2014 Aussie Open QF: Nadal vs. Dimitrov

[brokenshoelace]

Is Rafa balding or does he just have thin hair?

Balding for sure.

Nadal's hair was much thicker. Yeah, he's balding for sure.

Isn't that kind of stuff genetic...guys? His dad still has a thickish mane.

Baldness can be inherited from the mother's side (in fact, it's mostly the case). So if Nadal's maternal grandfather was bald, he would have inherited it from him.

 

[calitennis127]

The point Dimitrov just won one at 1-1 AD is exactly what I have been calling for Federer to do. Nadal is much better and absorbing flat & wide shots to his backhand side than his forehand side. That's why you have to go at the forehand. You can do a lot of damage to Nadal that way.

 

[brokenshoelace]

That was a silly move by Dimitrov to stand so far out wide on the second serve return. A) He tipped his hand. B) He ensured that anything other than a clean winner for a return meant he was going to fall behind in the rally.

 

[Front242]

Nadal needs his hand bandage retaped. Trainer coming on to fix it. Ok, maybe I misunderstood. Thought he asked for it to be retaped.

 

[DarthFed]

He didn't fall behind in that rally off the return. I thought it was a good play if Rafa doesn't have the guts to go down the middle with it.

 

[brokenshoelace]

He didn't fall behind in that rally off the return. I thought it was a good play if Rafa doesn't have the guts to go down the middle with it.

Yeah, but you don't want to completely stand out wide in order to scream at him that it's what you're going to do. As a result, Nadal gave it a little more width and made it difficult to get much going.

 

[Front242]

Something he shares with Sharapova is his affinity for double faults.

 

[DarthFed]

Grigor isn't bringing the heat anymore, this is an easy break

 

[Front242]

And BH errors like Roger.

 

[Moxie]

Ahhhh….finally, the break.

 

[Front242]

That BH is as bad as Roger's right now.

 

[DarthFed]

Maybe fitness is an issue, he looks gassed after just 2 hours, this will be over in 30 minutes

 

[brokenshoelace]

Dimitrov ultimately has the same problem as Roger when the ball jumps at him on the backhand side. Nadal hit with wicked top spin off that return and the ball just completely kicked up on him. However, unlike Federer, Dimitrov doesn't strike the ball early with his backhand so he had to slice it. The other option would be to adopt a more defensive court position which is equally dangerous. He's doing well but there are tough aspects of this match-up.

 

[Front242]

Maybe fitness is an issue, he looks gassed after just 2 hours, this will be over in 30 minutes

Possible alright. Tore the nads off himself doing the splits too earlier.

 

[DarthFed]

Grigors backhand is weak in every way, I think that's the last thing holding him back from being relevant.

 

[calitennis127]

Well, you can chalk this up as another stamina win for Nadal. Can't compete with the opposition at his peak level, but goes into a lock-down defensive make-everything mode to pull out a tight set, and then from there becomes offensive as the other guy completely loses energy.

It's called outlasting people. Stamina.

 

[DarthFed]

Attackable balls off that wing are being pushed right to Nadals forehand

 

[DarthFed]

Nah Cali, it just shows a very sub par Rafa is still easily better than Dimitrov and nishikori

 

[El Dude]

This match exemplifies both why I can't love Rafa as a player AND why he's so great. The fact that he can hang in there for a couple sets while not playing his best tennis, and then win a match (presumably) simply by outlasting and tiring his opponent, points to both his greatness and the lack of elegant finesse that I value in tennis players.

In other words, he wins a lot of his matches largely through hanging in there and frustrating his opponents so that they self-implode, defeating themselves. I rarely if ever see Roger Federer do the same - he seems to actually beat his opponents.

(this is not a knock on Rafa, btw - I'm very clear to say this is a feature of his greatness, it is just a kind of greatness that I find less aesthetically appealing that Roger's--or Pete Sampras'--kind)

Man, I feel and sound like Cali.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Another similarity between Dimitrov and Federer regarding the Nadal match-up is the return of serve. Nadal really isn't doing much with the serve other than placing it to the backhand side, and yet he can still hit a forehand on the next shot.