ATP Masters 1000: Monte Carlo 2018

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:On clay Nadal asks a very simple question. Can you hit enough winners past me to win.

They may be winners against anyone but Nadal. And he won't be lobbing ala Murray, he gives back a difficult ball. His transition from defense to attack is tremendous on clay.

That's why I mentioned "past me".

Though Murray and Djoko have overtaken Nadal on clay in that department...at their peak that is.

Djoko at peak is at par with Nadal, not ahead imo. The way he turned his it in 2013 after 2011,2012 against Djokovic.. I can't say Djoko's peak is ahead of Nadal.

Murray?? Seriously on clay??

And regarding Djoko, I don;t think Nadal turned it around in RG 2013. Djoko just made a very stupid mistake...and shoudl have won in spite of playing very poorly.

Started watching at 3:0 for Thiem.
Nole’s tennis is looking more like when he was starting.
No forced long points.

Even coming to the net after second serve.

Return and BH at 70% of their old “selves” which is why Thiem is in the lead.

Also, footwork is rusty and 1st serve reflecting low confidence.

His first shot after serve really needs to be a lot more aggressive.
All in all, it’s not as bad as I thought he’d be.

It is cruel of Rolex to show us adds with Fed on clay.

Great comeback from 1:4 down to win in the tb for Nole. 
Impressive patience 
Also, amazing to watch his shots get better as the confidence grew.

The precious commodity!

noleisthebest wrote:It is cruel of Rolex to show us adds with Fed on clay.

It's cruel for us!

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:It is cruel of Rolex to show us adds with Fed on clay.

It's cruel for us!

Oh that's what you meant! sorry.

Come on Thiem, crush himmmmmmmm

Well in retrospect, I'd rather see Thiem v Nadal than this Djoko...unless Djoko can pump himself up for that match.

Anyone fancies Kashanov v Nadal? I do. Of course, lots of wishful thinking but also think he has the power so...on the day he has a chance.

Nole looks really happy on the court, I am sure he wouldn’t mind playing Nadal.

In that case it would be 40/60 for Nadal.

As for Kachanov, he’s got the shots, not sure about the head, but at least there is hope

Hard work watching this match....

Yes yes yes, Djoko sent home, well 500m to it anyway.

Git does not even shake the hand of Carlos at the end of the match.

DJoke of the day:

Why does Djoko always lose in second round?
Cause he is free in first round 

I went to play tennis after the first set of Nadal Kash. Very disappointed.

Hopefully Thiem will do well tomorrow.

I really wouldn't get your hopes up!

Very disappointed by the way Kash lost.

Thiem will have a better chance cause he won't give as many points away. It's going to be hard work for Nadal and Thiem seems to get better as the match goes on and that is a big advantage when facing Nadal.

Even the 70% Nole nearly beat Thiem yesterday, the rest in Nadal’s half are all lightweight players he eventually outmuscles and grinds out.
Maybe Goffin has a chance, but if he starts playing well, the umpires will be at hand to help if neccessary.
Linesmen have been particularly bad this year in the little I’ve seen.

In the other half the head wobbly Cilic and Zverev....


I would’ve liked to see Fognini take on Nadal, but as usual, he’s lost in “translation”.

Tenez wrote:Very disappointed by the way Kash lost.

Thiem will have a better chance cause he won't give as many points away. It's going to be hard work for Nadal and Thiem seems to get better as the match goes on and that is a big advantage when facing Nadal.

I didn’t even bother watching.
These young players have tiny hearts. (except Shapo)

Money/professionalism has ruined tennis.

No heart and no art.  Castrated generation(s). Players are ecnouraged to “look pretty” and wait for  their time.

Except that that time never comes, it needs to be grabbed by the horns.

Although I don’t like him as he is a scumbag, Kyrgios is the only player with some kind of organic freedom left in him....the rest are robots happy to sell their tennis souls for good sponsor deals etc, which is fine, but I don’t think fans will be sacrifying a few hours of a sunny day let alone get up at 2 am for that.

