Nadal Celebrates 22nd Birthday by Hammering Almagro at French Open

by Sean Randall | June 3rd, 2008, 6:19 pm
  • 49 Comments

Well, that was pretty empathic wasn’t it? Rafael Nadal didn’t just beat the guy with the most clay court wins on the year, he murdered him. And murder might be putting it kindly. Nadal celebrated his 22nd birthday Tuesday by pulverizing clay specialist Nicolas Almagro 61, 61, 61 to up his Roland Garros record to 26-0 and reach his fourth straight semifinal at the biggest clay event in the world.

That’s about all there is to talk about regarding the match. Rather, let’s focus on other stuff, like at one point during that match do you think Roger Federer switched off the TV and asked Mirka to join him for a bite on the Champs-Elysees? How about Novak Djokovic. Think he started breathing heavy again after seeing that scoreline in the locker room? Maybe he vomited?

Bottom line is right now, Nadal is playing some awesome tennis. Yes, maybe Verdasco was injured, but whipping up on Jarkko Nieminen and Almagro like he did reminds everyone that he’s the best on clay and no one’s even close. And that includes Roger and Novak.


Maybe in a few days that will change and I’ll have to eat my words, but from what I’ve seen this far, Roger and Novak may as well pull out now and give themselves a few more days of rest before Wimbledon rather than face what is coming down the pipe. Heck, Novak might very well pull out mid-match against Rafa. If he goes down 6-1, 6-1 like Nico did after two sets I’m sure he would, though I doubt he declare himself in control of the match again.

As for Federer, there’s still hope. Hope of Rafa getting sick or injured. Maybe Rafa eats a bad paella or baguette. Maybe he picks just one too many times. Maybe he upsets Mirka by grabbing the last crème brulee from the player café. Or something else. Freak accidents happen.

If they don’t, then this tournament is over.

In a best-of-5 format on clay, right now Rafa is unbeatable. The guy has lost just 25 games to reach this point, which I’ve read is the fewest lost by any guy leading up to any Slam semifinal in the Open Eral. That’s fewer than Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and even Guillermo Vilas who all played at a time of lesser depth.

Okay, so enough fawning on Rafa. Looking ahead to tomorrow I think my man Gael Monfils has a real shot at beating David Ferrer, and I honestly can’t believe he’s made it this far. With the slower, heavier conditions on the clay Ferrer has a tougher time hitting winners. And the speedy Monfils should be able to track down just enough shots to give himself a chance to beat the Spaniard. Monfils also have much more firepower than Ferrer, so if the Frenchman can keep some sort of consistency and cut down of the errors he should get through. It won’t be straights, but with the crowd he has a real chance.

Federer, meanwhile, meets a very dangerous Fernando Gonzalez who has yet to drop a clay match this season. Granted the wins have come at the lesser events, but that along with the fact that Gonzo beat Fed in their last meets at the Masters Cup can only the Chilean’s cause.

And even in the heavy, wet conditions Gonzo can still blast winners, something many other players cannot do against Fed. Heck, if Julian Benneteau or Albert Montanes can hang with Roger, you would think that Fernando would be able to also and then some.

That said, I think Fed will struggle but get through.

Looking at the women’s lineup for Wednesday, Svetlana Kuznetova gets through and I think Dinara Safina does the same.


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49 Comments for Nadal Celebrates 22nd Birthday by Hammering Almagro at French Open

Paul Says:

RaFA’S CRUISING FOR A BRUISING !!!


sun Says:

great report :))


Dr. Death Says:

On any given day a great player in any sport can be off and lose. On clay and in the final of a major, I seriously doubt if that will happen to Nadal. It is not like he is up against the fearsome Andy Murray who is probably the only person who could give Rafa a run for his money on clay. Ask Andy or his mom if you don’t believe me.

Beyond that, and NOT to pick on Paul particularly, we get enough posts about X is a wanker, Y grunts too loudly, Z is so handsome, etc. Why do “you” think Nadal is going to lose the semi or the final? On what tennis thinking do you base your statement? The gambling organisations love people who think with their hearts or their instincts.


Questions Says:

Good article, Sean.

