2018 AO Men's QF: Nadal - Cilic

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal not getting a sniff at Cilic's serve.

 

[Moxie]

The danger here for Rafa is if Cilic starts to feel rock solid on serve he'll start to swing freely and force Rafa into an ugly defensive mentality

He needs to go after Cilic to shake his nerve.

 

[brokenshoelace]

The danger here for Rafa is if Cilic starts to feel rock solid on serve he'll start to swing freely and force Rafa into an ugly defensive mentality

Cilic is playing first strike tennis in a way that doesn't give room for defense, and Nadal isn't moving well enough for that anyway. There are almost no rallies, one way or the other, points are short, even if it means unforced errors by Cilic. This is a good strategy actually.

 

[Federberg]

He needs to go after Cilic to shake his nerve.

yes exactly. easier said than done. The guy's a snowflake with a huge game when he's on

 

[Federberg]

Cilic is playing first strike tennis in a way that doesn't give room for defense, and Nadal isn't moving well enough for that anyway. There are almost no rallies, one way or the other, points are short, even if it means unforced errors by Cilic. This is a good strategy actually.

Definitely the right strategy for Cilic. He has to do everything on his terms

 

[Denis]

Rafa fans should not worry, you still believe in the win.

There was only a fools hope left with me after Djokovic did that grunting trick and out of karma lost the second set yesterday.

Rafa will be fine.

 

[Moxie]

By a whisker...that would have been his last challenge.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal has been failing to put away points from dominant positions all tournament.

 

[Federberg]

Big point here. Nothing worse than having a comfortable service game suddenly get to deuce

 

[Federberg]

oh wow...

 

[brokenshoelace]

I have no idea what Nadal is doing with that shot selection.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal getting nothing out of his serve.

 

[Federberg]

It's funny, even if Cilic wins this set, I still don't trust him to close it out

 

[Moxie]

Cilic has trouble when it goes to the middle. Rafa knows that.

 

[Federberg]

You can't just walk into Fedal's hizzy and get stuff willy nilly...

 

[Federberg]

Good hold from Rafa. This next service game is huge for Cilic. It could slip away again.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal dodged a big bullet there. Still with the way this set is going, the best he can hope for is a tie-break, and I really don't see how he wins that given the disparity in serves. You really feel whoever wins this set wins the match.

 

[Moxie]

You can't just walk into Fedal's hizzy and get stuff willy nilly...

That must be British English.

 

[brokenshoelace]

And while the mental aspect should be in Nadal's favor, as long as he's not playing well enough to ask Cilic questions, he won't fail to answer them.

 

[Denis]

It's funny, even if Cilic wins this set, I still don't trust him to close it out

I wouldn’t even trust him if he reaches the press conference