2014 Aussie Open QF: Nadal vs. Dimitrov

[brokenshoelace]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Rafa had looked brilliant against Monfils - very much the #1 ranked player.
Nishikori was not quite the same, but still solid (and very strong play from his opponent).

Rafa has struggled with Dimitrov in the past (esp. with his serve). The first set made sense - Rafa starts out slow, Grigor serves like a wizard and Rafa cannot regain his ground.

From the second set on, it was clear that something was wrong. Grigor was fading, but Rafa was fading just as fast. I am not a fan of the ESPN crew, but Brad Gilbert was spot on when he said he had never seen Rafa play this poorly.

But winning ugly is still better than losing.

Unless they find some new skin rather quickly, it's going to be a big problem. 48 hours is not really enough time to get a blister like that to heal.

Unless they can find some solution, Roger will make mincemeat of Rafa's serve and the match will be over in under 2 hours.

Uncle Toni stated today that the blister is drying up and they hope to play with the bandage. :clap

With or without?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The last time Rafa had blister problem, he lost the match. At that time the problem was
on foot though and not on palm. It was in 2008 Rome Masters against Mosquito.


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Nadal loses to Ferrero in Rome
Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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DiggRedditTumblrPermalink.Rafael Nadal lost on clay for only the second time in 105 matches, falling to Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Nadal was bothered by a blister on his right foot, calling for the trainer late in the second set. The blister started bothering the second-ranked Spaniard after he won the Barcelona Open on Sunday.

"Sunday night when I woke up at 6 in the morning to come here and put my foot down on the floor, I couldn't put it on the floor," Nadal said. "Today when I woke up, I said it was impossible to play. I spoke to the doctor today and yesterday and they put special protection on it and cream, but it was still tough."

Nadal, the three-time defending champion in Rome, had never lost at the Foro Italico. The 23rd-ranked Ferrero won the Rome tournament in 2001.

"Juan Carlos is a very tough opponent, but certainly if you're not 100 percent at a Masters Series event it is very tough," Nadal said. "I congratulate Juan Carlos, but today for sure was not my best tennis."

Nadal also won the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open the past two weeks, but he appeared slightly off his game Wednesday.

 

[the AntiPusher]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Rafa had looked brilliant against Monfils - very much the #1 ranked player.
Nishikori was not quite the same, but still solid (and very strong play from his opponent).

Rafa has struggled with Dimitrov in the past (esp. with his serve). The first set made sense - Rafa starts out slow, Grigor serves like a wizard and Rafa cannot regain his ground.

From the second set on, it was clear that something was wrong. Grigor was fading, but Rafa was fading just as fast. I am not a fan of the ESPN crew, but Brad Gilbert was spot on when he said he had never seen Rafa play this poorly.

But winning ugly is still better than losing.

Unless they find some new skin rather quickly, it's going to be a big problem. 48 hours is not really enough time to get a blister like that to heal.

Unless they can find some solution, Roger will make mincemeat of Rafa's serve and the match will be over in under 2 hours.

Uncle Toni stated today that the blister is drying up and they hope to play with the bandage. :clap

With or without?

Sorry, I meant without

 

[britbox]

Post Match Pressers:

Nadal:
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2014-01-22/201401221390382443516.html

Dimitrov:
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2014-01-22/201401221390380794721.html

 

[brokenshoelace]

The last time Rafa had blister problem, he lost the match. At that time the problem was
on foot though and not on palm. It was in 2008 Rome Masters against Mosquito.


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


Nadal loses to Ferrero in Rome
Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Twitter
Linkedin

Sign In to E-Mail
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DiggRedditTumblrPermalink.Rafael Nadal lost on clay for only the second time in 105 matches, falling to Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Nadal was bothered by a blister on his right foot, calling for the trainer late in the second set. The blister started bothering the second-ranked Spaniard after he won the Barcelona Open on Sunday.

"Sunday night when I woke up at 6 in the morning to come here and put my foot down on the floor, I couldn't put it on the floor," Nadal said. "Today when I woke up, I said it was impossible to play. I spoke to the doctor today and yesterday and they put special protection on it and cream, but it was still tough."

Nadal, the three-time defending champion in Rome, had never lost at the Foro Italico. The 23rd-ranked Ferrero won the Rome tournament in 2001.

"Juan Carlos is a very tough opponent, but certainly if you're not 100 percent at a Masters Series event it is very tough," Nadal said. "I congratulate Juan Carlos, but today for sure was not my best tennis."

Nadal also won the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open the past two weeks, but he appeared slightly off his game Wednesday.

Yeah I remember that match actually. It cost Nadal a lot of ranking points (he was the champion the previous year, and lost in the second round) and Novak got very close to overtaking him for second place. They played an epic match in Hamburg to determine who will be seeded second coming into the FO.

That said, that wasn't the last time Nadal had blister problems. He's had them throughout the last few years too (I don't recall the exact matches), but they weren't as costly.

