ATP Masters 1000: Rome

So we're off again, with Djokovic looking laboured and with even more deranged gurning than normal. I guess he can't rant to the box quite as much now since there's hardly one there. Perhaps he was meditating.

Murray has a tricky opener against mad Fab. If he goes out here quickly it'll be another blow to hopes of a lengthy run at #1.

murray not looking good against fognini right now,down a double break in the 1st set

Murray simply being overpowered.

I wonder now he's reached 30 how long he can maintain a game based on running.

I love Rome and Italy!

Fantastic crowd&atmosphere bring the best out of Fognini.

Everything is possoble for him here and now.

Forza Fabiooooo!!!

bogbrush wrote:Murray simply being overpowered.

I wonder now he's reached 30 how long he can maintain a game based on running.

I would say outtalented.

Yeah, I'll go along with that.

Fabio goes to serve for the match and someone from the crowd yells out: 
"Fabio, volare!"


LOVE IIIIT!!!!! 

Hopefully Gabiomtakes of amd flies second time of asking!

That was a beatdown.

Murrays season is falling apart.

Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

watching murray struggle to get the no1 raking and then struggle even more to see him hang onto it by the skin of his teeth,really puts federers 4 consecutive years at no1 in perspective 
as defending champion,its a quite a big loss,must be around 800 points lost?
he will really be feeling the pressure now that its getting to the part of the season where he has the most to defend 
i reckon he will crash and burn

bogbrush wrote:Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

That is so brutal, true and funny.

I still can't make up my mind who is better at scrambling/defending: Nadal or Murray?
I think at their best - Nadal, as he is a little bit more composed, i.e. controls emotions almost completely.
Some of the points he has won by ridiculous retrieving and luck defy laws of possibility.

I frankly don't rejoice much of Murray and Djoko's fall. Especially with Federer pulling out of the AO. It just kills this FO as Nadal is going to run away with it.

Tenez wrote:I frankly don't rejoice much of Murray and Djoko's fall. Especially with Federer pulling out of the FO. It just kills this FO as Nadal is going to run away with it.

Fed's tennis is like a drug.
Once you get hooked on it, withdrawal symptoms are terrible!

... wrote:

Tenez wrote:I frankly don't rejoice much of Murray and Djoko's fall. Especially with Federer pulling out of the FO. It just kills this FO as Nadal is going to run away with it.

Fed's tennis is like a drug.
Once you get hooked on it, withdrawal  symptoms are terrible!

I watch a lot of old matches of the last 10 years on youtube. Never without Federer. You can watch Federer against anybody but without him, it's simply not worth it....unless Stan plays a blinder like FO15.

Tenez wrote:

... wrote:

Tenez wrote:I frankly don't rejoice much of Murray and Djoko's fall. Especially with Federer pulling out of the FO. It just kills this FO as Nadal is going to run away with it.

Fed's tennis is like a drug.
Once you get hooked on it, withdrawal  symptoms are terrible!

I watch a lot of old matches of the last 10 years on youtube. Never without Federer. You can watch Federer against anybody but without him, it's simply not worth it....unless Stan plays a blinder like FO15.

So true.

It's amazing the way in which he stands out to that degree.

... wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

That is so brutal, true and funny.

I still can't make up my mind who is better at scrambling/defending: Nadal or Murray?
I think at their best - Nadal, as he is a little bit more composed, i.e. controls emotions almost completely.
Some of the points he has won by ridiculous retrieving and luck defy laws of possibility.

Nadal is a much better defender than Murray.

Plus he is a great counterpuncher and can turn the rally on it's head with one shot. Even more so Djokovic.

Murray, in contrast, is a retriever. He just runs after every ball and prolongs the rally by keeping the ball in play. A lot of it is just pointless retrieval.

Sock vs Nadal with an early break to Nadal.

Is it just me or does Sock look about 15 pounds overweight.

