Nadal v Nishikori - Mutua Madrid Masters Final

[Murat Baslamisli]

I am not happy with the Clay Warrior...

:snigger

 

[Moxie]

Not sure where Rafa was for the first set and a half. I didn't recognise him out there. Happy he won but he's going to have to improve in Rome.

It's a shame Nishikori has had to pull out of Rome.

BTW how often is Chang at matches? I don't think I've ever seen him. I don't watch too many Kei matches but I'd have thought I would have seen Chang at at least one.

I was also surprised by Rafa's lack of appearance today. I was willing to understand if he was nervous to start. It was his to lose. He's been up-and-down of late, though mostly up for Madrid. And I'm not surprised that Kei came out fast, as he would have needed to. The fact that Nadal didn't right the ship in the 2nd, or capitalize on opportunities was shocking, tbh.

And also tbh, it's a dirty shame that Kei had to lose today. He played magnificently until his back let him down. Sorry to hear he's out of Rome.

Chang wasn't in Madrid, but I've seen him in Kei's box often since they paired up.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I am not happy with the Clay Warrior...

:snigger

Why are you not happy with Kei? He won Barcelona and reached the final here.
He cannot win everything. Besides he had injury. :huh:

 

[TsarMatt]

Ah, what a shame. Hate to see anyone lose a tennis match like that, especially when you were in complete control for most of its duration. Kei was playing some impeccable tennis, but injuries are part of the sport, I guess, and they can hit you at unexpected times.

It's funny how other people across the tennis community are blaming Nadal for this and throwing a hissy fit about it. It's not his fault that Kei got injured. Nobody likes to win a Masters 1000 or any title for that manner like that -- it's pretty anti-climatic, and Nadal knew that fortune was on his side in that case. He also knew he played some pretty mediocre tennis. He's probably not feeling too thrilled with what has transpired IMO.

Overall, as much as it hurts to see Kei not taking the title, he proved a lot in this match and has solidified himself as a legit top ten player in my books. He's pretty young and if he can overcome this string of injuries, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of this brilliant brand of tennis.

It's never fun to see a final go down the route that it did today, but that's part of sport.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I am not happy with the Clay Warrior...

:snigger

Why are you not happy with Kei? He won Barcelona and reached the final here.
Besides he had injury. :huh:

A couple of words for Kei;

He is becoming a versatile player. I like that. He can come forward more, but you can say that for pretty much everyone except Llodra.

He looks like he always has a clear game plan and no matter what he is trying to execute it. I can credit him for it but also Chang and the rest of the coaching staff for instilling this discipline in him. None players think certain patterns happen during a game that is a coincidence. They are not.

He is going for his shots, making amazing winners yet still looks like he is playing within himself. That is scary for the rest of the field.

He is calm. He does not get carried away after a big winner, a crucial hold or a bad miss. That is a star quality. I know some people show every emotion that they go through and still have tons of success, but I have always preferred the players who give you nothing. They make a killer shot, nothing...as if they are saying " Nothing special there, I got tons more where it came from."
Or they miss an easy one , nothing..." This one is free...next time, you are eating that ball" kind of attitude.

Now let's see if he and his team can figure out how to keep him healthy so we can watch him play at the WTF.

 

[Riotbeard]

I am not happy with the Clay Warrior...

:snigger

Why are you not happy with Kei? He won Barcelona and reached the final here.
Besides he had injury. :huh:

A couple of words for Kei;

He is becoming a versatile player. I like that. He can come forward more, but you can say that for pretty much everyone except Llodra.

He looks like he always has a clear game plan and no matter what he is trying to execute it. I can credit him for it but also Chang and the rest of the coaching staff for instilling this discipline in him. None players think certain patterns happen during a game that is a coincidence. They are not.

He is going for his shots, making amazing winners yet still looks like he is playing within himself. That is scary for the rest of the field.

He is calm. He does not get carried away after a big winner, a crucial hold or a bad miss. That is a star quality. I know some people show every emotion that they go through and still have tons of success, but I have always preferred the players who give you nothing. They make a killer shot, nothing...as if they are saying " Nothing special there, I got tons more where it came from."
Or they miss an easy one , nothing..." This one is free...next time, you are eating that ball" kind of attitude.

Now let's see if he and his team can figure out how to keep him healthy so we can watch him play at the WTF.

This could be a really fun year. New blood legitimately competing! I know it's been rough for rafa (novak even more so really as he didn't defend the AO, but maybe after the FO...). As much as it's sad to see wear on our old favorites, it's really fun honestly not knowing who will win each tournament.

 

[Moxie]

I am not happy with the Clay Warrior...

:snigger

Why are you not happy with Kei? He won Barcelona and reached the final here.
Besides he had injury. :huh:

A couple of words for Kei;

He is becoming a versatile player. I like that. He can come forward more, but you can say that for pretty much everyone except Llodra.

He looks like he always has a clear game plan and no matter what he is trying to execute it. I can credit him for it but also Chang and the rest of the coaching staff for instilling this discipline in him. None players think certain patterns happen during a game that is a coincidence. They are not.

He is going for his shots, making amazing winners yet still looks like he is playing within himself. That is scary for the rest of the field.

He is calm. He does not get carried away after a big winner, a crucial hold or a bad miss. That is a star quality. I know some people show every emotion that they go through and still have tons of success, but I have always preferred the players who give you nothing. They make a killer shot, nothing...as if they are saying " Nothing special there, I got tons more where it came from."
Or they miss an easy one , nothing..." This one is free...next time, you are eating that ball" kind of attitude.

