Wimbledon Day 6: Saturday, June 28 - Order of Play

[MargaretMcAleer]

Nick, you bloody legend! First Wimbledon ever and you make the 4th round? Well done, mate. I'm so excited for this guy. A young Australian who cares about the sport, unlike Bernard.

Oi,Oi,Oi,

May I add I have been impressed with Nick in this tournament.Well done to get to the 4th rd in a Grand Slam.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Bit of a straightforward day on the mens' side today. Most exciting is Kyrgios reaching the last 16, although he's probably going to get smashed by Rafa.

Good win for Raonic, Kubot is not to be under-estimated. Robredo reaches the second week of Wimbledon for the first time ever, not bad! Hopefully Nishikori can see off Bolelli but it sadly doesn't say much about his prospects of getting much further if he's having trouble with him.

 

[Front242]

Bit of a straightforward day on the mens' side today. Most exciting is Kyrgios reaching the last 16, although he's probably going to get smashed by Rafa.

Good win for Raonic, Kubot is not to be under-estimated. Robredo reaches the second week of Wimbledon for the first time ever, not bad! Hopefully Nishikori can see off Bolelli but it sadly doesn't say much about his prospects of getting much further if he's having trouble with him.

It's all about matchups the way I see it. I actually expected Tsonga to have lost before now, especially after 2 tough 5 set matches but then he won the last match easily, granted only against a qualifier but he must've been playing well to qualify. Might be the same for Nishikori if he manages to win.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Congrats on Nick Kyrgrios for making the second week of Wimbledon! Let's hope this is a start for a good career.

Also, Raonic continues to play well. He has not lost his serve and he has not lost a set. And with Nishikori and Bolleli playing an extra day, he will be the fresher of two players which means he has a GREAT chance to reach his second consecutive Slam Quarterfinals.

Nadal better start practicing his return of serve or else it could be a very tricky Quarterfinal match against Raonic.

Also, Isner/Lopez and Wawrinka/Istomin are in a huge disadvantage. They potentially have to play three straight days just to reach the semifinals. Not only that, one of them could potentially face Federer in the Quarterfinals so they are in the very tough spot.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Federer sneaking through to round 4.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

this nick character is 19yrs old then..

from the land down under, (where women work, and men chunder :gross:

 

[huntingyou]

Only player in the world that can do this. cry:cry

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AB0GqpLjYs[/video]

 

[Front242]

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyyf2XyECjQ&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

 

[huntingyou]

 

[Front242]

Neither of them got **** on this guy though [video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=R-eltQDerPc[/video]

 

[rafanoy1992]

Neither of them got **** on this guy though [video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=R-eltQDerPc[/video]

[video=youtube]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uefk5E7RZ8[/video]

How about this one?

 

[Front242]

^ Yeah was gonna post that too but the music was a bit cheesy and I prefer hearing the ball being belted Gonzo had a beast of a forehand too though!

 

[rafanoy1992]

^ Yeah was gonna post that too but the music was a bit cheesy and I prefer hearing the ball being belted Gonzo had a beast of a forehand too though!

[video=youtube]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5qFYumKes[/video]

 

[TsarMatt]

You all talking about forehands, but you're forgetting the best of the best:

Benoit Paire.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Neither of them got **** on this guy though [video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=R-eltQDerPc[/video]

Well yeah, in terms of power, Blake and especially Fernando Gonzalez are in a league of their own. But, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, Huntingyou is right. That forehand is one only Nadal can hit (quite literally). Because the footwork required to run around it, coupled with the balance and coordination to hit an inside out screaming from such an unnatural position with your body almost twisted sideways is insane. Most players, Federer included, wouldn't have even bothered to run around it. The video you posted shows Federer hitting a forehand that wasn't nearly as difficult.

I've always said Federer has a better forehand than Nadal, but for the purpose of that particular type of shot (the one HY posted a video of), I've honestly never seen hit inside out forehands from that sort of position with the same frequency as Nadal.

