RE: Roland Garros Order Of Play - Day 6
Broken_Shoelace said:
Nadal looked pretty shaky. The conditions didn't suit him as they were quite cool, but still. I've never felt that he's comfortable playing lefties, which is weird considering the great record he has against them. A lot of the things he has to do against lefties are unnatural to him, like varying his serve placement, use his inside out forehand as a rally shot (and thus struggling for depth since he usually hits it with angles), etc... Most striking to me is the fact that for whatever reason, his cross court forehand loses a lot of depth against lefties, and he hits it a bit too angled, trying a bit too hard to take them out of position (thus opening up the DTL forehand for his opponent). I feel in large part, his great record against lefties is due to him just being generally a better player (obvious, I know), and the fact that there are hardly any elite left handed players outside of Nadal himself (the best lefty he's played is Verdacso or something... which says a lot).
we actually talked about the lefty factor in chat. i think you touch on the most important factor on his degree of success against lefites (and why it doesn't automatically mean that he doesn't have his own problems against them) : Nadal is bound to have a better record against Lefties than everyone else has, because he's the only one who doesn't have to face the best Leftie of them all.
as for Nadal's performance, was still at work then unfortunately. but the stats don't look too pretty either. not really worried though, i reckon he'll find his groove.
too bad Kerber played so long, i only got the very end of Robredo's match (german Eurosport). loved his celebration.
also i urge everyone to look for some highlights of Benneteau/Fed. not the greatest match, but two talents at work, some seriously ridiculous shots. behind the back volley by JB (with a surprised Fed botching the reply), and that wasn't even the best point. some good stuff. gotta love Julien for the bold play. unfortunately, he was the opposite of clutch. i think he was broken at love each time, and each time with the first break point as well (Fed was 4/4), and Fed made the something like the last 10 points of the match.
fun fact re Julien, btw - quite consistent - he's now made it to the 3rd Round, but no further, for the 7th straight slam.
(actually, here's some links - probably won't work for everyone.
Benneteau behind the back, and the
point of the day, also won by Julien
uzzled
clap
