Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany, ATP 500

[Ricardo]

Amazing, isn't it? And after such a long lay-off.

no matter how long, once you reach that age you can't be 'that' fresh in a GS slam final......of course the break helped him a lot, he was certainly much better than he otherwise would've been if he didn't take the break.

 

[Ricardo]

Murray, Federer, Djokovic for a start would all have won more games than Wawrinka.

it shouldn't matter and becomes needless speculation, all we know none of them would've been much of a chance against Nadal.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I can't still understand why Rafa lost that last set

Being down 1-3..Roger was in dire straits, he played high risk first strike tennis. Rafa rested on his laurels and tried to extend the points and play conservatively. Poor serving meaning no body serves or free points on his serve, Rafa played perfectly into Federer's hand.

 

[Ricardo]

It's not really rehashing but Front stubbornly trying to discredit a Nadal accomplishments. I have stated numerous of times Fed and Luby outfoxed and executed their strategies over Rafa, Toni and Carlos at AO17. If you think Front will do the same, then one hasn't been paying attention.

you wouldn't admit though that Fed was still obviously the best player playing the best tennis at AO. How do you know if it was just down to 'outfoxing' Nadal and his team? as opposed to 'outplaying'?

you may have stated numerous times, yeah, but numerous times wrong. It had a lot more to do with that they changed AO surface and it allowed Fed to execute his bh much better plus he was in great form. The difference between them has always been small, and it would always work for Nadal to pound that bh with his fh topspin, and more often than not the surface will have huge impact on the outcome.

as it stands, Rafa has 13 wins over Fed on clay while Fed has edge on hard court and grass...for a 23-14 H-H.

 

[Carol]

Being down 1-3..Roger was in dire straits, he played high risk first strike tennis. Rafa rested on his laurels and tried to extend the points and play conservatively. Poor serving meaning no body serves or free points on his serve, Rafa played perfectly into Federer's hand.

Yep, Rafa later played horrible in IW, not too bad in Miami and horrible in Acapulco but I think after that loses he has 'woken up' visibly

 

[Ricardo]

Being down 1-3..Roger was in dire straits, he played high risk first strike tennis. Rafa rested on his laurels and tried to extend the points and play conservatively. Poor serving meaning no body serves or free points on his serve, Rafa played perfectly into Federer's hand.

you just see it all one way don't you? Rafa does not know how to rest on his laurels, this is a joke that should be on mentally weak players. Nadal over his whole career, has proven to prolong his intensity better than anyone else, for you to say this is just being clueless.

 

[Carol]

you just see it all one way don't you? Rafa does not know how to rest on his laurels, this is a joke that should be on mentally weak players. Nadal over his whole career, has proven to prolong his intensity better than anyone else, for you to say this is just being clueless.

Nope, Nadal has been rest on his laurels for almost three years, he is a human being after all

 

[Ricardo]

Nope, Nadal has been rest on his laurels for almost three years, he is a human being after all

not performing well is irrelevant, one can see his will but his body/game wasn't clicking. He is not the only one suffering that, but you are the only saying he's been resting on his laurels.

 

[the AntiPusher]

you just see it all one way don't you? Rafa does not know how to rest on his laurels, this is a joke that should be on mentally weak players. Nadal over his whole career, has proven to prolong his intensity better than anyone else, for you to say this is just being clueless.

Ricardo, I not the poster that you can name call..be very careful how you respond to me..if you don't agree with my posts then ignore them

 

[the AntiPusher]

Nope, Nadal has been rest on his laurels for almost three years, he is a human being after all

Perfectly stated Carol..since Miami, Rafa has played more aggressively, change his service patterns .drive his bh dtl..that's how Rafa is no longer just resting on his laurels

 

[Carol]

not performing well is irrelevant, one can see his will but his body/game wasn't clicking. He is not the only one suffering that, but you are the only saying he's been resting on his laurels.

When a great player is losing vs everyone and reading a roller coaster then we can say that he is resting on his laurels o whatever you want to name it but obviously it means that he is playing bad and usually is more mentally than anything else

 

[Carol]

Perfectly stated Carol..since Miami, Rafa has played more aggressively, change his service patterns .drive his bh dtl..that's how Rafa is no longer just resting on his laurels

Yep, after going up and down he came back to the earth, steeping on the ground

 

[DarthFed]

According to the experts and tennis players which has a lot more knowledge than you and me Rafael Nadal played in RG the perfect game against everyone consequently Wawrinka had not any clue to defend and to attack due to the way that his opponent was playing . To say that Stan played like crap is the most unacceptable and ridiculous thing that you can say even that you use to say very often and comparing him with Zverev has played today ( definitely like crap) is even more ridiculous. And I'm going more far , today Roger would have lost vs Lopez for sure!

Stay off the crack kids or this could be you...

