Ten years later, there will be no final rematch of the 2008 Wimbledon epic between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. But the All-England Club faithful will be treated to a different historic rivalry two days earlier–Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic in the semis.
The two all-time greats are set to face each other for a hard-to-believe 52nd time in their careers on Friday, with Djokovic holding a lead so slim (26-25) that it will be all tied if he loses this one. Nadal had dropped seven in a row and 11 of their last 12 meetings before taking their two most recent encounters, also in semifinal showdowns (6-2, 6-4 last spring in Madrid and 7-6(4), 6-3 a couple of months ago in Rome). They have not collided on grass since the 2011 Wimbledon title match, which Djokovic won 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.
Surprisingly, Nadal had not been back to even the quarterfinals of this tournament since that 2011 result. But it has all turned around for the world No. 1 this fortnight, with straight-set romps over Dudi Sela, Mikhail Kukushkin, Alex De Minaur, and Jiri Vesely prior to an epic 7-5, 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals. Nadal is now an awesome 35-2 this season and 31-1 in his last 32 matches since retiring against Marin Cilic in the Australian Open quarters.
“Anything could have happened (against Del Potro), so this is a big achievement for me to get to the semifinals at Wimbledon,” the Spaniard said following Wednesday’s thriller. “In the last set there was a little of everything: great points, great rallies, he was hitting crazy with his forehands. I tried to resist and maintain focus.
“Now is the moment to enjoy and then start to recover, as it was a tough physical battle. [Djokovic] is one of the toughest opponents. I am just excited to be in the semis.”
While Nadal has finally found greener pastures at Wimbledon following years of SW19 frustration, Djokovic’s all-around game appears to be back in business for the first time in a year. Physical problems derailed the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018 for him, but the Djokovic of old has returned. The 21st-ranked Serb picked up some momentum on clay and has only improved on grass, with a runner-up performance at Queen’s Club and wins this fortnight over Tennys Sandgren, Horacio Zeballos, Kyle Edmund, Karen Khachanov, and Kei Nishikori. Djokovic is 17-3 in his last 20 matches since being saddled with a 6-6 mark through his first 12 of the year.
“I feel (that) if I have to compare the game that I’ve played, the level of tennis that I’ve had those years and today, I think it’s pretty close,” Djokovic assessed after beating Nishikori 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday. “I like the level of tennis that I’m playing right now; I really do. I think with the performances I’ve had, I deserve to be in the semifinals. I don’t want to stop here. I hope I can get a chance to fight for a trophy.”
While this Djokovic is something different than what was on display from January through April, his sample size of success remains small. The 12-time major champion owns just a single top-10 win since Rome last spring, and that has come at the expense of a slumping Grigor Dimitrov in the Queen’s Club second round. Toppling Nadal in the Wimbledon semifinals is a whole different beast of a task.
Nadal has quite simply been the best player this entire year and the best player throughout this tournament. Although it obviously isn’t clay, conditions are suiting him well this fortnight. If more of the same continues and he produces a similar level to what Del Potro saw on the other side of the net, the 32-year-old should advance to his sixth Wimbledon final.
Pick: Nadal in 4
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https://twitter.com/planettrish/status/1018434750397075457?s=21
posted by someone on tx
Agree with Kevins long post. Nadal was one or two points from winning .Nadal wins, then you wont hear any complaints about the roof.
OTOH, roof opens , Nadal loses , then different story.
Some tournaments have a canopy-type roof which allows air circulation, while still keepin gthe rain out and allowing some protection from the sun.Better job, IMO.
Sorry Kevin but this post really irritated me. Wimby states over and over that it is an open air tourney and that it does everything it can to play matches outside and the roof is only there as a last resort. I have heard henman say that on multiple occasions. They screwed up the scheduling so in a desperate attempt to try and get the match played they closed the roof when it wasn’t raining and there was plenty of light. Because of their screw up Nole had the opportunity to ask to play indoors which he took when rafa emphatically didn’t agree and wanted to play outdoors. And the conditions weren’t remotely the same next day anyway as they were playing in high humidity conditions with the hot midday sun. I already said i think it’s wrong for one player to be able to make a decision which determines everything ie not just for the players but for the spectators, the viewing public on tv, people on the hill, the delay in having to open the roof for the women’s final. And I made these comments before the match as well as afterwards! Even if Rafa had won i still think it was wrong. I also said before the match that I don’t believe that Federer would have enforced playing inside even though it would confer on him an even greater advantage. That’s not in keeping imo with Fed’s views about tradition,history, how the game should be played and so on. Hawks and myself are the only Rafa fans here who really like Nole and we both see it as the wrong call that the roof should be closed we also both think Rafa would have won if it was open on Saturday.
Just about every rafa fan on this site said on site before the match that he wasn’t going to win with it closed and just about every commentator and expert who had picked rafa to win before changed their pick to Nole.That’s how big a factor everyone saw the roof as being before the match so why the hell shouldn’t we complain about it afterwards!we are just being consistent in our thinking!!!
Also imo the biggest advantage Nole had when the roof was closed was that he knew very well that rafa has a poor record playing indoors while he has a very good one. He came into that match pretty mentally weak imo but the roof being closed gave him a huge shot of confidence and belief while also putting doubts in rafa’s mind at the beginning at least.
That again was a huge factor in his capacity to win.
I have supported Nole a lot on this site…to the extent that I have been accused of being first and foremost a nole fan! I wanted him to get back to his best and I’ve said it was going to happen soon. But I don’t like how he got his win over rafa and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
All perfectly said amy (not sure about Fed though).
Thanks hawks! Just my opinion about fed! Am in a bit of a rage about roofgate and an not going to shut up about it!
Rafa could be looking at another channel slam and 18 slams right now!!
Hawks i find my policy of just not reading posts by trolls such as jim, Stanley and grassgoat really an excellent one!
Saves so much time and energy!!😀
If no one reacts to their posts, they get bored and move on.
I thought that Wimbledon cannot be worse than letting 2 people fight in the SF indefinitely and compromising their chances for the final, while the other 2 semifinalists and spectators got tired and frustrated not being able play/watch the other match on a different court simultaneously. No, Wimbledon comitee can be even more stupid than that. For some silly reasons, they didn’t open the roof on a bright, hot day with A/C on, exactly as they used to play back in the 19 century. Because they like tradition. I lost my respect for this tourney. This was disgusting.
Well it was rafa who had to pay for their scheduling stupidity and incompetence Eugene! He specifically said afterwards that wimby is an outdoor tournament and they should have opened the roof on Saturday!
Which I agree with! i think many ordinary people here in Britain who aren’t really tennis fans but always watch wimby think wimby screwed things up!
I know Rafa would’ve want to play with the roof open.
They should as well let Fed&Rafa outside CC, so they get used to other courts, in case unforseen circumstances occur. Fed shouldn’t have played only on Cc before the QF match.
Well I wanted fed to get to the final Eugene!! I like all 3 of fed rafa and Nole!
Brad Gilbert:
“This is absolutely something that needs to be addressed for next year’s rules if for some reason match does not finish even if played indoors,next day option should always be based on weather this is outdoor tournament”
ie saying same as Rafa!!
But the real problem was the poor scheduling.The match should never have started so late and carried over.
True, Wimbledon screwed things up (I’d already said that many times in my earlier posts) for Fed and Rafa, resulting in a poor final yet again!
I’m sure a Fed/Rafa or Fed/Djoko Final would be 100 times better than a tired Anderson/Djoko final. What a shame and what a joke Wimbledon had turned into.
For me,this is the BADDEST Wimby ever!…The one time Rafa have a shot on it,and they screwed up!!….Urgh!!!….I’m still very pi@#ed over bad scheduling & roof scandal!..I hope Rafa will boycott this tourney next year if things still not changed…
Yes I am angry as well mira! If Nole had beaten rafa outside on Saturday i would be upset and disappointed but I would move on and accept it and also be glad for Nole! As it is I feel that the result is illegitimate and rafa has been cheated out of a slam! I realize some people are going to attack me for saying this but it’s what I feel and I am not going to pretend otherwise!
Another brad Gilbert tweet from Saturday this time:
“The only thing I know is roof closed for 1pm restart this afternoon, obviously djoker or his team wanted it closed but I think it terrible that it is outdoor tournament roof should be open on restart just my humble opinion”
Most people said same as Gilbert and what puzzles me is that henman said they took the decision to allow it to be played under the roof if one player wanted it not because it was a rule but because it was common practice. Well if it is common practice then how come so many experts and ex players like Gilbert were surprised by it! It also contradicts wimby rules to play outside whenever they can!!
I also read somewhere that Novak said afterwards that he didn’t even know he had a choice! Everything about the decision seems shambolic and inept!
amy,
I gave my thoughts here yesterday. I days d that it made no sense to have the roof up the next day. Now it appears that the roof is being used as advantage to determine the outcome of the match. I am not saying that Rafa for sure would have won if the roof was not up. What I am saying is that there was no reason for it to be up because it was daylight and no darkness and no rain. It was a stupid decision in a long line of stupid decisions.
I did not know about the hard stop at 11:00 pm. But the organizers did. Therefore, as the first semifinal went on so long they had to know that there was s real possibility that the second semifinal would not finish. So their failure to go anything, like moving the first match to court one and getting Rafa and Novak on center court, should have happened. They knew that once the match started so late at 8:00 that the match would not finish by 11:00.
I am fed up with the lack of respect and consideration shown towards the players. I know that Rafa said in his Spanish presser that he did all he could and can’t blame or criticize himself over this loss. He is right. Things were taken out of his hands and all he could do was play his best,
Rafa has absolutely nothing to criticise himself for nny! He played like a champion. But I don’t like any of the decision making process and although one can’t know for sure it’s extremely likely be would have won if they finished the match outside. That’s pretty sickening to think about..
It should be made clear that Rafa was not okay with the roof being closed once play resumed the next day. On VB they talked about the Spanish part of Rafa’s presser in which he said that it did not make sense for the roof to be closed the next day. So there should be no question about how Rafa felt.
He was right, of course. It was daylight, no darkness or rain. There were no rules about it starting and ending with the same conditions. The tournament screwed up royally!
I think any Rafa fab should avoid tennis-x. That place is anti-Rafa I’m the extreme. I don’t care if Novak fans are talking about the court but being watered in the 2013 RG semifinal. What else would you expect them to day. That fire is filled with the likes of grassgoat, spewing out toxic bile.
All I know is that Rafa came out and gave it his best. So much was out of his control. But the tournament organizers should be ashamed of the way they handled the entire scheduling for the two semifinals. It was a disgrace and unfair to the players. Common sense would have indicated that they get Rafa and Novak on court one at least as the other match dragged on. Something should have been to try and make sure both semifinals were completed.
To clarify my comments in the third paragraph of my previous post – any Rafa FAN should avoid tennis-x. It’s anti-Rafa in the extreme. I don’t care if the Novak fans are talking about the court NOT being watered in the 2013 RG semifinal. That SITE is filled with the likes of grassgoat, spilling toxic bile. *
Nny,
Oh dear, I’ve not read or posted there since before the Nole ve Rafa SF. And I couldn’t hold my tongue then.
I don’t dare go read there — but you make me curious – shoot.
I wanted to add that Rafa, in his Spanish presser, said that he talked about the match conditions and decisions “for information” and asked that the writers not make it “the story” but write about it as the great match that it was. He’s a class act all the way through.
I’d like to add that I watched John Isner’s exit presser also. Whatever you think of his politics and his tennis (no, I don’t like either), he’s a fine sportsman and a gracious gentleman.
Indeed, about Isner – I’ve never doubted his manners.
And Rafa is pure class. It was a great match and it should have been the final, imo. I watched all the matches I missed including the Kerber vs Serena one. Serena was wonderfully lovable in her RU speech.
+1
much different from Sandgren
Nny!…U R absolutely right about TX!…If Fed win,Fedfans will still bashed Rafa[some of them]..Now,i’m waiting with anxious now that Novak win again,his ‘over xcited’ fans will come again to TX & also bash,belittle & worse, spreading their hatred to the xtreme.. for example in 2015 when Novak still dominated,one of them came to TX & gave the link[rafa’s pic] especially to ME..And,in this pic Rafa grabbed Juan Monaco’s a@#[my guess,Rafa humour’s mood at the highest level at that time,hehe]….And in his post,Novak fan also implied that Rafa is gay….
And my answer to him was simple…”Wow!thank u very much for that pic @#!…Rafa’s hair was sooo cute!…And he also very handsome in that pic”!…And then,came another Novak fan[he’s also very brutal..but always got a nice words about Rafa,which is very nice gesture from him]…He said..”Mira,@# want u to see where Rafa’s hand in that pic”…And i replied..”I know @#!…I already can see where Rafa’s hand in that pic,i just acting nerd coz i knew the intention of @# just to hackled & provoked me,in hoping that i will get mad & start fighting with him…Not to mention that he wants everybody to see that Rafa is gay or prefer man or he is not what we thought he is & other BS..coz what Rafa did is totally not of our concern right? And i replied again to him…sorry @#!..i think u really underestimated me!…and also u just beware your a@# okay?Who knows when Rafa go to NY,he will grab your a@# next”!…And i end up my post by saying..Hugs & kisses from a far away land!Hehehehehe….Serves him right Nny!!…He’s the most vicious Novak fan on TX!…
Oh!…Yeah,each one of us still mad over what happened at Wimby this year Nny!….I know i am!..But..i think it’s better if we forget what happen,and start looking forward to NA swings…Hopefully our Rafa will once again have success there Nny!…Oh!..have u seen this Nny?I think you’re going to like it!…
https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Rafael_Nadal/57824/-rafael-nadal-is-possibly-the-greatest-athlete-ever-in-tennis–rod-laver/
https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Rafael_Nadal/57776/boris-becker-love-and-respect-for-rafael-nadal-/
MA,
I know all about what they say about Rafa on tennis-x. It’s a cesspool. I have seen it all many times. That’s why I wrote off that site years ago. I used to read there without posting, but gave that up. Not good for my health!
That’s what this troll grassgoat has been doing here. But insulting Rafa is one thing. Taking cheap shots at Rafa’s female fans is quite another. We are NOT Rafa fangirls! We are grown women who know our tennis and love this sport! There should be no place for that kind of condescending, sexist misogynistic garbage on this site! I not about to tolerate that! No way! But grassgoat belongs on tennis-x. He fits right in.
I know that amy checked out the site. But I will steer clear of it at all costs.
🤣😂🤣.
I see at as complement don’t let it make you unhappy ok.
Rafa fangirls is not a bad, many/some women will die to be called that.
Rafa fangirls is a cool name.
But if you don’t like Grassgoat saying that I totally understand 👍.
Some errors in my previous comment.
It
A
Bad name
He always acts as if he does not know. After playing this long, if he does not know then he is acting or really Idiot. i go with former. He did similar things to Murray as well few times
MA,
Thanks for those links! Love what Laver said about Rafa! He was my idol growing up, so it is great to hear him pay tribute to Rafa!
😍
amy,
I am glad that Brad Gilbert tweeted his thoughts on keeping the roof closed. That was absolutely stupid. Made no sense whatsoever ever.
The disturbing aspect of this whole fiasco is his the organizers did not put the well being and fairness to the players above all else. I am sick of their outdated traditions and rigidity.
It was a disgrace. Then the women came out and played without the roof! Unbelievable!
I know that Rafa is most likely going fishing and enjoying some relaxation right now. He will put this behind him and move forward. The good news is that he is healthy and playing some of his best tennis. He reminded everyone that he can for sure pjay in the grass! He is going to take good things out of this debacle. He knows he did his best in a situation that was not in his control. That is all we can ask of him as fans.
I don’t think the idiots who run Wimbledon will change the rule of no TB’s in the fifth set. They will not change anything and stick to their inane and out of date traditions.
It’s good news that Rafa is fit and healthy and enjoying his vacation now. A fit and healthy, well rested Rafa will be able to play great tennis. I hope come August when he plays the HC swing, he will play with the same varieties and aggression that he displayed at Wimbledon; and, come with an improved serve as well!
If Rafa remains fit and healthy with good knees, I like his chances at Wimbledon next year. He has the game to play well on grass, I hope he really improves his serve and serves more aces to get many cheap points too.
One more thing, I hope he practices or trains in humid conditions to let himself get used to humidity, as I feel he’s at a disadvantage if his body can’t cope with it.
Yes, tbh, I feel had they let Rafa/Djoko played at Court 1 and the match to be completed on Friday, Rafa would most likely be the winner. By the end of the third set, Djoko looked the more tired of the two, and he’s fortunate the match was suspended after that. Had they continued, Rafa the fitter of the two would most likely played better and won in the end.
When play resumed the next day at 1pm, with closed roof, the heat and humidity was trapped within the arena and Rafa was perspiring like crazy. The glass roof is/was never intended to block out heat, it’s meant to block out rain! Hence, the air conditioning wasn’t enough to cool the place when heat kept coming through the glass roof. It’s not meant to be an indoor event so the roof was never built to block out heat, unlike those venues intended for indoor play.
It’s kind of embarrassing that a tournament as historic as Wimbledon, couldn’t even manage court assignment properly and made a mess of it not only this year but also last year.
I mean this year without Murray, the court assignment should be a bit easier among the TOP men players. Is it too difficult to be fair to the three champions? Why assign all Fed and Rafa matches to CC, that the one left behind had to complain?
There’s so much hype about Fedal rematch 10 years after their classic 2008 final; and now we have a final almost as bad as last year’s that many people would want to forget. As I said earlier on, Wimbledon deserved a lousy final after the mess they have created.
Anderson was also a victim, for having to play for 6+ hours, if a TB for the fifth set was in place, he certainly could’ve saved some precious energy for the final.
Novak would still have won.
Funny and crazy👉 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TKKPzFrvvsY
After watching this video☝️ you won’t trust Rafa again 🤣.
Oh mine, I just read an article at golf digest.com by a Shane Ryan, which was written 14 hours ago. His thoughts was almost exactly like mine! And, I’m sure many shared those thoughts too!
Thanks for the reference, Lucky. That was a laugh-out-loud rant!
Ramara, there’s the interesting take about Djoko and his tennis in that article. He mentioned that Djoko at his best is better than anyone who has ever played the sport. Well, based on his 2015 level (and to me his 2011 level seemed better) that might be true. To me the only issue is that for him to play that way, he has/had to push his body to the limit, leading to his elbow issue in 2016, and his back issue after USO2011.
I’m tempted to say that Djoko could play at that level on his fav surface ie HC; was he better than peak Fed on grass? I’m very sure he couldn’t play better than peak Rafa on clay. Even on quick HCs like Cincy and Shanghai, Fed was still able to beat him in 2015.
The author mentioned that if Djoko could accumulate eight more majors (slams) he’ll one day overtake Fed as the Goat, hmm, that’s what I was thinking and I’d written earlier on.
I’m positive that Rafa will win a few more slams, clay and non clay, and people will have to argue till no end about ‘who’s the Goat!’?
Hahaha! That shan e ryan article was accurate and hilarious except for the last part puffing Novak. The guy hasn’t been a force for 2 years and had massive luck in getting this title as Ryan himself repeatedly points out due to the absurdities of roofgate and how much that favoured him.
Lucky pointed out the vast list of things which helped him….she forgot to mention nishikori taking out kygrios who as we all know is at his most dangerous against the big names and could either have beaten him or made him play a long five setter in the quarters which would certainly have not helped him later.
Everyone needs some luck to win GS. Rafa was lucky as well last USO that he met only dead tired DelPo , rest of his matchups were quite easy. I believe if Rafa fans are more truthful to themselves they will acknowledge this.
Agreed Rafa had an edge over Djoker in an open match, but usually Djoker had been at the receiving end of scheduling more than Rafa , far more than Fed.
I believe there are other ways to look at it. Djoker beat Khachanov when he had less than 2 hours to finish the match. He went toe to toe with Rafa as well. Played Anderson well with no rest day. There are lot of ways to look at it if people want to look at those aspects.
I don’t dispute that luck plays a part in winning slams but the whole business about roofgate is something rather different and very unusual annoying many people who are not specifically rafa fans. Did you see the tweets i posted from brad Gilbert above?? A lot of people who are not rafa fans have said similar…Gilbert is a fed fan afterall!
Yes Amy, imagine Djoko having Rafa’s draw and Rafa Djoko’s; Rafa would most likely beat Djoko in the SF.
Rafa was truly impressive this Wimbledon,was playing a heavy clay schedule, and yet came so close to reaching the final (most probably winning it against a depleted Anderson) had it not for the fact that they screw up the schedule for him in the SF.
Tough draw or easy draw, Rafa was still able to reach the business end of things, even on his worst surface, I doubt Rafa won’t be able to beat a fit Delpo at the USO, when Delpo himself mentioned that Rafa was very aggressive against him at the USO. Rafa knows how to beat Delpo, at USO, FO and Wimbledon. He may beat Delpo too if they meet at the AO.
Actually lucky i adore Delpo and admire him so much for how he is playing after years of injury! I want rafa to win uso but if he doesn’t i hope Delpo does!
Last night I couldn’t sleep because of the heat and noise and I found myself compiling a mental list of who would and who wouldn’t have done what Novak did in insisting the roof stayed closed. I already said i think fed wouldn’t and I added to that list Delpo Murray and thiem. Obviously in compiling the list i was looking it as an abstract scenario as certain players would have no advantage playing indoors anyway!
Yes, Murray is principally correct. The guy came to USO, ensured that Fed and Rafa end up in same half and withrew. Rafa was surprised, I call that thing as worse principally than expressing the preference of a closed roof.
And Djoker is the only player who has beaten Fed and Nadal in all grand slams in open skies . Neither Fed nor Rafa enjoy this luxury.
We can guess roof open would have been an advantage for Rafa but Djoker has done it before. He no doubt makes Fedal nervous due to his trackrecord in big matches.
I agree Amy. As I said earlier, Djoko was desperate to win, even at all cost I feel. I think when he was winning everything (from 2011 onwards) and full of confidence, he would most likely agree with Rafa that the roof should remain open. Now, he’s not so confident, and he knew that if he beat Rafa here, he would have a good chance to win the title against a tired Anderson, he won’t want to throw away that chance. Sometimes when someone gets desperate, he may forego whatever principles or values that he used to have. I think another player I can think of is Kei, who imo wasn’t honest once or twice regarding double bounces, and that inexplicable 12 mins toilet break during his Olympics match vs Rafa.
I also tend to think that Murray, Delpo and Rafa are a different breed, sticking to their principles and being fair.
I also remember an incident when Djoko played against Murray, Djoko obviously hit the ball with his racket over the net, the umpire didn’t see it, but Djoko didn’t own up and Murray lost the point.
Djoko however is almost always gracious when he loses. I must say the guy has to endure some unfair treatments at some events and esp when playing against Fed. It’s his resilience, his pride that keep him going and getting the upper hand over Fedal. Maybe, he’s desperate for some respect and love shown towards him.
Yes lucky I too think Novak might very well have made a different call on the roof during 2011-Rg 2016. As you rightly say he was desperate to win.
