Rome Masters - Day 4 Thread (R4)

[lydian]

First topic message reminder :

Here's the mens line-up today - Federer is on late shift.

CENTRALE Start 12:00 noon
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) v [14] Juan Monaco (ARG) ...Djokovic owns a house in Monte Carlo...today he'll own Monaco too
Marcel Granollers (ESP) v [2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) ...lets hope Nadal knocks out Mr Tumbleweed...as soon as possible

Not Before 9:00 PM
[3] Roger Federer (SUI) v Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) ...a close 1st set but after that plain sailing...Juan Carlos will not be King today

SUPERTENNIS ARENA Start 11:00 am
[6] David Ferrer (ESP) v [11] Gilles Simon (FRA) ...battle of the Metronomic Counterpunchers...except Ferrer will be more clockwork
[16] Richard Gasquet (FRA) v [4] Andy Murray (GBR) ...interesting match-up. Gasquet doesnt like playing Murray. He wont today either.

Not before 7:00 PM
[10] Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) v [5] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) ...Battle of the Sluggers! JMDP in 2 tight sets.

PIETRANGELI Start 11:00 am
[7] Tomas Berdych (CZE) v [12] Nicolas Almagro (ESP) ...Return of the Grudge! Berdych to prevail in 3...and not shake hands at the end!
Andreas Seppi (ITA) v Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) ...Seppi will give a good match but Stan will get the gladiatorial thumbs DOWN at the end!

[Haddie-nuff]

Ok lydian.. Im running out of smilies now lol

[lydian]

Well stone me, Tumbleweed somehow scrapes a game onto the board...Rafa must have dozed off at change of ends.

[bogbrush]

Lob drop shot from Murray.

[lydian]

haha Haddie...kind of weird your machine has lost its smiley's! Its not powered by Andy Murray is it?

[reckoner]

I'd totally go with muesli defence...

Rather disappointed with Android Murray ah well we live in hope.

[lydian]

Lob drop shot from Murray.

haha...the element of surprise on that shot was stupendous.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Looks like Murray#s long winning run over French players has come to an abrupt end.

[lydian]

And Reeshard puts Murray out of his misery. Or rather into continued misery.

[reckoner]

Oh well, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Allez Reeeeshard!

[lydian]

Indeed!

Last year he had MC - SF, Madrid - 3R, Rome - SF.
This year its: MC - QF, Madrid - Absent, Rome - 3R.

Not a great improvement and 540 points down so far.

[lydian]

Tumbleweed evicted with two bakery products to his name. Abject.

[barrystar]

Goodness - Nadal wins 6-1 6-1 in an hour and a half so, seemingly, a slugfest completely lacking in tension and incredibly long. I'm glad I was not there.

[bogbrush]

Goodness - Nadal wins 6-1 6-1 in an hour and a half so, seemingly, a slugfest completely lacking in tension and incredibly long. I'm glad I was not there.

Sounds riveting.

[lydian]

In my experience matches featuring 'The Tumbleweed' are NEVER a good spectacle....hence the mickey I take out of him on here. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than watch him play. He plays what can only be described as Ronseal tennis.

[lags72]

Granollers seems to be the latest addition to a long list of players contracted to the Spanish Tennis Federation, under an agreement by which they provide friendly warm-up practice for Rafa in the early rounds of his favourite tournaments.

He joined the scheme just this year at Indian Wells, and aged only 26 he can of course look forward to many straight set losses versus his more famous fellow countryman in the years ahead

However I fear Verdasco may have fallen out of favour after cheekily breaking all the rules and actually pulling off a win last week in Madrid .....

[barrystar]

There was someon on 606 who was a big fan of Seppi - he'll be enjoying this match. Seppi is having a good year by his standards.

[lydian]

haha lags...made me laugh that one. Yep, most spanish players are contracted to hand out bakery products to Nadal each match. Verdasco was even seen to excel at this, often forgoing the breadsticks in favour of bagels to please The Master. But somehow The Master himself forgot the script at 5-2 in Madrid, said I've eaten too many bagels from you Verdy...its time to give something back. That said, I suspect Nadal will be requiring another bagel or two next time they meet though. And Verdasco knows it too...he'll revert back to contracted play.

[Haddie-nuff]

May Nando will retire and quit whilst he is ahead.. at least he can tell his grandchildren he was a winner

[invisiblecoolers]

There was someon on 606 who was a big fan of Seppi - he'll be enjoying this match. Seppi is having a good year by his standards.

Nope, according to the standards he set for seppi this is an ordinary year, i remember he called himself Saint Seppi, and he was the greatest player of all time.

[lydian]

Indeed Haddie, I'm not sure Verdasco will ever beat Rafa again...and I'm sure he knows he got "lucky" in Madrid. What was appalling was the way he lost to Berdy the next day 6-1, 6-1....has the man got no self respect!

[barrystar]

I remember - something like "super seppi to smash arrogant swiss"...

[lydian]

At least Granola will be fresh for his doubles match tonight...always a silver lining...

