2015 Monte Carlo Masters Semifinal: Djokovic v. Nadal

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8_OTySFhkA[/video]

 

[herios]

You see him on the court, it is reasonable to expect deeper shots from him, I mean look at the guy.
But no, Novak slaughtered him. And why did some posters say this is positive?
IMO this is very negative, showing once more that he simply can't beat Novak currently. It almost makes you think their past matches were flukes. Jesus :nono

What kinda thinking is this? It's like reading a strange language. You've watched tennis the last year, yeah? You might have missed a wedgie-shaped hole for a large part of it. Don't worry about Rafa, he's been here before, and we know he'll do the hard work to get back up. Will he make it? We'll see, but today was a positive for him...

Some things are not in Rafa's control though. His speed will never come back where it used to be back a few years ago.

 

[Mile]

You see him on the court, it is reasonable to expect deeper shots from him, I mean look at the guy.
But no, Novak slaughtered him. And why did some posters say this is positive?
IMO this is very negative, showing once more that he simply can't beat Novak currently. It almost makes you think their past matches were flukes. Jesus :nono

What kinda thinking is this? It's like reading a strange language. You've watched tennis the last year, yeah? You might have missed a wedgie-shaped hole for a large part of it. Don't worry about Rafa, he's been here before, and we know he'll do the hard work to get back up. Will he make it? We'll see, but today was a positive for him...

Some things are not in Rafa's control though. His speed will never come back where it used to be back a few years ago.

But Rafa did cover a lot of distance and catch potential winners. Just serve is like that on Wimbledon 2 years ago. And stamina is not there yet. On other hand, i have notice big part of drop shots by Nadal yesterday, and Djoker get them almost all. Nadals game is made 2 meters from baseline, shot while you can, till some make mistake, and he needs that stamina back if he want to win RG. At the momment Djoker has energy edge.

One more important stuff - weather was wise to Djoker today. Sun at RG could do him.

 

[Denis]

What kinda thinking is this? It's like reading a strange language. You've watched tennis the last year, yeah? You might have missed a wedgie-shaped hole for a large part of it. Don't worry about Rafa, he's been here before, and we know he'll do the hard work to get back up. Will he make it? We'll see, but today was a positive for him...

Some things are not in Rafa's control though. His speed will never come back where it used to be back a few years ago.

But Rafa did cover a lot of distance and catch potential winners. Just serve is like that on Wimbledon 2 years ago. And stamina is not there yet. On other hand, i have notice big part of drop shots by Nadal yesterday, and Djoker get them almost all. Nadals game is made 2 meters from baseline, shot while you can, till some make mistake, and he needs that stamina back if he want to win RG. At the momment Djoker has energy edge.

One more important stuff - weather was wise to Djoker today. Sun at RG could do him.

You're putting it down to stamina? You got to be kidding me. Djokovic was killing the ball today, while Nadal was playing fetch, slicing and looping the ball back. Novak was hitting the ball an average 20 km harder on the forehand side, God knows how much it was on the backhand side.

 

[Federberg]

This wasn't a surprise. We couldn't realistically expect Rafa to be competitive against Novak today. Because of the nature of their games it was always going to look closer than I felt it was. Apart from the first few games I never really felt that Rafa had a shot at winning the match. I did feel it was more important for Novak to win this one, but I was still appalled at how comfortable it was for him. This wasn't like 2011, that always felt like Novak had climbed the mountain and was matching and bettering Rafa. This time it felt like deep down in his belly Novak now knows he's a better player than Rafa

 

[Carol]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

 

[Denis]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

:cover

 

[Carol]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

:cover

:sleepy:

 

[herios]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

Yeah , cause the 2 coaches do the trick. uzzled

 

[BratSrbin]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

Just mentally? No1e outplayed Nadal in all aspects of the game, it is the truth.

 

[Carol]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

Yeah , cause the 2 coaches do the trick. uzzled

I suposse they are a good help or maybe Novak hired Boris for another reason? :snicker

 

[Carol]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

Just mentally? No1e outplayed Nadal in all aspects of the game, it is the truth.

