Marrakech 250 Clay
- Thread starter herios
- Start date
Moxie
Multiple Major Winner
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2013
- Messages
- 43,829
- Reactions
- 14,986
- Points
- 113
If you watch that clip, you can see that it was Rafa who had the break in the 3rd and gave it back. Also, Pablo never led in the TB. Whatever you want to call this loss, I wouldn't call it an "epic choke."
GameSetAndMath
The GOAT
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2013
- Messages
- 21,141
- Reactions
- 3,398
- Points
- 113
Thanks for posting the stats. Pablo hit 8 more winners than Rafa. Pablo made two less unforced errors than Rafa. Pablo broke Rafa more times than the other way (not to mention he had tons of BP chances which he did not capitalize). Yet Pablo did not win. I have not seen your highlights video. But, I distinctly remember watching this match live and agonizing over the numerous chances Pablo had.
Moxie
Multiple Major Winner
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2013
- Messages
- 43,829
- Reactions
- 14,986
- Points
- 113
The commies were saying he was ranked in the 1800s at the beginning of the year. He's really playing great tennis. That's a big commitment at 32 to come so far back. As I said before, he should be ranked in the 150s by tomorrow. You might mention him in your update.
Moxie
Multiple Major Winner
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2013
- Messages
- 43,829
- Reactions
- 14,986
- Points
- 113
Probably the stat you want to look at as much as anything is the unconverted break points, to explain why you remember missed opportunities. Those won't show up on the highlight reel, by definition. Though, worth noting that Nadal is probably the best on tour at saving break points, so it's not that glaring, really. Here's the thing, though, you do watch Nadal matches aching for the other guy to win, so you're remembering it with anti-Rafa goggles, imo. (I say that without rancor. I respect everyone's fannishness.) We recently went over the definition of a choke, though, on the IW thread after the delPotro/Federer final, and Andújar never had a lead in the 3rd. I don't think he had a lead in the 2nd, either, so there was none to blow. As I said above, he was actually a break down in the 3rd and broke back to get to the TB. The reason I press the point is that I do think Fed fans, in particular, have a tendency to look at any match where Rafa was pressed hard and call it a choke by the guy who lost, no matter how lowly. This doesn't fit anyone's definition of a choke, "epic" or otherwise.
Congratulations to Pablo! I still think Edmund did well though not in today's match because he beat his last personal best which shows improvement. I think he's got a lot of potential & he's improving. He got further than he did last time so he's achieved something. Any improvements at all should be taken into consideration especially when you think of the calibre of their opponents. I've noticed some people on here are good at blaming the loser which is 1/2 of the story but they miss the fact that they've got very high-calibre opponents so it's not always a case of so and so was crap but the winner was very good & played very well. They don't always look at the improvements made especially by up-and-coming players & achievements of anyone except the main players. I'm not saying anything nasty here just sharing an opinion & some observations & trying to look at everything from both sides. I'm not disrespecting anyone or their views either.
Last edited:
