Novak Djokovic will kick off his Rome campaign in second-round action on Tuesday against Radek Stepanek. Marin Cilic and Santiago Giraldo, meanwhile, are contesting a first-round match.
Radek Stepanek vs. (2) Novak Djokovic
Djokovic will be in action for the first time since Monte-Carlo when he takes the court on Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The world No. 2 suffered an injury-plagued semifinal loss to Roger Federer in Monte-Carlo before withdrawing from Madrid due to his wrist problem. He is still a stellar 19-3 for the year, which includes back-to-back Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Miami.
Up first for Djokovic is Stepanek, against whom the Serb is 9-1 lifetime. He has won eight straight in the head-to-head series since the start of the 2007 season, during which Djokovic won their most memorable encounter 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(2) at the U.S. Open. Stepanek is still going relatively strong at 35 years old, with a solid ranking of 43rd in the world. He is 8-9 for the season following a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Pablo Andujar on Sunday. Djokovic’s health will obviously determine the exact outcome of the match, but he should cruise without much trouble if he is anywhere close to 100 percent.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 5-7 games
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(Q) Santiago Giraldo vs. Marin Cilic
Giraldo and Cilic will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers on Tuesday. Cilic has won all three of their previous meetings and he is 7-0 in total sets against Giraldo. They most recently faced each other last spring in Miami, where the Croat scored a 6-2, 7-6(6) victory.
However, Giraldo is currently in the best form of his career. The Colombian is up to a best-ever ranking of 36th in the world thanks to a semifinal showing in Houston, a runner-up finish in Barcelona, and a quarterfinal performance in Madrid as a qualifier. Giraldo also qualified for the main draw this week in Rome. Cilic is playing well, too, but he has cooled off just a bit since a scorching hot February. The world No. 26 would much rather contest this one on grass or a fast hard court.
Pick: Giraldo in 3
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If this were a Davis Cup match I would be tempted to plump for Step. As it is this should be a useful workout for Djokovic after his ‘injury’ break/holiday.
quotes around the i word, tsk, tsk, tsk 🙂
Got that wrong big time 🙁
@1:39pm refers to my prediction for Giraldo.
Chloro: What are you trying to imply I ask myself 😉 ?
Ahem…….
@ed251137, I think this is what @chloro said, through trying to imply:
Roses are red;
Violets are blue;
Bollocks to Twilight;
I still love Buffy
😉
Giraldo is on a roll.
I think he might do it in 2
I am going with Novak in two sets maybe losing 8-10 or 5-7 games. That depends on how the wrist is and he’s been off for a while.
I will also go with Giraldo in three sets.
Djokovic
Giraldo
Nothing catching my eye on the schedule today……..
#Yawn
RT @SI_BTBaseline: “Wet day in Rome with rain forecast for most of the day. Courts are covered for now. #ibi2014”
Eeek, backing up will mess up tomorrow’s schedule…………
#Don’tTouchRafatime
At this point, I am quite convinced whoever is inhabiting Fer’s body is not Fer. The real Fer was abducted by aliens so he can give them tennis lessons out there in outer space.
The real Fer would not be enduring the spanking (thanks Gillou!) being meted out by…………..Golubev??!
Cilic is playing well out there……………
Cilic can thank Ricky for not picking him on clay for a change.
I will go out on a limb here and say Le Grouper is on a hiding to nothing against Novak today……………
# It was NID
Djokovic not showing any after effects from the arm problem.
RT @NeilHarmanTimes: “Pollen from trees/plants at the Foro, disturbed by stiffening breeze playing havoc with the sinuses. Would have killed Novak in the old days”
#GlutenFree
wind today is insane
So…..
Tursunov just bagelled (yes, that is the right bakery product) RBA.
Because.
Stepanek is playing really badly.
^^pining after Petra..
roller coaster 😀
So @rafaelo, how do you rate Novak’s play so far in this match?
I can not watch the match 😉 just following the scoreline, and by that It seems nole has mental issues too 😉 he couldn’t finish step off
He’s fine @rafaelo. First match on clay after a while and he hasn’t won a clay tournament yet this year. He was okay.
@ RITB, nole is one of the few players out there that usually isn’t affected by rust 😉
and he was ok the whole match EXCEPT in closing it, so I thought may be he is not so sure about himself as before 😉
Fed is never rusty. Nole usually looks a bit off in a first match back typically but rarely (if ever) enough to lose.
However, Rusty is often Rusty.
Boris looks a bit concerned, but I don’t think he has anything to worry about. Stepanek is not going to win this match.
Is Vajda in Rome as well?
If he is then he is heavily disguised 😉
Arm/wrist/hand looks fine. GSM, Djokovic.
^ shocking
Vajda is in Rome. The commies mentioned that both coaches are there.
BB can’t be trusted alone with the Ferrari, no?
Seems like it. Boris is good for the shop front but Vajda is in charge of the engine room.
Haas dusted off Seppi. Are there any Italians left in the draw?
Looks like my pick to dust off Wawa, RBA, is about to be dusted off himself!
Utter fail today. Only one pick of mine, Djokovic, came through…….
Murphy cannot be blamed for giving Seppi a 2nd time violation (he is only following instructions) but what a moment for it to happen. Seppi was serving to save a break point and effectively the match. Time that the time violation rule is overhauled.
That won’t happen until Rafa retires.
Exactly. Powers that be are more than happy with that rule ATM.
ATP are currently experimenting with a new rule in the challenger level events whereby you can’t touch your face before serving.
(Note to federazzi: That’s a joke, son.)
Tursonov wins. Never happen but would LOVE to see him meet Rafa in the semis.
http://tennis.si.com/2014/02/12/dmitry-tursunov-rafael-nadal-time-violation-video/
how did Tursunov beat RBA?
Has anyone seen or heard anything of Federer in Rome?
https://twitter.com/rogerfederer/status/465903928581033985
#CiaoTutti
Lol
For you, @nadline28:
RT @rogerfederer: “Oh and btw ciao tutti, I just arrived in bella Italia! Looking forward to Rome #mostamazingcity”
Was that really Fed tweeting?
Bahhhhh Fedbug.
no handshake between Seppi and umpire
no
Why no handshake? Did he at least look him in the eyes?
#OldStory
Is it true that Federer was the mover and shaker in forcing umpires to enforce the rule more strictly?
Ricky, everytime I post a tweet, I get moderated.
Whadup.
you must be posting Rated R tweets
#approved
Ooops, wrong forum. So sorry.
(Note to Federazzi: Another joke, son – that’s the last one I’m explaining. You’re on your own now. The rest is up to you to decide. Takes all the fun out of it.)
hawkeye63@May 13, 2014 at 2:57 pm
¤ Try to post Twitter pictures in a way I recommended.
¤ If a comment contains more than one link, (w) usually sends it to the moderation queue.
I didn’t quite understand your tutorial. Do you have to post the tweet and then add the picture?
I meant: A twitter picture = a tweet that includes a picture.