Madrid Draw

[Front242]

Fed needs to start watching Tommy Haas. This is how it's done. 35 years old and absolutely firing on all cylinders. In this form he's one to fear at the slams. All court excellence. Hitting very clean, patient, waits for his opportunity and quick to get to the net when he's sees the chance. Fed played some weird shots, attempting to go down the line against Nishikori when cross court would've been the more logical shot. Easier, keep him in the point, see what reply he gets. Maybe Nishkori makes the error. Pulled the trigger way too early. Like the slopfest he played against Djokovic at RG last year.

 

[El Dude]

I can't help but think Roger's done, that he'll struggle all year and retire after Wimbledon or the US Open. I could see him losing in the 3R or 4R of Roland Garros, then trying to make a strong push for Wimbledon and losing in the QF to a Tsonga or Berdych, then limping through the US Open. He just doesn't seem like an elite player anymore. Hard to say that, but the results certainly point in that direction.

On the other hand, who knows. Maybe he'll get his wake up call and work hard to get in shape for the rest of the year and have a strong second half. But as I've pointed out numerous times, the vast majority of players drop off around age 31, and only a few have ever won Slams at 31+ (Agassi, Rosewall, Ashe in the Open Era).

Maybe Roger needs to sit down with Andre and ask him: How'd you do it? How'd you have a renaissance in your early 30s and remain an elite player until ~35? Right now Roger is looking more and more like Pete Sampras in his last two years.

 

[kskate2]

Tommy is absolutely in the zone this year. Has so much feel on the ball. Would love to see him play Nadal.

 

[Front242]

I can't help but think Roger's done, that he'll struggle all year and retire after Wimbledon or the US Open. I could see him losing in the 3R or 4R of Roland Garros, then trying to make a strong push for Wimbledon and losing in the QF to a Tsonga or Berdych, then limping through the US Open. He just doesn't seem like an elite player anymore. Hard to say that, but the results certainly point in that direction.

On the other hand, who knows. Maybe he'll get his wake up call and work hard to get in shape for the rest of the year and have a strong second half. But as I've pointed out numerous times, the vast majority of players drop off around age 31, and only a few have ever won Slams at 31+ (Agassi, Rosewall, Ashe in the Open Era).

Maybe Roger needs to sit down with Andre and ask him: How'd you do it? How'd you have a renaissance in your early 30s and remain an elite player until ~35? Right now Roger is looking more and more like Pete Sampras in his last two years.

In fairness Andre took a fair bit of time off and in a similar way to Haas who's been out of action well over 2 years because of injury it managed to keep him fresher than he otherwise would've been at his age. He was taking cortisone shots in his back before he called it quits. I doubt Roger's done by any means. A very poor patch of play for sure but timing is bound to be off after only 2 matches in 7 weeks. He's too proud to just give up this early. Especially if he takes inspiration from guys like Haas ripping younger players a new one.

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Tommy is absolutely in the zone this year. Has so much feel on the ball. Would love to see him play Nadal.

Me too and more so I'd have loved to see him play him at a slam, any slam last year but it never happened. He's playing even better now so maybe it'll happen this year. Obviously though best of 3 is his best bet these days. Hope he qualifies for the WTF.

 

[El Dude]

I suppose the alternative to my doom and gloom scenario is that he's taking it easy until the Slams, viewing the lesser tournaments as warm-ups. One can hope, at least. I think Roland Garros will tell us a lot. An exit before the QF is a big warning sign, I think (with everything so far being more small warning signs).

 

[kskate2]

I suppose the alternative to my doom and gloom scenario is that he's taking it easy until the Slams, viewing the lesser tournaments as warm-ups. One can hope, at least. I think Roland Garros will tell us a lot. An exit before the QF is a big warning sign, I think (with everything so far being more small warning signs).

I don't know how he can see this as a lesser tourney. It's a M1000 and one he's defending.

 

[Front242]

I suppose the alternative to my doom and gloom scenario is that he's taking it easy until the Slams, viewing the lesser tournaments as warm-ups. One can hope, at least. I think Roland Garros will tell us a lot. An exit before the QF is a big warning sign, I think (with everything so far being more small warning signs).

Well even if he went down 2 sets to 1 today if it were a 5 set match, I'd still pick him to win in 5. Best of 3 if you're playing crap is over real soon. Doubt he's just thinking of these tournaments as warm ups as he's surely aware he hasn't won a title in months and failed to defend everything he won last year. Lost another ton of points today and gifted the number 2 ranking back to Murray yet again. First time of course because he didn't even play Miami and then took 2 months off. Losing in the 3rd round when you're defending 1000 points is a poor warm up and I'm sure he wanted to do a lot better than that and is concerned himself. If not, he certainly should be.

Shame Haas lost set 1 just there

 

[kskate2]

ruh roh 0-40 on Tommy's serve.

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Ferrer breaks to take the opening set 7-5

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

When comparing Roger to other older guys, you have to keep in mind he has played 4 more years worth of tennis than Haas and even though Andre played till 36 or so, Roger played roughly the same amount of matches at the age 31 as Andre. Heavy duty mileage and amazing consistency for over 10 years.... It is not all about age.
Congrats to Nishikori, by the way. It is a solid win, just like Grigor's over Nole. Opponent's issues are not their problem. They should both enjoy the wins.

 

[tennisville]

People might possibly look at Madrid 2013 in the future as the changing of the guard moment in the near future if these 2 players succeed on tour

Roger was just sad and disinterested . I think the alarm bells should ring right now

 

[Front242]

When comparing Roger to other older guys, you have to keep in mind he has played 4 more years worth of tennis than Haas and even though Andre played till 36 or so, Roger played roughly the same amount of matches at the age 31 as Andre. Heavy duty mileage and amazing consistency for over 10 years.... It is not all about age.
Congrats to Nishikori, by the way. It is a solid win, just like Grigor's over Nole. Opponent's issues are not their problem. They should both enjoy the wins.

Dimitrov played a lot better to get the win than Nishikori had to but Nishikori must be thrilled all the same. A lopsided win because your opponent is spewing gunk all over the court is still a win over a top player. Not that Roger appeared anywhere close to a top player today. Hope he wakes up from his slumber pretty damn soon. Fed Van Winkle has had enough rest and needs to start munching this.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/Popeye-Wallpaper.jpg

 

[ftan]

ughhh.. I cant believe Fed lost today. I did not watch it but was checking the scores. I thought he will get it done in third after he won the second set with a Roar. Was he playing very bad ? or was it Nishikori

 

[Front242]

ughhh.. I cant believe Fed lost today. I did not watch it but was checking the scores. I thought he will get it done in third after he won the second set with a Roar. Was he playing very bad ? or was it Nishikori

Even as a Fed fan I can unbiasedly say Fed played utter crap. All Nishikori needed to be was solid as Fed basically imploded after winning set 2. If you can imagine any match where he's won a set against Nadal and gone on to play a set where he can't hit a barn door from 50 yards and shanking more than a butcher you get a pretty clear picture. Embarrassingly bad 3rd set in particular. Nishikori hit a few nice shots but Fed really handed that win to him on a plate with a garnish of gunk.

 

[Kieran]

It's hilarious how Federer only loses because he start shanking and playing crap, even when it's the great Nadal who's (regularly) thumping him.

What about the times he's outplayed?

Or has that never happened? :s

 

[ftan]

ughhh.. I cant believe Fed lost today. I did not watch it but was checking the scores. I thought he will get it done in third after he won the second set with a Roar. Was he playing very bad ? or was it Nishikori

Even as a Fed fan I can unbiasedly say Fed played utter crap. All Nishikori needed to be was solid as Fed basically imploded after winning set 2. If you can imagine any match where he's won a set against Nadal and gone on to play a set where he can't hit a barn door from 50 yards and shanking more than a butcher you get a pretty clear picture. Embarrassingly bad 3rd set in particular. Nishikori hit a few nice shots but Fed really handed that win to him on a plate with a garnish of gunk.

That bad huh? What is really worrisome is his bad matches are coming every other match..someone please write him off in mendia and send him a copy.. this will probably light a fire under his belly

 

[Front242]

It's hilarious how Federer only loses because he start shanking and playing crap, even when it's the great Nadal who's (regularly) thumping him.

What about the times he's outplayed?

Or has that never happened? :s

Ok so did you seriously think he played well there? And no besides RG '08 I've yet to see a match where Nadal really regularly thumps him and again that was clearly a case of one guy playing amazing and the other pure crap. But regardless of how well Fed played that day he wasn't beating Nadal in that form. Many of their matches have been 4 or 5 set matches. If those equate to being thumped to you fair enough. Beaten yes, thumped no.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Really surprised to see Fed lost today. I'm not saying I expected him to win the tournament, but I did expect him to make it to Nadal before he lost. The only reason I can think of for this loss is Fed's back problems. I don't know if he's wearing that special shirt or whatever and I'm sure he hasn't said anything about it. But it's been hurting him for a while now and I think that's his biggest problem this year. Maybe not. Maybe he just played a bad match. Sad to see. His ranking is going to start dropping if he doesn't defend all these points. Hopefully he can get healthy or just feel better come French time or Wimbledon time. But with this loss and the early loss to Benneteau earlier this year and his pathetic effort against Nadal in IW you have to think he won't be winning any slams this year. Not even Wimbledon.

 

[Front242]

For the record Fed hit I think 31 winners to 30 errors today. A decent stat to you maybe, Kieran? To most the winners to errors ratio should be 2-1 to give you any hope of winning.

 

[kskate2]

Tommy rebounds and takes the 2nd set 6-4. We're on serve in the decider 1-1

 

[Alex]

Fed indeed played poorly, but unfortunately for him and all players at this point in their careers, we have to wonder if these poor performances are the sign of a severe decline in ability rather than one-offs. I know I should be careful what I wish for, but I actually hope that he's not done yet. I still want to see him in the thick of things this year. Until some of the youngsters show they're absolutely for real, tennis is more fun with him around.