Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome - ATP Masters 1000

[MargaretMcAleer]

Well done to Novak....
Super proud of Sonego with an impressive run in Roma!

 

[Fiero425]

There's goes this hugging Novak at the net again...only time I want a hug is in mixed doubles.. SMH2

Rafa does it too, but at least Nole didnt jump up & down like he won another Major! He acted like he'd been there B4 seeing as this was a SF match!

 

[napo]

Congrats to Djokovic to beat two very uncomfortable and in-form players in one day.
And to us to get the best F pairing possible.

 

[Fiero425]

Congrats to Djokovic to beat two very uncomfortable and in-form players in one day.
And to us to get the best F pairing possible.

This is where I find fault with the rest of the tour to allow finals between the same 2 people in every major event! Fedal 1st, now Nadovic! SICK!

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa does it too, but at least Nole didnt jump up & down like he won another Major! He acted like he'd been there B4 seeing as this was a SF match!

Rafa only hugs GOATs (Roger and Novak)..Rafa doesn't hug Scrubs).

 

[Fiero425]

Rafa only hugs GOATs (Roger and Novak)..Rafa doesn't hug Scrubs).

I personally wouldn't want Rafa touching me! His hands are all mangled, tape holding fingers together, w/ blood underneath some nails! YUCK!

 

[the AntiPusher]

I personally wouldn't want Rafa touching me! His hands are all mangled, tape holding fingers together, w/ blood underneath some nails! YUCK!

Come on..you will costing yourself the opportunity to get some of Rafa's DNA from his buttocks..I doubt if you want to miss that .. jajaja

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I would not mind a hug from Roger Federer,he hardly sweats at all....

 

[the AntiPusher]

I would not mind a hug from Roger Federer,he hardly sweats at all....

I want to hug from Rafa's Mom, sister and wifey

 

[don_fabio]

I missed epic Noak Tits today, but not this one. Atmosphere was amazing and the 2nd half of 2nd set was just crazy, with both players going full emotional. When Novak finally broke Sonego serve he did an insane roar followed by his team, pure adrenalin stuff. Tennis needs fans all the time, no crowd sucks big time. I can't watch soccer anymore without fans, just pointless.

Anyway, so many great matches on clay this year. The surface that brings out the best out of players and plenty of cat and mouse play. Pity it is dominated by a single guy for more than a decade

 

[Fiero425]

I missed epic Noak Tits today, but not this one. Atmosphere was amazing and the 2nd half of 2nd set was just crazy, with both players going full emotional. When Novak finally broke Sonego serve he did an insane roar followed by his team, pure adrenalin stuff. Tennis needs fans all the time, no crowd sucks big time. I can't watch soccer anymore without fans, just pointless.

Anyway, so many great matches on clay this year. The surface that brings out the best out of players and plenty of cat and mouse play. Pity it is dominated by a single guy for more than a decade

Well you can check out The Greek missing his chance now! The repeats have started!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Well you can check out The Greek missing his chance now! The repeats have started!

It is a learning curve for the Young Greek he had Novak on the ropes,Novak did not play well in that match,though when it counted Novak did enough to win.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I hope the court officials start sweeping and levelling the center court in Rome for tomorrow's final's.It has been sub par all week,Rafa was lucky he did not receive a bad injury in his match with Sasha.

 

[Front242]

I missed epic Noak Tits today, but not this one. Atmosphere was amazing and the 2nd half of 2nd set was just crazy, with both players going full emotional. When Novak finally broke Sonego serve he did an insane roar followed by his team, pure adrenalin stuff. Tennis needs fans all the time, no crowd sucks big time. I can't watch soccer anymore without fans, just pointless.

Anyway, so many great matches on clay this year. The surface that brings out the best out of players and plenty of cat and mouse play. Pity it is dominated by a single guy for more than a decade

I miss epic tits as well. Haven't been to a nightclub in years

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I miss epic tits as well. Haven't been to a nightclub in years

Behave LOL!

 

[the AntiPusher]

Tomorrow Final for both players will mean..

Nadal: A chance to try to duplicate his levels from 2020.. Anything less in my opinion is not a failure but has diminished value prior to RG.

Djokovic: A chance to try his new counters to being totally dismantled by Rafa in last year's final at RG. Previously after the US Open 2013, Novak made the brilliant counters ( DTL BH to Rafa's BH which was exposed. Also, Novak's CC BH which pulls Rafa FH off the court)..

