Rio Open ATP 500 Clay

[Fiero425]

What I usually read about Rafa, Novak and Roger when they loss.....
Rafa) he is not going to last to long, he is not going to win anymore GS, his injuries...he is going down hill...
Novak) he has lost his focus, he just got married, he is a new father
Roger) he has to take care of the double twins, he has won enough, he is old

Folks, for one or another reason their opponents has the right to win if that day they play better

We've become spoiled and not expecting any of these top players to lose to anyone outside of their little clique! I give them "an out" at times, but I like to think myself more rational! Rafa is in decline and it has everything to do with his body and how he abuses it in practice and getting into 3 set battles with people not in his class; qualifiers, WC's, and players who he's owned for years! I've already explained how I feel about Nole; not necessarily in decline, but his mind wanders, loses focus at times, and makes his job harder by dropping a set when he's serving for a match just 5 min. before! As for Federer, of course he's in decline; nothing embarrassing about getting old and we see him struggling to get past players a lot lower in rank year after year! He will stay on tour as long as he thinks able to win a major and won't stay a moment longer IMO! He made a Wimbledon final last season and had his chances, but they will become more and more fleeting as time goes on regardless of his advanced scheduling to help him out! :angel: :dodgy:

Every single player has to make a lot of effort and a lot of practices otherwise they couldn't be one of the best but their mentality and the confidence has to be at 100% too and that's the most difficult part after an injury. Some players are lucky not having injuries but most of them sooner or later go through it. The problem is that Nadal gets more attention than others, if not ask Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Almagro, Delpo, etc etc etc. Novak is one of the luckiest ones and not because he doesn't do any effort, his way to play is crazy, his body sometimes seems is going to divided in two parts same like his legs but at least he is "the rubber guy" I don't think Rafa is in decline but I will tell at the end of this year, the season is still long and many things can happen.

Really? :nono uzzled :cover Rafa has no defense of any titles off of clay, 3 set battles with nobodies, earlier and earlier exits from majors against WC's, qualifiers, and "also rans!" I'd re-think that IIWY! :snicker :angel: :dodgy:

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

What I usually read about Rafa, Novak and Roger when they loss.....
Rafa) he is not going to last to long, he is not going to win anymore GS, his injuries...he is going down hill...
Novak) he has lost his focus, he just got married, he is a new father
Roger) he has to take care of the double twins, he has won enough, he is old

Folks, for one or another reason their opponents has the right to win if that day they play better

We've become spoiled and not expecting any of these top players to lose to anyone outside of their little clique! I give them "an out" at times, but I like to think myself more rational! Rafa is in decline and it has everything to do with his body and how he abuses it in practice and getting into 3 set battles with people not in his class; qualifiers, WC's, and players who he's owned for years! I've already explained how I feel about Nole; not necessarily in decline, but his mind wanders, loses focus at times, and makes his job harder by dropping a set when he's serving for a match just 5 min. before! As for Federer, of

course he's in decline; nothing embarrassing about getting old and we see him struggling to get past players a lot lower in rank year after year! He will stay on tour as long as he thinks able to win a major and won't stay a moment longer IMO! He made a Wimbledon final last season and had his chances, but they will become more and more fleeting as time goes on regardless of his advanced scheduling to help him out! :angel: :dodgy:

Every single player has to make a lot of effort and a lot of practices otherwise they couldn't be one of the best but their mentality and the confidence has to be at 100% too and that's the most difficult part after an injury.
Some players are lucky not having injuries but most of them sooner or later go through it. The problem is that Nadal gets more attention than others, if not ask Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Almagro, Delpo, etc etc etc. Novak is one of the luckiest ones and not because he doesn't do any effort, his way to play is crazy, his body sometimes seems is going to divided in two parts same like his legs but at least he is "the rubber guy"
I don't think Rafa is in decline but I will tell at the end of this year, the season is still long and many things can happen

You would have to agree that Rafa isn't in his prime years anymore,the way he played at Rio to me was very poor in a lot of area's.Hopefully he will improve in his next clay tournament,he is also playing doubles with Monaco I believe.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

While there are reasons to be a bit concerned if you are a Nadal fan, I don't think panic mode should be applied

Now, this makes BA a must win tourney for Rafa. If he does not win that one, his confidence
would surely take a nosedive.

