Interesting exchange between Patrick and Gilbert on my ESPN feed during the Rafa/Cilic match – which I only got to watch last nite as I’d been on a long weekend getaway.
Paraphrased:
Patrick: “Brad, it’s a cool, crisp night, who do you think it favors?”
Brad:“Oh, Nadal certainly, it’ll affect the depth and power of Cilic’s strokes – especially his powerful backhand.”
Patrick: “Gonna have to disagree, Brad. Rafa’s extreme top-spin, grabs and kicks-up much more in hot weather.”
My thoughts? What a bunch of BS, both from Brad and Cilic. For if we’re to follow their “logic” Rafa would rather play in cool conditions – not only the weather he loves and grew-up playing in, but as Patrick points out, the one that most favors his game. Cilic saying that he wanted the ball to bounce “more” is just ridiculous! That Rafa has adjusted over the years to all kinds of conditions and surfaces is a credit to his hard work, but please, think before you speak – no need for excuses either before or after losing to Nadal. :rolleyes:
You’re being a little overprotective of Nadal, RedFury. Nobody made any excuses for the loss. A slight difference in the humidity does not make the difference between Nadal cruising the way he did and Cilic winning. That said, this isn’t my area of expertise, but I think Patrick was right. When the conditions are more humid, you can get more spin on the ball.
Not trying to be, Marley. Just feel that anyone who has followed Rafa’s career over the years (and you’d think both Brad & Patrick have. It’s their job after all) pretty much knows the break down of his game; like they’d know any of the other top players.
In Nadal’s case I’d point to four determining factors: surface type and speed of same (prefers natural, softer surfaces, better for his joints; fast but not super fast. Too slow and his ball sits rather than jump) resulting bounce (the higher the better it suits him) and air quality i.e. heat-humidity & elevation* (sea level best, hot with some humidity, as thinner air aids hard, flat hitters – ball travels faster in thin air). Throw in ball brand – Slazenger heavier than Penn = takes more spin – and I think it’s not that hard to conclude what the optimal conditions for him to play in, are. Thus my “gripe” about what Brad & Cilic said, they obviously know – or should; it’s not Quantum Physics – all of this. Of course, as I wrote above, over the course of the past two years or so, Rafa’s game has been retooled to the point where he can play at/near his best under any combination of the above – though his one weak point remains fast indoor carpet such as the Paris MS.
*Which is why he didn’t want to play the the '08 Davis Cup Final vs the US in Madrid: Cite.
Murray finally put Dolgopolov away, but the new guy did very well for himself. He hung with Murray for two sets and managed to steal the third one by playing a strong tiebreak. Murray took the match 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3. That’s the first set he’s lost all tournament and I’m sure he would have preferred to get off the court faster since he’s likely to be playing Nadal in the semis, but I don’t think this one went long enough to be a handicap for him. It lasted a little more than three hours.
No big surprises for the women with Clijsters beating Azarenka and Zvonareva beating Kvitova. (So I can’t bother my girlfriend with my 2 Legit to Kvitova pun until the French Open.) I’m still not sure Zvonareva has what it takes even though she’s made three straight major semifinals now. I think Clijsters is going to get her. And it wasn’t a totally bad day for Azarenka since she won her women’s doubles match and is in the finals. I didn’t realize until today that Li is 28, so this is really the best shot she is ever going to get at winning a major. She beat Wozniacki in Australia last year and I like her chances of doing it again. I’m not sure she can beat Clijsters in the final, though. Clijsters always seems to play well enough and she’s been there before.
Max Mirnyi’s team is in the men’s doubles semifinals, and they’re going to play the reunited Bhupathi-Paes team. Mirnyi and Bhupathi were a team for about two years and won the U.S. Open together in 2002. I guess there aren’t any hard feelings because they played at least one tournament together late last year.
Pulled hamstring on left thigh – happened in that extremely long second game, first set on Rafa’s serve.
No excuses though; Ferrer was already playing Davydenko-like, not just counter-punching but being extremely aggressive, so it was always going to be a heck of a fight for Rafa.
That said, and although David is undefeated for the season (10-0 thus far) I don’t see him getting past Murray at all.
Not a lot of people saw that coming. Wow. It’s not impossible Nadal will have another shot at this, but it goes to show you it takes more than a little luck to get all four majors in a row. This does not appear to have been a hardcourt issue. He pulled or tore a hamstring, which happens to a lot of players. His knees didn’t give out on him.
