Week 20 - ATP 250 - Open de Nice, France (clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 20 - ATP 250 - Open de Nice, France (clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

Julia Carrot wrote:
Zverev trying a very unkind drop shot.

Unkind but absolutely the right thing to do. Five years ago when Andy Murray played Gilles Simon at Monte Carlo. Simon suffered a similar ankle injury to what happened to Kyle yesterday. Andy was utterly ruthless in playing drop shot after shot while remaining indifferent the howls of outrage from an angry and partisan crowd. Two months later Andy turned his ankle at Roland Garros while playing Viktor Troicki. In a display of utter feebleness Troicki declined to use such "unkind" tactics and allowed a badly limping Murray to beat him in 5 sets.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I see Zverev has gone on to beat Granollers and Gilles Simon to reach the SF. Oh what could have been.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

As I said, what could have been.

Zverev went on to make the final before losing to Thiem in 3 sets.

I really do believe that on the red sutff, Kyle has the potential to be a really top player. Had he beaten Zverev, it may well have been him having a breakthrough week this week. We will just have to wait that bit longer. Hopefully not too long. RG next week would be nice.

RJA · Hall of fame

Bob in Spain wrote:
As I said, what could have been.

Zverev went on to make the final before losing to Thiem in 3 sets.

I really do believe that on the red sutff, Kyle has the potential to be a really top player. Had he beaten Zverev, it may well have been him having a breakthrough week this week. We will just have to wait that bit longer. Hopefully not too long. RG next week would be nice.

I completely agree. I would have made Kyle heavy favourite to beat Granollers and he would certainly have a shot against both Simon, who is in terrible form, and Sousa. Thinking about post Wimbledon Kyle will obviously play the Davis Cup but the week after that there are 3 clay court 250s (the post Wimbledon clay season is compressed this year due to the Olympics) in Umag, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel (+ hard court 500 event in Washington). The fields for these are obviously going to pretty weak so I would like to see Kyle give one of them a shot as it would be a genuine chance for a deep run.

Incidentally Thiem won the title here after spending less than 5 hours on court and that didn't involve or walkover or a retirement from an opponent.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

RJA wrote:
Julia Carrot wrote:
Zverev trying a very unkind drop shot.
Unkind but absolutely the right thing to do. Five years ago when Andy Murray played Gilles Simon at Monte Carlo. Simon suffered a similar ankle injury to what happened to Kyle yesterday. Andy was utterly ruthless in playing drop shot after shot while remaining indifferent the howls of outrage from an angry and partisan crowd. Two months later Andy turned his ankle at Roland Garros while playing Viktor Troicki. In a display of utter feebleness Troicki declined to use such "unkind" tactics and allowed a badly limping Murray to beat him in 5 sets.

In my book that would be humanity, not feebleness. Good for him.

indiana · Tennis legend

Julia Carrot wrote:
RJA wrote:
Julia Carrot wrote:
Zverev trying a very unkind drop shot.
Unkind but absolutely the right thing to do. Five years ago when Andy Murray played Gilles Simon at Monte Carlo. Simon suffered a similar ankle injury to what happened to Kyle yesterday. Andy was utterly ruthless in playing drop shot after shot while remaining indifferent the howls of outrage from an angry and partisan crowd. Two months later Andy turned his ankle at Roland Garros while playing Viktor Troicki. In a display of utter feebleness Troicki declined to use such "unkind" tactics and allowed a badly limping Murray to beat him in 5 sets.
In my book that would be humanity, not feebleness. Good for him.

I think most professional tennis players would expect their opponents to try and take advantage of an injury in such a way and would do so themselves. It's the professional thing to do and I think there is a good argument actually the respectful thing to do rather than go easy.

I think there are often times even in amateur low level sport when easing up and not taking advantage of an other's weakness(es) can be seen as a fault and not greatly appreciated. In professional sport I think "feeble" is not unreasonable.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Very interesting debates in this thread which have floundered around a deliberate misinterpretation of context, in a red top sort of way. I love the vetinary definition of professionalism in that a true professional should do their utmost to administer the equivalent of a lethal injection as soon as an opponent develops a limp. I agree in the context of professional sport that is the right thing to do,

The professional players obligation to themselves is to win and get off the court as soon as possible to prepare for the next round. The injured players obligation to themselves is to take a balanced view as to whether the outcome of playing on is going to produce a net benefit over both the short and long term.

In this case Kyle carries a psychological advantage having beaten Zverev in the first set into future encounters and the best chance of being as fit as possible at RG by retiring. Zverev did exactly the right thing dropping the ball short to encourage him to do so. The use of unkind, from a high quality UK broadsheet journalistic perspective is beautiful, adding a subtle nuiance that allows a clearer picture of the battle in the minds eye between two young players jousting for longer term supremacy at the top of our beautiful game.

Now if you, aptly as a true fan of clay court tennis prefer the red top alternative " he dropped it short" all well and good, indeed having lived in the U.S. For a couple of years that type of reporting is the staple. Me, I was scratching around for the gruniard, telegraph and Times after the first month, although I disagree with J.C's sentiment, I love her choice of words.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 22nd of May 2016 05:13:45 AM