Barcelona Open 500

Nadal failed to serve out having the adv of a 6-5 lead in the first set vs Ramos in their opening match of the tournament, although he won the TB easily shortly after. Is that a first for the king of clay to drop like this on a clay match? If he struggled vs Ramos, can he get by Verdasco  in the QF (?)

Although it's normal for a 27+ yo player to slow down and show increasing signs of decline/loss of focus & control, I've noticed his fans have abandoned him in the forum. Our own resident Nadal Cheerleader-in-Chief, as well as the v2 Nadal 3-ring circus Lydian-haweye-had die have all disappeared. 

Barcelona is now a very important tourney for nadal to win. It seems like only yesterday when it was a give-me for him. Now his newly embolden opponents keep whacking that ball to his BH and he's breaking down or having to run around to hit back, often unsuccessfully. Almost funny. Now he suddenly looks very vulnerable like Fed 2013, only his unprecedented number of shanks and errors are sprayed from the left side of the court (20+ UES in 2 sets yesterday!  )

Amri, where are you? Don't do anything rash in case he lost again. It's only a tennis match.     

PS: Can someone tell me what's the bearing of this tourney for nadal re the race to London weekly update? Will/could he overtake Fed with more points, as roger is not gaining any points this week? 

HI SR - Do you mind if I move the post on the already Barca post? I'll reply there.

Not at all but I double checked and cannot find the other thread that I think nitb put up. What happened to it?

You are right. A thread has disappeared. Real strange!
 
NITB, do you know why?
 
Is that true that Amri, Lyndian have disappeared of v2? Welcome back here anyway SR.
 
I know it's good to have Nadal fans in a forum....but since they were fans of his winning and not his game, they are likely to disappear as soon as his winning rate drops. Cause let's face it, what they liked what his energy, fist pumping, big muscles....once he starts losing, his dropping shoulders are not going to be nice to the eye.

Bwhahahahahaha     

That's not an exaggeration. I noticed his shoulders began dropping some time ago already. The thinning hair doesn't help either. 

I always remember Veejay once said that if Nadal looked like Davidenco, no one would even look at him.

SR wrote:I always remember Veejay once said that if Nadal looked like Davidenco, no one would even look at him.

I said that too....long time ago. Saying even that despite Nadal being much more glamorous, the crowd tends to support Davydenko as his game is so much nicer to watch and support.

Gobulev showing why he is not doing any better.

loses 60, then has BP to to serve for the second set but loses everything from there.

Yup, was just going to post the same comment re Golubev I guess he can only play once/year like he showed beating Wawrinka in the DC match. 

Meantime, if they have a chance to meet, be so nice to see Nishikori beat nadal. He definitely has the game to do so but each time coming so close he was cheated of a win not by nadal's game but his gamesmanship. Interrupting the match to rinse his hands; blister hurting him, bla bla. If only nadal can be so creative with variety in his technical approach to tennis itself, one would perhaps be more tolerant of his foul play.

Almagro is playing Nadal instead. He is also one whose BH fares well v Nadal. He has unlike Stan won sets convincingly on clay v Nadal.

SR wrote:....If only nadal can be so creative with variety in his technical approach to tennis itself, one would perhaps be more tolerant of his foul play.

Good one!

Oops, Verdasco gone.

Tenez wrote:Almagro is playing Nadal instead. He is also one whose BH fares well v Nadal. He has unlike Stan won sets convincingly on clay v Nadal.

I still hope Nishikori will get a chance in future to avenge a couple of stolen wins to Nadal.

Almagro has the potential game-wise. Maybe this time he wouldn't let the bully get away.

Problem with Almagro is that he has zero mental strength. When he has nothing to lose he can be dangerous but as soon as he realises he can win, he'll make sure he'll lose!

I didn't have time to watch any tennis today, played instead 4 hours non-stop...
Sorry my Barcelona thread is not available any more, frankly, all my favourite players except Gulbis are out already so I deleted it.

I am playing on clay tomorrow for the first time so am very excited about it. Beats watching sweaty, grunting Spaniards any day!

noleisthebest wrote:I didn't have time to watch any tennis today, played instead 4 hours non-stop...
Sorry my Barcelona thread is not available any more, frankly, all my favourite players except Gulbis are out already so I deleted it.

I am playing on clay tomorrow for the first time so am very excited about it. Beats watching sweaty, grunting Spaniards any day!

Let us know whether this is real clay or not!

noleisthebest wrote:I didn't have time to watch any tennis today, played instead 4 hours non-stop...
Sorry my Barcelona thread is not available any more, frankly, all my favourite players except Gulbis are out already so I deleted it.

I am playing on clay tomorrow for the first time so am very excited about it. Beats watching sweaty, grunting Spaniards any day!

Dominic Thiem is there.

QF matches and order of play

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Scores/Schedule.aspx?EventId=425

Start 12:30

[9] Ernests Gulbis V Teymuraz Gabashvili

[12] Marin Cilic  V [4] Kei Nishikori 

[1] Rafael Nadal V [6] Nicolas Almagro 

Santiago Giraldo V [10] Philipp Kohlschreiber 

After just a few glances of nadal's form yesterday, looks to me like it will be same-old same-old nada beating Alma with unstoppable buckets of sweat raining down his face, dangerous-looking  biceps so inflated and Loy's of hysterical fist pumping.