He is a true sportsman in other ways though ie as you again mention he is incredibly gracious in defeat…
There are of course other players who would not have taken the advantage…I am not a dimi fan but suspect he wouldn’t have taken it…
If Rafa was in an outrage and calling unfair – okay I’d agree with him. I don’t understand why there would be a choice for the roof to be closed on a perfectly sunny day. Was Novak truly the reason they closed the roof? Novak is not very popular compared to Rafa or Federer. Why would Wimbledon do what they did? I’ve never heard of it.
Of course I’m happy that Novak got another Wimbledon trophy. But I’m quite unhappy reading this thread. I much rather Rafa had won #18, another channel slam than read this. This is where I chose to post. It’s upsetting to read Novak again being cast as the villain. It also seems absurd that a tournament would favor him and not favor Rafa ahead of Novak.
All this rage that I read translates into hating Novak Djokovic. I’ll be taking an extended break again.
I don’t blame Novak. He was given a choice, he took the one that gave him an advantage or maybe just the one he preferred. I don’t have a problem with that. I do have a problem with the tournament requiring such a choice. A lot of people do. Wimbledon is still an outdoor tournament. Playing with the roof closed when the weather is perfect is absolutely ridiculous.
During the 2013 semi Rafa v Nole, Novak was desperate to have the court watered after 6 all in the 5th. but both players had to agree. I’m sure Rafa was asked about it but he preferred not to stop for that. He said in his on court interview with MacEnroe that he was not aware of the rule about both players having to agree. Novak was obviously also unaware of the rule and continued to remonstrate. His distraction may well have cost him the match. But my point is that the players are not aware of all the rules surrounding a particular match.
right. no player is going to harm his or her chances of winning a tennis match. the problem was with Wimbledon, not with Novak.
I agree with Ricky. The problem rests squarely with the Wimbledon organizers. They were in charge is scheduling decisions. They messed up.
Yeah!…Agree with Ricky,Nny & many others that the organizers did the stupid things…NOT Novak…he just did what he thoughts best for him…It’s a competition after all right?I don’t blame Novak one iota!
We have already talked about this stupid rule of Wimbledon, and players should voice out their displeasure and hope Wimbledon would address the issue.
If the two players agree, that it should be played outdoor, then this stupid rule of Wimbledon won’t even need to be applied. The thing is, why would anyone want to play in such a greenhouse at 1pm when heat and humidity would be unbearable for most, when you have a choice not to do so? It’s more to gain an edge no doubt.
I think many people (Rafa fans or not) were angry with Wimbledon, not Djoko, with all the mess created, but the Rafa fans were more disappointed (than angry) that Djoko would want to choose to play under such conditions, when everyone else, Rafa and the spectators, would have to suffer in those conditions, it’s clearly because this favor him.
My initial reaction was: how ridiculous Wimbledon could be, to leave the roof on in broad daylight with no rain, and then opened the roof for the next match under same weather conditions! I thought Rafa was the one agreeable to it (as I thought both players must agree to it) but then found out from here, that Rafa didn’t agree whilst Djoko wants the roof closed (to play in same conditions as the night before, why?) and since the players couldn’t agree, then the Wimbledon committee decided that the conditions should remain the same (as previous night). How ridiculous? It’s night and day, how could conditions be the same? What if they played with roof opened yesterday, but it rained today, would they not change the playing conditions by closing the roof? When the rain stopped, were they or were they not going to open the roof again? How can day and night conditions remain the same, when there’s a roof, a glass one?
Its better to get educated here with the facts . Any Grand Slam with the roof (other one being AO) has the same rule.
https://ausopen.com/essentials/tournament-info/policies
AO does not even ask the players.
This is Wimbledon, not AO. Theres no rain, no extreme heat involved in this case, its the mistake due to the stupidity of the committee that the players involved had to start their match at night and they had to close the roof in order to have the lightings on (crazy system). Its not due to any weather changes.
If the tournament committee has the right to decide, then better still, they can always decide based on weather conditions, not some stupid rule that you have to play under same conditions when its not even same conditions between day and night.
Its better to read the link again . I dont think you understood it. If a match is started with the roof closed, no matter even if the conditions change, the roof would remain closed. If a roof is closed due to extreme heat, even if the temperatures fall down
This is not specific to Wimbledon.
I have read it.
The fact that Wimbledon asked for the players opinions means that there’s some leeways, unlike AO when they dont even need to ask the players.
Since Wimbledon can have that difference, then why cant they make more sense by using their discretion to decide? As we had said here many times, its a stupid rule!
Since they closed the roof at night not because of the weather conditions, but its because of lighting issues, then why in broad daylights, they needed to close the roof? It also didnt make sense that for example, if its raining at night and so the roof was closed but the match couldnt finished at 11pm, so play suspended till the next day. If the next day there’s bright sunshine, it really didnt make sense to have the roof closed as the weather conditions changed, just because of what? Same playing conditions??
So, we are here saying the rule is stupid, and in this case, its made worse by Wimbledon committee’s scheduling mess, and the players become victims of such mess.
Its very rare for a match that begun under the roof would not get completed by 11 p.m. . Usually matches never get prolonged till that time. I think Murray’s match went very close but it got finished around that time.
rc,
Don’t take an extended break. Don’t take it personally. I blame the tournament organizers for this mess. They had the opportunity to either move Isner and Anderson to court one or to have Rafa and Novak start playing on court one. They had to know as the first semifinal went on and on that with the hard stop at 11:00 pm, the second semifinal would not finish. They did nothing and allowed the second semifinal to start at 8:00 pm with the roof closed in advance of darkness so they could use the time available until 11:00 pm.
Then it was compounded by the decision to keep the roof closed when play resumed the next day. That was the stupidest decision I have ever seen. With the sun shining and the weather perfect? There is no hard and fast rule that the conditions must be the same as when the match starts. That is absurd.
I don’t blame Novak for wanting the roof closed. I know Rafa wanted it open when play resumed. I blame the tournament organizers for all the stupid decisions that they made. This is on them.
Yeah!!…Agree again with u Nny!!…Your thoughts exactly like mine!!…Hope RC will consider her decision…
It’s crazy isn’t it, that in January at the AO, the controversy was also about the closing of the roof in the men’s final, whilst the women got to slog out there without the roof closed and the players suffered (I think Simona the losing finalist was hospitalised after that).
I also remember some controversy back during 2013 or 2014 at Wimbledon, when Murray was playing against Jerzy. Jerzy was complaining about the light or rain (not too sure about it now) and wanted the roof closed whilst Murray was surprised when they told him they’re going to close the roof and play had to stop for half an hour, when Murray was having the momentum at that point.
I do feel that there should be clear cut rules for each slam about the closing or opening of the roof, who get to decide when to close or to open it and under what circumstances. And, players have to be aware of such rules and agreeable to such rules before they get implemented to be fair to the players.
I also want to add that it’s more disruptive that half way through a match, play has to stop because of the closing of the roof. I think that may be why they decide to close the roof before the match starts when they know there’s imminent rain (or extreme heat at the AO). I guess it makes sense, and it makes sense to let the whole match continues throughout in the same conditions even when the rain does stop during the match, as long as they could finish the match within the same day. However, should the match be suspended and to be continued on the next day, then, it doesn’t make sense that they do not take the weather conditions of the following day into consideration. The players get to rest for the night and to come back the next day, it’s as good as starting afresh, and so conditions are already different to begin with.
Yeah Lucky!…It’s crazy!…I remember have a thought just after AO finished,that Roofgate there is just the beginning…I mean,organizers at AO toyed with rules..don’t care what others said/think except theirs…They dared to do things that unthinkable to us,without even feel guilty about it…And i thought,what if organizers at Wimby will do the same?AO already open the door that they can do anything they want without thinking
of the consequences or if they thought about it,they don’t have enough care in them to do the right thing?
I don’t know whether what happened at Wimby is just a coincidence or not…But,i’m curious to see how the US open is going to operate…whether roof gate or bad scheduling will happen again?But,honestly..what happened at both Wimby @ AO makes me really concern…that organizers start thinking with their kneecap instead of their head…is it going to be a trend?And unfortunately,it’s the players who will suffer the most…Who’s going to protect them??
Nny in answer to your previous posts higher up the thread don’t worry I won’t read tennis x again!
Henman has been talking about introducing a fifth set tb into wimby next year. It wouldn’t be at 6-6 but would be at something like 10-10 or 12-12. I think it probably will happen.
There has been some incredible tennis at wimby this year so it’s a great shame the scheduling and roofgate have spoilt what should have been a great tourney.
I am appalled at the kind of jealousy which I see on this thread with Djoker’s Wimbledon win, mostly coming from Rafa fans.
Did not see these guys coming up with all these posts when Djoker was left stranded on maniac Monday last Wimbledon. I think it affected him and ultimately he retired against Berdych as his arm flared up.
He was on receiving end this year as well and credit to him for finishing the match quickly.
No wonder Andy Roddick slammed Rafa fans some time back when they started a twitter war with Fed fans and he rightly silenced them.
What are you talking about? I have defended Nole and supported him a thousand times on this site and received a lot of abuse for doing so. There are people here who hate him but I am not one of them. Hawks and myself have repeatedly been described as Nole fans because we regularly cheer for him and wish him well.
Some of the attacks on us for voicing our opinions – which have zero to do with jealousy and hate is getting out of control.
