Rafael Nadal and Nikoloz Basilashvili will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Sunday.
Unless Basilashvili gets triple-bageled, he won’t do any worse than he did in their only previous encounter at the 2017 French Open. Obviously going up against Nadal on a woefully unfavorable surface, the Georgian managed to win all of one game in a 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
A hard court should provide a much better opportunity for Basilashvili, who is enjoying success for the second time at a major this season after reaching round three of the Australian Open. The world No. 37 has already done one better in New York, where he booked his spot in the last 16 thanks to victories over Aljaz Bedene, Jack Sock, and Guido Pella.
Nadal’s title defense got off to a strong start with wins at the expense of David Ferrer (via second-set retirement) and Vasek Pospisil (6-3, 6-4, 6-2). The Spaniard suddenly ran into a whole lot of trouble in the form of Karen Khachanov on Friday, but he survived 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(7), 7-6(3) in more than four hours.
“I think I played two good matches to start,” Nadal said of his first week in Flushing Meadows. “Especially the second one. [Against Khachanov], I think I started the match great…. I believe that there is some margin to improve. But I really hope that this kind of match helps. These kind of matches make you feel confident; make you feel stronger. At some point you need to go through some tough moments.
“I think this match helps. [Winning] these kind of matches, going through some very tough situations, lot of moments in the match…helps a lot for the confidence and helps to understand how you have to play for next match.”
The biggest key for Nadal in his next match is the status of his knees, as yet another potential physical issue reared its head against Khachanov. But the world No. 1 said, “my personal feeling is I (am) going to be at my 100 percent for the next one.”
If he is, the end of Basilashvili’s run is here–but it will be a lot more competitive than it was at Roland Garros.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 11-14 games
[polldaddy poll=10095015]
So qf is where it will end looks like…I did not see the match but just saw on court interview n did not find him in good spirits …he is surely not feeling right…somehow if thiem chokes delpo will pack Rafa off.
Only solace is one of djoko Fed will also be out in qf đ
May or may not end at the QF. It all depends on how Rafa (and his opponents of course) play(s).
Rafa made a mess of his early rounds last year too, losing a set to Taro Daniel and to Leo Mayer, but once he reached the QF, he gave Rublev a shellacking. In the SF against Delpo, after losing the first set, he adjusted his game plan and handed Delpo a beat down, feeding Delpo a bagel in the process.
Like I said, it also depends on how Rafa plays. I do believe now that heâs in the QF, he will surely have some confidence, some relief off the pressure he is/was facing, and maybe he will play consistently well throughout a match instead of having inexplicable lapses esp after playing well enough to earn one or two good sets.
I think I understand what Hawk was implying, that Rafa was worried about his knee, and so he was nervous because of that (and maybe also thinking of all those tough matches in the past at this stage of the USO, one he lost in 2016 and one he won a hard fought one vs L Mayer).
I do feel Rafaâs knee acted up because of the humid conditions, too much moisture in the air is no good for his knee and so he could feel soreness in his knee. He was trying to protect his knee hence he wasnât serving well against Khachanov.
He played better against Basilashvili, was looking to close the match in straight sets, had BPs in Basilashviliâs first service game in the third set but didnât capitalise. I guess he rue missing those chances, and Basilashvili after escaping those BPs, started playing more aggressively while Rafa started having doubts after missing those chances. Had Rafa broken Basilashviliâs serve at that time, I do believe he wonât be having any more doubts and would hold serve till the finish line in straight sets.
Rafa did play well in the first two sets, well enough to earn BPs and converted them to win the sets. He became tentative in the third set and so ended up in a mess. I feel because of that he wasted another hour on the court and subjected himself to more physical exertion, may not be good for his affected knee.
Against Thiem, I just hope itâs not the Thiem of Madrid that turns up to play, and certainly hope not the clueless Rafa of Madrid too. But, USO is a slam, so Iâll expect Rafa to fight hard no matter what; I think Rafa to win in four sets; unless the messy Rafa turns up to play then Thiem in his Madrid mode may end up winning the match.
Yeah, donât like when Rafa has this mindset of âplaying not to loseâ but he is winning and that counts!
I thought Rafa was tentative in that third set, did not want to risk and maybe was fooled by Bashiasviliâs body language which I found deceiving. At moments he looked like he was cramping just to be very fast and running all over the place soon after. I think Bashi played high level tennis and one should recognize that rather than blaming Rafa. Bashiâs seems to be excellent returner as well. And one more factor to consider is the packed AA stadium which brings out the best in players.
This match as much as vs Kachanov make good preparation for Thiem who likes rallies and prefers long points! Rafa will have to be ready for it! The match will be physically demanding. However, Rafa doesnât fear those who engage in rallies as he can always counterattack. It might be difficult but I expect Rafa to deal with Thiem with sucess.
Rafa serms to draw all the young, enthusiastic and good looking players đ they must be grateful to be able to play against and learn from the King!
Good job, Rafa!
Vamos Champ!
He was cramping ?
Bashi looked to be having some physical issues, maybe cramping. Not Rafa.
I think youâre the only one who think Rafa does a good job! To me heâs dumb to keep hitting to Basilashviliâs BH all the time when Basilashvili was hitting winners after winners from that wing! Rafa didnât play like a no.1 player in this match, at least not in set 3 and 4. He played one dimensional tennis for the most of set three.
Basilashvili came out all guns blazing but Rafa served well enough and played well enough not to allow him any BP chances in set 1 and he broke Basilashvili when it mattered and duly served and won the first set. He was still playing well in the second set but after having so many BP chances but couldnât take advantage, in Basilashviliâs first service game in set three, his game went downhill from there – hitting short, playing safe, going CC all the time to opponentâs stronger wing, losing his rallies when he usually would have won them, etc and etc.
To me heâs playing subpar tennis from set three onwards, and Basilashvili seized the opportunities opened to him to play some of his most aggressive tennis to edge the third set.
Iâm not pinning any hope of him defending his title here, Delpo will most likely be the one sending him packing, if itâs not Thiem doing the job. Delpo looks seriously like the most likely title winner here imo, when Djoko and Fed will most likely kill themselves to reach the SF. Cilic, Goffin and Kei not exactly the type of players to beat Delpo in the final.
Reminiscent of his loss to Fognini at the us open after being up two sets, then suddenly playing not to lose hitting short making Fognini look great when, in reality, almost any Top 50 player should in that position.
And I donât see many here saying that Thiem is the favourite to beat Rafa. Thatâs just another overstated exaggeration also known as a strawman argument.
However, as it stands with this level of play, I no longer have Rafa as the favourite to win the tournament even though he is more than capable of raising his level assuming that there are no serious underlying physical issues.
Hawks!….Very agree with u!,, especially the last paragraph….Rafa certainly can win if he starts play aggressive & eager to make winners…I think his Wimby play was much more convincing than this…Just hope he will found that Rafa pretty soon…If not..well…
Never a dull moment being a Rafan. He seldom makes it easy on himself as Lucky points out.
Heâs obviously the GOAT though that he fights through such adversity and remains no. 1.
Heâs won the highest percentage of menâs slams played in the open era.
@lucky,
I did not say Rafa played great! Read my post carefully: I said I disliked his âplay not to lose attitudeâ and that he was tentative in the set 3! The good job was that he won it in 4 rather than 5 as you were predicting during the course of the match.
I also agree and have been saying Delpo will be the biggest threat to Rafa since I watched Delpo play at L. Armstrong and he looked scary strong! Moreover, Rafa usually has trouble dealing with hard hitters and big servers and Delpo is both, so it is expected for Rafa to face difficulties in that encounter.
I still think Rafa will beat Thiem! Though he may lose if his knee is troubling him…
And I will ALWAYS say âgood jobâ if and when Rafa wins no matter what!
Vamos Champ!
Federer regains the No. 1 if he wins the title and Rafa loses to Thiem.
Fed not winning it. I wont be surprised if DelPo wins this.
Where was the jump in the serve when he got broken in the 4th set. It was 3-2 game maybe. He just was serving without jump.
Why was he not taped then if he was injured ..he has to protect it right
When a player gets nervous in any sport, the legs go first. Maybe he wasn’t jumping because he was tight and he didn’t use his legs as much.
Maybe he was tight in the game where he got broken, but Rafa served it out with no problems at all. Basilashvili is a big hitter-and-misser. If he connects he’ll win the point, if not, not.
Ok well if he’s healthy then yes he is still the favorite to beat Thiem. Cmon guys don’t underestimate your man here. He’s the defending champ for a reason. He might surprise you and go out and slaughter Thiem. On hard courts, that’s not a good matchup for Thiem at all. Plus, it’s gonna be hard for Thiem to play as well as he did against Anderson again.
