Abierto Mexicani TelCel, Acapulco, Mexico, ATP 500

[herios]

This week belonged to Sam Querrey. He won his biggest title to date of his career, in the most impressive fashion, defeating two top 10 players and a top 16 (Nick) in the process.

 

[masterclass]

Rafa needs to get off the hard courts and back on the clay before his body fails on him again. He hasn't won any hard court title in 31 tournaments played. It has been over 3 years since his last hc title win at the Doha 250 event. I'm not sure why he skipped the clay events in Latin America this year. There are just too many big hitters on hard courts that have a chance to roll past him in best of 3, and even best of 5 has been a problem with 6 tournament losses.

Clay negates the bigger servers and big hitters to an extent and play becomes more tactical. He needs to start winning titles to get on a roll and clay is the place to do it.

Last year, his wrist problems arrived in Miami. He left immediately for Madrid to see his doctor and get repairs. It felt better by Monte Carlo, and he won a couple of titles, but then started struggling again, losing to Murray in Madrid, and Djokovic in Rome, and finally succumbing and pulling out of Roland Garros.

He'll play his friend Ellison's tournament at Indian Wells for sure, but I hope he skips Miami and starts practicing and playing on the clay.
Clay has always been his friend and refuge. But father time is an enemy, especially on the clay surface. It requires supreme fitness to play the game Rafa does. Does he have it in him to Muster up his 10th Roland Garros title (La Decima)? Only time will tell.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[Carol]

Rafa has not done well even on clay which means that it's not just because his injuries but his head/confidence/consistence. He looks stronger now, he played really well in the AO and this "mini MS" Acapulco but if his head would be 100% well I don't think he wouldn't have lost these finals. He made a lot of mistakes, he had more opportunities to break Querrey but he couldn't execute it correctly, he is playing much better than these last year but not enough yet though he is close. Hope to see him more consistent in IW and if he would win this tournament then I wouldn't mind if he skips Miami

 

[masterclass]

I can say it 100 times, Rafa needs to get off the hard courts and back on the clay, but nobody, not even his biggest fans will believe it.
Maybe his record will say something.

Look at Rafa's record in Finals over the years.

Years.............Surface......W - L _____ PCT.

2004-2013: ........All............60-25___ .706
............................Clay..........42-06___ .875
...........................Grass........03-03___ .500
............................Hard.........15-16___ .484

2014-2017: ........All............09-09___ .500
............................Clay..........07-02___ .778
...........................Grass........01-00___1.000
............................Hard.........01-07___ .125


Emphatically,
masterclass

 

[Carol]

His records on clay are outstanding and very dificult to beat and that's why his records on HC and grass don't look to be so good but definitely they are, 2 Wimbledon, 2 USO and 1 AO and multiple MS that not everyone can do, not even players that play better on HC than clay. But obviously his past injuries didn't help him too much but we'll see now what he will do

 

[mrzz]

I see your point, @masterclass, but those guys are competitors. They won´t avoid the competition if there is no immediate risk of injury. I guess this is imprinted in their brains.

They could, however, change their whole approach to scheduling (which I guess is your point), not cherry pick and simply skip tournaments at will. By reaching two finals, Nadal is giving himself opportunities to win them. I bet that´s the way he is looking at his season and I do not see an argument good enough to convince a player to shut this door on himself (rather than "play tomorrow and you will be injured for six months").

 

[masterclass]

Normally, I would entirely agree with this mrzz. But I think it is extra important for Rafa to get in the title winning mode.

His strategy in 2013 was practically perfect. After 7 months off, he skipped the AO, and started his season on the clay in South America. He started winning on clay and simply got on a roll and then it carried over onto the hard courts and he won there as well. His European clay season was fine, winning RG, and then after the hiccup on grass, he even took the US Open series events in a tour-de-force. I don't say skip hard courts entirely, but I think it all starts with clay. for him. He builds up fitness, confidence, and so on. It is obviously far and above his best surface relative to the rest of the tour, and one simply believes he should take advantage of that whenever possible.

Respectfully,
masterclass