Raonic def Murray: 6-3 6-7 7-6

[felangey]

Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

[Patrick Kehoe]

On Oct 5, 11:09 pm, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

Did you see the match felangey? I was surprized - and so was Murray -
that in some of the early sharp angled long running rallys Raonic was
coming out on top... Murray changed up his tempo in the second and yet
Milos was able to hang with him by getting to net and hitting a lot of
winners on the volley... that had Murray frustrated at times...

Milos is 900 points behind Tippy, I think for the last spot for the
YEC (if Rafa's out that is)... he said he wants to make a run for
London... good on him if he can get a win in Japan... a ton of work to
go yet obviously...

P

[Joe Ramirez]

On Oct 6, 2:09 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

I don't think Tomic has ever played as well in his life as Raonic did
in this match.

[Joe Ramirez]

On Oct 6, 2:14 am, Patrick Kehoe <pke...@telus.net> wrote:
> On Oct 5, 11:09 pm, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
>
> > Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)
>
> Did you see the match felangey? I was surprized - and so was Murray -
> that in some of the early sharp angled long running rallys Raonic was
> coming out on top... Murray changed up his tempo in the second and yet
> Milos was able to hang with him by getting to net and hitting a lot of
> winners on the volley... that had Murray frustrated at times...

It was all-out assault by Raonic: follow up his serve with a huge
inside-out forehand; attack Murray's serve hard whenever he could
reach it; terminate the points quickly by going for winners or coming
to the net at every opportunity. Even Raonic's backhand slices were
offensive at times -- harsh, stabbing shots that often left Murray
scrambling. Raonic also appeared resolved to stand close to the
baseline and slug it out rather than retreat to the impotent safety of
the far backcourt. A few times Murray was able to exploit Raonic's
somewhat knock-kneed footwork (see: set point of second set) and not-
quite-there-yet half-volleys, but on the whole the more assertive
tactic paid off handsomely for Raonic.

And Murray was playing well himself -- going for his serve and playing
rallies to win, rather than to prolong. He held a couple of match
points just before the third-set tiebreak.

[Dave Hazelwood]

On Sat, 6 Oct 2012 07:09:26 +0100, "felangey" <onc...@nine.com>
wrote:

>Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

maybe whisper and bernard can suck on each other for a while.

[Patrick Kehoe]

For those that drone on about Raonic being all serve, well, robotic
and without movement, they should watch that match... it was a fairly
complete statement of big man offensive tennis... other than
droppers... the forehand cross, backhand cross, big returns down the
line, volleys on both sides, shoestring volleys - some outrageously
good, net play off the serve (not much), coming in behind big
groundies, incredible overheads... he took the game to Murray all
match and didn't get wrong footed much after about 3 games in the
first set... he knew Murray's game and how to counter it... his team
and he did their homework, strategy-wise...

P

[Patrick Kehoe]

Raonic continues to move better and better... that match was another
stride forward... his court positioning is really developing fast
now... that's also making his movement more effective... his footwork
setting up the inside out forehand is more balanced and up tempo late
in matches now... seems his stamina has taken a turn upward as well...

P

[Patrick Kehoe]

AND, the deep slicer was really working well... that's his most
improved shot in the last 3 months...

P

[Court_1]

He hasn't. Tomic is a complete flake. Raonic has determination and a
willingness to learn from his mistakes. Obviously he must have watched
the tapes from his USO match against Murray where Murray crushed him
like a grape. He has improved his backhand and his net play
tremendously in a very short time and was also very prepared to play
Murray today. Yay Milos!

I got home and figured the match would have been over and Murray won
in two quick sets but I checked the scores and the match was still on
and I only got to watch the last few games in the last set. I am going
to have to try and watch the whole match.

[felangey]

> Did you see the match felangey?

The wife of my youth and I stayed up to watch it....but both descended into
a wine coma (anniversary!) of zz's before it started. :) Caught a little of
it though - and was v.impressed!

> I was surprized - and so was Murray -
> that in some of the early sharp angled long running rallys Raonic was
> coming out on top... Murray changed up his tempo in the second and yet
> Milos was able to hang with him by getting to net and hitting a lot of
> winners on the volley... that had Murray frustrated at times...

Will have to try and catch the highlights somewhere.

> Milos is 900 points behind Tippy, I think for the last spot for the
>YEC (if Rafa's out that is)... he said he wants to make a run for
> London... good on him if he can get a win in Japan... a ton of work to
> go yet obviously...

