Rome Masters 2019

Tsitsi is hanging in there.  He has now won as many games as Chardy, Basilashvili and Verdasco combined.

But he has been distinctly inferior to Rafa so far today.

This match looks very gloomy.  Stefanos is unable to put any pressure whatsoever on Rafa during rallies.  It feels like he is playing in a wrong weight class - just not there at all.

6:3 6:4 but it felt more one-sided than that.

Who can beat Rafa at RG?

Nole and maybe Thiem.  Outside that, nobody very likely.  Zverev (I know, crazy) perhaps if he rediscovers his form, maybe Fognini if he has one of his days, but the rest would have to hope that Rafa is below par.  I do not see Delpo doing it, nor indeed Tsitsipas over Bo5.

Does anybody really bother watching a Nadull clay match that isn't vs Djoke? 

sb - Thiem does not have the IQ to beat him over 5.

Nole closing in on his AO form.
Sizzlin’s precision, yeah baby, yeah!

Screech has to win this decider quickly or Dull will routine the final.

He looked really good vs Kohli then he started to throw in some timid matches like Delpo and this.

Nole should win tomorrow as he is a better clay and overall player than Rafa. But his struggling against Schwartz is worrying.

Did not see Nole's match. The score does not boost my conference in his form. Even so, I expect he will win fairly easily tomorrow.

This clay court season, having started so promising in MC and Barcelona, seems to be converging to a pretty depressing finale in RG.

AceofDeath wrote:sb - Thiem does not have the IQ to beat him over 5.

You may well be right but Thiem, when firing on all cylinders, might just be good enough to do it regardless of his tennis IQ.  In addition, I think he is trying to play a little smarter this year.  Anyway, things look fairly gloomy as of now.

summerblues wrote:6:3 6:4 but it felt more one-sided than that.

Tsitsi is still learning. It's difficult for a young player to beat the top guys week after week. Nadal was the last player who did it in 2005. He was phenomenal. 

 Slow Court pace offers assistance to certain types of games. Yesterday it suited Nadal way more than Tsitsi. Tsi said Nadal played pretty much the same as in Madrid, just that this court was much slower and allowed him more time to hit passes. I would agree with that.

Tsitsi will have his chance at RG, and I think he will be more ready than he was in Madrid/Rome ( facing Djoko or Nadal ).

Good luck, Nole!

Uh oh.  This is bad.  Rafa playing well and Djokovic not so much.  Depressing.

I am waiting for Nole to wake up.

Double bagel anyone?

Rafa looks the best I have seen him this year - better even than yesterday.

But Nole looks oddly listless.  Does not move well at all.  Many times he has been way out of position when hitting the ball.

If you watched Djokovic vs Delpo and Diego, this was always going to happen.

Don't know why he's regressed to this.

Looking through Nole's matches it looks like the last time he was bageled was in the final set of his 2017 RG loss to Thiem.

AceofDeath wrote:If you watched Djokovic vs Delpo and Diego, this was always going to happen.

Don't know why he's regressed to this.

Yeah, I remember you saying this yesterday.  That had me a little concerned but I thought Nole would somehow be back to top form today.

No double bagel. Yay!!!!

summerblues wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:If you watched Djokovic vs Delpo and Diego, this was always going to happen.

Don't know why he's regressed to this.

Yeah, I remember you saying this yesterday.  That had me a little concerned but I thought Nole would somehow be back to top form today.

The schedule hasn't helped. Djokovic finishes after midnight 2 times and Dull got his matches done nice and early.

I just won my match and started watching Nole.
You can tell the difference, can’t you?


I D E M O  M A J S T O R E E E E E E !  !  !

Jahu must have enjoyed the first set.

Djokovic once again showcases his volleying and OH skills in this game.

Good hold.  Nole is quite improved this set.  Not playing great, but certainly better than 1st set.  This last game should have never really gone to 0-40 either if Nole had not made a couple of blunders.