TG may be a tennis site but it is predominantly made up of rafa fans so of course there is going to be a slant in the discussion.
But most rafa fans aren’t even here talking about it ! The site is full of fans of other players and trolls such as jim, Stanley and grassgoat insulting Rafa. That in itself speaks volumes.
The only discussion I see on this thread is roof being closed. I want to remind Rafa fans that Rafa lost the tie-break against Djoker while playing indoors, just the same way he lost the tie-break playing outdoors against DelPo.
Meanwhile, I thought Hawkeye is the biggest troll on this site. Stanley is a saint if I compare with Hawkeye. Do you know how many ids hawkeye has ? Leave it, even hawkeye is not aware of that. Hawkeye has no spine. He was predicting Wimbledon scheduling will put Cilic and zcoric in Rafa’s draw.
Not surprised that you are being biased towards the biggest junk on this site.
Ok just forget it fedexal you are just trolling now.
I had to ask you to stop when you were openly insulting lucky the other night.
There is no comparison whatsoever between hawks who is intelligent witty and knowledgeable and stanley who is none of those things.
I have tried to be polite to you but enough is enough.
I will rate you intelligent and knowledgeable as well if you tell me how many ids haweye has ? By the way, why the heck do you need more than one ID if you are not a troll.
Amy, Fedexal is right. Hawkeye is by far the worst on this site. He has been unremittingly nasty to me, which is why I have stopped responding to him. But he is also generally a bully toward many newcomers if they don’t agree with him, and especially if they are Fed fans. Big Al is one who comes to mind in the last year. I am sure it would have an effect if you and/or other Rafa (and Fed) fans told him to tone it down once in awhile. But I have never seen any of you do it.
You will notice that I recently criticized grassgoat for insinuating that Nadal was doping (and for calling Rafa a moon-baller). Hawkeye regularly suggests that Federer is doping, and I have never seen any Rafa fan on this site call him out for it.
You are wrong if you think no one has called out hawkeye on this site. I have done it in the past. I don’t know if you were posting here at that time or not. But for the record, I am not okay with anyone accusing Fed of doping. Period! I also do not go along with these conspiracy theories about draws being fixed for Fed. The roof is in what happened this tome wuth Fed losing in the quarterfinals to Anderson. That’s why it can’t be done.
But I will point out that when Fed lost, we did not see any hating or gloating from Rafa fans on this site. However, when Rafa lost we had these trolls come n here to stink up this site with hateseak trashing Rafa and his fans.
Ok, NNY, thank you for saying that. Then we agree on some things. I agree with you that hating or gloating when Rafa loses is generally low-class and should be ignored. I know you have criticized me in the past for analyzing Nadal’s losses or prospects after a loss, but I have never gloated about such, or in any way rubbed anyone’s faces in his losses.
I agree with you that Rafa fans here were very polite about Fed’s loss to Anderson.
Exactly Amy. We had time and again voiced our opinions about the unfair treatment that Djoko had; whether it was last year or this year. I dont see why this fedexal could come up with a comment like that.
Rafa losing his TB, thats what I had posted so often, that its his own fault that he wasted precious energy losing TB when he had set points! And thats the problem he has to address going forward.
Best to ignore fedexal lucky!! He is making comments which by and large have no basis in reality! going to go and lie down for a while …I don’t know about you but I haven’t really recovered from live blogging rafa’s match! That and the heat here anyway!!
Yes, agree.Did Rafa lose that tiebreak because of the roof?
IMO it doesnt make sense to have a closed roof in daytime when its not raining, but the organisers are in an awkward position.If a match is well under way with the roof closed, is it fair to open it?
The PROOF is in what happened this time with Fed losing! *
Ha ha NNY, you’re right about Hawkeye! I even chose to ignore all his posts even when he tried to respond to mine to start a conversation, and I specifically told him to ignore all my posts as I was not going to engage in any conversation with him. It went on for quite a while, before I agreed to ‘let things go’ and let things get back to normal.
Joe Smith,
I have seen you make this accusation before , but did not want to revisit the past. However, I thought it was time to clarify the record. I am not okay at all with some of the things you have mentioned. I did have something to say about it. I don’t go on about it every time it happens, because I would prefer to ignore it and talk tennis.
Whatever disagreements we have had, in this instance I think your point is well taken.
Rc i only just saw your post. If I have offended you then I apologise unreservedly.
I find it very difficult to understand how you could think I hate Nole given i regularly support him.
Too tired to write anything sensible..as I said before and am happy to repeat I apologise if I have hurt or offended you in any way.
Ps Rc I will leave you a post tomorrow when I am less tired…I am not very coherent at the moment and will probably only put my foot in it further!
Rc should have said before that I love you you know!!
Take care darling xx