CANADIAN MASTERS 2013 MONTREAL 2-11 August

[Kieran]

I dk, this guy is already Safin crazy but without the talent. He is almost more than Raw

That's right. Sometimes I think the guy has a brain as large as a pea. He could do with some court smarts because he ain't goin' nowhere like that, no matter how much his shots improve. He slams wildly when a little nous would help him. You can say that's just him being young, or "raw", but trust me on this, the ingredients aren't there.

Raw vegetable never became tough meat...

 

[sid]

Jerzy is still way too raw to compete with the best players. Making some ground but a long way to go.

Jerzy might be raw,but i think he plays a drop shot as good as anyone.

His drop shot is excellent but he uses it way too often. Once he gets a respectable backhand and improves the shot selection he will be deadly.

Jerzy drop shots had Nadal flat footed in the first set @ times.I've seen him do it Murray as well.Backhand does need work.

 

[Kieran]

The first set was won when Rafa chased down a dropshot...

 

[DarthFed]

Jerzy is still way too raw to compete with the best players. Making some ground but a long way to go.

I dk, this guy is already Safin crazy but without the talent. He is almost more than Raw

He has plenty of talent just in firepower alone and he moves very well for a guy that size. The mind and shot selection need to come around...

 

[Moxie]

Definitely JJ didn't serve his best at all. Too few first serves in. But Rafa was pressuring the 2nd, which is where all those DFs came from. Great win for Rafa, though.

 

[DarthFed]

Doesn't look like there's anything left to stop a 1 vs 4 semi...

There have been plenty of surprises this year. I wonder how badly Rafa wants that match to happen in an MS. One guarantee is that it will be a hell of a workout for his knees and the second part of it is that he likely will be slapped with an L.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Jerzy is still way too raw to compete with the best players. Making some ground but a long way to go.

I dk, this guy is already Safin crazy but without the talent. He is almost more than Raw

He has plenty of talent just in firepower alone and he moves very well for a guy that size. The mind and shot selection need to come around...

Agreed

 

[Kieran]

There have been plenty of surprises this year. I wonder how badly Rafa wants that match to happen in an MS. One guarantee is that it will be a hell of a workout for his knees and the second part of it is that he likely will be slapped with an L.

I'd say he wants it really badly. He's skipping Cinci. An opportunity to knock Nole off again would be too good a one to miss. By the way, I think Rafa looks very good this week...

 

[the AntiPusher]

Doesn't look like there's anything left to stop a 1 vs 4 semi...

There have been plenty of surprises this year. I wonder how badly Rafa wants that match to happen in an MS. One guarantee is that it will be a hell of a workout for his knees and the second part of it is that he likely will be slapped with an L.

Lets not beat around the bush, if Rafa plays the world's number 1, there will be Pain afterwards

 

[Riotbeard]

The first set was won when Rafa chased down a dropshot...

True but Rafa won like 2 of 12 drop shot points that set. Jerzy gave away that set over four or five points key points in the last game and during the breaker, you can hardly point to any single moment. His biggest problem was his first serve percentage.

I also disagree that he goes for too much generally speaking. I think he has figured out the truth that Isner and Raonic seem unwilling to accept: that they are never going to win by trying to hang tough in rallies with guys like rafa. They have to go for their shots, and not give rafa a rhythm. Today JJ groundstrokes were solid (not amazing) but his serve wasn't there. If he served better the first set, he takes that set for sure in my opinion, and maybe the match. He put too much pressure on his second serve. 49% first serve is too low, and that is why he had 9 double faults.

I thought it was surprisingly close given how poorly JJ served.

 

[Kieran]

they are never going to win by trying to hang tough in rallies with guys like rafa. They have to go for their shots, and not give rafa a rhythm.

That's how JJ kept it close, but it's also the difficulty for top players playing a guy like JJ.

A difficulty for JJ is that top guys like Nadal are very patient, like crocodiles in the tall grass. Playing that dropper on set point? I think it was a sign of immaturity, to say the best for it. But to give JJ credit, he's game and gutsy, which I always like.

By the way, did anyone else cringe when Leif Shiras referred to him as "J-squared" on Sky Sports... :nono :s

 

[calitennis127]

Vintage Nadal win....hardly anything special except consistency and constancy. Janowicz choked away both sets, but they were on his racket. He clearly had better shots and more game from the baseline.

But the match was a good lesson in consistency for him. If he is more consistent against Nadal, then beating him in the future will be pretty straightforward.

