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

[Riotbeard]

Oh please, oh please, Davydenko, win your opening match!

Good luck with that! These days, seems the only person that Davydenko can beat is himselph. Also getting the pheeling that the head-to-head bothers you a bit ?

Oh, come on…it bothers other people, since it's the only notable one v. Nadal. Kieran was tweaking the tail of GSM, who was hoping Davy could keep it up.

Even if it happens, it won't mean a lick, as davy won the rivalry when both were in their primes...

 

[Moxie]

Oh please, oh please, Davydenko, win your opening match!

Good luck with that! These days, seems the only person that Davydenko can beat is himselph. Also getting the pheeling that the head-to-head bothers you a bit ?

Oh, come on…it bothers other people, since it's the only notable one v. Nadal. Kieran was tweaking the tail of GSM, who was hoping Davy could keep it up.

Even if it happens, it won't mean a lick, as davy won the rivalry when both were in their primes...

Good one! As they're both late(r) career now, it's just stats. Davydenko should forever have the laurel for getting the better of Rafa in his prime, when no one else could. It was HCs, but Nicolai could take the ball so early and neutralize Rafa's strengths, when no one was doing it.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Oh please, oh please, Davydenko, win your opening match!

I don't mind if Davy wins the opening match and protect his legacy too.

If Davy wins that first match, then sorry, I think he's going down, and then there'll be who? has a winning H2H with Rafa? Pat Rafter, or somebody who beat him when he was three?

All of Davy wins against Rafa were on hard courts. Davy has not even come close
to beating Rafa, let alone actually beating, on clay. Other than Davy, for the rest of
the folks with winning record against Rafa, the sample size in terms of number of
matches played between them is too small for the H2H to be of any significance.

Actually he's come very close to beating him on clay and I cited this as one of the best matches in best of 3 format in recent years. Rome 2007. Nadal won 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-4. That's a close match!

Unfortunately, I don't recall that match (most probably because I did not watch it).

However, I did not mean to give an impression that Davy was a slouch on clay.
Actually, he is one of the few contemporary players who have 10 clay titles. I just
had the impression that despite that he could not make an impact on Clay against
Rafa.

 

[Moxie]

^It's almost cute how much folks are pawing over the potential Nadal-Davydenko match-up. That clay one from 7 years ago is interestingly dredged up. But if Rafa's form doesn't pick up, there might be something in it. :-/:nono

 

[Moxie]

More interestingly, there's some young Spanish talent on display tomorrow in the first matches. Carballes Baena, Carreno Busta and Bautista Agut are up 1-2-3 on Pista Central tomorrow. Everyone's looking at Djokovic (or, as of yesterday, Wawrinka) to beat Nadal eventually at RG, but it may very well be the "player to be named later." You might be advised to watch these guys.

 

[tented]

More interestingly, there's some young Spanish talent on display tomorrow in the first matches. Carballes Baena, Carreno Busta and Bautista Agut are up 1-2-3 on Pista Central tomorrow. Everyone's looking at Djokovic (or, as of yesterday, Wawrinka) to beat Nadal eventually at RG, but it may very well be the "player to be named later." You might be advised to watch these guys.

And don't forget Dominic Thiem, who's playing Stepanek.

 

[Moxie]

More interestingly, there's some young Spanish talent on display tomorrow in the first matches. Carballes Baena, Carreno Busta and Bautista Agut are up 1-2-3 on Pista Central tomorrow. Everyone's looking at Djokovic (or, as of yesterday, Wawrinka) to beat Nadal eventually at RG, but it may very well be the "player to be named later." You might be advised to watch these guys.

And don't forget Dominic Thiem, who's playing Stepanek.

And beat him! My youngsters didn't all do so well. Bautista Agut won, but he's pretty established. And the fantastically named wild card, Iñigo Cervantes, ranked 824 won his match against Nedovyskov (or whatever #72 from Kaz.)

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etJJbS4-n-Q[/video]

 

[herios]

More interestingly, there's some young Spanish talent on display tomorrow in the first matches. Carballes Baena, Carreno Busta and Bautista Agut are up 1-2-3 on Pista Central tomorrow. Everyone's looking at Djokovic (or, as of yesterday, Wawrinka) to beat Nadal eventually at RG, but it may very well be the "player to be named later." You might be advised to watch these guys.

