Not true: “Federer has never lost to any of the three remaining players in the tournament.”.., Federer has lost twice to Haas.

June 15th, 2012 at 10:28 pm

Just following score on tennis. didnt rafa lose to someone at queens last year and ended up in the final at Wimbledon? I wouldn’t worry about him if i was his fan.

I worry about Murray though. Hope federer goes all the way this week.

June 15th, 2012 at 10:52 pm

I believe that Fed has won Halle five times, not four.

June 15th, 2012 at 11:23 pm

It appears that Nadal lost the match deliberately and he has played this tournament just for the hefty appearance money.

Nadal said. “I’ve played enough tennis for the last couple of months… I’m very happy with how I’ve been playing the whole season. It’s the time to rest a little bit, to be at home with family and friends, to enjoy the weather there in Mallorca, relax. And when I feel ready to come back I’ll fly to London and practise there in Wimbledon.”

This tells us the whole story and moreover this is not the first time Nadal is doing this.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:05 am

Congrats to Roger for winning against Raonic once again. A player aged 31 beating a hard server aged 21 is not easy and more so particularly on Grass court. Roger has proved it again as to why he is such a Great player who is consistent even at this age on all courts.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:08 am

Michael,

Agree about Fed. A 10 year age difference, and still wins. Milos is already a top quality player, who at 21 other players want to know where he is in the draw. For Fed, Haters call him old man, arrogant, whatever. Reality is he is the greatest tennis player ever. That is why he still relevant closing in on 31. Who else in this era do you think is going to be relevant at 30/31? Zippo.

Going forward, would love to see Milos face Rafa or Djoker on grass, you know, just to see ;)

June 16th, 2012 at 1:09 am

^^

definitely not mr. lady serve and mushy knees!

June 16th, 2012 at 1:16 am

Roger is a cleaner, when nadal and djokovic not there, he usually will clean up the title, all of them , but, grand slam

June 16th, 2012 at 1:31 am

Skeezer,

Agree about Milos. He can beat anybody on his day. He has that big game to give nightmares to even top Players and particularly on fast courts he can be awesome. The only thing lacking in him at the moment is consistency. If he can acquire that, he can be a top four player pretty soon. But that is easier said than done with many potential players not able to deliver the promise they held initially.

As regards Roger, for me he is the GOAT and so to many Tennis critics, players and commentators. There are some sceptics too who doubt his stature based on his H2H and that I would say is a bit over stretched in my opinion. With Federer continuing playing and with his consistency level even today on a very high scale, he has many opportunities to meet the top two and that is to Roger’s biggest disadvantage since he is not able to dominate them as he used to when he was young. As a result, his H2H record suffers and will suffer more in the future. This was not the case with a player like Sampras whose play just dipped when he aged not even able to reach the quarters/semis of many majors on a consistent basis. As a result he didn’t have many opportunities to meet his main rivals. Also, Agassi too was no young and he was the principal adversary of Sampras.

June 16th, 2012 at 2:41 am

I don’t think Nadal lost deliberately, but he didn’t really push for the win either. One thing that’s sure is this tournament isn’t important for Nadal and that this loss doesn’t affect his preparation for Wimbledon at all, on the contrary. He can spend more time with his family and friends, get some rest and recharge the batteries, whatever this may imply in his case…

June 16th, 2012 at 3:03 am

Good to see Federer still hanging on even after he got dethroned at Wimbledon (on his fav surface) 4 yrs back (when he was just 26) by a one dimensional clay courter who was just 21.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:45 am

^ 22.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:48 am

The lions are in the den now, its time for hyenas to pick up the irrelevant remains.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:53 am

@ Fleischer. Spot on!!

June 16th, 2012 at 5:26 am

If Roger meets Haas in the finals, I guess be may give the match to Haas.

June 16th, 2012 at 7:05 am

Visitor: “The win over Raonic was huge for Federer in another way. Regardless of what happens next, if Nole and Federer land in the same half at Wimbledon and if Federer wins Wimbledon, he will be # 1 after Wimbledon.”

That would be absolutely right assuming Halle is a countable tournament in Federer’s ranking points. (I’m not sure but I think it’s counted only if Federer has played four ATP 500 tour events — anyone who understands the ranking formula please explain).

Currently, Djokovic and Federer are separated by 2,970 point gap (12,280 – 9,310).

If Federer beats Djokovic in the semifinal (or Djokovic loses in the semifinal or earlier, whether or not Fed is in his half) and Federer goes on to win Wimbledon, Federer gains 1,640 points and Djokovic loses 1,280 points. In other words, that 2,970 point gap ( – 2,920) drops to 50 points in Djokovic’s favor.

If Federer’s Halle points are counted (Fed gets 150 points as finalist or 250 points as champion), in this scenario Federer will definitely overtake Djokovic by 100 to 200 points — therefore he will be No. 1 after Wimbledon.

Even if Halle is not counted in Fed’s total, the Olympic’s 750 points at Wimbledon are up for grabs.

Over the summer US Open Series, Federer can still gain a lot of points over Djokovic and Nadal.

All hypothetical of course.

June 16th, 2012 at 8:23 am

Fleischer: “Good to see Federer still hanging on even after he got dethroned at Wimbledon (on his fav surface) 4 yrs back (when he was just 26) by a one dimensional clay courter who was just 21.”

Name me one tennis player or other athlete who managed to return to the finals of the most prestigious competition in their sport within months after suffering a bout of energy-sapping mononucleosis. Yet it still took the youngster almost 5 hours to barely edge Federer at 2008 Wimbledon final, winning only 209 to 205 points out of 413 total points (that’s more than the 369 total points Nadal and Djokovic played at AO final).

Good to see Nadal still around even after he got dethroned at 2009 French Open in the fourth round by the No. 25 one dimensional player whose best surface is indoor hard courts. Did we read that right? Beaten in his prime at his house by No. 25 player in fourth round (R16) whose best surface is not clay?

June 16th, 2012 at 8:40 am

Guys, I have blinked and Federer beat Youzhny! Literally found a link on fromsports, thinking it was still raining, clicked on to match. Over in an hour :)

Sweet for federer. He can sit back now and wait to see who he plays for tomorrow.

June 16th, 2012 at 8:51 am

ugh! missed the match. When was this match scheduled to start? must be too early.

Congrats to fed but I am so mad didnt get to see you play live today.

June 16th, 2012 at 8:56 am

@wilfried-b
“I don’t think Nadal lost deliberately, but he didn’t really push for the win either.” That sounds plausible.

June 16th, 2012 at 9:26 am

kimmi, start with the following two links, some nice play by both players despite the score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCH4f2iP-tY&feature=youtube_gdata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgVTOrU7ppo

June 16th, 2012 at 9:33 am

“Beaten in his prime in his house by no. 25 player …. ” says somebody called Dave. For the umpteenth time Nadal was injured and so pulled out of Wimbledon as well in 2009. Don’t you read the Press or do you just cherry pick the articles and information provided by the Press and journos? And that Mono thing that MR SHUT suffered is always given as an excuse for his losses. You can “if” and “but” all you like – your man will NEVER be no. 1 again, so do yourself a favour and accept that fact sooner rather than later. It will do your blood pressure a world of good!!!!

June 16th, 2012 at 10:01 am

Dave,

Fed’s other countable tourney is Doha, where he made semis and have 90 points. Halle will replace Doha and with the 60 points he gain here (minima, he can still be champion), if he wins Wimby and Djoko loses in semis r worst, Fed will be #1 by 10 point lead.

FED: 9310 + 150 (Halle runner up) – 90 (doha semis) + 2000 (Wimby) – 360 (wimby 11′) = 11010 pts

DJOKO: 1280 – 2000 (Wimby 11′) + 720 (semis WImby 12′) = 11000 pts

That would be unique would`t it?!

Now I am even changing my mind and wanting Fed to be in Djoko’s side, this way the number 1 ranking will be entirely in Fed’s racquet, as long as he wins the tournament!!!

June 16th, 2012 at 10:02 am

Sorry, Djoko is 12280 pts

June 16th, 2012 at 10:03 am

Nadal will be terribly dissapointed if his favorite whipping boy lands on Djokovic’s side for this wimbledon.

June 16th, 2012 at 10:35 am

Why are there so many trolls on this site now. There’s another site they can go to, to enter into these stupid, inane conversations.

June 16th, 2012 at 10:44 am

Come on Haas, kick some A$$ tomorrow! Go Tommy!!

June 16th, 2012 at 10:48 am

Madmax,

Same guy, different moniker, same schtick.

June 16th, 2012 at 10:56 am

Wind’s playing havoc in the Dimitrov/Nalbandian match – and the old fox Nalbandian is exploiting it cleverly, Dimitrov is merely reacting to it – which is probably why Nalbandian is ahead one break.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:11 am

Too bad about the wind. This could be exceptionally nice quality without it. Nalby is irritated. And I think Dimitrov will have the upper hand when/if Nalby’s serve level drops.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:14 am

Having said that, now its Nalbandian who allows the wind to get to him – he tells it off in no uncertain manner – and as a consequence, Dimitrov breaks back. In between the gusts of wind, there is some delightful tennis from both players.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:15 am

Mark,
I would be rooting for Federer tomorrow.
Let this guy win this one. Let him have his piece of bone.
He is going to remain irrelevant till atleast Basel.
Poor old guy.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:16 am

Nalbandian breaks again for 4-3. Dimitrov was killing Anderson with his slices – today, they tending to go limply into the net. Another point – at break point, Dimitrov tends to go all out. Always difficult to adjudicate this. If you get those in, it’s nerveless play. if you miss, it’s reckless. I think for the moment, until Dimitrov can prove his consistency, he might be better off biding his time.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:23 am

Never ceases to amaze me the ease with which Nalby seems to play; it never seems like he is working too hard or even that he has to move much. But he’s sweating a lot. :)

June 16th, 2012 at 11:27 am

Dimitrov is coming to net quite a bit; finished off that last game well.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:28 am

Mark,

Re; Fleischer. You always pick the best BFF.

Yes, Fed STILL relevant as an old man, in another ATP final. OMG, is this another record? Good wine ages well. No quitting here… Not trying hard enough….not pushing …..whatever. Hehe.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:28 am

Nalbandian serves out easily to take set 6-4. Dimitrov was a slow starter against Mahut and Anderson – but somehow you don’t think that’ll happen here. Nalbandian is a great player and for a fair amount of the time, he is playing like a gtreat player. I hope Dimitrov learns from the experience. Simon Reed said there was something “coltish” about Dimitrov – and that catches the sense i have about him anyway perfectly.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:34 am

I thought Reed said “cultish” lol.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:35 am

jane, that “ease” you mention has been particularly evident in his less strong stroke, the forehand. Just strokes it down the line putting it completely out of play, and it looks so easy, you think I could do that, but at the same time there is something delicious about it, and you would eat it if that were possible.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:37 am

Yeah grendel, that shot almost seems to come off the racquet in slow-mo today. And his return is still top notch.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:43 am

Skeezer,
Wow, great post at 11:28 am.
Our God is the best when it comes to 250s nowadays.
Hope he wins a lot more of 250s and keep us all happy.
Hope he wins some online polls as well. I guess he won that for FO 2012 too.
Halle grass is a much more competitive surface compared to wimbledon grass which is basically green clay.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:48 am

Dimitrov is grabbing himself, looks frustrated, but then suddenly he shows some great talent, in flashes. Now it’s deuce.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:50 am

Things have changed a little bit in this forum. Before, people discuss tennis in a very objective and articulated way, now is full of fan boys putting everybody down and showing no respect for the players.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:52 am

Dimitrov even twirls his racquet waiting to hit the return, which Fed does.

