THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Roland Garros

I love the match today!  (I only watch finals and maybe semi-finals of grand slams.)

Three questions to those who watch more than I do:
1. When they took their place, each was standing on the opposite side of the net.  Nadal was ready to run, but then stopped.  It seemed to me that there was a protocol of letting Federer walks around first, and then Nadal can go.  Is this some seniority thing?  Or Federer thing?

2. NO ANNOUNCERS WHILE PLAY ON-GOING.  It’s beautiful.  You hear the ball, the sliding, and the grunts.  And in-between, McEnroe talks only when he has something smart to say (which is almost all the time).  Silence is golden.  How I wish baseball was more like this.

3. Thank god no momentum talk about the probable miss-call against Federer in the first set at a pivotal moment.

4. Why no replays?  And why so few cameras?  I want to see those close replays on the line, but NBC is giving us ONE shot and one time at it.  What’s going on here?

5. Are there more, or less, injuries on clay than grass?  Are players accustomed to sliding on clay so that they don’t try to stop against the slide too harshly?

6. Federer seems to be “defending” against Nadal by hitting the ball back to Nadal, rather than make him run back and forth.  Is it smart, or is it that it’s too hard to return against Nadal other than to hit right back at him?

7. There was a high high high return that Federer hit into the net.  In those cases, I’m thinking it’s smarter to let it bounce.  Did Federer swing in the air because you don’t get high bounced on clay?  Or, was it too in-between?  McEnroe was saying something about the spin of the ball not being something or other.  What was he talking about exactly?

8. Is there ANY rule change ever proposed in tennis?  It seems to be that they’ve got everything down perfectly.  The playability is great, the scoring rules are fine.  The chair relying on the “indentation” on the clay to make the calls seems… quaint.... but workable (except for the ladies the other night).  The amount of time between games, and between sets seems perfect as well.  If anything, too short.  I think best-of-5 is too much on the body (mine anyway).  Do players much prefer best-of-3 (but knowing the purse will be proportionately smaller)?  Or, do they simply accept that both sides are being tested?  Is there enough time between matches for the players?

9. Is it typical that both players where non-white shirts?  Completely non-white (except for the Nike logo).

10. Is Federer in fact the nicest superstar in all professional sports?  Is he the nicest athlete of all-time?  Is it possible to even root against Federer (as opposed to just rooting for Nadal or others)?

11. How light the rain would you have to be for the players to keep playing?  And is it much worse on clay?

Hope to hear from the tennis experts out there.  Anyway, perfect time to go mow the lawn now!