Nadal Continues To Dominate In Acapulco, Will Face Surprising Querrey In Final

The Beast of pro tennis is back.

Thought Nole would be challenging Andy, now unless Djokovic gets rid of his vegan diet like the Love Guru has apparently been gotten rid of – Nadal is looking like the one.

He’s strong. Fast as ever. Hungry.
He clubbed Cilic down like he used to club down Roger. No, not to the backhand…but seeing a weaker soul on the other side, no matter how talented, and Rafa is relentlessly on that s___t.

Time for Nole fans to wave cheeseburger and raw steaks at him in America, steak tartare in Monaco, carne asada in Madrid, osso buco in Roma, and coq au vin every day in Paris including lardons.
If this works, follow with daily Beef bourguignon at Wimbledon (well heeled Brits eat French food, real food. Not traditional English or Scottish fare.)

As Rafa says, food is just fuel in the end and your body needs all the right fuel ingredients. Inc fish and meat and greasy tapas and bread. High octane fuel.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:16 am

Oh, what happened to Pepe?

March 4th, 2017 at 11:38 am

In order to get rid of vegan diet (and Pepe) he has to get rid of Jelena, she wears the pants in the house, he doesn’t have a guts to do that. He is done and dusted, physically and mentally, he is broken person used by selfish, possessive and control freak wife, but he is in denial. Sad way to finish great career that way, he is a good man with a great heart that wanted to please everyone believing that’s possible and at the end broke himself, he is shadow of his former self.
Becker didn’t want to be part of that for the sake of fistful of dollars for a difference of the rest of the team. He told. Nole what he thinks and what he wants from him and saved his ( evker’s) soul.

March 4th, 2017 at 3:15 pm

^^^^
“He told Nole what he thinks and what he wants from him and saved his ( Becker’s) soul.”

March 4th, 2017 at 3:16 pm

We had a great ride for many years with Nole. I don’t ask for more.
12GS
NCYGS

March 4th, 2017 at 9:38 pm

Agree django, but…

Can you belive this and guess who said this in the year 2012, that NCYGS is more impressive than CYGS, if he knew Nole is going to make it he would’ve never said that:)

“Anybody can get hot for 6 months, 9 months, and win all 4. But to be consistently dominant for 12 months? That is tougher. Rafa had a chance, I had 2 chances, it is very tough.”

March 4th, 2017 at 11:11 pm

Nadal had 5 bps querry saved 3 of them with ace. But nadal had very good chances in the other 2 but squandered them.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:28 pm

But so far this match has been really good quality. I just hope nadal can win this.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:39 pm

TB. I dont feel so good about this.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:43 pm

Well done to Querry.. But Nadal wasted at least 2 good opportunities to break Querry in the 2nd set. And made very silly mistakes in the TB. As far as the result goes I think this just reseted Nadal’s position back to where it was before ie good enough to reach finals and semifinals. But not good enough to win it against consistently good quality opposition.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:57 pm

He still have to improve a lot more if he really has to be back to the very top.

March 4th, 2017 at 11:59 pm

But I for one, even though disappointed that he is not at the very top yet (he may not even reach there at all), am happy he is playing good tennis and is healthy.

March 5th, 2017 at 12:08 am

Wow, Querry beats Nadal?
Weak era continues…..

March 5th, 2017 at 12:37 am

Re; e 3:15 post
Looks like Pepe is out, WB is in. He has the answer. Dial “800- Schnitzel” for reponse. Snow cooking is the way to Victory.

March 5th, 2017 at 12:49 am

Hey, let’s not forget Novak guys. Here is a thought provoking analysis on “Will Novak ever rise again?” This writer is coming up with some interesting stuff http://www.138mph.com/will-djokovic-ever-rise-again/

March 5th, 2017 at 2:51 am

Novak said that Pepe will not be traveling with him in the first half of the season. Expect to see him come RG, Wimbledon and so on.

March 5th, 2017 at 6:09 am

Good luck nadal in your final at accapulco.i feel confident that you will win.

March 5th, 2017 at 7:19 am

Ana Nadal continues titllest on HC since Doha 2014, that is 3 years and 2 months already. That is a reason to it.

March 5th, 2017 at 7:33 am

Weak era continues…
I agree-it has to be weak era.Otherwise, how Federer could win the slam unless is the weak era? most of his slams are from weak era’s aren’t they? Checkmate, my friend… (-:

March 5th, 2017 at 9:29 am

And Daniel continues his obsession with Nadal!! Concentrate on your man, he needs it!

March 5th, 2017 at 10:45 am

Querrey was always going to have a good shot at winning today. He plays best on a hard court, and with Nadal still not getting enough depth consistently on his ball, Querrey had a lot of looks to crush his forehand, which after his serve, is his money-maker shot. So, he executed his game plan and was rewarded.

