Talk About Tennis 2.0

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 7:33 pm

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 7:14 pm I like that shirt. Don't like the color, but the high neck is cool.

Looks like he's moments away from taking confession.

Jinx!

I've said for a while now that Musetti has the physical talent to definitely be a top 5 player... but his head is weak. I think it's a confidence issue with him... though it could be a commitment issue.

He has shown his physical talent thus far vs. Tsitsipas. Will he hold steady... or will he fold? I don't think even he knows...

I can't recall any player ever that has played two consecutive matches at any grand slam and has lost both after leading two sets to none.
And I wonder what that can do to a player's psyche. But Musetti's competitive drive is already a bit suspect. No need to add that label.

Well, it'll be interesting to see how he bounces back from this. He finished the match and also didn't wilt at the end when he could've just given up and let it be over as a 6-1 set, so there's that. There was competitive fight here that just flatly wasn't there last year.

If he struggles again, I do hope someone in his camp talks to him not just about putting in the time to improve his fitness to get better at these endurance matches, but gets him to talk to a sports psychologist.

ponchi101 wrote:I can't recall any player ever that has played two consecutive matches at any grand slam and has lost both after leading two sets to none.
And I wonder what that can do to a player's psyche. But Musetti's competitive drive is already a bit suspect. No need to add that label.

Do you mean he lost in Australia after leading 2 sets to love and did the same thing here?


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No. He lost at RG to Novak last year, in the infamous 4-0 fifth set match (in which he walked out because he would later admit "he was not going to win").
I should have said two consecutive SAME slams.

Officiating during Carreno Busta vs. Simon was interesting in the final sets. Because it was deemed the farewell match, it felt like there were some liberties given especially because it seemed like Simon was going to lose despite winning the first two sets. He was given more time to catch his breath between points, serve clock was not rushed, etc. The crowd was giving him life but were fairly rowdy and they were not reigned in in any significant way so as not to disrupt Carreno Busta. For the farewell match, it makes sense, but Simon won. And it's not the only reason he won, but the extra time helped him for sure at various points to regroup a bit more, he was struggling physically out there, not in an injured way, but a "this is a long 5-set match and I'm 37 way."

ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 7:47 pm

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 7:08 pm

JTContinental wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 4:21 pm Hurkacz appears to be playing tennis in a turtleneck

I have questions.

My first question would be to Yonex and it would be "Why?"

My first reaction is 'Please don't tell me that there are holes in the back of the shirt, too...'.

Regarding Musetti...
When others have more belief in you than you have in yourself, there is a major problem.
And it's an even bigger problem when the people who have believed in you are beginning to seriously question that belief.

The talent is unquestionably there. But the belief and confidence clearly is not.
If he continues along his current trajectory, he will become this generation's Hicham Arazi - enormous unfulfilled, 'wasted' talent.

Arazi was 5-9. An underchiever, yes, but there are limits to anyone's game at that height.

Arazi had more natural physical ability to hit a tennis ball than any of his contemporaries, and his underachieving had nothing to do with his height.
It was the flaws in his psychological approach and outlook that did him in.

Many-a player has been told that their height - or lack of it - would render them incapable of reaching the top levels in tennis, and proved that theory wrong... Barty, Halep, Schwartzman, Chang, Ferrer, Grosjean, Coetzer...

All of the above achieved a higher ranking than Arazi, and with considerably less natural ability.
Arazi never made it into the top 20.