For the past few years with Moya Rafa has serve better to Novak's body and tried to improve his CC BH. Sometimes. It takes a few matches before he totally trust it which baffles me..

The keys are Rafa's DTL FH and Novak's serve. Whomever wins that battle should take the match. Either way, this shouldn't effect either player preparation for RG.

Roma(Rome) is a nice to have but not the goal.

 

[Fiero425]

Tomorrow Final for both players will mean..

Nadal: A chance to try to duplicate his levels from 2020.. Anything less in my opinion is not a failure but has diminished value prior to RG.

Djokovic: A chance to try his new counters to being totally dismantled by Rafa in last year's final at RG. Previously after the US Open 2013, Novak made the brilliant counters ( DTL BH to Rafa's BH which was exposed. Also, Novak's CC BH which pulls Rafa FH off the court)..

For the past few years with Moya Rafa has serve better to Novak's body and took improve his CC BH.

The keys are Rafa's DTL FH and Novak's serve. Whomever wins that battle should take the match. Either way, this shouldn't effect either player preparation for RG.

Roma(Rome) is a nice to have but not the goal.

At this point in his career, I'm surprised Nole gets the least bit exercized when he allows his opponent to extend him unnecessarily! That explosion with the racket abuse warning made no sense! Tsitsipas is no slouch; as he should be saving his energy in finishing these guys off sooner so he'll be at his best by the final! We all know it'll be a slow grind regardless if it's competitive or not! They have a way of stretching every game out; the epitome being their 2011 USO contest! Games went on for 10-18 mins., sets were an hour and a half plus! OMG, it's enough to run me off at times with the toweling off, challenges, and points that go on forever! It's boring AF!

The only real satisfaction I'll ever get out of it is if Djokovic can keep his streak going vs his closest rival! Nadal has his own streak on clay of course! I won't put too much into it regardless! The FO is different in every way from BO5 to the addition of 3 more grueling matches due to the competition catching up! It's not exactly "a given" it'll be Nadovic again as it once was! Nole's obviously a little more vulnerable playing a more competitive schedule over the years! Djokovic may not get that 2nd FO to complete his "Double-CGS," but he'll probably end up with all the other records under his name! I hope to never see one of those mini-bios for him produced in the same vein as "One More For The Rocket!" It chronicled Laver's play and atttempts to win the WCT Final in Dallas! He had 2 epic finals' losses to Ken Rosewall, then the upsets early in the contest to the likes of Stan Smith, and his last real chance dropping a tough SF to Borg in '75! Ivan never got his Wimbledon, Borg never got his USO, but this shouldn't be about what Djokovic doesn't have when he has 1 FO! So cry me a river!"He can go out now and he'd still be in "The Conversation" and we all know it! Without Nole, Fedal became a thing again a few years ago with them splitting majors and vying for #1! That wouldn't have happened if Djokovic had "been there" shaking things up! End Rant, but of course I could go on! My memory starts flooding back on me and it just spews thru these bony fingers!

 

[Moxie]

Come on Grunty. Break serve and get it to a 3rd set .

BTW. What time is the final tomorrow. (EST)

Women's final 2:30pm in Rome/8:30am EDT; men's final not before 5pm in Rome/11am EDT.

 

[Moxie]

This happens to him so often! Djokovic is the unluckiest player in the histiory of the game when it comes to closing out a match at times! Bad calls, reversed calls, net-cords, or bad umpiring always seem to cost him; extending his matches a set anyway! If he blows this one, I'll be done and stop watching the game!

You have GOT to be kidding me with this "unluckiest player" business. You play as many matches as he has and luck evens out. And rarely do the kinds of things you list even determine a game or a set, much less a match. But failure to close out sets, that's on him. As it is on Rafa. You also like to complain about players "zoning" against him. All top players have a target on their backs, so you can just get over players going all-out against them. I only saw the first half of today's match. Did he get bad calls or anything like that to cause him to have to play a 3rd? In his interview, he said it was his own fault. I will give you that he was unlucky with the weather and the scheduling this tournament, but so were Tsitsipas, Rublev and Sonego. One could argue that Stefanos might well have won that match if they'd finished on Friday, so, in one way, Novak could well be lucky to be in the final. So much whining, honestly.

 

[Moxie]

Rafa only hugs GOATs (Roger and Novak)..Rafa doesn't hug Scrubs).

Especially in the pandemic, Rafa is more of a hand-on-the-shoulder, handshake, quick tap on the belly kind of guy. No one goes in for the regular snuggle like Novak.