Mercedes Cup - Stuttgart ATP 250 - June 8-14

[Carol]

Never claimed he was but he's one of these guys who plays his best against the top ranked players, in particular his power game is one which has given Nadal trouble on grass during the early rounds of Wimbledon for years and had he not missed that volley in the 2nd set tiebreak he'd have been up 2 sets to love.

If, if, if , but then we also could say IF Nadal would have had his knee in better conditions than he probably wouldn't have lost that match. And I've never heard that Rosol has given Nadal trouble on grass "for years" or not more hard than he has given to others

See that was the point I was making. His knee was not the reason he lost to Rosol originally as he very


nearly went down 2 sets to love the second time they played too. Anyway, no point arguing with yet another Nadal fan who only blames his losses on his knee.

I see another Federer's fan that refuses to recognize that Nadal was playing in his worst conditions (of course Rosol looked like Superman) and then by the Doctors recommendation he had to be 7 months out of the court to have an intensive knee treatment, otherwise his career could be finished

 

[Moxie]

Nadal won the first set in a TB, but not such clean play from either. Nadal made a lot of FH errors, as well as some unexplicable misses. Also, Baggy was 1/9 in BP conversions, while Rafa converted the only one he saw. Rafa serving pretty well, at least.

 

[Moxie]

That said, I have no idea why so many took issue with Front's initial statement. He didn't claim Rosol was an all time great or anything.

Nobody took issue with his initial statement, which was that Nadal could face Rosol first, and that it was a tough draw. But everyone was enjoying a Rosol conversation, I guess, even after he lost in the first round.

 

[Fiero425]

That said, I have no idea why so many took issue with Front's initial statement. He didn't claim Rosol was an all time great or anything.

Nobody took issue with his initial statement which was that Nadal could face Rosol first, and that it was a tough draw. But everyone was enjoying a Rosol conversation, I guess, even after he lost in the 1st round.

That's all I was saying! :angel: I see his name only because of the Nadal upset at Wimbledon, but not thinking he has Rafa's number or anything like that! :cover :nono :dodgy:

 

[Carol]

Baghdatis is giving a tough match to Rafa, he is still a big fighter, good test for Rafa (who is doing many erros) in his first match on grass

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UIaOTbqESM[/video]

 

[Kieran]

Is it just me or does Rafa look less bulky nowadays?

Good match, good venue, good crowd. Kinda match Rafa needs right now...

 

[DarthFed]

^ You are just figuring that out now

To me it's a big part if not most of the reason his forehand isn't kicking up as much. Less muscle to put into his shots.

 

[Carol]

Rafa is improving his game/shots, it's just matter of time

 

[Carol]

Rafa wins 6-2 third set, not bad result at the end

 

[Kieran]

I missed the third set, went to start cooking. I think this is a good start by Rafa. As moxie said, his serve looked okay, and he's going to need matches like this to find his "grass legs..." :clap

 

[Kieran]

Tomic next - a nice draw in the upstairs department of the draw: Baggy, Tomic, Monfils/Kohl. Anybody watch Haas-Tomic?

 

[Carol]

The misfortune of the bad losers is to blame others their own problem :lolz:cover:-/

 

[Fiero425]

Tomic next - a nice draw in the upstairs department of the draw: Baggy, Tomic, Monfils/Kohl. Anybody watch Haas-Tomic?

That top half is almost as unfair as what Nole had at the French Open! The lower is wide open! :cover :nono - We won't get it here in the States on TCC for another few hours, but will be interesting to see of Nadal was truly fighting for his life or just getting some extra grass court practice against Bags! Any thoughts? uzzled :nono :angel: :dodgy:

 

[brokenshoelace]

^ You are just figuring that out now

To me it's a big part if not most of the reason his forehand isn't kicking up as much. Less muscle to put into his shots.

I don't think that's related. But yeah, he started slimming down literally years ago, probably following the knee injuries, which is a wise idea, obviously.

 

[Puppet Master]

Rafa isn't even bulky anymore. We barely ever see someone call him The Bull of Manacor.
This is sad, to be honest, even if you don't like the guy, he is hitting new lows in his career almost every day.

 

[Carol]

7 aces by the no more bulky bull (one double fault) and 14 by his opponent (4 double faults) no bad no bad

 

[Kieran]

Rafa plays Tomic tomorrow at 2pm local time. The rest of the schedule of play is yer own business...

 

[Fiero425]

Rafa plays Tomic tomorrow at 2pm local time. The rest of the schedule of play is yer own business...

All eyes will be here early to get the lowdown on what's going on over there in Stuttgart if they don't have coverage! I was thinking it might be delayed until the afternoon like today, but my listing has 2 matches before bouncing over to the other tourneys in Europe! :angel: :dodgy:

 

[Carol]

Here is the full match Nadal-Baghdatis
Part one
http://youtu.be/JREeniKgy-4

And part two
http://youtu.be/sQ7x02QAJsI