2015 French Open QF: Djokovic v. Nadal

[nehmeth]

So is this match today or tomorrow?

Wednesday June 3rd.

 

[Riotbeard]

I picked novak in 3 (did not go back through the thread), not from bravado, but the level of play I have seen from Rafa (I am going to watch the sock match today...) has simply been nothing special. Good enough to beat nobodies handily, but I haven't seen him play the type of tennis he would need to really make it match. Obviously, if he turns it up a gear, it becomes a different conversation, but he would have to find form that I haven't seen since RG '14.

 

[Carol]

So now when Novak loses it's because he has mental lapses or because his opponent is playing better than him and when he wins it's because he is unbeatable or his opponent has played bad or with mental lapses too? :huh:

Yeah, usually the player "playing better" has a tendency to win. Thanks for the clarification.

Exactly, the winner is the one who has played better and has knew how to play the opponent but I don't believe in the "he has lost because he had a mental lapse during the match"

 

[Mile]

No more mental lapses for Djoker, as some players already said, his level this year is insane. He overgrown psysical obstacles, become dad, etc etc...

So lets see what will wednesday bring, will this be Dooms Day in tennis history or not.

 

[Carol]

No more mental lapses for Djoker, as some players already said, his level this year is insane. He overgrown psysical obstacles, become dad, etc etc...

So lets see what will wednesday bring, will this be Dooms Day in tennis history or not.

Why Wednesday would be Dooms Day in tennis history or not? if Rafa would lose it wouldn't be the first time, he lost in 2009 and world continued rotating and later he won 5 more RG :idea:

 

[Front242]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

 

[Carol]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

Yep, I'm sure of that

 

[Fiero425]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

We can only hope Rafa's deal with the devil has expired and we get a new winner after all these years. People have already welcomed the loss of Roger, stating "at least the final will have a new member outside the "BIG 4" for a change." Kei and Stan couldn't be better choices to see play in the bottom half! They at least have clay court wins recently in Europe! Roger was a #2 seed in number only at the FO, holding onto the ranking over the aggregate year, but he's more like #5 or 6 in the race for the YEC! He's not even assured to make it yet! He has a lot of points to defend; esp. making final at Wimbledon last year! He might miss being so close to Rafa in the rankings and start dropping down to commiserate! :ras: :angel: :dodgy:

 

[bajana]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

We can only hope Rafa's deal with the devil has expired and we get a new winner after all these years. People have already welcomed the loss of Roger, stating "at least the final will have a new member outside the "BIG 4" for a change." Kei and Stan couldn't be better choices to see play in the bottom half! They at least have clay court wins recently in Europe! Roger was a #2 seed in number only at the FO, holding onto the ranking over the aggregate year, but he's more like #5 or 6 in the race for the YEC! He's not even assured to make it yet! He has a lot of points to defend; esp. making final at Wimbledon last year! He might miss being so close to Rafa in the rankings and start dropping down to commiserate! :ras: :angel: :dodgy:

wasn't the tournament in Istanbul played on the European side of the Bosphorus? And Nadal has clay court wins in Europe this year? I thought he'd only won in South America?. And oh wait - it's Tsonga on the other half - he's had a "European" clay court win where?

 

[Riotbeard]

Watching Sock-Rafa. This is really low quality stuff...

 

[Garro]

If this were the final I would favor Rafa, though only slightly. But I don't think Rafa can raise his level by enough to win tomorrow. I'm going with Novak in four.

 

[Moxie]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

We can only hope Rafa's deal with the devil has expired and we get a new winner after all these years. People have already welcomed the loss of Roger, stating "at least the final will have a new member outside the "BIG 4" for a change." Kei and Stan couldn't be better choices to see play in the bottom half! They at least have clay court wins recently in Europe! Roger was a #2 seed in number only at the FO, holding onto the ranking over the aggregate year, but he's more like #5 or 6 in the race for the YEC! He's not even assured to make it yet! He has a lot of points to defend; esp. making final at Wimbledon last year! He might miss being so close to Rafa in the rankings and start dropping down to commiserate! :ras: :angel: :dodgy:

I can certainly concede this: everyone who is not a Nadal fan, even likely the casual observer, wants someone else to win this year. (Except my mother, but I put pressure on her.) :angel:

 

[Fiero425]

It'll only be Doomsday if Novak loses :snicker

We can only hope Rafa's deal with the devil has expired and we get a new winner after all these years. People have already welcomed the loss of Roger, stating "at least the final will have a new member outside the "BIG 4" for a change." Kei and Stan couldn't be better choices to see play in the bottom half! They at least have clay court wins recently in Europe! Roger was a #2 seed in number only at the FO, holding onto the ranking over the aggregate year, but he's more like #5 or 6 in the race for the YEC! He's not even assured to make it yet! He has a lot of points to defend; esp. making final at Wimbledon last year! He might miss being so close to Rafa in the rankings and start dropping down to commiserate! :ras: :angel: :dodgy:

I can certainly concede this: everyone who is not a Nadal fan, even likely the casual observer, wants someone else to win this year. (Except my mother, but I put pressure on her.) :angel:

Tournaments and fans alike can be fickle; cheering for you one moment and later trying to sabotage a run made by a player! I still remember how openly hostile fans were when Martina Navratilova was winning everything in the mid 80's! She had to withstand cheering her mistakes, jeering if she questioned any calls, and sites not giving her the best court assignments! To this day, I still think Wimbledon tried to make sure they had a competitive final keeping McEnroe in the tournament when he was "out of control" in an early round match where any other player would have been disqualified! I think everyone may have been tired with Borg winning 5 in a row and was looking for someone to take him out in '81! :snicker :laydownlaughing - When were they supposed to stop catering to the great one after 9 titles? At least they didn't manipulate the seedings for Rafa, so maybe they're ready for another champion as well! :angel: :dodgy:

 

[rahulpawar]

The only good thing for Nadal to face Novak early is that if he wins its almost guaranteed he will win the whole thing. The confidence problems that Nadal has been having this season would not be there anymore.

 

[Moxie]

The only good thing for Nadal to face Novak early is that if he wins its almost guaranteed he will win the whole thing. The confidence problems that Nadal has been having this season would not be there anymore.

I'm not completely convinced, though a win over Nole would surely be a big confidence booster. But Murray and Wawrinka, should that be the path, have had strong wins over Nadal this season, and I think they'd both still be a hurdle.

 

[Fiero425]

The only good thing for Nadal to face Novak early is that if he wins its almost guaranteed he will win the whole thing. The confidence problems that Nadal has been having this season would not be there anymore.

I'm not completely convinced, though a win over Nole would surely be a big confidence booster. But Murray and Wawrinka, should that be the path, have had strong wins over Nadal this season, and I think they'd both still be a hurdle.

It's one thing to overcome Nole, Andy, and JWT/Kei as the #1 player in the world, but Rafa's got to have some kind of crisis of confidence! I think it would be "reaching," even with his OWNERSHIP of this tourney after 9 titles to continue this run! I felt the same about Roger! He was seeded #2 and made the QF, had a gift draw, but I still think he was lucky! He had hurdles to overcame, but as I've always said, gutless play of the "also-rans" give "The Big 4" so much cover! Roger's ranking is being artificially held up and is more like #5 or 6 in the YEC race! :nono :angel: :dodgy:

 

[rahulpawar]

The only good thing for Nadal to face Novak early is that if he wins its almost guaranteed he will win the whole thing. The confidence problems that Nadal has been having this season would not be there anymore.

I'm not completely convinced, though a win over Nole would surely be a big confidence booster. But Murray and Wawrinka, should that be the path, have had strong wins over Nadal this season, and I think they'd both still be a hurdle.

They would be a minor hurdle for sure but Nadal's play is so much based on confidence and intensity which he generally is able to bring for big matches. This season, he has lacked that so much. Once he defeats Novak his confidence would be back ( Actually to defeat novak in first place he is going to require that intensity ) and its Roland Garros finally, he is no way going to lose to Murray or Wawrinka here.

 

[Moxie]

The only good thing for Nadal to face Novak early is that if he wins its almost guaranteed he will win the whole thing. The confidence problems that Nadal has been having this season would not be there anymore.

I'm not completely convinced, though a win over Nole would surely be a big confidence booster. But Murray and Wawrinka, should that be the path, have had strong wins over Nadal this season, and I think they'd both still be a hurdle.

They would be a minor hurdle for sure but Nadal's play is so much based on confidence and intensity which he generally is able to bring for big matches. This season, he has lacked that so much. Once he defeats Novak his confidence would be back ( Actually to defeat novak in first place he is going to require that intensity ) and its Roland Garros finally, he is no way going to lose to Murray or Wawrinka here.

Believe me, I'm with you. Just trying to retain a modicum of sang-froid until it all comes about.

 

[rahulpawar]

I'm not completely convinced, though a win over Nole would surely be a big confidence booster. But Murray and Wawrinka, should that be the path, have had strong wins over Nadal this season, and I think they'd both still be a hurdle.

They would be a minor hurdle for sure but Nadal's play is so much based on confidence and intensity which he generally is able to bring for big matches. This season, he has lacked that so much. Once he defeats Novak his confidence would be back ( Actually to defeat novak in first place he is going to require that intensity ) and its Roland Garros finally, he is no way going to lose to Murray or Wawrinka here.

Believe me, I'm with you. Just trying to retain a modicum of sang-froid until it all comes about.

I know you are with me. There's just a few of us here...I know them well even if I am not a regular part of our crew

 

[Moxie]

They would be a minor hurdle for sure but Nadal's play is so much based on confidence and intensity which he generally is able to bring for big matches. This season, he has lacked that so much. Once he defeats Novak his confidence would be back ( Actually to defeat novak in first place he is going to require that intensity ) and its Roland Garros finally, he is no way going to lose to Murray or Wawrinka here.

Believe me, I'm with you. Just trying to retain a modicum of sang-froid until it all comes about.

I know you are with me. There's just a few of us here...I know them well even if I am not a regular part of our crew

You're welcome aboard, rahulpawar, to what some like to think of as a sinking ship. We'll show them, eh?