Nalby more patient there, to hold.

Good point by commentator about Dimitrov not taking advantage on Nalby’s second serves whereas Nalby has won 63% of second serve return points. Dimitrov is doing much better when he gets in his first serves – there’s a love hold.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:55 am

Dimitrov is back on serve, feels like a momentum shift here?

June 16th, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Dimitrov breaks back – at last, some of the slices are coming off. Amazing the way Dimitrov keeps slipping, recovering and handling the shot. Only little slips, obviously, even so…

June 16th, 2012 at 12:01 pm

Nalby is missing more too – returns he was getting in before, now going out. Lots of misses at the net too.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:03 pm

we’ve talkes about Dimitrov’s proneness to error – but Nalbandian too is being hurt by this. One great drop shot by Dimitrov Nalby handled with pure class – but the next 2, not so good, Nalbandian missed out on. And in a way, that’s been the story of his career except on those rare occasions when everything goes right. But the successful player has to keep the erros away even when he’s feeling out of sorts.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Sky looking ominous.

True, Dimitrov slipping/sliding a lot but managing to pick himself up very quickly.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:10 pm

Almost a decade between these two and the age difference is quite noticeable in this case. It’s not always that way when you watch two players with such an age gap, but here, you can see Nalby’s experience and Dimitrov’s exuberance in relief.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:14 pm

missed smash after very classy rally leads to break, always seems to happen – server somehow out of countenance, not to mention out of breath. Nalbandian has returned serve impeccably – neutralised Dimitrov really. He will need to find more oomf on the serve, i thik. Bit more oomf on everything.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Good match; glad I watched it. Nice to see the contrasts and the talent of both.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:21 pm

ATP ranking sucks.
Nole has won just 2 titles this year.
Rafa has won just 4 titles (that too on clay).

But Federer would be winning his 5th title for the year tomorrow. Realistically he is the world number 1.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:29 pm

jane, what was your ultimate impression of Dimitrov? According to Reed, dunno if you heard, but reports that Dimitrov doesn’t put in the hours are not especially accurate – his main problem is lack of confidence. But it still seems to me he lacks power on his shot, he must know that, and that in itself could inhibit him. He’s a tantalising prospect, because you can see the talent – but you can see the frailty, too. And this doesn’t seem to change much as the years slip by. What do you think?

June 16th, 2012 at 12:37 pm

I agree with you about more “oomf” grendel. After watching the Gasquet match at the FO I thought maybe it was a discipline issue with Dimitrov, but he looked very fit and motivated today. Is Reed right that it’s confidence? It’s difficult to judge that, but I did find him to be a little bit self-conscious at times in the match today: maybe a problem of expectations and living up to them? Like Gasquet, like Murray…

No shortage of talent and desire, but does he have fight? I found myself visiting his wiki page and thinking “I wonder what he’ll do?” He only just turned 21, so there’s time to come into his own, to feel more comfortable, to develop more power. It’s like there’s still a final hurdle or two to jump over. But he’s making strides.

Still, I hesitate a little. It’s tough to know if he’ll evolve to the point he needs. Look at someone like Monfils, who was an amazing junior and has never reached that level on the tour. Or Gasquet: Nole still says he was the most talented of all the juniors he played with, but Gasquet’s never been able to capitalize on it.

June 16th, 2012 at 12:57 pm

yes, but Monfils and Gasquet are special cases, I think. Dimitrov is in a way more normal, although I suppose all that hype didn’t help. But suppose it does come down to lack of power, of weight of shot. Is that remediable? You can’t turn a flyweight boxer into a middleweight, can you? The parallel with boxing is not exact. Look at Henin, she beefed herself up until her serve was consistently powerful. There was still something wrong, I suspect. For some reason, she couldn’t beef up the 2nd serve – there must have been some technical problem – and so she tended to take chances on it, hence the number of double faults. But also, she was very prone to injury – nature is not mocked, you might think – and she retired twice prematurely. So it’s no straightforward matter to turn a natural lightweight into, well, not a heavyweight obviously, but something more substantial anyway.

June 16th, 2012 at 1:51 pm

“Roger Federer Fan Says:
Skeezer,
Wow, great post at 11:28 am.”

Why Thank you!

And thank you for all the attention. I can tell you read everyone single one of my posts. Keep up the good work stalker!

June 16th, 2012 at 1:57 pm

@ Fleischer. Ok if you say so but I even begrudge him that piece of bone!!

June 16th, 2012 at 2:01 pm

“I can tell you read everyone single one of my posts.”

Absolutely….without a semblance of a doubt.
I am a big fan of yours.
I love your way of finding fault with Rafa’s every single action and word…wow.
And the way you pick on Rafa’s bu##….wow…even Rafa himself would not have picked it that much.
You are a delight…..Federer should be proud to have you as his fan.
You are one of the best posters here along with dave, king federer, madmax, etc.

Keep up your good work…..its required to maintain the relevance of Federer atleast in tennis forums.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:12 pm

grendel, the power, for sure, is one thing, I agree; although Dimitrov hung with Tsonga for a thrilling 4 or 5 set match at last year’s Wimbledon. Today he relied too much on the slice, I think, and sometimes he plays too far back, which may neutralize the power he does have. But while weight of shot is one thing, I still think there is “weight of mind” if you will. He has been compared to Federer since at least 2008 when he won the juniors title at Wimbledon. That’s 4 years of expectations. He talks about it in this interview from January:

http://www.thetennisspace.com/on-court/grigor-dimitrov-burned-out-by-federer-comparisons/

Then there’s this quote:

What’s your immediate goal? “Being between 70 and 80 (where he is now) – and getting to the top 40 – I think that’s the biggest jump of all time. You need those big points. I wish I could buy them. I think when you enter the top 40, from then on, you think everything is possible. This thing between 80 and even 40, you need to guts it out. It’s just about working hard and believing.”

He wishes he could “buy them” but he needs to “gut” them out – i.e., moving up the rankings. I think he believes in himself, i.e., he has confidence in his tennis, but like I said before, does he want to gut it out, and fight? He doesn’t always look super hungry on the court to me. Sometimes he does, you see it in flashes, but other times he looks resigned and even casual. That could be due to youth, frustration, reliance on talent, etc. I’d like to see a little more “will” from him I guess.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:31 pm

“I love your way of finding fault with Rafa’s every single action and word…wow.”

Lol. You haven’t read every single word, nor action of my posts. Cause that is a lie. Pay more attention when I write. Now now Fake Fan, if you’re going troll and stalk, do it truthfully.

“You are a delight…..Federer should be proud to have you as his fan.”

Why, thank you again.

“You are one of the best posters here”

“Keep up your good work…..its required to maintain the relevance of Federer atleast in tennis forums.”

Why thank you again!

June 16th, 2012 at 3:35 pm

You are welcome Skeeze.
You are a fabulous Federer fan.
If Federer had seen your posts before meeting Mirka….he would have definitely married you and banged you daily on the bed….you missed your chance….but keep trying harder….you may find an opening.

June 16th, 2012 at 3:42 pm

we all know the only guy to lose 3 consecutive GS finals and 7 finals in a row.

any guesses?

June 16th, 2012 at 3:43 pm

Ugh, Federer dominating another grass tournament. Wake me up when Asian swing start. Until then I will be sleeping.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

Skeezer,

You are better than this. Ignore these imposters. And if anyone wants to degrade 250 tournaments, well, a number of things:

a) Why do Rafa, Novak and Andy even bother playing them? D’uh, could be they make all the difference when rankings are close.

b) Use them to try out different tactics before the big ones come along

c) Get used to a different surface perhaps?

d) Oh, and I just counted how many 250 tournaments Rafa, Novak and Andy had, so before people start degrading them, or rather the player that plays in them, look at their own favourite player first, then start the preaching.

Idiotic people here now Skeezer, enter into more refined conversations with jane and grendel. Mark and Flesh can entertain each other.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:02 pm

madmax, I meant to tell you the “Prologue” is entirely compelling: colours, life, death, survival, tragedy, resilience, souls, books, beginnings and ends. I haven’t finished but you asked for my thoughts on that. Reading from the perspective of death is always intriguing. Made me think a little bit of Giacomo Leopardi’s thing with Death and Fashion.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:15 pm

Thank’s Daniel, your 10:02 am post clarifies things.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:27 pm

Madmax,

Thanks. I was reading somewhere that Fed (75) is 2 titles shy of Johnny Macs 77 title tour wins ( 3rd all time)? ( confirmation anyone? ). If so, winning Halle, of course is important ;)

June 16th, 2012 at 4:35 pm

http://tennisabides.com/2012/06/16/nalbandian-vs-cilic-queens-club-final/ and http://tennisabides.com/2012/06/16/halle-final-set-federer-vs-haas/ my brief predictive previews for tomorrow’s ATP grass court finals

June 16th, 2012 at 4:45 pm

“Skeezer, enter into more refined conversations with jane and grendel.”

Thats a big ask for someone like Skeeze.

But he has tried his best on talking something about tennis outside his full time job of hailing Federer and dissing Rafa.
Recently he got one of his tennis predictions perfectly right…..I can never forget that….one of his biggest achievements.

He predicted that F0 final between Nole and Rafa will be a 8+ hrs snoozefest and got it perfectly right.
The match went on for abt 24 hrs….and most importantly everyone slept during the match….including Rafa and Nole.

I am a fan of skeezer.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:46 pm

I’d say they should make Queen’s and Halle 500 points each – I mean on outdoor hard courts a player can win 4000 points in slams and 4000 points in Masters 1000 events, clay a player can win 2000 in a slam and 3000 in Masters 1000 events. Grass maybe someone wins a 250 + Wimbledon for 2250 points – I guess a player could play two 250 events before Wimbledon and then play Newport and maybe win a max of 2750 in non-London Olympic years on grass

June 16th, 2012 at 4:48 pm

Dan,

True, i mean how many Grass court tournies are there anyways? Ithink this was brought up before…

June 16th, 2012 at 4:54 pm

Adding some points to Halle and Queen’s Club would not hurt any of the top players either. Rafa has been to 5 Wimbledon finals and won Queen’s in 08. Nole has a Wimbledon title, two semis at Wimbledon and I believe has been runner-up at Queen’s and at Halle in his career. Andy Murray won Queen’s twice and has reached 3 consecutive Wimbledon semis. Roger has 6 Wimbledon titles and 5 Halle titles plus a runner-up at each event. Maybe it is a tip of the hat to history to have a few more points in the two biggest Wimbledon tune-ups.

June 16th, 2012 at 5:01 pm

I would love to see a grass masters, so yeah, making the warm ups 500 would be a step in the right direction.

June 16th, 2012 at 5:09 pm

Mark: ‘ “Beaten in his prime in his house by no. 25 player …. ” says somebody called Dave. For the umpteenth time Nadal was injured and so pulled out of Wimbledon as well in 2009. Don’t you read the Press or do you just cherry pick the articles and information provided by the Press and journos?’

I would not have brought this up had Fleischer and you not resorted to your cheap shots.

It’s really you who needs to read more of the news media, not just cherry pick those articles that support your view.

