Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer survived to set up a blockbuster semifinal on Saturday in Monte-Carlo. Meanwhile, David Ferrer is back in action one day after upsetting Rafael Nadal as the Spaniard is set to face Stanislas Wawrinka.
(4) Roger Federer vs. (2) Novak Djokovic
Federer and Djokovic will be facing each other for 34th time in their careers when they collide in the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Saturday afternoon. Djokovic has a chance to even his head-to-head record against Federer for the first time in his career. The 32-year-old Swiss leads the series 17-16, but Djokovic has won four of their last five encounters and 10 of their last 14. They have dueled twice this season; Federer prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Dubai semis before Djokovic scored a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory in the Indian Wells title match.
Both players bounced back from one-set deficits on Saturday. Federer overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 and Djokovic stopped a red-hot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Djokovic is the defending champion of this event, having dethroned Rafael Nadal in last year’s final. Federer is looking for his first Monte-Carlo title after finishing runner-up on three previous occasions (all to Nadal). Longer rallies favor the world No. 2 in this matchup and his ability to close them out with his clicking down-the-line backhand may be the difference.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
[polldaddy poll=7979136]
(6) David Ferrer vs. (3) Stanislas Wawrinka
Ferrer and Wawrinka will be squaring off for the 13th time in their careers on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at 7-5 in Ferrer’s favor and he has won five of their seven previous clay-court encounters. Wawrinka, however, has won their two most recent meetings; 6-1, 6-4 in the 2013 Oeiras title match and 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1 at the World Tour Finals last fall.
Both players have plenty of momentum this season. Ferrer improved to 22-6 with his second-ever win over Nadal on clay via a 7-6(1), 6-4 decision on Friday. That was preceded by straight-set scalps of Jeremy Chardy and Grigor Dimitrov. Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, had little trouble with Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic in addition to a walkover past Nicolas Almagro. It’s often difficult to recover emotionally after a huge win, but Ferrer has more than enough experience to do so. Furthermore, clay should once again help him withstand Wawrinka’s superior firepower.
Pick: Ferrer in 3
[polldaddy poll=7979050]
Oh good heavens! Defending players not named Rafael Nadal! A capital offense if ever there was one!
I believe in fairness and consistency. If I don’t like anyone trashing Rafa and accusing him of faking injuries, then it’s unseemly for me to make the same accusation against other players.
deucy,
You sound sympathetic to Novak. Is that even allowed? Honestly, I appreciate your thoughts. This is not the time of year when any player wants to develop a new injury. I remember Andy’s wrist problems a few years back. It does seem like there is this weird vacuum at the moment. Fed seems primed to take full advantage.
nativenewyorker7@April 20, 2014 at 6:28 am
I don’t understand why YOU are upset about my post addressed to Ricky!
augusta,
Well, I don’t understand why YOU responded! I guess that you missed the sardonic humor in it! I guess maybe a little smiley next to that first sentence might have helped. On second thought, I don’t think so.
It’s interesting that some here think they are the only ones who can get away with the little sarcastic remarks.
nativenewyorker7@April 20, 2014 at 7:42 am
I responded because YOU quoted MY comment addressed to Ricky!
@augusta
1) “anyway rooting against him.” Not true, depends who he is playing if Berd, JMDP, Isner, Kaolvic, JJ etc etc I will always “root” for Rafa. But the only player that gets my unequivocal support is Andy. Always liked Nole too, never made a secret of that. Is there a problem here?
2)Am not “worried” about Rafa at all. I have enough to worry about re Andy. I am worried about his back recovering ever, that No 8 is a high for this year and that 2014 will be a complete washout, Enough “worries” don’t you think?
But yes, am interested in what’s happening to Rafa at the mo. Isn’t anyone who is keen on tennis, also interested? I can’t stand Uncle T. I think he is a bully, and I feel sorry for Rafa. I think a lot of the OCD is down to TN.
Sorry if you find this unacceptable but CIF, as they say.
deucy@April 20, 2014 at 8:38 am
—Always liked Nole too, never made a secret of that. Is there a problem here?—
No problems!
—Am not “worried” about Rafa at all. I have enough to worry about re Andy.—
It’s good!
—I can’t stand Uncle T. I think he is a bully, and I feel sorry for Rafa.—
Don’t worry. I am afraid, it’s the influence of the British media on you
@NNY
You must’ve been writing while I was.
Big across the ocean hugs 🙂
deucy,
It’s past time for me to get to sleep, but just wanted to say thanks for the big across the ocean hugs! The best kind!
Same right back to you! 🙂
deucy says: April 20, 2014 at 8:38 am
“I can’t stand Uncle T. I think he is a bully, and I feel sorry for Rafa. I think a lot of the OCD is down to TN.”