 

[Emma]

Jerzy is very serve oriented. If he suffers holding his serve he typically loses the match.

 

[Riotbeard]

they are never going to win by trying to hang tough in rallies with guys like rafa. They have to go for their shots, and not give rafa a rhythm.

That's how JJ kept it close, but it's also the difficulty for top players playing a guy like JJ.

A difficulty for JJ is that top guys like Nadal are very patient, like crocodiles in the tall grass. Playing that dropper on set point? I think it was a sign of immaturity, to say the best for it. But to give JJ credit, he's game and gutsy, which I always like.

By the way, did anyone else cringe when Leif Shiras referred to him as "J-squared" on Sky Sports... :nono :s

I am not saying it was a great play (I cringed myself), but to my count rafa had only won 1 point on a dropper so far that set, so it wasn't crazy.

I think generally you are right about patience being the winning virtue, but sometimes the super shotmakers when having a good day, can take even a rafa off the court. Today wasn't one of those days, but I think JJ ultimately has to play HIS GAME to have a chance.

 

[Kieran]

I am not saying it was a great play (I cringed myself), but to my count rafa had only won 1 point on a dropper so far that set, so it wasn't crazy.

I think generally you are right about patience being the winning virtue, but sometimes the super shotmakers when having a good day, can take even a rafa off the court. Today wasn't one of those days, but I think JJ ultimately has to play HIS GAME to have a chance.

His serve has a habit of going AWOL. I think he needs to steady himself a lot more. It's one thing to play on the hoof, but you can't also serve that way. It's like the guy is making it up as he goes along. He's young and all that, but his temperament doesn't suggest he'll ever be a cool, calculating player.

It's his fire that I love, but this is also the element that rules him, and will hold him back, I reckon...

 

[Kieran]

Vintage Nadal win....hardly anything special except consistency and constancy. Janowicz choked away both sets, but they were on his racket. He clearly had better shots and more game from the baseline.

But the match was a good lesson in consistency for him. If he is more consistent against Nadal, then beating him in the future will be pretty straightforward.

:clap :clap :clap

Always the first to give credit to the winner. And in this match, there was always only gonna be one guy who won it...

 

[calitennis127]

they are never going to win by trying to hang tough in rallies with guys like rafa. They have to go for their shots, and not give rafa a rhythm.

That's how JJ kept it close, but it's also the difficulty for top players playing a guy like JJ.

A difficulty for JJ is that top guys like Nadal are very patient, like crocodiles in the tall grass. Playing that dropper on set point? I think it was a sign of immaturity, to say the best for it. But to give JJ credit, he's game and gutsy, which I always like.

By the way, did anyone else cringe when Leif Shiras referred to him as "J-squared" on Sky Sports... :nono :s

It may have been a little bit corny for Shiras to say that, but what exactly is your objection? Not enough of a hip-hop influence in Ireland?

 

[the AntiPusher]

I got a feeling that Ernie G may push Murray to the limit today.. This match has ambush written all over it, imo

 

[Kieran]

It may have been a little bit corny for Shiras to say that, but what exactly is your objection? Not enough of a hip-hop influence in Ireland?

The corniness - and thanks God we don't have a hip hop influence in Ireland...

 

[Riotbeard]

I am not saying it was a great play (I cringed myself), but to my count rafa had only won 1 point on a dropper so far that set, so it wasn't crazy.

I think generally you are right about patience being the winning virtue, but sometimes the super shotmakers when having a good day, can take even a rafa off the court. Today wasn't one of those days, but I think JJ ultimately has to play HIS GAME to have a chance.

His serve has a habit of going AWOL. I think he needs to steady himself a lot more. It's one thing to play on the hoof, but you can't also serve that way. It's like the guy is making it up as he goes along. He's young and all that, but his temperament doesn't suggest he'll ever be a cool, calculating player.

It's his fire that I love, but this is also the element that rules him, and will hold him back, I reckon...

I am not sure I agree with this. I think overall he used the dropper intelligently with a few exceptions, and exposed the tactical weakness of Rafa's court positioning very well in the first set. I also think he roughly follows the sampras serving model. Somedays it's not ganna be there, and he has to develop.

He might need to be more tactical, but if you get too heady, you run the risk of doubting yourself, which is the bane of the other youngsters IMO. I like that he bets on himself. He still has to develop. What he develops into I am honestly not sure, but he is having a great first year at the tour level.