I think you all are jumping ship too soon on Rafa… Thiem has never gotten a sniff at Rafa at a major. Del Po would obviously be a challenge, but Rafa has been the victor any time theyâve played in a major for years. And Novak/Fed have not looked great overall themselves.
If what you guys are doing is downplaying Rafaâs chances in case he does lose, then that is understandable. But weâve seen Rafa play not his best early on in majors before, only to pick up his level as it progresses, and then peaks when it counts.
Saying things like, âSo the QF is where it ends for Rafa this year?â just seems ridiculous to me for hardcore fans of his to say. You all have seen him win when play not his best early on- why just suddenly count him out?? Youâre his fans! Be competitive with him! Stand by your man! đ
You’re right kevin as is Benny!
Vamos Kevin and Benny!!
đđź đđź đđź
Great posts by both Kevin and Beny! Totally agree!
Thank you!
Kevin,
I will let you do the talking! Because you make so much good sense! I think you are spot on! There is no reason to say – the quarterfinals is where it ends. Letâs see what happens. Rafa has not given up ion himself. We shouldnât either.
If it makes any of you big-time Rafa fans feel better, I will be there in Arthur Ashe Stadium watching Rafa vs. Thiem, and I will send Rafa all the positive vibes that I possibly can! đ
Have a great time, Kevin! Let’s hope for the outcome we all want!
I’m also hoping for a Fed-Djoker quarter final! I thought Fed played a great match vs NK. Spanked him like a spoiled child.
Thank you so much, Ramara! Iâve been looking forward to this moment since the second I left the BJK Tennis Center last year. Even though I can only afford nosebleed seats, I feel so incredibly lucky that I get to a Nadal-Thiem match. Even if itâs not the best matchup for Thiem, they are definitely one of the best matches to see, especially on a slower court like this, as they just slug it out like their life depends on it. I canât wait!
But the match I obviously feel even more blessed to get to see (I hope) is the Fed-Djokovic QF… I have tickets for the Wednesday Night session. I am 99.99 percent sure that both Fed and Novak will win their respective 4th round matches, but my biggest concern is that the Open will make the biggest, dumbest mistake of their lives and put Fed-Novak in the Day session… I seriously cannot imagine that they wouldnât put one of the two or three greatest matchups the game has ever seen in the Night session. Especially since itâs on a weekday.
If for some reason they put Fed-Novak on in the Day, then I will sell my Night session tickets and try to get day ones instead. But I really canât inagibe they would put that match on in the day…
Iâm not as excited about Del Po-Isner, as I canât stand Isner. But I loved watching Del Po play on Grandstand last year against Bautista-Agut, so Iâm psyched to see him play again this year.
Oh my LORD could it be a potential match of a lifetime if Del Po-Rafa meet in the SF again! đ
Hope you have a great time Kevin!!âşâş
Please concentrate extra hard on sending rafa your positive vubes!!!
Vibes not vubes!!
First time after 2011 that Rafa has made the QF of all 4 slams…
wafa doesn’t look good. the dirtballer ain’t no business winning this us open. delpo should eat for breakfast his puffing grunting moonballs. hopefully thiem takes the trash out so we have some good SF. wafa is again faking the knee problem. perhaps he is yearning for another stem-cell therapy (if you know what i mean).
You should see a speech therapist,Sampras fan.
Any therapist for that matter.
đđ
Hawks- A+ on the âSampras fanâ comeback. đđ
You’re welcome Kevin fan.
Enjoy all of the possible GOATs past, present and future in NY!
#Humb1e
Rafa would still be in the final unless delpo fire is on. I do not see these two beating Rafa in BO5
in final if it is Nole which is very likely, then it is 50:50
if it is fed which is highly unlikely, I think 55:45 chance to Rafa advantage
well delpo should at least soften those knees further so the cheater doesn’t run like a rabbit in the finals.
Sampras fan, Federer is in the other half and couldnât play Delpo until the final. I donât see that happening.
Another good win for Rafa. A lot of the comments here refer to Nadal as the #1 player in the world. He is according to ranking points, of course, but the large majority of those have been earned on clay. On HC it’s by no means obvious that he’s the #1 player, and what the last two opponents have shown is that there’s not much distance between Nadal and even a good top-20 or top-30 player on this surface.
I didn’t think Rafa played badly today. As I suspected, his opponent is much improved and was able to dictate play a lot of the time. After pulling even in the 4th set, however, Nadal was by far the more consistent player and won going away.
Based on current form, I don’t think Nadal can be considered the favourite against Thiem. The fact that Thiem has a few wins over him, combined with Nadal’s apparent less than 100% form, leads me to think that Thiem will take this one, in 4 or maybe 5 sets.
Lets say which version of Theim turns up. In my opinion DelPo is the favorite from this section. Fresh and he has been playing really well all through the year.
Delpo is the favourite in this section of the draw. If Rafa gets past Thiem at least thereâs a two days rest before the SF so that may help Rafa physically.
As long as he is well physically, I think he can give Delpo a good fight, win or loss.
Joe, Rafa only played TWO HC events this year prior to the USO, but he won one and reached the QF of another.
Fed played many HC events and had his narrow escape too vs low ranked players, and he even lost to a no.175 ranked player at Miami. Fed is certainly not in his all conquering mode too. The same could be said of Djoko too this year.
Joe, Rafa played badly in the third set, we all could see that! Rafa won because he played well to win the first two sets, and he edged out his opponent in the fourth set.
Overall, heâs not playing at his 100%, thatâs why he lost a set, if not I doubt Basilashvili could even get a set (and Basilashvili barely won the set in a TB even when heâs playing all out aggressive tennis, and you say thereâs not much difference between Rafaâs level on the HC against a player ranked in the 20s or 30s????? What crap!!).
Noone stops Fed from accumulating HC points and become number 1, upto him. Don’t give me a crap that Fed does not want to be number 1 player. He played Rotterdam to become number 1.
My point had nothing to do with Fed whatsoever. I’m not saying that Nadal does not deserve to be #1. It’s just that many of the comments here seem to be expecting him to thrash lower ranked opponents as if the match were played on clay. Indeed, that’s exactly what he did to today’s opponent (Basilashvlli) last year at RG. Different surface, very different match.
I know, right? Even the ATP refers to Rafa as the No. 1 player in the world! The nerve!
I think hard court events should be worth triple points compared to clay. At least until Federer retires. Itâs only fair because fed no longer plays on clay.
Hawks, I might start a petition for an all grass court season. Seems fair to me đ đ
Well, let’s wait until Roger can do better on grass before bothering Benny G. Might not be worth it.
Joe – will you ever, I mean ever write a post without trying to denigrate Rafa or try to put him down? No difference between Rafa and a player ranked in top 30 on HC, what a truckload of bull. I can accept if it is top 10 even there too he is close on HC slams (4 slams vs 1 Cilic, 1 Murray, 2 Stan, 1 Delpo) to rest of the entire field combined excluding Fed & Djoko. . Rafa is physically hampered is obvious for all to see as his lateral movement is not great and his serve is iffy . Fed was hampered last year, did he not go 5 against Tiafoe and Youzhny(of all people). Please take the hate blinders off for heavens sake.
Well said Sanju! đ!
Well, Fedâs level on HC last year was even worse than a no.30 player, had to scrape past two very low ranked players (no.70 and no. 101) in five sets! Was his level closer to no.70 to 101 players than the no.2 or 3 players back then??
Sanju, it’s not obvious to me that Rafa is physically hampered. He hasn’t said he is, and if his knee is hurting then why wasn’t it taped? He’s played two tough matches against good players. He won both; good for him. Why can’t his fans simply accept that sometimes he isn’t good enough to win and sometimes he isn’t good enough to win convincingly, even against much lower ranked players. Nothing wrong with that. My point was simply that his #1 ranking is not indicative of his general strength on HC, so we shouldn’t expect him to win these matches easily.
There is nothing I said that indicates hatred of Rafa, of which I have none.
Joe, Iâm not Sanju but still I want to respond here.
Rafa had knee soreness and thatâs why he got his knee taped up at beginning of second set in the match vs Khachanov. After the match, he was limping when he was in the tunnel walking back to the locker room, someone saw that. Itâs obvious his knee was affecting him when he was serving, hence he was serving poorly, when you compare how he served against Pospisil in the previous round match. Moya confirmed that Rafa had knee soreness.
Rafa had dealt with Khachanov without losing a set in all of their matches prior to this USO; Khachanov was playing well in Toronto, yet Rafa still beat him in straight sets. If beating someone in straight sets is considered a close match, then I must say Fed is/was having many close matches that he won in TB sets! Was Fedâs level close to his lower ranked opponents then??
Basilashvili came out all guns blazing, yet Rafa won the first two sets without too much fuss; itâs his usual lapses in his matches that cost him a set and he lost it in a TB. If winning a set against Rafa was considered playing close to Rafaâs level, then everyoneâs level is close to his opponentâs once he gets a set!
Rafaâs ranking points on HC was only second to Fedâs from USO 2017 to Toronto/Cincy this year, if we ignore Fedâs Rotterdam, IW and Miami points when Rafa did not play there. Rafa has 4640 HC points (2000+500+600+180+360+1000) and Fed has 5060 (360+1000+500+600+2000+600), difference of only 420 points! Bear in mind too Rafa was injured end of last year and had to withdraw after playing one match each at Paris Masters and WTF.
No one else has scored more HC points than Rafa other than Fed, even when they have played more HC events than Rafa has. I donât see how the lower ranked players are close to Rafaâs level on the HCs.
Khachanov is a much improved player this year, imo. He played a great match against Nadal the other day. Had it not been for his numerous and crucial double faults, he may well have won that match in straight sets. If they were to play again tomorrow and Nadal was in full health, I would still pick it to be relatively close. (Before the match I predicted that Karen would take a set but that Nadal would win in 4; I wasn’t able to post the prediction because of site technical issues).
Well Joe Blow, according to you,any player playing at their best will beat Rafa. lol.
Good that Rafa doesn’t give a toss what we write here.
He’ll just continue, till the day he calls it quits, to play his attrition style of game, both for himself and his adversaries.
I’d say his results over the years have been ‘good enough’ in all surfaces , lol
Accurate characterization to call Nadal’s style one of “attrition,” though he has deviated from that style somewhat in the last two years. However, it remains his preferred style, and it’s best suited, of course, to clay. On HC, an aggressive player who is on his game will generally give Nadal a lot of trouble.
“On HC, an aggressive player who is on his game will generally give Nadal a lot of trouble.”
a testament to that is nadull’s and tio’s rant (some time ago) that the WTF should be played on clay! these spanish cheaters wanted to manipulate the ATP itself! can you imagine this audacity? all these just confirm that his moonballing game is not suited for HC.
Why is it that so-called tennis fans that criticize the style of play and talent of other players are always fedfans (although in this case a Sampras fan no less)? (This is a rhetorical question ICYMI.)
You never see Rafans doing this including me.
Such sad fans.
^ Thank goodness someone said it! Like Rafa would ever read any of it! He doesnât get into petty nonsense and knows what is important in life.
Joe Smith is always going to find ways to diss Rafa. He may say itâs really not and try to hide what he is doing. But itâs the same old crap over and over sometimes using different words, trying to feign innocence or whatever.
I say that Rafaâs record stands on it shown. Period.
Just to be clear – my comment was in response to Shireling.
‘ON HC, an aggressive player who is on his game’ would give anybody a lot of trouble. The fact that Nadal still manages to come on top most of the times speaks about how good a player he is
Agreed that it shows how good he is. I just think Nadal’s counter-punching style means that the outcome of his HC (and grass) matches are often not on Nadal’s racquet to the extent that one might think they would be, given his #1 ranking.
Joe, Rafa rarely lost to any journey men even on the HCs. On grass yes, after his knees were shot and he couldnât bend them the way he could before 2012. His 2015/2016 were anomalies, just like Djokoâs 2017 to early 2018.
Rafa is/was easily the top four on HCs since 2008, was no.2 in 2008,2010,2013, 2017, and no.1 in 2009 together with Djoko. Howâs he that bad on the HCs? Itâs just like Fed and Djoko were no.1 on HCs but werenât so on clay.
Rafa was 9-6 vs Fed on the HCs prior to 2015, donât tell me each time they played, the match was on Fedâs racket. If thatâs the case, then Fed was really poor winning only 40% of that.
Djoko has the upper hand on the HCs vs Rafa, heâs 14 vs 7 before 2015, however Djoko isnât an all out attacker, heâs also a counterpuncher, just a bit more offensive one.
Most of Rafaâs losses on the HCs were to top ten players, whether theyâre of the former gen, his peer gen or the current gen, a good 72% of them; and 22% of his losses on the HCs happened when heâs 20 yo or younger (2003 to early 2007).
You know what , Djoker is naturally an aggressive player. But that guy has 2 USO whereas Rafa has 3. I know that can change at the end of their careers but it wont change by a lot. Rafa beat Djoker in 2 out of 3 finals they played here. And he was favorit in both these matches.
BTW Rafa has more USO than Agassi who is considered top 10 HC of all time. So, we can put to rest any doubt what Rafa brings on the table at USO. His numbers speak for him.
So much so for a guy who played all his life training on clay courts. Makes his achievements more worthy.
@ shireling,
Exactly! Rafa doesnât have to cruise in his HC matches in order to âqualifyâ for a good player! Rafans are generally demanding and ask for more every single match! If Rafa drops a set Rafans conclude he is bound to lose in his next match! If Fed drops the set itâs small loss of focus and if Nole drops a set its nothing serious as he will definitely raise his level in later rounds. I really think fans are sometimes unfair to Rafa! Sure HC is not Rafaâs favorite surface, true Rafa tends to go harder way and is forced to fight hard when facing aggressive players and true that Rafa tends to get nervous if not confident on his own serve but he is winning his matches reaching quarterfinals in all 4 GSs at the age of 32! I eish more respect is paid to the King at least by his own fans!
Vamos Champ!
Yes, myself as a Nadal fan would like to see him dictating all the time and making life easy for himself but it’s just not going to happen on HC.
True that lesser ranked players are able to ‘boss him around’ more than he (and us fans) would like but, what the hell, he still manages to win and that’s good enough for me and we do get matches such as the one Vs Khachanov the other day, stuff of legend!
Not that we are demanding that Rafa has to win in straight sets, but itâs the way he plays thatâs the concern – the lapses, the serving woes, the lost of serve after breaking serve; and adding to that the knee soreness and the unnecessary grinding.
TBH, I wasnât that concerned last year at the USO when he lost a set to Taro Daniel and to Leonardo Mayer, because he was already struggling at Canada and Cincy, and he wasnât the defending champion. This year however, he is the defending champion and heâs coming to New York having won at Toronto, so heâs playing well therefore the expectations from his fans.
Joe Blow is just trying to drag you down and share his frustration that Rafa is GOAT.
Heâs defeated Federer and Nole mutitiple times at hard court slams.
Always on Rafas racquet vs Federer at any outdoor surface since 2008.
Djokovic is the bigger challenge than Federer. When all is said and done, Federer will be fourth. in greatest of all time five years from now when all four current greats are retired.
Thatâs why 90% of Joe Blows posts are intended to denigrate Rafa. (The other 10% are fan mail to Me.)
Indian Wells and Miami last year were definitely not on Rafa’s racket.
He was still in the process of recovering his form from his 2016 wrist injury ICYMI.
When Rafa is injured or recovering form, that’s when Federer can beat him.
We are talking about when both players are in form, like all slam h2h from 2008-2014 for example where Rafa was 6-0 in slams (3 clay, 2 HC, 1 grass) vs Federer and 8-2 in Masters.
The 2009 Madrid loss followed a four-hour semifinal win over Nole less than 24 hours prior:
âHe was simply better than me,â Nadal said.
Nadalâs grueling semifinal win against Novak Djokovic took its toll as he failed to reach many balls he would normally get.
âIt doesnât help to play four hours yesterday,â Nadal said.
The other loss at IW was a cool rainy evening when Rafa had an off night.
He had made the 2017 AO final though. I didn’t think he was still trying to find his form at that point…
Yeah he was still. Murray out and Nole lost in a slump. Simply wasn’t back to full form and still held a break lead in the 5th but lacked the confidence and got tight and defensive which you can’t do against Federer.
Similar to a premature Rafa being No. 2 prior to 2008. Competition was lacking.
You are correct. Indian Wells was on Fed’s racket. Miami he just beat Rafa because Rafa started to feel the mental block. In Shanghai as well, it was on Fed’s racket. Rafa is yeat to break Fed’s serve in last 3 matches. Thats a staggering stat.
I think people forget that Fed can also be injured as well. But Fed usually stays silent on injuries. He thinks it would give positive vibes to his opponent. For example I think 2013 Fed played with a bad back. But you dont see that too often.
Till Rafa beats him on HC, I think he will continue to have e nervous against Fed.
Yeah, Roger never discusses injuries…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-26/back-injury-sparks-latest-federer-slump/4844812
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/10/federer-reflects-mistakes-playing-injured/49518/
#MythBusters
And certainly wouldn’t continue to bring it up months later…
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/03/federer-back-injury-was-scarring/50926/
#MythBusters
In 14 years of tennis, 2 links. Probably one was 2008 where he had mono. Three instances . Might impressive for someone.
