ATP Masters 1000: Rome

Come on Foggy, send him HOMEEEE

Fabio's given Nadal this set on a silver platter.

And I date it back to that stupid dropshot in game one. I suppose that's in his genes and comes with the package.

Hopefully he regroups now, though it will be tough as Nadal's taken heart and confidence and started hitting the lines.

Can Fognini refocus? he let Nadal recover his breath....and that's not good, cause then it's you doing the running.

Watching Fabio is weird ... he is almost languid around court with a very flat backhand - the epitome of cool. Inside that shell is an anxious guy so spectators are asking the question is thiws when he is going to implode?

Good that Fabio is serving first in the set.

FORZAAAAA!!!

Turron wrote:Watching Fabio is weird ... he is almost languid around court with a very flat backhand - the epitome of cool. Inside that shell is an anxious guy so spectators are asking the question is thiws when he is going to implode?

Fabio is doing marvellously today.
He will not implode. Just needs the crowd to lift hm a little atm. It's not good for him to be alone with himself for too long in a match.
He is looking a bit scared atm and he can't afford it.

Nadal breaks to love.

WAKE UUUUUUUP CROOOOOOOOOWD!!!!!  

If he cant win it, maybe at least he can wing Nadal to be picked off by a subsequent opponent in the SF or F?

Watching Fabio is weird ... he is almost languid around court with a very flat backhand - the epitome of cool. Inside that shell is an anxious guy so spectators are asking the question is this when he is going to implode?

Fabio....he did what he could today...though maybe he could've done a bit more.

Beast and his bicep muscling tennis is shown to be beatable again, and that's always good to see.

Problem is it's only 13.30 and I am totally emotionally drained....

closer to a new nadal djokovic. that will be interesting from both sides

is nole ready to come back?

is nadal ready for another RG?

its a pitty fabio only brings his A game 5 -10 times in a season

Interesting how Ostapenko-Sharapova match on the same court as Fognini-Nadal an hour ago, looks like a totally different tournament.

More like Roland Garros.

Not sure why.

Should of gone to Specsavers...etc etc...


Come onnn Ostapenkoooo, beat this drugged russian cow

Difficult to support one player in this coming match. I'd typically be behind Nishi but I want to see a Djoko Nadal....not for the tennis of course but to make a point.

I never had such a dilemma. Must be a men's thing...

I like what I see from both. They are certainly getting closer to their past level.

will they move goffin zverev match to another court?

Tenez wrote:I like what I see from both. They are certainly getting closer to their past level.

Nishi looks 100% back to me.
Problem is, he'll melt and cave in to Nadal missing serves etc...worst case scenario he may even retire.

Nole is not yet there. His movement is about 90%. He is still missing that step.

Nole doesn't even look that bothered he is losing.
I think he's happy with return to form and may even want to avoid Nadal before RG.
He will be seeded there, so it's a win win for him today.

2:2 in the 3rd set and the match has just started.

Come on Noleeee!

Da beast is slowly awakening in Nole.

And it's going to be a long awaited Nole-Nadal at 1.30 tomorrow!

Nishi gave Nole a good tuning in.

Watching matches in Rome this year, I have realised how nice Italians are as a tennis crowd.
They are genuine and childlike.

They were for Nole from the start, but when Nishi missed a terrible overhead, they chanted his name to lift him up.
Really lovely!

I am glad Djoko won...cause even though Nishi is the better player, he would have collapsed after winning the first set tomorrow...whereas Djoko will take heart as the match extends.....while Nadal will wet his pants.

Tenez wrote:I am glad Djoko won...cause even though Nishi is the better player, he would have collapsed after winning the first set tomorrow...whereas Djoko will take heart as the match extends.....while Nadal will wet his pants

I hope so.
But we'll see. It's not old Nole yet, still as good as he could be atm.
Should be interesting.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:I am glad Djoko won...cause even though Nishi is the better player, he would have collapsed after winning the first set tomorrow...whereas Djoko will take heart as the match extends.....while Nadal will wet his pants

I hope so.
But we'll see. It's not old Nole yet, still as good as he could be atm.
Should be interesting.

Not far off...We will have a better idea of it tomorrow. But I think we will have a close match.

Tenez wrote:
Not far off...We will have a better idea of it tomorrow. But I think we will have a close match.

For me, the best thing in that match-up is that Nole does not fear Nadal. That's the key ingredient.
I can't imagine him caving in to Nadal like most do.

I wish Davydenko was still around...

It's a bit ridiculous to have the Zverev v Goffin start after 10.30 minimum.

At least they are playing the second semi.

Didn't Tomic and Hewitt start a match at 1 am once in AO...when Tomic's father complained that his son is only 18 and should be in bed at that time...

I see what you mean, I thought they would play straight after Nole-Nishi, didn’t realise there is a women’s match in between....that is a bit ridiculous.

My "theories" will be on the line tomorrow:

Nadal wins means:
He is not tired nor is likely to get tired. Unless we see some obvious signs while Djoko loses due to lack of composure.
It might take longer for Djoko to get to the top. I think he should be able to get back quickly if his elbow is ok. Doesn't mean he will dominate like before cause the youngsters are progressing quick.

If Djoko wins, it will confirm many of my points:
Average + Djoko is better than the best of Nadal on clay.
Nadal gets tired when extending rallies (don't think that news. It's a fact proven on many occasions).
Djoko can quickly return to the top...and federer (and me) should be worried.

I suspect it is going to be a close match...but Djoko has a good chance to win it.

noleisthebest wrote:I see what you mean, I thought they would play straight after Nole-Nishi, didn’t realise there is a women’s match in between....that is a bit ridiculous.

Yes they did not need to put 2 mens matches on CC....Or if they were then only one ladies match.....but having 5 matches from 12pm? that's a bit too much....though top be fair they were a bit unlucky that all 3 previous matches went the distance. But really having 3 out 4 matches going the distance is not unthinkable and what if the 4th and 5th matches also go teh distance. They will probably finish it at 1.30am.

Bad decision.

Tenez wrote:
He is not tired nor is likely to get tired.

Regarding Nadal’s tiredness, I watched  him closely today vs Fognini and vs Thiem...to me he was more nervous than getting tired.

Nervous because the two could make him run and he had to pull the trigger and go for the lines.
With Thiem he didn’t have a chance because the court was quicker, here in Rome, foret he had to go for the lines and failed...that made him very nervous, then he just started hitting the ball a lot harder safely until Fognini caved in and then that relaxed him and he gained confidence and even started going for the lines with success.

The pont when he turns on the bicep is the storm players fail to weather, and Nole is usually good there.
Only then we see Nadal bluffs his fitness.

I hope Nole rekindles his Nadal beating muscle memory tomorrow, for sure.

When I say tired I don't mean he has nothing left in his legs, I mean tired in the sense his arm is tired after a handful of long rallies...and that happens quite a bit.

His shots clearly lose depth and precision....and that is dead obvious...to me at least.

Appraisal of Rome as a tennis venue:
- easy to book tickets online
- weirdly difficult to find correct staircase at Centrale but friendly and helpful staff
- comfortable chairs which compare favourably with Wimbledon and Roland Garros
- very good catering (excellent salads in the restaurant were 12 euros each) pizzas to walk around with also looked excellent
- poor standard of line calling throughout particularly the service line in the Nadal match and the baseline in the Nishikori match

Neither Djokovic nor Nadal impressed although Nadal seemed to be hitting a flatter ball than I remember from the last couple of times I have seen him play. The question is whether anyone else can challenge them even if they are shadows of their mid 20s selves.

Turron wrote:Neither Djokovic nor Nadal impressed although Nadal seemed to be hitting a flatter ball than I remember from the last couple of times I have seen him play.  The question is whether anyone else can challenge them even if they are shadows of their mid 20s selves.

Good observation and not surprised as the slow conds give him a bit more safety in his shots and allows him to hit flatter. he was very loopy in Madrid.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:
He is not tired nor is likely to get tired.

Regarding Nadal’s tiredness, I watched  him closely today vs Fognini and vs Thiem...to me he was more nervous than getting tired.

Nervous because the two could make him run and he had to pull the trigger and go for the lines.
With Thiem he didn’t have a chance because the court was quicker, here in Rome, foret he had to go for the lines and failed...that made him very nervous, then he just started hitting the ball a lot harder safely until Fognini caved in and then that relaxed him and he gained confidence and even started going for the lines with success.

The pont when he turns on the bicep is the storm players fail to weather, and Nole is usually good there.
Only then we see Nadal bluffs his fitness.

I hope Nole rekindles his Nadal beating muscle memory tomorrow, for sure.

Do you have tennisTV? if so watch the match from 4/1 up Nadal first set. Fognini launches a couple of long rallies, including a 18shot rally. Fog wins his serve (4/2) and no rest between games .then have a few more 10 shots rallies and that tires him to the points his shots gets shorter and is forced into more running. He loses 5 games in a row!!! The 3mn break of end of set will save him, including the fact that Fog is also tired and stands further back in that second set.

