Madrid Draw

[the AntiPusher]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

 

[lindseywagners]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

 

[Alex]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

Well, I assume the reason for that had to do with his ankle injury rather than laziness. It's strange, though, because no one really knows what the deal is with it. Perhaps after going all out at Monte Carlo he wanted to rest it for two weeks... ? Whatever the deal is, I hope his ankle is 100% very soon so he can start preparing for Rome and RG.

If Novak had been playing almost any other unseeded player, I think he would have somehow managed to win today despite having no backhand. Unfortunately for him, Dimitrov played very well. Good luck to Dimitrov for the rest of the tournament.

Oh, and the crowd was awful and deserved Novak yelling at them (although even I will admit that the number of the times Novak called out the ump during the first set was kind of stupid).

 

[El Dude]

I said it before; Grigor will dominate tennis in 2016-forward for sure. He is missing the physicality but slowly getting there/ Love the way he can knife that slide. Is backhand is like the best of both worlds between Richard and Federer.

What I love is that you indicate from 2016 forward. That's reasonable. It gets tiring when people see one win like this, and think Dimitrov will finish the year No. 1.

I think you're over-reacting. First of all, I've never heard anyone say that Dimitrov is going to finish the year No. 1 or even close to it. Secondly, this is hardly his first big game that impressed. He almost beat Nadal a few weeks ago and last year around this time beat Tomas Berdych.

I think the reason people are getting excited is that the big games are coming more frequently, he's really showing up and taking that next step from #40-50 guy to on the cusp of the top 20. It isn't just glimmers of brilliance, its full on flashes.

The Djokovic win is huge - I don't think it should be underestimated. I know Novak says he wasn't prepared, but one of the reasons he's so great is that his lowest level of performance is still very high. He never tanks game like Andy Murray or Roger Federer or even Rafael Nadal are prone to do on occasion. So even if he played his lowest level, his lowest level is something akin to David Ferrer's best.

As for Dimitrov, I'm hoping that he establishes himself firmly in the top 20 this year and makes a run at the top 10 next. Again, what excites me is that with this win it seems his rise is more certain now. You can show glimmers of brilliance and beat a Tomas Berdych or take a set from Rafael Nadal, but it takes something more to beat Novak Djokovic.

 

[Billie]

I've never seen home crowd cheering for an unknown player like that in my life LOL Boy Dimitrov sure has so many fans in Madrid.

Bad luck Nole, 1st match on a new court is always a danger to me, so maybe it helped Dimitrov that he had played 1 match on the same court and Nole didn't. Good thing is that he didn't lose too many points, didn't (hopefully) re-injure his ankle and has more time to prepare for Rome.

Nole you rock in congratulating the opponents, nobody is as gracious as you at the net darling.:angel:

Congrats to Dimitrov, big win for him.

It's funny that when he wins, nobody posts, but when Nole loses a match everybody is on the board to comment. And today there was a record number of people online: "The most users online at one time was 38 on Today at 05:35 PM"

 

[Moxie]

Holy smokes! I've been mad with work and not paying attention. Was Dimitrov that good? Nole that bad? The crowd a factor?

 

[Mastoor]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

Well, I assume the reason for that had to do with his ankle injury rather than laziness. It's strange, though, because no one really knows what the deal is with it. Perhaps after going all out at Monte Carlo he wanted to rest it for two weeks... ? Whatever the deal is, I hope his ankle is 100% very soon so he can start preparing for Rome and RG.

If Novak had been playing almost any other unseeded player, I think he would have somehow managed to win today despite having no backhand. Unfortunately for him, Dimitrov played very well. Good luck to Dimitrov for the rest of the tournament.

Oh, and the crowd was awful and deserved Novak yelling at them (although even I will admit that the number of the times Novak called out the ump during the first set was kind of stupid).

No1e looked as if he didn't practice at all before Madrid and Alex you are right that means his ankle is unfortunately still injured.

Congratulation to Rafa on his billionth FO that he will win in couple of weeks.

Madrid crowd is most appalling one in the world and I believe No1e will never ever go there again.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

Well, I assume the reason for that had to do with his ankle injury rather than laziness. It's strange, though, because no one really knows what the deal is with it. Perhaps after going all out at Monte Carlo he wanted to rest it for two weeks... ? Whatever the deal is, I hope his ankle is 100% very soon so he can start preparing for Rome and RG.