And don't forget Dominic Thiem, who's playing Stepanek.

And beat him! My youngsters didn't all do so well. Bautista Agut won, but he's pretty established. And the fantastically named wild card, Iñigo Cervantes, ranked 824 won his match against Nedovyskov (or whatever #72 from Kaz.)

Both Thiem and Vesely who plays in Bucharest will be quite fine players. They are the youngest ones in the top 100, the lone 20y olds and taking already scalps of midpack top 100 players in the 40-60 range.
They are too young and with too little experience at this point to know how they will develop but I bet both will be rock solid players on Tour for years to come.
About the rest you mentioned being youngsters, yes, Agut is not exactly young and as you said he is well established.
Agut is actually 26, he is one of those guys who in his mid twenties is moving to the next level.
Now, PCB and RCB (Busta and Baena respectively) lost today.
Baena to a veteran, Gimeno-Traver, who is a typical clay courter and Busta to Andrey Kuznetsov. This is a bit disappointing, but on another hand I had have high expectations from Kuznetsov as well, who is a young Russian, former RG junior champion and he has been disappointing in the last 2 years or so.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

More interestingly, there's some young Spanish talent on display tomorrow in the first matches. Carballes Baena, Carreno Busta and Bautista Agut are up 1-2-3 on Pista Central tomorrow. Everyone's looking at Djokovic (or, as of yesterday, Wawrinka) to beat Nadal eventually at RG, but it may very well be the "player to be named later." You might be advised to watch these guys.

And don't forget Dominic Thiem, who's playing Stepanek.

And beat him! My youngsters didn't all do so well. Bautista Agut won, but he's pretty established. And the fantastically named wild card, Iñigo Cervantes, ranked 824 won his match against Nedovyskov (or whatever #72 from Kaz.)

Good for Thiem...also one wonders if Cervantes' attacking style is anything close to , say, Don Quixote attacking windmills?:snigger

 

[Moxie]

^ Good one, Murat! Or even Cervantes, himself, who was a war hero, before taking up the pen (as mightier than the sword, perhaps?) :

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

thiem is massive isn't he ?..about 6ft 6ins which is really tall, almost as tall as someone who is 6ft 7ins.

except an inch shorter than that.

I'm slightly wrong, he's 6ft 1ins (atp tour site), a mix up, somebody is new and massive but ???????????????.

 

[herios]

thiem is massive isn't he ?..about 6ft 6ins which is really tall, almost as tall as someone who is 6ft 7ins.

except an inch shorter than that.

I'm slightly wrong, he's 6ft 1ins (atp tour site), a mix up, somebody is new and massive but ???????????????.

you confused him with Vesely I think, he is 6'6"

 

[isabelle]

Nuts Ernie won

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

..aaand Kolya loses promptly to preserve the unattainable.

 

[herios]

First victory of this season in his only second match for Melzer, against Kukushkin.
Jurgen was out until Monte Carlo with in injury. In MC last week he was beaten by Benneteau.

Paire retires against Golubev, when Andrey was leading 6-4, 5-1! This does not look good for Benoit, must have been serious to retire at that score.

 

[Moxie]

..aaand Kolya loses promptly to preserve the unattainable.

Oh, rats. That's the closest they've come to meeting in about 3 years, I think.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

First victory of this season in his only second match for Melzer, against Kukushkin.
Jurgen was out until Monte Carlo with in injury. In MC last week he was beaten by Benneteau.

Paire retires against Golubev, when Andrey was leading 6-4, 5-1! This does not look good for Benoit, must have been serious to retire at that score.

Unacceptable, unless he had a heart attack. Just go stay on the court, don't even swing, but lose properly and give your opponent the win. It would take 45 seconds.:nono

 

[brokenshoelace]

I'll never forget some guy pulling out against Andy Murray in Dubai in 2009 on match point. I kid you not. Look it up.

EDIT: Holy carp. Upon research, it was Stakhovsky. Yes, THAT Stakhovsky.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I'll never forget some guy pulling out against Andy Murray in Dubai in 2009 on match point. I kid you not. Look it up.

EDIT: Holy carp. Upon research, it was Stakhovsky. Yes, THAT Stakhovsky.

Match point! That is insane:wow: