CAMELOT FANTASIES

Well, today was a day of a couple of big upsets, but maybe not surprising under the circumstances.

#1 seed Rafael Nadal lost quickly in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, to a very aggressive Dustin Brown playing in his home tournament.
Nadal looked tired from his Roland Garros efforts and simply didn't look like he was adjusting to the grass at all, and Brown was not letting him get any rhythm and was playing quite well, mixing up some big shots with some nice touch shots.
The combination of these things made for a short match, and Rafa was sent back to Mallorca in under an hour.  I guess he should rest a few days and head off to Wimbledon and practice, practice, practice.

Bjorn Borg rarely played a grass tourney before Wimbledon after Roland Garros.  Was it because he was so good on grass that he didn't need one?

No.  He needed a lot of work to transition. But instead of playing a tournament so soon after Roland Garros wins, he almost always went to a small club in Cumberland, England and practiced about 4-5 hours/day with top grass court players until he felt comfortable on grass.
The first few days were always very rough.  His practice partners said if they didn't know it was Borg on the other side, he could have been a club player, he was so bad at first.  But by the end of his practice sessions, he was ready to take on the fast grass of Wimbledon.  And did he ever.  No one has surpassed his 5 straight Wimbledon wins.  No one yet has equaled his record of 3 channel slams, even now that the grass at Wimbledon bounces higher than it used to. It is still a difficult transition.  In addition to the great Borg, only 3 other great players in the Open Era have managed it, in their younger years. Nadal is one (twice), Federer another. Laver, of course, last did it when he was 30.

Why doesn't Rafa follow in Borg's footsteps?  Well, these days the tournament directors like Weber in Halle pay big money to players like Nadal to come play.  I think Nadal got around 1/2 to 3/4 of a million to play in Halle.  And he doesn't get taxed as much in Germany as he would in England. Don't know if he sold enough tickets or not to make it a good value for the tournament, but what can you do?

Speaking of Roger Federer, the #2 seed had a bit of a scare in Halle, but managed to come through against Sousa . He lost a tight opening set, no breaks, in the tiebreaker.  He was serving very well, but was not returning well at all, and Sousa was playing lights out tennis, red-lining his game, hitting very hard and not missing much.  In the second set, the tide turned as it often does, as Federer upped his level a bit, started returning much better, and Sousa's level finally dropped.  After Sousa was broken and Federer took the second set, Sousa could not find that high level again, and Federer got better and took the third easily.

Dr. Ivo Karlovic lost to Lu in two tiebreakers. It just didn't go his way, and he couldn't do much against the quick Lu, who is decent on grass.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Interesting information on Borg. Why won't Rafa listen? Well, because he's a stubborn bull. I think he's a Taurus and they really are bull-headed. He was dead on his feet winning the French. But, I guess he felt obligated since he entered Halle last year and had to pull out.

He probably did have to show up this year. But, all will be better next year when the players get a break after RG.

At least now he can get some rest.