BARCELONA - ATP 500 - Apr. 19-27, 2014.

[Riotbeard]

Watching the replay of nadal last set yesterday... That was a pretty chokish double fault.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok0B7_Cal5o[/video]

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Looks like a pretty straight forward win for Kei , just looking at the score but has anyone watched?

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I like Giraldo because he is a shot maker. He is not just waiting for something to happen, he initiates it. There will be some good points in this semi.

 

[Moxie]

^ I didn't see Kei's match. I'm not surprised he beat Gulbis, but I'm surprised by the score.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Giraldo breaks to get the first set. He is just swinging away.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Giraldo gets tight at his first match point and sprays a forehand by a mile...understandable I guess. Niko with a BP to stay alive.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

One more match point...and he's done it! Great job. Niko had no fire today, not even his usual headcase outbursts were present. He feels his job was done yesterday I guess. In a tournament he beat Rafa, he ends up losing points.
All credit to Giraldo. He has a great backhand and an OK forehand. He is not afraid to pull the trigger and he did plenty of times today. Not a classic grinder. I think I like him.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Giraldo finishes it off

 

[Moxie]

Yesterday Almagro beat a guy he'd never beaten before, and today he gets beaten by a guy who'd never beaten HIM. Well, after 11 straight years, Barcelona will not have a Spaniard as its champion.

Giraldo-Nishkori could be entertaining, but I'd put my money on Kei.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

One more match point...and he's done it! Great job. Niko had no fire today, not even his usual headcase outbursts were present. He feels his job was done yesterday I guess. In a tournament he beat Rafa, he ends up losing points.
All credit to Giraldo. He has a great backhand and an OK forehand. He is not afraid to pull the trigger and he did plenty of times today. Not a classic grinder. I think I like him.

Well, people need time to celebrate a win against Rafa and hence they tank the next match.

 

[Fiero425]

One more match point...and he's done it! Great job. Niko had no fire today, not even his usual headcase outbursts were present. He feels his job was done yesterday I guess. In a tournament he beat Rafa, he ends up losing points.
All credit to Giraldo. He has a great backhand and an OK forehand. He is not afraid to pull the trigger and he did plenty of times today. Not a classic grinder. I think I like him.

Well, people need time to celebrate a win against Rafa and hence they tank the next match.

In the old days, that was pretty typical; giant-killer one day and unable to keep the ball in play the next! I still don't know who Ulrich or Schaller came from, but both upset Sampras a couple times back in the 90's; they'd win, then lose right away I guess! :nono uzzled So typical! :lolz: :snigger :laydownlaughing

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ejuITMV7dI[/video]

 

[golds girl]

Yesterday Almagro beat a guy he'd never beaten before, and today he gets beaten by a guy who'd never beaten HIM. Well, after 11 straight years, Barcelona will not have a Spaniard as its champion.

Giraldo-Nishkori could be entertaining, but I'd put my money on Kei.

I do enjoy Giraldo (for a number of reasons :blush but I really like how Nishikori has looked recently. I say Nishikori in 2.

 

[Front242]

One more match point...and he's done it! Great job. Niko had no fire today, not even his usual headcase outbursts were present. He feels his job was done yesterday I guess. In a tournament he beat Rafa, he ends up losing points.
All credit to Giraldo. He has a great backhand and an OK forehand. He is not afraid to pull the trigger and he did plenty of times today. Not a classic grinder. I think I like him.

Well, people need time to celebrate a win against Rafa and hence they tank the next match.

I missed today's matches but was expecting this. So many players out there are like this. Tsonga beat Fed in style at Wimbledon and played terrible next match. Stakhovsky's next match against Melzer was terrible too after playing a blinder against Fed. Tsonga's lone AO final was a far worse performance against Djokovic too than the incredible match against Nadal. Sure, that form was likely to never again be reached but he certainly could've played better in the final. Rosol was poor too after beating Nadal. Some players even end up injuring themselves and being out months. Is Darcis even back yet almost a year later?! I wish players would show more focus after a huge win....it's like having a Ferrari and only being able to drive in 1st gear. Some total donkeys out there.

 

[Fiero425]

One more match point...and he's done it! Great job. Niko had no fire today, not even his usual headcase outbursts were present. He feels his job was done yesterday I guess. In a tournament he beat Rafa, he ends up losing points.
All credit to Giraldo. He has a great backhand and an OK forehand. He is not afraid to pull the trigger and he did plenty of times today. Not a classic grinder. I think I like him.

Well, people need time to celebrate a win against Rafa and hence they tank the next match.