Ugly game that Zverev. I won;t say it enough!

Tenez wrote:Ugly game that Zverev. I won;t say it enough!

Ugly game but still over-average power, making it difficult to handle.

Zverev's serve is getting better.

Tenez wrote:
Do you have tennisTV? if so watch the match from 4/1 up Nadal first set. Fognini launches a couple of long rallies, including a 18shot rally. Fog wins his serve (4/2) and no rest between games .then have a few more 10 shots rallies and that tires him to the points his shots gets shorter and is forced into more running. He loses 5 games in a row!!! The 3mn break of end of set will save him, including the fact that Fog is also tired and stands further back in that second set.

I keep telling you I don’t have tennistv any more. They made it very difficult to renew one year so I now watch on bet365, blissfully with no commenting.
Anyway I started watching the match at 4:2 for Nadal in the first set so I missed those rallies you are describing.

And now watching The Last Emperor after many years...what a different world! Even though even there they play tennis in the forbidden city with wooden racquets!

Zverev is a real cheat. Questioning all the calls, showing the wrong marks, arguing with the empire on every decision.

A nasty piece!

Tenez wrote:Zverev is a real cheat. Questioning all the calls, showing the wrong marks, arguing with the empire on every decision.

A nasty piece!

And only 20!

The worst is he doesn’t realise how boring and dull he is, thinks he is the new Fedal all in one...tragic.

yep. Hopefully Goffin will teach him a lesson!

I like this umpire, and will never forget him as he was umpiring Fabio’s match yesterday.
Fabio should get some bonus pay for making this tournament so wonderful.

Seriously, he provides so much fun for fans and I believe he is not properly appreciated and praised by ATP.
They don’t make ‘em like that any more....

Goffin is so light on his feet!
He is flying around like Davydenko used to.

Very lucky this zverev. heavy net ball and line with one shot at 30all!

noleisthebest wrote:I keep telling you I don’t have tennistv any more.

You should resubscribe, I think it is really worth it.

I remember you said you had bad service experience in the past.  I can understand that - they used to be horrible.  I remember a few years back, something went wrong on their end just as I was going to watch weekend matches.  I sent them an email Saturday morning and they only got back to me Monday - and I had no service in between and could not watch the tournament.  TBH, I do not know if their service is any better now, but I find that their feed is reliable - so I do not have to worry about service.

Fairly often you even have a choice of watching a match with or without commentary - I quite like that!

Looking just at their results so far this year, Rafa should probably win as easily as last year in Madrid, but I have not seen Djokovic since the AO, and if his form is improving, looking at this year's results alone could be misleading.

Lose-lose match for me, but still, will be rooting for Nole.  Unfortunatly I have some errands to run from 10am-11am (match starts 8:30am my time) so will likely miss some of it - unless Rafa polishes Nole off in under 90 minutes.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I keep telling you I don’t have tennistv any more.

You should resubscribe, I think it is really worth it.

I've been with them for years, was recommending them to everyone...until they stuffed it with the renewal one year.
It caused me so much stress for nothing, and what do I need that in my life...

From memory, my automatic renewal was due in November and I realised I didn't need it till March so I canceled it wanting to renew in March. (as you know, they don't do slams and I was using Eurosport for AO,RG & USO).

So when I wanted to register in March they made it virtually impossible for some reason...they quoted all sort of excuses - technical, this and that....
So I switched to bet 365 which show everything and I can see it on the whole screen of my ipad mini - lovely.
I particularly enjoy no commentary.
The only thing I don't see is trophy presentation etc...but can catch up on youtube for that.

I don't need to bet to watch on bet365 but occasionally I place a £5 bet for a laugh...and that's my kind of thank you to them for providing free streams.

Unfortunately I had bad experience with Eurosport, too last year.
I took annual offer during AO, it was too good to be missed, I think £13 for the whole year. (was about £6 just for AO, i.e. a month)
And it worked beautifully for about 6 months which included AO and another one or two smaller tournaments...and then I could not access my account at all...due to a "technical problem" which apparently many other users were experiencing.

In short, they wanted people to resuscribe for RG. Miraculously, of course, the technical problem went after USO.
I was really annoyed so I chased them by emails (not mreally my style but this time I had enough of it all) and got them to the point they offered to refund me my annual subscription, which I never got as I was not stupid enough to send them my bank details in an email.

So there you go, I am not going back to them in a hurry. Why should I?
They stupidly work so hard to get new customers they neglect the loyal ones thinking we are sheep.
I thought that's disgusting.