We all have our preferences, I guess. On the bully bit, I think Rafa, in his book, more or less confirmed this Uncle Toni trait, so no surprises there. However, if we are going to blame Uncle T for Rafa’s OCD then, in fairness, we also need to acknowledge the same “bully’s” role in Rafa’s success. Rafa himself has said he would not have achieved the level of success he has without Uncle Toni.
Just putting it out there: can the same label, bully, not be applied to Lendl? He had/has a reputation as a task-master, a polite way of calling someone a bully, in my opinion. We saw how Muzza became a fearsome physical specimen under Lendl, how he achieved his lifetime ambition of winning Slams, with an Olympic gold medal on top, under Lendl.
Just as one can make a case for Rafa’s success being directly linked to Uncle Toni, I think one can make a case for Muzza’s success, to-date, being linked directly to Lendl.
My point is this: Bullies get a bad rap, with good reason, but we should not forget the positive impact “bullies” have made in sport.
I personally find it hard to feel sorry for the multi millionaire Rafa’s and Muzza’s of this world………..
Rafa has said that a lot of his success and resilence is down to Toni being a hard task master.
^^This is why the Federazzi cannot stand Uncle Toni.
#H2H
Just to clarify: in no way do I lump you together with the Federazzi, @deucy! Federazzi are a different breed altogether…………
WTF………in one felt tweet, BB is telling us there is more to Djoker’s injury than meets the eye:
RT @TheBorisBecker: “To the #NoleFam ! I can NOT speak about his injury ! Nole will say something when he is ready ! @DjokerNole”
@Augusta and RITB
A lot of my feelings about Uncle T come from the descriptions of how he treated Rafa as a child. I think it was awful. Also, a couple of incidents since, smack of too much control to me.
Andy was an adult when Lendl took over, well able to stand up for himself. As a child Rafa couldn’t, that’s the point.
@nadline
To borrow a famous, or rather infamous quote, “well he would say that wouldn’t he?”
It’s all ifs and buts and we can only speculate what Rafa would’ve been like with a less harsh taskmaster. Dare I say just as good, but with less anxiety?
Fair enough @deucy, about Uncle T’s treatment of Rafa as a child. But I also think Rafa’s “conditioning” into the Champion he is today started then, as a child. So again, there are pros and cons. And Rafa does stand up to Uncle Toni now as an adult, he has said so himself.
deucy@April 20, 2014 at 11:06 am
—A lot of my feelings about Uncle T come from the descriptions of how he treated Rafa as a child. I think it was awful.—
Don’t worry, it wasn’t awful. If it had been awful, his parents would have found other opportunities to train Rafa. Rafa comes from a wealthy family. His parents wanted uncle Toni to be his coach.
¤¤ When he [Rafa] was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training. Nadal’s family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education, but also because Toni said that “I don’t want to believe that you have to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home.” The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; instead, Nadal’s father covered the costs. ¤¤[Source: Wikipedia]
@RITB Lol.
I like Rafa. I don’t like Toni. Is good no? Besides, you know full well what I think of Fed…;)
deucy, actually I think Rafa may have been a spoilt brat without U. Toni’s handling. He is the eldest of the grandchildren and I believe there is a wide gap in age between his little sister and the other cousins and with Rafa’s early success he was the centre of attraction.
In his book, Rafa gives some anecdotes of the difference between how Toni treated him compared to the rest of the family. He’d won a junior tournament in S. Africa and on returning home, one of his aunties had arranged a celebration for him with balloons and all the works. When they arrived home and Toni saw all the razzmatazz, he told his sister to stop it right there and cancel the party because there was nothing to celebrate. He said Rafa had not done anything spectacular. Also when Rafa won his first home tournament, Toni showed him the Champions’ Board and asked Rafa how many of them he’d ever heard of and Rafa said none, so Toni told him that proved that he had a long way to go.
His Dad’s approach was different. Rafa said he’d lost a match once as a little boy and he was crying in his Dad’s car all the way home, so his dad said to him, if losing is going to cause you so much anguish, I think you should think of doing something else. His mum says she can’t bare to see him struggling in pain during a match and if she had her way she would just tell him to retire. On the other hand, when he had a broken finger and wanted to pull out of a match, Toni told him he had 9 other finger on his hands, he played and won.
Toni toughened him up and he’s drawn from that many times.
that’s exactly what I think…With Rafa saying he is still afraid of dark I wonder whether he would have ended being afraid of every tougher opponent if there was no Uncle T. to deal with Rafa’s fears…Sometimes ‘army discipline’ works on players…I recall that David Ferrer’s coach used to lock him up to practice as Ferrer used to be lazy and refused to practice long hours…can you link the word ‘lazy’ with the ‘never give up’ persistent fighter David is right now… 🙂
Looking at all the arguments, for and against, I find it hard to conclude that Uncle Toni is/has been bad for/to Rafa.
Notice that there is the offer to search for deucy’s old posts in the comment @ 7:33 am dated April 20, 2014.
No wonder she left. Now we are having to deal with the same person searching our old posts.