TCU Men's Tennis - 2020-2021

[Jared7]

Norrie is decidedly not taking jake's advice and is scheduled to play Karen Khachanov in the opening round (Round of 64) at the Masters 1000 tourney in Toronto on Monday. He's not seeded and I think this is a bad draw - Khachanov is coming off a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics where he lost to Zverev in the finals and he's ranked ATP#25, just above Cam. I don't think Cam is injured per se; instead I think he is merely suffering the constant wear and tear of playing LOTS of matches continuously. I think it's blisters/bunions/callouses; which can be bothersome and might effect play. But it is a 1000 event; which has lots of money and ATP points at stake. Maybe he'll skip Cincinnati.

 

[jake102]

Yeh I think I had referenced in my previous posts saying he should rest unless it’s a Masters event. Terrible freaking draw for both guys. Just another side effect of this ridiculous ranking system

 

[Jared7]

Norrie v. Khachanov has been delayed until tomorrow. But Cam and the Demon (Alex De Minaur) are playing doubles right now in Toronto and they just split sets 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Alex Rybakov was indeed at Decatur (I had thought he had skipped it and didn't follow it), and this weekend, he advanced all the way to the semis where he lost to Eliot Spizzirri (a Longhorn - bleah!). Making the semis is a good result for the Rybomeister. Even at a Futures tourney, it earns ATP points.

Norrie and de Minaur fall 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 8-10.

 

[Jared7]

Norrie lost to Khachanov (the Silver medalist at the Olympics) earlier today 4-6, 7-5, 4-6 at Toronto. It was a close match and Cam played okay, but not well enough to advance. I'm guessing he goes to Cincinnati after leaving early here as it is also a 1000 event.

 

[Jared7]

Cam Norrie (still 29th in the ATP), will be in Cincinnati for the Masters 1000 there and will be opening up against John Isner in the Round of 64 (probably Monday). Another bad draw (sigh). But Cam has beaten Isner before, so I don't think it's as bad as having to play Khachanov, the Olympics Silver medalist. Having lost so early in Toronto, it's almost like he took a week off.

 

[Jared7]

Alex Rybakov is back in Europe after the semis appearance at Decatur. This time, it's in Czechia, for a Futures tourney at Prostejov, where he will face David Poljak in the first round of the main draw tomorrow. Reese Stalder is also there - he lost a qualie match yesterday to Nico Hornitschek 4 and 2 yesterday. I'm guessing that Tomas Jirousek is now back in Ft. Worth as he would probably have played here as well.

 

[MathFrog]

Alex Rybakov is back in Europe after the semis appearance at Decatur. This time, it's in Czechia, for a Futures tourney at Prostejov, where he will face David Poljak in the first round of the main draw tomorrow. Reese Stalder is also there - he lost a qualie match yesterday to Nico Hornitschek 4 and 2 yesterday. I'm guessing that Tomas Jirousek is now back in Ft. Worth as he would probably have played here as well.

Nick Chappell is also in Prostejov and is seeded second in the main draw. (Alex is seeded eighth.) All three Frogs are also scheduled to play doubles. Nick and Reese have teamed up and are unseeded. Alex is paired with Czech teen Dalibor Svrcina, and they’re seeded fourth.

 

[Pharm Frog]

Just finished watching Borg v McEnroe on Showtime. So weird to watch a show like that, know the outcome because it was a seminal sports moment of your youth, and still feel the sports anxiety.

I just think tennis was more enjoyable in those days with incredible finesse and shot-making from everywhere. Feel free to disagree but that’s the way I’ll likely always feel.

 

[Eight]

Just finished watching Borg v McEnroe on Showtime. So weird to watch a show like that, know the outcome because it was a seminal sports moment of your youth, and still feel the sports anxiety.

I just think tennis was more enjoyable in those days with incredible finesse and shot-making from everywhere. Feel free to disagree but that’s the way I’ll likely always feel.

thought they did a great job showing how mcenroe and borg pushed themselves to be the best they could be to beat the other.

 

[Pharm Frog]

thought they did a great job showing how mcenroe and borg pushed themselves to be the best they could be to beat the other.

Yep. And I thought it did a great job showing just how internally driven they were from the cradle it seemed.

 

[Eight]

Yep. And I thought it did a great job showing just how internally driven they were from the cradle it seemed.

agreed, think my favorite scene is borg walking barefoot on the rackets spread out in his hotel room to pick the perfect tensions to play with in the matches

far, far cry from today's game

 

[Moose Stuff]

Just finished watching Borg v McEnroe on Showtime. So weird to watch a show like that, know the outcome because it was a seminal sports moment of your youth, and still feel the sports anxiety.