[invisiblecoolers]

Indeed Haddie, I'm not sure Verdasco will ever beat Rafa again...and I'm sure he knows he got "lucky" in Madrid. What was appalling was the way he lost to Berdy the next day 6-1, 6-1....has the man got no self respect!

Do you think Berdy vs. Rafa would be interesting? Do Berdy have it in him to create an upset?

[Haddie-nuff]

Actually yes I believe he does... but he wont.. He really needs to get the doctor to prescribe something for that choking.

[invisiblecoolers]

I remember - something like "super seppi to smash arrogant swiss"...

wasn't it "Super Seppi smashing Swiss Shanker" ?

[barrystar]

At least Granola will be fresh for his doubles match tonight...always a silver lining...

after 90 mins of soul-destroying grinding? it depends upon how much time was spent between points.

[lags72]

BBC radio guy has reported that he spoke to Murray just as he was leaving the stadium, Murray was clutching his back and said that it was "niggling him" ....

[bogbrush]

Stan working hard to get the crowd behind him........

[Haddie-nuff]

Actually BS the time taken between points was NOT all Rafa I assure you

[barrystar]

Actually BS the time taken between points was NOT all Rafa I assure you

I'm not surprised, just looks like it was a completely miserable encounter

[bogbrush]

BBC radio guy has reported that he spoke to Murray just as he was leaving the stadium, Murray was clutching his back and said that it was "niggling him" ....

What was all that stuff the other day about how smart he was ducking Madrid?

Maybe he was injured, I can't say. I do know that he tends to play these things up, and the BBC will gobble it up eagerly.

[Haddie-nuff]

To be honest bs .. it was somewhat gruelling. Granoller put up one helll of a fight the score really doesnt do it justice in fairness.. there were so many deuce games.. he took Rafa to break point on a couple of occasions. But there were extraordinary long rallies one was 27 shots. I was watching it in fits and starts to be frank.. realising the outcome was obvious but Granollers was dead but he wouldn´t lie down (Die you beggar die) :erm:

[barrystar]

That's kind of what I had imagined - like listening to someone with a most unfortunate stutter trying to read a couple of pages of the telephone book.

[Haddie-nuff]

Oh what a wonderful analogy.. luv it.. !! But you have it on the nail

[lags72]

bb - I hear what you say, you could be right ..... I don't know for sure either, maybe we have to give him, and the Beeb, the benefit of the doubt on this one (I'm only the messenger ... !!)

[Guest]

BBC radio guy has reported that he spoke to Murray just as he was leaving the stadium, Murray was clutching his back and said that it was "niggling him" ....

What was all that stuff the other day about how smart he was ducking Madrid?

Maybe he was injured, I can't say. I do know that he tends to play these things up, and the BBC will gobble it up eagerly.

That would explain my defeats when leaving the leisure centre

I just hope this does not take away from a Gasquet victory which was long overdue against a gritty baseliner!

[laverfan]

Wawrinka.

[Guest]

Wawrinka = Knobhead

Seppi is dead on his feet! Why he hasn't prolonged the rallies is beyond me.

[invisiblecoolers]

wat a match from Seppi, he used the crowd motivation to overcome 6 match points to create one of his own and win it.

[lydian]

Great match between Seppi and Stan but you feel Stan just wilted at the end, didnt go for it and was waiting for the errors from Seppi. That lost is going to really hurt.

This match between JMDP and Tsonga is high quality, both hitting the ball so hard...I'm surprised how well Tsonga is playing on clay so far, his groundies are holding up strongly.

[Guest]

The Federer and Ferrero match has started with quite an impressive bang.

[laverfan]

Tsonga up a break in the second.

Ferrero hitting as hard as he can. Will that work?

[lydian]

Absolutely LK. Why do they sometimes use ridiculous camera angles for matches...on this one (compared to the Tsonga v JDMP match) the camera is too far awy from the court, the player at the top end looks miles away...we dont need to see acres of space either side of the court....zoom in for pity's sake!!!

[Guest]

I noticed that LF. He is certainly boffing that BH.

[Guest]

Agree lydian. One of the things I enjoyed about the US Open was the net camera view which allowed you to see just how low the ball was travelling over the net and actually how low the balls were bouncing.

[Guest]

I am liking this match. Ferrero is going gun ho!

[lydian]

I would say its the same for Federer...I dont think he'll want to get embroiled in long ralleys either considering his hip...so expect fireworks!

[lydian]

Yeah I like it LK when the camera is almost at player level...gives you such a great feel for the play. At this angle on this court I can see why Tiriac is pushing blue as I am struggling to see the ball abit on the right hand side towards the bottom end...some of that is due to the lights on the court though.

Mosquito is putting up a good fight here...this isnt going to be a walk in the park for Fed. But his serve is so much more dominant these days, he gets so many free points now...even on clay. Good match!

[Guest]

I am sure many Fed fans are enjoying this as Ferrero is attacking.

I lost sight of the ball a few times in Madrid. Just frustrated me.

[lydian]

I think Fed's BH is so much better than 12 months ago...its a real weapon now, and he can also generate huge RPM on his FH when he wants to...but then we know he's 2nd on the RPMspin hit-list! (behind Rafa)

Oh oh...BPs to Fed...

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