“He has a great future and will be a very tough match for me if I am not able to play my best. ”

Note ; “if I am not able to play my best.”
Knowing Rafa’s previous style quotes, I think he will blow this kid off the court.

January 14th, 2014 at 4:50 pm

Very difficult draw,injured Tomic and 17 year old boy…

January 14th, 2014 at 5:48 pm

bojana—does it really matter whether the 1st second round is tough, what matters is the quarters and semis and Nadal’s draw there is tough, djokovic, not so much. But Nadal has had easy draws in the past too. It all evens out over time.

January 14th, 2014 at 6:05 pm

@bojana:

Hopefully, he will be able to play his best…

Joking aside, he really has a bad draw on paper.

January 14th, 2014 at 6:05 pm

And also sometimes what looks to be a difficult draw does not materialize and the one who looks to have the difficult draw ends up on the easy end!

January 14th, 2014 at 6:07 pm

@Kimberly:

I agree in principle, although I haven’t seen such a difficult half of the draw in the last few years.

Rafa’s quarter is full of good players, who could pose problems: Monfils, DelPo, then in the semi most probably Murray, or Federer, perhaps Tsonga. All those players excel on fast hardcourts.

DelPo could play against Paire, Raonic or Dimitrov (I rather think Dimitrov), then Rafa and company.

Murray could have Federer/Tsonga, then Rafa/DelPo before the final.

Federer has probably the toughest draw, with the following worst case scenario: Verdasco, Tsonga, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic.

I tend to think that there won’t be no big surprise before the quarter.

January 14th, 2014 at 6:15 pm

If Gasquet doesn’t change his gameplan against Davydenko, he will lose in three…

January 14th, 2014 at 7:35 pm

Kolya, oh, Kolya…

Gasquet broke back.

January 14th, 2014 at 7:53 pm

I think Federer’s draw is the worst. He might face Tsonga in the 4th round, Murray in the quarters, Nadal/Delpo in the semis if he gets there, and Nole in the final if he makes it that far. Fed is going to have a hell of a second week.

January 14th, 2014 at 8:50 pm

I quite fancy Roger’s chances on this fast court against Tsonga and Murray (neither at the top of their game). Then he might face the winner of what could be a very tiring match between Nadal and Del Potro.

Get Roger into the final and I think he even has a real legitimate shot against Djokovic if Novak has a few mental drops like he is still prone to have in critical moments. The pressure would be all on him. Just look at what happens to him at the French and in New York. Boom Boom is hired to help him improve in this area but the jury is out on whether he can.

Hopp Roger!

January 14th, 2014 at 9:02 pm

Well mat4, again the first slight on this thread is towards Nadal.

We are 0-2 so far. I hope this trend does not continue. So far I don’t see evidence of your claim unfortunately.

January 14th, 2014 at 9:05 pm

@ Tango Lad:
Have u seen andy’s 1st rnd match? Almost flawless tennis…. He is playing sharp enough to at least reach finals.

Even being a fed fan, I vl be surprised if murray loses to fed.

January 14th, 2014 at 9:40 pm

@ATL:

Just wait. You’ll lose. Or read a bit of the Isner thread.

On the other side, I am not sure about Fed’s chances. I watched a set of Tsonga against Volandri. Volandri started quite well, and I wasn’t impressed by JWT. But it was the first match, it was very hot, and I don’t think we can gauge Tsonga’s form yet.

Murray had an opponent who suits him well, but the result is convincing and Murray looked good in the highlights. I doesn’t have to mean anything, of course.

On the other hand, I watched the first set of Fed vs Duckworth. Fed’s return is awful. If you look at the stats, you will see that Fed had 17 BP, and broke only four times. That’s his main problem in the last two years. His BH seems to be a bit different too, but I am not sure how much he can rely on it.

But it is still too early to make any conclusion. Djokovic played an awful second set against Lacko; DelPo lost a set; the Nadal-Tomic match looked like a tough contest before Tomic’s injury, etc. With the game he had in 2012, Roger could make it to the final, especially if he hasn’t to play against Rafa.

January 14th, 2014 at 9:54 pm

Meanwhile, Andujar is a set and a break up against Jerzy Janowicz.

January 14th, 2014 at 10:03 pm

And Yuzhny is on his way out against Mayer…

January 14th, 2014 at 10:05 pm

mat4 yes unconverted break points was the concern to be sure and he will have to convert more against better opponents.

Perfect Fan, I did not see Murray’s match but the score line was impressive. However, lets see how his conditioning holds up. If Roger continues to play himself into form on this slightly faster court, there is no reason he cannot turn the table from his loss to Andy last year especially if Andy cannot deliver his best.

January 14th, 2014 at 10:29 pm

So nadal has a tough australian open draw? Big deal. Should mean he will get an easy one at Roland garros then.

January 14th, 2014 at 10:39 pm

Actually, I thought about hiring Billy Jean King. He looks like my grandmother and can be a buddy to the world’s best uncle, Uncle Toni.

January 14th, 2014 at 11:04 pm

Fed’s return is awful. If you look at the stats, you will see that Fed had 17 BP, and broke only four times.
—
Blowing breakpoints is a sign of Goatness…some people think.

January 14th, 2014 at 11:05 pm

“Blowing breakpoints is a sign of Goatness…some people think.”
This is the true, no, Humble Rafa?

Oh yes, those breakpoints! Somehow all those blowing breakpoints have gotten him 17 Slams in 2 eras.

Your bad comedy continues to make posters barf. Put it this way, if you tried to charge money to see your act, it would never happen. You’d have to throw your own money to the audience to see your act. This is why you’re unemployed.
#getarealjob

January 14th, 2014 at 11:52 pm

Just look at the personality match ups of the top players today :-

Novak – Becker
Andy – Lendl
Roger – Edberg

The personalities of Novak and Becker matches up well. They both are jovial, fun loving, showing off antics and yet serious when it comes to playing where they take it as some kind of battle. Next is Andy-Lendl, they both are reserved and doesn’t smile often. They just concentrate on the game and have little time left for antics. Lastly, you have Roger and Edberg and the two are the best Sportsmen this Sport has produced. However, a Rafa – Mcenroe combination if that happens might be the odd one out because character-wise they do not match up with each other. Rafa is soft, gentle and doesn’t display tantrums on court, wheres John is known as an absolute brute and bad boy of Tennis.

January 15th, 2014 at 12:42 am

@Michael
Andy has a terrific, very dry, sarky sense of humour, also likes practical jokes, very British.
Andy has said he and Lendl have a very similar sense of humour and practise sessions are full of fun. Ivan gives nothing away in public and this is one of the reasons I like him so much and one of the areas where he’s helped Andy so much.
Just heard Ross Hutchins, with Colin Fleming, has just won his first match since getting ill in 2011.
Good luck to him!

January 15th, 2014 at 1:34 am

Margot,

True, internally, Andy may have that stark sense of humour, but he doesn’t display that often for public either on court or through his interviews and so was Lendl who rarely showed his expressions on court. It goes without saying that what they doesn’t show by gesticulations or expressions, they show it through their racquets which is on song once they are on court. What I wanted to convey was just the match up of the character of these personalities which was interesting.

January 15th, 2014 at 1:45 am

@michael
I got what u were doing, it was neat. Just wanted to say Andy and Ivan have even more in common than u thought.
Can’t imagine in my wildest dreams Andy teaming up with Boris, or Nole with Ivan!

January 15th, 2014 at 2:50 am

So true Margot. To be a successful coach is more than to be a mere Tennis teacher. It needs something more and they must evolve as some kind of father figure to their subject. It is not necessary Great players would automatically become a good coach. For instance, you can see the Great Jimmy struggling after many seperations. You can also note that Magnus Norman although he was not a successful player has turned out to be a good coach. As you rightly said, the characters too should jell. I am not quite sure how much Boris and Edberg would be successful ? Only the future can tell !!

January 15th, 2014 at 11:22 pm