Rome Masters 1000 2015

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Djokovic has been drawn in the same quarter as Nishikori and the same half as Murray. Djokovic could get Almagro in his first match as well.

Nadal drawn in the same quarter as Wawrinka and same half as Federer. Seems as though Nadal has a better draw.

Fair play to Fed, he really stepped it up towards the end there. He was pulverising the backhand - presumably tuning it up for the barrage it'll inevitably face tomorrow

Yeah, Stan has a monster BH, agree 

Careful, Haddie will get mad at you Jahu

Nice to see Ferrer through today as well, quietly into yet another SF. Good man!

Well, that didn't last long. I thought Tomas would give Fed a really tough match. In fact, I had Berdych winning in three. As it is it's a second successive straight-sets win for Rog over the Czech.
So what's going to go wrong to prevent a Rog-Rafa match this time? They seem feted never ever ever to meet again. Step forward Stan the Man to screw things up. (actually I'd be surprised if Rafa loses)

Silver, she is permanently mad at me 

So Djoko now has 6 less GS then Nadal, but $7M more in earnings, and twice more $ then Andy.

What has tennis world come too.

Kei being slapped left and right, DJoko 4:1 up.

The frightening statistic is not that a fit Rafa (excluding AO match) holds a record of 12 - 0 against Stan Warwinka it's that he never even lost a set in any of those matches !

Rafa's TB record against Stan is also 6-0. So when it comes to the crunch...

If Rafa loses this, then it would be a shocker. Stan's BH presumably suffers against Rafa in the way Federer's similar backhand style does.

Rafa's form has been patchy enough for a Stan win not be the sort of major surprise it would have been hitherto.

2nd set Nishi!

Come on Kei, 1 more set, you can do it.

Come on Stan, melt him like a swiss chocolate.

Both players lose their first serves. 1:1.

Both broken again 4:4.

If anyone says Rafa is looking slow, they clearly are not watching this match.
His retrieving tonight is insane. Stan having to hit four would-be winners just to earn the point.

STAN YOU ARE THE MAN! UNBELIEVABLE TENNIS!

What a TB, Nadal loses 4 SP from 2:6 and Stan takes the TB 9:7.

Nadal back at his best clay play this year.

If Djokovic doesn't win Roland Garros this year, he never will. Nadal's finished, Stan's a darn fine player though.

Stan needs to just cool it down a little, Nadal can not get through him, just patience as in TB and Rafa will melt.

Nadal broken, Fleming and Patchey complaining about time wasting of Nadal serving, average at 29 seconds for Nadal and 24 seconds for Stan.

Come on Stan, blow him all the way to Paris.

Stan ripping Nadal's second serve to pieces

Have to say, Rafas very average looking GF is looking stunning tonight, I guess she is smelling a wedding now, since the other top 3 are all married 

Stan crushing Rafa left, right and center.

DOuble break up for Stan.

Come onnnnnnnnnnnnn

Stan 5:1 up, this is getting embarrassing for Nadal, though Stan is playing inter-planetary tennis.

Silver wrote:Careful, Haddie will get mad at you Jahu

Nice to see Ferrer through today as well, quietly into yet another SF. Good man!

No I wont he can say what he damn well pleases he is on my ignore list... he has nothing to say I wanna here

Stan wins 7:6, 6:2.

Where is Silver? Told you Stan has a monster BH

King of clay has gone, but he will still leave Djoko without an RG this year

It's no longer any kind of surprise, Nadal is very ordinary. It was only close because Stan missed so many in the first set.

Jahu wrote:Stan wins 7:6, 6:2.

Where is Silver? Told you Stan has a monster BH

King of clay has gone, but he will still leave Djoko without an RG this year

Until he relinquishes Roland Garros he will remain the 'King of Clay'

This was equal to Andy's trashing of Nadal, or a little heavier?

Stan just crushed it, not FEAR.

See you tomorrow, R F

Stan can definitely win it, hold your horses!

[quote="Jahu"]This was equal to Andy's trashing of Nadal, or a little heavier?

Stan just crushed it, not FEAR.[/quote]
This was a bigger beating. Nadal has 7 Rome trophies and it's one of his favoured events. This was a mental beating to boot

bogbrush wrote:It's no longer any kind of surprise, Nadal is very ordinary. It was only close because Stan missed so many in the first set.

The vulture has arrived

Stan played better than Murray did to win imo.
Murray was very controlled, patient and played smart tennis.
Stan just blew him off the court with insane tennis.

If he beats Fed tomorrow, he better win the title or else.

Jermaine, yeah this is heavier for Nadal it seems.

Rafa didn't wanna be humbled by a nearly 40 year old Fed tomorrow, makes sense to lose to someone from his own era

Stan would of beaten Djoko tonight, no way he would retrieve like Nadal tonight.

Well played Wawrinka.

Haddie-nuff wrote:

bogbrush wrote:It's no longer any kind of surprise, Nadal is very ordinary. It was only close because Stan missed so many in the first set.

The vulture has arrived

You don't agree?

By calling you a vulture BB, she's saying that Rafa is effectively dead.

Quitting already!?

Well done Stan
May I suggest you all keep it on the level, and treat each other with respect.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Rafa didn't wanna be humbled by a nearly 40 year old Fed tomorrow, makes sense to lose to someone from his own era

Nadals been protecting those precious h2h's over djoko and Fed hard the past year. Ducking as often as he can!

I still think over 5 sets- he's the man to beat- but never before have there been so many players with a real shot. It will be really interesting how this draw is picked.

bogbrush wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:

bogbrush wrote:It's no longer any kind of surprise, Nadal is very ordinary. It was only close because Stan missed so many in the first set.

The vulture has arrived

You don't agree?

As the first went to a tight tb I cant see the point you are making However Ill reserve comment until after tomorrow. It maybe that he will make Federer look less than ordinary.. but we shall see. Your comment may be somewhat premature but Im sure you will be back tomorrow win or lose eh

Josiah Maiestas wrote:By calling you a vulture BB, she's saying that Rafa is effectively dead.

Quitting already!?

Well JHM I didn't think it was politically correct for Mods to join in the wumming..but then it should not be such a surprise

I'm doubting Rafa will even make the SF in Paris at this point, he will need the likes of Karlovic and Isner to serve past the likes of Fognini and Wawrinka, he'll need a huge amount of things to go his way to get that far I feel.

Haddie-nuff wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:By calling you a vulture BB, she's saying that Rafa is effectively dead.

Quitting already!?

Well  JHM I didn't think it was politically correct for Mods to join in the wumming..but then it should not be such a surprise

Poor JHM didn't say anything

Jahu wrote:Stan would of beaten Djoko tonight, no way he would retrieve like Nadal tonight.

Completely different though Jahu.
Djoko wouldn't have given stan as much of a chance to tee off short, loopy shots.

Bps saved - Nadal 3/7, Wawrinka - 7/9.

Set 1 was 2/4 for both. Set 2 was Wawrinka 5/5 and Nadal 1/3 .

Nadal missed quite a few chances.

Not surprised that Rafa lost. I know once its a night match Rafa would messed up. He couldnt adjust from day to night or night to day these days, and its when he's playing in the sun that his topspin works best.

Rafa is no longer the formidable Rafa on clay of the past, he needs conditions to be conducive for him to play his best to win. So, Rafa will be no.7 or no.8, depending on how Ferrer does here in Rome.

I think Rafa will either bomb out early or reaches the final in RG, very much depends on the weather there. Theres no night match at RG but if the conditions is heavy without the sun, Rafa will have a hard time there.

I hope Fed wins Rome now so he will have one Masters more than Novak and prevents Novak from getting another. Also Rome and MC are the only two Masters missing from Fed's collection, I hope he bags Rome now.

stan vs rafa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfSNx-VEHpo

Anyone else think Rafa fist pumping and celebrating a shanked overhead from Stan was a bit off?

Think Stan thought so too.

Rafa seems to have gone mentally. He was always the one able to produce his best when it mattered, but now seems to lose the big points. 2/3 years ago I would have still fancied him at 4-1 down in the second set, knew he would lose today.

Mentally there or not its not the issue imo; its his tennis that sucks these days. If the conditions doesnt suit him, he couldnt win, unlike in the past.

He lost some power and was even more defensive these days, guys just hit him off the court when the conditions allowed them to do so, its not unlike that 2012 FO final, only need not be that extreme conditions these days. Back to the drawing board for Rafa and his team, he needs to adjust his court position behind the baseline to be more aggressive especially when conditions is heavy, if not he'll throw up short balls after short balls for his opponents to attack and take advantage of.