Rafael Nadal is through to the semifinals in New York after crushing Tommy Robredo in straight sets on Wednesday. Next up for Nadal is Richard Gasquet.
Wednesday night was supposed to feature the 32nd career meeting between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. At least that was the thought when the U.S. Open draw was revealed two weeks ago.
Instead, the nightcap produced nothing more than one hour and 40 minutes of an absolute beatdown, the recipient of which was Tommy Robredo. Nadal crushed his fellow Spaniard 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to set up a semifinal showdown against Richard Gasquet.
The 2010 champion did not lose a single game until the third frame of the second set, when Robredo finally held. Still, it was one-way traffic the entire way. Nadal fired 28 winners, won 15 of 16 net points, and did not face a single break point.
“I think I played my best match of the U.S. Open this year,” Nadal said afterward. “I am very happy with the way that I moved myself on court, very happy with the way I hit my forehand and my backhand, especially. When I had the forehand, I was able to change the direction a lot of times and with a lot of precision.”
“I started a little bit tight, and he was up very quick,” lamented Robredo, who upset Federer in straight sets during fourth-round action on Monday evening. “Then [there] was nothing else to do. He was too good.”
Gasquet will have to hope for a sudden dip in Nadal’s form, but the world No. 2 is undefeated on hard courts in 2013 and showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The ninth-ranked Frenchman, meanwhile, booked his spot in the last four by surviving David Ferrer in five sets.
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6-0, 6-2, 6-2.. 😉
haha. 2 2 and 2 was Delpo.
Rafa’s postmatch interview on September 4, 2013 (full transcript)
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/05/an-interview-with-rafael-nadal-wednesday-september-4-2013-djokovic-gasquet-robredo/
Rafa: “I feel that today I played much closer the way that I want to play”.
An excerpt:
—Q. How good do you feel on hard courts right now?
RAFAEL NADAL: Every day the same (smiling). I don’t know. Not every day is the same. You know, I don’t have the same feeling every day. I feel that today I played much closer the way that I want to play, playing more aggressive, with my backhand without losing court. When I had the forehand I was able to change the directions a lot of times and with a lot of precision. I’m sure that’s the way I have to play to keep having chances to be successful in every surface, but especially on this one. I was able to do it today; I hope to be able to do it in two days.—
Ricky, you keep typing “though” where it doesn’t belong. In the 1st line, it should be “Nadal is through..”. In the 2nd paragraph, it should be “….the thought”. >-)
haha wow
thx!
#late
😀
I think Ricky is just overworked right now.
It was 2:30 AM and I had watched the end of Azareka’s match.. then had to endure Laconte and his minions … by the time Rafa’s game started I was a zombie.. watched the first 3 games of the 1st set and saw that it was pretty much in the bag for Rafa.. so went to bed.. glad to see that my guts were right about the outcome.
Don’t like the way people are getting ahead of themselves now regarding Gasket. He was VERY good against Ferrer yesterday and Rafa isn’t going to have any easy time, that’s for sure…
I failed to heed your advice and take the pep pills. Enduring Advantage Laconte is an apt description 🙁 What gets me most is when they switch in the middle of a match to air this slot. I dont know about you but I dispair at the level of French humour.
Dont fret about the SF. Gasquet will make a fist of it but no way he will have either the mental or physical endurance left in the tank to trouble Rafa.
I liked Laconte as a player (yes, I am that old) but his humour sucks, especially at 3 AM
lol, hope you have a reasonably easy day at the office ed 🙂
Very easy. Going to the beach for a swim and picnic lunch then a nice long snooze 🙂
hate you…. 😉
—Next up for Nadal is Richard Gasquet—
Rafa and Richard Gasquet met for the first time in France. They were 13 years old. Rafa was emerging as a ‘tennis virtuoso’ and Richard was heralded in France as the ‘Mozart of the sport’.
A nice article, pictures and a video:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/05/flashback-rafael-nadal-and-richard-gasquet-at-age-13-video-photos-young-boys-tennis/
Rafa’s staticstics till now at the Open –
Has broken serve 29 times in five matches at this year’s tournament
Enjoys a perfect 20-0 record on hard courts this year
Has yet to drop serve at the 2013 US Open, holding 67 times
Statistically has the most potent forehand in the tournament (97 winners)
Has won 36% of points when facing first serves and 60% returning second serves.
Dear augusta08,
Thx very much for the link, I really enjoyed seeing this young versions of Rafa and Richard 🙂
Love Rafa’s swagger, you can already see his physicality. It’s also funny to see his serve, so fast and careless 🙂
It’s funny how Rafa had no ticks in those days. I like the way the camera man stepped over Rafa to go and take a picture of Gasquet the victor. Little did he know he was stepping over a legend.
the funniest was his serve.
and the most shocking part was NO HANDSHAKE WITH THE UMPIRE
Hey Ricky, thanks for this site. I am almost over TT, almost……..
I second that. Still getting used to the format but I love the immediacy and the email notifications are also a great help.
Best of all is the chance to actually discuss tennis without having to wade through reams of nonsense from the trolls.
Had a look at the dysfunctional blog today. Noted the resentment of the invasion by ex TT club members.