Seems unlikely that he will make it....but can you imagine Raonic turning up
with the verve of youth and the serve of napalm....not what the other guys
want to see. Would be fun! :)

ps. Are you/have you watched much of Kei? I feel as though he also could be
having a seminal tournie - some *really* beautiful, early-times attacking
tennis. A joy.

[Dave Hazelwood]

On Fri, 5 Oct 2012 23:32:18 -0700 (PDT), Patrick Kehoe

what did you expect? his coach is the late great Sampras killer Galo
Blanco!!!

[phamqu...@optusnet.com.au]

Agreed, Raonic was very impressive. Very mature attitude, as shown by his recovery from two match points against Murray at his best. A bit more anticipation and footwork and he'll be heading for the top.

[Whisper]

So Sampras would do ok in this era, or is Raonic an improved Sampras
version?

[Whisper]

On 6/10/2012 4:37 PM, Court_1 wrote:
> On Oct 6, 2:15 am, Joe Ramirez <josephmrami...@netzero.com> wrote:
>> On Oct 6, 2:09 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)
>>
>> I don't think Tomic has ever played as well in his life as Raonic did
>> in this match.
>
> He hasn't. Tomic is a complete flake.

Where was Raonic at Tomic's age?

[MBDunc]

lauantai, 6. lokakuuta 2012 11.31.10 UTC+3 Whisper kirjoitti:
>
>
> > He hasn't. Tomic is a complete flake.
>

> Where was Raonic at Tomic's age?

It is actually getting closer: Tomic is few days short of his 20th birthday and is currently ranked #39.

Raonic was ranked #37 when he was 20y 2months (Feb 2011)...now ranked #15...

.mikko

[phamqu...@optusnet.com.au]

On Saturday, October 6, 2012 7:15:24 PM UTC+10, MBDunc wrote:
> lauantai, 6. lokakuuta 2012 11.31.10 UTC+3 Whisper kirjoitti:
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > > He hasn't. Tomic is a complete flake.
>
> >
>
>
>
> > Where was Raonic at Tomic's age?
>
>
>
> It is actually getting closer: Tomic is few days short of his 20th birthday and is currently ranked #39.
>
>

and falling...

[drew]

Raonic is Sampras on stilts.

[drew]

On Oct 6, 2:41 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
> > Did you see the match felangey?
>
> The wife of my youth and I stayed up to watch it....but both descended into
> a wine coma (anniversary!) of zz's before it started. :) Caught a little of
> it though - and was v.impressed!
>
> > I was surprized - and so was Murray -
> > that in some of the early sharp angled long running rallys Raonic was
> > coming out on top... Murray changed up his tempo in the second and yet
> > Milos was able to hang with him by getting to net and hitting a lot of
> > winners on the volley... that had Murray frustrated at times...
>
> Will have to try and catch the highlights somewhere.

Of course Milos would take it....I put 60 on Murray at 2.0 hoping to
get
a sniff if Murray got wobbly and sure enough Murray shits the bed.

Good win for Milos.

[drew]

On Oct 6, 2:09 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:

> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

How was his return of serve? That part of his game looked
particularly weak to me when I saw him play in Toronto against Isner.
He was unable to make ANY impression on Isner's serve. Murray is
not as big a server.

Milos seems to be still working on his game and his consistency in
particular. He
can come up big in a couple of events then look very mediocre for long
stretches. If
he can even out his performances he has a chance to move up....but I'm
still concerned
that he will be very vulnerable to the big servers and that he'll
suffer from a lack of
consistency with his groundstrokes.

[Professor X]

On Oct 6, 7:09 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

Remember no-one cares what Raonic does, this doesn't matter, what has
he done in a slam? Has he even gone past a QF? Or reached a QF?

He hasn't even won a masters ;-)

You know how many years I had to listen to similar arguments ? ;-)

Good win for MR... Murray only at 80% though. Wouldn't happen in a
slam.

Remember MR also beat Murray in the clay season this year too... in
straights.

So don't read too much into this one.

Muzz will still take the YEC. But may well go out early in bercy and
shanghai this year.

[Joe Ramirez]

On Oct 6, 4:28 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

Who has argued that Sampras wouldn't do "OK" in this era?

Note that Raonic did NOT play serve and volley. Rather, he attacked
Murray the way Fed did at Wimbledon: big forehands *off the ground*
after the serve, and frequent net approaches *during rallies*.