I don’t know if I’d go that far. I’ve always felt Nadal’s style was unsustainable, so even though he has a better head to head record (thanks to clay) I still rank Federer ahead of him historically. 22 semi-finals in a row…
I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with any of that. I agree his game takes a much bigger toll on his body than Federer’s, and I don’t think he could be as close to his peak at 29 as Federer is. But it’s not inconceivable that Nadal could make another run at a Rafa Slam. He’s still 24 (25 in June) and even if his game is still hard on his body, it’s better than it was: he plays more offense, serves way better than he used to, and doesn’t play as many tournaments. I’m not predicting he’s going to win three majors in a row again. But this isn’t necessarily a one-shot deal. Federer twice won three slams in a row and made it to the finals of the fourth. In fact he did it in back to back seasons (2005-06, 2006-07) also starting around his 24th birthday.
What he said. And yes, obviously, at this point in time in their careers, Fed’s not just “historically ahead of him (Rafa)” but very much in the running when the topic of GOAT comes up – sterile as such arguments usually are.
Beyond that, the way I see it, pounding and all, Rafa’s got two to three good/great years left in him. Let’s see what his record looks like then.
Congratulations to Li Na for pulling herself up off the mat and beating Wozniacki in three. They both got nervy at the end, as they’re prone to doing, but Li finished the job. It’s too bad if this is going to bring about more questions about whether or not Wozniacki “deserves” to be number one in the world. It’s a stupid argument as far as I’m concerned. She’s not responsible for the rankings. She’s responsible for showing up and playing, and when she does that, she wins more than anybody else. While she hasn’t won a major, she’s moving in the right direction and she’s only 20. She is a very solid player who and may need a bigger weapon on offense. Meanwhile it’s not like she got embarrassed out there. She lost in the semifinals to a player who is having a great tournament. No, I don’t think she’s better than Serena, Venus, or Clijsters. In fact she’s a combined 0-8 against them. But Serena hasn’t played in six months and barely shows up outside of the slams. I am not sure if I’d take Wozniacki over Venus if Venus is healthy, but she’unfortunately she has not been healthy lately. I don’t think she’s better than Clijsters, but Clijsters is not that concerned with ranking points either. Maybe they do need to revamp the rankings system if the best players don’t care about the points in the first place. But that’s not Wozniacki’s fault. I don’t have any attachment to the system they have. I don’t want to see the WTA (or the ATP) overemphasize the slams in comparison to everything else, though. The slams are the biggest events but the other stuff does matter, too, and treating those tournaments like they don’t matter would be bad for the sport.
With Li in the finals, we’re going to hear more talk about China’s future as a tennis power. We’ll see how that pans out. We heard the same thing about Russia starting in the mid-'90s. Russia churned out a ton of players and there are still plenty of them on tour, but in a major event almost all of them are out by the third round. There are only two or three players of real consequence from that whole generation. Sharapova has won three majors, which is a very good career. Maybe she could have done more if not for injuries. Her game has its limits and I bash her style as much as anybody, but she’s done well. Dementieva also had a very good career. She won an Olympic gold medal and was a very solid player for a long time even though she couldn’t fight through some of her psychological issues to win a major. Kuznetsova isn’t the toughest player from a mental standpoint, but she has game and has won two majors so far. That’s really it. Myskina was the first one of them to win a major (in 2004, in a historically bad French Open final), but never came close to doing it again and was out of the game by the end of 2007. Kournikova is famous for being pretty and not winning.
China’s top players aren’t young in tennis terms. Li is 28, Zie is 27, and Peng (who I really hadn’t heard of before this month) is 25. Maybe it’s just going to take longer to develop a bigger base of players. Regardless it’s good to see additional countries making an impact, and there are certainly more players coming out of Asia these days.
Spoiler alert!!
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Well, whoever put Ferrer v. Djokovic in the finals deserves their money! I don’t know who to root for. It’s awesome for both of them that they made it past the top seeds, especially David. David doesn’t have much time left, but Nole is coming back from such a bad year that I can’t help but root for him, too.
I’m not all that surprised that Li Na beat Wozniacki. If Clijsters is consistently on her game, she’ll win. If she’s not, then Li has a great chance. Once again, it’s hard not to root for both of them.
Oh, crap! How did I forget little Andy Murray? (He’ll always be little Andy Murray to me.) I blame the television coverage, or perhaps my need for sleep because I haven’t been able to see Murray except in highlight clips, so I forget he was still playing.
Gosh, now who to root for to go to the finals – David or Andy?
