Author Topic: 2015 Hamburg German Open (Jul 27-Aug 02) Final: Nadal d. Fognini 7-5, 7-5 (Read 1291 times)

masterclass · « **on:** July 26, 2015, 03:14:35 am »

Singles 32 draw Surface: Red Clay Total Financial Commitment : 1,407,960 Euros.

Respectfully,
masterclass

masterclass · « **Reply #1 on:** July 26, 2015, 03:45:27 am »

Rafa has a tough assignment his first round in the ATP 500 at Hamburg - Fernando Verdasco.

6 years ago, these two players played a great match in the Australian Open semifinal, except at 4-5 in the 5th set when Verdasco imploded with double faults serving to stay in the match.

Fernando Verdasco takes the 4th set tiebreaker 7-1 with a mighty effort.

Nadal consoles Verdasco after he broke himself to lose the match.

Here's a reminder of how good they were:

Rafa would go on to beat Roger Federer in another 5 set battle in the final for his only Australian Open title and his only major that year, then he would win an incredible 3 majors the following year.

I don't think Verdasco recovered for a long time after that loss. He was 0-13 against Nadal until his last 2 matches where he finally beat Nadal in the Madrid Masters on blue clay in 2012, and then their last match most recently in Miami this year, both matches in 3 sets, where Verdasco dropped the second and went on to win the decider.

Nadal needs to be fit to beat Verdasco. Verdasco has confidence now against Rafa, and though he didn't play well lately, his last two matches were against Wawrinka at Wimbledon and Murray at Queens Club on grass. Now they return to the red clay where Rafa has not lost to Fernando.

I think Rafa has to snatch this in 2 sets. I'm not sure he is fit enough to go to 3.

Rafa also plays doubles with his young friend Jaume Munar who was the Roland Garros Junior runner-up two years ago. But they face a tough battle playing #1 seeds Bolelli and Fognini, winners of this year's Australian Open doubles. As part of the deal to play in Hamburg, Rafa helped 18 year old world #683 Munar get a wild card into the main singles draw. Munar will play GGL - Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round.

Respectfully,
masterclass

masterclass · « **Reply #2 on:** July 26, 2015, 02:05:21 pm »

Nadal-Munar vs. Fognini-Bolelli is scheduled to be the final match of the day on center court on Monday.

Verdasco-GGL vs. Inglot-Linstedt will be the last match on the Arriba court.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #3 on:** July 26, 2015, 07:52:00 pm »

thanks for putting this together general masterclass.

Rafa has a chance here but he needs to win 3 matches in order to get the feel for the surface and conditions.

lack of fitness and limited ground game could come back to haunt him again.

he has to try to right the ship here if possible. a title would certainly help his cause and may get some momentum going.

he said he was here to "raise his level". hope he can do it.

that means controlling the center of the court and trusting his backhand to do the job.

masterclass · « **Reply #4 on:** July 27, 2015, 01:55:42 pm »

Well the doubles is out of the way. Fognini-Bolelli just too strong for Nadal and very young Munar. 6-4, 6-2.

Nadal and Munar were up against it from the start as they were down two breaks and 4-1. But they showed some fight, got one break back and got to 4-5 before the Italians snatched it. The second set was not much of a battle. The Italians went up to 5-0, got broken serving for it the first time, then got it done their next serve. 18 year old Munar did not do badly at first, but then hung his head a bit after opening the second set with a poor service game.

Rafa was inconsistent. Again, the forehand was not entirely there either on groundstrokes or volleys. He needs that forehand singing to be effective. I think he needs lots of work on it to work it out. He can't seem to control it, or he is just late on it.

When he served to Fognini, he was very tense, as Fognini on the backhand kept bashing his second serve right to Nadal's forehand and Rafa was left wanting. Rafa did much better in the Bolelli exchanges when he was on his backhand side hitting forehands cross court to Bolelli's forehand.

