2014 Miami Quarterfinal: Nadal vs. Raonic

[Front242]

Ugly or not a win is a win and good for Nadal fans. Rafa will have another go at getting the title here.

 

[tented]

Had the feeling Raonic would take a set (as did Riotbeard, I see), but Rafa got there nevertheless.

Whew!

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

 

[Front242]

Raonic hasn't a hope of beating Nadal with only 55% first serves.

 

[rubydo]

Milos's backhand is his undoing, in many of his matches. That will keep him from really making a challenge against the world's elite. And that is from a Canadian perspective.

 

[Front242]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

You sure about that? I'd say it's a tie at best. He hit some hideous backhands :gross:

 

[Moxie]

Rafa will win this but it's a matter of time before Milos' serve will decide the outcome!

I would say it's Rafa's serve that will decide the outcome.

I wasn't talking about this match, but Rafa's serve is questionable at best, how will it hold? Down the road....

Rafa's serve has been good up until this match, in the tourney. Raonic puts so much pressure on a player's serve, I don't worry about how Nadal's held up. It held up well enough. And he won.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

You sure about that? I'd say it's a tie at best. He hit some hideous backhands :gross:

The serves were pretty!

Raonic hasn't a hope of beating Nadal with only 55% first serves.

That's what I am talking about, at 75% Rafa would be out of luck, even at 65%

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal tidied up his game in the third. Ultimately, Raonic's serve wasn't dominant enough to get a win over Nadal (Nadal's poor returning was keeping things competitive), however, he did play with the a better approach from the baseline compared to his previous outings against Rafa. Messy match overall, though.

Nadal's serving is pretty poor by the way. No placement whatsoever, and well off pace. NO I AM NOT SAYING IT'S THE BACK! I'm just saying, he's serving pretty bad.

 

[Andrew William]

Well done Rafa! He gave his fans a bit of a scare, but snapped out of it and got the job done in the end. I'm just a bit sad. I somehow could not log back in and missed all the jazzy commentary!

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Rafa will win this but it's a matter of time before Milos' serve will decide the outcome!

I would say it's Rafa's serve that will decide the outcome.

I wasn't talking about this match, but Rafa's serve is questionable at best, how will it hold? Down the road....

Rafa's serve has been good up until this match, in the tourney. Raonic puts so much pressure on a player's serve, I don't worry about how Nadal's held up. It held up well enough. And he won.

Rafa is the champ, but Milos and Big John are the future, mark my word, the serve is the kicker here, them two have the best serves in the game.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Rafa will win this but it's a matter of time before Milos' serve will decide the outcome!

I would say it's Rafa's serve that will decide the outcome.

I wasn't talking about this match, but Rafa's serve is questionable at best, how will it hold? Down the road....

Rafa's serve has been good up until this match, in the tourney. Raonic puts so much pressure on a player's serve, I don't worry about how Nadal's held up. It held up well enough. And he won.

Rafa is the champ, but Milos and Big John are the future, mark my word, the serve is the kicker here, them two have the best serves in the game.

Big John as in...Isner? Yeah, he does have one of the best serves in the game (THE best, in fact), but the future? Isner is already 28, with a limited game. Raonic will be a top 10 player for sure, but I don't know about being anything more.

 

[Moxie]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

You sure about that? I'd say it's a tie at best. He hit some hideous backhands :gross:

"Pretty" tennis is the eye of the beholder, as we well know around here. Personally, I would find it difficult to ever describe Raonic's tennis as "pretty," but I thought he had a game plan and tried well to execute it. Also, while he doesn't have but a few dimensions to his game, I thought he made the most of them tonight.

 

[Front242]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

You sure about that? I'd say it's a tie at best. He hit some hideous backhands :gross:

The serves were pretty!

Raonic hasn't a hope of beating Nadal with only 55% first serves.

That's what I am talking about, at 75% Rafa would be out of luck, even at 65%

Yeah, pretty bad! For sure if Raonic serves 75% he probably has a very good shot at winning but I can't recall him serving that high % against top players ever. Against nobodies he probably will.

 

[Moxie]

Rafa will win this but it's a matter of time before Milos' serve will decide the outcome!

I would say it's Rafa's serve that will decide the outcome.

I wasn't talking about this match, but Rafa's serve is questionable at best, how will it hold? Down the road....

Rafa's serve has been good up until this match, in the tourney. Raonic puts so much pressure on a player's serve, I don't worry about how Nadal's held up. It held up well enough. And he won.

Rafa is the champ, but Milos and Big John are the future, mark my word, the serve is the kicker here, them two have the best serves in the game.

If that's even vaguely true, I will abdicate from being a fan of the game. That's why I didn't watch when Sampras was #1.

 

[tented]

Some final stats:

1st Serve %: Rafa = 75%; Raonic = 55%

1st Serve Points Won: Rafa = 47/63 (75%); Raonic = 43/57 (75%)

2nd Serve Points Won: Rafa = 12/21 (57%); Raonic = 18/46 (39%)

Break Points Saved: Rafa = 2/3 (67%); Raonic = 6/9 (67%)

Total Service Points Won: Rafa = 59/84 (70%); Raonic = 61/103 (59%)

Total Return Points Won: Rafa = 42/103 (41%); Raonic = 25/84 (30%)

Total Points Won: Rafa = 101/187 (54%); Raonic = 86/187 (46%)

 

[Front242]

Milos played prettier than Rafa...
What's up with the towel-down after every point, irritating to me and disrespectful!

You sure about that? I'd say it's a tie at best. He hit some hideous backhands :gross:

"Pretty" tennis is the eye of the beholder, as we well know around here. Personally, I would find it difficult to ever describe Raonic's tennis as "pretty," but I thought he had a game plan and tried well to execute it. Also, while he doesn't have but a few dimensions to his game, I thought he made the most of them tonight.

Well, that wasn't pretty to most but I did call it a tie in its ugliness If those backhands were making the most of his dimensions then he has a lot of work to do. I lost count the amount of times his backhands didn't even make it to the middle of the net and landed at the very bottom. Terrible execution and Ljubicic needs to work with him on that shot a lot before he has a shot at beating the big guys. If he's serving 55% and missing tons of backhands, not to mention routine forehands he won't beat Nadal.

 

[Andrew William]

I think Raonic is pigeon-toed. I used to be when I was a kid and had to wear these specially made insoles. Maybe he's not naturally awkward at all. His feet are just a little skewed.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Milos' serve didn't hold up late, what if it did?

 

[tented]

Rafa is the champ, but Milos and Big John are the future, mark my word the serve is the kicker here, them two have the best serves in the game.

If this were true, then the future would be now.