The Wimbledon 2012 Eve : Lull Before The Storm

.

I am hoping for Federer to meet Djokovic this time around- so that we can at least see one grass court match at Wimby between them.

.

noleisthebest wrote:I would love the two to meet in the final.

I second that

.

I do not believe in Federer's chance at all this year. I expect in fact him to lose before the 1/4 for the time in 10 years or so.

.

noleisthebest wrote:Being a Federer fan, how likely do you think that's going to happen?

No chance as they will probably meet in the semi final
If they are on course to meet in the final it would mean Federer has to play Nadal in the semi final and Djokovic gets Murray
I rate Federers chances against Nadal as very very slim,especially looking at Nadals current form coming off clay,so that probably still rules a Federer/Djokovic final out
I was disappointed with Federer losing to Haas in Halle,Im starting to wonder if grass has become his weakest surface

.

It's all about movement for Fed.. Something is still amiss imo. I happened to stumple on that I still had the Federer/Murray Dubai final on dvr and rewatched it, then compared to Federer/Youzny at Halle (which was a great Federer performace too) Fed's movement in the Murray match was vastly superior- explosive to a short ball, lateraly getting to balls down the line..... even though he dominated the Halle match- he was a split second off..... I'm guessing the hip is still bothering him even though he says he's fit. IT may be that Nadal/Djokovic were blessed to get knocked out of Madrid early, as that surface may have really screwed Federer over.

The strangest thing is Federer is losing matches you'd expect him to win and then is wining matches you'd expect him to lose so maybe you're right,perhaps he could pull off an upset if he were to met Nadal in the semi final
Federer can definitely beat Nadal,he has the game to do it,like you said its all mental
I agree that these warm up events are by no means a forgone conclusion to whats in store at majors,its just that Fed hasnt looked himself the past few weeks,after seeing him lose to Haas,cant say Im not worried

.

.

.

noleisthebest wrote:Why?

Yuo know why. He can't play his game at the moment. You don't lose to a 34yo in straight sets after being a break up. Exactly what happened v Djoko at teh FO he starts just about ok but then can't sustain it. He is just playing for the crowd but with no hope to win....unlike the 26 previous times!

.

That has been gone for a long time now, at least when he's playing Nole.

---------------------------

But he was unbreakable from USO 11 to Madrid...at least IW.

.

But even in that FO11 AND USO 11 (the last time they played before the FO12), Djoko had trouble breaking Fed. He had to wait for Fed to tire to get a chance to break him in that USO11.

.

noleisthebest wrote:TBH Tenez, I haven't watched much of Fed recently, the last I saw of him was his match against Nole at RG, and I paid more attention to Nole than Fed.
What I noticed was that his serve is not a weapon as it used to be.
Remeber the days where it was almost impossible to break him. That has been gone for a long time now, at least when he's playing Nole.

Fed blew that match,so many opportunities especially in the second set.It definitely was one of those "he is in serious decline" matches
Perhaps he was still struggling with a hip injury,but that doesnt excuse as you said,how easy it was for Novak to break him
It should have been another classic like last year,but it seems Novak really has his number now

By the way did you hear how Novaks father was complaining about the amount of on court coaching Nadal was getting in the final
I cant post the link cause new members cant post links for the first 7 days but if you want the link perhaps I can sent it to you via pm?

Yep Noles father outed Toni for using hand signals to Nadal to direct his serve. Sad stuff.

I've seen the signals from Toni during Tv coverage before and our Serb friend witnessed it live.. Just amazing ATP allows it.

Veejay wrote:I cant post the link to it cause new member cant post line for the first 7 days but if you want the link perhaps I can sent it to you via pm?

That's probably something I coudl fix!...when I have a bit of time.

Well yes, NITB, NOle is the best returner out there but As Veejay suggest there is something clearly wrong with him since Madrid. I think as Gallery play said, it's probably his back. I thought it was the groin but it's more and more likely it's the back.

Hence his serving was very poor...plus the balls were awfully slow in FO..but were decent in Halle so no excuse there...except for his back....I guess.

.

.

TimRuffin wrote:Yep Noles father outed Toni for using hand signals to Nadal to direct his serve. Sad stuff.

I've seen the signals from Toni during Tv coverage before and our Serb friend witnessed it live.. Just amazing ATP allows it.

I guess this is exactly that Naldbandians outburst was all about at Queens,the inconsistencies and double standards with regards to how the ATP enfaces its rules.
What David did was an instant default,no doubt about that,but its so hypocritical how they enforce one rule and then over look how someone else gets coached from the stands,something that usually has a direct impact on the outcome of a match

Someone else on 606 was saying that if one of the top players had accidentally done the same thing David did,the backlash wouldn't have been as big
What do you think?

.

Someone else on 606 was saying that if one of the top players had accidentally done the same thing David did,the backlash wouldn't have been as big
What do you think?

--------------------------------

Indeed. The popularity of a player is detrimental in the way TOs and the ITF handle him/her.

Serena was never quite popular with the US crowd.

But in fact we can see in tennis forums how Nadal fans get completely fanatic and never accept any criticism of their player (bar the exception) and imagine if you have to handle 10000 of them live in a stadium! That the reason why Nadal gets away with so much rule bending.

Tenez wrote:But in fact we can see in tennis forums how Nadal fans get completely fanatic and never accept any criticism of their player (bar the exception) and imagine if you have to handle 10000 of them live in a stadium! That the reason why Nadal gets away with so much rule bending.

Actually I think the tide is turning,perhaps not with the fanatical females who drool over him but more and more professionals in the sport and other tennis experts are becoming aware of his tactics and voicing their dislike there of,he's become quite unpopular in the last few months,in comparison to how loved he once was

.

Veejay wrote:Actually I think the tide is turning,perhaps not with the fanatical females who drool over him but more and more professionals in the sport and other tennis experts are becoming aware of his tactics and voicing their dislike there of,he's become quite unpopular in the last few months.

I thought the same not so long ago but the reason for the voicing from all sides was that Nadal was not winning anymore and we don't like to listen to a whinging loser. But if he keeps winning again, all those who criticised him will change their tune to praise the "great man" cause that's what will sell then.

I am afraid we will have to wait for Nadal's real sliding down the ranking to read the journaists kicking him down while on floor.

Tenez wrote:But in fact we can see in tennis forums how Nadal fans get completely fanatic and never accept any criticism of their player (bar the exception) and imagine if you have to handle 10000 of them live in a stadium! That the reason why Nadal gets away with so much rule bending.

The fact is it's about money-- I've seen countless Nadals fans have two reactions to what they admit is the rule breaking "I don't care, I still like him" "I don't care, other players do it to, your just picking on him" so the people that pay their good money to the tournaments, sponsors, etc don't care, hence why would the ATP come down on someone and alienate that fan base. American baseball is the perfect example.. EVERYONE knew the players were juiced, but the powers turned their heads to it becaue they were getting record attendance, ratings,etc........... Then the fans started to backlash, mostly becasue some of the jerkier players who weren't liked by the fanbase started to break records, and suddenly the fans rose up and demanded change.. Sure enough-- suddenly there are hearings, the commissioner crying before Congress and the rules were enforced.

If tournaments started to see backlash to Nadal or whoevers cheating, the ATP would be all over him in a second... but the huge fan base is happy for him to collect titles at any cost, and other players go along with it to some extent becasue they want to keep the golden goose laying eggs too.

Tenez wrote:

Veejay wrote:Actually I think the tide is turning,perhaps not with the fanatical females who drool over him but more and more professionals in the sport and other tennis experts are becoming aware of his tactics and voicing their dislike there of,he's become quite unpopular in the last few months.

I thought the same not so long ago but the reason for the voicing from all sides was that Nadal was not winning anymore and we don't like to listen to a whinging loser. But if he keeps winning again, all those who criticised him will change their tune to praise the "great man" cause that's what will sell then.

I am afraid we will have to wait for Nadal's real sliding down the ranking to read the journaists kicking him down while on floor.

Very true Tenez but I do think certain events like the whole player council scandal,the ultimatum about the surf clay,and of course the French skits among other things did some serious damage to Nadals reputation
Its been really well publicised,so even the most casual tennis viewer would know of the above

Fed is practicing at Wimby today with Raonic!! Tricky Fed -- leaving nothing to chance on knowing the youngsters game.

Yes I think we all agree and Ruffin's money point supports that as well.

It's going to be a boring forum if we all are in synch!

We need a few rafa fans here!

Veejay wrote:

Tenez wrote:

Veejay wrote:Actually I think the tide is turning,perhaps not with the fanatical females who drool over him but more and more professionals in the sport and other tennis experts are becoming aware of his tactics and voicing their dislike there of,he's become quite unpopular in the last few months.

I thought the same not so long ago but the reason for the voicing from all sides was that Nadal was not winning anymore and we don't like to listen to a whinging loser. But if he keeps winning again, all those who criticised him will change their tune to praise the "great man" cause that's what will sell then.

I am afraid we will have to wait for Nadal's real sliding down the ranking to read the journaists kicking him down while on floor.

Very true Tenez but I do think certain events like the whole player council scandal,the ultimatum about the surf clay,and of course the French skits among other things did some serious damage to Nadals reputation
Its been really well publicised,so even the most casual tennis viewer would know of the above

Certainly here in the USA-- after the Australian onward- the US commentators like Gilbert were turning on Nadal. They were showing Toni sending signals to Nadal during matches, Gilbert talking about how Nadal was strange to make a big deal about the racquet weight change, his Feb "break", etc........ Once clay started though-- suddenly he was the golden boy again. Everyone loves a winner.

I thought Rao would be a real danger on grass but frankly his display last week at Halle was poor. A bit like most tall players, he has not got that vital dexterity that is so required in the middle grass court.

Sure he coudl certainly blast his way to most players but even a not too fit Federer showed much more versatility.

Looking fwrd to the draw actually. I want as many banana skins as possible for Nadal.

Tenez wrote:I thought Rao would be a real danger on grass but frankly his display last week at Halle was poor. A bit like most tall players, he has not got that vital dexterity that is so required in the middle grass court.

Sure he coudl certainly blast his way to most players but even a not too fit Federer showed much more versatility.

Looking fwrd to the draw actually. I want as many banana skins as possible for Nadal.

I agree- in a 3 setter- Raonic can serve his way to tiebreaks and anything can happen, but the 1st wobble, a player like Fed will jump all over it and break. The longer the match, the more the versalitily of a Fed and limitations of Raonics game will appear. So in a 5 setter- it's hard for me to see him knocking off the very elite as they have more time to figure him out, for his level to drop,etc. I would be shocked if he took out one of the top 3 in a best of 5. A couple of years from now-- he can, but he's not ready yet.

I think he was most impressive in Madrid on blue clay as teh conds suited him best probably. The slower surface gave him the time to adjust his shots better while the slippery surface made it very hard for Federer to run down Rao's powerful shots so his shots looked very impressive there. But on grass the lower bounce simply was too much for him.

But I woudl not write him off in the first week of Wimby when conds are pretty fast.

.

.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Yes I think we all agree and Ruffin's money point supports that as well.

It's going to be a boring forum if we all are in synch!

We need a few rafa fans here!

you know where to get those

You mean they know where to get us!

.

I actually enjoyed Nadal's 6 years despite all the frustration that went along. I agree we could do without his fans. Though imagining their frustration at Nadal's losses or constant doping suspicions was fun.

.

.

I wonder how serious they played. Do they have a price money attached to wins?

.