Too bad for Tsonga - he had it. Even watching live scores on my computer with no visuals it was a bummer. Nadal fought back - give him credit. But he was on the ropes.

Much is this is “too bad” for Tsonga, I also think it’s good for him.

Voicemale makes some good points about Tsonga on the previous thread, that he is great when everything is going his way, but when the other player is winning, or things start going the other player’s way, Tsonga unravels - Voicemale’s terms for this was a “manic-depressive” player.

Tsonga does seem a bit like this; in his postmatch interview he even started complaining about Djoko’s ball-bouncing, in addition to the time Rafa takes between serves. I mean, let it go. He lost both matches fair-and-square, and he’s going to have to step up when he has the chance, like he did yesterday. He underestimated Rafa, and he lost. If anyone is not going to give up it’s the Spaniard; Tsonga should’ve known that and should’ve taken more care of his own serve.

Rafa deserved that win.

Are you really serious when you say, “Nadal, in my opinion, had no business winning that match…??????” Are you for real? I saw the match, and it was a great one for both of them. Nadal won fair and square…get over it!

May I thank Grendel, Jane, MMT, etc., for the previous thread. Having missed almost all of the day’s action, the comments provided interesting thoughts to ponder.

Most of these players are products of their home country’s tennis associations and even more, the cultural heritage of those countries. The Spanish, French and certainly the Brits have created nationalistic machines to turn out players. This has been accomplished with varying degrees of success.

The products are finely tuned, egocentric machines with a nationalistic flavour. Most of the interviews commented upon, and the excuses given for a particular loss should not surprise us. To be the Next Big Thing in one’s home country is a heavy burden for which most are unprepared. To use Andy Murray as an example, a recent, typical headline in the London Times (hardly a rag owned by Americans) was “Murray flies flag from Britain in the Desert” One would think the poor wanker was leading the crusade to save Britain from the invading huns.

Compare those players’ attitudes and interviews to the one off types like Nadal who is the product of an independent, family supported system.

Did Nadal “deserve” to win? He won. All that matters. He charges toward the sound of the gunfire and that is courage.

Djoko’s off to a sluggish start against Wawrinka, who’s now up a break; Djok has to be careful here. The “other” Swiss is very steady, and if this afternoon heat will bug anyone it will be Novak.

“London Times (hardly a rag owned by Americans)” - it is owned by an American, you know - or, strictly speaking, an Australian turned American. The Prince of Darkness himself, the egregious Rupert Murdoch. However, I agree, The Times is not a rag. Murdoch has other rags at his disposal in England - namely, The Sun, and The News of the World, the latter being barely better than pornography and in some ways, given its sanctimonious tone, worse.

b.t.w., Murray is not a product of the British tennis system - come on! Do you seriously imagine anyone would ever have heard of him if he had been? No, he learnt his tennis in Spain. The feverish British attempts to produce a homegrown tennisplayer constitutes one of the great comedies of our time.

Jane,
I replied to your comments in the previous thread. Thanks for the congrats and I enjoyed reading all the comments.

Dr Death,
there is a tea party in the other thread. Coffee, chocolates and cookies are provided. (The tea is Von’s).come and join!

I can’t believe I missed that match but I am so glad Rafa won. I just love his calm and happy and well-rounded personality and the figher on the court. I think coming back from 2-5 on a hard court will give him lots of confidence.

Grendel - the LTA has spent a fortune on the dear boy and continues to support his entourage - Gilbert and post-Gilbert. The weight of the Empire is on his shoulders in return. He learned to drink sangria in Spain and not get a haircut. (As to Rupert M., he continues the tradition of printing what sells, but at least it is written in proper English. We ought to save Murdoch for another chat room.)

Enjoy the party! Packing for the airport. See you guys on line in a couple of days.

The 1st set was a tough one for Djoko, but I knew he would try to shorten the 2nd set, and he did (7-6, 6-2). I am glad that it went without any mishap at the end. He will be waiting for the winner of Blake vs. Nadal. Djoko would prefer Blake, but I’m finding hard to take side in the rest of this half.

Hi Shital Green,

Glad the Djoker came through on what was clearly an “off” day for him. Yes, Djoko might prefer Blake, but remember that they’ve never played before so he’s an unknown entity. I’m finding it difficult to pick one on this half too. I’d imagine on the other half it’ll be either Federer or Nalby to come through.

Sean:

I’ll assume your comment about Nadal having no business to win this match was more about admiration for his tenacity than a slight at his abilities. At least I hope so.

You’re correct in saying Tsonga didn’t play the way he did in Australia when he lost to Nadal here. But you seem to make the presumption that his level in Australia is the rule for him - rather than the exception. Given that he lost to Ancic in the first round of Marseille right after Oz, let’s come back down to earth and say that his AO run was a freaky streak to celebrate. But, just like a break of serve, he needs to back it up to be legitimate. So far, he hasn’t. There’s a chance he may yet become the next Marcos Baghdatis - another one that: made the AO Final while scalping big names along the way; displays a highly charged emotional show on court attempting to secure the crowd on his side; has similar serve and forehand shots - which have become all to predictable for opponents.

Nadal taught the flaky showman Tsonga a real lesson in what it takes to win a match like that. Think Tsonga wasn’t feeling the heat? He had 12 aces in the match, but all of them in the first 2 sets. Which means that in the caldron of the 3rd Set, he failed to serve up a single ace - in 12 games. In fact, this match looked very much like what Jimmy Connors did to Aaron Krickstein in their 5th Set at the 1989 US Open, when Jimbo clawed back from 2-5 to win that match. And Krickstein was never the same after that match. Jo-Willy could be feeling the hangover effects from this one for a while - especially since it was on his racquet.

Tsonga was stupid enough to think Nadal was gonna give it to him after Nadal basically broke himself with 2 nervous errors in the 3rd Set. But JWT got a lesson about what Never Say Die can do. Question is, was he listening?

The LTA have discovered the merits of Murray rather late in the day. He learnt his tennis first in Scotland, then Spain. The LTA are spending vast sums of money on all sorts of projects - all blissfully doomed. As for Mr.Murdoch, he is an interesting phenomenon, and I have a sneaking regard for his sheer ruthless opportunism - for instance, supping with the devil in China, to the despair of those brave people fighting for freedom. But I do object to his interfering in the politics of my country - which he does on a grand scale. Alright, I know, wrong place for this. Sorry.

Sean,

Well it won’t be Wawrinka v. Fish in the final…

I suspect Nadal will have a tough one tonight for a few reasons: first, he’s got to be physically tired, after that grueling 3 hour match with Tsonga (remember how badly he lost to Youzhny in Chennai after that long semi against Moya?); second, he’s got to be somewhat mentally exhausted too - surely this was an emotional win against Tsonga, with the lead up and the recent history, and now, to top things off, he has to face Blake, another nemesis, and one he has never beaten; third, the crowd will be firmly on Blake’s side and Blake’s confidence has to be pretty high, given that he’s just beaten Gasquet, a player he’d never beaten before.

So all these things would seem to work against Rafa getting the “W” tonight.

Still, look at Rafa’s results at Wimbledon in 2007; who’ve thunk that he’d get to the final - and nearly win it - while watching him play Soderling or Youzhny there? Not I. And yet, that was the case.

I think Rafa will come through again tonight, but it should be a close match. If that’s the case, we’ll have a re-match of last year’s final, with Djokovic and Rafa playing for a spot in the final.

Jane:

I think Nadal’s biggest problem will be the fact it’s a night match. The heat of the day will be gone, so the ball won’t have as much action on it as the air cools. That will help Blake and hurt Nadal.

Voicemale,

Yeah, you make a good point which I’d not really thought of; Rafa’s spin won’t be as effective and Blake’s fast, flat shots will be more effective.

I guess it depends to an extent on day form too; Gasquet was clearly off his game last night, and Blake was hitting the ball well, both of which helped Blake win through.

It is a tough one to call, but I just see Rafa persevering for some reason.

Rafa’s got the first set but Blake’s currently up a break in the second, which he’s just consolidated to go up 3 - love. Stay tuned: if anyone can come back from behind it’s Tenacious R.

Rogers Twin, yes, i was serious, hence why I wrote it. Rafa played like garbage for much of the much - though Tsonga didn’t do much better - and Tsonga should have closed that out when serving for it in the third. But Nadal was too mentally tough. Credit to him as Voicemale points out.

Voicemale, as I wrote it’s amazing how common it is for players to falter after reaching their first Slam final, so that’s really why I had little hope to Tsonga at Indian Wells (or in Miami or in Davis Cup). He’ll get back to that level eventually, when that is is pure speculation. I do think both he and Baghdatis have a Slam in them at some point. Maybe multiple.

Thanks Jane, sorry to see my dream of a Fish-Wawrinka squashed. I missed all the play today, though I just got home to catch the second set of Blake-Nadal which appears to be heading three.

Actually, I did manage to sneak one point and only one point from Djoko and Stan, and that was the point Djoko won the first set on. Pretty incredible point, one of the best I’ve ever seen!

All those things you mention going against Rafa can actually be a plus as perhaps it takes the pressure off and loosens him up.

A theory on Federer, by basically announcing that he battled mono he somewhat takes the pressure off himself as he nears Pete. Mono does tend to last and remerge so people will not expect to him to perform at the highest levels that we’ve seen from him.

By the way on the topic of Rafa at Wimbledon, I wrote way back that he had a better shot at winning Wimbledon than Roger the French. I still stand by it. http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2006-06-18/62.php

As for the rest of this Blake-Nadal match, tough call, from what little I’ve seen looks like Rafa is playing better than yesterday, but I still give James the slight edge.

If there was an award for most improved shot James Blake would have to win it for his backhand. He’s always had a big forehand, return of serve, speed, but his backhand four/five years ago was a serious liability. No longer. It’s not pretty but effective and often offensive.

Yep - while I gave Rafa the edge before, I am not so sure now that the match is going to three sets. Blake got the one break early in the second and that’s all he needed. He’s got the momentum going into the third. Additionally, the crowd will really rally (try saying that 10 times fast) behind him now. So it will be tough for Rafa to hang on here.

Rafa is definitely playing better tonight than yesterday, but Blake is playing a very nice match too, hitting the ball cleanly down the line, cross court, and, when he gets there, showing some nice touch at the net. But Blake essentially gave away the first set, in a way, with that VERY POOR challenge on set point - major brain cramp there.

Alas, Blake’s just been broken in the third set, so Rafa serves for it at 5-3.

Sounds like Justin Gimel and James Blake are dating. Or at least Justin’s in love with him. Imagine. Maybe not.

Rafa finally gets the monkey off his back. I am all pumped for Djoko vs. Nadal semi.

And there it is - Tenacious R wins another close one! Sean I hope you’re not a betting man. LOL.

Can the Djoker stop Rafa? Djoko hasn’t beaten / played him in a while, has he? Not since Canada I think. Should be another fantastic match as they’ll both be rested. That’ll be a schizo match for him as I’ll be rooting for both of them.

I missed the line call of course, but James did play well until that last stretch. More revenge for Rafa, and now Djoko. I originally picked Novak in that one but I think Rafa gets through.

I thought Justin was in love with Roddick? Or maybe it was Bartoli - ha-ha-ha.

No betting for me Jane, but if you did the reverse of what I say you’d do alright I reckon!

Durrr - I meant schizo match for me.

It is a tough one to call; I would definitely pick Djoko but after today he sure didn’t look his best, and Rafa seems to be getting better. If it’s a day match, and hot or windy, then it’s gotta be Rafa. He deals with the elements better. But if it’s late afternoon or evening, then I’d say it’s a crapshoot.

I actually think Novak’s a bit intimidated by Rafa. Just a hunch.

Sean,
Two days ago, I said, “Rafa will get past Djoko,” but I am at the middle of the crossroad now. Djoko is playing better, but Rafa is more determined to win. There will be more more pressure on Rafa, and Djoko will be playing with a lot less worries. I simply don’t know who will come out of it.

Shital, determined is the key word. Rafa looks very determined whereas I’m not sure where Djoko’s head’s at. Rafa also should be feeling less pressure, after all he’s lucky in some ways to have gotten past Tsonga and I think he was the underdog against Blake, so he should feel pleased making as far as he has under the circumstances.

Rafa’s also been through the fire this week while Djoko has had it fairly easy.

Although if this was Hollywood the revenge theme would really play out nicely if Fed beats Nalbandian then beats Djoko. Then again, Hollywood isn’t that far away is it?

James played really well; for Rafa to come through that suggests he has the momentum to beat Djoko, who looked sluggish against Wawrinka today (in the afternoon heat). Mind you, Novak looked wicked against Canas. I really believe scheduling will play into it. But maybe confidence, mental focus, will be another factor. Either one of these guys can beat the other one on any given day. Normally Djoko has the edge on hardcourts, but this court is suited to Rafa’s game.

So many factors - this one is up in the air for me - can’t call it and don’t really want to. Just want to sit back and enjoy the tennis as two of my faves exchange shots.

That’d be a bit too Hollywood for me Sean - but it’s definitely possible; it is la-la land after all. It’d sure make a lot of Federer fans extremely happy to see!

Vamos Rafa for another sensational win!
I am just so glad that he has tomorrow off. That will give him enough time to rest. He has beaten two very tough opponents. Blake played one of his best tennis matches, but still was not able to win. These two matches will help a lot with his confidence. He has found a way to play against aggressive players and that is just fantastic news.

I have a hunch that the winner is going to be coming from the top-half. djoko on a hard-court is always dangerous, but he’s kind of half-cooked. ofcourse the nadal match might bring him to life, but that match, i cant believe i am saying this, will come down to who plays less crappy tennis.

fed-haas - fed should be fine as long as he stays off the haas bh and stops taking those mid-match siestas which are becoming more frequent.

nalby and fish is totally on nalby’s racket. the M-P nalby should be able to crush fish, but even nalby doesnt know whether it will be M-P nalby or crappy nalby that shows up.

all said, fed/nalby sf is shaping up quite nicely with nalby having decimated jcf and generating hopes of another masters run….. fed-ex, himself, is getting his game fine-tuned for the weekend. nadal has tiny hope of winning against either of those two….. (his confidence should be quite high if he gets to the final beating djoko though!)

djoko is the better bet in that semi-final and honestly, djoko is the better hard-court player and if his breathing holds up, he can run rafa ragged!

I wish more players do what james did before the start of the match today. Request the chair to keep a timer on rafa.

one safe prediction for the rafa-djok sf is that neither of those 2 will make any such request

another thing i noticed was the commentator on the atp feed said that nadal needs to do something other than playing one-dimensional baseline tennis to beat james. roger must have had a huge grin when he heard that bit and said

“welcome to my world, bitches! rafa and murray are one-dimensional, novak is a silly rabbit running for injury breaks. roddick and ljubicic have the most complete game”

seriously though, it is strange to see a top-player’s match depend on his opponents’ racquets like nadal’s does when he plays a aggressive player. it is all fun and good to grit out matches like rafa did the last two days but it becomes quite boring if that is your only way of winning. i wish nadal plays like he did in the last couple of games against james. Nothing’s more fun than serious shot-making like the kind blake did in the 2nd set where rafa was made to run around the court like an insane puppy….

For those tennis fans stuck with FOX coverage (I’m not; TSN seems to be airing another feed - maybe it’s the ATP coverage, not sure) here’s a good NY Sun article slagging the coverage, including Gimelstob’s apparently inane comments:

http://www.nysun.com/article/73397

Kash,

I thought Rafa hit some serious shots tonight, not only at the end of the 3rd set; some of his returns (of second serves especially) were awesome, simply put, unreturnable returns. His defense is out of this word; he’s so, incredibly fast. Points would be over against anyone else but Rafa manages to retrieve and not just get the ball back, but place it so well and put something on it. I’m no expert but that’s the view from here.

Rafa and Novak’s H2H is 6-2 for Rafa; however, only 4 of those 8 matches have happened on handcourts, and those have been split evenly between the two: Canada and Miami went to Novak, while Shanghai and Indian Wells went to Rafa — all in 2007.

Yet another reason why this semi is so tough to call.

Fed will win easily against Haas and I’m 80% sure we’ll see him in the final; if Nalby is to meet Fed in the semi, however, then maybe that percentage would drop a little. I’m not sure what I’d rather see: a Rafa v. Fed match (Fed won easily in Shanghai but these are different circumstances) or and Djoko v. Fed match (wherein Fed would be out for blood).

Jane,
thanks for the link. Great article.

I am so lucky I don’ have FSN!

What was impressive about Nadal in his last two matches are the changes he’s subtly bringing into his game. Tonight, we saw more of the hard, flat serve down the middle for aces; and he employed the planted-stance-right-on-the-baseline-short-back-swing-reply to return Blake’s 2nd serve at 4-3 in the 3rd Set to set up each of his break points. The look on Blake’s face told the story as he watched each of those returns fly past him: “Rafa doesn’t do THAT!!”.

Nadal seems bent on proving he truly is the World Number 2 on any surface, period. His last two matches showed him out gutting & out thinking 2 guys who enhanced the mantra of “Rafa is only ordinary or lucky on hard courts”. He was outplayed for long stretches in each match, but he did what the very best players routinely do: he played the points that mattered better than Tsonga and Blake.

Most will rightly say Djokovic is favored in their Semi by virtue of his AO title - and he’ll carry the weight of expectation because of it. But as others mentioned - Nadal may have a lot less fear & anxiety against Djokovic than either of the other two. Blake owned Nadal; and Tsonga took him to the woodshed in Australia. But Rafa & Novak have split 4 hard court clashes, and the score lines have all been close - there were no blow outs. Djokovc is favored to win, and wouldn’t surprise anyone if he did. He’s supposed to, after all. Hard courts are his territory (according to the Conventional Wisdom). But after what I’ve seen this week - it wouldn’t shock me a bit if Nadal figured out a way to get himself right into Sunday’s Final. Glad I’ll be there in person to see it all!!

Jane:

If you saw all the games except the last 2 or 3, blake was out-hitting rafa. James was setting the tone and rafa was following it. That seems a very passive way of doing things. Agreed that rafa has got the best defense, but that is not a wise way to play matches on hard-court.

Djokovic seemed to make the same mistake up until the us-open. Get into unnecessary base-line duels instead of keeping the points short and playing 1st strike tennis. Starting with the aussie open, he is showing some urgency in finishing points as well as matches quick enough. That always helps the player during the course of a tournament and even maybe over the long-run. Rafa needs to get more aggressive and use his defense on clay. As of now, rafa has as much aggression as a-rod’s defense on non-clay courts.

I think Novak beats nadal in 2 day-after. Nadal has been mediocre on the hard-courts since winning IW last year. Novak’s game is just supreme on hard-courts compared to nadal’s. Nadal will need novak to be off his game to win the game on sat. The interesting dynamic here as opposed to a roger-rafa meeting is that nadal is under more pressure. In a roger-rafa match, roger is the top-dog and he is the guy who has everything to prove. Novak-rafa, novak is the chaser and rafa needs the big W more than novak.

Nadal is fortunate in the sense that he gets to play novak and roger more on clay courts than on non-clay courts. rafa is 8-6 against roger overall and 6-1 on clay and 2-5 on non-clay. So 50% of their meetings have been on rafa’s fav surface even though the clay swing is only 2months as opposed to other 7 months which is non-clay.

“Nadal seems bent on proving he truly is the World Number 2 on any surface, period. ”

>>>>> Grass - no titles.
HC - no title in a year
Indoor, no title since madrid 05?

they dont look like stats a no.2 player on any surface, has.

another hard fact for rafa fanatics :

How many titles has rafa defended on non-clay surfaces?

Zero=nada!

The good news is that rafa is still a kiddo So he has time on his side. Right now, he is just an ok player on other surfaces. I could say good on grass, but HC and carpet, he has to win more consistently before being anointed no.2 on any surface. He is a run-away no.1 on clay for sure

voicemale
another great comment.

I think what makes a difference for Rafa is his confidence. His determination can be scary to many players and their fans, as we can even see from the “hate comments” posted on this thread. Rafa got a very difficult draw, but each win made him more confident. I so hope he can win over Djokovic. He can certainly do it.

voicemale,

I forgot to add: “have a great time in IW”. that must be very exciting.

I have a horrible fear we will never see FED win another slam which I so hope is wrong Huge Fed fan but it is becoming painful watching him, waiting for that awesome magic and control–just seems to be a shadow of his previous majesty

Kash:

“..roddick and ljubicic have the most complete game”

Are you making fun of Andy? He’s my cub, so beware.

veedub
***I have a horrible fear we will never see FED win another slam which I so hope is wrong ***

Stars like Federer don’t die instantly. He may not be as dominant as 2006, but he won’t finish a year without winning several titles. Of course, if I was a Fed fan, I would have been disappointed that he did not win AO, but he was sick at that time.

Last year he lost twice to Canas, then to Volandri and then went back to play final in french and win Winmledon, USOPen and Shanghai….So, my advice is to wait a little bit. He will be fine. So far he is doing great in IW. If the final is between Rafa and Fed, I hope Rafa wins, but if for any minute chance Rafa goes out, I hope Fed gets the title.

Kash:

Wanna talk about defending? Given what Djokovic has to defend in 2008, let’s see if he’s up to THAT. Not only is he defending numerous points, but those points are spread out over a LONG space on the calendar. He has Semis-or-Better points to defend in: Indian Wells, Miami, Estoril, The French, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, The US Open, Vienna, and Madrid. Yeah, he plays his best stuff on hard courts, but he doesn’t dominate on hard courts - he’s not Federer. Djokovic will face plenty of guys on the tour that have taken him down on hard courts: Federer, Roddick, Nalbandian, Ferrer, Gasquet, and for that matter, even Nadal. To think he can fend off that group (plus others) day in and day out for the next 8 months to keep the points he has will be a TALL order, to say the least. He doesn’t have a lot of room for any mistakes, nor for any of his other court-side changeover medical dramas we’ve frequently seen over the last 2 years. Best of luck to him.

Kash,

Your obviously right that as far as outright winners go Blake was outhitting Rafa, but Rafa was is quick to turn defense to offense (and so quick period) that he forces errors on the other end. I guess I don’t see that as passive.

Voicemale,

Grrrr. You get to go? I’m envious but have fun. It’ll be interesting to see if Rafa goes for winners of 2nd serve returns against the Djoker; I expect he will.

Not Cincinnati - but Canada

Voicemale, Djoko lost in the first round or something in Cinncy, which was right after he titled in Canada, beating Roger, Rafa and Roddick.

I expect Djok to come pretty close defending his points this year; so far, other than in Paris and the Masters at the end of l.y., he’s been pretty consistent if not better so far in 08. He bettered his result at the AO (obviously) and in Dubai he did better than l.y. So far, he close to equalling his l.y. results here, and even if he loses to Rafa it’s not bad or inconsistent since it’s a rematch of l.y.’s final. What I am interested to see is how well he plays on clay.

Rafa may have a few more contenders to deal with this year on clay.

“Rafa may have a few more contenders to deal with this year on clay.”

For instance?

Resurrection of Kuerten, perhaps? That would have been good to see - proper Keurten against Nadal on clay. One pointer: when Kuerten beat Federer in FO, he was much more convincing than even Nadal. Federer looked totally bewildered. Unfortunately, Kuerten ran out of gas in later stages.

Von:

Feel free to amend A-rod’s name with any player of your choice I donot if I mentioned this earlier but A-rod was fun to watch at dubai. That is the most I have liked A-rod’s game since the summer run of 03. I hope he will keep finding that dubai form more often.

Jane:

I agree that rafa has that ability turn defense into offense very quickly but remember the game blake got broken at 4-1 in the 1st? Rafa did absolutely nothing and blake missed bread and butter shots. In the 2nd he made those and did not look back. The trouble for rafa on hard-courts is that his style of game is harder to impose on the faster courts than that of shot-makers like federer, djoko, nalbandian, and a lot of times even baggy or a-rod. The way nadal plays hard-court tennis is not a good long-term idea. I guess the question is if nadal wants to win just 1 usopen or multiple us opens. As of now novak is a better bet to win multiple hard-court slams than rafa is. I hope gasquet will get his head fixed and join that shot-maker group.

Speaking of gasquet, He is at the exact juncture where fed was 5yrs back. Safin and hewitt had won GS and fed had none. 5yrs on Fed is 2 short of the all-time mark and safin and hewitt are in the dumps. Will history repeat so soon? Not that I want to see rafa/djoko in the state safin/hewitt are at, but will 1slam do it for gasquet? will he win a slam anytime soon?

I also agree with you that Rafa will have a tougher time this year on clay. If he draws nalbandian in his quarter at MC, things could get interesting very very fast! Nalbandian is like the joker in the pack who can trouble fed on grass or joker on hc or nadal on clay. Having said that, nadal has been there and done that 3yrs in a row, so it is going to take some special games to stop him from repeating.

Voicemale:

Are you saying nadal is a better hc player than novak? Starting with last year’s IW, novak is way ahead of rafa on HCs. He was in USopen final and won Aus open. The HC gap between djoko and nadal is definitely widening with djoko on the better side of that gap.

We will see how good novak is with the defending, but all I am saying is Nadal has not done a great job of defending titles on non-clay surfaces. He won 1 HC title in 06 (dubai) and 1 in 07. I dont think that qualifies him for a no.2 ranking on HCs. He needs to win multiple HC titles in a year to achieve that. So I would say djoko is the no.2 HC player and is making fast progress towards the no.1

“but all I am saying is Nadal has not done a great job of defending titles on non-clay surfaces. ”

To be precise, Nadal has NEVER defended titles on non-clay surfaces!

Grendel,

Well, I agree with Kash that if Nalbandian steps up he could be a real factor on clay this year (on any surface for that matter). Maybe I am over-estimating Djokovic, but given that he got to the semis of RG last year and lost only to Rafa, he’s another contender on the clay this year (he could also be a factor on the grass if he keeps matches short). Ferrer will be a greater threat this year, too, perhaps. And then there are the Frenchies, like Gasquet (another grass contender), and even Tsonga (another grass contender), who, if they get their games together and are consistent, certainly stand a chance of challenging for clay titles, no? And I haven’t even mentioned Federer, who is an obvious contender for clay titles. Nor have I mentioned Murray; I am not sure of his results on the dirt.

And I think Federer will be even more challenged at Wimbledon this year, as I implied above.

It seems to be that assuming Rafa will win RG and Fed will win Wimbledon is not realistic; I think if people like Gasquet, Djoko, Murray and Nalby are focused and on form, those titles are up for grabs. I realize that’s a big “if” and consistency is key, but so far this year has been bucking tradition, and I expect it will continue to.

These are speculations of course, and I do not profess to be any kind of expert. Call them hunches then.

Maybe the Frenchies not so much on clay, though Gasquet did get to the MC quarters l.y.; Tsonga’s more of an unknown because he’s not been in the mix. Murray’s results have not been good on clay but he missed a lot of l.y. too. So… but definitely Ferrer, Djoko, and Nalby - maybe too Almagro if this year’s early clay tourneys are an indication (mind you the fields were lighter) - could be serious contenders.

Well, I’d already thought of Nalbandian - he’s not more, or less dangerous than he always has been. He’s the great unknown. Sorry, can’t believe Djokovic has any chance against Nadal on clay - he tried really hard last year, and lived with Nadal for nearly a set - then it was effectively over. Can’t believe he’s improved that much to be a threat. Ferrer seems to be gone.

Can’t see anyone except Nalbie and Fed - old guard. You never know. But.

As for Wimbledon, that’s wide open.

Just focusing on this tournament here for a moment -If we get a Nalbandian v. Federer semi to accompany the Rafa v. Novak one, for what more could we ask?

Jane,
I just read that Haas is out and Fed got a walkover to semis ( Lucky guy!). So, at least half of your wish has come true. I don’t think Fish is any match for Nalbandian.

NAlbandian surprises me so much. I think he has the talent to be No 1 on any surface. I think he only lacks the discipline to do it consistently. I think he is dangerous to everyone on any surface only if he wishes and it is almost scary.

Fish just took the first set; Nalby is misfiring & netting it a lot so he definitely helped Fish, whose first serve % isn’t even that great so far.

What’s with Haas v/Fed? Is Fed paying him? Haas gave Fed a walk-over at Wimbledon last year too! Crazy.

Well this will make Fed’s task much easier; he’ll be rested and Djok or Rafa will likely be zonked from their match. At this point, it’s looking like Fed’s title to take. A different perspective might be that Fed won’t have been tested much pre-final so it could hurt him. Hmmmmm……

Jane,
I can’t believe that Fish took the first set. what is wrong with Nalby? He is like Safin, just loves to waste that talent.

I don’t know if Fish is playing out of this world. Maybe Nalby is tanking so that he doesn’t have to face Fed! who knows! It is amazing how many times people talk about cupcake draws for Rafa and fed end up eating the cupcakes. Look at Wimbledon and now here.

You are right. The downside might be the lack of match play, but that hardly hurts him when he is at this stage of a tournament.

About HAas, I am very pissed. I think the sooner he retires, the better the ATP tour will be.

Yes it seems VERY LAME of Haas to retire NOW after beating both Roddick and Murray - and from what? An apparent “sinus” infection. Pathetic. Lame. Ridiculous. Other players play through colds and injuries - and even mono - Tommy can’t handle a sinus infection? Give it a go at least and retire if need be. Look at Lindsay Davenport, at least she went on the court and played at set.

Nalby seems slow today and he’s making a lot of errors, kind of like Djoko yesterday; it’s not that Fish is playing fantastic. Fish is playing well, but not out of this world - his 1st serve % is still only 49% and he has only 8 aces.

Jane,
so true. Rafa played with Ferrer with an injured knee. Seeing him sitting on that court was painful, but he let Ferrer play the match. Federer played while under medication for stomach flu in AO. I don’t think anyone would have blamed any of them if they withdrew.

Of course they have more points at stake than Haas. But it means that the lower ranked players can withdraw as they wish. Doesn’t really matter if you are 36 or 46! ATP has to find a solution for this and at least investigate these timely withdrawls. I think Haas is just intimidated by Fed and doesn’t want to play. It is a shame!

I totally agree with you Zola; Rafa played at the USO when he was clearly in pain; or think of Agassi near the end of his career, going out there under duress rather than withdrawing, or Fed playing at the AO this year. These are champion athletes, who, unless they absolutely had to, would not withdraw mid tournament.

Maybe you’re right that it has something to do with what is a stake (points) but still.

I think Fed is paying Haas (I’m kidding!!!).

What the heck? It seems crazy to withdraw at this stage in a tournament for a cold. Haas must really be feeling terrible. I can say that if Roddick or Murray were still around, I doubt either would retire with a sinus infection. It must be a humdinger for Haas to withdraw.

Just joking here too, but at least Djoko only retires….

Jane,

Maybe Joko is paying Haas, to make his retirements look better!(kidding!)

Anyway! As you said, who knows, it is just a bummer. I wish Roddick or Murray were around. I think they are far more serious about tennis than Haas. I really think he should retire.

This Fish v. Nalby match is rather boring so far; in this second set there have been flashes of Nalbandian’s talent (and Fish’s) but nothing spectacular.

This match is on Nalbandian’s racquet. He’s just won the second in a t.b. ; maybe this’ll get him pumped up and he’ll pull away in the third.

Nalbandian’s style reminds me a little bit of Djoko’s at times; the two-handed backhand, the depth of his shots. He’s DEFINITELY a lot more relaxed though.

Nalby blows it serving for the MATCH. Ugh. Ugly.

So a well-rested Federer against Fish, to whom he has never lost. Sigh. Maybe Fish will manage a tighter match; he seems on a roll. But I’d say Fed’s through in two relatively easy sets.

Jane,
I just watched the last game and the tie-break. That Nalby was no use against Federer. Very sloppy and sluggish. I think Mardy is more composed and determined. either way, I think fed’s path to the final is already paved. Somehow he is the lucky guy in these situations. The same thing happened in Wimbledon. Rafa went through hell and fire while Fed was resting. I hope Rafa can pull it off against Djoko tomorrow. For Fed, I don’t think there is any doubt. maybe we can speculate on the number of games Fish can win against Fed!

The only thing that I liked in Fish-NAlby match , was Fish’s expressions. He seemed so enthusiastic to win the match that I was really happy that he won. Nalby on the other hand, was just too un-interested!

Funny Zola; I just read an article called “The Nalbandian Personality Type”. Here it is:

http://mvn.com/tennis/2008/03/18/1041/

One does wonder what’s going on in Nalby’s head at times; someone should take his pulse. Don’t know how he could’ve blown it like that serving for the match, but so Fish wins it.

How many games? Well the last time Fed and Fish met is was here and Fed won 6-3, 6-3.

That seems about right. Unless Mardy pulls a one off Fed basically cruises into the finals avoiding any sort of nemesis (Murray, Nalby) along the way.

Meanwhile, Rafa has had to fight tooth and nail; Djoko not as much, but he will have to fight to beat Tenacious R.

Congrats to Mardy! Seems there’s still some life left in American tennis after all. Even though some might view this as a one-off, we’re grateful and not picky — we’ll take our wins any which way we can. Goodluck in the semis, mardy!

Von,

I meant Mardy winning against Fed might be a one-off, but he sure did seem determined today, and hey, he hung in there when Nalby didn’t so he deserved the win.

It must be nice for American/local fans to have one of their own still in it. Good luck to him in continuing his run. He’s soon to be married, isn’t he? Maybe he’s feeling relaxed, settled, lucky?

And about American tennis - of course there’s still life in it! You still own the Davis Cup trophy; Roddick & Sam just won titles two weeks ago; Blake played fantastically well against Rafa last night; and now Fish is in the semis. Nothing to fret about there.

jane and Zola,
Yes, Djoko will “retire” in all senses after hoisting up the big trophy with his two long hands above his head. “Just kidding !”
We have number 1, 2, 3, and one surprising American star, who has been always under-appreciated. I cannot ask for more. I am just looking forward to a great semi and final. It matters little to me whoever wins, except maybe Fed because he has won enough in his life.

Shital Green,

” It matters little to me whoever wins, except maybe Fed because he has won enough in his life.”

LOL; I couldn’t agree more.

Shital,

I wouldn’t mind if Fish was in RAfa’s draw and Joko in Fed’s !

But that said, Fish seemed very determined and he certainly won that match. he shot 22 aces to Nalby, unbelievable! I hope he plays with the same attitude tomorrow and at least give Fed a match.

Zola, Shital Green,

Rafa and Djoko’s match is after 1:00 tomorrow, which means it may favor Rafa, with the heat and his topspin, etc. We’ll see.

Mardy and Roger’s match is directly following theirs.

I hope Federer wins the title. He should easily beat Fish. And in the final he’s gonna face one of his two biggest rivals. As much as I wanna see Federer pummel Nadal again and come closer to evening the score, I want Djokovic to even his score with Nadal and then I want Federer to rock Djokovic. Maybe then he’ll stop all his smart remarks. I doubt it but I want Federer to strut his stuff once more. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Federer do something amazing when it mattered most.