RF Tennis News 2017

vrazkar wrote:

pheebe wrote:...Makes me wonder if you are "mountains" in disguise!

Yeah my thoughts exactly!

pheebe wrote:rufus- thank you so much for all this compiling you are doing. Makes me wonder if you are "mountains" in disguise!

Scouting Report: 46 Of Top 50 Compete In Indian Wells

ATP Staff - 6 March 2017

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming week on the ATP World Tour


•    All-Star Line-up in the Desert: The first of nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments of the season, the BNP Paribas Open, gets underway at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Thursday, headlined by a star-studded field which includes every member of the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (46 of the Top 50) overall as of 6 March 2017. This is the 42nd edition of the tournament, which was first held at nearby Mission Hills in Palm Springs in 1976.

•   BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells): Three of the Big Four (except Murray) have accounted for 12 of the past 13 titles going back to 2004 when Roger Federer captured the first of his four titles (2004-06, 2012). Overall a Top 5 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings has lifted the champion’s trophy in 15 of the past 16 years, except 2010 when No. 26 Ivan Ljubicic won the title. World No. 2 and five-time champion Novak Djokovic (2008, 2011, 2014-15-16) and three-time winner Rafael Nadal (2007, ’09, ’13) are the other title holders in the field.

•    Big Four Masters 1000 Dominance: The ‘Big Four’ of Murray, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have won 56 of the last 61 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, which dates back to Nadal’s triumph at Monte-Carlo in 2010.  The only other players to emerge with an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title during that time are: Robin Soderling (2010 Paris), David Ferrer (2012 Paris), Stan Wawrinka (2014 Monte-Carlo), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2014 Toronto) and Marin Cilic (2016 Cincinnati). Here is the breakdown of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles won by the Big Four during that span: Djokovic (25), Nadal (13), Murray (10) and Federer (8 ).


Continues here with more records, match stats breakdown and tables...

2017 Matt Hazlett/BNP Paribas Open

Federer Unfazed By Tough Quarter

Mar 08, 2017

By Richard Osborn

Leave it to Roger Federer to turn a six-month layoff into an advantage. Sidelined with a knee injury for the second half of 2016 — by far the longest hiatus of his two-decade-long professional career — the 35-year-old didn't sulk, didn't fall to pieces. Instead, the busy father of four looked at it as "an opportunity."

"The thing is I had to take that time off," said Federer, who is prepping for his first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open. "It’s not like I took six months off because I thought it was the right thing to do before the Australian Open. I actually had to take the time off. My knee wasn’t well. I didn’t have a choice, per se. But if you look at the big picture, sometimes you have to step away to come back strong."

When he did return this January in Melbourne, he figured it would be slow going. In fact, so low — on the Federerian Scale anyway — were his expectations, that the Swiss maestro says he would have settled for a fourth-round showing, perhaps a quarterfinal. After his first-round 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer, he went so far as to tell the press that he could have flown home that very day a satisfied customer.

"I’m injury-free, I'm playing at the Australian Open. Things are good. I'm happy to be back on the court," he recalled on Wednesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "[But] I went all the way. I still can’t believe it."

His epic five-set win over longtime nemesis Rafael Nadal in the Melbourne final produced his record 18th Grand Slam trophy. The experts had been muting his chances at another major of late — after all, the tricenarian had gone nearly five years without one — but Federer proved he’s anything but done.

"I heard that in Switzerland things were a bit crazy on finals day and throughout the tournament because it was so unexpected for me to play so well," he said. "On the web, social media, you see that there was a lot happening. There was a lot of 'best forehands,' 'best backhands,' match-point reactions — everything. I was watching everything the first couple of weeks after it was all said and done, which was a lot of fun."

Then he added: "I still feel like I’m on Cloud Nine."

How hard was it for world No. 10 to be away from the game for so long?

"It was fairly easy because in the beginning I couldn't have played. Only in the last three weeks of the season did I feel like maybe I could play a set with those guys. Then the season was over. That's when I really started to go into harder training. From that standpoint, there was never a thought that crossed my mind that I could have come back earlier. I didn't want to do it because I really wanted extra time to get ready for the Australian Open. I hope this sends out the message to the players that they should take extra time after coming back from an injury, that it’s okay to take extra time to train to become a better tennis player."

In the end, eight weeks on the practice court were all he needed to get his Grand Slam form back.

"I don’t feel like I needed an injury for perspective," he confided. "But I do understand now when people are injured what it means going into surgery, how they feel, how they come out of it, that it’s an opportunity as well as it is hard to go through. It's okay to be sad, to be disappointed and maybe even angry. There are a lot of new things I learned. For me, because it's a new situation, I want to live it — live it big and try to make the most of it, come out of it with something. I came back rejuvenated and potentially with a slightly different mindset, maybe more fortunate."