 

[imjimmy]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Rafa had looked brilliant against Monfils - very much the #1 ranked player.
Nishikori was not quite the same, but still solid (and very strong play from his opponent).

Rafa has struggled with Dimitrov in the past (esp. with his serve). The first set made sense - Rafa starts out slow, Grigor serves like a wizard and Rafa cannot regain his ground.

From the second set on, it was clear that something was wrong. Grigor was fading, but Rafa was fading just as fast. I am not a fan of the ESPN crew, but Brad Gilbert was spot on when he said he had never seen Rafa play this poorly.

But winning ugly is still better than losing.

Unless they find some new skin rather quickly, it's going to be a big problem. 48 hours is not really enough time to get a blister like that to heal.

Unless they can find some solution, Roger will make mincemeat of Rafa's serve and the match will be over in under 2 hours.

Uncle Toni stated today that the blister is drying up and they hope to play with the bandage. :clap

With or without?

If Nadal plays without a tape it will be a mistake IMO. Given how bad the blister looks, playing without tape would guarantee that he cannot even play the final (assuming he somehow wins).

Honestly I'm not sure how he is even playing with a huge covering all across his palm. It causes a totally different feel of the racquet. Another complication for Nadal is the huge grip change he has between his backhand and forehand (given his western grip). How does he quickly change grips when his palm is taped? It's hard to feel all the indentations of the handle and do it correctly. In any case, it seemed to me that was what was happening when he was missing sitters against Dimitrov. He sometimes made the harder shots, but missed the easy ones.

Finally, the serve is probably the biggest problem. He said he has no feel on the racquet while serving. That figures since his average speed went down by 15 mph between Round 4 and QF. That's a huge difference. It's lucky that it was Dimitrov. Any other top player (especially Novak/Murray) would likely have broken him several times each set. His double faults were sometimes not even in the service box or the serves hit the lower part of the net. I haven't ever seen him serving like this.

I guess the best strategy for Nadal would be to somehow play with the tape in practice and try his best to get used to it. Quite frankly, I don't think he can beat a top player with his WTA serves and missing easy forehands that he would make in his sleep. For all the discussion about this match, if Nadal plays like he did against Dimitrov, Fed might run away with this in straight sets.

 

[the AntiPusher]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Rafa had looked brilliant against Monfils - very much the #1 ranked player.
Nishikori was not quite the same, but still solid (and very strong play from his opponent).

Rafa has struggled with Dimitrov in the past (esp. with his serve). The first set made sense - Rafa starts out slow, Grigor serves like a wizard and Rafa cannot regain his ground.

From the second set on, it was clear that something was wrong. Grigor was fading, but Rafa was fading just as fast. I am not a fan of the ESPN crew, but Brad Gilbert was spot on when he said he had never seen Rafa play this poorly.

But winning ugly is still better than losing.

Unless they find some new skin rather quickly, it's going to be a big problem. 48 hours is not really enough time to get a blister like that to heal.

Unless they can find some solution, Roger will make mincemeat of Rafa's serve and the match will be over in under 2 hours.

Uncle Toni stated today that the blister is drying up and they hope to play with the bandage. :clap

With or without?

If Nadal plays without a tape it will be a mistake IMO. Given how bad the blister looks, playing without tape would guarantee that he cannot even play the final (assuming he somehow wins).

Honestly I'm not sure how he is even playing with a huge covering all across his palm. It causes a totally different feel of the racquet. Another complication for Nadal is the huge grip change he has between his backhand and forehand (given his western grip). How does he quickly change grips when his palm is taped? It's hard to feel all the indentations of the handle and do it correctly. In any case, it seemed to me that was what was happening when he was missing sitters against Dimitrov. He sometimes made the harder shots, but missed the easy ones.

Finally, the serve is probably the biggest problem. He said he has no feel on the racquet while serving. That figures since his average speed went down by 15 mph between Round 4 and QF. That's a huge difference. It's lucky that it was Dimitrov. Any other top player (especially Novak/Murray) would likely have broken him several times each set. His double faults were sometimes not even in the service box or the serves hit the lower part of the net. I haven't ever seen him serving like this.

I guess the best strategy for Nadal would be to somehow play with the tape in practice and try his best to get used to it. Quite frankly, I don't think he can beat a top player with his WTA serves and missing easy forehands that he would make in his sleep. For all the discussion about this match, if Nadal plays like he did against Dimitrov, Fed might run away with this in straight sets.

http://www.nadalnews.com/2014/01/22/ao-thursday-practice-photos-3/

 

[Moxie]

^I didn't see you had posted these photos, which are better than the one I put up on the Fedal thread.

 

[the AntiPusher]

^I didn't see you had posted these photos, which are better than the one I put up on the Fedal thread.

Yeah, this site really focused on his hand for the duration of thst practice session