Shanghai Rolex Masters 2015

[britbox]

@Billie - Yes, see what you mean.  I'm "fixing" a couple of bits and it looks like I "unfixed" that in the process!  Will try and fix ASAP!

 

[britbox]

A very good and tight 1st set, maybe it took something out of Tomic, as well as he finished late last night. BB. is something going on with Quote and Reply? not working again.

Fixed

 

[isabelle]

Nadal destroys Wawrinka 6-2 6-2. Wawrinka looked flat, but Nadal played as well as I’ve seen him play all year.

Stan was shoulder injured but Nadal played great

 

[britbox]

I’d say that’s the most impressive 3-match stretch Nadal has put together all year. It’s good that he got tough draw. I’m even happy Tsonga beat Anderson even though the latter would have made for a much easier match-up. First encouraging signs all year, honestly.

Yeah, maybe he's getting "match-tough" - definitely looked a lot better this week and a lot less tight.

 

[Billie]

Billie wrote:
A very good and tight 1st set, maybe it took something out of Tomic, as well as he finished late last night. BB. is something going on with Quote and Reply? not working again.

Fixed

Good, I thought it was me again LOL

Tomic couldn't stay in set #2, but no surprise really, he played so well for as long as he could.  He had some tough matches previously so Nole took advantage of that.

 

[britbox]

britbox wrote:
Nadal destroys Wawrinka 6-2 6-2. Wawrinka looked flat, but Nadal played as well as I’ve seen him play all year.

Stan was shoulder injured but Nadal played great

Hey @isabelle, did he say that in the press conference?  He didn't look too troubled by it during the match... but he definitely seemed flat. I thought the Cilic match might have taken a bit out of him.

 

[Billie]

britbox wrote:
Nadal destroys Wawrinka 6-2 6-2. Wawrinka looked flat, but Nadal played as well as I’ve seen him play all year.

Stan was shoulder injured but Nadal played great

Too bad this was too early for me to watch.  Great result for Nadal.

 

[Billie]

I really like Berdych's outfit.  He looks handsome.  I know it is not the most important thing in tennis,...LOL

That was a lengthy rally and Andy wins it.

 

[Billie]

That is some hitting at the start of the match and Andy draws blood first and breaks Tomas to lead 2:1.

 

[Billie]

Berdych is not playing that bad, but Andy is there for every ball and forces Tomas to go for more.  Double break for Murray.   There seems to be more fans in the stands today.

 

Wow that was some set from Murray, his return is smothering Berdych.   Alright looks like semis are set.

 

[britbox]

First set to Muzza.  Really solid. He's killing Berd's serve on the return.

 

[Billie]

I don't know what Berdych can do to turn this around unless Murray drops his level.

Enjoy the rest of the match, work calls.

 

[isabelle]

C'mon Andy

 

[MikeOne]

hmm... is this the time when Nadal once again, starts to shut his critics up? just like he did in 2010 and 2013 after injuries sidelined him for months?

he's had a touch draw - Ivo, Raonic, Wawrkina and now Tsonga! If he gets past tsonga it would be pretty impressive given this is not Nadal's best surface.

 

[lucyliu]

britbox wrote:
Nadal destroys Wawrinka 6-2 6-2. Wawrinka looked flat, but Nadal played as well as I’ve seen him play all year.

Stan was shoulder injured but Nadal played great

I miss it isabelle   i sorry that stan was injured and not fight better but good wishes to nadal

 

[britbox]

hmm… is this the time when Nadal once again, starts to shut his critics up? just like he did in 2010 and 2013 after injuries sidelined him for months? he’s had a touch draw – Ivo, Raonic, Wawrkina and now Tsonga! If he gets past tsonga it would be pretty impressive given this is not Nadal’s best surface.

I think Nadal takes Tsonga.  Question is can he ride out a storm v Djokovic or Murray.  Murray just cleaned Berdych's clock - flawless performance.  Could be a great semi between Murray and Djoker.  Hope they'll have something left for the final.

 

[calitennis127]

hmm… is this the time when Nadal once again, starts to shut his critics up? just like he did in 2010 and 2013 after injuries sidelined him for months? he’s had a touch draw – Ivo, Raonic, Wawrkina and now Tsonga! If he gets past tsonga it would be pretty impressive given this is not Nadal’s best surface.

I was not one of those critics in the first half of 2013. It was clear that everything was fine during the Golden Swing. That doesn't change the unfortunate reality that the 2013 US Open loss was one of the worst of Djokovic's career.....he gave that one away.

 

[calitennis127]

I think Nadal takes Tsonga. Question is can he ride out a storm v Djokovic or Murray. Murray just cleaned Berdych’s clock – flawless performance. Could be a great semi between Murray and Djoker. Hope they’ll have something left for the final.

I think one factor here is that not only did Djokovic and Nadal just play, but I do think Nadal takes pride in his H2H record against the top players and he does not want Djokovic to draw to .500 with him. The H2H has never been tied and Nadal knows that this end-of-the-year stretch on hardcourts is a time that he could quite easily lose his H2H advantage over Djokovic if he doesn't step it up.

 

 

 

 

 

[brokenshoelace]

MikeOne wrote:
hmm… is this the time when Nadal once again, starts to shut his critics up? just like he did in 2010 and 2013 after injuries sidelined him for months? he’s had a touch draw – Ivo, Raonic, Wawrkina and now Tsonga! If he gets past tsonga it would be pretty impressive given this is not Nadal’s best surface.

I was not one of those critics in the first half of 2013. It was clear that everything was fine during the Golden Swing. That doesn’t change the unfortunate reality that the 2013 US Open loss was one of the worst of Djokovic’s career…..he gave that one away.

He gave it away by losing to a player in better form who played better for the majority of the match? (Novak was better in the second half of the second set and first half of the third. That's not enough). He only "gave it away" in the sense that he's a superior hard court player in general, whose best on the surface beats Nadal's best on most days. But Djokovic wasn't that impressive that summer, at all. Nadal was, and he had beaten Djokovic the two times they played before that, which includes Montreal a few weeks earlier. Novak's performance in that final was no worse than much of his play that summer and not nearly as bad as his performance against Murray at Wimbledon, which you almost never bring up, as the loss doesn't bother you as much.

Off the top of my head, losing to Safin and Haas at Wimbledon, Kohlschreiber and Melzer at RG, Roddick in Australia, Tsonga in Australia (that was a god awful performance), Berdych at Wimbledon, and both Murray at the US Open (again, watch how bad Novak was for the majority of that match) and Murray at Wimbledon (easily Novak's worst ever grand slam final performance) were easily worse losses than losing to the Nadal at the US Open, especially when Nadal was the best player in the world at that point. And that's only counting the major losses.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I can't see Nadal beating Novak on this surface, like at all. Under the best of circumstances it's an uphill battle, under current circumstances, it would legitimately be one of the most surprising Rafa wins in the past few years.