Roland Garros 2014: MOTD Day 11 Wed 04/06/2014

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:
If Murray would win the next 5 slam, i don't think you'd say anything different.

We'll cross that bridge when we get there, shall we?

I see, your view is safe, right?

Tenez wrote:Problem with Monfils is that he forgot how to hit attacking tennis. He must have won so many matches just by retrieving thanks to his amazing athleticism that he doesn't know or feel confident to hit winners nowadays.

I am not even watching their match as I can imagine it all!

He played a really good 1st set, and hit a lot of attacking winners, but "managed" to get broken at 4:5...he looks so good when he is in the zone, but so fragile, as well.
Why?
I don't think even he knows...I think he's got a great talent, just not a single aggressive bone in his body.

gallery play wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:
If Murray would win the next 5 slam, i don't think you'd say anything different.

We'll cross that bridge when we get there, shall we?

I see, your view is safe, right?

No, I just don't rate him as highly as you, that's all.

To be precize: Monf got totally outplayed in the first part of the first set. Murray had chances to get to 4-0. So Monfils had no other choice than to play his usual "groggy boxer" B plan. It worked for a while..

I am switching to Nadal-Ferrer...at my own peril...  

Toni and the other guy sitting next to him (is he also an uncle?) look edgy, I like that!

Bottom line...we've got 4 pushers playing atm.
Beautiful, graceful, creative, artful clay tennis, where art though?

can't watch for now on....so please keep posting.....I'll get 2 different views it seems!   

Tenez wrote:can't watch for now on....so please keep posting.....I'll get 2 different views it seems!   

I can but don't want to watch...

But just for you...Ferrer looking fit and up for the fight. Giving back as hard as Nadal, except that his FH is much more energy friendly despite the hard-hitting, going down the line..looks promising!
Nadal's still up with a break, tough...

Excellent service hold for Ferrer. Nadal shanks a BH, struggles to cope with Ferrer's fast BHs, nets two - bliss!
serving for the set now.

One set all.
Nadal is hitting EVERY ball at full pelt.
Scary levels of "fitness".
I think atm he's got about 10% edge Ferrer there, but if Ferrer manages to win the next set, it could get interesting.
He mustn't get broken in his first service game!

.....and broken he gets straight away...

Might be three more after all.   Nadal looks still beatable today. Go for it, Ferru and become a legend!  

Doesn't matter, Murray is going to really grind him down if they meet haha

noleisthebest wrote:Nadal is hitting EVERY ball at full pelt.
Scary levels of "fitness".

Plus he seems to be running around 90% of his backhands.   Back to watching and cooking.

FedererKing wrote:Doesn't matter, Murray is going to really grind him down if they meet haha

I feel sorry for Murray, though, Nadal is hitting the ball like a monster.

Monf breaks and wins the second set, great game from voth, Murray ecen hit an inside in FHDTL
Chatrier on fire.


ALLLEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Nadal bagelling Ferrer!   I hope that was Ferrer trying to save energy and that he still has something left in the tank. 

noleisthebest wrote:

FedererKing wrote:Doesn't matter, Murray is going to really grind him down if they meet haha

I feel sorry for Murray, though, Nadal is hitting the ball like a monster.

Murray is one of the few players on tour that can deal with it.  Unfortunately, Ferrer is not.  But please God, NOT Monfils v Nadal... it would be a real joke.

noleisthebest wrote:Monf breaks and wins the second set, great game from both, Murray even hit an inside in FHDTL
Chatrier on fire.


ALLLEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

I mean the third set!
There's a max an hour left of play tonight..

FedererKing wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

FedererKing wrote:Doesn't matter, Murray is going to really grind him down if they meet haha

I feel sorry for Murray, though, Nadal is hitting the ball like a monster.

Murray is one of the few players on tour that can deal with it.  Unfortunately, Ferrer is not.  But please God, NOT Monfils v Nadal... it would be a real joke.

He can, but I fear only for a set or two, unfortunately...I'd love to be proven wrong. You saw what happened in Rome, and Nadal is hitting the ball a lot harder in Paris.

Autumnleaf wrote:Nadal bagelling Ferrer!   I hope that was Ferrer trying to save energy and that he still has something left in the tank. 

I didn't see any of the second set. Unless he is injured, Ferrer should put up some resistance in the 3rd.