I did not watch any tennis yesterday. will try to catch up today.

Gulbis is our last hope!

My clay day got rescheduled for next Friday because of rain

noleisthebest wrote:My clay day got rescheduled for next Friday because of rain

Good news! Means probably real clay then cause the artificial clay are quite playable under wet conds.

They also have indoor carpet courts, which I haven't played on either, but I looked forward to and had my heart so set on clay I didn't want to settle for indoors today.
Hopefully the weather will be less miserable next week.

The ultimate one I am dreaming about there is their grass courts, the season starts in June. They are simply beautiful.
Will take the wooden racquet for that first time. Should be fun. It's got to be done properly and in the right spirit!

So Earnie and Gabarshvilli opening just now...looks pretty windy in Barcelona.
Should be a good match.

Tenez wrote:

Gulbis is our last hope!

Gulbis lost a HC match to nadal earlier this year in Doha in straights. So I don't see him beating nadal on clay. The only player left in the QF who has had a win over nadal (Halle 12) is Kholi. But Kholi can't show his best on clay. I can't believe nadal will be lifting his 2nd trophy thus far with virtually no competition whatsoever. And his sour fans still constantly seek to denigrate Fed with their WE rubbish. 

Tenez wrote:
 
 
Is that true that Amri, Lyndian have disappeared of v2?

Amri left v2 quite some time ago already. No posts from Lydian for noticeably quite some time too, since nadal's AO flop, perhaps. As of now there isn't even a Barca thread there. Not a good sign.  

SR wrote:

Tenez wrote:
 
 
Is that true that Amri, Lyndian have disappeared of v2?

Amri left v2 quite some time ago already. No posts from Lydian for noticeably quite some time too, since nadal's AO flop, perhaps. As of now there isn't even a Barca thread there. Not a good sign.  

Ouah! That's strange!

Amri posted on V2 under Born something ....can't remember exactly and I thought he posted there even very recently.

That was a poor match between Gulbis and Gaby, I even dropped off...
Plenty of foul language from Earnie, went a bit over the top today, not acceptable.
He finds it difficult to control his temper when he gets a bit of steadiness from the opponent.
Nishi will test him a lot more tomorrow.

Tenez wrote:Amri posted on V2 under Born something

Born Slippy?  Do you think that is Amri?  To me, Born Slippy does not sound anything like Amri.  I think Amri got sort of thrown out of 606v2 and - although he may have reentered v2 under a different name - I do not think he was posting - in the tennis section at least - anymore.  He is now posting on "TennisTalk", which is a new forum created recently to replace the defunct MTL (which died for technical reasons).

I think Lydian stopped posting shortly after the AO, but I suspect he may well return later in the season.

In the meantime, Rafa is up 4:2 and Almagro does not look like winning today. But then, he does not often win against Rafa.

Did anyone see Thiem here?  I did not see him play but he had a respectable showing.  Clay has been his most successful surface, so it will be interesting to see how well he can do the rest of the clay court season.

I didn't see Thiem, wasn't even aware he was in three draw until rotla pointed it out.
I didn't know clay is his best surface. I only saw him play once properly, he looked quite good, esp his FH and the natural attacking flair. Good, strong but not heavy built. Needs to tidy up his footwork esp when defending on his BH.
He seems to be good material for the right kind of coach.
I saw he likes to hang around with Gulbis.

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:Amri posted on V2 under Born something

Born Slippy?  Do you think that is Amri?  To me, Born Slippy does not sound anything like Amri.  I think Amri got sort of thrown out of 606v2 and - although he may have reentered v2 under a different name - I do not think he was posting - in the tennis section at least - anymore.  He is now posting on "TennisTalk", which is a new forum created recently to replace the defunct MTL (which died for technical reasons).

I think Lydian stopped posting shortly after the AO, but I suspect he may well return later in the season.

I find it strange how some people ask about Amri and when he was here used every opportunity to drive him away....
Amri was an admirable Nadal fan...a pain some of the times but good fun!

The best news I've heard all week was that Nole's wrist isn't as badly injured and he should be ready for RG, praise the Lord, I was so disappointed to see him strapped in Monte Carlo, one of the worst injuries to have in tennis

noleisthebest wrote:looked quite good, esp his FH

Yeah, I noticed you and Tenez liked his FH.  I am actually not a huge fan but as long as he makes it work, that is fine.

noleisthebest wrote:I saw he likes to hang around with Gulbis.

Oh.  That is not a good sign.

noleisthebest wrote:Amri was an admirable Nadal fan...a pain some of the times but good fun!

I agree with that.

But I would not say anyone was driving him away.  Some people were a bit nasty to him, but he was willing to sort of do the same to others too, so it kind of balanced out.  Plus it is a forum, he can always ignore the nasty stuff anyway.

noleisthebest wrote:The best news I've heard all week was that Nole's wrist isn't as badly injured and he should be ready for RG, praise the Lord, I was so disappointed to see him strapped in Monte Carlo, one of the worst injuries to have in tennis

Yes, it would suck if Nole's clay season was ruined because of that injury.  We will need him over the next few weeks.

