Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome - ATP Masters 1000

[Moxie]

Bien cocido Shorty your 1st Masters Final!

He's going to try to do tomorrow what I think has not yet been done, i.e., beat both Nadal and Novak in the same tournament. Thiem had a chance to do it once or twice at RG, and Roger nearly did it at Wimbledon last year. Or maybe in the early days...most likely Roger.

Tough ask, especially after a couple of really tough matches in the previous 2 rounds. Anyway, sparing a moment for Diego: think of how good you have to be, in today's game, at his physical stature, to hang with and beat the best.

 

[Fiero425]

Bien cocido Shorty your 1st Masters Final!

Djokovic has had so few breaks when it comes to him winning his titles over the years; normally having to go thru Fedal! Pigeons awaiting him has been few and far between, but Schwartzman's been playing out of his mind! Nole isn't playing that well and his confidence has to be shot with so much going on around him with the ATP board, his new tennis entity for men and women who've signed on, and of course trying to perform with C-19 making things even more difficult to handle! Djokovic better start blasting the ball and keep Diego running from early on or this will be one tough final he doesn't need!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

He's going to try to do tomorrow what I think has not yet been done, i.e., beat both Nadal and Novak in the same tournament. Thiem had a chance to do it once or twice at RG, and Roger nearly did it at Wimbledon last year. Or maybe in the early days...most likely Roger.

Tough ask, especially after a couple of really tough matches in the previous 2 rounds. Anyway, sparing a moment for Diego: think of how good you have to be, in today's game, at his physical stature, to hang with and beat the best.

Hopefully he will bring his best to the final,he reminds me in ways of David Ferrer,I have not been impressed with Novak so far this tournament,he has been easily distracted at times,that is Novak and I cannot see him changing,he has had a easy draw to the final,hopefully we will get a competitive final.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Djokovic has had so few breaks when it comes to him winning his titles over the years; normally having to go thru Fedal! Pigeons awaiting him has been few and far between, but Schwartzman's been playing out of his mind! Nole isn't playing that well and his confidence has to be shot with so much going on around him with the ATP board, his new tennis entity for men and women who've signed on, and of course trying to perform with C-19 making things even more difficult to handle! Djokovic better start blasting the ball and keep Diego running from early on or this will be one tough final he doesn't need!

I have to agree with you,Novak has too much going on off court,that also was evident at the USO,before he was defaulted,he needs his full concentration on playing ternnis.Maybe he should have left this new association when the tour finished this year.

 

[Moxie]

I have to agree with you,Novak has too much going on off court,that also was evident at the USO,before he was defaulted,he needs his full concentration on playing ternnis.Maybe he should have left this new association when the tour finished this year.

This is why I asked "why now" when they decided to launch it. If Djokovic and Pospisil decided that it couldn't wait, because of the pandemic and the impact on lower-ranked players, then good for them. Clearly Novak has taken on an outside stressor, and it's hard to say that it hasn't been without impact.

He should be the more rested player tomorrow, but if Diego can find the game he's been playing, he'll surely frustrate Novak. The H2H is 4-0 in favor of Novak, but Diego pushed him to 3 and hard in the Rome SFs last year, and to 5 at RG in 2017. Arguably Diego is playing better tennis that he was in those encounters, and Novak lesser. I would have said that the Novak we've seen so far would have lost to either Shapo or Diego today, but tomorrow is another day, and Novak is not #1 for nothing...he can rise to the occasion.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

This is why I asked "why now" when they decided to launch it. If Djokovic and Pospisil decided that it couldn't wait, because of the pandemic and the impact on lower-ranked players, then good for them. Clearly Novak has taken on an outside stressor, and it's hard to say that it hasn't been without impact.

He should be the more rested player tomorrow, but if Diego can find the game he's been playing, he'll surely frustrate Novak. The H2H is 4-0 in favor of Novak, but Diego pushed him to 3 and hard in the Rome SFs last year, and to 5 at RG in 2017. Arguably Diego is playing better tennis that he was in those encounters, and Novak lesser. I would have said that the Novak we've seen so far would have lost to either Shapo or Diego today, but tomorrow is another day, and Novak is not #1 for nothing...he can rise to the occasion.

Well Rafa was 10-0 against Diego, before the q/final,so anything can happen.

 

[Fiero425]

Well Rafa was 10-0 against Diego before the q/final, so anything can happen.

I want to have to update my Nole-Blog tmrw! I won't get ahead of myself; the true kiss of death so I don't even joke about it prematurely!

 

[Moxie]

Well Rafa was 10-0 against Diego, before the q/final,so anything can happen.

I'm not clear when main-draw tennis starts for RG this year, but I could see why Schwartzman will throw all he has at Novak tomorrow. Win or lose, it may impact his RG. Shapo has suddenly emerged as one to worry about. Ruud, too, and the mysterious Koepfer. The draw could be very curious, as there seem to be many more treacherous outliers.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I'm not clear when main-draw tennis starts for RG this year, but I could see why Schwartzman will throw all he has at Novak tomorrow. Win or lose, it may impact his RG. Shapo has suddenly emerged as one to worry about. Ruud, too, and the mysterious Koepfer. The draw could be very curious, as there seem to be many more treacherous outliers.

