Who would have thought yesterday that Rafa would lose to Kyrgios in such fashion? I think that those 2 days off did not do him any favor. He played short, the return of serve was horrible, and on the big points Rafa just played bad. Deserved win by the young Aussie, he definitely has potential if he develops his talent!
Great matches tomorrow - Murray - Dimitrov, Fed - Wawa, Nole - Cilic, Kyrgios - Raonic. Let's see how much Kyrgios has left in the tank after that Gasquet match and today's 3 hour thriller!
Wawrinka criticizes Wimbledon schedulers.
Stan is completely right. Grossly unfair. He and the others in his section will have to play 3 best of 5 matches 3 days in a row. Others like Nadal and Federer will play best of 5 matches 2 days in a row, while top half Murray, Djokovic and others continue to get a day off between matches.
Sunday no play when it was sunny due to tradition and court maintainance. Saturday they started playing again at around 5 pm. They had doubles and mixed doubles and other matches on outside courts, when they could have had the remaining 3 or 4 singles matches played on outside courts, and then everyone could have played Monday and had the day off Tuesday.
Security? Blahhh, what a stupid excuse. Short term thinking about money. They wanted more fans to attend these matches and the outside court stands don't hold enough. But stupid short term thinking could very well cost them the top name players playing at the end, when they are exhausted because of poor scheduling, not to mention it is unfair to one side of the draw.
When players of Nadal and/or Federer's stature and popularity make it to the late stages, TV viewing ratings worldwide go up. This is important to the sponsors that foot the bills. Nobody is saying the tournament should bend over backwards to favor those players and especially Wawrinka and the others potentially playing 3 days in a row, but they should at least try to be fair to them.
Boo of the tournament on Wimbledon schedulers. And they immediately become eligible for my Tournament Boo of the Year.
Disrespectfully,
masterclass
fantastic post general masterclass.
nick was very well composed for a 19 year old. especially on the centre court with the whole world watching.
well done. congrats to nick and his fans.
grass has been tough for Rafa to adjust to after RG for the last 3 years. just goes to show how difficult it is to do that historic double: RG + Wimbledon.
that is why so few in history have been able to do it.
I have to agree with general masterclass. put rafa on yesterday afternoon and he probably goes on to take this match.
he had too much time off and he did not use it wisely. I have been saying this all year.
he does not train/practice enough anymore and it has been costing him. he prefers to do a lot of problem solving on the court.
he needed to do 2 practice sessions a day the last 2 days and forget about that world cup and fun and games with his buddies.
he does not work on his returns in practice and it shows so clearly.
Rafa himself says he does not like to practice as much as he used to in the old days.
well it shows. some of the fitness and the muscle mass is gone. and he is not moving like the wind like he used to. I am sure back issues and the knee issues have forced him to cut back.
often he is lunging and reaching for the ball or he rushes. that is why there are so many errors in his matches this year.
at any rate clearly his greatest liability on quicker courts is return of serve. nobody in the world has the guts to tell him that.
he is used to winning nearly all his clay matches so that tends to mask his return stats. this is the first time in 100,000 centuries that he has actually lost 3 clay matches in a single season.
so one key area of huge concern for me is that return of serve.
2nd area--which is the most critical area--is the small hit he has taken on the fitness front.
he even admits it. he said after RG that he needed to work on his fitness. I think he was in halle, Germany when he said that.
so if he can do some work on his return and his fitness, things should start to fall in place again. he is still plenty young.
and you are not going to believe this: my dad just called as I am typing this post. evidently they are showing his match on the tennis channel. I am not going to watch it again.
but here is what dad said: he said why is nadal playing like he is "scared"?
that is my dad's way of saying that he was too defensive.
I think he is right. Rafa knifed too many balls back thereby denying his topspin backhand a chance to get into rhythm. nick just blasted every single one of those poorly knifed shots from Rafa.
and what a day to have an off day off the forehand wing also. his timing was really off on that wing. it was just a tough day for him.
I like to just forget it fast but I cant. I hate to see him play this poorly. there was an opportunity here to advance.
I missed the presser lady TT. Rafa has the right to be pissed off. people keep taking shots at him.
I am just trying to forget yesterday as fast as I can but it is not working.
I spent all day out on the ocean today but still I cant stop thinking about the back and the knee issue.
I know that has held him back this year. he said his knee was hurting at RG.
and the back issues slowed him down considerably.
hopefully he can get the much valued rest right now and then get back on the fitness trail and the practice courts.