I am really more pissed off than feeling down now.
nadal just keeps donating titles by not willing to work hard enough on his ground game and his fitness. how could he lose to ferru (monte carlo) and almagro (Barcelona) on the red clay. he had not lost to them in a decades on the red clay.
even as a kid nadal was able to beat the likes of pat cash and carlos moya.
you saw what he is capable of when he dominated the hard court circuit just last year.
he said he was tired today. he said his legs did not have the energy.
he is losing the ground war to nole because he wont work hard enough on his ground game.
nole beats him in the baseline rallies/exchanges.
there is only one way to fix that: engage nole in those rallies and find a way to win majority of those rallies.
that is what nadal has done for a decade. that is what has led him to have a winning record against all of the top 30 players.
so you have to be willing to outwork the others and he is clearly not willing to do that this year.
que pasa sports fans.
morning emma, anikh, and all the others.
Yes Emma I will need a bit of luck regarding Andy. At the very least though he will practice on Monday so hopefully I do see him.
Hi Clay yes was rooting for Rafa. I hope though when push comes to shove he will win the big one if they play at RG.
More cool pics and images both of you too.
good to see you around Anikh.
I think you are right. Rafa has now armed himself with a purpose at RG. his resolve to do well there probably went up 100,000 fold after this loss.
he has something to prove. he knows more clearly exactly where he stands now and has just enough time to work on a few things.
by the way I started a Wimbledon thread already. my favorite for the Wimbledon crown is Andy Murray.
I read on twitter that Andy Murray practiced at Wimbledon the other day.
is there any truth to that? was he really practicing on grass?
Ok thanks Clay. I would not write off Fed for the Wimby title this year . Played some nice tennis this year. Yes I think important now Rafa lets Nole have all the pressure. People now expect Nole to win RG and Rafa can use this to his advantage. I really think though that both Andy and Rafa need to sleep with words 'be aggressive' constantly in their brains because thats when they are both at their best.
Oh had not heard about Andy practicing at Wimbledon to be honest. I hope its true though. Andy certainly gave great encouragement in Rome. Cant wait to see RG draw and schedule.
looking forward to the RG draw Anikh.
I cant wait to see it either.
Hi Clay yes very excited about the draw tomorrow. What things you looking out for from it? I will look out for of course which quarter Andy in as we will face one of top four. Also interested to see where form players like Nishikori ad Dimitrov will be.
I would not mind a andy murray vs rafa final.
that way both of our players win.
that would be ideal for me. that means that andy needs to be in nole's 1/2. he has to game to deal with the top guns on any surface.
andy nearly beat nole at the rome masters a 3 years ago. he had him on the ropes.
well andy had far more experience now on the big stages.
how are you doing anikh?
I know you are enjoying paris. any andy and rafa sightings yet?
I read on twitter that Andy Murray practiced at Wimbledon the other day.
is there any truth to that? was he really practicing on grass?
Wimbledon has clay courts and Andy was practicing on those. He probably went back to silently honour Elena Baltacha's funeral that was held on the same week.
Also as I suspected just last week, Andy has spoken to his new coach and will announce it after RG.
