Monte Carlo Rolex Masters

[herios]

Benoit Paire through in 2 sets: 6-3, 6-4 against Sousa.
Berdych lost the first set against Dzumhur, they are now in the 3 set.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AIy9FfY0s4[/video]

 

[herios]

Tomas Berdych upset by Damir Dzumhur:
6-4, 6-7, 6-3 fo the Bosnian.
This will hurt, as he was defending 600 points.

 

[isabelle]

Tomas Berdych upset by Damir Dzumhur:
6-4, 6-7, 6-3 fo the Bosnian.
This will hurt, as he was defending 600 points.

inconstant Birdie out of top 8 next monday

 

[herios]

Nadal cruises to 5-1, then he is broken when serving for the set.
Second try now.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrST3vUKT54[/video]

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4-BOOCrtf4[/video]

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa still has the "JowillieTs " when serving for the match , it takes time

 

[Front242]

Tomas Berdych upset by Damir Dzumhur:
6-4, 6-7, 6-3 fo the Bosnian.
This will hurt, as he was defending 600 points.

Good for Dzumhur. Hopefully some of the more reasonable posters out there will give him a bit more credit for beating Nadal recently now. Though I doubt it. Conditions were the same for both of them in their match. Handling the heat/conditions is all part of the game. Survival of the fittest.

 

[nehmeth]

Benoit Paire through in 2 sets: 6-3, 6-4 against Sousa.

Hopefully Paire can build on this win. He's not had a good start to the year.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOg7fXdbLqY[/video]

 

[El Dude]

Come on, Jiri, let's add some spice back into this tour.

 

[El Dude]

I've always paired Vesely with Thiem - both were born in 1993, both were rising at a similar pace until Thiem jumped ahead last year. Hopefully this is a real sign of progress for Vesely, whether he beats Novak or not.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Wtf?

 

[El Dude]

Wow. Congrats to Vesely.

 

[Busted]

Wow. Congrats to Vesely.

I just saw the score and am actually kind of stunned that Djokovic lost in the 2nd round. It's his 2nd loss of the season and it's only April! Shocking! :lolz: How long before people start to say he's too old, his best days are behind him, he's lost a step, the younger guys have caught up, he'll never win another tournament and he might as well go ahead and retire? :laydownlaughing

Seriously though, good for Vesely. The question now is - can he win his next match? Because none of these guys ever seem to be able to back up a big win.

 

[Riotbeard]

It would be interesting if anybody who watched the match could give a report.

No big deal for Novak, but not an ideal way to start the clay season either.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnvCH_LAN_0[/video]

 

[Fiero425]

It would be interesting if anybody who watched the match could give a report.

No big deal for Novak, but not an ideal way to start the clay season either.

I woke just in time to catch the last few games! Jiri won it; Nole didn't lose it from what little I saw of it! Vesely served well, was confident enough to hit a nice drop shot faking Nole out when it got tight! I think if this was in Paris, it would have gone 5 with Djokovic wearing him down! From what I hear, Nole promised to go to Madrid by "special invitation" and really didn't need the extra work before the FO! I'm not panicking yet! :angel: :dodgy:

 

[El Dude]

I just saw the score and am actually kind of stunned that Djokovic lost in the 2nd round. It's his 2nd loss of the season and it's only April! Shocking! :lolz: How long before people start to say he's too old, his best days are behind him, he's lost a step, the younger guys have caught up, he'll never win another tournament and he might as well go ahead and retire? :laydownlaughing

Seriously though, good for Vesely. The question now is - can he win his next match? Because none of these guys ever seem to be able to back up a big win.

I know you jest, but the decline has to start somewhere, sometime. I don't think this is it, that Novak is about to fall off a cliff. And certainly even he is allowed off days. But consider:

*Vesely (#55) Is the lowest ranked opponent Novak has lost to in six years
*It is Novak's first loss at a big tournament (Slam, WTF, Masters) since he lost the Cincinnati Masters to Roger Federer back in August of last year (actually, he lost a match to Roger at the WTF in November, but went on to win the tournament)

The bottom line: What this tells us is that Novak is not unbeatable, and that's rather huge. He is still (by a good margin) the best player on tour and is likely to remain the best player for the foreseeable future, but Jiri let us know that the gap might not be quite as big as it has been over the last year and a half, or at least 7+ months.