I just think tennis was more enjoyable in those days with incredible finesse and shot-making from everywhere. Feel free to disagree but that’s the way I’ll likely always feel.

It wasn’t just tennis. MLB and NBA were far more entertaining in the 70’s than they are today. The only team sport that has truly improved for the better IMO is soccer. We’re doing our best to ruin the rest of them.

 

[Jared7]

That 4th set tiebreak between Borg and McEnroe was incredible tennis. Perhaps one of the reasons it seemed more exciting is that tiebreaks were still relatively new back then. Also, as discussed previously when we were talking about different eras, racquet technology was less fully developed and there was still an emphasis on finesse as had been the case in the exclusively wood racquet era. Now, it's more of a power game and McEnroe-type players are less successful. And the poor performance of U.S. players over the past decade or so has also caused Americans to lose interest in the sport. And, the dominance of Fed, Rafa and Djoker for quite some time has diminished the unpredictability of tennis as well.

Speaking of exciting tiebreaks, Alex Rybakov won 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7) today over Poljak at Prostejov and will next play Marek Gengel in the Round of 16. He and Svrcina also advanced in doubles. And Chappell and Widow also advanced in doubles. And Nick also advanced in singles with a 0 and 4 W over Robert Rumier and will next face Daniel Paty.

 

[Jared7]

Cam's match against Isner was scheduled for 12:00 (noon) at Cincinnati but it's currently in a rain delay, so it's not gonna start for quite some time. Norrie has dropped to 31st (Isner is 26th) and he's got a tall task to win today.

 

[Jared7]

Cam, with a new buzz cut, has started against Isner and is up a break 4-3, in the 1st set. It's not on the Tennis Channel, but is being shown live on a wide variety of Fox Regionals.

Norrie takes the opening set 6-4!

2-all in the 2nd set. But it's starting to rain...

 

[SuperTFrog]

Anybody have a patriotic pull in tennis? In other non-team sports like Golf, I always pull for the Americans. Americans seem to struggle in Tennis so there aren’t many to root for. Rooting for Norrie for sure, just asking.

 

[Jared7]

Anybody have a patriotic pull in tennis? In other non-team sports like Golf, I always pull for the Americans. Americans seem to struggle in Tennis so there aren’t many to root for. Rooting for Norrie for sure, just asking.

Well, it's not evident now because the U.S. hasn't has a men's player highly ranked and winning Slams since Andy Roddick. Isner (after winning Atlanta once again the highest ranked American) is a good player, but just isn't comparable and Seb Korda and Dennis Kudla aren't there yet although they might eventually be. So right now, we don't know. if the situation changes, I think you'll see a resurgence in U.S. tennis popularity and some patriotic rooting. (Serena is very popular).

 

[Jared7]

After the rain delay, Norrie ended up losing to Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6. After the W at Los Cabos, Cam has hit a bad stretch. Yes, it was hampered by some minor injuries and bad draws, but it's still a downer. He and the Demon (Alex de Minaur) are still alive in doubles, though, into the Round of 16.

In Prostejov, Rybo advanced to the quarters with a 3 and 3 W over Gengel. And Nick Chappell advanced to the quarters with a 4 and 3 W over Paty. Rybakov and Chappell will now play each other in the quarters tomorrow - Go Frogs! In doubles, all 3 Frogs are currently playing as I type: Chappell and Stalder lead 6-0, 0-0 and Rybo and Svrcina lead 5-4 in the first.

 

[Jared7]

All Frogs ended up victorious in their doubles matches today in Prostejov - Rybo and Svrcina won 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 and Chappell/Stalder won 6-0, 6-3 and they each have advanced to the semis where, miracle of miracles, they won't play each other. So Rybakov and Chappell will face each other in singles in the quarters tomorrow and all 3 Frogs will play in doubles as well. Not bad...

 

[Jared7]

Good news and bad news in the Battle of the Frogs at Prostejov - Alex Rybakov won 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and advanced to the semis in singles, but Nick Chappell lost. In doubles, it was reversed as Rybo and Svrcina lost but Chappell and Widow advanced to the finals. So all Frogs remain alive as we head for the weekend. Rybo is now up to ATP#414, a career high - making the semis will earn him some more ATP points.