[Court_1]

Don't know where Raonic was at Tomic's age, but that is not the point.
The point is Milos has accomplished more than Tomic, Tomic has done
NOTHING. Milos has the determination to improve and succeed. You will
be wrong about this one, trust me. Milos is the only young guy who has
a shot, the rest of the young ones are brain dead.

[TennisGuy]

Milos needs a top name coach now to lift him to new levels and
eliminate his movement problem.
Lendl would be just the ticket for him.
Maybe now that Lendl has done the deed for Murray he'll become bored
following him around the globe and could be pilfered by Raonic?
Does Raonic have the cash to lure him away? Probably not. :(

[Court_1]

On Oct 6, 9:28 am, Professor X <sueboka...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Good win for MR... Murray only at 80% though. Wouldn't happen in a
> slam.

I disagree. Murray wanted to win this match badly and he was trying
his best. The match is replaying on tv now where I am. As badly as
Murray wanted to win, Milos did not back down and had no fear. Good
sign.

> Remember MR also beat Murray in the clay season this year too... in
> straights.
>
> So don't read too much into this one.

I read a lot into this one because Raonic has improved the very things
I thought were weak a couple of months ago--i.e. ROS, backhand and net
game. The kid is the real deal. Now he has to try and actually win
this event and that should help him, I hope he does not screw this up.
His problem has been consistency, if he can improve that, he is on his
way.

[Court_1]

Raonic would definitely lure a big coach, not Lendl (he has Murray)
but plenty of others. He is the only young gun with potential and the
cash will come. Milos has some nice deals now in Canada, he must be
making some good cash with those sponsorship deals--i.e. Tennis
Canada, Biotherm skincare etc.

[Patrick Kehoe]

Raonic and Tomic turned pro the same season... Raonic has been out 10
months of his young career with foot, wrist and hip (surgery)
injuries, so actually Tomic has been active as a pro longer than
Raonic...

P

[Patrick Kehoe]

FFS he's just getting over hip surgery and recovery at 21... this is
his first EVER 6 months free of injury... no one said he was going to
be Rod Laver...

He is 2-1 head to head vs. Murray though... :)))))))))

P

[phamqu...@optusnet.com.au]

On Sunday, October 7, 2012 11:23:06 AM UTC+11, Patrick Kehoe wrote:
> On Oct 6, 6:28 am, Professor X <sueboka...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Oct 6, 7:09 am, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:
>
> >
>
> > > Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)
>
> >
>
> > Remember no-one cares what Raonic does, this doesn't matter, what has
>
> > he done in a slam? Has he even gone past a QF? Or reached a QF?
>
> >
>
> > He hasn't even won a masters ;-)
>
> >
>
> > You know how many years I had to listen to similar arguments ? ;-)
>
> >
>
> > Good win for MR... Murray only at 80% though. Wouldn't happen in a
>
> > slam.
>
> >
>
> > Remember MR also beat Murray in the clay season this year too... in
>
> > straights.
>
> >
>
> > So don't read too much into this one.
>
> >
>
> > Muzz will still take the YEC. But may well go out early in bercy and
>
> > shanghai this year.
>
>
>
> FFS he's just getting over hip surgery and recovery at 21... this is
>
> his first EVER 6 months free of injury...
>
>

At 21 it doesn't augur well. Is he going to be like Nadal or worse, del Potro?

[Ulysses]

I'd like to see Milos team up with Darren Cahil, a wonderful guy and
astute coach.

As for Whisper's whimpering, he's the bloke who pegged Roddick in 2002
as greater than Federer and the only player capable of supplanting
Pete as GOAT.

ROTFL!

So much for his gifts as a prognosticator. I stick by my guns with
Milos. Tomic is a non-entity compared to Raonic, just as Roddick was a
cipher compared to Fed. Raonic has limitations beyond any doubt. But
he has a GIGANTIC serve and a square head on his shoulders. Which are
two things Tomic will never possess.

[phamqu...@optusnet.com.au]

Must admit this is the first time I see Raonic play. It seems his movements are OK, especially for a big guy, but anticipation is a problem. You can often see that fraction of a second between the ball leaving the opponent's racket and his reaction. I think it's in his head because his mechanical reactions are OK.

[Whisper]

Tomic has a massive serve, just choosing to not use it to full extent at
this stage.

[Dave Hazelwood]

On Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:53:36 +1100, Whisper <beav...@ozemail.com.au>
wrote:

shudder shudder suck my udder.

