ATP Rome Masters: The Final

maybe sportlover, but I wouldn't say Lorenzi is playing brilliantly; Rafa is just playing really really badly...

Yes Rafa is way below par but he isn't being allowed to do what he wants so Kudos to the Italian.

Guys, Honestly, can't you see that Nadal is losing on purpose?

yep fair play to Lorenzi, he's coming into the net at every opportunity, knowing he can't beat rafa from the baseline and having great success there as Rafa's passing is a bit off.

Lorenzi is not playing his best match of his life...it's close to its worst if anything.

Nadal gives him the easiest volleys with an open court and yet he can't take it.

Tenez wrote:Well I have now put £100 on....though I normally don;t bet.

It was clear that Nadal saw a Lorenzi serve out, HE saw it out but Nadal gave it to him.

It's turning into a joke.

Hope you don't miss that £100 too much!

Must have money to burn if he can put £100 on a dead cert!

No I don't. I bet very rarely which is good.

If anything the 60 at the end proves I was right. I am not sure why made Rafa change his mind in that 2 set, probably Toni getting angry, or his tanking becoming too obvious but clearly it shows that he coudl have won 60 60 had he wanted to.

So is it really worth putting £100 on something....seems so risky because you can lose like you did today. If Rafa had lost how much could you have won?

Yes, you're right Tenez, it must have been his fear of Toni's anger

denzilsmom wrote:So is it really worth putting £100 on something....seems so risky because you can lose like you did today. If Rafa had lost how much could you have won?

I would have won £1360 and Lo was 30 up and 4 4 in teh second set. But the only reason I put some money is that we all saw on TV Nadal giving a serve that was out to Lorenzi! Nadal walks to the service mark, and erases it with his foot as to give it to his opponent. A second later HE shows the serve was out by a fair bit.

I though that was really suspicious. And as said teh 60 at the end only confirms my point that Nadal was messing around. I just think he wanted to leave Rome but probably changed his mind.

Well, if we didn't spend our money actually getting out and watching tennis instead of judging it from our armchair then we might have £100 to place foolish bets as well

If you wouldn't mind doing that again Tenez…it seemed to work a treat to fire Rafa up and we could do with a few more sets like that instead of the first two .

Novak looked real tough today, Mr. Kubot do you like your bagel with cream cheese? 6-0 and 6-3, its almost like he felt sorry for the guy in the second set. He is playing so well, obviously no ill effects from the final in Madrid. Rafa played so poorly, didn't get to see the match unfortunately working. But wow, having to fight back from a set down to Lorenzi! Hope he can get it together and push on through to the final. Don't take your loss to Nole so hard Rafa! Its just one match.

£1360.00...that's pretty good for £100 stake money....I always wondered why people bet. My Dad still likes a flutter on the Horses...but I don't think it's anywhere near £100.

I used to go Greyhound Racing at Wimbledon Dog track years ago, and the most I won was £50....mind you it brought me a fabulous (at the time) Stereo system...I quit while was ahead!

We can start a book on how how many other forums Tenez is going to write exactly the same thing under a different guise

oooohhh, Federer doing very well so far in the first set.

YES COME ON! He had to face quite a few break points but apart from that pretty much a dominant performance from the Fedster.

cats_r_cool wrote:We can start a book on how how many other forums Tenez is going to write exactly the same thing under a different guise

Cats, your way off topic ! and way out of line.

Hi Jubba. The talk had turned to betting but if I was out of line, then I apologise.

I don't want any kind of victimisation on these threads.

Using someone's history from another forum is not on, everyone gets a fair crack of the whip.

Lets just talk tennis, and leave former prejudices behind.

Otherwise we'll end up like the old 606 with "Us" against "Them" and flame wars sprouting up all over the place.

Murray-time

Murray looks good so far, serving well, hitting the ball well off both wings, not too passive, etc. Consolidates the break and leads 5-2 n the opener

Nerve-wrecking stuff from Fed. COME ONE FED lets do it!

Well that was very good from Murray I thought, apart from a sloppy service game at 3-1 in the second set. He served well, moved well, and his touch around the net was very good indeed.

He faces Florian Mayer next.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Well that was very good from Murray I thought, apart from a sloppy service game at 3-1 in the second set. He served well, moved well, and his touch around the net was very good indeed.

He faces Florian Mayer next.

Vicious draw. Mayer has been brilliant all clay season, and he deserves a good crack at the semi finals.

Wawrinka, eh? Don't understand him. Plays brilliantly first set, and once he loses it (just) he just let his head drop and got absolutely caned AGAIN.

well they're out warming up... Come on Andy!

Desperately poor start from Murray, error after error so far. 0-2 already

A remarkably awful set from Murray ends with him hitting an overhead which bounces before the net... Don't know what's the matter with him today, but that was rubbish

Murray breaks, only to play a horrible service game and get broken straight back

Is Mayer the new Mecir? Ver nice easy powerful game from the baseline.

And by the way, isn;t it obvious that Murray's weakness is his FH not his mental.

However, Mayer is tiring and I expect the UEs to come thick and fast now.

Murray breaks again, with some good returning, now come on HOLD FFS!

I like Mayer's game Tenez, it's unorthodox and lovely to watch. He's starting to miss a bit now though, and Murray eventually holds for 3-1

Set Murray, maybe it just took him a bit of time to get used to Mayer's game...

Yes Mayer has a great game but today, as I have said many times, it's how many lungs a player has that matters, not the fancy shots.

....and today's match is a perfect ilustration.

Well Mayer's ballsed this one up. Looked good at the start, and then just collapsed in the second set. Third one's even worse!

Shame really, he deserves a good run in one of these tournaments, because he's been brilliant on clay this year.

All over. Odd score-line, but Andy gets the job done. Thought he returned really well, and his ground strokes grew in confidence as the match went on, but he'll need to serve much better in the semi final...

The Djoker is certainly not playing around and means business. He has dispatched the sod 6-3, 6-0.

Murray is next up for the Djoker.

I don't understand why the ATP is allowing a full 6h difference between semi finals? Especially when the final is the following day with less than 16h for to recover for the final.

This is absurd and completely against sporting principles.

Embarassing second set from Soderling, I thought those days were behind him... Good stuff from Djokovic, will be interesting to see the tactics Murray uses to try to upset his rhythm tomorrow. I suspect he will use a lot of short slice/ drop shots to try and bring him into the net as much as possible. Also he should look to change his pace as much as possible, as we saw today Djokovic thrives on rhythmical ball bashing.

Tenez, the ATP is always full of wonderful ideas, of course I am being sarcastic. Djokovic was intimidating in that second. As I said before the baker strikes again, here is a bagel for you Mr. Soderling.

Murray to outwit Djokovic tomorrow.

Fiday nite, time to party with Nole, ma baker :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhiCAUoMgXw

Tenez wrote:I don't understand why the ATP is allowing a full 6h difference between semi finals? Especially when the final is the following day with less than 16h for to recover for the final.

This is absurd and completely against sporting principles.

To accommodate the WTA semifinals. Rome is a joint event. Sporting principles?

Tenez, if its all about lungs, how come Federer stayed at the top for so long against such a huge number of lungers.

Are you confusing lungs with fitness, they're not the same you know, just ask a pearl diver.

And of course we all know that Federer was a keen fitness fanatic.

Tenez, if its all about lungs, how come Federer stayed at the top for so long against such a huge number of lungers.
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Federer is one in a century genius so he could still win despite other being fitter.....up to a point. Now it's simply too much for him even.

What's teh difference between fitness and lungs? being fit without lungs won't get you anywhere in tennis.


CAn't you see the pattern?

75 61
63 60
64 61
16 61 61

laverfan wrote:

Tenez wrote:I don't understand why the ATP is allowing a full 6h difference between semi finals? Especially when the final is the following day with less than 16h for to recover for the final.

This is absurd and completely against sporting principles.

To accommodate the WTA semifinals. Rome is a joint event.

That's not a valid excuse. It's not normal to have semis separated by at least 6 hours. it gives a huge advantage to the first semi winners. when will people and organisers finally understand that tennis is one of the most physical sport nowadays?

Doubt if the ATP would have any say in the matter. It's all about the tournament maximising revenue, and they're not going to fill the stadium if the night match is a WTA game, are they?

At least they're starting an hour early!

I'm sorry tenez, but no-one will ever get fit if you don't have lungs, and you can't have lungs without being fit, the two are synonymous with each other.

My point is that they are different things, but oxygen consumption has to happen to build fitness within the body.

Federer is not a freak, he has as good as set of lungs as any top player and is as fit. Or he wouldn't have ever lasted the 5 set slam wins he won over a period of eight years with an average of 3 per year.

michael_o wrote:Doubt if the ATP would have any say in the matter.

They should! it's their jobs to make sure the sport is fair for all.

Federer is not a freak, he has as good as set of lungs as any top player and is as fit. Or he wouldn't have ever lasted the 5 set slam wins he won over a period of eight years with an average of 3 per year.
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can't you see the difference between Federer's styles or let say Gasquet with guys like Nadal, Djoko and Murray?

5 sets with the first bunch is not the same as 5 with the other ones. A completely different pair of lungs are needed!