But all in all, I think it was enjoyable for Nadal. He was smiling and laughing on several points regardless of the score. So I don't think he really treated the doubles as anything more than a warm-up for tomorrow.

Here is the Order of Play for Tuesday:

CENTER COURT Starts at 11:30 am
1st Rd
Borna Coric VS    (3)    Roberto Bautista Agut

Not Before 1:30 pm
1st Rd

Benoit Paire VS    Philipp Kohlschreiber

Followed By
1st Rd
(1) WC Rafael Nadal VS Fernando Verdasco

Followed By
1st Rd

(WC) Alexander Zverev VS    (2) Tommy Robredo

------------------------------------

ARRIBA COURT Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

(6) Juan Monaco VS Ernests Gulbis

Followed By
1st Rd

Lukas Rosol VS Simone Bolelli

Followed By
1st Rd

Diego Schwartzman VS (5)    Pablo Cuevas

Followed By / After Suitable Rest
1st Rd

(3) Jamie Murray/John Peers VS    (PR) Florian Mayer/Jiri Vesely
-----------------------------

COURT M2 Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

(4) Andreas Seppi VS    Martin Klizan

Followed By
1st Rd

( 8 ) Fabio Fognini VS Jeremy Chardy

Followed By
1st Rd

(Q) Frank Moser/Jan-Lennard Struff VS Albert Ramos-Vinolas/Andreas Seppi

Followed By
1st Rd

Jeremy Chardy/Lukasz Kubot VS    (2) Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares
--------------------------------

COURT M3 Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

Aljaz Bedene VS Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Followed By
1st Rd

(WC) Jaume Munar VS (7) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Followed By
1st Rd

Jiri Vesely    VS Andreas Haider-Maurer

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #5 on:** July 27, 2015, 02:04:28 pm »

Quote from: masterclass on July 27, 2015, 01:55:42 pm

Well the doubles is out of the way. Fognini-Bolelli just too strong for Nadal and very young Munar. 6-4, 6-2.

Nadal and Munar were up against it from the start as they were down two breaks and 4-1. But they showed some fight, got one break back and got to 4-5 before the Italians snatched it. The second set was not much of a battle. The Italians went up to 5-0, got broken serving for it the first time, then got it done their next serve. 18 year old Munar did not do badly at first, but then hung his head a bit after opening the second set with a poor service game.

Rafa was inconsistent. Again, the forehand was not entirely there either on groundstrokes or volleys. He needs that forehand singing to be effective. I think he needs lots of work on it to work it out. He can't seem to control it, or he is just late on it.

When he served to Fognini, he was very tense, as Fognini on the backhand kept bashing his second serve right to Nadal's forehand and Rafa was left wanting. Rafa did much better in the Bolelli exchanges when he was on his backhand side hitting forehands cross court to Bolelli's forehand.

But all in all, I think it was enjoyable for Nadal. He was smiling and laughing on several points regardless of the score. So I don't think he really treated the doubles as anything more than a warm-up for tomorrow.

Here is the Order of Play for Tuesday:

CENTER COURT Starts at 11:30 am
1st Rd
Borna Coric VS    (3)    Roberto Bautista Agut

Not Before 1:30 pm
1st Rd

Benoit Paire VS    Philipp Kohlschreiber

Followed By
1st Rd
(1) WC Rafael Nadal VS Fernando Verdasco

Followed By
1st Rd

(WC) Alexander Zverev VS    (2) Tommy Robredo

------------------------------------

ARRIBA COURT Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

(6) Juan Monaco VS Ernests Gulbis

Followed By
1st Rd

Lukas Rosol VS Simone Bolelli

Followed By
1st Rd

Diego Schwartzman VS (5)    Pablo Cuevas

Followed By / After Suitable Rest
1st Rd

(3) Jamie Murray/John Peers VS    (PR) Florian Mayer/Jiri Vesely
-----------------------------