[drew]

On Oct 6, 12:42 pm, Court_1 <Olympia0...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> I disagree. Murray wanted to win this match badly and he was trying
> his best. The match is replaying on tv now where I am. As badly as
> Murray wanted to win, Milos did not back down and had no fear. Good
> sign.

Milos has never been afraid and that's always good. I didn't see
the match
but it makes sense to me that Murray wants to show some consistency in
his own
game. USO was a great win for him but if he reacts with a long
stretch of mediocre
play or losses like this one, it's not great news for him. He's not
such a great player
that he can toss away matches at smaller events.

[arnab.z@gmail]

On Saturday, October 6, 2012 12:09:45 PM UTC+6, felangey wrote:
> Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

Raonic was down 1-4 in the third. Great mental win for him as well. From what I can see in the highlights, his forehand has improved. He's got that very much Fed-like lighting fast whiplash technique going on in his forehand right now. Didn't notice that in his matches before. That's gotta help. The guy is improving.

[kaennorsing]

Op zondag 7 oktober 2012 02:19:54 UTC+2 schreef Patrick Kehoe het volgende:

> Raonic and Tomic turned pro the same season... Raonic has been out 10
>
> months of his young career with foot, wrist and hip (surgery)

Hip surgery at 21? That's troubling. These tall guys don't seem to be made to last in this grinding era... They seem forced to grind along with a body that will disintegrate. I liked Raonic's play vs Mug though. That's the way he should always play; Attack at any opportunity.

[Professor X]

not really muzz has barely been trying outside the big 5 events this
year. He has only won OG, USopen and brisbane so far this year.

His results have been

Early loss in miami, but IW final only because he got three walkovers.

Early losses in all clay masters series an warmup events (one to
raonic too), then RG QF

Early loss at queens rnd1 then wimby F OG win

Early losses / withdrawal in toronto/cincy then USO win

Fail to defend tokyo, prob early losses in shangai too e.t.c then Muzz
will win YEC.

Muzz cba with the tuneups.

[felangey]

> not really muzz has barely been trying outside the big 5 events this year.

Yeah, he was barely trying against Raonic for sure. I took the way that he
was: swearing vulgarities very loudly, hitting himself repeatedly with the
racquet, pressing to the bitter end of a 3rd set tb, and the way he gave a
pissy handshake - I took all those as solid evidence that he was practically
giving it away. No way he could lose to Raonic, right? :))

[Professor X]

did the same in barca too. And against Mahut at queens

Come back when muzz gets beaten by someone other than fed/dojke/raf at
a slam... oh wait... that's because it doesn't happen other than at
the FO occassionally.

[Professor X]

On Oct 7, 2:42 pm, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com> wrote:

however if tuneups are suddenly now important then Murray beasts fed
like a little baby 10-9!

11-9 including the worlds biggest exo too!

[Court_1]

Murray himself stated the folllowing:

"I don't want to say I was obsessed with grand slams, but winning one
was so important that I was always looking ahead and bolting on to the
next grand slam. Now I hope I can concentrate better throughout the
year and not take my eye off the ball in any of the tournaments I play
in."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/oct/02/andy-murray-japan-us-open


Don't try and minimize his loss against Raonic. True it was not a slam
match and was in a lesser 500 event but there is no question Murray
wanted to win that match and he did everything he could to try and win
it but came up short this time. I am sure with a slam win out of the
way Murray was/is trying to reach the year end number one if he could
and in order to do that, he has to win these lesser events.

[Sakari Lund]

On Sat, 6 Oct 2012 07:09:26 +0100, "felangey" <onc...@nine.com>

wrote:

>Anoothhhhher match for Milos! No hope servebot. ;)

All I thought of after that result was that Jarkko at 31 is still
capable of doing well with the top guys. A week before he beat Raonic
easily, was in total control of the match and a much better player.
And a week later Raonic beats Murray, the last slam winner. Of course
all the matches are different and all that, but anyway, even the very
top players are still not that far away.

[felangey]

> however if tuneups are suddenly now important then Murray beasts fed like
> a little baby 10-9!

"beasts like a little baby"....and this from someone supposedly entering a
more mature age and in the 2nd tier of higher education. A worry.....a worry
indeed.

[drew]

On Oct 7, 10:07 am, Sakari Lund <sakari.l...@welho.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Oct 2012 07:09:26 +0100, "felangey" <oncl...@nine.com>

Jarkko's alright. A few years ago I thought he might break through to
get to
a major final. It's so hard to pick the guys who might manage to step
it up just
a little to get to the very top.