This kinda ties into what I've been saying about his movement. There's nothing that regressed about it in terms of split-steps, footwork, getting into position to hit forehands, make tiny adjustments, etc... In fact, there's not much that's regressed (it has, but nothing substantial) about it when sprinting from point A to point B (tracking down drop shots, covering the open court, etc....). Where it has regressed is the explosiveness in that initial step when he doesn't have the benefit of anticipating. In other words, if Nadal is on one side of the court and the opponent is about to hit to the open court, Nadal's movement isn't noticeably hindered since he can still sprint like a rabbit.

But when he's forced to stretch on his forehand side (and he doesn't know the ball is going there) despite being positioned in the middle of the court, and he requires that initial explosion in his step to get to the ball in time to hit a quality shot, he's a split second slow these days. Hence a lot of his replies end up in the bottom of the net whereas in the past, he would at least loop them back in. That's also the reason why his passing shots have regressed (he used to almost never miss one).

On the backhand side, the real problem is bending down low (which again affects the quality of the passing shot).

Regardless, I actually think he looked better than I thought he would in this first week and he's moving well. If he steps up the serving he'll be fine.

 

[brokenshoelace]

For all the talk about grass slowing down (and I'm not saying it hasn't), matches are still largely decided by the quality of your serve and the quality of your return.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Three examples of Nadal hitting impossible inside out forehands with some incredible footwork and/or adjustments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGV8yUl2pXU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEF2DG-hnsI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt4OBL45GIE

 

[huntingyou]

front trolling as always. can't even praise an amazing shot by rafa without getting some type of contradictory reply.

it's not about who hits harder........BS explained it very well. What Nadal does to run around the backhand outside the doubles alley, throw his body in opposite direction of the ball, twist his body and still scream a 100 MPH IO forehand it's something UNIQUE to Rafa.

geez

 

[the AntiPusher]

Neither of them got **** on this guy though [video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=R-eltQDerPc[/video]

Well yeah, in terms of power, Blake and especially Fernando Gonzalez are in a league of their own. But, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, Huntingyou is right. That forehand is one only Nadal can hit (quite literally). Because the footwork required to run around it, couple with the balance and coordination to hit an inside out screaming from such an unnatural position with your body almost twisted sideways is insane. Most players, Federer included, wouldn't have even bothered to run around it. The video you posted shows Federer hitting a forehand that wasn't nearly as difficult.

I've always said Federer has a better forehand than Nadal, but for the purpose of that particular type of shot (the one HY posted a video of), I've honestly never seen hit inside out forehands from that sort of position with the same frequency as Nadal.

This kinda ties into what I've been saying about his movement. There's nothing that regressed about it in terms of splitsteps, footwork, getting into position to hit forehands, make tiny adjustments, etc... In fact, there's not much that's regressed (it has, but nothing substantial) about it when sprinting from point A to point B (tracking down drop shots, covering the open court, etc....). Where it has regressed is the explosiveness in that initial step when he doesn't have the benefit of anticipating. In other words, if Nadal is on one side of the court and the opponent is about to hit to the open court, Nadal's movement isn't noticeably hindered since he can still sprint like a rabbit.

But when he's forced to stretch on his forehand side (and he doesn't know the ball is going there) despite being positioned in the middle of the court, and he requires that initial explosion in his step to get to the ball in time to hit a quality shot, he's a split second slow these days. Hence a lot of his replies end up in the bottom of the net whereas in the past, he would at least loop them back in. That's also the reason why his passing shots have regressed (he used to almost never miss one).

On the backhand side, the real problem is bending down low (which again affects the quality of the passing shot).

Regardless, I actually think he looked better than I thought he would in this first week and he's moving well. If he steps up the serving he'll be fine.

Brilliant analysis Broken.. I have to admit back in 2011 my perception was that Novak fh was one of the hardest of the guys in the top 10 but actually it was still Rafa and Roger( I think you and HU pointed that out to me. I stand correct, thanks guys)

 

[the AntiPusher]

Question: Are most Rafa fans also fans of Serena? Are most Fed Fans also fans of Serena ? I think so. Serena is the one thing that those two fan groups have in common. That being said, I really don't know what is going on with Serena's tennis game these days.