Nadal Expected To Be Seeded Fifth At Wimbledon; Federer, Murray Don’t Seem To Mind

http://alturl.com/9tcv8
Read and digest.
Vamos King!

June 17th, 2013 at 3:54 pm

TBH: I rather have Rafa seeded at no.5 as a fan of his.

That way what’s the worst that can happen?

He faces one of the top 4 in QF, ok but:

– Ferru: That would be a really good draw on grass at any time. No big deal at all.

– Fed: That’s a good matchup for Rafa, v a player who ONLY has 11 top 10 wins this year. Not ideal, but not exactly doom and gloom.

– Muzza: Major bummer. But…. the h2h on grass gives more than enough reason to suggest that it’s equally problematic for Andy also. 4 matches and then a QF v Muzza? Rafa would be fine with that IMO.

– Novak: Again a bummer draw. But…….. Novak isn’t exactly Mr Invincible on grass anyhow, and seeing as they are in the same boat regarding court time on grass, and Rafa’s grass h2h and pedigree: one can actually see Rafa faring well in this one.

So all in all:

It’s not as bad as the media is hyping it to be.

Look at the other side of the coin:

Novak, Fed and Andy could land one of:

Rafa, Tsonga, Berdych or Del Potro in QF: HARDLY a gimme situation at all is it?

ULTIMATELY:

It is what it is.

What one draw’s they have to accept and move on with it.

NO ONE ever wins a GS anyhow by hiding from the competition all the way to the title anyhow!

It’s pretty fairly balanced IMO.

June 17th, 2013 at 3:59 pm

@Brando, great post. I’m not too worried who Rafa is gonna face in the quarter finals. If he is to win it, he’s gotta go through 7 players, doesn’t matter who. The goal is to win the Wimby title.

June 17th, 2013 at 4:07 pm

“NO ONE ever wins a GS anyhow by hiding from the competition all the way to the title anyhow!”

LOL! Looks like rafa fans have learnt this from Rafa sitting out slams in 2012-13.

June 17th, 2013 at 4:10 pm

Well done Simon.

Keep this form up and you’ll have troll of the year wrapped up in no time!

June 17th, 2013 at 4:30 pm

“Nadal is a 2-time Wimbledon champion but his poor grass results the last 52 weeks will not push him ahead of 4th-ranked countryman David Ferrer who last year won Rosmalen and reached the Wimbledon fourth round.”

Are you telling the rafa fans this is the FACT. GULP! That will be tough for them to “digest”. Looks like Rafa really earned his no.5 ranking. With the weather like it is in UK these days, don’t be surprised if Rafa goes out 1st round to some rosol or brands….

June 17th, 2013 at 4:33 pm

@James:

Exactly.

Bar Muzza, i’ll be more than happy with him drawing any of the rest.

In Muzza’s case, it would be a really good match up for Rafa, but a bummer for me as a fan since one of my top 2 would be out of the tourny at the end of it.

I’d even welcome a Rafole ahead of that particular match.

Anyhow: time will tell, for now it’s just: Vamos Rafa!

June 17th, 2013 at 4:33 pm

Nobody wants to see Rafa on their side, the guy lost to Federer, Djokovic and Rosol. Murray never beat him here in fact losing 3 straight years to him. Him 5th seed changes everything we have potential blockbusters matches from quarters onwards. Look at RG. The only real match the whole toruney was Djoko x Nadal. Tis time we will have several top 5 encounters as I don’t see neither of them losing before quarters, maybe Ferrer. Nadal sure doesn’t want another Rosol ealry loss. Djoko is dyimg to prove his ranking again and leave RG limgerimg behind (we may see how that lossimpact him here, if he has a early loss, is beacuse RG could linger longer and affect his game rest of the yeat). Fed needs to avoid a loss to other top 10. He doesn’t want another Tsomga matc and he is defending champion.
Murray has all the pressure of the world and more. Thsi will be the tournamentof the year with all big 4 wanting it the most. Fed, Murray sure wants it, maybe even more than Nadal and Djoko who already have Slams this year. But Djoko wants this badly and so Nadal, especially after last year.
So this is the tourney the big 4 wants the most this year and draw will have a say on lucky for one of them.

June 17th, 2013 at 4:44 pm

Daniel: disagree with “Murray has all the pressure and more.”
That was last year. He’d never been in a Wimbledon final before and Ivan told him he’d never experience pressure like it again.
Besides he has grown easier in his own skin thanks to Olympic gold and US slam.
Of course there’ll be pressure but not like before and nothing he hasn’t seen before.

June 17th, 2013 at 4:56 pm

Fed had.better watch his back. If he loses at the semi final stage he will drop to No. 5!!

June 17th, 2013 at 5:11 pm

^oh I am sure he is SO afraid. LOL!

#whyshouldhecare
#17

June 17th, 2013 at 5:17 pm

^^^ Well let me think, because he is considered the goat and all that jazz?
#20-10
#MassacreInRome

June 17th, 2013 at 5:21 pm

Giles, you are so crazy ridiculous. So you hate federer, do you have to keep going on about him all the time. This petty hatred of Fed. If he annoys you so much, then go to a rafa loving tennis site, you can heap all the praise you want on there, rather than being so disrespectful over here. Your comments are really boring and repetitive to read.

Seriously. Change the record dude.

June 17th, 2013 at 5:57 pm

Federer and Murray played the final last year, and returns this year with Halle and Queen’s in their bags respectively so obviously they are going to be the hot favourites, followed by Nadal and Djokovic, IMHO.

June 17th, 2013 at 7:15 pm

Yes Margot, in a way he is not gerting any of the pressure as a first time finalist. But this time many are predicting him as the clear favourite, and I think him skipping RG adda extra pressure plus Queens title.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:28 pm

Murray is, without doubt, the guy with the most pressure going in. Followed by Nadal, Djokovic and then Federer.

Reaching a final is not the same as winning a tournament. We have seen this with henman, then hewitt and recently Tsonga. Only the hype gets bigger every day.

Come 4th round and as the business end of a slam approaches, the pressure will start reaching epic proportions. Murray has his task cut out. You can say, so have other 3. Yes, but the difference is, they have won Wimbledon. Federer has made it his homecourt and as they say, Sampras passed the keys to the lawn to Mr.Federer. Nadal has 2 and Djokovic has already won on the surface that is his weakest.

My money is on Nole. He is going to show the world who the best player is where it really matters – the greatest Court on this planet. Murray will definitely need things to open for him like they did at wimbledon last year. Even in USO, he beat only one of the other top 3. Nadal has done it – as always never outside clay, Djokovic has done it at multiple slams and Federer did it in Wimbledon last year. When murray had to beat Federer and Djokovic in a row at AO, we know what happened.

Smart money is on Nole. He is no.1 for a reason. I will wait on the murray stock. I have too much money from Federer/Nole stocks over the years, so I can afford to wait.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:32 pm

Nadal not having a grass court tune-up creates the most intrigue, imo.

He’s always played one before Wimbledon, mainly because he needs legitimate time and practice to adapt his movement, unlike Federer and even Murray, who adjust to grass almost as well as Nadal adjusts to clay. Grass may not be Djokovic’s “best” or “favorite” surface (irrelevant adjectives) but he’s proven the past 2 years that he can adjust fine without a tune-up. Nadal usually under-performs at the tune-ups anyway, but he plays singles and doubles and tends to get a few matches in. And even with that we have seen him struggle in the early rounds of Wimbledon just about every year he’s played. But I also just can’t imagine him losing early again. So, yeah, lots of intrigue for me in this regard.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:35 pm

“As outstanding as Rafa’s record is at Wimbledon, the questions about his physical condition, preparation, and recent history on grass suggest that while Djokovic is still licking fresh wounds, while Murray might still be the least likely to win at Wimbledon, and while Federer has succeeded in just one of his last 13 majors, the player most likely to absorb a shocking loss during the fortnight is Rafael Nadal. ”

From Mr. Bodo. That must be the biggest fear in Rafa’s mind. Even with the record he has at RG, he started timidly. You can bet brands/klizan will finish the job, if it were to happen in SW19.

Great to have a slam where top players cannot dial in the results till the 2nd week.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:45 pm

Sorry, but it is relevant, Ben. It explains why Federer has 7 slams at wimbledon and not RG and likewise for Rafa having 8slams at RG and not wimbledon.

I don’t see how you can dismiss a notion of each player having a best surface and the importance of each surface.

Can you please explain why Rafa is 13-3 against nole on clay, but is 5-11 on hardcourts, if each did not have a preference for a surface?

June 17th, 2013 at 8:48 pm

Based on past records, the favorites are Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray, in that order. I don’t really think that Novak is a clear cut favorite simply because he wants it. He’s wanted many things but you don’t get everything you want. Also he had trouble playing Murray and Federer last year and lost to both. Nadal, I need to see how he plays in the first few matches to be able to tell if he’s gonna win or not. Perhaps the same could be said about Nole and Andy too. Federer is unpredictable these days. But if he wins a match convincingly against a top 10 player (other than Ferrer), I think he’ll have a good chance to win another Wimbledon.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:49 pm

@Danny, sounds like Mr Bodo is very much underestimating Rafael Nadal. Well, whatever it doesn’t what others think. What matters is how Rafa plays in the tournament. That would decide how far he’s gonna go at SW19.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:53 pm

What I said has nothing to do with Federer or Nadal. Grass is considered Djokovic’s “weakest” surface. Yet he has a slam on grass but none on clay. How bad is he on grass if he has 3 semifinals, 1 quarterfinal, and most importantly, a win? It’s a non-issue. Is he a natural like Federer and Murray? No. Has he altered his game to a crazy extent the way Nadal has? No. But he’s an all surface player, has been since he came on tour. So calling grass, or any surface, his “weakest” is simply irrelevant.

James, I agree for the most part. Except seeing how they perform in their first few matches will tell us the likelihood of them winning, we can’t know who will win.

June 17th, 2013 at 8:58 pm

Grass might be Novak’s weakest surface but it isn’t his weakness.

June 17th, 2013 at 9:37 pm

I don’t care about my ranking. All I care about is winning slams and attaining goat-hood. Then I can be goat and goat owner.

June 17th, 2013 at 9:37 pm

@HR, like your bigger than Jupiter humility. You’re the one with a realistic chance of becoming the goat who also owns a goat.

June 17th, 2013 at 10:13 pm

The Rafa seeding makes things very interesting. Tsonga and Berdych already make good dark horse quarterfinal challengers. Rafa is at a whole other level from those guys, he is a legitimate favourite and could be against another major favourite in the quarter.
Its great that Fed and Murray won this week, because it really brings them back in the conversation. Rafa and Novak are the best two players in the world right now, but Fed and Murray were last years grass giants. If I’m betting, right now I have Novak as favourite followed by Rafa, Fed, Murray, nobody. THere’s nobody outside these four that can beat these four in quarters, semis and finals.
OK, if a freak accident takes out several of the top four, Berdych could win. Then Tsonga.
Speaking of freak accidents, Rafa is susceptible. He has often struggled early at Wimbledon and complained about the transition. Losing his grass warm-up will be tough on him. I certainly expect him to get through, but he’s probably the most likely first week upset of the big four.

June 17th, 2013 at 10:54 pm

“Rafa is at a whole other level from those guys”

Tsonga, on Grass? Really? Well I guess we’ll all see. I thing a Tsonga vs. Rafa on Grass is completely different than on Clay. Advantage Tsonga for sure.

June 17th, 2013 at 11:00 pm

“I thing a Tsonga vs. Rafa on Grass is completely different than on Clay. Advantage Tsonga for sure.”

Cool. Appreciate your tennis knowledge.

June 17th, 2013 at 11:10 pm

“I don’t care about my ranking”

*until you drop to 5. Now it is an issue. THis is the true, no?

“All I care about is winning slams”

*But then when you don’t win Slams you start sayin how “Masters” are more important, and H2H are important, what else prey tell? Clay is you only house, the only one surface YOU have dominated. Almost impossible and always difficult, no?

“Attaining Goathood. ”

Ahhh now the onion peel reveals. Forget about it. You need many more USO’s and AO’s and more Indoor titles( Let the sane translate; more than one title… FO ). You know your knee says no way. See ya and congrats on being the greatest # 2 that ever was.

#badcomicneedsattention
#poorbabyisdrawingstraws
#bringonRFFyourBFFandbadsplitpersonality

June 17th, 2013 at 11:10 pm

Rafa has had an incredible 2013 and strangely still he will be seeded fifth unless the Wimbledon authorities who have their own ranking system think differently. I hope they will considering Rafa’s stature and his current form. The ranking system has unique grading system and ultimately it protects consistent good performers. Rafa is just facing the heat of his last year’s absence and henceforth, he can only gain points. If he is seeded fifth, there is a strong possibility that he might either Novak, Andy or Roger in the quarters and that will surely be a tragedy as Tennis enthusiasts would be robbed of a glittering semi and final.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:38 am

“Clay is you only house, the only one surface YOU have dominated”

Well it is a misnomer and travesty of facts. Rafa has made five straight Wimbledon finals which is a stupdenous achievement by any standards.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:40 am

Bozo, sorry, Bodo, is predicting Rafa is the one most likely to flame out in the first week. Colour me surprised. He predicted Rafa would not win RG so I’m taking his Wimby prediction as a ringing endorsement for Rafa success!

*trots off to buy Rafa stock*

#AsIfINeedAnyEncouragement

June 18th, 2013 at 12:52 am

21 is coming but the question is who? Maybe it’s both. But at this point, it does not matter anymore.

Bring it on!

June 18th, 2013 at 1:24 am

Michael great post,historically speaking overall Rafa is the 2nd best active player at Wimbledon,only Roger has made more finals and won more titles,it was Jane actually some months ago,that put up a Fedex reliability Index and Rafa was fairly high up on that list,he might be the worlds greatest ever on clay,but granted aside from what happened last year,hes no slouch on grass either,hes also won the title twice,sometimes people have very short memories.

June 18th, 2013 at 1:59 am

@hippy chic — so true! You underestimate Rafa on grass at your own peril :-)

June 18th, 2013 at 2:12 am

Thankyou Harry :-)..

June 18th, 2013 at 2:18 am

@hippy chic — you are welcome :) you may consider posting this as a response to people who question Rafa on grass!

http://tinyurl.com/3d89qc

June 18th, 2013 at 2:54 am

@Ben Pronin. “Grass may not be Djokovic’s “best” or “favourite” surface …. but he’s proven the past 2 years that he can adjust fine without a tune-up”. Really? Then what was he doing in Boodles last year and again this year?

June 18th, 2013 at 4:13 am

haha, the dismissive cockiness of federer.
wait till you’re no.5, goatyboy, and see how insignificant it is facing djoker or murray in the QFs. see how those draws don’t matter.
you ain’t beating up on beardless young guns any more.
what that means is those QFs get much tougher than your tsonga and berdych dilemmas even.
and when points get much, much harder to come by in big tournaments … it doesn’t take long before you’re being told not to pack your new suit for the barclays…

June 18th, 2013 at 6:31 am

Ben Pronin on Djokovic:” But he’s an all surface player, has been since he came on tour. So calling grass, or any surface, his “weakest” is simply irrelevant.” Almost true – wouldn’t you say that the occasionally variable bounce on grass slightly affects Djokovic’s confidence? And it only needs a slight dent in this confidence to spell disaster. The old miss is as good as a mile syndrome. I am reminded of Safin (who of course beat up on Djokovic at Wimbledon and b.t.w.gave Federer a damn good run for his money at the semi in same tourney). Safin’s earlier failures at Wimbledon cannot be explained in tennis terms imo, only in terms of his gloomy expectations. Of course, Djokovic is a more formidable competitor than Safin (I don’t say he is a better tennis player), but even so, he is surely more at risk at Wimbledon than at the US or AO. Will be intriguing to see how he reacts to the bizarre catastrophe at RG. Naturally, he will make every effort to put it behind him. The question is, can he? We are about to learn a lot about Djokovic.

Also, Ben, re Nadal not having a tune up. Borg never did, you know. I’ve told this tale before, but old farts are allowed to repeat themselves. Immediately after winning in Paris, Borg would come to England, find some grass, some chaps to knock up with, and play. Roger Taylor (Yorkshire’s doughty lefthander who beat the 16 year old Borg in the quarters at Wimbledon, think it was quarters)was one of these guys. He relates how dreadful Borg was to begin with, mishitting with abandon. But he kept at it, like a studious schoolboy, and by the end of the fortnight was kind of presentable on grass. Wasn’t quite there, though, so he struggled a bit in the early rounds at Wimbledon. By the 2nd week, he was beginning to look like Borg, and by the time he made the final, he had become that unique claycourter who had learnt how to play devastating serve and volley tennis on fast grass. There has never been a story anything like it. He was trimming the margins all along the line, and he got away with it year after year until he bumped into one of the 2 or 3 greatest grass court talents of all time. And he nearly pulled that off twice.

So I imagine Nadal will be practising away on grass somewhere (does he have his own private grass court?). He doesn’t need the confidence injected by winning, not this season.

June 18th, 2013 at 7:35 am

@grendel. In answer to your question no, Nadal does not have a private grass court somewhere. He has been practising on HC in Manacor the last few days. However, I believe he arrived in London today and that will give him around 6 days practice on grass.

June 18th, 2013 at 7:57 am

Skeezer, “advantage Tsonga”??
Rafa has won two wimbledon and made five finals. That makes him the 2nd best grass court player of his era. Tsonga has never made a Wimbledon final. Rafa has 12 Slams. Tsonga has one finals.
Rafa has won 7 tournaments in 2013. Tsonga has 1.
Rafa has missed almost HALF THE SEASON and still has more points than Tsonga.
So, yes. Definitively, Rafa is at another level as a Wimbledon threat than Tsonga and Berdych.
He leads in grass credentials. He leads in Slam credentials. He leads in 2013 level of play.
You are usually more level headed in your Rafanalysis!

June 18th, 2013 at 8:11 am

If I make the second week, watch out. I am like fine wine..get better as the tournament ages.

June 18th, 2013 at 8:16 am

Grendel, I’m not saying “that’s it, no tune-up, Nadal out!” I just think it’s interesting and I’m curious to see how it affects, if at all. From what I’ve read, Nadal is the same way. I don’t remember which year, but once after winning the French, the very next afternoon he was in London practicing on grass in the rain. Whatever it takes, you know? I just want to see how it plays out because, unlike Borg, Nadal has never done it.

June 18th, 2013 at 8:19 am

Ben Pronin. Did you read my post at 4 13 am?

June 18th, 2013 at 8:40 am

Alison,

Thanks. I fully agree with you that Rafa is an all court player who is the GREATEST on Clay. His histronics on Grass is being discounted despite his achievements. Making 5 straight finals is an extraordinary feat not possible for even grass court players and the silver lining for Rafa is he won the French and made the finals here many times which is a difficult transition considering the change of surface and Rafa has overcome that. A feat which was possible only for the likes of Greats like Roger, Laver, Borg etc., has been achieved by Rafa which testifies his greatness on other surfaces too. I am sure even in this Wimbledon he is a heavy favourite.

June 18th, 2013 at 8:53 am

Hoping Fed is on Novak’s side of draw; if he makes it to the SF, he will take out Novak. Murray and Nadal v Fed is a different story.

June 18th, 2013 at 8:59 am

TV,

No you are right. Rafa has awesome credentials on grass no doubt. Just sayin Tsonga imo has a better chance against him on grass rather than clay.

——-

“wait till you’re no.5, goatyboy”
fed was never #5 when he was 27.

June 18th, 2013 at 8:59 am

Nadal is not winning Wimbledon. If Fed brings his A game, he will go against Murray; and I favor Murray 2:1.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:01 am

Yes Skeeze. I would rather play Lebron with one arm tied behind his back, but he’d still be favoured.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:23 am

Borg, Federer and Djokovic are the only ones to have done the Wimbledon win without a grasscourt tune-up.
Of those 3, only Borg and Federer have won RG and followed it up with Wimbledon as their next.

Ben:

If you give murray/Federer a chance to play Djokovic on the surface of their choice. they are going with grass. Even nadal will choose grass has his 2nd after the obvious choice of clay.

Most tennis experts are unanimous that Djokovic’s weakest surface is grass. It is to his credit that he has won a GS on his weakest surface. That could also be because Roger – the Grass Court giant of this era has declined more (obviously) than rafa – the clay court defender has declined. If Djokovic was 24 and Rafa 29, I am positive Djokovic would have nailed him both times at FO – in 2012 and 2013.

Your argument that Djokovic is equally good on all surfaces is definitely spurious and far from the truth.Maybe I am giving you too much credit and assuming you can analyse statistics regarding % match wins and titles and how they compare with peers on each surface.

As I mentioned, I pick Nole to win this wimbledon – not because he is the greatest grass court player of this generation. It is because, Federer is past his best years and Rafa has been owned by novak outside clay for the past 2 years and murray at wimbledon as not brought home the goods. I would say, Nole has a 40% shot at Wimbledon. Federer 20%. Rafa 10% and Murray 10%. Ofcourse the draw could make a lot of difference or one of the top 4 getting rosoled could throw everything off.

We will see!

June 18th, 2013 at 9:23 am

There’s still a chance that Nadal might be bumped up one spot and seeded #4, ahead of Ferrer.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:24 am

Has anyone had a greater run of consecutive weeks than Federer in the top 5? He has been there for around 10years = 520 weeks. Jaw-dropping. He already has the weeks for consecutive weeks @ no.1 and top 2 and top 3, I think. Anyone got the stats?

June 18th, 2013 at 9:26 am

“Rafa has been owned by novak outside clay for the past 2 years”

2 years really? Apart from 2011, they met only once outside clay at AO 2012. You call that owning Rafa? When Rafa beats Nole outside caly, which he will, I wonder how you’d react to that.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:30 am

I doubt Wimbledon will do that – bumping Nadal’s seeding. They would be accused of doing it to favor murray.

The whole reason Wimbledon introduced the objective formula was clay-court specialists whining and threatening to boycott Wimbledon for favoring the grass-courters. Ironic that might come to bite rafa, who must be the only multi-slam winner at RG to have won multiple wimbledon slams. Other than Borg, ofcourse.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:31 am

I believe last 2 years includes 2011. You need to check your math or reading comprehension or both.

5-0 outside clay – 3 slams 2 masters. Pwned.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:33 am

RT “@christophclarey Time for a new formula if Nadal, 2-time #Wimbledon champ and winner of 7 events this year, doesn’t get bumped up one spot to No. 4 seeding”

June 18th, 2013 at 9:34 am

Nadal has not reached “5 straight Wimbledon finals.” He reached 5 straight in which he participated. There is a big difference. Maybe if he had played in 2009 he would’ve lost before the final, and it wouldn’t be “5 straight”.

I’m not saying Djokovic is equal on all surfaces. But this is like saying Federer is not so good on clay. He’s right up there with the best of them. Just because Djokovic is dumb enough to let a bad bounce get to him (which he lets get to him on all surfaces because he’s dumb), doesn’t mean he’s bad on the surface. If he’s so bad then why would anyone favor him to win the title?

June 18th, 2013 at 9:35 am

2011 is the only year Novak has owned Rafa on all surfaces. 2012, that 5th set could have gone either way. I wouldn’t call that owning anyone. And b.t.w. should 20-15 be considered Rafa owning Nole?

June 18th, 2013 at 9:37 am

grendel, I too seem to recall something about Rafa having a grass court at his home – maybe we read that here? Or maybe he had one, in the past? Anyhow, have no doubt he’ll be getting prepared.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:43 am

James, I didn’t realize you have the ability to see the future.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:48 am

Ben, you mean about Rafa beating Novak outside clay? Sounds impossible to you? I see.

June 18th, 2013 at 9:52 am

To the best of my knowledge Rafa does not have or has ever had a grass court at his home. I wonder where you guys get this false information from?

June 18th, 2013 at 10:21 am

Interesting comments from Tsonga on the returning skills of Nole and Andy:

“The two of them, they are extra-terrestrials. They make you feel like the court is smaller.”

“Against certain players, I get the feeling the box grows bigger. The more I serve, the less they know where I am going to serve. Against [Murray and Djokovic], it’s the opposite. The longer the match goes on, the more you feel they know where you are going to serve. You get the feeling that the box is a lot smaller, and that sometimes makes you force things and miss the first service. You get the feeling he breaks when he wants to break.”

June 18th, 2013 at 10:25 am

James, nothing is impossible. But we haven’t seen it happen in a long time. You’re assuring victory. In that case, can’t wait for Djokovic to whoop Nadal at the French next year.

June 18th, 2013 at 10:36 am

Ferrer just got knocked out in the 1st round by Malisse. Doesn’t this have an impact on the seeding formula? He won the title last year.

June 18th, 2013 at 10:48 am

^^^ Unfortunately no. They will go by the rankings on 17 June

June 18th, 2013 at 10:54 am

Ben – I wasn’t disagreeing with you about Nadal (or Djokovic – I think your comments were sound). I just couldn’t resist bringing up the Borg story, people don’t realise quite how strange and remarkable it is. Stats fail dismally in this respect, although they still point to something damn unusual.

About Nadal, the transition he has to make is nowhere near as demanding as that made by Borg. He is, as Michael and TV and others have pointed out, one of the absolute top 2 or 3 grasscourt players around (incidentally, I’m glad you pointed out that he did NOT have 5 straight final appearances). So I am thinking in his bones he is pretty confident. He will surely have rich muscle memories of Wimbledon grass, and he probably knows enough about gambling to understand that last year’s early loss was just one of those things. It’s by no means the first time he has been nearly bundled out in the early stages. Generally he weathers that particular storm, last year was (from a gambler’s perspective) an anomaly.

I wouldn’t mind guessing that from Nadal’s view point, entering a pre-Wimbledon tourney is an unnecessary hassle. He probably wants to get his mind in the right state, the tennis will take care of itself. I am fascinated to see how Murray will handle him should they meet. I dearly hope Murray will beat him, but my goodness he’ll have to have changed his attitude. The way he crumbled last time they met at Wimbie, when he was on top, was truly shocking.

To Giles and jane – yes, it was on this site some years ago that a poster, can’t recall his monicker, indicated Nadal had a private grass court. But there was some doubt about that even then. It surely shouldn’t be difficult to clarify the matter once and for all?

June 18th, 2013 at 10:57 am

@Giles – ah, pity.

June 18th, 2013 at 11:00 am

It seems like Murray is chomping at the bits at the prospect of meeting Rafa in Wimby. Who knows, if the All England Club feel that Murray is confident enough to beat Rafa they might just draw them in the same quarter!

June 18th, 2013 at 11:08 am

Regarding whether or not Rafa has a grass court or not. If you have his physical residence, GOOGLE EARTH WILL show it plain as day……but it could be on a property anywhere, I suppose.

June 18th, 2013 at 11:22 am

You can consider that Rafa owns Nole and Roger and everyone on clay. Nole owns Rafa on hardcourts, so do a lot of other players, hewitt,davydenko for starters. Roger owns rafa indoors.

Everything clear?

June 18th, 2013 at 11:28 am

http://alturl.com/xr3sy
Rafa fans. Our King practising on grass!

June 18th, 2013 at 12:06 pm

After winning her first round match at Eastbourne (against the #188 in the world – sounds bad? Well, there’s only 187 women on the entire planet and possibly the whole Universe and maybe even the Multiverse who are better than her – beginning to sound a bit more impressive, eh?)Laura Robson was asked what in her game she thought could do with improvement. She pondered for a moment and then said “I’d like to win a few more matches”. She does have a nice sense of humour, this girl.

One possibly – possibly – significant thing for Laura watchers. She has a new coach now, Murray’s old coach Miles Mclaghan, and she said that they’d been working on her serve. This is a serve to die for, even Kvitova can’t get such a lefty bend on the serve that goes round the corner, travelling for ever out of reach. But, for every ace there seem to be at least 2 double faults. She is peculiar – she has terrific rhythm on the serve, no one could teach that. And yet – boy, can she look statuesque. Standing up like a bloody guardsman contemplating saluting the Queen. But if she can relax – and she looked good today – that serve is going to be a tennis wonder. You wait. today she was at 70%, but under no pressure. Next up is Wozniacki who gave her a tennis lesson in Paris. Let’s see how the serve behaves then.

Incidentally, you know how kids these days bury themselves in their mobile phones. Annoying, but one can live with it. Well at one point in the game, the camera had this teenage girl in its sights, and she was busily paying no attention to anything outside of her phone. Out of curiosity, I kept my eyes on her – surely at some point she’d raise her head from this electronic excrescence with the view to watching a spot of tennis. That’s why she’d gone there after all, braving the Eastbourne winds and all. Robson gets into position – girl buried in phone. Robson throws ball up – girl anxiously perusing something or other on phone. Robson releases ball, serves, game is on – girl tapping away on phone, eyes a million miles away from match. Why does she go? What is the point? Why go anywhere when you’ve got your mobile?

b.t.w., hallo to harry, hope all is well.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:22 pm

For anyone who might be interested, the Boodles’ website has free streaming of matches; it’s super easy to access – you click on the link (below) and pow! There’s the tennis.

Some of the confirmed players this year are as follows:

Novak Djokovic
Tomas Berdych
Juan Martin Del Potro
Richard Gasquet
Marin Cilic
Grigor Dimitorv
Milos Raonic
Jerzy Janowicz
Sam Querrey

Here’s the link:

http://www.theboodles.com/

June 18th, 2013 at 12:36 pm

Hi to everybody!
About the grass court at Manacor, Toni Nadal has recently said that “it’s too expensive and it’s not necessary” (El Pais, june)

A date about Skeezer-Tsonga: at Queens 2011, Tsonga beat Nadal in QF.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:37 pm

A datum, sorry

June 18th, 2013 at 12:39 pm

I mean, they don’t have a grass court

June 18th, 2013 at 12:41 pm

Rafa is only a candidate for wimbly because he has had2 wins.

Trying to explaine that he has little chanceof repeating a win is for the normal rafa fan impossible .

But it is actually. It can be measured if you would.
But the best possible way to asses his chances is looking at his claygame. He won the titel at garros but it was hard fought. He still is king of clay but with lens martin.

He needs a big margin to procédé his winnings on gras.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:49 pm

Thanks @Giles, looking good!

June 18th, 2013 at 12:50 pm

gonzalowski – but did they used to have one? When Rafa was first trying to win Wimbledon, 2006-2008? I pretty sure Rafa has also mentioned they have artificial grass courts in Mallorca.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:51 pm

Novak is not half the player Federer or Sampras are on grass. He will likely end his career with as many hard court slams (or close enough) to Federer, who has 9 of them and will likely not get any more. But, on grass, Nadal and Novak can only dream about getting to Fed or Sampras.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:54 pm

fed was never #5 when he was 27.
—

All that matters is where you finish the year.

June 18th, 2013 at 12:54 pm

jane, not found anything in those years about a grass court in Mallorca.
A curiosity: in may 2007, Fed and Rafa played at Mallorca “the battle of surfaces”, in a court with one half clay, the other half grass; they played two games in each half, changing their shoes.

#kindofcircus

June 18th, 2013 at 1:10 pm

Fed himself says he thinks Rafa will be ranked 2 or 3 soon.

June 18th, 2013 at 1:15 pm

A psychotherapist I know is taking orders ahead of Wimbledon for clients. If you know anyone who might be affect, please get them help.

June 18th, 2013 at 1:31 pm

http://alturl.com/x6msz
Rafa fans. Vid of our King in action.

June 18th, 2013 at 1:50 pm

Thanks Giles. Bjorn Borg no.2 in action: watch out competition! :-)

June 18th, 2013 at 1:57 pm

I’m sure Rafa is actually just sitting around getting some Goldeneye in on the ol’ N64. Definitely not getting ready for Wimbledon, getting used to the grass or anything. Gosh, you guys can be ridiculous sometimes. Of course he’s practicing on grass somewhere; who cares if he has a grass court at home in Mallorca or not. There are more things in heaven and earth…

June 18th, 2013 at 8:38 pm

Ben,

Thanks for the clarification. Nadal didn’t make five straight Wimbledon finals. It was a mistake.

Grendel,

I agree with you that during Borg’s era the transition from Clay to Grass was more taxing than what it is today. What Borg did was phenomenal and that too he didn’t take part in grass court tourney ahead of Wimbledon. He did that for home many – four long years. Well, a stupendous feat by any standards.

June 19th, 2013 at 2:05 am

@Giles.
Cool video thanks!

June 19th, 2013 at 2:18 am

@ grendel.

Your posts are brilliant. Are you writer, just curious. The way you pick up those words are fitted perfectly into sentences.. I looked up into dictionary sometimes coz I am not familiar with those uncommon words. Lol.

I miss Dave post!

June 19th, 2013 at 4:36 am

Agree with Metan in that Grendels posts are brilliant,always very polite with a touch of dry wit attached to them,another would be Tennis Vagabond,whos also very clever and knowledgeable,they always talk about their love of tennis but they are refreshing as posters as they both seem to do it from an unbiased view point,Dave is a great poster but for me Grendel and Tennis Vagabond are better as they both seem more neutral,Dave however is more biased.

June 19th, 2013 at 5:29 am

If Rafa is seeded fifth, it is highly likely that one of the top three seeds is going to be handed with a brutal draw. Who is going to be the unlucky one ? Well the draw will be out in a few days time and we will come to know. But, as John Mcenroe rightly suggested that they must give some consideration to Rafa for all his achievements during the year and the current form he is in and seed him as No.4. That will do a world of good to the fans since they do not want to see a potential exit of the top seeds quite early on in the tournament.

June 19th, 2013 at 6:00 am

^ see the “early favorite” thread. It’s confirmed that Rafa is No.5

June 19th, 2013 at 6:04 am

@Alison. Thanks for your input. I will pay more attention to Tennis Vagabond’s posts.

Yes. I realized that Dave is more biased to Rafa. But he is genius.

Your new name is HOT!

June 19th, 2013 at 6:09 am

Eric,
if there are more things in the earth to do that visiting a blog about tennis with its tennis-issues, go for them and leave alone the rest of us!

#Iwanttobreakfreeee

June 19th, 2013 at 6:25 am

Metan thanks i am HOT LOL,Grendel said it was sexy,that made my day.

June 19th, 2013 at 6:29 am

@Tennis x hippy chic/Alison.

Hahaha that’s your wedding anniversary gifts from grendel.

June 19th, 2013 at 10:41 am

“Wimbledon will officially announce their seedings on Wednesday. While the committee uses a formula for the men’s seedings, a practice first instituted in 2001, the tournament has the discretionary option to change the women’s order, though no deviations from the rankings are expected this year with Serena Williams firmly holding the top spot.”

I’m interested in knowing why the men follow a formula but the women are discretionarily adjusted. Doesn’t seem like there is equality here, and it might be making a statement about one of the sexes.

June 19th, 2013 at 5:33 pm

@metan june 19. 4.36

this is a tennis blog and I am sorry that I may sometimes seem a bit pretentious. on a different kind of blog, my entries would not even be noticed except perhaps by some fastidious soul pointing out how clumsily I have expressed something. The thing is, I have always enjoyed tennis and I have always enjoyed the play of words. In a blog like this, you can bring the two together. Where tennis is concerned, I bring no expertise whatever, just a horde of memories which can sometimes afford entertainment. Also – but I’m really not sure about this – if you watch something enough, you do get to have a certain feel for what’s going on (maybe in any field of activity) even if you have no idea about things like grip, body alignment when smashing and so on. All long watching non-players are equal here, that should be remembered.

June 20th, 2013 at 8:27 am

Grendel i love your posts,just love them pure and simple,and i dont find them pretentious not one bit of it,you always put your point across in a eloquent way,without patronising people or talking down to anyone,i always feel like i am on an equal footing with you.

June 20th, 2013 at 9:05 am

@ grendel

You aren’t pretentious. All your posts are absolutely fair and square. I am not a poster just a troller but I am a long time reader. I have been reading this blog for more than 2 years. I guess , I am the only kid who trolled here.

I’d love to read some comments from Rafa fans and others comments from different posters that sounds fair like Dave and Borg. And for Dave he is always backed-up his comments. That’s great for me.

I also found your posts brilliant. So I must read it. Thanks for posting and please keep posting. I do appreciate it.

June 21st, 2013 at 3:06 am