Australian Open Day 5: Friday, January 23

[MargaretMcAleer]

Seriously Rafa,Sela with 2 BPS

 

[brokenshoelace]

Seems like there's a drop in intensity from Rafa.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Jim Courier please do your homework on Rafa for starters
Rafa will always go down the tee on his serve when he is at 30 all or deuce..he usually dosent serve out wide.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I really worry these drop offs in level Nadal has been having an hour/90 minutes into his matches are going to be a recurring thing this tournament. This has been a fairly easy match physically. I'm hoping it's more of a concentration issue this match, as opposed to the physical issue in his last match.

 

[tented]

Seriously Rafa,Sela with 2 BPS

He sometimes goes on walkabout when he's winning too easily.

 

[TsarMatt]

Federer discussing his loss to Seppi:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3vmrL6C4Ro[/video]

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Seriously Rafa,Sela with 2 BPS

He sometimes goes on walkabout when he's winning too easily.

We can be thankful I guess for small mercies,at least we didnt have to watch that near massacre from last night....

 

[tented]

He has to have made at least 15+ FH errors.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBhT489V6_8[/video]

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJJDTj6EGVk[/video]

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Here we go again Rafa??? love 30....oh wait a good ROS to Sela's feet....15-30

Hell Rafa you should have put that volley away?

15-40 Wake Up Rafa!!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Net Cord was your best friend there Rafa 30-40

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Nadal d Sela 61 60 75

 

[rahulpawar]

That was a really good win for Nadal

 

[tented]

I wonder what Toni is thinking as he watches Rafa go from 6-1, 6-0 to 4-4, 5-5, etc. in the third?

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Rafa with the one finger wave,I would not get that excited Rafa quite frankly....

 

[brokenshoelace]

That competitive third set was partially due to Sela raising his level. We see it all the time where a player plays so poorly for a while that when he raises his level slightly, his opponent isn't quite prepared initially because he hadn't had to do anything special for 2 sets. That's definitely part of it. The other part is Sela started slightly figuring out what he needs to do against Nadal after initially being completely taken aback by Nadal's spin. That's the sort of thing you can't be prepared for unless you play Nadal relatively frequently.

Nadal on the other hand still shows his lack of match-play recently as he's struggling to maintain the same physical and mental intensity throughout, but that was definitely a far better performance than the one he displayed in the second round, although the nature of the match-up facilitated that. The Anderson match will be pretty telling.

 

[Vince Evert]

Congrats Nadal. fashionista, Broken Shoelace and Tented, take a seat. Your drinks will be served shortly.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Rafa said to Jim Courier 'he dosent like to sleep that much,cause he hates losing time'....LOL Rafa!!!!

 

[the AntiPusher]

Sela: 5'9", with a one-handed BH ... this should be a much smoother time for Rafa than the other night. It is odd, though, that he's never played two of the three guys before.

i thought i heard that sela is listed at 5-7 .. really he looks closer to 5-5