ATP Barcelona Sabadell

[tented]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

 

[Kieran]

Will Almagro cause a huge upset tomorrow and win a game? :-/

 

[Moxie]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

Hey, good point! Rafa looked sharp today. So it's an all-Spanish final again.

 

[tented]

Will Almagro cause a huge upset tomorrow and win a game? :-/

Kieran, you're hilarious!

 

[Denis]

Almagro did win two sets in nine encounters, don't count him out just yet for winning a game!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=N409&oId=A479

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

A couple of DTL backhand winners for Magro and I will consider a final well played.

 

[Didi]

This is Rafa's 78th final on the tour. He equals the great Stefan Edberg. Next on the list is Pistol Pete with 88. Very impressive for someone who's not even yet turned 27.

 

[Moxie]

This is Rafa's 78th final on the tour. He equals the great Stefan Edberg. Next on the list is Pistol Pete with 88. Very impressive for someone who's not even yet turned 27.

Nicely spotted stat, Didi.

 

[Denis]

This is Rafa's 78th final on the tour. He equals the great Stefan Edberg. Next on the list is Pistol Pete with 88. Very impressive for someone who's not even yet turned 27.

Very interesting stat. It makes me wonder, why was Edberg comparatively so much better at little tournaments ? He has half the GS and Masters titles Rafa has, but the same amount of finals reached. Is it because things have changed (top players hardly play anything outside Masters and GS, maybe the occasional 500 event)?

 

[Moxie]

This is Rafa's 78th final on the tour. He equals the great Stefan Edberg. Next on the list is Pistol Pete with 88. Very impressive for someone who's not even yet turned 27.

Very interesting stat. It makes me wonder, why was Edberg comparatively so much better at little tournaments ? He has half the GS and Masters titles Rafa has, but the same amount of finals reached. Is it because things have changed (top players hardly play anything outside Masters and GS, maybe the occasional 500 event)?

That's an interesting question. I looked up Edberg, and he was playing for 7 years before the ATP codified the Masters Series into the way we understand it now (1990.) That may have something to do with it.

I also compared Federer's finals by the same age. Roger is 110 total finals, but before he turned 27, he was at 67 finals. Of the 67, he won 50, lost 17. Rafa has won 53, lost 23, with tomorrow pending.

This is how they shake out, before turning 27:

Federer:

GS finals: 12
YEC finals: 3
MS 1000 finals: 17
(Balance in 500s and 250s)

Nadal:

GS finals: 16
YEC finals: 1
MS 1000 finals: 33
Olympic Games: 1
(Balance in 500s and 250s)

Also, if he makes the finals in Madrid and Rome, that's 2 more before he turns 27. (He celebrates his birthday during the French Open, which I always find a little poetic. Ironically, so does Borg.)

 

[Mastoor]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

I would like to congratulate Kieran on Nadal making every final since his return.

 

[Moxie]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

I would like to congratulate Kieran on Nadal making every final since his return.

LOL!

 

[Billie]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

I would like to congratulate Kieran on Nadal making every final since his return.

Hihi...funny...and this is Rafa just getting back to his form. Imagine what will happen when he is in top form.

 

[Moxie]

A bagel for Milos. Ouch!

Congrats to Rafa on making every final since his return!

I would like to congratulate Kieran on Nadal making every final since his return.

Hihi...funny...and this is Rafa just getting back to his form. Imagine what will happen when he is in top form.

Good one, Billie!

 

[ClayDeath]

clay warrior still has work to do. a lot of work to do.

beating milos is on red clay is not much of an assignment.

 

[Front242]

They should just cancel the final and give Nadal the trophy already and save Almagro the embarrassment of another loss.

 

[Billie]

I am thinking that Almagro is fresh and that he will win more than 3-4 games per set.

 

[ClayDeath]

nico is going to do better than milos.

also clay warrior seems to have a problem in the finals: he has lost 13 of them since the end of 2010.

I would not be surprised to see nico steal 1 set anyway.

 

[Billie]

How many of those finals he lost to Nole and how many to other players? And how many finals has Rafa won in the same period of time? It would be an interesting statistic.

 

[Didi]

They should just cancel the final and give Nadal the trophy already and save Almagro the embarrassment of another loss.

In the past they haven't canceled matches of Federer playing Wawrinka, Davydenko, Soderling, Ferrer and Roddick, so why start now? Those 5 brave souls have a staggering combined record of 7-83 vs. Fed. In all seriousness, apart from Djokovic and Federer, there is nobody with more than a snowball's chance in hell vs. Nadal on Clay, so we might as well give him bye rounds after bye rounds till he faces these two.