If Nadal struggles to beat this version of Djokovic (tired from 2 late 3 setters) then he has no chance against the refreshed version that'll show up at RG.

Despite Djokovic losing easily so far, I can see him beating Nadal fairly easily at RG.

Another overhead beauty from the world #1.

LOL Djokovic demonstrating his trademark overhead again. The misses seem to be getting easier and easier. If I were Nadal I would just lob every ball up as high as possible.

The most well rounded player of all time indeed!

Seriously pisses me off that this one dimensional player has 4 W titles.

Really want Rafa to win this. Otherwise Screech is virtually guaranteed to overtake Fed for most weeks at number one.

In any case RG is gonna be between these two. Thiem cannot compete against either when they're playing close to their top level. He barely beat a geriatric Federer who hadn't played on clay for three years!

Emancipator wrote:If Nadal struggles to beat this version of Djokovic (tired from 2 late 3 setters) then he has no chance against the refreshed version that'll show up at RG.

Agree.  Rafa playing at or near his best, Nole still well below his best in this second set, and yet they look about even now.

Of course according to the Tenez theory of tennis evolution Thiem would thrash Federer '06. It must then follow that these two are playing at a much higher standard than 10 years ago - despite the obvious contradictory evidence on display. Their recent matches (apart from the W semi final) have been v low quality.

summerblues wrote:

Emancipator wrote:If Nadal struggles to beat this version of Djokovic (tired from 2 late 3 setters) then he has no chance against the refreshed version that'll show up at RG.

Agree.  Rafa playing at or near his best, Nole still well below his best in this second set, and yet they look about even now.

Bloody hell looks like Rafa could still lose this. And Nole has been rubbish.

Yay! Idemo! Majstore!

And therein lies Rafa's problem. He comes out firing on all cylinders, playing vs tired (or out-of-form? or hungover?) Nole and yet they are a set apiece now.

Nadal is toothless against Djokovic. Screech has the answer to all of the questions Rafa poses. If Nadal wins this it's only because of the absurd scheduling.

summerblues wrote:Yay!  Idemo! Majstore!

Going forward I would start supporting Nadal if I were you. There is no one to stop Djokovic accumulating all the records over the next 2 years.

Come on Rafa, beat the shit out of himmm

At least he found the court with this overhead.

come on Rafa!

LOL Screech going mental. Hopefully Rafa can now take it from here. In any case from what we've seen today, Djokovic will be the clear favourite if these 2 meet at RG

At least someone knows how to hit an overhead.

summerblues wrote:At least someone knows how to hit an overhead

Quite. Even the one Screech got in play he still lost the point.

Emancipator wrote:Going forward I would start supporting Nadal if I were you. There is no one to stop Djokovic accumulating all the records over the next 2 years.

Two problems with that:

1.  I still think Rafa is a bigger threat.  I heard that thing about Djokovic sweeping everything three years ago, and since then both he and Fed won three more slams.  Fed may not win anything anymore, but Nole is not 29 anymore either.

2.  When all is said and done, I do not hate Nole's game.  I find it a bit dull, but that is about it.  Whereas I find Rafa's game outright repulsive.  So I suspect I will find myself rooting for Nole against him no matter what.

Emancipator wrote:Of course according to the Tenez theory of tennis evolution Thiem would thrash Federer '06. It must then follow that these two are playing at a much higher standard than 10 years ago - despite the obvious contradictory evidence on display. Their recent matches (apart from the W semi final) have been v low quality.

Tenez' s theory told you that at 30 a committed player has not declined.... And you can see it again today like last week or for the last 10 years.

That last point was a lovely display of Nole's skills at the net.

Not a good result and all kinds of reasons to worry about RG.  I still expect that Nole will win if they meet there, so not all hope is lost.

summerblues wrote:Not a good result and all kinds of reasons to worry about RG.  I still expect that Nole will win if they meet there, so not all hope is lost.

Do you hate Federer? Want him to lose all his records? Clearly.

Much better tennis from Rafa this week. French Open tough to call, draw could be important.