Nitto ATP Finals, 2019, London

[Moxie]

Interestingly, now Sasha is an answer to the trivia question - Name a player to have beat all members of Big Three in WTF?

I was wondering whether the answer is unique or not. I think it is unique.

Another random trivia point: the only player this year to go double-digits in wins on all 3 surfaces is Berrettini. Who'd have thought?

 

[Bonaca]

Tentative would mean that he wasn't going for his shots. But he did go for his shots. He just missed. He was not playing it safe the whole time and letting Zverev belt shots all over the place. Nadal went for his shots but did not make them.



It's fast only if you hit flat or if you hit a bomb serve. If shots are hit with any topspin at all the court clearly plays slow. Nadal's best on hardcourts normally comes when his shots fly off the court and he get his opponents chasing. It's impossible to do that at the O2 when there is a dead bounce. It's also harder for him to redirect his opponents' shots with surprise CC shots when their shots are sitting up an extra split-second too.

Why did Austrian so well on this courts? All because of Rogers poor play? I’m asking honestly, not ironic.

 

[Andy22]

You just make it worse to say that he was injured. Everyone claims that that's all Nadal fans ever say. He played like crap. Is that too hard to say?

I understand but nadal just got injured in paris so its not something that's made up its a real injury that just was a week ago he clearly was not 100 percent ready for the match.

 

[Moxie]

I understand but nadal just got injured in paris so its not something that's made up its a real injury that just was a week ago he clearly was not 100 percent ready for the match.

But that is not the answer as to why he played so poorly today. Even if it had a bearing on it. If you blame his losses on injury, you feed the trolls. Sometimes we all have to "man-up" and say we got our ass kicked.

 

[Bonaca]

I understand but nadal just got injured in paris so its not something that's made up its a real injury that just was a week ago he clearly was not 100 percent ready for the match.

he played really bad and i wrote before, it seems he isnt ready to compete on high level. Either he is still injured or he is afraid zhat the injury comes back. Hope he is healthy and can beat the greek.

 

[AnonymousFan]

 

[Bonaca]

I am looking forward to the Novak match, hope he puts the Austrian easily away.
But realistically it will be a tough one.

 

[don_fabio]

I was glad to see Tsitsipas overcoming the mental block against Medvedev. Greek did the same by beating FAA in Asia, so that's 2 milestones reached recently which seem small, but I'm sure it's big for him.

Thiem beating Fed came as a bigger surprise to me, because he beat him indoors. Still Dominic won 5 titles this season of which 3 are on the hard. He would have tought that. He made a real good progress this season. Playing less tournaments proves to be an important factor. Finally he realized that less is more sometimes. Happy for him too.

Zverev beating Nadal is not that surprising knowing that Rafa is not at his 100 percent, but the score itself is. I was expecting more fight from Rafa.

Most of the match ups are really interesting and today should be a good one between Novak and Thiem. Novak will look to revenge on that RG loss.

 

[mrzz]

Another random trivia point: the only player this year to go double-digits in wins on all 3 surfaces is Berrettini. Who'd have thought?

Not in my book. I use hexadecimal notation.

 

[The_Grand_Slam]

Another random trivia point: the only player this year to go double-digits in wins on all 3 surfaces is Berrettini. Who'd have thought?

Federer also

 

[mrzz]

I was glad to see Tsitsipas overcoming the mental block against Medvedev. Greek did the same by beating FAA in Asia, so that's 2 milestones reached recently which seem small, but I'm sure it's big for him.

This game rubs me in the wrong way but anyway he played big, big boy tennis against Medvedev. If he, Medvedev himself and Zverev keep showing this level (big if), 2020 might be very different from the last years.

 

[isabelle]

Sasha rocks but the newly married guy seems to be still injured....he was slow and not very offensive

 

[Carol]

 

[calitennis127]

He hit many more mid-court. Sure, he missed the lines, but was far from going for them as much as he should have.

You are only saying that because he lost. He went for plenty of shots on the margins but missed. Besides, Nadal always plays a high-percentage style. Was this your first time watching him? Show me where he has ever just played for the lines.

This point makes no sense at all. They don't have an extra second to track shots down, because the court is fast. It doesn't matter if they hit flat or with spin, if they can't get to the shot.

They ARE getting to the shots. Wtf are you watching? These are not fast-paced rallies at all. Like I said, unless someone is taking a massive cut and hitting flat, winners are very rare on this court.

This I think is just completely wrong. A dead bounce is characteristic of grass, for example, which is fast.