End of rant.

lol.....The game moves on....and it will keep moving on.

Koenig is such a good commentator. Here hilighting the need to hit deep shots.....especially on clay where the ball slows down a lot after the bounce.

Very strange....Dimi giving Goff a replay on a ball called out by the referee. Never saw that before.

Dimi playing better since he got to 5/1 down cause of course had no pressure left. Goff started to be shaky cause, of course, he had to cross the line....and now that Dimi can see he can get back he gets shaky in turn.

No real champions on the court!

why am I watching this? so many key points are UEs.

I only watched the TB from 4:2 for Dimitrov.

Dull tennis from Dimi, Goffin should have played like he does in Davis Cup.

That last long point summed it up.  

Shame Goff managed to lose, he was the last decent player in the draw.

noleisthebest wrote:...Shame Goff managed to lose, he was the last decent player in the draw.

Yes but if you lose sets from 5/1 up v Dimi...imagine what could have happened v Nadal in the final!

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:...Shame Goff managed to lose, he was the last decent player in the draw.

Yes but if you lose sets from 5/1 up v Dimi...imagine what could have happened v Nadal in the final!

That is baaaad.
He had 5:1 against Agut the other day but managed to win 6:4...only just!
I really don’t know what’s the matter with him.

He is definitely able to be a frontrunner, he’s shown it many times in Davis Cup.

What annoys me like nothing is that the whole clay season, the most beautiful spring months all revolve around ugly tennis and who’s gonna beat Nadal.

Now that he is aware there is noone to bother him, he is more odious than ever with his fake confident apeish strut, backside and crotch picks, sniffs...it’s beginning to traumatise me.

Well at least we know that Thiem won’t choke if he manages to get to 5:1 lead....

Come on Domiii!

On the bright side, I reckon Nole will be ready for Nadal very soon.

I just tuned in and it’s 5:0 already...

On another topic, these foldable sun chairs are so superior to the ball-kids holding umbrellas American slave-driving colonial style....

And it’s a bagel!
Anither one bites the dust.


Pathetic from Thiem.

Back to sunshine.

noleisthebest wrote:And it’s a bagel!
Anither one bites the dust.


Pathetic from Thiem.

Back to sunshine.

yeah...glad to see that Nadal has declined!

Has Thiem sold the match? Prick.

He is certainly playing particularly poorly. But playing in the middle of the day with max heat and highest possible bounce is certainly giving Thiem max trouble, especially as a SHBHer.

That's where I would have liked to see a Delpo or fit Djoko.

Thiem has no feel for the ball, complete basher. Has he heard of DTL shots?
He is the worst SBH-er on tour.

Rafa's BH is really hurting nowadays.....and coupled with his hooked FH.....He is going to be very hard to beat....yet again!

The tragedy is, Thiem was so bad, Nadal didn’t even need to grind him, let alone sweat...

Tenez wrote:Very disappointed by the way Kash lost.

Thiem will have a better chance cause he won't give as many points away. It's going to be hard work for Nadal and Thiem seems to get better as the match goes on and that is a big advantage when facing Nadal.

My broken watch can't even be right twice a day!

Tenez wrote:

Tenez wrote:Very disappointed by the way Kash lost.

Thiem will have a better chance cause he won't give as many points away. It's going to be hard work for Nadal and Thiem seems to get better as the match goes on and that is a big advantage when facing Nadal.

My broken watch can't even be right twice a day!

Admit it, you are a closet Nadal fan!

Tenez wrote:Rafa's BH is really hurting nowadays.....and coupled with his hooked FH.....He is going to be very hard to beat....yet again!

And yet some here would think Nadal wins his matches but just returning everything. He when on  absolute form is unplayable on clay. 

The opponent just doesn't know what to do. Only an absolute peak Djoko has some chance. Else Nadal's own level has to come down to mortal levels for anyone else to get some chance. Or someone can play lights out and blow him off.

