ATP 500/250: Rotterdam, San Hose, Sao Paolo

Serena takes the second set 6:2.

Over to Sao Paolo and the same score... I am beginning to suspect Nalbandian has sold this match.

Nadal's moonballing is so ugly. How can anybody like his tennis....

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Nadal is really losing his hair on top. Might be just his genetics...or very possibly steroids.....Murray is also losing his fast for a young man.

We know who isn't

No I don't think EPO does that.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Nadal is really losing his hair on top. Might be just his genetics...or very possibly steroids.....Murray is also losing his fast for a young man.

We know who isn't

No I don't think EPO does that.

How are EPO (ab)users going to be affected by 25 sec rule?

Nadal got violation code and immediately walks the umpire to intimidate him.
Sick of him!
Still, Nalbandian manages to break and serving at 3:0.
Back to Serena - Azarenka and some gutsy tennis

We saw a very interesting event here. Nadal getting a time violation...not happy about it but rushes his serve a bit more.....and guess what happens? the 2 easiest UEs on his FH. it's exactly what happens when muscles are starving oxygen!

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Nadal is really losing his hair on top. Might be just his genetics...or very possibly steroids.....Murray is also losing his fast for a young man.

We know who isn't

No I don't think EPO does that.

Hair loss in men is genetic.

Typically but steroids are famously known to make you go bald quick.

It's a terrible match. I have never seen Nalby played so badly and you can see the crowd is getting to him.

Very annoying Nalby plays so sloppy, he's helping Nadal very much in gaining confidence. Nadal will cherish this win and it will make him stronger

Nadal flat on his back in a few minutes

I was so much a fan to have a slam or a big event in South America...but clearly I could not go 2 weeks of 5 sets matchs in such hysteria.

Tenez wrote:Typically but steroids are famously known to make you go bald quick.

I think the rate of hair-loss, the age at which it could start showing up is also genetic and also individual. Steroid might be a cause, but hair loss is no evidence.

I myself have started to lose hair, but leave steroids, I don't even take coffee/tea/alcohol/smoking/ or anything like that.

Nadal apologizes for a mishit that went in...that happened 1235284824 times before so why bother?

Nadal serving for the match. What HZ beat, why can't Nalbandian even come close.

gallery play wrote:Very annoying Nalby plays so sloppy, he's helping Nadal very much in gaining confidence. Nadal will cherish this win and it will make him stronger

Yes it will help Nadal but not his mouvement. I don;t think he can sustain proper tennis...it's been ridiculous teh level of tennis played this week...and even more ridiculous that Nadal could win a tournament playing so poorly but he was clearly help by a crowd who clearly is not aware of the many talents it has on its continent and goes on to support the LA of tennis!.

gallery play wrote:Nadal apologizes for a mishit that went in...that happened 1235284824 times before so why bother?

That's so true!

Azarenka tops Serena in 3.
Reminded me a lot of the last Murray Federer match.

I can't believe it!
Nadal won the 2nd set 6:3 and I left it off when Nalbandian was 3:0 up and serving. Surely this is a fixed match if ever there was one.

Never liked Nalbandian but now he has really gone down in my eyes....

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:Typically but steroids are famously known to make you go bald quick.

I think the rate of hair-loss, the age at which it could start showing up is also genetic and also individual. Steroid might be a cause, but hair loss is no evidence.

I myself have started to lose hair, but leave steroids, I don't even take coffee/tea/alcohol/smoking/ or anything like that.

It's proven steroids helps baldness...however it's not possible to prove which is what when it happens. ...the strange thing is that soon His father will have more hair than him.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:Typically but steroids are famously known to make you go bald quick.

I think the rate of hair-loss, the age at which it could start showing up is also genetic and also individual. Steroid might be a cause, but hair loss is no evidence.

I myself have started to lose hair, but leave steroids, I don't even take coffee/tea/alcohol/smoking/ or anything like that.

It's proven steroids helps baldness...however it's not possible to prove which is what when it happens. ...the strange thing is that soon His father will have more hair than him.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Nadal is really losing his hair on top. Might be just his genetics...or very possibly steroids.....Murray is also losing his fast for a young man.

We know who isn't

No I don't think EPO does that.

Hair loss in men is genetic.

I didn't notice Sebastian was bald.....not sure about the local postman though

The lydians. hawkeyes, socals, amritias can rejoice now. They had a great week. Nadal won his first title after the long break.

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:Very annoying Nalby plays so sloppy, he's helping Nadal very much in gaining confidence. Nadal will cherish this win and it will make him stronger

Yes it will help Nadal but not his mouvement. I don;t think he can sustain proper tennis...it's been ridiculous teh level of tennis played this week...and even more ridiculous that Nadal could win a tournament playing so poorly but he was clearly help by a crowd who clearly is not aware of the many talents it has on its continent and goes on to support the LA of tennis!.

It's ridiculous but not surprising.
I'm not so sure he'll be toothless on European clay, his ugly game still works.

Can Tommy win today in San jose?

Nadal is scheduled to play in Mexico next (24th of Feb, same week as Dubai), will have to face Ferrer and Wawrinka & Verdasco there, though.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Can Tommy win today in San jose?

I think he can, but we'll have to wait and see. The match starts at 11 PM UK time. I don't know how his SBH is going to cope with Raonic's serve, that's all

I am for Rao. As much as I like Tommy...I want Rao to gain in confidence cause it's not the Tommys of this world who are going to put those roadrunners on the BBQ!

