring time next year he will overtake him and join Rafa and Roger.

[Jack]

Congrats to Andy Murray. He is getting and closer to Novak and i think by spring time next year he will overtake him and join Rafa and Roger.

Djokovic's points from Jan 29th - current: 3570
Murray's points from Jan 29th - current: 2795

It *could* happen right after the Australian, if Murray earns ~800 more points than Djokovic. (Which isn't as unreasonable as it sounds considering Paris, Shanghai and Australian are all between now and then.) But while Djokovic looks to be slumping now, I think he'll come back re-energized in Melbourne.

Note - this all assumes that points for ATP 2009 are the same as existing, which I'm hearing won't be the case, although I can't find anything official on it yet.

[Moose]

Congrats to Andy Murray. He is getting and closer to Novak and i think by spring time next year he will overtake him and join Rafa and Roger.

Me, I think Andy nipping at his heels is just the elixir Novak needs. Give him a much needed winter vacation, let him recharge those batteries and learn how to enjoy the game again, and I think we'll be all set for what is going to be a tremendous 4 way battle for the top in 2009.

[suliso]

Note - this all assumes that points for ATP 2009 are the same as existing, which I'm hearing won't be the case, although I can't find anything official on it yet.

According to unoficial sources ranking points will be doubled at the end of the season and next year GS/MS will dominate even more than now and the difference between a winner and runner-up will be greater as well.

So far all I could find (from atptennis.com):

Would it be possible for you to explain how the transition from the old to the new points system is going to work? Will all the points at the end of this season be calculated on the new format? Also, what points will be awarded for the different stages of each tournament. Would a Grand slam, for example, be 2000 for the winner, 1750 for the runner-up, 1500 for the semis etc. In other words, increments of 250.
- Meg Millard, Johannesburg, South Africa

At the end of the 2008 season, the points a player has earned in his ranking will be doubled. Starting in 2009, the new ranking structure will be in place with new points structure and new ranking formula. Here is a tournament point breakdown for the different classifications from the quarterfinals-on:
Grand Slam: 2000 (Winner), 1200 (Runner-up), 720 (SF), 360 (QF)
Masters 1000: 1000 (Winner), 600 (Runner-up) 360 (SF), 180 (QF)
ATP 500: 500 (Winner), 300 (Runner-up), 180 (SF), 90 (QF)
ATP 250: 250 (Winner), 150 (Runner-up), 90 (SF), 45 (QF)

It will be a bit of a chaos - everyone except the winner will lose points at AO even if they go exactly as far as last year...

[Jack]

According to unoficial sources ranking points will be doubled at the end of the season and next year GS/MS will dominate even more than now and the difference between a winner and runner-up will be greater as well.

So far all I could find (from atptennis.com):

Would it be possible for you to explain how the transition from the old to the new points system is going to work? Will all the points at the end of this season be calculated on the new format? Also, what points will be awarded for the different stages of each tournament. Would a Grand slam, for example, be 2000 for the winner, 1750 for the runner-up, 1500 for the semis etc. In other words, increments of 250.
- Meg Millard, Johannesburg, South Africa

At the end of the 2008 season, the points a player has earned in his ranking will be doubled. Starting in 2009, the new ranking structure will be in place with new points structure and new ranking formula. Here is a tournament point breakdown for the different classifications from the quarterfinals-on:
Grand Slam: 2000 (Winner), 1200 (Runner-up), 720 (SF), 360 (QF)
Masters 1000: 1000 (Winner), 600 (Runner-up) 360 (SF), 180 (QF)
ATP 500: 500 (Winner), 300 (Runner-up), 180 (SF), 90 (QF)
ATP 250: 250 (Winner), 150 (Runner-up), 90 (SF), 45 (QF)

It will be a bit of a chaos - everyone except the winner will lose points at AO even if they go exactly as far as last year...

This is a bit screwy. So if they're doubling points for everyone's scores, both Tsonga and Murray will have 1400 points for their Slam RU finishes. But then if Tsonga gets to the final again in 2009, he'll only earn 1200 points, while Murray still would have 1400. :confused:

Why don't they just take everyone's 2008 results and recalibrate? That's what they did in 1999-2000.

[TalkAboutTennis]

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Singles - Final
[4] A Murray (GBR) d G Simon (FRA) 64 76(6)

Doubles - Final
[7] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) 64 62

[morct]

Me, I think Andy nipping at his heels is just the elixir Novak needs. Give him a much needed winter vacation, let him recharge those batteries and learn how to enjoy the game again, and I think we'll be all set for what is going to be a tremendous 4 way battle for the top in 2009.

I think it's great for the game as well Moose. I love watching all 4 of the guys play, so if they are all at their best, 2009 will be amazing.:cheesy: