Barcelona Open 2017, Barcelona, Spain, ATP 500

[the AntiPusher]

But not in RG, Wimbledon and USO

Rafa will have to run the table to catch Stan..I doubt it and I don't think it's worth it

Rafa will surely be ranked #4 at least when RG begins. He surely cannot make it into top 2 by that time. It does not matter whether one is ranked 3 or 4. You get the same advantage in draw. So, no need to worry about chasing Stan at this time.

Rafa will need to make the finals of both events if He doesn't win at least one of them to pass Roger..that's ain't gonna be easy

 

[Carol]

Following the tradition for the tenth time

 

[Front242]

Congrats to Rafa. I think it is safe to say that the King of Clay is back. I imagine it is going to be very tempting to want to go for the clay sweep, and play both Madrid and Rome.

Pretty sure he will when he knows Novak and Andy are mere shadows of their former selves, Nishikori is injured and Stan is just poop outside slams. Easy points. I'd do the same. Shouldn't impact his fitness much for RG given all of the above which is the main thing.

And here we go......bah!

Here we go what? There's nothing wrong with what I said at all. Calm down. If it's easy points, go for it is all I said. You'd find something wrong with anything :nono

 

[mightyjeditribble]

But not in RG, Wimbledon and USO

Rafa will have to run the table to catch Stan..I doubt it and I don't think it's worth it

I would be enough happy if Rafa gets his RG 10, it would be extraordinary. Then I would give Wimbledon to Roger to see his fans happy and quiet :snicker

I'd happily take that deal ...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Carol]

Following the tradition for the tenth time

https://mobile.twitter.com/fermurciego/status/858718158512848897

 

[Front242]

Imagine this may be the last year that Rafa considers playing all the clay events since he'll be pushing 32 this time next year. Who knows though.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

Rafa will have to run the table to catch Stan..I doubt it and I don't think it's worth it

I would be enough happy if Rafa gets his RG 10, it would be extraordinary. Then I would give Wimbledon to Roger to see his fans happy and quiet :snicker

Roger has enough Wimbledon titles, he needs to learn how to share.

Haha I take it the same applies to Rafa & RG of course ...

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[Frode789]

I hope rafa will meet some more competition during the last clay masters events.. Wawrinka, djoker, murray wake up.

 

[Carol]

Pretty sure he will when he knows Novak and Andy are mere shadows of their former selves, Nishikori is injured and Stan is just poop outside slams. Easy points. I'd do the same. Shouldn't impact his fitness much for RG given all of the above which is the main thing.

And here we go......bah!

Here we go what? There's nothing wrong with what I said at all. Calm down. If it's easy points, go for it is all I said. You'd find something wrong with anything :nono

Listen Front, I'm very happy with these last results and also celebrating so I don't want to go through any debate and remind you how bad Novak, Muzz, Stan, Nishi and Rafa (he was not playing great at all) were playing in the AO, IW and Miami (where three of them didn't play because were injured)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Following the tradition for the tenth time

LOL! Rafa forgot to take off his socks when he jumped into the pool

 

[Front242]

And here we go......bah!

Here we go what? There's nothing wrong with what I said at all. Calm down. If it's easy points, go for it is all I said. You'd find something wrong with anything :nono

Listen Front, I'm very happy with these last results and also celebrating so I don't want to go through any debate and remind you how bad Novak, Muzz, Stan, Nishi and Rafa (he was not playing great at all) were playing in the AO, IW and Miami (where three of them didn't play because were injured)

Rafa has been playing very well all year. The others haven't. I'm not arguing or debating anything I think the first set Thiem played today was likely better than anything Andy or Novak would have played in their present form.

 

[herios]

I see Pouille won a clay title today too.

There was a thread opened for that event as well, but the moderators did not consider it important :nono

 

[Front242]

I see Pouille won a clay title today too.

There was a thread opened for that event as well, but the moderators did not consider it important :nono

I saw it lol. Just noticed no one was posting there and mostly wanted to inform a few people here who don't rate Pouille at all, that he won a title, on clay no less. Staying at number 14 though, no movement with today's win.

 

[El Dude]

I see Pouille won a clay title today too.

There was a thread opened for that event as well, but the moderators did not consider it important :nono

Yes, after three hours of closed-room deliberations, we decided that it wasn't important enough to sticky.

Or it could be that it wasn't so calculating, and it just slipped our minds.

 

[herios]

I see Pouille won a clay title today too.

There was a thread opened for that event as well, but the moderators did not consider it important :nono

I saw it lol. Just noticed no one was posting there and mostly wanted to inform a few people here who don't rate Pouille at all, that he won a title, on clay no less. Staying at number 14 though, no movement with today's win.

Holding his own in the top 15 is already an accomplishment. Some were predicting he would fall back this year. It does not seems likely to me. he just had a less stellar start to the season nursing an injury. Now he is playing really well.

 

[Busted]

Imagine this may be the last year that Rafa considers playing all the clay events since he'll be pushing 32 this time next year. Who knows though.

Age aside, it's where he gets the bulk of his points, so why would he skip them? uzzled He can always skip the grass court events before Wimbledon or Miami before the clay season. If he runs the tables this year, then I would think he'd have to have a stranglehold on #1 next year before he'd skip one - especially a Masters - and give up the points.

 

[Busted]

I hope rafa will meet some more competition during the last clay masters events.. Wawrinka, djoker, murray wake up.

I would think the only one who could beat him would be Djokovic. Stan, as we know, has his head firmly up his butt unless it's a Slam. I can't see him repeating at the US Open, so he'd better get his crap together and try to win a Masters event before those 2,000 points come off at the end of August. Otherwise he's going to plunge from #3 to 9 or 10 in a heartbeat.

 

[Busted]

I am really surprised Roger is entering RG..I thought he wouldn't have anything on his radar but the grass. I guess he knows his body .

He can always pull out if he's not into it after practicing on the clay. As he said in the Tennis Channel interview - he doesn't want to be at tournaments just because people want him there. He wants to be enthusiastic about it. Forget those hefty appearance fees. He's got plenty of money. :lolz:

 

[Busted]

Congrats to Rafa. I think it is safe to say that the King of Clay is back. I imagine it is going to be very tempting to want to go for the clay sweep, and play both Madrid and Rome.

Considering he literally has no competition in the finals? It's not really all that surprising, is it? Let's see - #24 Ramos-Vinolas in Monte Carlo...and #8 Thiem in Barcelona. Neither player has won any major titles - no Slams, no 1000 events - and Thiem only has 1 500 event title and that was on hard courts in Acapulco against that idiot Bernie Tomic. I mean, really...if he hadn't won these 2 titles on clay against these 2 players he might as well go ahead and retire. All he has to do to have easy wins Rome and Madrid is wait for Andy and Novak to lose before the final. All the haters who have crapped on Federer's 3 big titles this year like to point out that he hasn't had to play Murray or Djokovic - well, neither has Nadal. Not that I'm saying it's his fault because you can only play whoever shows up on the other side of the net. But, you have to admit - Roger's 3 wins are more impressive because he had to beat Nadal and Wawrinka. Nadal's wins - on clay - against the world #24 and world #8 - a talented kid who hasn't quite put all the pieces together yet? Not nearly as impressive - or surprising.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I am really surprised Roger is entering RG..I thought he wouldn't have anything on his radar but the grass. I guess he knows his body .

He can always pull out if he's not into it after practicing on the clay. As he said in the Tennis Channel interview - he doesn't want to be at tournaments just because people want him there. He wants to be enthusiastic about it. Forget those hefty appearance fees. He's got plenty of money. :lolz:

Busted ..I absolutely guarantee Roger will do just that.. collect the appearance fees..and say that he is unable to play due to ....