At the present yes but due to the lack of confidence and bad run that Rafa is going through, if not you should ask Berdych, Verdasco, and other players who are beaten him and they never could do it before, it's not just all about Novak :dodgy:

 

[BratSrbin]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

Just mentally? No1e outplayed Nadal in all aspects of the game, it is the truth.

At the present yes but due to the lack of confidence and bad run that Rafa is going through, if not you should ask Berdych, Verdasco, and other players who are beaten him and they never could do it before, it's not just all about Novak :dodgy:

You mentioned initially "only mentally", am I right?

 

[Mile]

Novak right now with his two coaches on his back and due to the circunstances he is just mentally stronger than Rafa, that's all

No, good point. I told back then, Becker is more to morale boost than true experience. He gave him higher ground. Djoker simply needed some "star" in the box. A VIP.

 

[herios]

I hope Novak focusses on winning tomorrow and then focusses 100% on RG. Madrid and Rome should be treated as training.

During that training period, I hope he makes sure to defeat Rafa at least once more, to keep his confidence at the same level

 

[Federberg]

I hope Novak focusses on winning tomorrow and then focusses 100% on RG. Madrid and Rome should be treated as training.

During that training period, I hope he makes sure to defeat Rafa at least once more, to keep his confidence at the same level

At this point, I think the onus is on Rafa to prove that he can compete against Novak.

 

[Kieran]

I hope Novak focusses on winning tomorrow and then focusses 100% on RG. Madrid and Rome should be treated as training.

During that training period, I hope he makes sure to defeat Rafa at least once more, to keep his confidence at the same level

Exactly. I can see the wisdom in Denis thinking, but remember 2013? Similar win as today, then Rafa built up a head of steam. Remember 2011? Had he faced Rafa in the final, he's got all the swagger and juice of them victories. Imagine if Nole beat Rafa in Madrid and Rome too, would be a huge setback morally for Rafa.

By the way, just to be honest, I actually like Nole, I think he's great for the game, and if he won in Paris I wouldn't begrudge him. I compare him easily to Federer and Rafa in this era, he's a great player and a character for our sport, he works his socks off, addresses his weaknesses and makes himself as great as he can be. I applaud the guy, and I'm looking forward to how he faces this huge challenge ahead, cos let's face it, beating Rafa in an RG final is like ascending Everest with no oxygen...

 

[Puppet Master]

You see him on the court, it is reasonable to expect deeper shots from him, I mean look at the guy.
But no, Novak slaughtered him. And why did some posters say this is positive?
IMO this is very negative, showing once more that he simply can't beat Novak currently. It almost makes you think their past matches were flukes. Jesus :nono

What kinda thinking is this? It's like reading a strange language. You've watched tennis the last year, yeah? You might have missed a wedgie-shaped hole for a large part of it. Don't worry about Rafa, he's been here before, and we know he'll do the hard work to get back up. Will he make it? We'll see, but today was a positive for him...

I will be blunt about it Kieran, the same stories almost every season, and the guy is not getting any younger, I am not buying it until I see him lifting trophies. What Djokovic did to him, was basically what Fed did to a Roddick back in the day. I just can't watch his matches anymore, too stressful, even when he wins.

 

[Kieran]

Happens to the best of them. Time and tide, etc...

 

[Billie]

Honestly when I read some of the posts it's like people think that robots play this game and not human beings. And that playing tennis at this level is very easy.:nono

Tennis skills are very important, but mental state of a tennis player cannot be underestimated. Rafa didn't play that badly today and he seems to be getting better with each match. Nole on the other hand has all the confidence in the world when he plays any match. Hopefully he stays healthy (this is the first year since 2011 when he missed MC tournament) that he is playing without any injuries in MC. Hopefully he paces himself nicely during the clay season and stays healthy. Good luck to Nole tomorrow!:heart: