Lukas Rosol endured several meltdowns against Rafael Nadal during first-round action at the Swiss Indoors Basel, ultimately leading to a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory for the Spaniard. It culminated with Rosol losing five consecutive points in the third-set tiebreaker from 4-2 up through the end of the match.
But it may never have reached that destination had it not been for an epic botched volley with the Czech two points from the match. Serving at 5-4, 30-15 in the second set, conversion of a simple backhand volley would have given Rosol double match point. To say that is not what happened, however, would be a gross understatement.
[tweet https://twitter.com/BloodDimon/status/658766672673787904]Rosol eventually dropped serve and lost seven consecutive games before finally holding at 0-3 in the third.
Nadal hit a shocking volley of his own earlier in the match, but was able to recover:
[tweet https://twitter.com/BloodDimon/status/658766440615514112]
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makes amateurs feel a bit better when these shenanigans happen
Watching the replay with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight it’s clear it was ultimately the frustration on Rosol’s part that Rafa refused to go away which provoked untimely errors and caused the deterioration of his first serve % set on set.
In contrast Rafa gradually went from strength to strength – albeit from a puzzlingly low level in the first set – to produce that heart stopping, cliffhanger tiebreak.
Rosol was ATROCIOUS in the tiebreaker
I dont think Rosol was atrocious in the TB. He won four out of first five or six points but it was Rafa slicing and dicing and moving forward and forcing Rosol to go all over the court and so Rafa won that point and from then on its all Rafa. Rosol wasnt playing badly then, more like Rafa raising his level and forcing Rosol to go for more.
Lucky,
I agree with you. Rosol did start out well. But I did notice that Rafa started using the slice and that seemed to throw off Rosol a bit. I think Rafa was trying to get him uncomfortable and stop him from blasting those powerful groundstrokes at will.
There was that one crazy point where Rafa hit an almost ridiculously short ROS and Rosol had to scramble to try to get it and then Rafa hit another strange shot but Rosol had to again scramble all over the place. Ultimately, Rafa won the point with a volley at net. As you said, from that point on it was all Rafa. However, I did get the sense that late in the second set with the match on the line, Rosol seemed to tighten up. The tennis channel commies were noticing it in his shots. So it was a combination of Rosol feeling the pressure and getting tight along with Rafa playing better.
The way Rafa played that point in the TB, that showed us the thinking Rafa is back. Rafa’s game is all about tactics and guiles to solve problems on the tennis court. His game is based on good tactics, good court craft, the right shot selections to beat his opponents, if not how can a young Rafa gave Fed at his peak plenty of problems?
I mean some people think that Rafa’s game is only about speed and power! What about the ball bashers? They’re the ones relying solely on their power and some quicker ones have speed too, but Fed didnt and doesnt have any problems with them! Also, the big four all come with speed and power, its just that they have plenty more other elements in thier game too.
In his on-court interview, Rafs said as this was his first indoor match he was mistiming the ball but as the match went on he got better. The best thing to come out of the match is that he is now in control of his emotions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXnJBvWGrmk
This was a particularly significant win for obvious reasons and represents a crucial milestone in Rafa’s recovery.
Veni. Vidi. vici
#OnwardsAndUpwards
I came, I saw, I conquered! Love it! 🙂
?
Ricky: Thought it made a change from Vamos, Vamos, Vamos.
This was a great match for Rafa to come through; much better for growing his mental strength than a routine match against a WC like Laaksonen.
I saw parts of the first set and was utterly disappointed and then had to leave for a while…however, first indoor match is always a test for Rafa and Rosol is a very bad first round opponent. I never liked Rosol as I think he is generally disrespectful of his opponents and rude. But after this match and his deliberately irritating and uncivilized behavior towards Rafa I am sure I despise Rosol and will always cheer against this moron. But it may have been a blessing in disguise as Rafa got angry and played some good agressive tennis afterwards.
I started watching from the part when Rosol served for the match at 5:4. Rafa was brilliant and mentally strong and Rosol was an arrogant sheep as only he could be. Further on it became obvious how much this guy dislikes Rafa and it seemed as Rafa was capitalizing on Rosol’s anger…
so glad Rafa beats him…
Vamos Rafa!
Speaking of Rosol, that’s what he did at Wimbledon in 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKt1NSM3Ubo
🙄
“Well I was playing against someone who is who he is. Everyone knows him on the tour”
Dont know the source of the Isabelle Musy tweet but it figures. At Wimbledon Rafa complained to the umpire about the excessive, incessant movement while he was preparing to serve. If there is no rule against it there is nothing the umpire can do.
It may be unsportsmanlike to distract opponents deliberately but not illegal.
ed251137 ( at 11:34 am),
I posted the source on October 26, 2015 at 10:43 pm in the thread “Basel and Valencia previews and predictions.”
Watch the video of Rafa’s post-match press conference.
OK. So where the hell is the open Q&A press conference to be found? it used to feature on the ATP news page but no longer. It is not listed under the TennisTV interviews.
I’ve watched the on court interview and the one on one interview but the quote I was searching doesn’t crop up
ed251137 (11:34 am, 12:09 pm, 12:13 pm):
Please watch this video (I wrote about it at 11:47 am):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BbM5VxXrI
Trust you to find it!
I’d already searched on YouTube but nothing came up before I posted the above comment lol. Why the hell doesn’t the ATP put them up?. That’s the logical place to go or so one would think – apparently not any longer 🙁