I missed today's matches but was expecting this. So many players out there are like this. Tsonga beat Fed in style at Wimbledon and played terrible next match. Stakhovsky's next match against Melzer was terrible too after playing a blinder against Fed. Tsonga's lone AO final was a far worse performance against Djokovic too than the incredible match against Nadal. Sure, that form was likely to never again be reached but he certainly could've played better in the final. Rosol was poor too after beating Nadal. Some players even end up injuring themselves and being out months. Is Darcis even back yet almost a year later?! I wish players would show more focus after a huge win....it's like having a Ferrari and only being able to drive in 1st gear. Some total donkeys out there.

Well at least they've started upsetting the top players! I've been railing for quite a while how gutless the male tour has been to allow the same 4 or 5 players to take most if not all major titles! Until Stan broke the trend, all Masters belongs to Nadal and Nole! That never happened before and it isn't because they're so great! You just have to wonder about the other players when this happens year in and year out! With it happening so infrequently, they should create a statue or award for the few players who actually have upset Nadal & Nole! :clap :snigger :laydownlaughing :angel:

 

[Front242]

^ Well actually, sorry but the reason that Nadal and Djokovic have won all the masters the last while is because they're so great or if you prefer, much better/greater than the others.

 

[Front242]

^ 'cos if we want to say it's because the others are all chokers you could say that about every good player who has lost in a final or big match since the dawn of time.

 

[Denis]

It is very hard to think that this trend will continue, but... there must a lot of people out there dying to play Nadal right now.

I agree. If it does continue though, I bet every single player in the top 100 is hoping to be in Nadals part of the draw at the French.

If they're mentally challenged, sure.

For now, absolutely. If Nadal loses early in Madrid and Rome, not so much. This is already a historically bad clay season for Nadal, no matter whether he takes everything from here on. That's due to his standards of course.

 

[mrzz]

It is very hard to think that this trend will continue, but... there must a lot of people out there dying to play Nadal right now.

I agree. If it does continue though, I bet every single player in the top 100 is hoping to be in Nadals part of the draw at the French. Great opportunity to make some history. I bet old Roger is among them, finally gets a good opportunity to beat his nemesis. I mean if Ferrer and now even Almagro can beat Nadal, surely the fedster must have a shot? :snigger

That would be no. Match-up issues, headcase issues would prevent this. Even with Rafa in this state, he would be able to break down Fed's BH, run him around, and draw him off court to hit winning forehands all day.

I can definitely envision him losing to Djokovic (of course), and perhaps Wawrinka (if the right set of factors were to converge), but not Roger, especially in a best-of-five set match. (And the last time Roger won one of those, on any surface, was Wimbledon '07 -- seven years ago. Enough said.)

Not sure. It's not that fed doesn't know how to play on clay. I've seen bad beat downs of Ferrer and Almagro in the past too. I think I'd be interested to see a match on clay between them for the first time in a very long time now.

I never wrote, nor implied (that I'm aware of) that Fed can't play on clay. He can. In fact, he's been the second best on that surface over the past decade. Sure, he's lost several clay-court finals to Rafa, yet these meant Roger first had to get through every other round in order to face Nadal. To paraphrase Roger from 4-5 or so years ago: "I don't have a clay problem. I have a Rafa problem." Perfectly put.

Also, you made your post specific to Roland Garros. That's a completely different setting, since it's best-of-five set matches, vs. a Masters, with best-of-three. It's easier to get on top of Rafa in the latter, while, to this day, he has still only lost ONE best-of-five set match on clay. I surprise myself every time I think of that.

Finally, Nadal and Federer played the Rome final just last year, so it hasn't been a "very long time now" -- maybe you tuned out, since it didn't involve Novak.

That's too tempting a discussion not to get into. History and motivation, as pointed above and in other posts, makes it very reasonable to believe that Nadal will be a completely different animal in RG. And I would not be surprised by seeing him regrouping just there, and play his usual absurd-self, or even win looking less than extraordinary, however...

I am sorry, but it is obvious that we'll have true battles at RG, and the outcome is (at least to some extent) up in the air.

Broken_shoelace predicted that Nadal could loose more on clay this season, I guess others saw it too (even I felt the Rio matches a little odd to say the least, but I am having a hard time to follow this season, anyway). So he is entering this month far below his usual average, form and results wise. People might look at his absurd record from previous years and say it does not matter, but I disagree. He overcame it all in the end, I know, but every year he had to fight, some times more, some times less, some times closer to defeat.

Lot of good players out there feeling confident, and,even if they're wrong about that confidence, it helps.

I am sure every Nadal fan does not want him to play Djokovic right now, and would be worried by any in-form top player, in fact.

About Federer, think about all those matches were he came firing at the gates. Think 2011 with him breakinging to serve for the set at 5-2. Right now, with this RF and this RN, a one set lead, even in a best of five, could be something.

All this to say one final thing. Nadal fans should be happy: he has a real chalenge in front of him. On clay, apart from Djokovic lately, it does not happen very often. No one celebrates that much the things you are supposed to win.