I would not say the same thing about IW or M, as I don't really expect him to win either
and would not infer anything by his possible early loss there.

It all depends GSM. If Nadal is carrying an injury and is trying to hide it, then I don't think it will be a blow to his confidence as it would be if he were healthy and without any problems. I don't think he lacks confidence on clay, ever. But he might be concerned if he is not physically where he wanted to be. We'll know soon enough.

If he is carrying a specific injury, I agree that even losing in BA will not affect his confidence.
But, you are confusing that with "being physically where he wanted to be". For example,
Rafa openly said that he is getting tired lot sooner these days. Under these circumstances,
a loss in BA will lead Rafa to have less confidence over his body's ability to do things that
he wants it to do. That confidence issue will translate from the physical realm to mental realm.

On the other hand, suppose say we come to know that he had serious groin injury and
so he lost in BA, then it won't affect his confidence.

 

[mrzz]

How could he be carrying an injury? An old one? Why the hell did he come back then? A new one? Already? Then he is becoming glass made... this is worst possible scenario for him.

Better believe in a long way back to form...

 

[Fiero425]

How could he be carrying an injury? An old one? Why the hell did he come back then? A new one? Already? Then he is becoming glass made... this is worst possible scenario for him.

Better believe in a long way back to form...

Finally! People are so willing to make excuses for Rafa for some reason! Uncle Tony, Nadal, and his fans can't accept a loss with "any grace" even when Rafa has said in the past, "I don't want to talk about my knee!" No one was; it was a pre-emptive strike to put it out there and give him cover! If I were on tour, I'd feel quite insulted! :nono uzzled :cover

 

[Carol]

We've become spoiled and not expecting any of these top players to lose to anyone outside of their little clique! I give them "an out" at times, but I like to think myself more rational! Rafa is in decline and it has everything to do with his body and how he abuses it in practice and getting into 3 set battles with people not in his class; qualifiers, WC's, and players who he's owned for years! I've already explained how I feel about Nole; not necessarily in decline, but his mind wanders, loses focus at times, and makes his job harder by dropping a set when he's serving for a match just 5 min. before! As for Federer, of course he's in decline; nothing embarrassing about getting old and we see him struggling to get past players a lot lower in rank year after year! He will stay on tour as long as he thinks able to win a major and won't stay a moment longer IMO! He made a Wimbledon final last season and had his chances, but they will become more and more fleeting as time goes on regardless
of his advanced scheduling to help him out! :angel: :dodgy:

Every single player has to make a lot of effort and a lot of practices otherwise they couldn't be one of the best but their mentality and the confidence has to be at 100% too and that's the most difficult part after an injury. Some players are lucky not having injuries but most of them sooner or later go through it. The problem is that Nadal gets more attention than others, if not ask Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Almagro, Delpo, etc etc etc. Novak is one of the luckiest ones and not because he doesn't do any effort, his way to play is crazy, his body sometimes seems is going to divided in two parts same like his legs but at least he is "the rubber guy" I don't think Rafa is in decline but I will tell at the end of this year, the season is still long and many things can happen.

Really? :nono uzzled :cover Rafa has no defense of any titles off of clay, 3 set battles with nobodies, earlier and earlier exits from majors against WC's, qualifiers, and "also rans!" I'd re-think that IIWY! :snicker :angel: :dodgy:

Great, if he has not defense any tittle and he woud start to play better he will have more opportunities to get more points
Look Roger, he is right now the #2 and how many MS and GS has won in these last two years? :huh:

 

[Carol]

How could he be carrying an injury? An old one? Why the hell did he come back then? A new one? Already? Then he is becoming glass made... this is worst possible scenario for him.

Better believe in a long way back to form...

