Evo's serve seems much weaker than I thought it would be - it's just not giving him a chance.
it's not slow though, he hits high 120s regularly! he doesn't seem to have a high % though and he can't use the slice serve well to force his opponents wide
I never really expected Evans to win this match, and I don't think he did as badly as Greg Rusedski seemed to be saying. That Polish lad's serve is absolutely massive, the only saving grace as far as GB was concerned is that he is inconsistent. I doubt Andy will have much difficulty with him though.
Now the doubles is another matter, I think it will be very difficult for us to win that against such a good established pair no matter who plays for us. And to be honest, as big a fan of Andy as I am, I don't really think he is all that good as a doubles player.
Interesting day tomorrow. . . I only hope I get a chance to watch it, our daughter is on her way home to do the Great North Run and I might be expected to do other things than watch tennis.
the polish guy's serve is hilarious...145mph at 18 years old...
the great thing for Dan is that Pryziegeny(?) won't have such a big first serve and won't punish Dan's poor serving as much, which will be good. The one downside is that Dan won't find the long rallies so easy to breakdown his opponent
A little disappointed by Evo's performance in the match as even though he wasn't expected to win, I'd have hoped for it to be a little bit closer than it was.
Doesn't appear to be a lot wrong with his game (serve needs a lot of improvement though) but the biggest problem for him seems to be between the ears as every time he managed a break of serve, he gave it straight back and the crucial times his shot selection seemed to be a bit strange (eg. 5-5 in the TB... his best shot all day has been the backhand down the line so instead of drilling it, he chips it and misses).
Janowicz played a decent match but gave Evans a lot of chances and even though he has got the big serve and big groundstrokes, he made a lot of errors as well and must have hit 10+ DF's, so it wasn't even like he played a stunning match.
Would still say that Evans is the favourite to beat Przysiezny in a 5th rubber as Przysiezny, although he played a decent match today, didn't show anything too special and seems to be a Janowicz-lite but without the massive serve. (and if it wasn't a DC match, we'd all expect Evans to win quite easily), and we still have a chance in the doubles as well, so we're still just about favourites to win this.
I can't say I was terribly impressed with Evo's performance. There was something after watching the first set that made me think he wasn't going to win. He was a bit flat throughout I thought, which was a shame really. There wasn't anything that wowed me about his game at all today. Not enough power or pop to his game today...
saw the 1st set of Murray's match - a bit frustrated that he just slices his way around - why not entertain the crowd with some big shots - maybe he was more expansive in the 2nd and 3rd - though I see the wrist may have been a factor - guess we should be grateful he's playing at all
only saw the last set of Evo's match - is he really just 5' 10" - he has some nice shots but he doesnt seem athletic enough to compensate for his lack of inches. I wonder how many guys that height reach and stick around the top 100 without being very athletic.
Aha - some questions answered. Andy damaged his wrist in Cincinnati, and the more he plays, the more it hurts. It's his left wrist this time but that means he can't hit his backhand properly - and that is his best shot.
Now there is quite a lot of doubt that he will play the doubles tomorrow, Flembo may be drafted in. Darned if I know whether that would make it more or less likely that we would win that rubber.
Madeline wrote: Now there is quite a lot of doubt that he will play the doubles tomorrow, Flembo may be drafted in. Darned if I know whether that would make it more or less likely that we would win that rubber.
It's funny because you'd think Andy would make a really good doubles player, he has fantastic returns and has good hands at the net, which are the two most important attributes. But his record on the tour hasn't been great.
The only doubles matches I've seen him play are in the DC though, and he has played one since 2006, so i can't really comment on what's gone on.
I would say having Andy there would be an advantage just because of that big match experience, and the fact he will lift the crowd. Also remember Flembo/Hutch lost to Bubka/Stakhovsky, and while those two are a pretty good challenger level team, the Polish duo have been around one of the best ten teams in the world for the last few years.
Either way the Polish duo are still the favourites, and I still stand by Poland being favourites for the tie, I just can't see Evans winning three sets.
only saw the last set of Evo's match - is he really just 5' 10" - he has some nice shots but he doesnt seem athletic enough to compensate for his lack of inches. I wonder how many guys that height reach and stick around the top 100 without being very athletic.
His "official" height is 5' 9". But shorties often tend to add a few inches, as has been discussed on this board in the past.
Janowicz is 6' 6" (no need to fib). When they were standing next to each other, the bottom of his chin was higher than the top of Evans' head. An average male head is 10" from the top to the bottom of the chin. So that would make Evans a maximum of 5' 8". And Janowicz seems to have a large head.
(Davydenko is officially 5' 10" - but when he shook hands with Evans at Wimbledon they were clearly the same height.)
__________________
"Where Ratty leads - the rest soon follow" (Professor Henry Brubaker - The Institute of Studies)