[Corey Feldman]

maybe Fed ordered Krajicek how he wanted the court this year and for it to be green

[henke007]

To solid from challengerer

Jarkko can walk away happy with his effort, great result again great start to the year. He can take over Fiascos top 30 spot.

[Voo de Mar]

About the surface issue... In my opinion at the times were the surfaces were much diversified tennis was much more entertaining but I understand why it has been changed. I remember around 2000 an increase of interesting in women's tennis, it made inter alia an impact on Eurosport which decided to switch its focus from men's to women's tennis. Average spectators want to witness longer rallies, so officials made all effort to deliver it slowing down the game, in a consequence the game became more one-dimensional in terms of game-styles as well as achievements by particular surfaces. In today's culture (I think tennis is a part of it) everything what has to be sold depends on an average taste

[Black Adam]

Losing streak ends at 2.

[Timariot]

Originally Posted by Voo de Mar

About the surface issue... In my opinion at the times were the surfaces were much diversified tennis was much more entertaining but I understand why it has been changed. I remember around 2000 an increase of interesting in women's tennis, it made inter alia an impact on Eurosport which decided to switch its focus from men's to women's tennis. Average spectators want to witness longer rallies, so officials made all effort to deliver it slowing down the game, in a consequence the game became more one-dimensional in terms of game-styles as well as achievements by particular surfaces. In today's culture (I think tennis is a part of it) everything what has to be sold depends on an average taste

Yes, it's true. I remember well the years 1998-2000, the buzz about WTA was just immense, pretty much nobody was giving a shit about ATP, other than story of Agassi's resurgence. Which in a way is funny because the widely criticized serve-fest of the '90s was already winding down in those years.

Problem is that they went to other extreme, all the surfaces were homogenized and now it's same kind of tennis played everywhere. Funnily enough, I put tiny blame on Clijsters, she showed you can slide on hardcourts (insanity of insanities) and other ppl copied it, men & women alike.

Another problem is that when ISL collapsed, tournaments became a LOT more cost-conscient, and went to easily maintainable hardcourts everywhere to save money. This killed green clay.

[Johnny Groove]

Roger is definitely carrying a few extra kilos in the gut area.

Should shed that before the real tournaments in the spring.

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/_photos...23-x-large.jpg

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=...pg&w=512&h=346

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...lVeN5/439x.jpg

[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by masterclass

You can't only look at errors. It's about service and winners and when the service didn't win the point, it's because each player was aggressive, going for winners almost the whole match. There were a few bad errors, but not many. You can't expect them to rally 20+ shots on an indoor surface like this. It's not real fast, but it's fast and low bouncing enough where players like Mr. Nadal or Mr. Djokovic wouldn't want to be here. Probably a bit faster surface would have produced fewer errors as both players were going for the lines, both wide (mostly Federer) and deep (mostly Nieminen).

Respectfully,
masterclass

Lol, why do you people keep insisting I complained because of no 20+ rallies, I never said that? After some errors even Fed himself looked pretty annoyed, I don't think he was overly satisfied with the way things were going today. Anyway, all I can say is that if Fed meets Nole this year, I hope he plays as great as he did today, I'll be pretty happy with that

[Shirogane]

Only saw the first set; good and aggressive tennis from both players, with Fed upping his game a notch at 5-all. As a Davydenko fan () I don't like this result, but Nieminen just didn't serve well enough when it really mattered.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by Voo de Mar

About the surface issue... In my opinion at the times were the surfaces were much diversified tennis was much more entertaining but I understand why it has been changed. I remember around 2000 an increase of interesting in women's tennis, it made inter alia an impact on Eurosport which decided to switch its focus from men's to women's tennis. Average spectators want to witness longer rallies, so officials made all effort to deliver it slowing down the game, in a consequence the game became more one-dimensional in terms of game-styles as well as achievements by particular surfaces. In today's culture (I think tennis is a part of it) everything what has to be sold depends on an average taste

Yes, understandably after the racquet/string improvements and the mens serve fests of the late 90's early 2000's. But they simply have swung too far in the other direction. Balance is obviously needed, or something will have to give. It will be injuries to top players and shortened seasons. The changes don't have to be drastic. Clay court tournaments can still have 3-5 hour matches. 2 hours on hard courts or grass is plenty - 5 or 6 is ridiculous.

The women's game was more interesting at that time, because there was enough variety in playing conditions that all types of players had a shot of winning and the racquet/string improvements allowed women to be more aggressive. Now, how are pure retrievers like Wozniacki #1 for 2 years? If the men can't put away winners, most of the ladies even have a harder time, except for the 185+ cm superwomen. The women would benefit as well if the pendulum swung in the other direction some.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by masterclass

The women's game was more interesting at that time, because there was enough variety in playing conditions that all types of players had a shot of winning and the racquet/string improvements allowed women to be more aggressive. Now, how are pure retrievers like Wozniacki #1 for 2 years? If the men can't put away winners, most of the ladies even have a harder time, except for the 185+ cm superwomen. The women would benefit as well if the pendulum swung in the other direction some.

If Wozniacki is that successful/rewarded for her retrieving, why does she have 0 slams? Not to mention that none of the slam winners in the last 5 slams are 185+ cm superwomen. Anyway, it's offtopic here.

[BroTree123]

Federer

[Nathaliia]

nice match
of course world would be better with more creative smart players like this
sorry that jarkko had to lose, fed, when focused, was that 1 ball better obviously

[Lopez]

Originally Posted by Corey Feldman

2.

Can't good rep you . "You must spread some around" etc...

[Hian-GOAT]

Jarkko being shit at the decisive moments.
What a news...

[Voo de Mar]

Nieminen is 17 days older than Federer, for both it was a tournament No. 246 in their careers.