ATP 1000 : Monte Carlo 2019

It has to be Fognini, because Rafa is not losing to a nobody with a SHBH tomorrow.

Not like this

Nadal's first game was awful though. Now ok.

Fognini has lost the plot.

Fognini has one of the few DHBHs that I can enjoy.  He looks so casual hitting it.

DEC1M7 wrote:Fognini has lost the plot.

Years ago.

Awful game from Rafa.  I do not understand Rafa's tactics here.  I thought he would play more aggressive.  He cannot run as much as he used to, yet he is just sitting back defending.  Same vs Pella yesterday from the bits I saw.

Isn't it obvious?  He can't change.  He never has had that kind of ability.  He relies nearly entirely on physique and defence.  Which is why the little turd is doomed the second he can no longer run down balls.

If he loses, not to worry: He'll claim injury.

Daniel2 wrote:Isn't it obvious?  He can't change.  He never has had that kind of ability.  He relies nearly entirely on physique and defence.  Which is why the little turd is doomed the second he can no longer run down balls.

If he loses, not to worry: He'll claim injury.

No doubt that running like a chicken with his head cut off was his superpower.  Still, he has been playing more aggressive recently, and with some good success.  It will never be enough vs full-on Nole, but aggressive game plan is I think the best plan for Rafa nowadays.

If Fognini can play like this for the next 25 minutes, he wins it.  But this is Fognini, he could start spraying it any moment.

Important hold.

Surely this is enough?  (he says while remembering the british lady who recently came back from 0:6, 0:5, MP down).

Uh oh, this is not done yet.

You do not want to be down 6:4 5:0 40-0, but if you do have to be down like that, you would probably want Fognini to be the one on the other side of the net.

No heartbreak in the end.  Beautifully done by Fognini.  Morning that started not so well is all of a sudden beautiful.  Now I do not even mind Lajovic beat Medvedev - his game is nicer anyway.

Maybe this clay court season will not be a total write-off after all?

Easy win.

Fogna owns Nadal when he doesn't lose it 

Horror show from Rafa

Wtf just happened? hahaha at least he saved a bagel.

Go Foggy, take the title!!!

This is another match where one can see how Rafa's reduced ability to get to every ball is hurting him.  The old Rafa would have chased down some of today's Fabio's winners - enough of them to plant extra doubt in Fognini's mind and to pressure him to go for yet bigger shots.

I find it hard to see how this Rafa can beat top-of-the-form Nole - even at RG.  He can no longer chase everything down but he (and Nole too) knows that he cannot hit through Nole.

So Rafa will have to hope that Nole is not at his best.

These are also first few of hopefully many points Rafa is going to drop this clay court season.

...and also, Rafa has failed to catch Fed in the YTD Race.

Barca has a decent field.  Rafa could face Tsitsipas in QF, Thiem in SF and Zverev in F.

He would of pulled from Barcelona, but he just lost 640 pts and losing another 500 in Barca, would equal to more than a half GS lost!!

summerblues wrote:Awful game from Rafa.  I do not understand Rafa's tactics here.  I thought he would play more aggressive.  He cannot run as much as he used to, yet he is just sitting back defending.  Same vs Pella yesterday from the bits I saw.

Nadal's usual game-plan is to stay in the high-level rallies till the opponents get enough of it and try for a make-or-break shot. So unless someone he is painting the lines all throughout the match, Nadal wins.

Also he has started to stay back further 5m, you can barely see him on the camera screen when receiving. And he does this against almost everyone, not monsters servers.

Staying so far back cuts down his shot accuracy to a great deal.

summerblues wrote:Barca has a decent field.  Rafa could face Tsitsipas in QF, Thiem in SF and Zverev in F.

They need to do much better just to get to face Nadal. Currently, they are avoiding him by losing against others.

It will be interesting... I want to see some new TMS/RG winners.

Either Nadal is looking for a short break in order to prepare for the French Open or today's loss will really hurt. Fabio was being held together by duct tape and elastic bandages.

“I am coming from low moments in terms of injuries, and in terms of the mental side have been not easy to accept all the things that have been going on during the last times.
“So just was this kind of day that everything was wrong. I probably played one of the worst matches on clay in 14 years.

Right on cue.

He follows up to say his opponent played better of course....  Shame that he always seems to have a "but" attached to it.  Wanker.

Thiem must be sensing his Slam time might be at hand. I know he lost early, but the top guys are vulnerable in a way they weren’t.

Or maybe Fed. In my wildest dreams.

If Fed gets a nice draw... with this loser lot... it's def possible. But odds are not good.

DEC1M7 wrote:Djokovic basically admitting he doesn't take these Masters seriously and his only goal is to peak for the French Open.

https://youtu.be/jiYS-J6mcD0?t=65

But that is a bit a non sense statment or I read it differently. If he loses early in MC, Madrid and Rome , he is not going to peak at the FO. If anything he will start the FO without confidence. Winning Cincy helped him win the USO.

He means peaking here cause he clearly is far from it probably due to a niggle.

summerblues wrote:Lajovic breaks three times to go from 1:5 to 6:5 to serve for the set.

Medv was clearly injured. He got treatment v Djoko yesterday and could not move from 5/1 up.....I guess as I did not see the match.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

summerblues wrote:Awful game from Rafa.  I do not understand Rafa's tactics here.  I thought he would play more aggressive.  He cannot run as much as he used to, yet he is just sitting back defending.  Same vs Pella yesterday from the bits I saw.

Nadal's usual game-plan is to stay in the high-level rallies till the opponents get enough of it and try for a make-or-break shot. So unless someone he is painting the lines all throughout the match, Nadal wins.

Also he has started to stay back further 5m, you can barely see him on the camera screen when receiving. And he does this against almost everyone, not monsters servers.

Staying so far back cuts down his shot accuracy to a great deal.

To me that shows how the tour evolves. nadal could win all those clay courts standing 5m behind the baseline on clay....until Djoko took real advantage and showed us how to beat Nadal on clay (Soderling did show it too...but on an exceptional good day). Nowadays more people can handle his spin.

Having said that Nadal may have not fully recovered from IW and it is difficult to read much from this match I have not watched.

I just saw a short of Nadal Fognini. Nadal's shots looked really poor. I don't think the mouvement was particularly bad. but his FH was hit way too vertically (going up way too quickly) as if he was scared of injecting pace and making mistakes and often plays like that when the ball skids off on fast surface which was not the case today unless Fog shots were faster than they looked.

Something really wrong with his FH.

I'd love Fog to win tomorrow...but I fear he won;t like being the favourite.

Fog will win, no worries.

I hope you are right but I am not as confident.

I note once again that the finalists are 28 and 31....soon 29 and and 32 actually.

And we note again that exceptions don't make rules and the history of tennis is not on your side.
We're also in a very weak era.

Also, Nadal today is not as good as Nadal 5 years ago.  That simple. You're actually saying Fognini has evolved now ffs. 

I sense the decline of Nadal has now become conspicuous. He’s covered it well with a more attacking tactical game rather than the Duracell Bunny of the noughties but it feels like it’s going to come properly unstuck soon.

His physical decline means more players will be able to do to him what peak Djokovic did ten years ago, which is just to stay with him, with the result that he throws in flakier matches.

If he fails at RG - and by that I mean lose to anyone but Djokovic - I think the scales might fall from everyone’s eyes.

Daniel2 wrote:Isn't it obvious?  He can't change.  He never has had that kind of ability.  He relies nearly entirely on physique and defence.  Which is why the little turd is doomed the second he can no longer run down balls.

If he loses, not to worry: He'll claim injury.

You've been saying that for years. No doubt one day it'll be true.

Not that it matters anymore. Rafa has been at the top for 15 (!) years. He's already established longevity that probably only Federer (and some real old timers - Pancho, Rosewall etc,) exceed.

bogbrush wrote:I sense the decline of Nadal has now become conspicuous. He’s covered it well with a more attacking tactical game rather than the Duracell Bunny of the noughties but it feels like it’s going to come properly unstuck soon.

His physical decline means more players will be able to do to him what peak Djokovic did ten years ago, which is just to stay with him, with the result that he throws in flakier matches.

If he fails at RG - and by that I mean lose to anyone but Djokovic - I think the scales might fall from everyone’s eyes.

Ah.. finally someone with a sensible post.

The pattern of decline usually starts with inconsistency. The top 3 have been showing that for a few years. Eventually it creeps into the biggest tournaments. I expect Djokovic's slam eminence to decline. As Tenez has pointed out, the losses in the run up tournaments create loss of confidence and form.

Emancipator wrote:The pattern of decline usually starts with inconsistency. The top 3 have been showing that for a few years. Eventually it creeps into the biggest tournaments. I expect Djokovic's slam eminence to decline. As Tenez has pointed out, the losses in the run up tournaments create loss of confidence and form.

That's like saying we're going to have snow in winter. Be a bit braver and tell us how many slams he will win this year. No ifs and buts. Let's see what you're made of!

How many? My guess is no more this year.

Mind you, that is what I also thought this time last year.

Come on Foggy, take this title today!!!

noleisthebest wrote:

Emancipator wrote:The pattern of decline usually starts with inconsistency. The top 3 have been showing that for a few years. Eventually it creeps into the biggest tournaments. I expect Djokovic's slam eminence to decline. As Tenez has pointed out, the losses in the run up tournaments create loss of confidence and form.

That's like saying we're going to have snow in winter. Be a bit braver and tell us how many slams he will win this year. No ifs and buts. Let's see what you're made of!

No more slams this year.

He will win 2 more slams this year.

I rarely get predictions wrong.

Might have escaped your attention Eman but Nadal is already incapable of chasing down every ball - hence why the losses are piling up. But there will come a day when he's left totally naked and will be forced to retire.

Daniel2 wrote:But there will come a day when he's left totally naked

And then you wake up and there's a wet patch on your bed.

What a volley from Lajovic!

IDEMO MAJSTOREEEEEE!