Nice to know that Jarkko's not finished. :-) That was a Betfair forum
line that
people always trotted out near the end of a match. "is Jarkko
finnish?"

[ahonkan]

You've got it backwards. If you want to
believe that Murray loses only when he
chooses to (outside slams), you are
welcome to your own private Fantasyland.
Everyone know Murray used to go into
long funks after losing slam finals - which
explains his terrible first half of the year.
He's never been good on clay, so no
surprise there either. He's never beaten
Fed at a slam, that hasn't changed either.
Murray is playing the best he's ever
played and yet was beaten in a thriller
by the best young pretender/ contender
out there and that's no shame. But if
you want to ignore Raonic's 2-1 H2H vs
Murray by pointing to Murray's USO win
over Raonic, why do you keep touting
Murray's 10-9 edge over Fed despite
Fed's complete dominance at slams?

Watch or you will turn into another Whisper!

[Jesper Lauridsen]

On Sunday, October 7, 2012 4:53:34 AM UTC+2, Whisper wrote:
>
> Tomic has a massive serve, just choosing to not use it to full extent at
> this stage.

I'm tempted to say that's the dumbest thing I've ever read, but I've been on
rst for a decade and Whisper has posted a lot...

[Whisper]

His 'junkball' style is a conscious decision to play that way. He
clearly has the ability to smack the bejeesus out of the ball. Won't be
long before he snaps these 2 facets together & bamboozles the field.

[drew]

On Oct 8, 6:32 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>
> His 'junkball' style is a conscious decision to play that way.  He
> clearly has the ability to smack the bejeesus out of the ball.  Won't be
> long before he snaps these 2 facets together & bamboozles the field.

Just cause he's got you fooled doesn't mean guys who play tennis will
be
similarly confused.

[Vari L. Cinicke]

On 10/8/2012 6:32 AM, Whisper wrote:
> His 'junkball' style is a conscious decision to play that way. He
> clearly has the ability to smack the bejeesus out of the ball. Won't be
> long before he snaps these 2 facets together & bamboozles the field.

He is very inconsistent in the bejeesus department due to fundamental
problems due to his chosen junkball play.

He is big man and what worked against boys is not working against the
men. His overall IQ (tennis IQ + actual IQ) is not in the genius category.

The sad part is that his estimate of himself agrees with your worship of
him but the players are playing against what he brings to court and
doing fine.

Are both Nadal and Tomic co-favorites in your book in every slam they
enter in 2013? ROFL!

[Arnab]

On Monday, October 8, 2012 4:32:28 PM UTC+6, Whisper wrote:

>
> His 'junkball' style is a conscious decision to play that way. He
>
> clearly has the ability to smack the bejeesus out of the ball. Won't be
>
> long before he snaps these 2 facets together & bamboozles the field.

If I snapped together the greatest underground lab in the world for myself, I would be Ironman.

[Court_1]

On Oct 8, 6:32 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

Whisper, the problem with Tomic is not his talent potential it is his
mindset and that is much harder for a person to change. Either you are
an extremely motivated type A person who wants to succeed or you are
not. It does not appear to me that Tomic is that person, but, he is
still young and we will see what happens. Normally by his age if a
player had that strong mindset, we would see it--i.e. players like
Nadal, Borg, Sampras, etc. etc who all showed very early that they
meant business.

I think Tomic has some deep psychological issues, probably due to his
creepy overbearing father. Does a normal person run from the police as
Tomic has in the past? Is this the kind of person who you think can
become a tennis great?

[TT]

8.10.2012 23:51, Court_1 kirjoitti:
> Does a normal person run from the police as
> Tomic has in the past?

Maybe they should.

[drew]

On Oct 8, 4:51 pm, Court_1 <Olympia0...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Does a normal person run from the police as
> Tomic has in the past?

Depends on what you think the police are going to do to you.

I'd rather be pulled over than shot at....but then I don't have a set
of wheels like Tomic has.

Is this the kind of person who you think can
> become a tennis great?

Somebody who gets into trouble with the cops sometimes. He's
young...and
from what I read there was a single cop who had it in for Tomic and
his fast car.
If you can believe what you read....

[Whisper]

True. For now you're free to make these kind of posts. I'm not going
to argue as I'm talking about future potential.

