Cracking game here underway in Vienna between Thiem and Berrettini.
Berrettini beat Thiem in their last meeting in Shanghai and has a break here in the first set.
Berrettini now in a strong position to get the last Finals spot.
Liquid tennis here from the Dominator.
0-30
Thiem breaks back. He’s my favourite player to watch after Nadal on tour, when he’s in the mood he is absolutely sublime.
Big Matteo has such soft hands for a giraffe.
Thiem lost the first set but has broken back in set 2.
The Dominator breaks in the final set.
Thiem takes it in the third, he now goes for his third, he goes for his third hard court title of the year.
Federer and Thiem both won their home titles yesterday.
The Paris Masters takes place this week, Federer has pulled out but Nadal makes his return. Bar Federer, it’s pretty much a full field.
All eyes will be on Medvedev, can he keep his run going? He is slated to meet Djokovic in the semi final should all go to plan.
Another dismal performance from “rising star” Borna Coric, he’s falling out of the top 30 at a rate of knots.
Medvedev beaten by Chardy in the first round in Paris, halt his run of 6 straight finals.
Medvedev has had to have run out of steam. 6 straight finals the guy must be running on fumes. Bit of rest now for him before the ATP finals in London.
He had taken a couple of weeks off after Shanghai so it’s a surprise all the same.
I do often wonder how interested players are in these end of year tournaments, are some of them just turning up because they are contracted too? Not necessarily throwing matches but going out and if they win they win and if they lose, no big deal. The biggest fucker for this is Stan.
I don’t think the end of year ones are taken with the same seriousness as the others. You look at Paris in recent years and you’ve had winners like Khachanov and Sock. Obviously some players will have a motivation, Nadal and Djokovic have the year no 1 to fight for and certain players will be chasing the finals too but apart from that I think once the US Open finishes up, some players take the foot off.
The likes of Zverev, Tsitsipas and Thiem all seem to have rediscovered their form again in recent months so I think it will be of the best ATP finals in recent years if the top 8 all enter - there will be a big age swing it it compared to previous years. You’ll have the big 3 all in their 30s and then Thiem 26, Berrettini 23, Medvedev 23, Zverev 22, Tsitsipas 21. That’s the youngest lot for quite some time
Was thinking the same thing, once the US open is over there is a noticeable dip motivation. Usually it is players coming back from injury, like Murray, or other players who may not have had a good year so far looking to get a good run to build on going into next year. A lot of players are just going through the motions.
I don’t think I would buy a ticket for any of these end of year tournaments.
Doesn’t help that they are primarily indoor either, played in municipal arenas on makeshift surfaces.
I do think the ATP finals will be good this year as the form of the next gen has been very good lately and I think the Big 3 will want to knock Medvedev and the rest down a peg or two. I think the next gen will win 2 slams next year. I think Medvedev would have to be strongly favoured for Australia or the US given his hard court form. I think Djokovic will be the one of the big 3 to suffer the most from Medvedev if he can sustain his form in the latter half of 2019, hard courts are Djokovic’s bread and butter, 10 of his 16 slams have came on hard courts and most of the next gen like Zverev, Tstitsipas, Berrettini and Medvedev are at their best on hard.
You’ll also have the ranking conundrum, there will be a lot of danger players likely to be outside the top 16 next year - Del Potro, Murray, Cilic, Dimitrov, Kyrgios who all have the game to go far in tournaments.
I’m pretty confident the guard will be changing next year.
Good game here between Nadal and Wawrinka.
Doctor has been called for Rafa at next changeover which is a worry.
Must be a stomach bug Rafa has.
Djokovic was suffering from a virus yesterday too.
Stan is not putting Nadal under any pressure on his service games.
What was that fucking idiot thinking shouting out in the middle of the serve.
Nadal through in straight sets.
Wawrinka with a lot of unforced errors.
Looks set for a Nadal-Djokovic final.
Djokovic will have a tough next game against Tsitsipas but it’s either Dimitrov or Garin after that who should be fairly manageable.
Nadal with Tsonga next and then one of Monfils/Albot/Shapovalov.
Tsonga is having a bit of an Indian summer after taking out form players Rublev and Berrettini in the opening two rounds before taking care of Struff today.