There isn't a player on tour that would've taken a set off Roger today similar to Nadal at RG. Especially not fricken Lopez, I thought you learned your lesson at Cincy a couple years ago when you thought Lopez had a prayer of beating Fed at that event...

Zverev was bad today and so was Stan at RG but a big part of that was their opponents were all over them and gave them no room to breathe. Sascha served 74% today and still was broken 4 times in 2 sets on fast grass. If Roger returns like that he is winning and winning easily.

Fed at top level is the best on grass by a wide margin, always has been. That's the point I've been trying to hammer home regarding a couple of his poor losses on the final Sunday at Wimbledon.

 

[the AntiPusher]

you wouldn't admit though that Fed was still obviously the best player playing the best tennis at AO. How do you know if it was just down to 'outfoxing' Nadal and his team? as opposed to 'outplaying'?

you may have stated numerous times, yeah, but numerous times wrong. It had a lot more to do with that they changed AO surface and it allowed Fed to execute his bh much better plus he was in great form. The difference between them has always been small, and it would always work for Nadal to pound that bh with his fh topspin, and more often than not the surface will have huge impact on the outcome.

as it stands, Rafa has 13 wins over Fed on clay while Fed has edge on hard court and grass...for a 23-14 H-H.

Rafa and team had the wrong strategy vs Fed.. True the surface was a lot faster than previously but Rafa had two weeks to play on that surface. His team knew Federer was consistently hitting his backhand early and effectively. Rafa had been exposed on the hardcourts the previous match vs Grigor, he only escaped because he took control of the center of court , came forward and took control of the net. This is exactly what Roger did to Rafa. Rafa was not playing from a position of strength the majority of the match. When you are up 3-1 you dont just try to keep the ball in play..Again watch your tone with me or just ignore my posts.

 

[Moxie]

no matter how long, once you reach that age you can't be 'that' fresh in a GS slam final......of course the break helped him a lot, he was certainly much better than he otherwise would've been if he didn't take the break.

So I guess you agree that Rafa was not so fresh for the final, and could have used the extra day that Roger had.

 

[Ricardo]

Ricardo, I not the poster that you can name call..be very careful how you respond to me..if you don't agree with my posts then ignore them

why do i sense that a little man is trying to sound tough? ok tough boy its ok nobody will hurt you

 

[Carol]

Stay off the crack kids or this could be you...

There isn't a player on tour that would've taken a set off Roger today similar to Nadal at RG. Especially not fricken Lopez, I thought you learned your lesson at Cincy a couple years ago when you thought Lopez had a prayer of beating Fed at that event...

Zverev was bad today and so was Stan at RG but a big part of that was their opponents were all over them and gave them no room to breathe. Sascha served 74% today and still was broken 4 times in 2 sets on fast grass. If Roger returns like that he is winning and winning easily.

Fed at top level is the best on grass by a wide margin, always has been. That's the point I've been trying to hammer home regarding a couple of his poor losses on the final Sunday at Wimbledon.

Sascha is still with pampers, he seems to have a long way to learn, like someone has told me today there are not yet young players that we can say: " wow, look that young player, he is brilliant " and maybe we couldn't say it who knows until when. To compare him with Stan is totally ridiculous and comparing RG to Halle is even more ridiculous

 

[Ricardo]

Rafa and team had the wrong strategy vs Fed.. True the surface was a lot faster than previously but Rafa had two weeks to play on that surface. His team knew Federer was consistently hitting his backhand early and effectively. Rafa had been exposed on the hardcourts the previous match vs Grigor, he only escaped because he took control of the center of court , came forward and took control of the net. This is exactly what Roger did to Rafa. Rafa was not playing from a position of strength the majority of the match. When you are up 3-1 you dont just try to keep the ball in play..Again watch your tone with me or just ignore my posts.

again wrong as usual. Two weeks for Rafa to get used to, isn't the answer. Fed had over 20 years to get used to clay and he can't solve the slow high bounce problem with his bh. This is where you are totally wrong, when you are 3-1 up you don't change nothing......you keep going with what got you there which is what Rafa did. One should applaud that Fed took the high risk approach and made it work, as he didn't use to in previous matches.

I am sure you are the revisionist kind of person, that if Rafa all of a sudden decided to hit the lines being 3-1 up and missed to hand back the break, you would say that he was silly to change a winning game.

i know people like you.

 

[Ricardo]

So I guess you agree that Rafa was not so fresh for the final, and could have used the extra day that Roger had.

nobody disputes that, i just can't agree how Rafa fans (a bunch of you vs front) can say that Rafa was all lethargic while Fed was all fresh.......i think you only see what you want to see.

would you agree with me if i propose to you that Rafa will be fresh as daisy in 2022 AO final (even though given two days rest after 5 setter semi)?

 

[Carol]

Obviously after that 3-1 Roger came back a lot more aggressive and took Rafa by surprised but like I said before that was a "wake call" and I think Rafa has learned the lesson, every cloud has a silver lining