ATP Masters 1000: Rome

Does anyone know when the RG draw happens?

noleisthebest wrote:I thought you said Murray has great anticipation and reads the game well....

Yes but that's different. Both (Murray and Djoko) know where the ball is going but Djoko has that extra split second (essentially cause he gets to the ball quicker than everybody else) and then he can (thanks to that extra time) make a decision to send the ball where nadal doesn't expect it. Today was more obvious than ever.

Nadal will still be tough to beat at the FO! But it must be so depressing for him.

summerblues wrote:Does anyone know when the RG draw happens?

It's been the Friday 11am local time before the tournament for the last 10 years...roughly so I cannot see why it would change now.

FedererKing wrote:http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74939000/jpg/_74939354_tr.jpg

Can anyone spot the fake smile?

Why fake...he is very happy to get 2nd!

I said before the clay season that Nadal may not retain a single clay title this year.....SO far I was only wrong by Nishi getting injured!

noleisthebest wrote:So after this match: Nishi, Dolgo, Murray, Fed....all in Nole's half in RG!

noleisthebest wrote:Nadal will have Gulbis,  Lopez, Robredo, Youzhny, Granollers and Berdych..

That is 10 predictions there.  Let's see how it goes.

Yes, it's the fourth straight loss in four finals.
I would swap them all for the RG win, though.

Draw will be very important.
Good thing I noticed, Nole has finally put a bit of weight on, just a tiny bit, so he doesn't look emaciated like last year.
The week of rest did him good!

RG will be so interesting as I expect Federer to play much better there.
That's if he can cut the umbilical cord from his baby boys!

Tenez wrote:

summerblues wrote:Does anyone know when the RG draw happens?

It's been the Friday 11am local time before the tournament for the last 10 years...roughly so I cannot see why it would change now.

Thanks.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:So after this match: Nishi, Dolgo, Murray, Fed....all in Nole's half in RG!

noleisthebest wrote:Nadal will have Gulbis,  Lopez, Robredo, Youzhny, Granollers and Berdych..

That is 10 predictions there.  Let's see how it goes.

You forgot to mention the main prediction:

noleisthebest wrote:Anybody brave enough to predict Rome 2014 champion?

Despite the workout and  battering Nole's wrist took from Ferrer and Raonic, I'll go for Nole, in three gory sets.

noleisthebest wrote:You forgot to mention the main prediction:

noleisthebest wrote:Anybody brave enough to predict Rome 2014 champion?

Despite the workout and  battering Nole's wrist took from Ferrer and Raonic, I'll go for Nole, in three gory sets.

Hehe.  That is a different sort of prediction though  I think we all got it about right - we all thought Nole would likely win, but it would not be very easy.

Well, I'm glad Nole won in the end. I still think his wrist was not 100%.
Good job he'll have a week to recover and rest it, more likely 10 days in fact.
I would like to believe he has matured a bit since last year and will have no detractions, like the death of his special coach right in the middle of RG 2013.

He wants the title badly, and he doesn't hide it. I hope the desire gives him wings this year rather than be crushing pressure.

But you never know...we could have surprise finalists and winners...remember, this is 2014!!!!

Tenez wrote:

FedererKing wrote:http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74939000/jpg/_74939354_tr.jpg

Can anyone spot the fake smile?

Why fake...he is very happy to get 2nd!

I said before the clay season that Nadal may not retain a single clay title this year.....SO far I was only wrong by Nishi getting injured!

I was going to mention that comment. Technically, Nishi gave him Madrid by retiring, the whole world saw Nadal was outplayed and humiliated before Nishi's back seized up.
Plus, Nole didn't even turn up. Fed turned up, but his mind was in Switzerland.

So...we only have RG left, the last bastion of Nadal.

Do you think he could recover from a loss in the final there?

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:

FedererKing wrote:http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74939000/jpg/_74939354_tr.jpg

Can anyone spot the fake smile?

Why fake...he is very happy to get 2nd!

I said before the clay season that Nadal may not retain a single clay title this year.....SO far I was only wrong by Nishi getting injured!

I was going to mention that comment. Technically, Nishi gave him Madrid by retiring, the whole world saw Nadal was outplayed and humiliated before Nishi's back seized up.
Plus, Nole didn't even turn up. Fed turned up, but his mind was in Switzerland.

So...we only have RG left, the last bastion of Nadal.

Do you think he could recover from a loss in the final there?

Of course Nadal can recover....he just needs to see his opponent tiring and breathing heavily and it will give him wings. Besides he knows Djoko can to lose v Federer (expect him in Djoko's draw again) or another player in form....whereas as SB said it's much harder for anyone else to dismiss Nadal over 5 sets. By beating his way to the final, Nadal's confidence should grow.

However I am convinced that he will lose in the first week of Wimby again...cause if he struggles on clay, fresh green grass will be way too hard for him.

I meant if he lost in the final of RG.

oh and for once we can safely say from now on that Nadal is not an automatic winners for the clay tournaments. That means his ranking should take a serious shake!

Well he will keep on playing for sure....he will still do his best to stay up....but he may find it difficult to fight for number one from then on. I think this will be probably the last time he is number one.

So far this year quite a few players have outplayed Nadal...and won!

It looked like his superhuman fitness was going to see him grind everyone to dust in Rome, but he again looked clueless against Nole who simply gave him no chance to benefit from the bicep.

Because of all those losses, draw will be more important than ever this year.

Especially  the first 3 rounds, that's where I expect a complete cakewalk for Nadal.
Raonic made an interesting comment yesterday saying Stan has inspired them all. But, realistically who could take him out in the best of 5 there in the first week?
I'd love Nishi to get a chance. Not sure if his back will have had enough time to recover, though.

Don't know the seedings yet, but Ferrer or Murray in the QF could have a chance, as well, especially in wet conditions.

Ideally, an in form Soderling would be just magnifique!

Congrats to Djokovic on a good win. Positive for his Career Slam effort this year at RG.