*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

You can't even compare them. The Madrid final Federer won was after Nadal had played a 4 hour epic against Novak the previous day. Not to mention it became obvious Nadal wasn't 100% when he didn't play Wimbledon after the French. Don't forget the Madrid tournament was the last Masters 1000 heading into the French in 2009.

And the Hamburg final was, as acknowledged by Robbie Koenig plenty of times, again when Nadal had played way more tennis than Federer coming into it and he basically stopped in that third set.

Of course those wins by Federer are still very good (as is any win on clay against Nadal), but they are not as brilliant as Novak's where he has beaten Nadal in straight sets twice when he is completely fresh. In fact, in Rome Novak was the one who had the right to be fatigued and instead he came out and blitzed it.

 

[vcs]

Who cares? Results are results.

 

[Jono]

Because we're talking about how they are playing aren't we? We're talking about how dominant Novak is playing.

Otherwise let's bring up Juan Carlos Ferrero beating Nadal at Rome in 2008.

 

[vcs]

There is no way to make any direct comparisons IMO. Nadal was on an 80 odd match winning streak in 2007 on clay IIRC.

JCF's win was a good one, he's a class clay court player with a French Open to his name.

 

[Jono]

You can watch them play tbh.

 

[vcs]

Djokovic is a class player who's on an insane run of form right now, but the point I was making is, it's not something Federer hasn't done. Djokovic has now won 3 clay Masters titles IIRC, Federer has 5 + RG + 3 RU appearances at RG. Sure Djokovic's game seems more suited to clay and he may do all that and more, but he hasn't done it yet.

 

[Jono]

Who is comparing their career though? Novak isn't fit to tie Federer's shoe laces right now. Everyone knows that.

But we're clearly talking about the run Novak is on. And his form and playing style.

Pointing out that Federer beat Rafa once in 2007 and then once in 2009, whilst true, is irrelevant to the argument though, considering Novak beat Rafa twice in a month.

 

[vcs]

Never denied he's playing great ATM. Just said Federer has also beaten Rafa a couple of times on clay, that's all!

 

[Anil]

well done novak! sowing seeds of doubt in rafa's mind on clay is a big feat in itself, beating him in the final of two consecutive big-time clay events is just incredible...if only federer could get himself a bigger-framed racquet and play well enough to at least be competitive with these two...

 

[ohtani's jacket]

It'll be interesting to see how Djokovic goes at RG. Remember it was the '84 final where McEnroe lost to Lendl that ended McEnroe's 42-0 start and shadowed the rest of his career.

 

[Jono]

You would hope that at the very least Novak will make the semis. Anything else would be unbelievably disappointing.

 

[Johnners]

Fair effort really

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The last one is really crazy for mine. 10-0 vs top five.

 

[Jono]

Sports Illustrated has Novak Djokovic as the world's most dominant athlete

Full SI article here. It's awesome.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Roddick out of RG with a shoulder injury.

Genuine chance of no Yanks past R1 in men or women's singles. Fish should probably make it though.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Found a Dutch qualifier named Thomas Schoorel who is supposed to be 2.21 m tall (!!!) Luckily, did not draw Isner, Karlovic or Raonic.

 

[morgieb]

Found a Dutch qualifier named Thomas Schoorel who is supposed to be 2.21 m tall (!!!) Luckily, did not draw Isner, Karlovic or Raonic.

Only 2.03m tall tbh.

Still, that's massive.

 

[morgieb]

Here are my predictions for the QF's, looking at the draw....

Nadal/Soderling
Murray/Almagro
Federer/Ferrer
Djokovic/Berdych

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roddick out of RG with a shoulder injury.

Genuine chance of no Yanks past R1 in men or women's singles. Fish should probably make it though.

Not sure Roddick being in would make it any more likely of a Yank making the second round with the way he's been playing.

Also, Tommy Haas!

 

[morgieb]

Not sure Roddick being in would make it any more likely of a Yank making the second round with the way he's been playing.

Also, Tommy Haas!

Simon to make a possible comeback?

Still, it's good to see him back. Rather stupid that he plays a GS despite not playing for 15 months though.