Anyway, i'm happy for Delpo. Imo he'll be ahead of Federer and Nadal in the ranking sometime this year. The guy is so undisturbed regardless what's coming at him. He played very different players this week but managed to play his own game quite easily. That's a sign of autority.
Watching him live (against Gulbis) was fun too. Even though Gulbis is the more flamboyant player, it was great to see how steady Delpo can play which so little net clearance.

Delpo needs to start beating Novak, Murray and Federer first....they all have the measure of him.

Interesting that Murray is not playing Dubai. So, he'll have a massive break between AO and IW....Any theories?
Still a good field: Djoovic, Federer, Del Potro, Tsonga, Berdych...

gallery play wrote:Anyway, i'm happy for Delpo. Imo he'll be ahead of Federer and Nadal in the ranking sometime this year. The guy is so undisturbed regardless what's coming at him. He played very different players this week but managed to play his own game quite easily. That's a sign of autority.
Watching him live (against Gulbis) was fun too. Even though Gulbis is the more flamboyant player, it was great to see how steady Delpo can play which so little net clearance.

I think that was in my predictions of "the top 5 players thread by RG" thread. However I don't think Delpo will ever beat Djoko consistenty....though I feel Rao and Tomic have the potential.

Delpo has already started to beat Federer..
Djoko is a bad matchup but i reckon he'll beat Murray now and then

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:Anyway, i'm happy for Delpo. Imo he'll be ahead of Federer and Nadal in the ranking sometime this year. The guy is so undisturbed regardless what's coming at him. He played very different players this week but managed to play his own game quite easily. That's a sign of autority.
Watching him live (against Gulbis) was fun too. Even though Gulbis is the more flamboyant player, it was great to see how steady Delpo can play which so little net clearance.

I think that was in my predictions of "the top 5 players thread by RG" thread. However I don't think Delpo will ever beat Djoko consistenty....though I feel Rao and Tomic have the potential.

It was my prediction before he won the USO
Agree bout the Djoko part, the constant speed of Delpo's game is something Djoko really likes

gallery play wrote:It was my prediction before he won the USO

Just behind Cilic! right?

There is a funny piece of information on Nadal's wikipedia page. An asteroid has been named after him. Do you think it's a typo?

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:It was my prediction before he won the USO

Just behind Cilic! right?

I can counterpunch this one...but i won't

One last note about Rotterdam: Richard Krajicek has a good opportunity to become the next chairman of the ATP as the current chairman Brad Drewett has to retire at the end of this year due to ilness. But Krajicek has said he wants to keep his job as tournament director instead. A lot of that has to do with the possibility of Rotterdam becoming a master event. The organizers of Paris Bercy have already said that Rotterdam deserves that status. But it's the question if Paris wants to hand the master slot over to Rotterdam.
I'm all for it!

That's interesting. I remember he was already shortlisted to replace Adam helfant. Why woudl he prefer to be TD than ATP director? strange.

Regarding Rott as TMS sure up for it. Paris is badly timed....but it has been won by many great names....it woudl be sad to replace it. besides I can think of other TMS to be replaced, IW and Miami to start with.

gallery play wrote:One last note about Rotterdam: Richard Krajicek has a good opportunity to become the next chairman of the ATP as the current chairman Brad Drewett has to retire at the end of this year due to ilness. But Krajicek has said he wants to keep his job as tournament director instead. A lot of that has to do with the possibility of Rotterdam becoming a master event. The organizers of Paris Bercy have already said that Rotterdam deserves that status. But it's the question if Paris wants to hand the master slot over to Rotterdam.
I'm all for it!

RG is quite enough for French, I am surely for Master in Rotterdam and keep crossed fingers for you. That would be a great success for Richard as well.

Rao returning very well. Breaks Tommy 2/1 ......therefore wins the first set.

I am having to endure some ultra painful American commentators on tennistv, who are not only blabbing non stop, but are blabbing total rubbish

Haas is looking pathetic...but beginning to get into the match. He's to good a player to go down in straight sets here.

quite a nice match between the aces. I like the pace. high quality actually compared to Nadal/nalby final.

Too much baseline for my liking. Zero flair, except for the occasional BH from Haas.

On top of telling that one and one makes two in every sentence, Yank commentators now reach the new low by comparing Raonic's potential 3rd consecutive win in San Hose to Nadal's 8 titles in Monte Carlo.
I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANY MOOOOOOOOOOORE

I find Raonic too boring. Other than his serve, he is not spectacular. Yes, he can hit big and unlike some other big servers he can play decent, but take away that serve and he is nothing special. I doubt that will be enough against the very best players.

summerblues wrote:I find Raonic too boring. Other than his serve, he is not spectacular. Yes, he can hit big and unlike some other big servers he can play decent, but take away that serve and he is nothing special. I doubt that will be enough against the very best players.

Me, too. Too much power ant not enough flair.

So, the winners this week in:

Rotterdam: Del Potro
Sao Paolo: Nadal
San Hose: Raonic

Raonic has now won four ATP titles - three of them in San Jose. Apparently he has not dropped a set in his three SJ appearances. I am still not sold on him. Let's see how he does over the next few months. We need some of these youngsters to start challenging for the slams properly - like winning them.

noleisthebest wrote:So, the winners this week in:

Rotterdam: Del Potro
Sao Paolo: Nadal
San Hose: Raonic

The young(er) guard beat the old guard. Still, we had a 30+ year old finalist in each three tournaments. Not bad for the old guys.

I don't mind Raonic, but his tennis really leaves me cold. His personality isn't most engaging, either.
Plenty of other players to make up for it, though and good to have a player like him lurk in the draw.