A careful analysis and the facts contradict or question your dubious excuse that Nadal’s loss at the 2009 French Open was because he was hurt from tendinitis in his knees.

1. Nadal’s quadriceps tendinitis was not career threatening, according to knee surgeons to athletes as well as other tennis players such as Andy Roddick who have had similar injuries (tendonitis is not a severe injury, unlike a tear or arthritis). Many players play on with vearious types of tendonitis, just like Nadal does by voluntarily choosing to play the way he does.

2. If Nadal’s tendonitis was really severe why did he choose to play four clay court tournaments in five weeks between mid-April to mid-May 2009, just before the French Open (even though he benefitted from two walkovers)? Nadal could have withdrawn from Barcelona to heal his knees. Instead he played on and straight-setted every player on clay until his final two matches at Madrid. By Madrid, Nadal had lost some of his aura of invincibility on clay as Djokovic nearly beat Nadal, then Federer straight-setted Nadal in the final. Surely Robin Soderling was taking notes.

3. After Madrid Nadal had over a week to rest his knees before the French Open started.

4. At the French Open, Nadal moved like a rabbit during his first four matches (even in losing to Soderling) and did not call a medical time out in any match.

5. Nadal did not lose to Soderling because he was hurt. Robin Soderling beat Nadal by attacking early and relentlessly, overpowering him with flat shots (just like Djokovic did in the third set of this year’s FO final) and kept him on his heels throughout the match.

6. One week after losing to Soderling, Nadal suddenly claimed he was injured. He stated on his website: “I have been playing with pain on my knees for some months now and I simply can’t go on like this. The pain was limiting certain movements in my body, which affected me mentally as well.” Nadal’s personal doctor joined in the publicity act by telling the fawning press that Nadal had tendinitis in both knees. But the doctor’s prescription did not indicate a serious injury: just oral anti-inflammatories, physiotherapy and muscular exercises for both knees. There was really no need for Nadal to make a public announcement at the time since he had already withdrawn from Queens and Wimbledon was about two weeks away. But the Nadal publcity machine rarely misses an opportunity to make a drama of his convenient ‘injuries’ to drum up sympathy.
http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2009/06/09/Nadal-afflicted-with-tendonitis-in-knees/UPI-88701244560013/

7. Less than 10 days after his ‘injury’ announcement Nadal was fit enough to play two warm-up exhibition matches on Hurlingham’s grass courts before Wimbledon, against Leyton Hewitt and Stan Wawrinka. German, Irish and Australian news media reported that Nadal did not tape his knees and did not visually appear to be troubled by his knees. Although he seemed to move a bit slower and was inconsistent, Hewitt’s manager David Drysdale said “it’s hard to tell (where Nadal’s game is at because) it was Nadal’s first game on grass this year.”

8. If he was really injured, Nadal would have known during the Hewitt and Wawrinka matches. If so, Nadal should have immediately withdrawn from Wimbledon after losing to Wawrinka. But instead Nadal dubiously waited for another three hours after his Wawrinka match — until after the draw came out — and then withdrew from Wimbledon.

The Wimbledon draw was tough for Nadal — his second round opponent was to be former Wimbledon champion Hewitt, who had just beaten him in the exhibition match. An in-form Lleyton Hewitt — who has won more grass court matches than even Pete Sampras and has one of the best grass court records in the ATP era — would have been a very difficult match. In that Wimbledon, Hewitt straight-setted Nadal’s replacement (Del Potro), then beat Petzschner and Stepanek, before losing a tough five-setter to Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Reliability-Zone/Reliability-Grass-Career-List.aspx

Nadal did not even attempt to defend his Wimbledon title, even though he was able to play tennis (quadriceps tendonitis is not a career-threatening injury, so he could have still played). Remember, Nadal ran like a rabbit at the French Open and during the rest of the clay season (he looked paralyzed at times against Soderling because that’s how he looks when he is overpowered by a flat hitter). Nadal’s first match at Wimbledon would have been almost 3.5 weeks after his last match at the French Open (against Soderling). That should have given him a lot of time to recover from a non-career threatening injury such as tendonitis. After 3.5 weeks rest without competitive tennis, Nadal’s supposed ‘tendonitis’ would not have been worse than what it was at the French Open, when he straight-setted his first three opponents. Nadal’s supposed injury would most like have been much better or fuly resolved.

In any case, whether or not the tendonitis was fully resolved, Nadal’s should have been able to play Wimbledon even with tendonitis and could have tried to play himself into form. Even though he was not fully prepared or fully fit — like Federer was not in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 — Nadal could have tried and made an effort to play to defend his title. But he didn’t probably because he was afraid to lose. Unless he feels he can win, he would rather not play and not defend his title… than lose a match (Nadal: “When I start a tournament like Wimbledon, it is to try to win. And my feeling right now is I’m not ready to play to win.”)

June 16th, 2012 at 5:10 pm

well, the slice wasn’t working today – but it’s what did for Anderson, so you can’t blame him for trying. The Tsonga match – very entertaining – was in my view deceptive. You always felt that Tsonga could wrap it up when ever he felt he needed to. I get the feeling Tsonga likes to play, and that he somewhat lacks the killer intinct.

A good interview. Dimitrov must be one of the few people who likes the British weather. Another was the poet Edward Thomas (killed in world war 1). Thomas was a great walker, and he wrote about his rambles in the English countryside in prose until the American poet Robert Frost (then living in England) told him he was really a poet. Anyway, Thomas maintained there was no such thing as bad weather. There was just weather. For a lover of nature, you can see that this makes sense. But not for a lover of tennis.

I liked these two quotes from the interview:” I have a very different vision than most of the people on the tour, I would say. Hopefully I will get better and better and then I can release some of what’s really going on.”

