Week 47 - Davis Cup Finals - Madrid, Spain - (Indoor, Hard).

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 47 - Davis Cup Finals - Madrid, Spain - (Indoor, Hard).

indiana · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Jan wrote:
Stu Fraser reporting that it's Dan and Kyle for the singles...
Interesting, so Kyle against Kohlschreiber and Dan v Struff...
Andy mustnt be fit enough , shame he let himself go a little in his 5 weeks off but probably understandable. He was also hobbling slightly at end of last match so I wonder if he is protecting a flare up of his hip. Hope it is just too many jelly babies...
Kyle has never played PK, Evo beat Struff in 4 sets at Wimbledon in 2016...no form really to predict from

Certainly Andy hardly exactly impressed in the match he did play. Hence I wasn"t sure at all about the selection today.

Not sure though about "let himself go a little"! I speculated that he could have been "leggy" from coming out of hard training.

Though maybe he has had some restricting slight injury issue(s). He had an elbow problem leading into his successful Antwerp week. Clearly best not play if any current issue.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
If there was a mixed doubles included in a mixed event then to me to be taken totally seriously the etiquette that still exists in the somewhat fun Slam mixed doubles events would have to go. Bash it hard at the woman!

ITF discussion on BBC report is to have mixed World Cup with separate mens and womens DC and FC events, and then to bring back Hopman Cup, presumably not in Australia after they abandoned it this year to side with ATP Cup. Presumably if ATP was persuaded to come on board, they would also need to get WTA involved ideally and create a real joined up structure that works with the calendar

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Jan wrote:
Stu Fraser reporting that it's Dan and Kyle for the singles...
Interesting, so Kyle against Kohlschreiber and Dan v Struff...
Andy mustnt be fit enough , shame he let himself go a little in his 5 weeks off but probably understandable. He was also hobbling slightly at end of last match so I wonder if he is protecting a flare up of his hip. Hope it is just too many jelly babies...
Kyle has never played PK, Evo beat Struff in 4 sets at Wimbledon in 2016...no form really to predict from

Certainly Andy hardly exactly impressed in the match he did play. Hence I wasn"t sure at all about the selection today.
Not sure though about "let himself go a little"! I speculated that he could have been "leggy" from coming out of hard training.
Though maybe he has had some slight injury issue. He had an elbow problem leading into his successful Antwerp week. Clearly best not play if any current issue.

Andy himself said he had put on 4-5 kgs over his 5 weeks gap and still had to shed the last couple of kilos, after his first match!!

His hobbling was commented on during the commentary on the BBC text service, hopefully that wasnt true. But he was certainly puffing after that first match!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I noted on here after the match that I feared he seemed to be limping slightly but thought I might be being paranoid.

Anyone playing such a long match is entitled to look a bit uncomfortable. And it may well have just been that.....

indiana · Tennis legend

Cheers Jon, I had missed the kilos being added.

Be a pity if Andy could have come here in better shape, especially with Cam as an option.

I assume thst he thought he was more ready than he was and/or has picked up an addidional problem here.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Spain V Argentina has PCB versus Pella and Rafa v Schwartzman. Hard to see past a Spain win to be frank.

I noticed that Argentina arent selecting Zeballos in doubles, and Gonzalez and Mayer had the nod in previous matches. Zeballos is #4 in world, anyone know why? He is on the squad listing

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Off topic, and totally hypothetical, but say this mixed event of 3 men and 3 women came into fruition in 12 months, and most were at near full strength (which would obviously be a huge if), considering respective strength on the men's, women's and potential mixed doubles, who would you class as the favourites?

Canada would have to be fairly high up - Shapo, FAA, then either Raonic or Pospisil, along with Bianca, Dabrowsi, and maybe Bouchard to make up the numbers / add a biggish name would be a fairly formidable prospect. I guess you'd still have to consider the USA, although there men's singles would probably let them down. Australia maybe, if Nick was on form, and they could have Peers and Barty in doubles. I think it would be great.

But anyway, come on GB...

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Cheers Jon, I had missed the kilos being added.

Be a pity if Andy could have come here in better shape, especially with Cam as an option.

I assume thst he thought he was more ready than he was and/or has picked up an addidional problem here.

heres the story, lots of other papers carried it, I just chose this one to paste (honest!)

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1207033/Andy-Murray-overweight-Davis-Cup-tennis-news

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Off topic, and totally hypothetical, but say this mixed event of 3 men and 3 women came into fruition in 12 months, and most were at near full strength (which would obviously be a huge if), considering respective strength on the men's, women's and potential mixed doubles, who would you class as the favourites?

Canada would have to be fairly high up - Shapo, FAA, then either Raonic or Pospisil, along with Bianca, Dabrowsi, and maybe Bouchard to make up the numbers / add a biggish name would be a fairly formidable prospect. I guess you'd still have to consider the USA, although there men's singles would probably let them down. Australia maybe, if Nick was on form, and they could have Peers and Barty in doubles. I think it would be great.

But anyway, come on GB...

I cant see it being a mixed event, it will be mens and womens events alongside each other. For the Davis and Federation Cups respectively. Hence why they want Hopman Cup back again as they realise there is a market for it. But it would no doubt be one man and one woman, cant see it being 3 each aside.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

Wow the stadium looks like it has about 50 people in it for the start of this tie!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

That has been one of the main issues, outside of the Spain matches, and of course the attendance in this tie won't be helped by a simultaneously packed tie on centre count, but time of year, being more established, perhaps better promotion does need to happen if this event is to thrive. Big tennis fans won't mind watching GB vs Germany, but it might be a harder sell to the more causal fan, but either way, it does need work to improve it.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

The total crowds on the Tues/Wed/Thurs have been 20,200, 20,900 and 16,500 respectively. But that has been across 2 sessions each day, so 8-10k per session. Centre court holds around 10k and the other 2 courts 3 and 2k respectively, so you are looking at half to 2/3rds capacity in each session - if most of those are watching Spain, then it will be relatively empty on the courts...

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

BTW, there is no live scoreboard on DC FInals website, it is stuck on Germany v Chile, at least for me it is - SPain v Argentina is up there but not GB...

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity. The Emirates Arena in Glasgow it ain't.

Overall to date, the tennis itself has been great. But much to work on regarding the organisation.

And top sport certainly needs live ( preferably very engaged ) audiences. How to sell the 'neutral' ties?

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 22nd of November 2019 04:56:48 PM