Nadal should still take some positives from the week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s also beating himself up a bit from not winning today.

So after this week, the only player to post a result in line with “expectations” given the rankings is Murray. Seems he continues to deserve being #1 then, at least for the moment. The rest of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic still have some figuring out to do (Federer, probably just a little more rest + match play; Nadal and Djokovic, perhaps just confidence).

March 5th, 2017 at 11:28 am

Wow, Querrey!

Just when you think Nadal is getting on a role, he seems to come up short…. not sure if it’s mental, but it’s been 30 tournaments since he’s won on HC…

March 5th, 2017 at 12:13 pm

courban,
Yep. Checkmate. Gotta be a weak era when a guy like Nick beats the top 3 on his first try but never has won a Slam ;)

March 5th, 2017 at 12:28 pm

@Leo – I had a different reaction. Just when you think Querrey is back to his “do okay and hang around the top 20” mode, he comes up big.

March 5th, 2017 at 1:58 pm

@RZ true as well. He hung in there.

But Nadal of 3 years ago finds a way. There was a break point in particular where it seemed Sam was tentative, allowing Nadal back in the point and on the last shot – that Nadal gets to comfortably – he nets it.

March 5th, 2017 at 4:40 pm

@Leo
Hope you don’t mind me chiming in. We all are used to seeing our favorite be confident, brave, tenacious, and can pull off that money shot they are famous for. But all of the top 4, including Rafa, Fed, Novak & Murray struggle at times. Yes, they choke, can’t pull off a shot they have hit time and time again, etc. Why? Confidence and focus. Why can’t they have that all the time? Can’t tell ya, but Rafa is not the only guy who goes through slumps. Heck, Fed just won the AO and promptly lost to a qualifier in a tournament he calls his second home. Novak, seemingly invincible and at times by doing stuff like beating Rafa 7 finals in a row, can’t seem to find his game at all nowadays.
And Rafa? Been 30 HC events since he has won one of those? I can tell you that the game is always changing, and the players continually have to improve and adapt. Players are so good now with training and technology that you cannot have a big game and just beat everyone and never seek to improve & have a willingness to change. You have to change and improve. In that process you can go backwards before going forward. I would like to think Rafa is almost there, and when he is “there”, he will make a run at #1 again.

March 5th, 2017 at 6:21 pm

Querrey actually became a great player.
Weak era roddick and Hewitt beat a supposedly balletic Fed, and Fed depended on chokes from Roddick at the 2006 Masters Cup and 2 Wimbledons

March 5th, 2017 at 7:31 pm

Shouldn’t a 2003-2006 strong era supporter know how to spell Querrey?!
So much for fair Fed fan and pseudo Djokovic fan.

March 5th, 2017 at 7:36 pm

To beat Nadal, on needs to consistently stick to the game plan I.e attack Nadals backhad. There isn’t much Nadal is able to do if the shots are deep. Nadal isn’t able to play an agreeable game for long and will succumb to such a tactic if applied throughout the course of the match

In a tournament, it takes 1 out of 7 guys to be able to carry out this tactic effectively to prevent him from being the victor.

Query was very effective in his approach. Others in the locker room are observing and for many, defeating a fed or nadal is a once in a lifetime opportunity and perhaps one of their biggest achievements.

I personally don’t see Nadal faring well this year.Fed, probably yes.

March 5th, 2017 at 9:27 pm

@Skeezer, glad you chimed in :-) why else would I post on a public forum ;-)

I never thought of that angle – may get worse before getting better. Maybe that is what’s going on with him.

Djoker is the only guy who has consistently troubled him across surfaces. With Novak strugling with who know’s what, It’s a golden op for Rafa to make some head way. Will be interesting to see how he stacks up against the new Murray.

March 5th, 2017 at 10:44 pm

Checks in. Good heavens the last few comments on here actually mention tennis 🎾 What can be going on?

March 6th, 2017 at 12:57 am

DC,

Don’t agree entirely with the “attack BH non stop”. Djoko was the one exposing that attacking Nadal’s FH lately is the best way. Of course, moving him to BH corner as well, making him second guess is the way to victory. If one targets his BH too much he anticipates and unleashes some BH cross court winners as he’s done plenty of times. He is not as fast as he used to, even if in some good days he looks just the same, makes more FH errors and doesn’t go to that FH DTL deep as he used to. Story short, he is beatable to almost anybody this days if the he has a big serve and powerful strokes or steady on baseline like Djoko and Murray.

He still is one of the best baseliners there is, he almost always wins more baseline points, about 80% of his matches and with clay just 2 more tourney away (after IW/Miami), he can be dangerous again. Last year he won MC and Barca but had an awfully unlucky French Open with injury. Maybe this year his luck will be better. He just has to be careful of not overplaying, a mistaken he made several times in the past before.

March 6th, 2017 at 9:03 pm