johnsteinbeck said:
Broken_Shoelace said:
Nadal looked quite mediocre in the first week, and most worryingly, his performances have dropped with each match (regardless of the result).
Right now, his movement and cross court forehand are both below par, and if he doesn't step it up, he's going to suffer. If he faces Djokovic at this level, he's done. He seems to be visibly struggling when moving to his forehand side too.
When I used to watch Nadal a few years ago, there would be dozens of instances in one match when I wonder "how on earth did he get to that"? Those instances are few and far in between these days, which says a lot. His defending is just not what it needs to be.
i reckon you're our resident Pessimist, but do you really think he's gotten worse? i saw bits of the Klizan in a rerun, and there were some oddities (the botched fh pass on match Point, when Klizan already had his mind in the locker room for instance); commentator was already thinking of a third category - winners, UEs, and "Errors Nadal usually doesn't make".
so the F3 match was Worse than that, despite the scoreline? bummer. then again, Rafa has upped the ante when necessary time and again, so i'm not particularly worried.
This has nothing to do with pessimism. Nadal's cross court forehand looked super shaky against Fabio (we attributed that to Klizan being a lefty in the previous match, not sure what the justification is here). He's clearly struggling when forced to stretch out on the forehand side, and is coming up with a predictable -- and weak -- reply. He wasn't moving well at all, and really by his standard, his defense was almost "bad." Now there's something I didn't think I'd say about Nadal.
Plus, his positioning on the return has gotten worse with each match.
Denisovich said:
johnsteinbeck said:
Broken_Shoelace said:
Nadal looked quite mediocre in the first week, and most worryingly, his performances have dropped with each match (regardless of the result).
Right now, his movement and cross court forehand are both below par, and if he doesn't step it up, he's going to suffer. If he faces Djokovic at this level, he's done. He seems to be visibly struggling when moving to his forehand side too.
When I used to watch Nadal a few years ago, there would be dozens of instances in one match when I wonder "how on earth did he get to that"? Those instances are few and far in between these days, which says a lot. His defending is just not what it needs to be.
i reckon you're our resident Pessimist, but do you really think he's gotten worse? i saw bits of the Klizan in a rerun, and there were some oddities (the botched fh pass on match Point, when Klizan already had his mind in the locker room for instance); commentator was already thinking of a third category - winners, UEs, and "Errors Nadal usually doesn't make".
so the F3 match was Worse than that, despite the scoreline? bummer. then again, Rafa has upped the ante when necessary time and again, so i'm not particularly worried.
I agree with BS, Nadal looks very average out there. Djokovic is streamrolling over Dimitrov on the other hand. If things stay the way they are, I fancy Djokovic's chances.
Here's my (non official) prediction: If the conditions are cool and Nadal's level doesn't pick up significantly (meaning even if it picks up marginally), Novak will win in straight sets, in a surprisingly straightforward affair.
I reserve my right to alter the prediction based on Nadal's level in the second week, which IMO, will improve.
She's just average in many countries.
