Wimbledon day 6

Plenty of action today, including the world's top three players. Nadal resumes his match against Muller at one set up, while Djokovic takes on Baghdatis and we have the tasty prospect of the first meeting between Nalbandian and Federer on grass. We also have the end of Del Potro against Simon (Del Potro one set up but a break down in the second) and many other intriguing matches to be played. Oh and there's some screeching contests women's tennis going on too apparently. Here is the place to discuss today's action.

Can't wait for Novak and Baggy, too bad I will be on a flight to Dubai and then Los Angeles and will miss today and oh wait don't they take tomorrow off at wimby? That would be great for me!

yeah they do take sunday off unless they're miles behind in the scheduling

Let's hope the clouds pee off for one day!

Nalbandian is in a better shape i thought he would be.
Both men have a hard time to hold serve.

Finally a love game and Fed leads 5-3
Not much between these 2 though

Nadal and Del po now. It might get close but I cannot see Delpo at this stage and in this form can hurt Nadal or he might.

Federer's defence has been brilliant today. Ridiculous to think he could bag 2 sets in little over an hour. It hasn't been an explosive match in terms of 'pace' but the points are short.

This is why I make Federer favourite. If he keeps up this form, scary.

I think Nalby will retire soon, this match that is. He don't want to screw his best part of the season, the fast HC's
And they know each other well enough to know that this match is not going to change direction

LK,

we must be watching a different match.

Fed looks distinctly average,

His backhand looks flaky, his forehand is not penetrating the court, movement is obviously slower than a few years ago.

Only his serve is working well. That and the fact that Nalby is half the player he used to be is why the scoreline looks so comfortable.

He played much better at the FO.

He'll probably get to the semi-final but if he plays Nadal in the final, it's gonna be ugly. There's no way that this RF will beat Rafa from the baseline.

Lisicki through 6-4 6-2 against Doi. Will play Petra Cetkovska in the 4th round.

Glad to see Wozniacki go through with ease earlier, tough 4th round against Cibulkova coming up.

great tennis lol

And the Fed-Nal match ended with the best game of the match.
Roger was never in any danger, his serve was excellent

gallery play wrote:And the Fed-Nal match ended with the best game of the match.
Roger was never in any danger, his serve was excellent

it was great

emancipator,

Roger's defence was superb today. He defended alot of the Nalbandian offence in the first 2 sets.

It is going to be difficult for any player to replicate form displayed on one surface to another, especially when the clay was playing fast and even faster than the grass at Wimbledon.

Centre Court seems to be lacking spectators for the Djokovic and Baghdatis match. Strange.

The Royal Box has emptied out as well. I find this all to amusing. 2 good players out on court, certainly I would pay money to see and it is just empty and it is the weekend.

legendkillar wrote:emancipator,

Roger's defence was superb today. He defended alot of the Nalbandian offence in the first 2 sets.

It is going to be difficult for any player to replicate form displayed on one surface to another, especially when the clay was playing fast and even faster than the grass at Wimbledon.

That just adds to my point. Roger couldn't beat Rafa at RG this year when the courts were playing at least as fast as W, with lighter, faster balls, and Roger himself was playing better, yet you make him the favourite here?

Pray tell me how he's going to cope against Rafa on these slower courts with heavier balls, especially as it is projected to get hotter next week, and the grass is going to wear out more, causing the ball to bounce up higher? The advantage that fast or even newly laid grass courts give to attacking players is the low, skidding bounce which reduces the time their opponents' have to retrieve balls - thus resulting in shorter points. By next week, the drier, dustier courts will result in higher bounces and will also become more congenial to Rafa's topspin.

There is only one person currently who has a good chance of beating Rafa - and that's the joker. He can retrieve just as well, can negate Rafa's forehand with his BH in cc exchanges, he can take Rafa out wide with his BH, thus opening up the court to attack Rafa's BH - a winning strategy. Federer just cannot create the same depth, power or angles with his SHBH to employ the same strategy.

There is, however, a reasonable chance that Roger will beat the Joker.

So, all things considered, Rafa is the clear favourite.

Anyone thinking otherwise is just a wishful, fanciful, Roger/Murray fan

emancipator - telling it how it is.

I do make him favourite. If the weather is going to get hotter (as predicted) the courts will become much much slower, favouring Nadal. I watched the Muller match and Nadal wasn't playing his best. Roger should've won at Roland Garros, if he hadn't of decided to go on the attack in the 4th, I would've fancied him to take it 5. The grass luckily is not playing slower than the usual pace of RG, but hotter weather may reduce it to that.

I think Roger is still the man to beat. If for arguements sake he faces Nadal in the final, Nadal would have to up his performance quite considerably.

Federer's best chance of beating Nadal is on a rainy day, under the roof.

The humidity should reduce the bounce and the removal of wind should add stability to Fed's BH.

Furthermore, Fed is an excellent indoor player.

Let's not forget the mental side of things too. Fed could be playing like 'Jesus Fed' all tournament, but the moment Rafa turns up on the other side of the net, the mental scars will emerge. If the match gets tight, Rafa will win.

When was the last time Roger blew Nadal off court?

Excluding the World Finals 2010, I would say Wimbledon 2006 Was the last time he blew Rafa from the court. Federer doesn't need to blow Rafa from the court to win mind you.

Agreed a roof would favour Federer against Rafa.

I think Roger needs to find a new approach when he plays Rafa. Both mentally and tactically.

Soderling getting blown away by Tomic. Apparently he is not feeling well and has requested the doctor. Lost the first set in 17 minutes.

Don't know how good Tomic is because Soderling is suffering but he certainly is playing well.

legendkillar wrote:

I think Roger needs to find a new approach when he plays Rafa. Both mentally and tactically.

A new approach? Don't you think that after 25 matches he's already tried everything? Or maybe he just doesn't know much about tennis, and believes that he can keep playing the same way and eventually he'd start winning more than losing?

What would this new approach be? Perhaps some magical abracadabra? or maybe he should take Rafa out the night before and get him drunk? As for a new mental approach - what on earth does that mean in any practical sense? Get angry on court? start crying? shout at uncle Toni?

If you think he can bring a new mental and tactical approach, please let us in on it, infact why don't get in touch with Roger's team and let them know? You may end up with a multimillion euro contract.



Like I said, fanciful and wishful.

emancipator wrote:

legendkillar wrote:

I think Roger needs to find a new approach when he plays Rafa. Both mentally and tactically.

A new approach? Don't you think that after 25 matches he's already tried everything? Or maybe he just doesn't know much about tennis, and believes that he can keep playing the same way and eventually he'd start winning more than losing?

What would this new approach be? Perhaps some magical abracadabra? or maybe he should take Rafa out the night before and get him drunk? As for a new mental approach - what on earth does that mean in any practical sense? Get angry on court? start crying? shout at uncle Toni?

If you think he can bring a new mental and tactical approach, please let us in on it, infact why don't get in touch with Roger's team and let them know? You may end up with a multimillion euro contract.



Like I said, fanciful and wishful.

Hmmmm...I think I will treat you with the incompetence you deserve, considering your view is nothing can change

If I won 12 Grand Slams (before the Rafa dominance), why on earth am I going to change my approach? Please do tell me someone who changed there approach when winning in tennis oh knowledgable one?

Things have to change now purely because Roger is not the single dominant force he was.

FO 2009, he won because he brought in the drop shot and upped his serving percentages, or are you going to be lazy and say it was because Rafa was eliminated?

Roger can change his mental attitude once he can find a tactic he can use aganst Nadal. Take the FO final this year, when Roger played defensive off his BH, he won the rallies. I have always said Roger's best chance against Nadal is not to go all aggressive like he does, if he can change that, he would have more success against Nadal. Having a tactic that works can help generate belief.

So do tell me Rogers number and I will call him

My view is not that 'nothing can change'.

My point is that Roger has already tried everything, and for the most part, it hasn't worked.

Hence, he can never be considered the favourite in a tournament where he is likely to have to face Nadal in the final. There are of course exceptions to this, such as a low-bouncing indooor HC (where Roger has the edge) and the USO, where Nadal is much less likely to reach the final, thus Roger could start as favourite is such circumstances, dependant on the form of other players too.

As for the FO 2009, that was two years ago, and he's fared even worse against Rafa since then despite making those changes. In any case, upping your first serve percentage is not a tactical change, it is a given, and something which every player tries to do in each and every match. That's akin to saying, he should hit his BH cleaner!

However, I do agree that one area where he could make a slight tactical change is too try and stay with Rafa longer in the rallies. Often he seems anxious to end the point too quickly, resulting in a lot of errors. He needs to be more patient, but over five sets, this could just result in him tiring.

I CANNOT believe that Soderling is getting wasted by Tomic !

What the heck is going on in his mind ?

emancipator wrote:
When was the last time Roger blew Nadal off court?

7 months ago.

I agree on most of your arguments, especially the court drying out thing, end of next week it will be like a slow hard-court, still with a relatively low bounce though. And that's the difference with RG.
But, no matter how you look at it, Federer will have more free points here than on clay. So i don't see Nadal as the clear favorite. If Federer's serve remains as solid as it is now, he'll at least get the chances to win sets against anyone, including Nadal.

Granted he has fared worse, but for me in those matches, he has tried to hit through Rafa too quickly during points leading to either lot's of UE's and his FH breaking down, and then turning to S and V. Look at how Federer plays Murray. Strings out the early ong rallies forcing Murray to become more aggressive and exracting the UE's and then forcing his game onto Murray and forcing him to become defensive. I don't think I have seen Federer 'try' everything.

Federer is the best conditioned player there is out there and I think he can lengthen rallies against Nadal, but he also tends to play his FH too central in court and tends to be reluctant in opening it up.

The BH slice is another shot he could use more in points if he is becoming too overwhelmed in rallies. Thought he played it beautifully at the FO. Force Nadal onto his BH, because if it does breakdown you will see Rafa go for the inside out FH which will wear him out more.

Ideally, I would love to see Delpo taking Nadal out of the equation. Like he said in the press conference that he does not to play possum.

Secondly, I hope that Djoko will get past Fed which is not going to be easy by any means. Djoko in the finals will result him becoming no. 1 and that will give him psychological edge against Nadal if he meets nadal in the final.

Nadal has some tough draw against for him in the coming matches. Delpo, Berdych, and Murray will be like a mountain to climb.

Djoko is getting tired. So is Baghdatis but Djoko does lots of running.

Could be Marcos' chance if he can stay on his feet. Djoko is for the taking here.

The BH slice is ineffective against Nadal, it gives him time to run around and hit a forehand. He deals with slice as well as anyone. Having said that, if Roger can knife the slice (instead of floating it, as he often does) then that might be more effective as it will keep low on the grass and have some pace, thus reducing the time for Rafa to run around it.

The problem Roger has when trying to prolong rallies with Nadal is that he usually ends up getting pushed wider and wider, as he doesn't have the penetration on the BH to push Nadal back, and the majority of their rallies end up as Rafa's cc FH to Roger's BH.

I think he needs to balance attack and defense, serve and volley every now and then, use the serve out wide to Rafa's BH. Basically, he needs to play an all court game and use every facet of his skills. Then he has to execute with high percentage. A tough ask.

GP, you are right, he will get more free points on grass and that will certainly improve his chances.

...But Marcos is even more tired it seems!

The pace of this match is considerable slower than the previous match on CC..
Djoko has been the most powerful baseliner for the last 6 months, but on grass he clearly isn't.

Yes. It's like a Wii game of tennis at medium level.

Lots of long rallies working out the fitter and ....the winner.

Same old ...same old.

Nothing has been said on here about Federer against Nadal that hasn't been said before, let it be.
Djokovic playing below par but his defensive game cannot be effective on grass. Sliding is also difficult and powerful ground strokes, hitting
flat like he is doing is not the way to go. He needs to put more spin on the ball.

wow wrote:
Secondly, I hope that Djoko will get past Fed which is not going to be easy by any means. Djoko in the finals will result him becoming no. 1 and that will give him psychological edge against Nadal if he meets nadal in the final.

Playing like this, I can't see Djoko beating Federer or Nadal.
I like Baggy -everyone does- but he's not doing much to really trouble Djoko, and still Djoko is in the full grinding mode.

Was at Wimbledon today and just thought I'd mention that Llodra really was very impressive in his match against Lu (it was unbelievably busy today so this was the only men's match I managed to see). Lu played very well but Llodra's serve was incredible at times; I think Lu only managed to take him to deuce once in the entire match. Having only watched Llodra on the TV before I didn't really appreciate how much pace and spin he gets on his serve. Not only that, but Llodra's all round feel on the court was great, and the two players shared some very entertaining rallies. I think the Frenchman might be able to seriously trouble Djokovic in his match if he can keep up his form.

Chazfazzer wrote:Was at Wimbledon today and just thought I'd mention that Llodra really was very impressive in his match against Lu (it was unbelievably busy today so this was the only men's match I managed to see). Lu played very well but Llodra's serve was incredible at times; I think Lu only managed to take him to deuce once in the entire match. Having only watched Llodra on the TV before I didn't really appreciate how much pace and spin he gets on his serve. Not only that, but Llodra's all round feel on the court was great, and the two players shared some very entertaining rallies. I think the Frenchman might be able to seriously trouble Djokovic in his match if he can keep up his form.

Llodra is typical of a lot of the French players.

On their day like Tsonga, Gasquet & Simon they can play some sublime tennis but they lack the consistency, hence there isn't much in the way of silverware in any of their cabinets!

BBC fact checkers are still a bunch of idiots:

"Three swift breaks and 31 minutes later he was able to begin his prepapartions for an intriguing meeting with 2009 US Open champion Del Potro in the last 16.

The Argentine defeated Nadal in the third round of his successful Flushing Meadows campaign and he showed glimpses of the sort of power that once took him to fourth in the world in a 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win over France's Gilles Simon.
"