Dr. Death: just so. And funny. I too believe Andy could take out Nadal in Paris just like that :-). And since Djok told the world he will do more than just his best and has all the chances I have no doubts that he will take Rafa out in 3 or 4 sets :-).


jane Says:

Sean,

“Think he started breathing heavy again after seeing that scoreline in the locker room? Maybe he vomited?” Actually, he cracked a joke about it to his coach / in his presser.


craig Says:

Questions:Actually Roger did a bit more bragging here: LOL

“I know I can beat him. I’m the one playing aggressive. I’m the one trying hard. I’m the one taking the risks in those matches, so I think I have positive chances of winning here,” said Federer about Nadal.


jane Says:

One thing this brings to mind for me, again, is how weird it is that Rafa is NOT seeded as numero uno at this event; he is indisputably the KING of clay and has never been defeated on RG, EVER.

He should’ve been the number 1 seed here.


Von Says:

Sean Randall:

Great article as usual!! I like the stabs at humor especially about Rafa grabbing the last creme brulee thus disallowing Mirka the joy of gorging herself. That could really upset Fed. Fun aside, though, I’d love to see Gael Monfils make a sprint in his QF match and take out Ferrer. Monfils is playing some serious tennis with sublime shotmaking. It’s now or never for him to have his breakout year. Can one desire too much of a good thing? Me thinks, yes.

For Djokovic to have any success against Nadal he’ll need a pair of roller skates and some oxygen. Today, he was absolutely winded after some of his return exchanges with Gulbis.

Gonzo should prove a handful for Federer tomorrow. He has that look in his eyes, the same look I saw in his first match v. Fed at the TMC, but he fizzled out after. Only a few hours more and we’ll have our answers.


Joker Says:

“He should’ve been the number 1 seed here.”

Like he is not profiting enough by winning almost 70% of his ranking points from clay. Surface seedings make sense in Wimbledon because there are only a handful of grass court tournaments in the atp calendar. Clay has more than its fair-share of tournaments. (About 30% I believe. In a fair-world 25% grass, 25% clay, 25% hard-court and 25% indoor carpet) So Nadal has had more than a fair-shot at getting the world no.1 ranking, which would have made sure he got the no.1 seeding.

There is nothing unfair about his being seeded no.2 The seeding at a tournament should respect the atp rankings which reward a player for a years worth of efforts. If nadal wants the no.1 seed at French open, he needs to make sure he can do well enough on other surfaces and get the no.1 ranking.

Let us face it, it is not like the real King of tennis is losing in the 1st round of major clay court tournaments.


jane Says:

“In a fair-world 25% grass, 25% clay, 25% hard-court and 25% indoor carpet”

I’d have nothing against this scenerio – that’d be great. I’d love to see more grass tennis.

I still think Rafa should’ve been seeded 1 here; I agree with John McEnroe and M.Carillo who “both remarked how strange it was to have Nadal ranked number two on clay.”

It goes back to the discussion we had a couple weeks ago, wherein I thought Shital had a good suggestion re: surface performance and seeding.


jane Says:

“Let us face it, it is not like the real King of tennis is losing in the 1st round of major clay court tournaments.”

I assume you mean Roger? Or maybe not, since he did lose 1st round in Dubai.

Everyone loses once in a while: Kings, princes, merchants, peasants, all of them. Just maybe not Rafa on clay!


jane Says:

Sorry missed the “clay” caveat…don’t know who/what you meant by that last comment then.


Joker Says:

I might be a minority voice, but I still think Djokovic has a good chance at stopping the Rafa express. He totally outplayed Rafa in the 2nd set at Hamburg. His biggest issue will be hanging out with Rafa for more than 3hrs in totally brutal clay rallies. Even if he is up 2 sets and a break, he just cannot relax.

All said and done, Novak needs to play his best match ever (on clay) to pull this one out. The interesting thing though is that if he falls just short, he might have tired nadal just enough for Federer to take Rafa out. I dont know how well that sits with Novak. I just hope Novak wakes up on the right side of the bed and shows the alamagro what it takes to be a great player. Alamagro was so busy sucking up to nadal, he forgot to turn up for the match. I would like to hear how tommy haas would describe the alamagro-nadal relation.


kofi ofori Says:

joker, why don’t you pick up a racket and show your disdain for nadal on the courts instead of haranguing him on a website? you are a paper tiger!


Joker Says:

Federer is obviously the King of tennis. If you have to be so particular about Dubai, you might also remember that Rafa lost to ferrero at rome and last year to federer at hamburg.

The point is that it is not unfair to seed Rafa no.2 at the French Open. If it was Roddick or Blake or some other clay-inept player as no.1 it might make sense. Federer is a well-accomplished clay-court player himself. He is by-far the no.2 clay court player of all times and if not for Rafa he would have 3 FO titles himself. He is easily in the top 5 clay courters of all time. To put it another way, Rafa is not so close to Federer in the world rankings that his superiority on the clay court should be given an extra advantage.

