ATP Masters 1000: MADRID

Ok, good that Andy broke anyway - or else that missed shot would have been on his mind.

Sweet!

I still don't think that this will last

Dunno what was worse: the botched volley from Murray or that grounded FH from Nadal...

That little hop from Nadal after being broken was funny, though.

No weapon Nadal. He looks so average when someone can cope with his rallying.

Murray has utterly bamboozled Nadal today...playing as safe as possible!
Totally neutralised and numbed Nadal's FH.

4:0, I'm glad I decided to watch

Kimmy's gone all quiet, I hope he's alright...

noleisthebest wrote:Kimmy's gone all quiet, I hope he's alright...

lol I'm doing fine, am not particularly surprised. One of the worst performances of his career.

He gave him that game to keep the "friendship" alive. 6-1 please

Not done yet.

Kim Jong-Un wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Kimmy's gone all quiet, I hope he's alright...

lol I'm doing fine, am not particularly surprised. One of the worst performances of his career.

He's just won a game, cheer up!

Crowd trying to lift Nadal..don't they know they are actually burying him?

One thing about Murray - he is no choker!

A question for doping experts:
Why is Nadal not sweating profusely as he did a few weeks ago?

Rafa needs a few bendovers from Juan Monaco before RG to get him his confidence back

noleisthebest wrote:Crowd trying to lift Nadal..don't they know they are actually burying him?

The crowd has been great, Nadal should apologise to them after the match.

noleisthebest wrote:A question for doping experts:
Why is Nadal not sweating profusely as he did a few weeks ago?

Climate change means Madrid is the new Siberia so he won't get hot enough.

noleisthebest wrote:A question for doping experts:
Why is Nadal not sweating profusely as he did a few weeks ago?

As a doping expert I can confirms it's not as hot at night.

Kim Jong-Un wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:A question for doping experts:
Why is Nadal not sweating profusely as he did a few weeks ago?

As a doping expert I can confirms it's not as hot at night.

29 degrees is pretty hot for 8 pm...

Actually Nadal does have a plan B as we can see now: the super high moonballs...

Yes!!!

Rafito doing his contract post match strip off towel down clause

Wow Black Sabbath and Paranoid Android!!!!

I cannot believe Berdych is now number 4!!!!!


Pos. Player Name Ctry Pts Moved Current Tournament Previous Tournaments Next Pts Max Pts
1 Novak Djokovic SRB 12855 - Roma R32 - 12935 13845
2 Roger Federer SUI 8645 - Roma R32 Lost in Madrid R32 8725 9635
3 Andy Murray GBR 6560 - Madrid F - 6950 6950
4 Tomas Berdych CZE 5060 +3 Roma R32 Lost in Madrid SF 5140 6050
5 Kei Nishikori JPN 5050 - Roma R32 Lost in Madrid SF 5130 6040
6 Milos Raonic CAN 4800 - - Lost in Madrid QF - -
7 Rafael Nadal ESP 4400 -3 Madrid F - 4790 4790
8 David Ferrer ESP 4140 - Roma R32 Lost in Madrid QF 4220 5130
9 Stan Wawrinka SUI 3495 - Roma R32 Lost in Madrid R16 3575 4485
10 Marin Cilic CRO 3325 - Roma R64 Lost in Madrid R32 3360 4315

That was kind of nice and painless.

The good thing about Rafa losing to Andy (as opposed to say Berdych or Fognini) is that this establishes Andy as a potential threat to Rafa at RG.

Rafa would never lose at RG to Fognini, but he just might lose to Andy.

summerblues wrote:That was kind of nice and painless.

The good thing about Rafa losing to Andy (as opposed to say Berdych or Fognini) is that this establishes Andy as a potential threat to Rafa at RG.

Rafa would never lose at RG to Fognini, but he just might lose to Andy.

He might not because Murray will be in Nole's half.

Tenez wrote:Disappointing from Nishi as he started well but quickly lost a step and confidence with it.

But Murray played really well and I do fancy his chances tomorrow. He might even win more convincingly that Djoko but my only concern is his stamina!

You read it here before. Murray has more weight of shots than Djoko and though he can't last as long Murray can hurt more.

noleisthebest wrote:He might not because Murray will be in Nole's  half.

Even then, he might.

So you do not think Nole, Andy, Rafa and Kei will be all in the same half?

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:He might not because Murray will be in Nole's  half.

Even then, he might.

So you do not think Nole, Andy, Rafa and Kei will be all in the same half?

No, just look at Rome draw for a clue.

Imagine if Nadal had Fed's draw in Rome.. He would not be standing here now giving runner-up speech.

Murray was pretty solid mentally too. I believe he managed to save all his BPs.

The 27-year-old, who won his first clay-court title in Munich on Monday, has now secured two in under a week.
"I played a good match," Murray told Sky Sports. "I made very few errors and changed the height of the ball extremely well, which was part of the reason why he was mistiming a few shots.
===================================
Et oui....Nadal victim of his own tactics. Nadal played really well yesterday so there are reasons why he made more UEs today. Murray's BH certainly hurt him....but also Murray's weight of shots.

Yes, the weight of shots definitely played the part.

That, and the fact he didn't panic on a few occasions.
He played very safe tennis but struck the ball extremely hard.
basically as Nole said all the way back in 2006:
"I realised today I don't have to play anything special against Nadal"

And he was so right.

Murray did not play anything special today. Nothing risky. No flashy winners.
No serving and volleying.

It just amazes me how long it took him and the tour to catch up physically.
Because that is the safest and easiest way to beat Nadal.

Yes not to have to play anything special but no panic and cover the ground. It took Nole a few more years to beat Nadal on clay...and has not managed to do it at the French yet!

It's fair to say that Nole underestimated the task that day. Sure nothing special in terms of shot making but really hard work still. Had Murray lost his BPs it could have been a very different story.

There is a physical side to it. Murray and Djoko have it.....the other ones haven't got the fitness to beat Nadal...and it's all about fitness.

Nishi is to me the real wild horse for the FO. Murray played really well to beat him but I am not sure Djoko woudl have had the same weapons to beat him.

Rome should be interesting. I am pretty Murray is going to rest.

Hi T,  it seems you have become Murray's biggest fan on this board   
Good to read, i felt Murray was a bit underappreciated on OTF

Murray played well today, nice compact game with little neutralizing shots.

gallery play wrote:Hi T,  it seems you have become Murray's biggest fan on this board   
Good to read, i felt Murray was a bit underappreciated on OTF

Murray played well today, nice compact game with little neutralizing shots.

I am certainly not a fan of his because he is too "bulky" for my liking ....but I agree his game is great v Nadal.

Have heard or seen of Rublev? Impressive youngster.

Recently I have had more patience for Murray. Taking on board Mauresmo really made me realise how smart he was.

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:Hi T,  it seems you have become Murray's biggest fan on this board   
Good to read, i felt Murray was a bit underappreciated on OTF

Murray played well today, nice compact game with little neutralizing shots.

I am certainly not a fan of his because he is too "bulky" for my liking ....but I agree his game is great v Nadal.

Have heard or seen of Rublev? Impressive youngster.

Not yet, but a DBBH, isn't it?

I will try to look out for him

Yes a DHBH....it's a must nowadays....cause even a genius like Fed doesn't go anywhere noawdays.

Tenez wrote:Yes a DHBH....it's a must nowadays....cause even a genius like Fed doesn't go anywhere noawdays.

True, is there a teaching pro out there telling kids to play SH anyway? I'm sure there isn't

Until the pace conds speed up I don;t think there is any point to.

The way I see Murray, he is trying to play like Nole now, just muscling the ball a lot more.

That's why he can't last long...if he was a bit gutsier - he could.

His 2nd serve is still bad and his shots safe.

His main strength is still his retrieving.

He's always been a dogged competitor, so nothing new there.

He rarely steps into the court.

It's true that Murray needs to muscle the ball more on his FH but his BH and volleys are better.

What Murray can't do is retrieve as well, in particular hurt his opponent from a retrieving position, and certainly does last as long as Murray added too much muscle mass.

I actually think Murray certainly retrieves well, but unlike Nole who is aggressive with his retrieving, Murray generally pushes or slices the ball back and gains time like that rather than get to the ball early with light feet and be able to do more with it like Nole.

So when he does get into position he then hits the ball as hard as he can now which he did not do in the past.

Again volleying is in the domain of theory with Murray, same as Nadal.

He may have better hands but uses them for retrieving rather than attacking.

It's obvious Nole is the ultimate retriever at the moment. But over one set, Murray and Nole are closer than their H2H may suggest.

He may have better hands but uses them for retrieving rather than attacking.

Yep....against the lower ranked players but against the top 10 he is quite aggressive. he certainly has become so.