[PTWahoo14]

Originally Posted by zumbazumba

I honestly don t think that predicting that Rubin might lose to his opponent warrants your statement that I hate the kid. Please tell me that you did that in the heat of the moment. if you go back and read what I said was that Henrik might upset Noah in three sets, and Lederman will give him a tough match, which indeed it turned out to be (lederman had three consecutive match points). I predicted other seeds to be upset as well but somehow that did not strike a chord with you. Only my prediction against the top seed did?!

Other posters on this thread were making comments about players having no chance of winning, or being mentally fragile or being given too much credit and somehow that was not considered ill-intended or malicious, but a mere prediction of a top seed going out early leads you to believe I hate the kid?!!! That is not fair! I think my posts are very respectful and not intended to offend anyone. I was merely rendering my opinion. like everyone else.

1. Rubin is one of my favorites, so I was quite shocked when you made that comment about Thai being a better player.

2. I was wondering if you bore any ill-will towards him because of the consistent pattern of expecting him to lose against much lesser ranked opponents. I know hate is a strong word. I meant it more as like do you have a negative impression of him and/or just don't think he is as good as his rankings or previous accomplishments indicate? To compare, I have pretty much written off Dennis Novikov as a hopeless player even though he just won Kalamazoo and did well at the US Open. I don't literally "hate" him as I know nothing about who he is outside of tennis, but I do view his tennis game in a pretty negative light and usually expect him to lose. So I wanted to know is that kind of how you view Noah?

3. You were VERY respectful and I saw no intention to offend anyone. None of your comments were offensive or malicious. Also, I definitely respect your opinion. It seems like you have seen many of these junior players in person, which is a very valuable perspective.

4. I genuinely want (I'm practically dying) to know what from the games, playing styles, results, accomplishments and history of the two players have led you to infer the statement that "Thai is a better tennis player" than Noah. I haven't seen either in person, but outside of that I see next to nothing that would back up that statement.




All that said and done.... Rubin has been struggling all week so I do think Kwiatkowski will win tomorrow

[zumbazumba]

Originally Posted by PTWahoo14

1. Rubin is one of my favorites, so I was quite shocked when you made that comment about Thai being a better player.

2. I was wondering if you bore any ill-will towards him because of the consistent pattern of expecting him to lose against much lesser ranked opponents. I know hate is a strong word. I meant it more as like do you have a negative impression of him and/or just don't think he is as good as his rankings or previous accomplishments indicate? To compare, I have pretty much written off Dennis Novikov as a hopeless player even though he just won Kalamazoo and did well at the US Open. I don't literally "hate" him as I know nothing about who he is outside of tennis, but I do view his tennis game in a pretty negative light and usually expect him to lose. So I wanted to know is that kind of how you view Noah?

3. You were VERY respectful and I saw no intention to offend anyone. None of your comments were offensive or malicious. Also, I definitely respect your opinion. It seems like you have seen many of these junior players in person, which is a very valuable perspective.

4. I genuinely want (I'm practically dying) to know what from the games, playing styles, results, accomplishments and history of the two players have led you to infer the statement that "Thai is a better tennis player" than Noah. I haven't seen either in person, but outside of that I see next to nothing that would back up that statement.




All that said and done.... Rubin has been struggling all week so I do think Kwiatkowski will win tomorrow

I have seen all these kids play at one time or another and most of them recently. I don t think little of Rubin s game at all. I think he s ranked according to his results and ability to compete pretty well. He is certainly a more mature player than any other junior we discussed on these boards. He comes prepared for every match and gives it his best effort, and he is more professional in his approach. That being said, I think he s tapping into the maximum of his ability both physically and game wise. Other players have ways to go in terms of development and maturing not so much physically but in other ways.

I think Noah will reach at least a top 5 itf ranking and will be a very decorated junior in the world. There are players that Noah has trouble beating, such as steady baseliners, ala Lederman, Kruger, Schnieder and to a lesser extent Weirsholm. That s why I predicted that he may be tired after his Davis cup odyssey and could go down to Lederman . That is all! No alterior motives, no dislike and certainly no hate. Just observations and some subjective use of logic.

I do realize that Lederman and henrik are ranked way lower but not because of their ability but cause they do not play a full itf schedule. Ranking do tell the story but there are subplots sometimes. I think you base your opinions on just numbers and rankings, where I had the opportunity to see these kids play and therefore can render a little insight beyond the dry statistics.

[zumbazumba]

Really surprised at the reversal of the scoreline between Papa and Di Feo. Papa beat him ith the same score in Tulsa a year ago!

[SapELee]

Well so much for winning the tournament

[SapELee]

Final: Rubin vs Di Feo

Colette Lewis ‏@zootennis

Down 3-1 in final set, Rubin takes last 5 games v Kwiatkowski to earn 36, 60, 63 win and return to the finals #TulsaITF

[Smoke944]

Good job Noah. Final will be difficult; Di Feo hasn't dropped a set all week.

[zumbazumba]

Originally Posted by Smoke944

Good job Noah. Final will be difficult; Di Feo hasn't dropped a set all week.

Di Feo s style is just making balls and no finishing shot. Has good hands at the net, good dubs player. Bad matchup for him against Rubin. Rubin in straights, no more than 7 games for Hugo. Rubin will have time on Hugo s ball and won t be rushed, when that happens rubin wins most of the time

Di Feo s FH a liability, rubin will feast on that.

[SapELee]

Originally Posted by zumbazumba

Really surprised at the reversal of the scoreline between Papa and Di Feo. Papa beat him ith the same score in Tulsa a year ago!

Spencer is horrible indoor.

[Smoke944]

Originally Posted by SapELee

Spencer is horrible indoor.

This tournament is outdoors and I don't think it was raining, was it?

[SapELee]

Originally Posted by Smoke944

This tournament is outdoors and I don't think it was raining, was it?

According to Zootennis the matches were moved inside:

Colette Lewis ‏@zootennis

Storms in the area have sent today's semifinals inside. Papa(2) v Di Feo(4) and Zhao(1) v. Makarova(3) starting off. #TulsaITF

[SapELee]

Big advantage for Rubin as well (that's how he beat Krueger at Kzoo, the match was moved indoor).

[Smoke944]

Originally Posted by SapELee

According to Zootennis the matches were moved inside:

Ahh, sorry. Didn't see that tweet. And yeah, big advantage for Noah in that case.

[SapELee]

BTW, I'm still upset about yesterday, rain . The USTA needs to do something about Spencer's game, he needs to learn how to adapt to quicker surface. His indoor results are atrocious. Send Spencer to train in New York for the winter or something, would greatly improve his doubles game as well. Thank goodness the rain came later into the week unlike at 53 Trofeo Bonfiglio where he lost badly to a local wildcard in the first round 36 16

Of all the players train at Boca, I think Stefan is the only one capable of playing well on all surfaces. Thai can only play on fast surface, Spencer only on slow outdoor or clay, Luca is well Luca (struggling).

[SapELee]

Hopefully, the rain will stay away til the completion of the matches.

Colette Lewis ‏@zootennis

Storms are heading our way, but as of now no rain, just windy. Players in singles finals beginning their warmups #TulsaITF

[SapELee]

This is so annoying.

When matches are being played at the same time outdoor and indoor, the page will automatically switch between them when it refreshes.

Edit: I guess I should be thankful that we even have livescoring at all.