The day the atp decides to have 4 different rankings for the 4 different surfaces, Rafa will have the no.1 seeding on clay, as things stand now the atp has 1 set of rankings for the complete year and the clay court season is a significant part of it and hence anyone as accomplished as Rafa should have been the world no.1 if they had even respectable results on other surfaces. (this is relative again. in another era nadal would have been no.1, not so in the Federer era, where he is head and shoulders above Rafa on other surfaces)

The solution is 4 different sets of rankings or status-quo. Personally 4 different sets of rankings has other downsides like the americans never showing up for French or spaniards skipping the US open. That, to me, beats a very unique aspect of tennis – the need to master different playing conditions to master the sport.


Samprazzz Says:

I wouldn’t put too much stock in Rafa’s beating Almagro like a rented mule. Except that now Rafa is very well rested, and playing well. He’ll need to. Rafa vs. Djoker will be very close. Rafa in 5, because he’s mentally tougher. Get out the beer and popcorn: this one is going to be a classic.


Joker Says:

“joker, why don’t you pick up a racket and show your disdain for nadal on the courts instead of haranguing him on a website? you are a paper tiger!”

Donot worry – the clay court season is ending in a week. Djokovic, Federer, Nalbandian and other all-surface players and fast-court players like Roddick, blake, youzhny are going to whip nadal till his knees, ankles and what not hurt.


Joker Says:

Samprazz:

Amen to what you said. ( Except Djokovic in 3 or 4 I hope. Even I cant hope he will beat rafa in a 5-setter on clay.) If only alamagro had the champion DNA that gulbis seems to have! Today’s scores in the men’s QFs are a result of a champion player playing tentatively against a prospective champion player and in the 2nd match a genius playing to his truest abilities on his surface of comfort against a player who can only be descried as jello head. Come friday, the field may well be leveled (we all should hope so to have a blockbuster match)


FoT Says:

If the tournaments seed players as some have suggested, based on surfaces, and for those wanting Nadal to be seeded #1 on clay – you also have to then be ready to accept the fact that Nadal would not be seeded #2 on hard court and probably not in the top 3 or 4 on Indoor carpet, etc. So is it worth that to get him the #1 seed on clay with a possibility of droppinig him lower than #2 on some of the other surfaces which could possibly set up some tougher matches earlier in tournaments that the real #2 player in the world would not have to face? Think about it?

Even if the ranking we have today is flawed by some poster’s perspective – I still think it’s a good system. There is not much of a difference in being seeded #1 or #2 because you can still only meet each other in the final.


jane Says:

Joker,

“Federer is obviously the King of tennis. If you have to be so particular about Dubai, you might also remember that Rafa lost to ferrero at rome and last year to federer at hamburg.”

Yes, I remember. 2 out of 112 matches? Can’t say for sure.

I’d love to see a close match between Rafa & Djokovic; I personally don’t think he’ll get blown away like others are implying. But I don’t know if he can win it. I agree with your comments about Gulbis too – good things ahead for him!


jane Says:

FoT,

“you also have to then be ready to accept the fact that Nadal would not be seeded #2 on hard court and probably not in the top 3 or 4 on Indoor carpet, etc.”

I believe I could accept this; it would allow for more variety. It would make players have to earn their seedings.

And the best players would master all services, like Fed has done, and would be seeded 1 or 2 anyhow.

The one glaring problem – that Joker points out – is that players might skip tournaments, like the Spanish (or clay courters) sometimes skipped Wimbledon in the past.

Anyhow… not like we have any say in the matter I guess.


jane Says:

“services” should be surfaces, sorry


Shital Green Says:

Joker, “I might be a minority voice, but I still think Djokovic has a good chance at stopping the Rafa express.” As a Djoko supporter, I wish that were true, but I have to agree with Sean on this one: Rafa “is the best on clay and no one’s even close. And that includes Roger and Novak.”

Yet, Joker, we all know that “the clay court season is ending in a week,” and Rafa sure does not have the same dominance on other surfaces. We have to understand he is a clay fish for whom it is not safer to abandon his long held habitat, and most importantly his ranking rests on this surface. Could it be that he developed his game so much on clay hinders his performance on faster surfaces?

And, Samprazzz, I will be happy if Djoko can take a set from Rafa plus a couple of tie breaks on clay. The level at which Rafa is playing right now is sending a ominous message, “Hey, you could meet Almagro’s fate.” I am just trying to lower my expectation so that I will not be disappointed so much later. To say the least, we deserve a better semi on Friday than Rafa-Almagro match.


jane Says:

Shital,

“To say the least, we deserve a better semi on Friday than Rafa-Almagro match.”

