Abierto Mexicani TelCel, Acapulco, Mexico, ATP 500

[herios]

Ah, thanks - AP lets me off the hook! Yeah, I have it imprinted in my brain as clay.

The switch from clay to HC happened in 2014.

 

[herios]

I did not see this Sam win coming.

 

[lacatch]

Carol--You need to watch the 5th set of the AO open again. Roger turned it up and TOOK the 5th set---Rafa didn't fold, despite the fact that he was up 3-1. Roger found another level and Rafa couldn't match it.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I missed the final,though I have taped it, saw the score on my phone,I was at the movies,saw the film Moonlight.Might need a stiff drink to watch the final...

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Congrats to Sam,well deserved victory.

 

[the AntiPusher]

These two defeats will come back to haunt him later on, essentially destroying his confidence.

Loosing a 500 level final to Sam at Rio, I mean Alcapulco...see I forgot already which I know a real pro like Rafa will too. Nah..this loss to Sam isn't that big of a deal..AO will sting but Rafa knows it isn't the end of the world. Every top pro including Fed and Djokovic lost last week ,this will be no difference or confidence destroyer.

 

[Front242]

Monfils didn't push so much early in his career and was more enjoyable to watch. These days he's just :gross:

Gael had his best year last year..he was a pure beast at MC...,however I am done with him afterwards the incident he pulled at the USO vs Novak

Worst I've seen was the 5th set versus Murray at RG. He literally didn't even try and blatantly blasted balls as hard as he could miles wide and lost it 6-0 in about 10 minutes. Wtf was that? And all this after he played very well to win the previous 2 sets. Shameful :nono

 

[Front242]

This surely does not portend well for Rafa, at least for the NA masters of March.

If he has a great clay season, it is possible that he may pick up momentum from there.

I don't think Rafa will win either IW or M.

I think he will look back now at his two loses of the year..both times he was outplayed..simple as that..

And both times he should have won but.....again, I think when he can see any win close he is getting paralyzed like he looked in this match and in the fifth set in the AO, it means he is playing with too much nerves that he should control better. If he would win IW or Miami then it would be a very diferent story

Which 2 should he have won? He was outplayed in both. I watched the highlights and have to say Querrey played some brilliant points, especially in the 2nd set tiebreaker. He won the match, Nadal did not lose it. Wasn't expecting Querrey to win but the aggressive player won, again. The way tennis should be. Anyway, he did better than Novak and Roger this week so it's not all doom and gloom. Reaching a final was a decent result. He's really started pushing the ball way too much though. It was really bad against Nishioka and Querrey wasn't going to let a pusher beat him.

 

[mrzz]

I really think fandom is not letting people see things straight. There is a simple tennis reason behind this result, with precedents set in stone. One player had one weapon the other could not cope with:

The shorts.

 

[herios]

Kyrgios always seems to lose against the big servers.

That is obviouly poiting to a weakness, ROS. He will need to improve that.

Question for you herios..Monfils or Krygrios..are they equally talented or would you pick one over the other..KS fancies Krygrios...I say Gael.. not even close for me

If both play as they could, Monfils.

 

[Carol]

No big deal, Rafa has lost playing more passive vs a player more aggressive and doing 19 aces, same like Roger losing vs Donkey who played also more aggressive, Novak vs Kyrgios and his 25 aces and this one last one losing vs Querrey. Yep, definitely who plays more aggressive is who has more probabilities to win, not doubts about it

 

[Carol]

These two defeats will come back to haunt him later on, essentially destroying his confidence.

Loosing a 500 level final to Sam at Rio, I mean Alcapulco...see I forgot already which I know a real pro like Rafa will too. Nah..this loss to Sam isn't that big of a deal..AO will sting but Rafa knows it isn't the end of the world. Every top pro including Fed and Djokovic lost last week ,this will be no difference or confidence destroyer.

At least he lost against a player who is playing better than ever and not like when he came back of an injury in 2013 when he lost his first two tournaments against "nobody", that was bad though later he won almost everything in HC and clay.

 

[Carol]

I really think fandom is not letting people see things straight. There is a simple tennis reason behind this result, with precedents set in stone. One player had one weapon the other could not cope with:

The shorts.

Rafa did very good shots too but he wasn't aggressive like Querrey and his 19 aces and who is playing his best tennis and that happened with Federer and Novak, their opponents played much better, no science about it but Rafa at least reached the finals

 

[mrzz]

I wrote "the shorts", not the "the shots", Carol, in reference to the 2015 RG final. I was completely baffled when I saw the result this morning...

 

[britbox]

Sam Querrey (U.S.) beat 2-Rafa Nadal (Spain) 6-3 7-6(3)

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

I wrote "the shorts", not the "the shots", Carol, in reference to the 2015 RG final. I was completely baffled when I saw the result this morning...

Looked like Querrey forgot to put his shorts on... parading around in his boxers.

 

[Carol]

I wrote "the shorts", not the "the shots", Carol, in reference to the 2015 RG final. I was completely baffled when I saw the result this morning...

I know you said "the shorts" but my point was why one player won and the other one lost with "shorts" or without

 

[DarthFed]

Shocking result for sure. The way Rafa played vs. Cilic, I couldn't see Sam or even Nick having much of a chance. But it's a reminder that one of the things that goes as these players age is day-to-day consistency. They can be vintage one day and play bad the next.

IW should be interesting. That's definitely "Nole" territory but the way he's been playing it figures to be pretty wide open this year.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

I don't agree that Rafa should have won at AO final. He lost a set 1-6, i.e. the third set. Roger's UE ratio was slightly better. He won 11 more points in the match. It's alright, let's give it to Roger.