Bottom line, you can only beat Nadal by rushing him. If you can't do that, you lose. Even if you get infinite energy like Djokovic once had you can still only make the match long enough to make that matter by having the ability to hurry him on points.

Clay more or less makes rushing him almost impossible, so he almost always wins.

It's not rocket science.

noleisthebest wrote:On the bright side, I reckon Nole will be ready for Nadal very soon.

Okay, is this soon coming by RG 2018? Coz for now he doesn't look ready to even reach far enough to face Nadal. Or now that his rankings are going South, he might meet Nadal in 1st round.

Funnily enough, as I have tickets for Wimbledon Day 1 to see Federer, I realised the other day I might actually be watching him play Djokovic or Murray. It is still 32 seeds this year so probably not Djokovic but it could be Murray.

noleisthebest wrote:On the bright side, I reckon Nole will be ready for Nadal very soon.

You must be kidding!

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:On the bright side, I reckon Nole will be ready for Nadal very soon.

Okay, is this soon coming by RG 2018? Coz for now he doesn't look ready to even reach far enough to face Nadal. Or now that his rankings are going South, he might meet Nadal in 1st round.

Yes, I think he’ll be ready for RG.

He is trying to increase his match fitness as much as possible, so playing next week as well.

He looked really hungry yesterday.

bogbrush wrote:Funnily enough, as I have tickets for Wimbledon Day 1 to see Federer, I realised the other day I might actually be watching him play Djokovic or Murray. It is still 32 seeds this year so probably not Djokovic but it could be Murray.

Tou sound like one of those snob fans who is only interested in watching names!

noleisthebest wrote:Thiem has no feel for the ball, complete basher. Has he heard of DTL shots?
He is the worst SBH-er on tour.

Sure but Nadal on a day like that does not give you anything to cheer about. His game technically is watertight on clay...on a very hot day like that.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Thiem has no feel for the ball, complete basher. Has he heard of DTL shots?
He is the worst SBH-er on tour.

Sure but Nadal on a day like that does not give you anything to cheer about. His game technically is watertight on clay...on a very hot day like that.

With that kind of defeatist thinking, I am sure it is.
Good job someone thought Nadal was beatable on clay all those years ago....

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:Rafa's BH is really hurting nowadays.....and coupled with his hooked FH.....He is going to be very hard to beat....yet again!

And yet some here would think Nadal wins his matches but just returning everything. He when on  absolute form is unplayable on clay. 

He still does. Just look how far behind the baseline he stands on this surface. It's ridiculous. He retrieves from far back and outside the trameline but still has that power to force the running back.

The opponent just doesn't know what to do. Only an absolute peak Djoko has some chance. Else Nadal's own level has to come down to mortal levels for anyone else to get some chance. Or someone can play lights out and blow him off.

I don;t think it takes an "absolute" peak Djoko....If anything to me an under par Djoko is of Nadal's level.

noleisthebest wrote:Good job someone thought Nadal was beatable on clay all those years ago

Like BB said, its no rocket science to figure out how to beat Nadal on clay. Its been known since years ago. And yet there is none who can execute it.

So beatable Nadal is, everyone knows the plan. But executing is the biggest challenge that only some one a few occasions have managed to do.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Good job someone thought Nadal was beatable on clay all those years ago

Like BB said, its no rocket science to figure out how to beat Nadal on clay. Its been known since years ago. And yet there is none who can execute it.

So beatable Nadal is, everyone knows the plan. But executing is the biggest challenge that only some one a few occasions have managed to do.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/novak-djokovic-vs-rafael-nadal/D643/N409

You carry on like Nadal is some great player...he isn’t .
He is just a well protected lucrative doper who is allowed to break basic tennis rule in order to sustain his doping.

If he was a good tennis player he’d play oj the baseline.

Good and successful are not the same thing unfortunately.