[Whisper]

Look, no one is going to argue about Tomic's current results. I'm not
going to defend his current performance either.

I think he has huge untapped potential, & it's just a matter of
time/maturity before everyone sees it.

[Whisper]

On 9/10/2012 7:51 AM, Court_1 wrote:
> On Oct 8, 6:32 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>> On 8/10/2012 8:48 PM, Jesper Lauridsen wrote:
>>
>>> On Sunday, October 7, 2012 4:53:34 AM UTC+2, Whisper wrote:
>>
>>>> Tomic has a massive serve, just choosing to not use it to full extent at
>>>> this stage.
>>
>>> I'm tempted to say that's the dumbest thing I've ever read, but I've been on
>>> rst for a decade and Whisper has posted a lot...
>>
>> His 'junkball' style is a conscious decision to play that way. He
>> clearly has the ability to smack the bejeesus out of the ball. Won't be
>> long before he snaps these 2 facets together & bamboozles the field.
>
> Whisper, the problem with Tomic is not his talent potential it is his
> mindset and that is much harder for a person to change. Either you are
> an extremely motivated type A person who wants to succeed or you are
> not. It does not appear to me that Tomic is that person, but, he is
> still young and we will see what happens. Normally by his age if a
> player had that strong mindset, we would see it--i.e. players like
> Nadal, Borg, Sampras, etc. etc who all showed very early that they
> meant business.
>

I think the landscape is a little different today. When Fed & Rafa were
coming up there was no competition at all. The old guard had either
retired or were decrepit, & there was just garbage competition left.
Given his age I think Tomic has shown more than glimpses of his
potential. I've seen him go toe-to-toe with Djoker at Wimbledon (led 26
63 31 the yr Djoker won Wimbledon) & had Rafa sweating bullets at AO
(lost 46 57 46, but led 4-0 in 2nd set with Rafa sweating profusely).
He also played a great 4 set match v Federer on grass in Davis cup.

What impresses me most is his belief he'll win slams. You can't go in
just hoping for the best (like Berdych eg), you've got to have that
burning desire. Of course without talent that's not enough, but he's
got both in spades imo.

> I think Tomic has some deep psychological issues, probably due to his
> creepy overbearing father. Does a normal person run from the police as
> Tomic has in the past? Is this the kind of person who you think can
> become a tennis great?
>

That kind of stuff adds colour & makes nice stories for the press, as
well as giving him some notoriety & personality.

Put it this way - I'll be shocked if he never wins a slam. I'm not
often shocked.

[drew]

On Oct 9, 6:43 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> > I think Tomic has some deep psychological issues, probably due to his
> > creepy overbearing father. Does a normal person run from the police as
> > Tomic has in the past? Is this the kind of person who you think can
> > become a tennis great?
>
> That kind of stuff adds colour & makes nice stories for the press, as
> well as giving him some notoriety & personality.

I don't care if he seduces kangaroos in his spare time....but nowadays
people
don't think speeding and avoiding the cops is cool....I'm surprised
that a man like
you...so conscious of the PC way of life...I can't believe that you
haven't been told
this by your PC friends.

[Joe Ramirez]

On Oct 9, 6:43 am, Whisper <beaver...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> What impresses me most is his belief he'll win slams.  You can't go in
> just hoping for the best (like Berdych eg), you've got to have that
> burning desire.

What belief? What desire? Seriously, what is the source of these
plaudits for Tomic's imaginary mindset? Tomic struggled through a few
tight matches at the AO this year, then was blown out by Fed. He was
crushed by a journeyman in the second round at Roland Garros.
Embarrassed by a wild card in the first round at Wimbledon. Humiliated
and bageled by eve-of-retirement Roddick at the USO. I see no evidence
of any belief *or* desire in those performances. And Tomic's public
comments this year haven't displayed confidence either; they've been
along the lines of, "You know, after further review, I suck."

[drew]

Whisper bought into the hype at the AO...he probably got pissing
distance close to
Tomic at one time and might even have conversed with somebody who
strings Tomic's
racquets. After speaking with the racquet stringer Whisper is now
convinced that Tomic
is Sampras down under....don't expect any retractions if Tomic
disappears from the radar...
but if he ever wins a big match against anybody....you'll never hear
the end of it.

[Vari L. Cinicke]

The reality is that Tomic inspires the same feeling that Sampras did in
Whisper. The condition is characterized by yawns and sometimes snores.

An easy mistake. ;)