Following a hiccup last month in Dubai, where he was shocked by Russian journeyman Evgeny Donskoy 7-6(5) in a third-set tiebreak, Federer arrived in the California desert to the cold reality that he’d be competing in a quarter of the draw that collectively comprises some 45 Grand Slams, including longtime rivals Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro, not to mention on-the-rise stars Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev. For some, this might have been an ideal moment to panic. But Federer clearly relishes the opportunity.

"Most of the guys you won’t even see because they’ll eliminate each other," he told BNPParibasOpen.com. “The first message I got was Dudi Sela or Stephane Robert. I said, 'Okay, fine.' Then I heard that Rafa was in my section. Then I heard maybe Novak was in my section. It doesn't matter. I've gone through so many draws. I came here to Indian Wells to play against those guys. It doesn't matter if it's the semis, the final or the fourth round. I know it matters for you guys. The only problem is most of them will have to lose early. That opens the draw for other players. It's an opportunity for other guys to rise in the rankings. But it’s good for me to play those guys early. I look forward to it."

Federer had to turn back the clock to 2004 to recall a comparable draw. That was the year he topped Marat Safin in the Australian Open final, only to face the future Hall of Famer weeks later in the opening round in Dubai. How did he respond? He went on to win the title, of course.

Fed Facts:
• The Swiss is chasing his fifth Indian Wells title, and first since 2010.
• Federer was a back-to-back finalist in his most recent appearances in the desert, in 2014 and 2015.
• A title here would be the 90th overall of his career.

avasbar wrote:Will you be at the tourney all week tvradke?

Are we going to get first-hand reports? :cyclops:

Federer Surges; Fritz Knocks Out Cilic




BNP Paribas Open

Mar 12, 2017

 
Roger Federer wasted no time in booking his spot in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday evening, racing past Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1 in just 51 minutes.

The Swiss was on fine form, winning 71 per cent of his service points and converting all five of his break point chances. Victory takes Federer to a 53-11 mark at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where he has lifted the trophy four times, most recently in 2014 (d. Djokovic).

VIEW MATCH STATS

After being sidelined for the second half of the 2016 season, Federer made a remarkable comeback at the start of this year, beating Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal in back-to-back five-set tussles to clinch his 18th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open.





There was a surprise for the 35-year-old Federer last week, though, in his second tour-level tournament of the year in Dubai, where he was upset by Evgeny Donskoy in the second round. The Basel native looks to bounce back this week, but finds himself in the toughest section of the draw, alongside Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Federer goes on to face American Steve Johnson, who edged Kevin Anderson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 14 minutes. Federer won his one previous meeting with Johnson, last year in straight sets at Wimbledon.

"I thought the match went really well," said Federer. "[It was a] rocky start in the beginning, just finding the groove, finding the rhythm, seeing the ball. I'm very pleased how it went. Moving on to the next round, it's going to be different. It's going to be different match-up [against Johnson], so I've got to adjust again.

"I have to be careful of any letdown after the Australian Open. I think it's real. That's why I'm really out there, like today, pushing myself on, one more point, shot-for-shot, point-for-point mentality," continued Federer. "It's important to see and not look too far ahead and think things are going to come easy.

If you watch Novak today or Rafa, margins are small. If you're not up to your best, you're struggling. You might lose. Saw it with Andy yesterday. It happens so quickly. That's why I'm really pushing for me to have good energy on the court."

Two more Americans were in action on Sunday evening.

#NextGenATP Taylor Fritz recorded the biggest win of his young career as he upset sixth seed Marin Cilic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes. Cilic led 6-4, 3-1, but Fritz fought back to level the match. The 19-year-old American could not close it out as he served for the match at 5-3 in the decider, but regrouped to break Cilic in the next game, leaving the court victorious as the crowd chanted his name.

Fritz, a native of Rancho Santa Fe, goes on to face Malek Jaziri as he bids to post his best run at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.




"It's amazing, especially with all the crowd support," said Fritz. "And just being at this tournament, my whole family was there. [My wife] Raquel was going crazy. It was amazing. Just the whole experience with the crowd, how I came back in the match, it's just, like, words can't describe it, really.

"I thought the main thing today was how I returned serve," continued the teenager. "I thought I returned much better than normal. I don't think it's one of the strongest parts of my game. I thought I did a really good job of returning one of the best servers in the game's serve throughout that match.

"Also, I thought I did a pretty good job of competing and kind of just sticking in the match and staying solid."

Jack Sock recovered from a second set disaster to defeat Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes. The Nebraska native broke decisively in the ninth game of the decider as he set a third-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

Official: Federer will have a top 8 seed in Miami.

— Jonathan Shifman(@Servolley_JS) March 16, 2017