And: “Even in practice, I make mistakes and I don’t know why. When the ball comes I have a million ideas coming into my head, so sometimes I just laugh at myself, because I’ve got it all but I’ve just got to put it in order. Despite the fact I can be even better, it’s a bit scary.”

I like the idea that he has a vision, that the reality does not match the vision, but that he has a certain faith in himself that provided he keeps trying, the vision will gradually emerge. Imperfection must be the bane of any artist – the ill fit between the imagined and the actual.

You say:”He doesn’t always look super hungry on the court to me”. I rather agree. Although he wants to move up the rankings and so on, I’m not convinced he is super competitive. I think what may really motivate him is the urge to express what is inside him. Necessarily, this will entail beating opponents. There is a sort of muddle here. For there is the natural instinct which makes just about anyone want to beat anyone else at anything.

But at the same time, there is this other instinct which may be quite dim in some players but shines brightly I think in Dimitrov. And that is that beating your opponent, if he is someone you respect, is not just an occasion for tub thumping but is another small indication that progress is being made in the ultimate goal – that of self-expression. So sometimes, frustration is not just about losing a point, a game, a match but about the failure yet again of the vision to match reality.

June 16th, 2012 at 5:13 pm

@Roger Federer Fan 4.46

Different posters bring different strengths to the site. That’s what good about sites like this. Most clubs are comprised of – after a fashion – likeminded people. Not true here, obviously there is a common love of tennis – but that’s it.

Skeezer’s strengths from the point of view of most other posters are – I would guess – his idiomatic and colloquial way of expressing himself which is always done in a spirit of good humour. Sure, he has his prejudices, don’t we all. But he doesn’t express them with any real rancour imo.

Skeezer’s other strength is one we see all too little of. He is very knowledgeable about the actual practice of tennis, he has literally forgotten far more than I for one will ever know in this respect, and I wish we could see more of this side of him.

June 16th, 2012 at 6:27 pm

Dave, have you ever had tendonitis? I have on my thumb and wrist and it’s was absolutely agonizing. I tried to play through it with anti inflammatories but the reality was u was having difficulty turning my car keys, zipping my tennis bag, putting my kids socks on and chopping vegetables. When you warm up it feels a little better. Went for a cortisone shot and the doctor refused to give me one, said i was too young and i should save it up for when i got older Went for an MRI and they found nothing. So what did I do, well I’m left handed and the pain was in my right hand so played with a mostly one hand backhand but obviously couldn’t really compete. Then one day

June 16th, 2012 at 6:33 pm

Got cut off sorry

It went away as fast is it came. Thankfully. I live in fear it will return and the slightest twinge in the middle of a match can completely throw you into a state of panic. But to imagine competing on the highest level with pain like that is unimaginable. So COULD he have played, yes. Could he have won, no. For nadal DjOker and Fed anything other than a win is a failure. There is no “I’m so happy to play the semi final”aybe for djokovic it was ok play the final of RG sort of because he had never played it before.

June 16th, 2012 at 6:39 pm

Nadal chickened out of his wimbly defense because he was not ready to defend his title.
He knew he was going to loose. a prior to final or in the final. He chickened out of playing the biggest slam of his life.

But that is all water onder the bridge…

Within a few weeks we will be witnessing the ultimate Roger Federer will be in the final playing his trofee and for the #1 spot in mens tennis.
Someone who doesnot follow tennis closely would say| How did that happen all of a sudden….

Bu it is hardly sudden. He has set his sights on this goal almost a year back. Actually he tried it last year but he was thrown back with fysical hampering. This year he is on the game.We are witnessing,I think his greatest achievement. By winning Wimbledon and reclaiming the top slot he would have achieved the ultimate,

Already he has over the last past 12 months the highest win loss ratio in tennis.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Reliability-Zone/Reliability-Overall-Current-List.aspx

For a +30 year old dude that is remarcable. He has sustained the Nadal and the Djoker runs and is now in prime shape to make his move.

June 16th, 2012 at 6:54 pm

Grendel—agree with your comments about skeezer. It’s awesome to read posts from someone who actually understands the mechanics of the game. Based on many of the posts it seems like many here have never picked up a racket.

June 16th, 2012 at 7:15 pm

grendel, ” the slice wasn’t working today – but it’s what did for Anderson, so you can’t blame him for trying” – of course with Anderson the slice makes sense; he’s tall, so move him around, make him bend, take away the pace. But with Nalby? Didn’t seem to work but he kept using it.

There’s another piece that I came across which breaks down Dimitrov’s game from strength to weakness in this order: 1) technical 2) mental 3) physical and 4) tactical.

The writer figures Grigor needs to think more about which tactics to use when, and in general that he needs to be more “aggressive” minded. For some reason, I can’t post the link (perhaps because the article has a number of embedded videos, breaking down shots etc), but if you plug the following title into google, you should find it, if you’re interested:

“Grigor Dimitrov Biography And Detailed Game Analysis”

June 16th, 2012 at 9:21 pm

Kimberly, on June 9, 2009 — the day Nadal publicly announced his supposed ‘injury’ — Andy Roddick was asked about it in his post match presser at Queens. Roddick basically said that, given his own experience with tendonitis, he did not expect tendonitis to be the type of injury that should prevent Nadal from defending his Wimbledon title.

Q. Rafa has said today he’s going to try and play at Wimbledon. He’s got tendinitis in his knees. I wondered if you ever had a similar problem and how long it might have taken you to recover.
Andy Roddick: “Yeah, I mean, I’ve had tendinitis for years and years and years and years. You know, on a positive side for Rafa, it’s not something that — you know, it’s uncomfortable and it’s painful, but it’s not something that’s going to be a career-threatening injury if you play on it. You know, (tendonitis is) kind of a fancy term for overuse. You know, I don’t think that in my mind I ever thought that his Wimbledon defense was in jeopardy…. Rafa has had knee tendinitis for a long time and he’s won Grand Slams while he’s had it. I’m certainly not going to underestimate Rafa. I think he’s going to be there. I think he’s going to be fine, and I think he’s going to put forth all the effort he has. He’s certainly proven that in the past.” (ASAP sports transcript)

Simon Jennings is a hip and knee surgeon who deals with injuries of pro athletes (e.g., rugby players). Dr. Jennings, BSc, MB BS, FRCS, Dip Sports Med, FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics), is Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at London’s Northwick Park Hospital & Harley Street. Dr. Jennings said that a phenomenal athlete like Nadal should be able to bounce back faster from his tendonitis. “A professional athlete is going to recover quicker than a weekend athlete, your office worker . You would probably want two to four weeks (of treatment), but as an ATP Tour player that is not easy.” Jennings and other knee doctors suggested that Nadal had quadriceps tendonitis (tendonitis affecting the tendon linking the knee to the quadriceps muscles) long before the Nadal team revealed his actual injury. Jennings said the remedy is 2 to 4 weeks rest, ice, anti-inflammatories and strengthening exercises, which is what Nadal’s personal doctor recommended. It was over 3 weeks between Nadal’s loss to Soderling and his scheduled first match at Wimbledon.
http://www.108harleystreet.co.uk/downloads/3_Mr_Simon_Jennings_Ortho_Causes_of_Groin_Pain_1.pdf

Bottom line, pro athletes should be able to handle tendonitis and play with it better than amateur athletes. A lot of amateur athlete-pundits project their own personal experience and limitations on a pro athlete like Nadal, Djokovic or Federer — and that’s just plain wrong. Not only are pro athletes fitter, already doing strengthening exercises and recover from injuries faster, these rich and powerful athletes have access to several top medical experts, better diagnostics and conventional treatment options.

I’ve had all sorts of ailments when I was young and ignorant. Since then, I’ve never met a tendonitis, tear or arthritis (myself or friends) that I have not been able to cure or improve within weeks, even those that doctors and physios have a hard time resolving (I’m always willing to share what safe alternative therapies can be used if someone needs help). Btw, an injury sometimes does not show on MRI but might show on other scans]. Ice, anti-inflammatories and cortisone injections may not work or have limited effectiveness because they don’t resolve the underlying problem.

****

Regardless, we really don’t know whether the divorce of his parents was the real culprit that summer when 23-year old Nadal skipped Wimbledon. Most other 23-year old adults in the real world don’t get to take two months off work because of their parent’s divorce. We’re not takking about a young emotional teenager here, but a multi-millionaire adult surrounded by a relatively big team of experienced people. The fawning press continues to lap up Nadal’s excuses while giving other players a hard time even though they rarely sensationalize their injuries.

June 16th, 2012 at 9:32 pm

jane,

That was an excellent analysis on Grigor. That was great stuff.

“Overall he relies too much on slices, drop shots and that sort of stuff”

Yes. Imo he tries to “form out”. Which is having the skill to hit all the Fed like shots but at times he tries to over execute the shot, rather than, just hit the shot that wins the point. Its really his desicion making, which comes with experience. When you have that much shotmaking skills, when do you pull out what shot at what time?

June 16th, 2012 at 9:43 pm

grendel….you’re spot on and right.
Kimberly thanks;)

June 16th, 2012 at 9:44 pm

skeezer, I think Murray has a bit of that problem too: “when do you pull out what shot at what time?” Exactly.

And another point in skeezer’s favour that I’d like to add – he posts recipes! :)

June 16th, 2012 at 9:48 pm

“But with Nalby? Didn’t seem to work but he kept using it. ” My impression was that it did work ok when he got the ball in. The problem was not Nalbandian – he was just misfiring.

June 16th, 2012 at 10:06 pm

Sean,

I thought we were not supposed to make excuses, but here you are making excuses for nadal? now it’s his parents divorce? OK!

As for Mr. Dimitrov being burdened with the tag of being federer like, i dont know how commentators miss simple things like dimitrov’s movement is no where like federer. in tennis, the most important weapon is movement. you can have all the talent of qasquet or dimitrov, but people get carried away. both of them are inferior on the movement. this is where federer is unique. he is gifted at shot-making but he is also up there with the very best when it comes to movement. in fact, one could make a great case for fed being the best when it comes to movement on a grass/hard court.

most amateurs get carried away by shot-making and that is understandable, but to see people who commentate and have played at a pro-level talk like amateurs is plain silly. all these “tennis experts” talk about gasquet’s talent. but not one of them tells you that his movement is sub-par. that is why even a lesser talented player like ferrer achieves better results than gasquet.

fortunately for gasquet and dimitrov, movement can be improved on. it takes time and effort, but you can improve it. while on the other hand, if you are like ferrer, well, things are not so much in your control.

June 16th, 2012 at 11:37 pm

Although I would be very much happy if Roger wins his 75th title equalling Mcenroe, I would be more happy if Tommy Haas wins because he is already 34 and for his calibre and promise, he has not delivered much. His career has been plagued by injuries and he is the most unlucky player on this planet. I hope he wins or even harbour the hope that Roger would give the match to him as a token of good gesture to his great Friend.

June 17th, 2012 at 2:41 am

Some nice comment about Rafa..

So i headed over to atp a site where they actually have real tennis facts. Its really starting to bug me people saying rafa needs to prove him self on other surfaces, as far as i’m concerned he has and more so then djokovic. Saying rafas only got a lot of titles because they’ve all come on clay is like saying djokovic and federer only have a lot of titles because they’ve come on hard courts. Just out of curiosity i found what percentage each player had won on any one surface the results were as followed:

Djokovic

Hard: 73%
Clay: 23%
Grass: 4%

Nadal

Clay: 74%
Hard: 20%
Grass: 6%

Federer (left out carpet court titles)

Hard: 72%
Grass: 14%
Clay: 14%

As you can see each players strongest surface makes up about 75% of there overall titles only 1% difference between the 3 players! So to come out and say Rafa needs to win more titles on other surfaces to prove himself is just donkey balls. So far the closest out of the three to be the best on all surfaces is rodger federer Generally speaking if someone held two gs titles at each gs they would be considered most successful on all surfaces and no ones done that to this date. And even if we take a look at the players weaker surfaces rafas 10 hard court titles (20%) include 5 masters, 2 GS’s and an olympic gold medal. And his 3 grass titles (6%) include two Wimbledon titles. Djokovics weaker surfaces consists of only 3 masters titles on clay and his lone Wimbledon on grass. HMMMMMM wonder whos had more success on all surfaces. I understand your probably a djokovic fan and yes hes much more of a competitor these days but to say nadal has to beat him on those surfaces time and time again to prove hes an all surface player when clearly djokovic or almost all tennis players will never be then your just plain crazy. Another funny thing is the fact that the majority of tournaments have HARD COURTS. For rafa to win the same percentage of tournaments on his favorite surface when there’s less clay tournaments is pretty impressive. Imagine if tennis tournaments were split 50/50 half tournaments clay half hard, who would have the most titles? The answers plain and simple rafa easily would cause he absolutely dominates clays but also has an odd IMPORTANT hard court win every now and then.

June 17th, 2012 at 4:33 am

Michael,

I agree to you point on Haas. He is a fantastic player, but overshadowed by Roger and injuries. I believe Roger would give this match to his friend.

June 17th, 2012 at 4:37 am

Roger Federer Fan Says:
“Skeezer, enter into more refined conversations with jane and grendel.”

Thats a big ask for someone like Skeeze.

But he has tried his best on talking something about tennis outside his full time job of hailing Federer and dissing Rafa.
Recently he got one of his tennis predictions perfectly right…..I can never forget that….one of his biggest achievements.

He predicted that F0 final between Nole and Rafa will be a 8+ hrs snoozefest and got it perfectly right.
The match went on for abt 24 hrs….and most importantly everyone slept during the match….including Rafa and Nole.

I am a fan of skeezer.

June 16th, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Skeezer is cool RFF, something you will never be. You come on to make jibes at his comments because you have nothing of interest to say.

Skeezer rocks.

Sean, don’t make excuses for Nadal – again. Parents divorce? How old is he for godsake? He is a man, not a boy, and yes. Still lives in the family home, but stop making excuses. In comparison, federer “excuses?” – count them on two fingers :)

June 17th, 2012 at 5:20 am

Nirmal Kumar Says:
Some nice comment about Rafa..

So i headed over to atp a site where they actually have real tennis facts. Its really starting to bug me people saying rafa needs to prove him self on other surfaces, as far as i’m concerned he has and more so then djokovic. Saying rafas only got a lot of titles because they’ve all come on clay is like saying djokovic and federer only have a lot of titles because they’ve come on hard courts. Just out of curiosity i found what percentage each player had won on any one surface the results were as followed:

Djokovic

Hard: 73%
Clay: 23%
Grass: 4%

Nadal

Clay: 74%
Hard: 20%
Grass: 6%

Federer (left out carpet court titles)

Hard: 72%
Grass: 14%
Clay: 14%

As you can see each players strongest surface makes up about 75% of there overall titles only 1% difference between the 3 players! So to come out and say Rafa needs to win more titles on other surfaces to prove himself is just donkey balls. So far the closest out of the three to be the best on all surfaces is rodger federer Generally speaking if someone held two gs titles at each gs they would be considered most successful on all surfaces and no ones done that to this date. And even if we take a look at the players weaker surfaces rafas 10 hard court titles (20%) include 5 masters, 2 GS’s and an olympic gold medal. And his 3 grass titles (6%) include two Wimbledon titles. Djokovics weaker surfaces consists of only 3 masters titles on clay and his lone Wimbledon on grass. HMMMMMM wonder whos had more success on all surfaces. I understand your probably a djokovic fan and yes hes much more of a competitor these days but to say nadal has to beat him on those surfaces time and time again to prove hes an all surface player when clearly djokovic or almost all tennis players will never be then your just plain crazy. Another funny thing is the fact that the majority of tournaments have HARD COURTS. For rafa to win the same percentage of tournaments on his favorite surface when there’s less clay tournaments is pretty impressive. Imagine if tennis tournaments were split 50/50 half tournaments clay half hard, who would have the most titles? The answers plain and simple rafa easily would cause he absolutely dominates clays but also has an odd IMPORTANT hard court win every now and then.

June 17th, 2012 at 4:33 am

Nirmal,

It is all well and good stating the above – I couldn’t find these stats anywhere, so can you state your source please?

Secondly, what you have said doesn’t reflect the amount of clay tournaments, the amount of hard tournaments or the amount of grass.

When you see the top heavy stats in favour of clay, I think then you understand why some of the comments about rafa are on solid ground. They are just facts. You have 6 weeks of a grass court tournaments. 6 weeks, with Wimbledon and you choose either Queens or Halle, how can that compare to the inordinate amount of clay tournaments on offer during the top half of the year to May? There is simply no comparison. Its these stats that are important.

June 17th, 2012 at 5:24 am

madmax,

I failed to put a disclaimer in the above post. It’s not my stat nor my post. I just pasted a complete post from another forum from a Rafa fan.

I don’t have any claims to it. It was for the Rafa fans in this site.

I believe in Tennis, it’s difficult to put in a stat because so much depends on the surface, conditions, age of players etc.

June 17th, 2012 at 6:00 am

Dimitrov seems to me to have much better movement than Gasquet. Better than that of his immediate contemporaries, too.

June 17th, 2012 at 7:06 am