TT and ex-TT club members are just proxies for the real object of Fedfan’s dissaffection: Rafa. And you wanna know why this resentment is reaching fever pitch? Please read the following article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/rafael-nadal-is-the-leonardo-da-vinci-of-tennis/279383/
“Last night in New York, a former U.S. Open tennis champion dismantled an opponent 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of this year’s event. It was yet another display of the player’s unparalleled dominance, and as the victor celebrated, TV commentator and retired tennis legend John McEnroe remarked, “What we’re seeing here, this guy is the Leonardo da Vinci—the Albert Einstein—of tennis.”
The Leonardo da Vinci of tennis. If you haven’t followed the U.S. Open, you’d be forgiven for thinking McEnroe was talking about Roger Federer. But last night, McEnroe was talking about the other, more rugged half of the sport’s most famous modern rivalry: Rafael Nadal. ”
“But his offhand remark actually sheds light on a truth about Nadal that’s been somewhat underappreciated until recently: He may not be the magical athlete-artist Federer is (or—gulp—was), but he’s the Leonardo da Vinci of the sport in that he’s a whiz kid—a tennis brainiac.”
“Despite the mentions of Nadal’s “baseline bashing” and “extremely physical style of play,” it’s come to light in recent years that Nadal is unquestionably one of the best thinkers in the game of tennis, with a terrifyingly deft understanding of its science and strategy.”
Can you imagine the inner turmoil this truism is wreaking in Fedfans, who have spent all their tennis lives convinced Fed was The Genius? This puts the anger, resentment into perspective for me. It’s normal.
The irony is that these tennis-x blog posters who resent the presence of the ex-TT posters have themselves recently taken to posting on the changeovertennis.com site and been welcomed with open arms there! As it should be……….
#Class
what is the dysfunctional blog
What’s missing are some TT posters, cht18, scoretracker and Twinge to name a few. I have to settle a score with the oness who wrote Rafa off. After the AO final, I said judging by that match Rafa had nothing to worry about on his return, just want to be able to say, I told you so.
find them
clayqueen@September 5, 2013 at 6:38 pm
—I have to settle a score with the oness who wrote Rafa off—
Let Rafa’s racket do the talking. Don’t call his enemies out.
I am the last person to get carried away at this point in a slam. However, if anyone here thinks that Rafa can’t beat Gasquet, then there is no way that he could beat Djoker or Murray. I am not discounting Gasquet’s fitness and outstanding tennis right now. I saw enough of his match against Raonic to appreciate that he has worked hard to become more fit and not lose five set matches. I also think he played very well against Ferrer and did well to manage to win the match after going up two sets and Ferrer winning the next two. He is playing some of his best tennis now.
That’s not going to be enough to beat Rafa. I just hope that Rafa didn’t blow his wad in the quarterfinals. He needs to be at his best in the final. I don’t think that Gasquet will go down the way Robredo did. He should make the score more competitive.
This is why we wanted Rafa to get the #2 ranking for the USO. So that he wouldn’t have to meet Djoker in the semifinals again. He got even luckier in also avoiding Murray. So anyone he plays is better than facing either of those two players.
ed,
I do still read the dysfunctional tennis blog. Try checking out some of Ben Pronin’s hatespeak regarding Rafa. Ugly stuff!
I am tempted to jump in at times, but it’s just going to make my blood pressure go up. I am finally getting used to this site. I will always have great memories of TT before the trolls took over. I am grateful that we can talk tennis here without having to deal with any of that.
@nny, what has surprised me is that this hatespeak is not called out by the moderators on that site, in fact I get the feeling it is tolerated, even accepted/encouraged. I always knew it was a Fedfan site but I always thought it was covert, not overtly so. But I am okay with this, after all, it is a privately owned site and they are free to choose what they want on it. Just good to be clear about things…………..
ritb,
Believe it or not, that site used to be much worse. Rafa fans were targeted and attacked with profane, obscene, vulgar comments. There were a lot of complaints and finally they started doing something about it. They never really had moderation a few years ago. Now they will sometimes crack down, but there is a still a lot of tolerance for the hatespeak. Someone like Ben Pronin who brings up the doping garbage with Rafa and that insanity about this conspiracy of him taking off seven months without a real injury, should be banned. Sometimes Sean Randall will say something on the blog to get things under control.
It is an over Fed fan site. No question about it. They used to be able to run off any Rafa fans who dared come on the site because they could say just about anything and personally attack them all the time. They have cracked down a little on that, but the hateful comments directed at Rafa are apparently considered okay.
That’s why I try not to go there too often. I just get upset when I read that crap.
Just for the record, if scoretracker ever shows up on this site, then I am done. No way am I going through that craziness again!
The dysfunctional blog is tennis-x.
huh… so, Ricky is responsible for the creation of this site?
if so, respect to you.. you’re the man Ricky!
Occasionally I read the comments on the ATP site and am really shocked by what is allowed.
A few have weitten what we all must think about this blog, Ricky. Thank you very much for it and especially for moderating the comments!
I have forgotten for days at a time what it used to be like on TT.
So pleasant here.