I must admit, Murray doesn't look that bad on clay, ok, he's not an artist, but he's spending quite a bit of time inside the court, no problem putting away mid-court FHs like he used to in the past when he was panicking and pushing them back.
Fast clay seems to suit him.

Oh well, the Nadal-Ferrer match is over - he is leading with 2 breaks in the decider. Ferrer too aggressive (which you have to be vs. Nadal) and missing too much now (which happens after a set or two). Switching to Murray-Monfils...

Murray looks a bit cooked, Monf 4:1 up in the 4th, allez GAEL!

Monf breaks again...5:1, serving for the 4th set

And it's two sets all!   
President of French tennis federation looks happy and excited like a little kid!
I don't know how much longer they are going to be able to play tough...

After failing to break Murray, Monf goes back into his pushing shell and gets broken himself...
Wake up Monf!!!

The sunset close-ups are now showing the moon!
Monf serving 0:5...
No gale in Gael's sail any more...

And it's a bagel in the end; at least Murray gets a day off for Nadal...he'll need it!

Tomorrow's order of play:

Wow...annoying results since I left. Nadal crushing Ferrer and Murray wasting precious energy.

The opposite of what I wished for!

It's going to be Djoko v Nadal!

I admit, I didn't expect Ferrer to collapse so "easily".
He said he was not mentally well prepared for the match (whatever that means...)
Could it be that the super zippped balls took their toll in just two sets?
Nadal was really whacking it like there's no tomorrow...

In the end it did not work out so well.  I am still hoping Andy can make it close, if not win outright.  If not, then Nole will have to do the job on Sunday.

Interesting comment from Nadal:

"In the first set I wasn't playing very well with my backhand, which is weird considering how well I was feeling in practice. You know, I never felt so good in practice all year long. I went on court confident, that I was going to hit the ball well, better than I have been doing in the past months. I don't know what happened, but I had to try and play more with my forehand. Then from the second on I managed to play better also with my backhand, so things went well in the end" 


I wonder if it was the nerves. 
And if it the nerves, If nit Murray then certainly Nole (sorry Earnie!) should be able to capitalise on them!

Ferrer comments on this match:


“Today I was not good enough for this match. I lost my focus. I was too slow, and I think I didn’t play the game of a Top 10 [player]. This is why I’m sad. It’s my attitude, my behaviour on the court.


“The court was slow. Rafael started playing a lot better, making fewer mistakes, and then it’s like I threw in the towel. I don’t usually do this, but I thought, I’m not going to be able to come back into the match. I thought, ‘No, no, not against Rafa. He’s such good a player.’”       


Well, that's exactly what it looked like in the last two sets. He knew he had lost the game already, no way to come back after having lost the second set. Nadal looking monstrous right now.  

Whatever it is, he is going to be very tough to beat. Djoko will not have the luxury to blast him off the court like he did in Rome, no-one can be sharp enough for 5 sets to do that. He will have to throw the "picador" in (Knight in bullfighting whose task is to cut the muscles around the neck to tire and weaken the bull). This means, in tennis terms, to accept and go for long rallies, make Nadal run twice as much as him. Only when Nadal will be tired that winners will be much easier to pull.

I think Djoko can do it....my worry is actually Gulbis!

On a sidenote: as a result of yesterday's QFs, we have three of the former big four in the SF. Same procedure and matchups as every year. It's as if nothing has changed since forever, really excillarating stuff.  

Autumnleaf wrote:On a sidenote: as a result of yesterday's QFs, we have three of the former big four in the SF. Same procedure and matchups as every year. It's as if nothing has changed since forever, really excillarating stuff.  

Bound to happen on slow courts with players built for the long haul. It's impossible to beat fitness.....it's going to be the fittest who's going to win Sunday.....or the more energy friendly player,

Ferrer gave everything he had that first set, it was inmense. But it's part of Nadal's tactics to go through such a barrage. He waits, waits, waits and when he senses a slight drop of intensity, he starts squeezing and never lets go. Mentally it's a walk in the park for Nadal, he did this hundreds of times before.
Murray can absolutely tire Nadal, but not enough

gallery play wrote:Ferrer gave everything he had that first set, it was inmense. But it's part of Nadal's tactics to go through such a barrage. He waits, waits, waits and when he senses a slight drop of intensity, he starts squeezing and never lets go. Mentally it's a walk in the park for Nadal, he did this hundreds of times before.
Murray can absolutely tire Nadal, but not enough

yes..the second set was crucial...cause from 2 sets down....Nadal becomes nervous again....and then anything can happen...but before getting to 2 sets down, there is little hope to be had!

