Roland Garros 2018, Paris, France, ATP GRAND SLAM

[DarthFed]

Folks, is there any chance KA can pull off a Soderling?

Always a chance, we can hope KA is the next Robin Hood or Buster Douglas. I can also hope a billion dollars will fall out of the sky

 

[Denis]

Always a chance, we can hope KA is the next Robin Hood or Buster Douglas. I can also hope a billion dollars will fall out of the sky

I remember Isner taking Nadal to five in the first round. But I believe this was around the time Djokovic was putting question marks in Nadal's head on clay. Soderling + Isner = Nadal is less comfortable playing the big hitters?

 

[britbox]

Folks, is there any chance KA can pull off a Soderling?

There's about as much chance as the Pope riding into Roland Garros on a camel shouting "Make the Vatican great again".

 

[brokenshoelace]

Novak's overhead and drop shots have been a problem for years. I don't see how they're going to improve. They're hit-and-miss. When his drop shots hit, especially cross-court at the net, they're stunning. His overheads can be an embarrassment. It's not even about confidence...even at his best he can duff those on more than a few occasions.

Novak's backhand drop shot is very good, as far as the shot itself goes. He's got a really good feel on that particular shot. Shot selection and the frequency with which he uses it are a different issue...

 

[Denis]

Novak's backhand drop shot is very good, as far as the shot itself goes. He's got a really good feel on that particular shot. Shot selection and the frequency with which he uses it are a different issue...

The overheads look really bad this tournament. I know it's been a bit of a weakness in his entire career, but he had the shot under control mostly in the 2011-2016 period. It's been much more shaky this tournament, maybe it's affected by confidence. I do invite Novak's opponents to try and moonball him though

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal looking sharp. The only problem remains the serve, which would be a big issue when he plays Cilic/DP and Novak/Thiem. Forehand looks super good but if I'm being too nitpicky, the backhand looked better in Monte Carlo and seems to have fallen off since.

 

[britbox]

Nadal is putting on a clinic for this young fella.

 

[britbox]

Who represents the biggest threat for Nadal here guys?

Delpo, Zverev, Thiem or Djoker?

Djoker is probably the obvious answer but with lots of strings attached.

Who would Nadal fans be most concerned facing?

 

[Denis]

Who represents the biggest threat for Nadal here guys?

Delpo, Zverev, Thiem or Djoker?

Djoker is probably the obvious answer but with lots of strings attached.

Who would Nadal fans be most concerned facing?

They will all go down in three to four sets, unfortunately.

I actually believe DP might have the biggest chance, if he manages to reach his 2009 level. Semis is a better occasion than a final to meet the bull, and interestingly the h2h is not too bad with only a few clay matches. I've always thought DP has underperformed on clay.

Regarding Djokovic, I have seen too many French Open finals to have any illusions that anything but an absolute top level Djokovic stands a chance. It's not going to happen unfortunately, but I'll root for the possibility nonetheless.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Who represents the biggest threat for Nadal here guys?

Delpo, Zverev, Thiem or Djoker?

Djoker is probably the obvious answer but with lots of strings attached.

Who would Nadal fans be most concerned facing?

Djokovic, even with the strings attached.

I'm not too worried about Zverev, even if he does make it. I actually think Nadal absolutely cleans his clock in a final.

Thiem to me, has the most strings attached. He can get destroyed like last year, but he can also give Nadal a run for his money. So he's second on my list of guys I'm worried about.

Cilic/Del Potro imo will not be easy outings in the semis. I know much have been made of Nadal's easy draw, but it seems like people always have another Soderling in mind (ie a loss to some unexpected floater with a really dangerous game early in the tournament), and that's just not realistic. Other than maybe Fognini (who Nadal can't play until the semis), there's nobody with that type of game that he'd play early, and more than that, there's a reason the Soderling loss is still referenced 9 years later. It's because it happens once a career. People should stop looking for that and look more towards guys who can trouble Nadal in the tail end of the tournament.

 

[DarthFed]

Definitely Djoker. There is always that chance, albeit small, that he has an A+ throwback match of a couple years ago. And that's about the only thing that can beat Nadal here.

 

[DarthFed]

There's about as much chance as the Pope riding into Roland Garros on a camel shouting "Make the Vatican great again".

I absolutely love that visual.

 

[DarthFed]

I remember Isner taking Nadal to five in the first round. But I believe this was around the time Djokovic was putting question marks in Nadal's head on clay. Soderling + Isner = Nadal is less comfortable playing the big hitters?

KA obviously has a great serve but it's not Isner and you are correct that it was 2011 when Rafa's confidence was pretty shattered.

 

[Denis]

Little Diego takes KA to a fifth set. Great. Well whatever, it's not going to matter much anyways.

 

[brokenshoelace]

18 unforced errors for Nadal in a set and a half... That's a bit high for him.

 

[britbox]

I absolutely love that visual.

Never say never...

 

[britbox]

Little Diego takes KA to a fifth set. Great. Well whatever, it's not going to matter much anyways.

WTF... Anderson choking big time.

 

[mrzz]

Never say never...

You missed the cap...

 

[Denis]

DS and KA are going to destroy each other I have the feeling. Might end up 12-10 in the fifth or something.

 

[kskate2]

There's no quit in lil Diego. Gotta love the guy, even though he is seriously owning Baron's no backward cap policy for non-teens.