Tenez wrote:Almagro ... has unlike Stan won sets convincingly on clay v Nadal.

Technically not quite "sets".  He has now played 21 sets against Rafa on clay, and the tally is 20-1 for Rafa.  So it is only one "set" for Almagro so far.

On the bright side, Almagro is 0-12 vs Rafa and so was Stan before their AO match.  So maybe 13 is the charm and Almagro can still turn it around today.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Amri was an admirable Nadal fan...a pain some of the times but good fun!

I agree with that.

But I would not say anyone was driving him away.  Some people were a bit nasty to him, but he was willing to sort of do the same to others too, so it kind of balanced out.  Plus it is a forum, he can always ignore the nasty stuff anyway.

Yes.. Just drags the forum down, esp when there aren't that many people around. Such is life...
Good thing is people come and go, but tennis is always here to welcome those who love it.

I find Almagro tragic! Just saw a few points, and Nadal is toying with him like a puppet on a string...pushing him back into stands...

Lovely groundstrokes and.....not a lot between the ears to do something with them, unfortunately.

summerblues wrote:
I think Amri got sort of thrown out of 606v2 

What did he do that they threw him out?

Moments ago, Mathieu was 5:1 up in the second set TB and I thought the match was done, and now I see he just lost it 8:10.

SR wrote:

summerblues wrote:
I think Amri got sort of thrown out of 606v2 

What did he do that they threw him out?

I am not sure but to the best of my knowledge nothing really specific.  But he can be quite persistent and monothematic, and 606v2 tends to be fairly impatient with that.

But I could be wrong, there could have been something more specific.

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:Amri posted on V2 under Born something

Born Slippy?  Do you think that is Amri?  To me, Born Slippy does not sound anything like Amri.  I think Amri got sort of thrown out of 606v2 and - although he may have reentered v2 under a different name - I do not think he was posting - in the tennis section at least - anymore.  He is now posting on "TennisTalk", which is a new forum created recently to replace the defunct MTL (which died for technical reasons).

I think Lydian stopped posting shortly after the AO, but I suspect he may well return later in the season.

Maybe I m mistaking but I know he had yet another pseudo there.

So Tennistalk is made up of all the former mtl members I guess. Is V2 busy still? here it's quiet but as I said a few times, I don't mind it as much.

noleisthebest wrote:

I find it strange how some people ask about Amri and when he was here used every opportunity to drive him away....

I don't think anyone drove him away. He's just feeling down when nadal is down, taking a break just like Lydian, hn, haddie over at v2. You'll see how quickly he'll return once nadal wins Barca. Promise.

Tenez wrote:So Tennistalk is made up of all the former mtl members I guess. Is V2 busy still? here it's quiet but as I said a few times, I don't mind it as much.

I think all of the 606 offshoots have been slowly dying out.  The most active posters on MTL (and now tennistalk), v2, as well as here have been - with some exceptions - largely posters who came from the old 606.  None of the forums have found a way to consistently attract new members to replace any "retirements".

MTL was probably the most viable one, and even that one was slowing down over time.  But they had technical issues with the site itself, which pretty much brought down the forum.  Tennistalk attracted some - but not nearly all - of the MTL posters, so that one is now also quite small.

v2 has been very slow the last few months - I would say from sometime late 2013.  Obviously, there was a temporary increase in activity during the AO14, but it has been very slow again since then.

SB,
a question for you: do you know why it is forbidden to mention OTF on v2 and not the other forums.
I suppose the person to ask is LF, but maybe you know as well.

Are the posters good on MTL? there were some good ones last time I checked...2 if not 3 years ago.

Maybe TT and OTF should merge.

...and after almost going down in the second set TB, Monfils is now 4:1 up in the decider.

noleisthebest wrote:SB,
a question for you: do you know why it is forbidden to mention OTF on v2 and not the other forums.

No, I do not know.  But my impression was you were not really allowed to talk about any non-v2 forum on v2, not just OTF.

I think the main reason for tennis forums to die off is the fact Fed is less of big contender anymore and added to that the end of Fedal rivalry.

I have less interest myself and I think many are sharing this feeling I believe.

Djoko Nadal is good for those who want Nadal to lose but not many of those don't enjoy Djoko winning either.

Tenez wrote:Are the posters good on MTL? there were some good ones last time I checked...2 if not 3 years ago.

Maybe TT and OTF should merge.

MTL had a number of very good posters when it started out, plus it also had a pretty lively feel to it - their match threads were always busy with a lot of posters.

But it also had a little bit different bend from here or v2.  In spite of pretty good tennis knowledge of a lot of their posters, they did not really go for lengthy discussions.  It was mostly friendly banter of like-minded individuals.

Also, in spite of being an offshoot of MTL, the posters on TT do not seem to be a random cross-section of the original MTL, so it is hard to tell what kind of forum TT will be.