If Diego does win tomorrow he will be in the Top 10 for the first time.If these players want to cause an upset at RG it is best to do it in the first couple of rounds,before the higher seeds get rhythm in their game.
Qualifying rds have started at RG.

 

[Moxie]

If Diego does win tomorrow he will be in the Top 10 for the first time.If these players want to cause an upset at RG it is best to do it in the first couple of rounds,before the higher seeds get rhythm in their game.
Qualifying rds have started at RG.

If Diego loses tomorrow, I think Shapovalov gets into the top 10 for the first time. Some of these guys won't have the option of upset early rounds, having gotten so high in the rankings. But it does feel like the revolution is coming.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

If Diego loses tomorrow, I think Shapovalov gets into the top 10 for the first time. Some of these guys won't have the option of upset early rounds, having gotten so high in the rankings. But it does feel like the revolution is coming.

Correct,Dennis will move into the top 10.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Schwartzman Will Go For His Dream on Monday vs Djokovic in Rome.

www.tennisnow.com/News/2020/September.

 

[kskate2]

I'm not clear when main-draw tennis starts for RG this year, but I could see why Schwartzman will throw all he has at Novak tomorrow. Win or lose, it may impact his RG.

MD starts on Sun

 

[Andy22]

then djokovic wins Rome title he will the second male player in history to win 10 masters on both hard courts- clay courts after Nadal become the first in history last season 25-10.

 

[calitennis127]

Ruud has some insane power on the FH, one shot in first set went 177 km/h. Crazy.

Yes he does. When he has time to set it up, he cranks it with major power. His problem is that he is very error prone with his backhand and doesn't have the elite-level lateral movement that makes avoiding errors on that side easier. Still, his forehand is extremely impressive.

Overall good match, Novak should play better, still too defensive in my opinion. Serve is working great and dropshot too. Backhand started working really well in the 2nd set and that made a difference.

Some of the backhands Djokovic hit in the 5-2 game on Ruud's serve when he had two match points were insane. Simply terrific shots. The one inside-out backhand before the drop volley was nasty, and then he followed it up with BH winners down the line.

Umpire was terrible today, snatched 3 points from Novak. We need hawk eye on clay courts too and umpire needs a spank from his boss.

Yes, people are ragging on Djokovic for getting angry but he was right with all 3 of those objections to the umpire's call.

 

[calitennis127]

He's going to try to do tomorrow what I think has not yet been done, i.e., beat both Nadal and Novak in the same tournament. Thiem had a chance to do it once or twice at RG, and Roger nearly did it at Wimbledon last year. Or maybe in the early days...most likely Roger.

Nalbandian actually beat Nadal (quarterfinal), Djokovic (semifinal), and Federer (final) consecutively in Madrid in 2007. Mind you, beating Nadal indoors isn't that hard and that was one of the easiest victories of Nalbandian's career, but he still met your stated requirement of beating both Nadal and Djokovic at the same tournament. He topped it off with Federer in the final.

 

[Fiero425]

Nalbandian actually beat Nadal (quarterfinal), Djokovic (semifinal), and Federer (final) consecutively in Madrid in 2007. Mind you, beating Nadal indoors isn't that hard and that was one of the easiest victories of Nalbandian's career, but he still met your stated requirement of beating both Nadal and Djokovic at the same tournament. He topped it off with Federer in the final.

I missed a lot of those matches! I was more than a little bored with the Fedal show for some reason! I paid more attention to the WTA with Hingis coming and going, then Henin dominating Serena Williams for a while! Around that time, '09 Wimb. final with Roger and A-Rod was the only big match I remember in any detail; mainly how this was one of the biggest choke jobs of all time dropping that 2nd set TB! A-Rod pulled "an Edberg;" only dropped serve once over 5 sets and still lost the match! I appreciated it at the time since most believed Fed a class act and deserving of all the success in the world! It slowly dawned on me by the end of the match, the era has been a bit of a fraud! Over the next 5-6 years, Roger only won 2 Majors; '10 AO &'12 Wimb. Then he went 5 more years before taking 3 Majors while Nole on/off the tour injured! Age can't be used as a crutch since the old man has dominated Rafa in recent years on HC! End rant!

 

[calitennis127]

That last point of the first set was brilliantly played by Djokovic. Very impressive stuff in the set overall after falling behind 3-0.

 

[Bonaca]

Really good clay court tennis right now.
Novak is becoming better and better.
Diego really good test, he is in peak form and is playing the tournament of his life!
Bad luck he has to play a Novak in Masters F.

 

[Bonaca]

It’s a pleasure to watch the no 1 player when he is stepping up his game.
Jesus he can win RG , imagine the season did not stop because of corona and us open not be stolen.
also if Wimbledon was played, Jesus Christ no one would left in this forum , except very few of us!

Look what he is doing right now.
It’s becoming a message to the motherfuckers out there.