If Novak had been playing almost any other unseeded player, I think he would have somehow managed to win today despite having no backhand. Unfortunately for him, Dimitrov played very well. Good luck to Dimitrov for the rest of the tournament.

Oh, and the crowd was awful and deserved Novak yelling at them (although even I will admit that the number of the times Novak called out the ump during the first set was kind of stupid).

No1e looked as if he didn't practice at all before Madrid and Alex you are right that means his ankle is unfortunately still injured.

Congratulation to Rafa on his billionth FO that he will win in couple of weeks.

Madrid crowd is most appalling one in the world and I believe No1e will never ever go there again.

If Djoker think that crowd was rude, wait until he has to feel the "love" of the fickle French crowd. Those folks would boo Santa Claus and Mother Theresa

 

[Mastoor]

Holy smokes! I've been mad with work and not paying attention. Was Dimitrov that good? Nole that bad? The crowd a factor?

Dimitrov was amazing, No1e was out of form, the crowd disgusting but I don't think they were the factor. No1e screwed up key points easily.

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"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

Well, I assume the reason for that had to do with his ankle injury rather than laziness. It's strange, though, because no one really knows what the deal is with it. Perhaps after going all out at Monte Carlo he wanted to rest it for two weeks... ? Whatever the deal is, I hope his ankle is 100% very soon so he can start preparing for Rome and RG.

If Novak had been playing almost any other unseeded player, I think he would have somehow managed to win today despite having no backhand. Unfortunately for him, Dimitrov played very well. Good luck to Dimitrov for the rest of the tournament.

Oh, and the crowd was awful and deserved Novak yelling at them (although even I will admit that the number of the times Novak called out the ump during the first set was kind of stupid).

No1e looked as if he didn't practice at all before Madrid and Alex you are right that means his ankle is unfortunately still injured.

Congratulation to Rafa on his billionth FO that he will win in couple of weeks.

Madrid crowd is most appalling one in the world and I believe No1e will never ever go there again.

If Djoker think that crowd was rude, wait until he has to feel the "love" of the fickle French crowd. Those folks would boo Santa Claus and Mother Theresa

What do you mean by " if Djoker think crowd was rude"? Everyone who watched the match thinks so.

You mean "French" crowd described by Tignor as Spaniards pretending to be Fed fans?

 

[tenisplayrla08]

SO ECSTATIC Dimitrov took down Djokovic. In my draw I picked Djokovic to win it because I didn't think Dimitrov would pull it off because he's so up and down and inconsistent. But I thought he could take a set. So glad he pulled it out. He got a set off Nadal last week and I guess that should have showed he was rounding into some awesome form. So glad he won. Hopefully he can keep it up and get some good wins. Hopefully he doesn't lose in the next round. That would be sad and useless. He'll have a day to rest. BUT, Wawrinka has been playing some great tennis. If he can play well, the draw is manageable. At least until he gets to Murray. Awesome win for him. Upset the #1 player in the world. Is it safe to say 'baby Fed' had arrived? We'll see.

 

[Haelfix]

Yea I mean, its not a fluke that Dimitrov beat Novak. The guy has been playing great tennis. Hopefully this will give him the confidence to do it again, (and again, and again)

 

[herios]

. Is it safe to say 'baby Fed' had arrived? We'll see.

No, the hell with that stupid nick-name. He has a name for Lord's sake. GRIGOR

 

[Moxie]

Holy smokes! I've been mad with work and not paying attention. Was Dimitrov that good? Nole that bad? The crowd a factor?

Dimitrov was amazing, No1e was out of form, the crowd disgusting but I don't think they were the factor. No1e screwed up key points easily.

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Is the ankle still bothering him?

If not a factor, why do you think the crowd was "disgusting?"

Didn't watch, so just curious.

 

[Front242]

The crowd didn't want Djokovic to win as it's a Spanish tournament and they didn't want a potential Nadal loss to Djokovic again, especially at home. That, more than cheering for Dimitrov was the reason, but it was bad form. I hope they fail miserably in their attempt at 2020 Olympics bid, especially with the completely obvious cover up of Fuentes and destroying all evidence. Shameful political BS that does little to make Spanish sport as a whole look good. Brilliant win for Dimitrov last night.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Serve and volley?

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it's nadal's house baby

Meh, they are that afraid eh?

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They have a good reason to be now, don't they?

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Not anymore.

