Year Round The Tennis Thread

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

While most of his victories are on Clay, Nadal has beaten him on Hard surface of Australia and Grass of Wimbledon. Nadal has certainly improved on other surfaces as well. If we get more Nadal vs. Federer on surfaces other than Clay, I am sure Nadal can beat him. But I expect all these matches to be evenly contested. Perhaps, decided on the day who plays well.

One wimbledon win, on Nadals best year and Federers worst...and it still took him till 9-7 in the 5th.

The AO.....Fed should have won that match, why he didn't? i don't know....he was good off the ground but served like garbage.

It's just a bad matchup. I hope the sentiment isn't that Nadals winning H2H somehow diminishes feds accomplishments, he can still take Nadal, he had one good claycourt tourney and took it to nadal and had the advantage in the breaker before he brainfarted.

And whoever mentioned Sod VS Nadal
They're not on the same half of the draw, the only way they're meeting is if Sod beats Fed in the quarters...aka...extremely unlikely.

 

[thornofcarrion]

Re: The Tennis Thread

One wimbledon win, on Nadals best year and Federers worst...and it still took him till 9-7 in the 5th.

The AO.....Fed should have won that match, why he didn't? i don't know....he was good off the ground but served like garbage.

It's just a bad matchup. I hope the sentiment isn't that Nadals winning H2H somehow diminishes feds accomplishments, he can still take Nadal, he had one good claycourt tourney and took it to nadal and had the advantage in the breaker before he brainfarted.

And whoever mentioned Sod VS Nadal
They're not on the same half of the draw, the only way they're meeting is if Sod beats Fed in the quarters...aka...extremely unlikely.

On the contrary, Nadal took Federer to 5 sets in 2008 as well. Even in 2007, Federer won in 4 sets. If we are talking about luck, then in those matches it was just a point or two that made Nadal a loser. But I wont take it as an excuse. Federer won because he was a better player at that particular day. I personally don't believe in Ifs and Buts in sports.

It was apparent, Nadal has improved so much on Grass and Hard courts. I was just looking at Nadal vs. Federer head-head, other than clay, they have played 9 matches on Grass and Hard courts. The record says Federer has won 5 of them. The difference being just one match. And 4 of them are in 2005 and 2006, few of them were decided in the final set. It doesn't mean Federer has become a lesser man. He is great player, has always been. There is no doubt in his achievements.

About Federer not having best of seasons in 2008, I don't think it was the case. He still won US Open and some other titles that year. You don't win a Grand Slam if you are not playing your 110%. He was finalist in many other tournaments, including French Open. More than anything, players like Djokovic and Murray improved so much.

Anyways, for the sports, Nadal vs. Federer matches have always been captivating. Just like Sampras vs. Agassi matches were marvelous to watch.

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Its pretty much unanimous that 08 was federers worst year Even today McEnroe mentioned it while commentating for the french. He only won basel,estoril and the USO...aside from the USO the other titles weren't top tier titles, estoril is a 250. He lost to the likes of blake, Karlovic MARDY FISH and a lot of other players who he had like 9-0 streaks against. He didnt win a single masters that year. He played well at the USO but that was one of his poorest seasons by HIS lofty standards.

You mean took him to 5 in 07 and 4 in 06. Fed played like crap in the 07 final. The issue with Nadal is mental, his passiveness on breakpoints and tentative shots, and the fact that every match is just nadal drilling feds backhand all fucking day.

Federer Nadal matches are boring because its the same thing every time, pepper the fed backhand, fed implodes.

Murray and Djokovic are good but they stack up to fed, when he got his mojo back after winning madrid/French/wimby he beat them back to back on their best surface at Cincinnati in STRAIGHTS while when they beat fed in early 09 when his game was even worse than 08 they never won in straights it was always a 3 setter and in almost ever match fed was leading by a set and a break. He beat Djoker in the USO for third straight time as well as crushed murray in Melbourne this year to the extent that murray took months to recover mentally and is still shaky.

Due to the match up and this silly mental block, nadal dominates fed. But nadal will never dominate the field like fed did.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

It's no doubt that if Nadal was never here, Federer would've mst likely won all the Slams since 05, but the same can't be said about Nadal, the only time Nadal is pretty much guaranteed to win is on clay, but Fed has all surfaces within his range. And you're right atobe, Nadal can't dominate the Men's game like Fed did a few years ago.

In other news, ohhh poor Mr.Hewitt, straight sets, again???

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

LOL

It's like deja vu....will Nadal lose to Belluci in R16? xDDD

Nah but last year he also straight setted Hewitt in r3 (so yay Lleyton doesn't lose any points) then went on to to be part of the upset of the decade (tennis wise)

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Holy shit....Fed out, Sod through....RG JUST got very interesting

 

[blai]

Re: The Tennis Thread

I ate my words badly.

Also, Soderling vs Federer now, shame both of them has to meet in the top 16 but it'll be exciting nevertheless. Federer will win but I'll root for Soderling. He has a good shot at winning too since he's learned Federer's game and last time in RG he did an insane job so his self confidence isn't too bad, also, he played a great game last round (day 8) and if he can maintain his first serve like he's been doing so far, then he will at least give Federer a struggle.