Yes, even though I can’t see Djoko beating Rafa, I hope it’s not an utter rout. Somewhat competitive would be nice – even if Rafa wins in straights, which will likely be the case.


grendel Says:

Craig: you’ve given us this quote from Fed twice now: “know I can beat him. I’m the one playing aggressive. I’m the one trying hard. I’m the one taking the risks in those matches, so I think I have positive chances of winning here,” said Federer about Nadal.” When did he actually say that – I recognize it, but can’t recall specific time, and that matters; it wasn’t yesterday or day before, for instance.

Hiding behind keyboards has given a good justification of the comment in tennis terms. I’d add this: it doesn’t sound like bragging to me, more like someone trying to convince himself that he can do the impossible, namely beat Nadal on clay. Given the limp performances of Almagro and Verdasco, surely we should be relieved that someone at least is going to give it his all if he gets a chance – as of course will Djokovic.

Shital:”Could it be that he developed his game so much on clay hinders his performance on faster surfaces?”. Some put it the other way round – that Nadal, having adapted his game to the faster courts, has thereby managed to improve his claycourt game; certainly most people agree he is a better claycourter than last year. Meanwhile, I think he has an even better chance at Wimbie than last year – he is better and Fed is worse; the increments are no doubt marginal, but at this rareified level, that is all that is required. I agree with Voicemail 1, too, about Nadal’s serve on grass – it is, in a most unexpected way, lethal.


Joker Says:

As a Djoko supporter, I wish that were true, but I have to agree with Sean on this one: Rafa “is the best on clay and no one’s even close. And that includes Roger and Novak.”

***** There is an element of hyperbole when Sean says no one is close. It is not like Federer and Djokovic had no chances at all. They could have both won in straights at hamburg. Djokovic blew a double break-point chance to go 2 breaks up and Federer blew a 2break lead in the 1st set. Verdasco and Alamagro are hardly the measuring sticks for mental strength. That they have performed worse than much lower ranked players like belluci and devilder is a scathing indictment of their efforts.

If you had to pick two players to upset the nadal parade, it has got to be Roger and Novak. Novak is already there and Roger should be able to make his way to the finals. (He is 21-1 and against the other 3 players remainiing in the top half. In those 22 matches he has lost a, hold your breath, 5 sets. Even with the sub-par year he has had to date, it will be huge upset if Federer doesnt make it to the final). You can rest assured these two are not going to give it to nadal without a fight. All in all, the chances are as good as they have ever been in the past 4 years for a new winner at the FO. Not a whole lot, but certainly not as hopeless as Sean and others would like us to believe.


Joker Says:

“Could it be that he developed his game so much on clay hinders his performance on faster surfaces? ”

***** I certainly believe that is indeed the case. At this point, it looks very unlikely nadal will ever rule all the surfaces. Not with Federer or Djokovic being around for the next few years. That does not mean he will not win the other majors. He is too young and has a lot many opportunities to do so. However it does not look like he will be in top 5 hard-court/grass players of all time. Something Federer is already a lock for and Djokovic is looking good for (much better than nadal at the least)

Credit to Nadal though, that he is trying to keep improving his non-clay surface game. I donot rule out the possibility of him proving me wrong, because he is a terrific Champion and if one thing is sure of Champions it is that they can achieve what might appear as improbable (maybe even impossible) to a lot of us. I am not going to bet my house on it though! (nothing to do with the fact that I donot own a house of my own, yet!)


Agassifan Says:

Borg lost fewer games in his 1978 french win (just to correct the facts that Sean posted).

That said, djoker will get creamed on friday.


matt Says:

Nadal-Djokovic is going to be a very tough match.

I don’t see Nadal winning easy that one.

Nadal have not played any tough match so far in the tournament, and sometimes you need to suffer a little bit to “get on fire”.

Winning so easy all his matches could make Nadal feel “over-relaxed”, and if it get tough next Friday, he could suddenly feel “vulnerable” for the very first time in the tournament, and I don’t really know how would he handle it.

Djokovic has shown he is here for a long, long time. He has achieve SF in the last five GS, and he looks to me much more consistent than last year.

Don’t read too much from the Almagro match, I think Almagro was totally “out of it” mentally. It was his first GS QF ever and he felt it.

What is to come from now on, SF and Championship match, is really another story.