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Hmmm.... guess we need to re-think crowning Nole the new king of Clay for 2013

Sorry - I couldn't resist

Who crowned him the king of clay for 2013?

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Congrats to Dimitrov and his fans.. As for the world's number 1, he doesnt have the every tournament pressure burden of answering, "what happen to the number ranked player" unlike Federer and Nadal. We all know if TMF or the dirt devil looses it is tennis Apocalypse. Good for Djoker

"I didn't prepare myself so good," Djokovic said. "For 12 days after Monte Carlo I haven't touched the racquet."

That really does not sound like Nole, who is a pretty strict guy when it comes to his training...I am surprised.

Well, I assume the reason for that had to do with his ankle injury rather than laziness. It's strange, though, because no one really knows what the deal is with it. Perhaps after going all out at Monte Carlo he wanted to rest it for two weeks... ? Whatever the deal is, I hope his ankle is 100% very soon so he can start preparing for Rome and RG.

If Novak had been playing almost any other unseeded player, I think he would have somehow managed to win today despite having no backhand. Unfortunately for him, Dimitrov played very well. Good luck to Dimitrov for the rest of the tournament.

Oh, and the crowd was awful and deserved Novak yelling at them (although even I will admit that the number of the times Novak called out the ump during the first set was kind of stupid).

No1e looked as if he didn't practice at all before Madrid and Alex you are right that means his ankle is unfortunately still injured.

Congratulation to Rafa on his billionth FO that he will win in couple of weeks.

Madrid crowd is most appalling one in the world and I believe No1e will never ever go there again.

More appalling than the crowd who started a brawl at the Australian Open a couple of years ago? More appalling than the crowd who brawled during Djokovic's match with Delic in 2009 (also at the AO)? Hmmm, I wonder why you'd think that.

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The crowd didn't want Djokovic to win as it's a Spanish tournament and they didn't want a potential Nadal loss to Djokovic again, especially at home. That, more than cheering for Dimitrov was the reason, but it was bad form. I hope they fail miserably in their attempt at 2020 Olympics bid, especially with the completely obvious cover up of Fuentes and destroying all evidence. Shameful political BS that does little to make Spanish sport as a whole look good. Brilliant win for Dimitrov last night.

Why is it bad form?

Obviously you're right about why they were rooting for Dimitrov. And yes, they were worried that Nadal would lose to Novak at home again. But since when is cheering for a player bad form?

 

[britbox]

. Is it safe to say 'baby Fed' had arrived? We'll see.

No, the hell with that stupid nick-name. He has a name for Lord's sake. GRIGOR

If Grigor does truly arrive and realize his potential, would that make him Grigor, and Fed "Grandpa Grigor" rather than the other way around? :s

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

^ it sure would. i wonder though, if - to paraphrase Twain - the reports of Grigor's arrival have been greatly exaggerated. yes, he went one step further last night and finally did what he had shown to be capable of in the last tournaments. how much he can do on a regular basis is another question, which in the long run will make more of a difference in regards to where his career is going.

the other thing - cramps again? at that stage in the tournament/match, i can't even put this down to bad conditioning. the dude must have some problem there. he doesn't seem like he's dehydrating, so there must be other reasons. i'm not going to say "lack of sleep" because then you'd think i'm just hinting at what would be a very understandable Sharapova-related issue.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

i must say, i keep forgetting that Grigor's just 21. seems to have been around for so long by now.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Baby Fed? Roger wishes at 21 he had a backhand like Grigor's.

Something tells me Roger is satisfied with the way things turned out for him, despite not having Grigor's backhand at 21.

In all seriousness, I'm interested in seeing Grigor's one handed backhand on faster surfaces. For instance, he's got a very good, natural backhand slice (especially in contrast Djokovic or Nadal), and pretty versatile backhand on the whole. I think he's extremely intelligent with that shot as far as ball placement during rallies, the amount of spin he has on the ball, when he decides to change directions, etc...

However, he still likes to have a little more time to line it up (though not anywhere near Wawrinka or Gasquet, who camp miles back to find that extra split second), and doesn't quite half volley it from the baseline like someone like Federer does. In that regard, it could hurt him on faster surfaces when he doesn't quite have the same amount of time.

In fairness, I haven't fully paid close attention to the way he hits it on faster surfaces, and he might make the necessary adjustments. That, and the fact that his slice could bail him out anyway.