Finally! People are so willing to make excuses for Rafa for some reason! Uncle Tony, Nadal, and his fans can't accept a loss with "any grace" even when Rafa has said in the past, "I don't want to talk about my knee!" No one was; it was a pre-emptive strike to put it out there and give him cover! If I were on tour, I'd feel quite insulted! :nono uzzled :cover

Who is talking about he is injured? it was clearly that he got a groin pull which has to be very peinful but it's not the same a discomfort than an injury and he is not

 

[Fiero425]

How could he be carrying an injury? An old one? Why the hell did he come back then? A new one? Already? Then he is becoming glass made... this is worst possible scenario for him.

Better believe in a long way back to form...

Finally! People are so willing to make excuses for Rafa for some reason! Uncle Tony, Nadal, and his fans can't accept a loss with "any grace" even when Rafa has said in the past, "I don't want to talk about my knee!" No one was; it was a pre-emptive strike to put it out there and give him cover! If I were on tour, I'd feel quite insulted! :nono uzzled :cover

Who is talking about he is injured? it was clearly that he got a groin pull which has to be very peinful but it's not the same a discomfort than an injury and he is not

When was the last time Rafa lost to someone outside of the top 3 that didn't involve "something wrong;" injury, end of a winning streak, or he was injured and had no tournament play to fall back on?" It's always something and it just makes no sense to coddle him like this; he's a man not a child! :cover :nono uzzled

 

[Front242]

Some shot there from Fognini.

 

[Carol]

Finally! People are so willing to make excuses for Rafa for some reason! Uncle Tony, Nadal, and his fans can't accept a loss with "any grace" even when Rafa has said in the past, "I don't want to talk about my knee!" No one was; it was a pre-emptive strike to put it out there and give him cover! If I were on tour, I'd feel quite insulted! :nono uzzled :cover

Who is talking about he is injured? it was clearly that he got a groin pull which has to be very peinful but it's not the same a discomfort than an injury and he is not

When was the last time Rafa lost to someone outside of the top 3 that didn't involve "something wrong;" injury, end of a winning streak, or he was injured and had no tournament play to fall back on?" It's always something and it just makes no sense to coddle him like this; he's a man not a child! :cover :nono uzzled

Nobody says that he lost bc he got a groin pull, he lost bc he was not playing well in Rio even he did worse than in the AO so he had to lose, that's all :nono :angel: :s

 

[Carol]

Vamos Ferru!!!!!!! :clap
I think Fog has enough with his yesterday win

 

[Kirijax]

Ferrer takes the first set 6-2! One more set to his 23rd title! But we all know what happened after Fognini dropped the opening set yesterday. :snicker

 

[Carol]

Ferrer takes the first set 6-2! One more set to his 23rd title! But we all know what happened after Fognini dropped the opening set yesterday. :snicker

I will tell you later :snicker

 

[Billie]

It looks like today's opponent is too tough for F3.:nono

 

[Carol]

Dedfnitely Fog doesn't like to lose, the girl with the towell is thinkig the same

 

[Fiero425]

Dedfnitely Fog doesn't like to lose, the girl with the towell is thinkig the same

Unwatchable! :cover :nono :angel: :dodgy:

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Unbelievable get from Ferrer at the net

Vamos Ferrer who will serve for the match and the title at Rio 5-1

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Oh wait...15-40?

 

[Carol]

Well played Ferru!! :clap

 

[Billie]

How could he be carrying an injury? An old one? Why the hell did he come back then? A new one? Already? Then he is becoming glass made... this is worst possible scenario for him.

Better believe in a long way back to form...

Finally! People are so willing to make excuses for Rafa for some reason! Uncle Tony, Nadal, and his fans can't accept a loss with "any grace" even when Rafa has said in the past, "I don't want to talk about my knee!" No one was; it was a pre-emptive strike to put it out there and give him cover! If I were on tour, I'd feel quite insulted! :nono uzzled :cover

Sorry, I am the guilty party. I didn't want to imply that he was injured, but it is possible that with the humidity and the late finish from the previous match he didn't feel quite right. F3 was deserving winner.