Rafa gets injured every other year. And he is no way near 35.
Just another aspect of Fed that is overlooked often. That he will be 100% in all his matches. If he loses against someone, he would always be 100% and rival guy was better.
But if rival guy loses , even cool rainy night can favor Fed for some strange reasons.
Nah, just an off night and well known that Rafa prefers playing in the sun.
Statistical outlier. Can’t win ’em all.
And your argument fails.
Nole had wins over Rafa in 2011-12 where Nole was just too good IMO.
Good luck hearing a fedfan admit to losses when Fed was in great form LOL.
Fed-Rafa matches have always been on Federer’s racquet, except on clay, and even then they sometimes are, e.g. RG 2011. Nadal recognizes this; it’s part of the nature of being mainly a defensive, retrieving player with a relatively weak serve. Generally, the more attacking player will win if he can make more winners than errors.
Fortunately for Nadal, he is about as good a retriever as the game has ever seen (only Djokovic is better). He is also probably the most intelligent player, tactically, ever. And he is the most tenacious. Those qualities are enough to make him #2 GOAT. But because his virtues are mainly defensive and tactical, the outcomes of his matches are often not on his racquet when his opponent is a powerful attacking player. That was my main point.
Fed suffered from a mental block for most of his career against Nadal (never against Djokovic, imo) but that was overcome in AO 2017. As Benny said, Fed will be favoured against Nadal on HC until Rafa manages to reverse the streak. At this point, Fed is probably in Nadal’s head a bit.
Well, Joe Blow, your bias strips you of any shred of credibility. You belong with Sampras Goat.
I was just reading brad Gilbert ‘s Twitter feed from yesterday…he was saying it was extremely humid yesterday so that won’t have helped Rafa! Hope the humidity drops for Tuesday.
Sweating buckets in the humidity is very enervating so that may have been a real factor in why his level dropped in the third set ie being physically drained leading to muddled thinking on the court and getting defensive.
Maybe also the pressure of being the defending champion is getting to Rafa?
Coric was sweating profusely last nigh vs Delpo and he was freaking out serving at 4-5 in the first set because the umpire wouldn’t allow his request to have his sweat wiped from the baseline during a game. He should have just asked for the towel and quickly done it himself.
The heat wave is back which means night matches in R16 and QF for Roger (even though I’ve never seen him sweat).
Brad was saying rafa would get the Tuesday night spot with Serena…
I just read Rafa ‘s presser. He said “now is the moment to make the next step,step forward, play more aggressive. ”
He knows what he needs to do! Where is thiem standing to receive on the court? Is he still back in the stands?
My issue with Rafa having to grind out a tough win and play a fourth set, is simply out of concern for his body. I hate to see him have to play more than necessary. The humidity did not help him at all because he sweats buckets.
Rafa knows exactly what to expect from Thiem. Thatâs why he said he has to play more aggressive. I hope he can bring that to the match.
Have you seen thiem play at this year uso nny? I was wondering if he is still playing as if he was on a clay court standing way back to receive?
Personally I think the fact that they have not played on hard before favours Rafa.
Anonymous is me amy!!
Thiem did stand way back to receive vs Anderson. He said he wouldn’t do that vs Rafa.
More players are standing way back to receive now. The commentators say they’re imitating Rafa, which amuses me for some reason. (Probably because when Rafa first started doing it the commies joked about it a lot.) Rafa, when asked about it in his last presser, said no, he did not “like” that position, that he liked to vary the return position depending on the circumstances. (my words, Rafa gave examples)
Amy?
That is you? Whatâs up with your username?
Ramara kindly answered your question. Rafa is not Anderson. Thiem did say he will move up against Rafa. Anderson has that big serve. Rafa doesnât have a huge serve.
Thiem is going to come out blasting. He knows that he has to go for his shots against Rafa. I just hope that Rafa can be aggressive and not get nervous.
wafa is not an aggressive player, he is a defensive dirtballer designed for clay (a surface nobody cares about). he is a left handed android created by tio toni and simply uses a template created by his tio to win matches in unethical fashion. wish toni didn’t design all that OCD stuff so the android looks more human.
Why is it that so-called tennis fans that criticize the style of play and talent of other players are always fedfans (although in this case a Sampras fan no less)? (This is a rhetorical question ICYMI.)
You never see Rafans doing this including me.