COURT M2 Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

(4) Andreas Seppi VS    Martin Klizan

Followed By
1st Rd

( 8 ) Fabio Fognini VS Jeremy Chardy

Followed By
1st Rd

(Q) Frank Moser/Jan-Lennard Struff VS Albert Ramos-Vinolas/Andreas Seppi

Followed By
1st Rd

Jeremy Chardy/Lukasz Kubot VS    (2) Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares
--------------------------------

COURT M3 Starts at 11:00 am
1st Rd

Aljaz Bedene VS Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Followed By
1st Rd

(WC) Jaume Munar VS (7) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Followed By
1st Rd

Jiri Vesely    VS Andreas Haider-Maurer

Respectfully,
masterclass

I don't know why he is doing this to himself.

8 hours a day of solid hitting would take care of the ground game which is now at just 10 % capacity.

he is just a mere shadow of himself and he refuses to do anything about it.

masterclass · « **Reply #6 on:** July 27, 2015, 05:49:03 pm »

Here is the video of the doubles general. I think it tells the story.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2015, 10:32:06 am »

Quote from: masterclass on July 27, 2015, 05:49:03 pm

Here is the video of the doubles general. I think it tells the story.

Respectfully,
masterclass

he is wasting away valuable time. this is total waste.

I would have spent 3 hours just hitting the ball instead and also working on the serve and the return.

masterclass · « **Reply #8 on:** July 29, 2015, 01:39:02 am »

Rafael Nadal comes from behind to beat Fernando Verdasco - 3-6, 6-1, 6-1

Rafa looked more fit and more determined in this match, especially after winning those long games. Let's see what happens. I think he wins the tournament.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #9 on:** July 29, 2015, 08:12:05 am »

great post general masterclass.

lot of work to be done general. he looked more determined but he has lost some of his huge physicality.

he has to follow in the footsteps and stan and roger and start hitting the gym for more power.

resistance training will also insulate him from injuries to some extent.

masterclass · « **Reply #10 on:** July 30, 2015, 11:29:58 am »

General Hercules, Nadal scraped by today in a hard fought two sets, 6-4, 7-6(2).
But he looked very poor, especially in the second set, as he was tiring.

I think any better player than Vesely, and he would have lost.

Rafa embarrassingly had match point at 5-4 and lost the game with a DF that point and a DF on break point. He barely made the net he was so nervous. Distressing to watch by any tennis fan. But fortunately for Rafa, Vesely was not much better and handed the tiebreaker to Rafa with some poor errors.

Rafa had some very good points, and bad as well, especially on the forehand side.

He needs a lot of work. I changed my mind. I don't know if he can win this tournament.
He needs to improve at least 50% from where he is right now.

He had around 33 errors in 2 sets on clay. He used to go 4, maybe 5 matches on clay without making that many total.

As Federer and we have said, Rafa needs lots of work in practice, general.

I'll put the video up when it is available.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #11 on:** July 30, 2015, 02:46:06 pm »

Affirmative.

Lack of complete and total disregard for practice and work on fitness is showing up again.

He looks terrible at best.

There is little power and also not sufficient depth in his strokes.

I don't think he can win this tournament.

The fitness level is just alarming.

He gets tired after 40 minutes of play.

masterclass · « **Reply #12 on:** July 31, 2015, 01:44:32 pm »

Wasn't able to watch the matches today General. Do you know how it went?
I Know Rafa won 6-3, 6-2, so it seems better.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Clay Death · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2015, 03:53:53 pm »

I am out on the road.

I hear it was a comfortable win.

He is probably going to get fognini in the final which could get tricky.

Fog is going to swing away for the fences with nothing to lose.

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Author Topic: 2015 Hamburg German Open (Jul 27-Aug 02) Final: Nadal d. Fognini 7-5, 7-5 (Read 1291 times)

masterclass

2015 Hamburg German Open (Jul 27-Aug 02) Final: Nadal d. Fognini 7-5, 7-5

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