Wimbledon 2013

[Amazing Matheja]

Erf... I'm too late to bash Rafa... ^^
But what Moralspain wrote is very true ! Short memories is not good !... (but I think Roger can win on more surfaces than Rafa now... I fear Rafa's body won't let him a lot of spaces to express itself freely on other surfaces than clay...)

[BrushedBigJJ]

I worry about this loss for nadal. The other two hard losses he took a considerable amount of time off.

Soderling loss - a few months off
Rosol loss - 7+ months off
Darcis loss - ?????

If he takes a lot of time off again there will be a pattern. Is his knee injury partially mental, if he wins it feels good, hard losses the knee really hurts after?

Ps: His other other hard loss was Australian open when he had a chance to hold all 4 slams at once, it was against Ferrer. But he was really hobbling during the match, he was clearly injured. He didn't play Indian wells or Miami that year. In the Soderling, Rosol, and Darcis matches he wasn't hobbling.

[supinesmokey13]

well this is pretty much my point , the so called top 4 arent really that good apart from Djokovic and Federer and he is ancient lol

i guess you're saying "on grass", although Nadal has better results on grass than Djokovic. This is the same old story as always when Nadal or Federer loses a match they should have won. We come up with the typical "he's done" "he's not that good" etc...old story.
I can't remember how many times i've seen posted on internet forums "Rafa's done"-"Federer is done" (when he got nothing in 2011) and look at them, they keep winning, not as much as before but they keep winning tournaments, in sports we tend to forget quickly, sad but true.
With aging Nadal will keep winning only on clay and Federer will keep winning mainly on grass, their specialities, and guess what! someday they'll retire, so yep they're human, Nadal is human

I never said he was done I just said that what happened yesterday was plausible given how successful guys were at attacking him on clay only to not be able to sustain it because rafa can defend against that level of attack on clay but you cant on grass you have to match that level of aggression and yesterday rafa was not up to the task. and this will happen everytime the option of grinding is taken away from him which nearly every time he will play on a lower bouncing quick surface

[Moralspain]

well this is pretty much my point , the so called top 4 arent really that good apart from Djokovic and Federer and he is ancient lol

i guess you're saying "on grass", although Nadal has better results on grass than Djokovic. This is the same old story as always when Nadal or Federer loses a match they should have won. We come up with the typical "he's done" "he's not that good" etc...old story.
I can't remember how many times i've seen posted on internet forums "Rafa's done"-"Federer is done" (when he got nothing in 2011) and look at them, they keep winning, not as much as before but they keep winning tournaments, in sports we tend to forget quickly, sad but true.
With aging Nadal will keep winning only on clay and Federer will keep winning mainly on grass, their specialities, and guess what! someday they'll retire, so yep they're human, Nadal is human

I never said he was done I just said that what happened yesterday was plausible given how successful guys were at attacking him on clay only to not be able to sustain it because rafa can defend against that level of attack on clay but you cant on grass you have to match that level of aggression and yesterday rafa was not up to the task. and this will happen everytime the option of grinding is taken away from him which nearly every time he will play on a lower bouncing quick surface

I never said you said that ,i was quoting Andymachine not you

[supinesmokey13]

oh but I thought you meant in general everyone including me insinuated rafa was done but its all good

[VillaJ100]

Nadal has struggled before in the earlier rounds of Wimbledon, look at who has ttook him to 5 early, kendrick (who had a good chance to win), young soderling, Haase, petzschner, Rosol and darcis, the only differenceis all but the last 2 ccouldn't finish off the win as nadal was healthier, pressure got to them etc.

[Moralspain]

Nothing wrong with that in my opinion if you finally get the win, that's actually one of the main differences between top players and rest, being able to manage tough matches getting the win at the end, last year Fed played a 5 sets match against Benetteau and he won Wimbledon, that is even more impressive for me, last year he played a great tournament. Life is not easy

[supinesmokey13]

Nothing wrong with that in my opinion if you finally get the win, that's actually one of the main differences between top players and rest, being able to manage tough matches getting the win at the end, last year Fed played a 5 sets match against Benetteau and he won Wimbledon, that is even more impressive for me, last year he played a great tournament. Life is not easy

yea had that back problem mid-match vs malisse and still got the job done and he wasn't on the kind of run rafa was the knee cant be used as an excuse its has always been an issue and it is down to rafa to manage it as best he can. if darcis didn't play the way he did we all might not being have this discussion he played the right way and was mentally tuned in for the full three sets and was rewarded for it. like I said before the only rafa was going to win that match was to take the play away from darcis and he wasn't able to do that and grinding wasn't going to get the done on a slick fresh grass court good offense was and rafa couldn't produce it so he lost

[Florian]

Gasquet must wonder why didn't he get the same draw as in RG ^^

[Corbon]

Anyone watching Lopez - Simon?

Some nice S&V from Lopez and strong serving in general. He doesn't want to get tied in baseline rallies since his backhand is still a weakness.

[VillaJ100]

Even more surprising is Simon attacking and sv'ing!

[Corbon]

Lopez won after defending 5 set points in the 3rd.

That made Edberg's game such a success, coming to the net with a relatively slow serve to give you more time before the returner can hit the ball. Of course with all the power hitters today this type of play wouldn't stand a chance. Of course his volleys were impeccable but so were Pete's and he had the monster serve to mix it up.

I laugh watching games like the French Open final in 1983 between Noah and Wilander. Looks like a training session before the actual match. Most WTA players hit harder now.

[supinesmokey13]

Even more surprising is Simon attacking and sv'ing!

and he was good at it too although it helps that lopez chips 99% of his returns which made it ideal to do it provide he got there before the ball dropped below the height of the net

[supinesmokey13]

Lopez won after defending 5 set points in the 3rd.

That made Edberg's game such a success, coming to the net with a relatively slow serve to give you more time before the returner can hit the ball. Of course with all the power hitters today this type of play wouldn't stand a chance. Of course his volleys were impeccable but so were Pete's and he had the monster serve to mix it up.

I laugh watching games like the French Open final in 1983 between Noah and Wilander. Looks like a training session before the actual match. Most WTA players hit harder now.

actcually it would still work with the wide serve and and the slice up the tee swing the ball away from the opponent besides FLO was hitting serves at 130 -135 mph and he motion is one like Edberg and Sampras that propels him forward towards the net

[Corbon]

He must be pressing R1 on serve.