How can one be so sure to be the fittest in the latter part of the match? Week in week out.
I've only see something like that in the person of Lance Armstrong.

gallery play wrote:How can one be so sure to be the fittest in the latter part of the match? Week in week out.
I've only see something like that in the person of Lance Armstrong.

What are you suggesting?

gallery play wrote:Ferrer gave everything he had that first set, it was inmense.(...)

Yeah, you cannot really blame Ferrer for throwing the last two sets. I'm sure it's happened many times before when a Nadal opponent lost a set against him, that they just knew that there was nothing left to do for them and proceeded to wave the white flag. They just usually wouldn't admit to it, unlike Ferrer (though it was clear enough to see) who is quite refreshing there in his honesty.

It must be such a nightmare to play against this guy, I pity everyone of his opponents. "(...) they make you suffer on the court. They make you physically suffer on the court." (Gilles Muller on why he prefers Federer as his opponent as compared to Nadal)

I have to disagree.  If you are a professional, you should not be "throwing in the towel". That's not good at all.  I think it shows incredible poor mentality.  At least he was honest enough to admit it though, which is more than most would do.

FedererKing wrote:I have to disagree.  If you are a professional, you should not be "throwing in the towel". That's not good at all.  I think it shows incredible poor mentality.  At least he was honest enough to admit it though, which is more than most would do.

Feathherweight professional boxers would never want to jump on a ring against a heavyweight! They woudl not even have a towel to throw. In tennis they play on the same court but it is the same thing. One knows how far the lungs can carry them. We tend to see those players running without associating the pain and lung burning that goes with it so we can't really make a judgement on that.

"It's a big mistake to underestimate the physical side of playing Nadal". His game was designed for that very purpose. They even had the luxury to make him play with his unnatural arm, so much they were convinced that finess and talent were irrelevant factors.

Tenez wrote:Whatever it is, he is going to be very tough to beat. Djoko will not have the luxury to blast him off the court like he did in Rome, no-one can be sharp enough for 5 sets to do that. He will have to throw the "picador" in (Knight in bullfighting whose task is to cut the muscles around the neck to tire and weaken the bull). This means, in tennis terms, to accept and go for long rallies, make Nadal run twice as much as him. Only when Nadal will be tired that winners will be much easier to pull.

I think Djoko can do it....my worry is actually Gulbis!

Great comparison!
Whatever it takes...as for Gulbis, however much I like him, I think he doesn't have a chance tomorrow. It will be a good match, but Nole will be ruthless. There is not a lot Gulbis can threaten him with, he'll be risking and missing, then starting to talk to himself, there will be a cheeky wink at the handshake and that's about it, I think.

Tenez wrote:
"It's a big mistake to underestimate the physical side of playing Nadal". His game was designed for that very purpose. They even had the luxury to make him play with his unnatural arm, so much they were convinced that finess and talent were irrelevant factors.

I think Gulbis puts it rather well:

“He thinks how to kill his opponent. He’s got a different mentality. Mine is closer to that of Marat Safin.”

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Whatever it is, he is going to be very tough to beat. Djoko will not have the luxury to blast him off the court like he did in Rome, no-one can be sharp enough for 5 sets to do that. He will have to throw the "picador" in (Knight in bullfighting whose task is to cut the muscles around the neck to tire and weaken the bull). This means, in tennis terms, to accept and go for long rallies, make Nadal run twice as much as him. Only when Nadal will be tired that winners will be much easier to pull.

I think Djoko can do it....my worry is actually Gulbis!

Great comparison!
Whatever it takes...as for Gulbis, however much I like him, I think he doesn't have a chance tomorrow. It will be a good match, but Nole will be ruthless. There is not a lot Gulbis can threaten him with, he'll be risking and missing, then starting to talk to himself, there will be a cheeky wink at the handshake and that's about it, I think.

I think it is actually in Gulbis racquet. He destroyed Berdych like Djoko coudl not. And even Djoko said that when they were young if Gulbis decided to play well there was nothing he coudl do.

But I do expect Gulbis to get nervous....but a very close match!