Shit. You're a professional athlete in your twenties and you look pudgy. WTF?

bogbrush wrote:Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

As much as I would go with that for where his game is now, it's a classic case he had to get fitter to compete and overcome. Nadal was the bar and Djokovic surpassed it.

I can imagine the rest of the field looking at that and thinking "Nah. That looks like a lot of hard work"

I am kind of hoping for an evolution from Djokovic and Murray and given Nadal has had to take years to adapt parts of his game, there it some hope, but time could be on their side given how pants the rest of the field is.

I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

legendkillar wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

As much as I would go with that for where his game is now, it's a classic case he had to get fitter to compete and overcome. Nadal was the bar and Djokovic surpassed it.

I can imagine the rest of the field looking at that and thinking "Nah. That looks like a lot of hard work"

I am kind of hoping for an evolution from Djokovic and Murray and given Nadal has had to take years to adapt parts of his game, there it some hope, but time could be on their side given how pants the rest of the field is.

i dont know why everyone frowns upon it so much,sure it may not be to everyones  who is watching's liking  or the idea of how the game should be played but you gotta do what you gotta do to win
and thats exactly what it takes to stand a chance of winning against the top players so you cant really hold anything against murray
besides its no easy feat either,everyone looks at it as if its just running but its damn  hard and takes hours and hours of hard work every day to build that kind of stamina.even if you were cheating by using PED's you still need to put the hours and work in to achieve that kind of athleticism 
it definitely deserves some kind of respect

Tenez wrote:I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

I don't know where your optimism is coming from but I hope you are right.  Or maybe he can have the distinction of finishing the clay court season losing to Nadal four times.

Tenez wrote:I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

Well, he was very close on Sunday...

Veejay wrote:

legendkillar wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Fabios assessment of Murray "You never know because he run at lot, he is the best defender"

That's about it.

As much as I would go with that for where his game is now, it's a classic case he had to get fitter to compete and overcome. Nadal was the bar and Djokovic surpassed it.

I can imagine the rest of the field looking at that and thinking "Nah. That looks like a lot of hard work"

I am kind of hoping for an evolution from Djokovic and Murray and given Nadal has had to take years to adapt parts of his game, there it some hope, but time could be on their side given how pants the rest of the field is.

i dont know why everyone frowns upon it so much,sure it may not be to everyones  who is watching's liking  or the idea of how the game should be played but you gotta do what you gotta do to win
and thats exactly what it takes to stand a chance of winning against the top players so you cant really hold anything against murray
besides its no easy feat either,everyone looks at it as if its just running but its damn  hard and takes hours and hours of hard work every day to build that kind of stamina.even if you were cheating by using PED's you still need to put the hours and work in to achieve that kind of athleticism 
it definitely deserves some kind of respect

I don't frown upon it. On the contrary I find it amusing when people do given he had to transform the majority of his game to get closer to the elite. Much less straightforward than just getting fitter. He absolutely neutralised his early variety and succumbed to junkballing to compete. That to me is admirable that he incorporated such discipline. Hell even Stan clued into power and fitness and look where that took him.

That to me epitomises what a state the game has got into.

... wrote:

Tenez wrote:I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

Well, he was very close on Sunday...

Yes, he was kind of close. My optimism comes from the fact that when playing Nadal, getting used to his game and spin is a big part of the equation as the more recent encounters show. I am not that confident but I won't be surprised if he did.

Looks like Thiem is doing well, my bet365 stream not working.

Tenez wrote:

... wrote:

Tenez wrote:I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

Well, he was very close on Sunday...

Yes, he was kind of close. My optimism comes from the fact that when playing Nadal, getting used to his game and spin is a big part of the equation as the more recent encounters show. I am not that confident but I won't be surprised if he did.

My optimism comes from the hope Thiem has thought his way out of the BH corner with his coach.
I have put my last £1 I had on bet365 on him.

So Thiem takes the first set.

Did he solve the bh corner trap from Nadal?

Not watching

Thiem playing much closer to the baseline particularly on return. Taking the ball earlier. Working so far.