The ball at Wimbledon moves much faster off the ground than it does at O2....it's not even comparable. I am not talking about the height of the bounce but its skid effect. You are only saying that grass has a dead bounce because the ball does not jump up high.....but that's not the only element to consider with a bounce. At Wimbledon, yes, the shots stay lower, but they also move through the court faster. Does Federer hit winners at the O2 with the ease that he does at Wimbledon? No, it's not even comparable. And that's because the O2 court does not allow shots to skip and skid through like the Wimbledon court does.

And the slower HCs tend to have a bit more bounce. It's one of the things that makes them slow.

A high bounce does not automatically mean that a court is playing slow. That is far too simplistic. You can have a court playing slow with a low to moderate bounce, and that is precisely what the O2 court does.

Zverev was able to tee off on Nadal's shots because he had all day to set up. And the reason he had all day to set up is that Nadal's topspin does not provide the same kind of skid or skip effect on the O2 court that it does elsewhere.

 

[mrzz]

Conference call held by RaNaUWA (Rafael Nadal United Web Army):

(Nadal's press agent): Ok, everyone is connected. Now we just need to wait for him to join....

...silence...

(unidentified forum user #1): He is surely massaging his wonderful butt, that is a good reason to keep us waiting.

(unidentified forum user #2): Oh, yes, better than to massage a big potato nose, for sure.

(unidentified forum user #3): He is the GOAT. The GOAT.

(everyone starts screaming): THE GOAT. THE GOAT.

(someone screams louder than everyone else): The GOD! He is GOD!

(screaming diminishes a bit, awkwardness can be felt. Someone remarks): God is a western construct, it is not inclusive and misogynist. We do not say god anymore. We say god/godess/godjez/Alah/Alahia/Aleluia/Ctulu.

(unidentified forum user #4): god/godess/godjez/Alah/Alahia/Aleluia/Ctulu must flat out his forehand.

(unidentified forum user #5) Maybe that's too much. I won't call him that. I don't like nicknames. Besides, you can be an atheist and a Nadal fan...

(Nadal enters): Hello, no?

(everyone: multiple hellos, one person dies of a heart attack, no one notices): Hello, Rafaaaaaaaaaa...

(Nadal): Ok, guys, this will be a quick one. This marriage is consuming all my time, no? That hijo de puta Italian reporter, fuck him. I just need to write to apologize to everyone I could not invite to the marriage, ugh. It takes forever, no? That's why I cannot... but no, this loss has nothing to do with the marriage. (screams with his hand over the mic) "No, querida, no estoy ablando de eso, no..." (than mumbles) "Carajo". (continues): Aham, new plan, muchachos. I will congratulate the opponent, say he played a fantastic match, unbelievable match, blah, blah, blah, but I will explicitly say "no injuries" ok. I will say that. Then it is your job to spread rumours about injury on the forums and on the Facebook, Twitter and all that stuff, no? But very specially on the forums, no? Yes, that one specially. Si, si, ese de los maricones que siguen ablando de.. I will sue, ok. Will sue them. That hijo de puta that made money betting on Brown. Hijo de puta! That stinky hair! Hij....

(turned off).

 

[calitennis127]

Moxie did not directly answer my question because she has no answer. All I asked was how someone could say Nadal has the best forehand after a showing like that. She did not address what I was asking.

What you fail to acknowledge is that all of the Big 3 have failings and weaknesses. Maybe there is no especial time of the year when you could say that Federer's main weapons fail him, but they do fail him. Even his fans acknowledge that he can shank like a weekender.

Shanking is not the same as putting your best foot forward and simply being ineffectual.

Same with Djokovic...runs the table, then disappears for 2 years. Can barely hit an overhead to save himself from embarrassment.

What? Do you seriously think Djokovic had down stretches because of overheads - shots that comprise no more than 2% of his rallies?

Is Rafa's forehand one of the greatest ever? Yes, it is.

Perhaps on clay. Definitely not indoors. Definitely not, lol.

You're just putting up another thread because you can't stand Rafa, let's face it.

No, like I have said, my perception of Nadal is a mixed bag. I more so can't stand what his fan base says about him and also the way he has won certain big matches.

 

[Carol]

What really Rafa answered to that Italian stupid reporter

 

[Andy22]

But that is not the answer as to why he played so poorly today. Even if it had a bearing on it. If you blame his losses on injury, you feed the trolls. Sometimes we all have to "man-up" and say we got our ass kicked.

no my opinion is that nadal was injured or not match ready, yes he got he's ass kicked but that would that happen if nadal had more time unlikey, of course zverev might have won anyway but say it had noting to do with paris injury is a very unlikely] but anyway we will see if your right in nadal next matches.

 

[Andy22]

see berrettini can win games against Federer but so far not sets

 

[atttomole]

What really Rafa answered to that Italian stupid reporter

Italian journalist ask stupid questions sometimes. His response was perfect.