This is what Federer, Nadal and Djkovic came for, win the tournament, and whoever is the one, it’s not going to be easy for him at all.

Okay, will see in a few days.


Sean Randall Says:

Joker and others, true Novak and Roger are “close” to Rafa but that’s in a 2-out-of-3 set format. Unfortunately for them, the French Open isn’t best-of-3, so HUGE edge to Rafa.

In best-of-5 no one is close. And now the guy gets a few days off to rest up.

Regarding Djoko, though, I do think he has the best crack at beating Rafa at Roland Garros. But it’s a very, very slim one.

Agassifan, where did I error? How many games did Borg lose when he reached the 1978 French Semifinals. Post here and we can compare notes.


Spirit Says:

[grendel] >> Meanwhile, I think he (Rafa) has an even better chance at Wimbie than last year – he is better and Fed is worse

Hmm, not sure if I can subscribe to this. I do agree Rafa will probably play a better Wimbledon than the last year (and 2006), he has improved his game and gained some experience since. But I doubt he will get to the final this year. He absolutely deserved his two past Wimby finals, but he was lucky a couple of times as well, for example:
1 vs Kendrick (2006) – inexperience, bad physical shape
2 vs Youzhny (2007) – injury

He is pretty vulnerable there, especially in the first week, when the grass is “faster”. But the second week is a different story altogether. And last, but not the least – beating Nadal in a best-of-5 match is NEVER easy for ANYONE.


Agassifan Says:

Sean,

Sorry, I counted again, Borg had lost 26 games by the semis, 32 overall in the tournament.

federer does have the Rome 2006 final where he battled with nadal over 5 hours and 5 sets, and had two match points in the fifth. djokovic doesn’t have that experience. I think Coria is the only other player to have taken nadal to 5 sets on clay, and that was in 2005, before nadal hit his prime in 2006.

Fed seems to be doing OK, after a surprise first set. 3 more service holds and he is in his 16th consecutive semis, which is a ridiculuous streak!! Lendl managed 10, which was thought to be unbeatable then (considering that the 4 tournaments are now on 4 different surfaces).


Agassifan Says:

Fed has been coming to the net a lot more from the second set, and is winning almost every point at the net. He didn’t (or couldn’t) do that in the first set, and he lost that set.

Reminds me again of Rome, he came to the net some 84 times or something, and won 2/3 of the points. He needs to do that a lot against nadal if he wants to win – that forces the player not to stand back so much, so they can’t defend that much.


mp Says:

hey sean, why don’t u just marry the guy…


jane Says:

The established order has been quite stable so far in these quarter final matches; that said, I’d expect Ferrer to come through even though I’d like to see Monfils get the upset. We’ll see.

It’s true, Agassifan, Roger has that one-time 5 set experience against Rafa on clay, but that was a long time ago; I am not sure how it would be a factor this time, two years later.

But I do think Roger showed, this year, he can get very close to Rafa on clay, and he hasn’t looked fatigued at this tournament. So if he gets to the final, which he should, then he has a shot. It’s just probably a long shot.

Roger would have an easier time with Novak, were he, by some stroke of the gods, to win the semi. That would mean Roger would have an excellent shot at the title. I think most would agree.


Agassifan Says:

Sure, anyone would be happy to hace djokovic over nadal on clay….

fed is now 31-9 match record at the french open, which puts him ant No 9 all time in the open era at the french (win-loss percentage). If he wins his semi he will be No 8. Tons of French champions have records much worse than him at the French. He just happens to play in Nadal’s time, who has a ridiculous 100% win record at the french so far!!! Even Borg was 49-2.

Just for comparison, Sampras was 24-13. True, Fed has not won the french so far, and sampras never did – but there is a world of difference in their record at the french open.


T Says:

spot on.
Monfils did it, with the fans behind him as you wrote.


FOT Says:

Agassifan, are you sure Lendl had 10 straight SF appearances? I thought I saw somewhere that it was 8 by Lendl and that Roger had doubled that mark to 16? I could be wrong, but that seems to have stuck in my brain somewhere (and I’m at work and too lazy to look it up)! lol!


Agassifan Says:

Yup, its 8, you are right….

Wow, that makes it even more amazing – the streak of 16 straight semis!! he of course has 10 straight finals as well, which is also a record by a big margin. The way he has dominated tennis the last 4.5 years is beyond comprehension…


jane Says:

It seems to me Roger is more pumped up than I’ve seen him: with “come ons” and fist pumps; he has a hungry look. I like it better than the cooler Roger; I hope we see more of this from him. Maybe it’s the coach?


craig Says:

Monfils can pull it off.


jane Says:

The ESPN website has an article discussing why this year is Federer’s best chance ever to win the French Open: mainly with reference to the draw, how Gonza is the 1st seeded player Fed has faced and also that Monfils shouldn’t be a factor given Federer’s record against him. But also how Djoko and Rafa will wear, and hence “cancel,” each other out. The writer also discusses how important it is to ‘seize the day’ as Roger’s chances will decrease exponentially after this year, mainly due to age but also competition.


grendel Says:

“It seems to me Roger is more pumped up than I’ve seen him: with “come ons” and fist pumps; he has a hungry look. I like it better than the cooler Roger; I hope we see more of this from him. Maybe it’s the coach?”

My take on this, Jane, is that – for whatever reason – Federer feels much more fallible,now. He’s had his “up in the stars” period, and although he was always more realistic about that time than some of his fans – he has acknowledged how many matches he somehow wriggled through – nevertheless, it sure has been a time to remember. But that’s over now, and he has to adapt to the new circumstances – or be reconciled to just fading away. I think he is a realist. And perhaps, too, he is enjoying a liberating feeling; people no longer expect him to win as of right. So it has become fun to win – that’s shown the buggers sort of thing. This is mere speculation, of course.


Voicemale1 Says:

Nadal will destroy Djokovic in their Semi, and he’ll beat Federer in the Final in straights. Then off to Wimbledon, where Federer will hope & pray Djokovic gets drawn into his half so he can destroy him the Semis there, and then Federer will lose the Wimby Final to Nadal in 4 Sets.


matt Says:

To Agassifan and FOT:

Lendl had 10 straight GS SF:

USOPEN’85 (won), AusOpen’85 (SF ,played in December), RG’86 (won), WB’86 (runner-up), USOPEN’86 (won), AusOpen’87 (SF, played in January from that year on), RG’87 (won), WB’87 (runner-up), USOPEN’87 (won), AusOpen’88 (SF, first time played on hardcourts)


JCF Says:

“Like he is not profiting enough by winning almost 70% of his ranking points from clay. Surface seedings make sense in Wimbledon because there are only a handful of grass court tournaments in the atp calendar. Clay has more than its fair-share of tournaments. (About 30% I believe. In a fair-world 25% grass, 25% clay, 25% hard-court and 25% indoor carpet) So Nadal has had more than a fair-shot at getting the world no.1 ranking, which would have made sure he got the no.1 seeding.

There is nothing unfair about his being seeded no.2 The seeding at a tournament should respect the atp rankings which reward a player for a years worth of efforts. If nadal wants the no.1 seed at French open, he needs to make sure he can do well enough on other surfaces and get the no.1 ranking.

Let us face it, it is not like the real King of tennis is losing in the 1st round of major clay court tournaments.”

There is merit though. A player who’s good on any surface except clay, like Roddick could get seeded 3-5 (and he has been seeded 2 before), definately not deserving of his seeding at RG. When the 2nd seed loses in the 1st round of RG to some crap player and it’s not even considered an “upset”, you know there’s something wrong with that person being seeded 2nd.


JCF Says:

“If the tournaments seed players as some have suggested, based on surfaces, and for those wanting Nadal to be seeded #1 on clay – you also have to then be ready to accept the fact that Nadal would not be seeded #2 on hard court and probably not in the top 3 or 4 on Indoor carpet, etc. So is it worth that to get him the #1 seed on clay with a possibility of droppinig him lower than #2 on some of the other surfaces which could possibly set up some tougher matches earlier in tournaments that the real #2 player in the world would not have to face? Think about it?”

I think that would be a fair and worthwhile tradeoff for him. It certainly is realistic.


JCF Says:

“The ESPN website has an article discussing why this year is Federer’s best chance ever to win the French Open”

Federer’s best chance ever was in 2004 when he lost to Guga in the 3rd round. Had he not been upset in that match, he would have beat everyone he came up against.. Nalbandian, Coria, Gaudio, Moya, you name it. That was the final year that Nadal would miss the tournament.

Truly a lost opportunity. Remember, 2004 was the year Federer dramatically rose to the top, winning 3 slams, masters cup, and getting the biggest lead in rankings on the #2 he’s ever had (I think). He had 50% more points than Roddick (#2).


jinyongfan Says:

Sean, what a psychic you are. With the level of play Nadal displays so far, I don’t see Djoker nor Fed can match on a sane day. May the best man win. And please Djoker don’t default on the viewers again!

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