Federer will win with 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

But still, great game. Shame about the suspension after 5-5 in 3rd...

 

[Gecko Moria]

Re: The Tennis Thread

I need to watch the reply of that game, still can't believe Federer lost before reaching the semi-final (ending his 23 consecutive semifinal streak). To be honest, when I looked up the results for the match earlier and saw Robin Soderling (5) def Roger Federer (1) I think my heart skipped a beat.

Huge upset, but to put it fairly Federer had never been good on clay. If Nadal wins Roland Garros he will reclaim the number one position. But at least Federer fans can look forward to the next Grand Slam at Wimbledon where Federer excels. Personally, I'd like to see Soderling or Djokovic win the French Open though Nadal has been performing very well.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

I can't believe Federer's Grand Slam semis record is over! I was so shocked when I was told the result. I hope Soderling goes all the way, if not then at least the final. If Nadal wins his next match, then he'll be the new World no.1 I hear? Bad news for Fed. That jsut goes to show you that he hasn't been getting many trophies in lately, because there used to be a quite a safe gap between the 2 of them.

 

[blai]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Soderling is world ranked (7) but tournament seeded (5) Gecko, so yeah
And I'd also want to see Djokovic vs Soderling; it would be good for the tennis world to see two other players rather than Nadal/Fed in finals, especially in such a big tournament as RG.

Soderling is up against some WR (22) Austrian iirc so I almost take it for granted that Soderling will win that one because if he keep using his heavy forehand to press the balls down, the Austrian wont stand a chance because he can't play against players like Soderling who does that... If I only could remember the name.. >,>

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Tomas Berdych

 

[thornofcarrion]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Soderling is world ranked (7) but tournament seeded (5) Gecko, so yeah
And I'd also want to see Djokovic vs Soderling; it would be good for the tennis world to see two other players rather than Nadal/Fed in finals, especially in such a big tournament as RG.

Soderling is up against some WR (22) Austrian iirc so I almost take it for granted that Soderling will win that one because if he keep using his heavy forehand to press the balls down, the Austrian wont stand a chance because he can't play against players like Soderling who does that... If I only could remember the name.. >,>

Blai you mean the lefty from Austria, Jurgen Melzer, but he is facing Novak. And I agree with you about seeing some other players in the finals.

 

[blai]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Bah, wrong of me, Djokovic is playing the Austrian. Soderling's playing the WR (15) Cze.

Thanks goldb, and toc, I did mean him but they're not playing until an ev. final (yeah right) so I just confused myself and mixed the top/bot brackets.

Top Bracket

R.Soderling
v
Tomas Berdych
​

Bottom Bracket

Jurgen Melzer
v
Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic (my pick)
v
Rafael Nadal (my pick)​

Nicolas Almagro
v
Rafael Nadal


​

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

SODERLING FO 2010 plz xD

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Guys i have to disagree.

Fed is AMAZING on clay, second only to Nadal...what happened was..Soderling was on FIRE, and 23 straight semis will NEVER be matched but Sod was on fire, fed played fine lol.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Yeah, I'm not trying to take credit away from Sod, he was fantastic out there! even Fed( who is normally quick to find excuses) admitted afterwards.

YES! Djokovic is out! I'm so happy, he only has himself to blame for not closing out the game; he was 2 sets up. Serena lost

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Well fed is smart about his excuse making, he finds a way to hide it with compliments about how the other guy plays but sod blew him off the court lol.

I dont like serena so yay for me...shame about Henin ;__;

 

[Charlie]

Re: The Tennis Thread

I need to watch the reply of that game, still can't believe Federer lost before reaching the semi-final (ending his 23 consecutive semifinal streak). To be honest, when I looked up the results for the match earlier and saw Robin Soderling (5) def Roger Federer (1) I think my heart skipped a beat.

Huge upset, but to put it fairly Federer had never been good on clay. If Nadal wins Roland Garros he will reclaim the number one position. But at least Federer fans can look forward to the next Grand Slam at Wimbledon where Federer excels. Personally, I'd like to see Soderling or Djokovic win the French Open though Nadal has been performing very well.

I'm not a huge tennis fan but I do like Feder, shame he is out .
Nadal is the favorite right?

 

[blai]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Well, yeah, since Djokovic blew his chance in the quarters I believe it'll be Soderling vs Nadal, and in that game, I don't think Soderling can play as brilliant as he did against Federer so I must say Nadal for the gold...

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Sod was brilliant all of last year, first final jitters got to him. This time i think it'll be different.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Women's final is between Serena's conqueror Stotsur who crushed Jankovic in jus over an hour against Schiavone who wasd leading Dementieva by a set when she retired because of an injury.

Men's final I'm guessing will be Soderling vs Nadal, maybe an upset???

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Nope, no upset...grats to Nadal really happy for him.

But damn it Sod...if you were going to beat Federer....why didn't you play the way you did when you beat Federer -_-