Mind you there isn't as much space around the Rome court so he has to play closer to the actual court.

YES THIEM!

This is good quality rom both players.

Missed it, pity.

Now do it again at RG.

thiiiiieeemmmmm

Why is Nadal dodging another match with Djokovic?

Is he scared that Djokovic might have his form back?

I think he wants to save himself and leave his win in Djokos mind before the FO. Smart i d say.

surely he would have fancied another won over djokovic in is current form
allowing djokovic a title win could swing the momentum direction in which he was heading 
didnt see the match but the result doesnt surprise me,i think thiem showed a massive improvement in their last meeting and looked like he was really closing the gap

From what I saw, Nadal played like he did in 2010 when he had his best season, but it wasn't enough against such a heavy hitter like Thiem. Must expect him to be top 4 by next year.

Lets hope Delpo can crush that lover boy from Monaco too, and have a new winner at Rome!!

Tenez wrote:I fancy Thiem to beat Nadal tomorrow.

I agreed.  Didn't have balls to put money on it though.  Didn't expect straight sets.  Nadal has burned himself out.  Yo'd think someone so prone to burning out and his style of play would have more brains than to enter every single clay tournament...  But I guess it's desperation for points before the grass and HC arrive.

Tenez wrote:I think he wants to save himself and leave his win in Djokos mind before the FO. Smart i d say.

No way. Nadal would never do that, he'd play every day if he could.

Nole-Delpo, a bit of a disappointing match.

Flat...Delpo looks disinterested...Nole relaxed.

As if it's been fixed beforehand.

Play suspended, so the winner plays twice tomorrow?

... wrote:Nole-Delpo, a bit of a disappointing match.

Flat...Delpo looks disinterested...Nole relaxed.

As if it's been fixed beforehand.

Delpo never does well in masters so it's no surprise.

Thiem will be much more difficult won't he NITB?

Nitb hating Djoko more then me since AO, I'm feeling a little inferior now here as my anti-Djoko power have been taken away by Nitb 

Maybe Delpo can wake up and give us a 3 setter.

Cool. Did not see the match but I suspect it will be hard to reproduce the result at RG over five sets. Still, things are looking a touch more hopeful than they were yesterday.

AceofDeath wrote:

... wrote:Nole-Delpo, a bit of a disappointing match.
Flat...Delpo looks disinterested...Nole relaxed.
As if it's been fixed beforehand.

Delpo never does well in masters so it's no surprise.
Thiem will be much more difficult won't he NITB?

Tbh, I don't have a clue.
In the past, Thiem had zero chance...now, not sure. I think Thiem is not fast enough for Nole.
I haven't seen much tennis lately, but I did notice Nole's returning has become quite average.
And that his poor hand skills have been exposed more than in the past.

Has he lost a step?

On the other hand, last night there were a few very accurate DTL shots.

Don't know.

Rome's been a dull tournament compared  to  how it used to be in the past.

Stan and Nishi are not pulling their weight.

Is Stan still injured?

Jahu wrote:Nitb hating Djoko more then me since AO, I'm feeling a little inferior now here as my anti-Djoko power have been taken away by Nitb 

Maybe Delpo can wake up and give us a 3 setter.

Well...it's about time Djoko grew up.
He doesn't need my love or your hate any more. Or the other way round.

He can just be a tennis player. And a Djoker.

And forget about that idiotic "giving love" to the crowd after the win. Or hugging the opponent.
And fake MTOs.

Then he will be a good Nole!

Funniest thing is that it's so easy to do, yet he probably won't ever be able to.

So close and yet so far.

Story of the other 95%...

Tenez wrote:I think he wants to save himself and leave his win in Djokos mind before the FO. Smart i d say.

Yes, he's done it in the past so many times.
Mainly to preserve his precious H2H.

He is full of that cheap-trick earthly smartness. But most can't see it.

And he behaves like that because he knows he has a safety net under him.