Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome - ATP Masters 1000

[napo]

Nadal falls on his hip trying to reach a dropshot. Curious situation. But he seems alright. Won already next point.
Zverev becomes stronger and stronger, now BP!

 

[napo]

1st set for Rafa.

 

[napo]

Zverev playing much better since end of 1st set, blasting from both sides, with good length, and Nadal bringing everything back, really everything. His defense , espacially on slow clay, is phenomenal.
This must be devastating for every opponent.

 

[napo]

Zverev is really playing amazingly good, not enough against this defense level Nadal has reached today. Hard to imagine Alex can keep this up for a 3setter, let alone 5 sets in Paris.
Or anybody else

 

[napo]

Rafa in straights. Tough loss for Zverev, he played his best match so far.
The 2nd set ended 6:4 and took 70 minutes!
The gap is getting thinner, but that just mean 1 or 2 more games per set for the opponents

 

[the AntiPusher]

Good morning why no wale up call for this Rafa Fan. I just woke up at 5-3 in the 2nd. I saw my DAWG bloody and sweating..Did some turn the Lions underneath the stadium on my Rafa?

Vamos NADAL..I just the grit and Fighting grace of Rafa's spirit

 

[Jelenafan]

Good morning why no wale up call for this Rafa Fan. I just woke up at 5-3 in the 2nd. I saw my DAWG bloody and sweating..Did some turn the Lions underneath the stadium on my Rafa?

Vamos NADAL..I just the grit and Fighting grace of Rafa's spirit

He slipped while retrieving a drop shot from Zverev but other than bloodied, thankfully he didn’t seem to injure anything serious.

The Rafa straight set win 6-3, 6-4 could have turned into another cliffhanger as Zverev had a slew of BP’s not converted, but glad no extra drama was provided. The serve in the clutch was good. More aggression from Rafa was on display, so hopefully getting into his groove.

 

[napo]

Good start from Stefanos. Breaks the first service game. Djoker doesn’t look very motivated. Mimic suggesting he is not happy with the rainy conditions

 

[the AntiPusher]

He slipped while retrieving a drop shot from Zverev but other than bloodied, thankfully he didn’t seem to injure anything serious.

The Rafa straight set win 6-3, 6-4 could have turned into another cliffhanger as Zverev had a slew of BP’s not converted, but glad no extra drama was provided. The serve in the clutch was good. More aggression from Rafa was on display, so hopefully getting into his groove.

Thanks JF..

Tomorrow I would like to see Rafa tweak parts of his game. I like to see him keep his ground strokes back to more of the center of the court..Too much angles the past few weeks..Rafa needs to give his opponents the options of creating their own angles instead of hitting balls or redirected balls from a angles which really puts him on the defensive.

Estiendo..

 

[Carol]

After the match he didn't say anything about it so I hope he is alright

 

[Moxie]

Good morning why no wale up call for this Rafa Fan. I just woke up at 5-3 in the 2nd. I saw my DAWG bloody and sweating..Did some turn the Lions underneath the stadium on my Rafa?

Vamos NADAL..I just the grit and Fighting grace of Rafa's spirit

I set my alarm. Sorry I didn't call u. Had to watch from the sofa with my pillow, so couldn't post. It feels like Rafa has been coming onto form, and, given recent result v. Zverev, he took it up a notch. He also must have had a couple of espressos, and also decided that getting broken out of the gate isn't as much fun as he had thought.

Another important takeaway is that Sasha seems to have picked up a bit of a tan over the weeks in Madrid and Rome, so that white sleeveless looks somewhat less icky.

 

[Moxie]

Watching Opelka in rerun during the rain delay. He looks like an extra escaped from the set of The Big Lebowski. Yo, dude!

 

[Jelenafan]

Watching Opelka in rerun during the rain delay. He looks like an extra escaped from the set of The Big Lebowski. Yo, dude!

Or a ZZTop video on steroids.

Funny how things work out, there was a concern about the early start time for the first 4 quarter finalists but in hindsight for the winners ( Rafa, Opelka) , best thing was to avoid the rain delay.

 

[Moxie]

First set Tsitsipas.

 

[napo]

Stefanos wins the first set. This will end quickly. Novak not ready for this level of tennis or not wanting to put too much into it.

After the quick break for the Greek, again rain delay.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Vanos Rafa I just got home from work and was watching the scores on my phone.I have recorded the match and can watch with "colm'

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Not surprised that The Young Greek has won the 1st set over Novak,he hits a heavier ball and these conditions at present suit him better than Novak.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

All remaining matches for Friday have been cancelled.....thank goodness Rafa dodged a bullet,got his match in before the rain set in

 

[the AntiPusher]

I would like to see Rafa trewk

Stefanos wins the first set. This will end quickly. Novak not ready for this level of tennis or not wanting to put too much into it.

After the quick break for the Greek, again rain delay.

You are pretty dismissive about Novak.. Djokovic is modern day Ra's AL Ghul.. there's been two many times that Djoker has been declared vanquished but he has risen from the lair of the Lazarus Pit and has snatched victory from arms of defeat.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Not surprised that The Young Greek has won the 1st set over Novak,he hits a heavier ball and these conditions at present suit him better than Novak.

Novak will regroup tonight and be ready tomorrow.