Wimbledon Day 1: Monday, June 24 - Order of Play

[britbox]

I really think the brutal SF @ RG was extremely taxing. The dude played a ton of tennis leading up to it and left it all on the court that day. I didn't see the reason why Rafa skipped halle berry and forgive me if it was shared here, but it looks kind of obvious now. Granted the best time to get Rafa at Wimby is early, and Darcis did play out of mind likely sensing Rafa was vulnerable. What was really surprising was Nadal has NO fight in him today. Something had to be hurting and I think we know what.

To be honest, I think the match was fixed ...Joking!

Seriously I hope he's back for the USO. The sport needs him.

He might be gassed but it didn't stop him from pouncing Ferrer in the final on clay. You move this match to next week and Rafa probably drops 6 games max. This surface, specifically the 1st week of Wimbledon, is the biggest issue for him.

It is an issue in last two years, I don't think it was before when he was playing all those finals.

And what is that with grass to cause him problems? The ball bouncing lower than on any other surface? I ask, I don't know.

You must be happy that the draw got more balanced for Fed.

As you know the grass gets worn out by the 2nd week and plays significantly slower and bounces higher. Rafa has only lost the last 2 years but even when he made the finals he was usually struggling majorly through the first week. The only exceptions were 2008 (by far the best tennis of his career) and 2011 when he lost the final to Djokovic.

Naturally a very fast and low bouncing surface is not good for his game. The bounce is much more important than the speed. If his topspin isn't wreaking havoc and he can't defend as well then he is there for the taking.

Thanks for the explanation, now I can wish him low bounces everywhere.

Have you noticed the pattern in last two years? Nadal beats No1e at FO, then he wins a match after beating No1e and then he loses. I wonder if that is just a coincidence.

---

All I have to say to this is I am sick of hearing about his knees. Very funny that when he went on a tear for 4 full months, the knees were fine. He changes the surface and his knee ares suddenly bad.
Why his knees didn't get bad in Rome, or Barcelona or Paris?

I have no idea. I am not an expert on Rafa's knees. I'm only commenting on what I saw and what I saw was a Rafa that was not moving as well as he usually does. Post-match I've been reading comments from numerous tennis journalists on twitter and they've all mentioned Nadal's movement and surmised that his knee was a problem. The only person that didn't mention the knee was Rafa himself.

IMO, everyone moves more tentatively on grass for the first few days when is slippery. He has to be even more cautious and avoid slips like we saw Azarenka had, considering his knees history.
And the journalists will try to find explanations for such a shocking result, because this was worst ever by him in a slam. They will always revisit the knees subject, because it was brought up over and over again, whenever he had a shocking loss.
And some journalists are actually biased, they are human after all. I heard that a guy from BBC said even: Vamos! today after a good point by Rafa

Yep, even Federer commented in his first round presser about the slippiness of the court in the opening couple of days. I don't think people are selling the knees as an excuse generally, which is good.

I noticed that Fed was cautious too in his match and who better knows grass but him.

Related to what herios said above Becker's drooling about knees was pathetic as well as bbc commentator's cheering for fedal in both their matches. Shouldn't they be neutral or looking for an upset ?

---

I guess they are looking for a "Why?" and have airtime to fill. Upsets are always good when it's not your favourite player I agree though, comments like that do a dis-service to the underdog stepping up and making it happen, and Becker has been pretty vocal in the past about not enough players stepping up to the plate.

 

[herios]

One final note regarding the hint about Rafa's knees, the guys on ESPN handled it the most objective way possible, because Nadal only started limping late in the 3 set, until then not showing any signs of injuries:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3SJww55dzY