Now let's see if he and his team can figure out how to keep him healthy so we can watch him play at the WTF.

This could be a really fun year. New blood legitimately competing! I know it's been rough for rafa (novak even more so really as he didn't defend the AO, but maybe after the FO...). As much as it's sad to see wear on our old favorites, it's really fun honestly not knowing who will win each tournament.

As much as I have a vested interest in at least one of the Old Guard, I have to approve your message, RB.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

But, I would like it if he can stop using "We" when referring to Rafa's wins, losses, comebacks
etc. Hope it is due to either bad English of Toni or due to bad translation.

 

[Moxie]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

But, I would like it if he can stop using "We" when referring to Rafa's wins, losses, comebacks
etc. Hope it is due to either bad English of Toni or due to bad translation.

Toni is right in what he said about the match. As to the use of "we," they both do it, always. It's not due to translation. They are a team. It's always "we." There is a great symbiosis in Nadal's team, which works for him. I don't see why that's a bad thing.

 

[Federberg]

Well done Uncle Toni!

 

[Kieran]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

Exactly. He didn't spin it as a great win, the way some people did with Stan's victory in Oz. The injury destroyed this one as a competitive encounter, too, although you're only allowed to say that when it's Rafa's opponent who goes lame...

 

[Denis]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

Exactly. He didn't spin it as a great win, the way some people did with Stan's victory in Oz. The injury destroyed this one as a competitive encounter, too, although you're only allowed to say that when it's Rafa's opponent who goes lame...

I think this narrative goes to show just how dishonest the Rafa fans here are. Comparing Oz to this is just ridiculous. Rafa was outplayed by Stan, then got injured. Kei was outplaying Rafa badly, then got injured. Rafa didn't come close to winning both. Kei was about to win, before he got injured.

Good on Toni that he is able to make decent comments too.

 

[TsarMatt]

But, I would like it if he can stop using "We" when referring to Rafa's wins, losses, comebacks

I guess we can't say stuff like "our football team played bad on the weekend" or "we just aren't good enough" anymore.

 

[Kieran]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

Exactly. He didn't spin it as a great win, the way some people did with Stan's victory in Oz. The injury destroyed this one as a competitive encounter, too, although you're only allowed to say that when it's Rafa's opponent who goes lame...

I think this narrative goes to show just how dishonest the Rafa fans here are. Comparing Oz to this is just ridiculous. Rafa was outplayed by Stan, then got injured. Kei was outplaying Rafa badly, then got injured. Rafa didn't come close to winning both. Kei was about to win, before he got injured.

Good on Toni that he is able to make decent comments too.

This narrative goes to show just how stupid non-Rafa fans are when it comes to Rafa. Dishonest, too. And deluded.

Stan was making 39% of his first serves and Rafa kept chunking the returns, most egregiously at 5-3 for Stan, 0-40, three second serves, none returned.

But of course, the party line states that Stan was over the line already when Rafa went lame, which is where the dishonesty comes in. Yeah, Stan won the first set. So did Murray against Nole the previous year. Plenty of guys have won the first set and lost, in a five set match.

Plenty have won the first set and won.

But with the Oz final, we'll never know, and with the final yesterday, we'll never know. There's your similarity...

 

[Moxie]

^I think Denisovich's comment shows his own bias. Everyone is sorry that Nishikori got hurt when he was playing so well, and no Nadal fans that I can see celebrated this win. However, loads of detractors danced on Nadal's grave that he got hurt and couldn't play out the AO final. I know Broken predicted we'd come back to that match, but…Stan played a great first set, but even a lame Nadal took the third. There's no telling how it would have gone had Rafa been able. That was a best of 5 set match. In Madrid, Kei was 2 games from the title. In OZ, Stan was 2 sets away when Rafa's back went. There's really no comparison, in terms of projecting the win.

What might beg comparison is how one injured player in a final is treated, versus another. This would question the notion of "dishonesty," (to use Denisovich's elaborate word,) though I'd think "unfairness" would suffice.

 

[Kieran]

Exactly. And funny enough, the ones I feel sorry for in both cases is the fans who paid in, because they didn't get to see a compete match either time.

Kei seems mentally tuned this year: he'll be back...

 

[Moxie]

Kei seems mentally tuned this year: he'll be back...

Like Rafa. Injury won't keep a good man down.

 

[tented]

If I told you back in 2005 that Rafa was going to dominate clay and win 95% of his matches until 2013.......you would have called me a fanboy ...

This is a great point. We've become so accustomed to his insane level of dominance over the past decade. The extraordinary can quietly become the norm. And then it's not.

 

[tented]

Uncle Toni Says:

"We don't deserve the victory, (Nishikori) deserves it, he played better than us the whole time," Nadal's uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Antenna 3 TV. "We had a lot of luck today. We didn't really come back, he was hurt."

At least he did not put any spin and called a spade a spade.

But, I would like it if he can stop using "We" when referring to Rafa's wins, losses, comebacks
etc. Hope it is due to either bad English of Toni or due to bad translation.

Toni is right in what he said about the match. As to the use of "we," they both do it, always. It's not due to translation. They are a team. It's always "we." There is a great symbiosis in Nadal's team, which works for him. I don't see why that's a bad thing.

Also, it's absolutely not exclusive to Rafa and Toni. Tons of players use "we" in such contexts.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Perhaps now people will appreciate what Rafa has done on clay for the last 9 years and counting......

They already do...I hope.