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Rafa narrowly avoids being broken again for the breadstick. Kei had set point, but a good forehand by Rafa got him back to deuce, then Kei hit a drop shot attempt into the net (which Nadal was on anyway), and Nadal served it out. Now Nishikori has a chance to serve for the set.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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And Nishikori at 40-15 takes the first set 6-2 with an ace down the middle. Nadal continuing to spray errors at an alarming rate. I believe he has 2 winners and 12 or 13 UE's. Nadal and Madrid fans look in shock. Rafa needs to right the ship in a hurry. He serves first and must hold, I believe.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Nadal broken straight away in the opening game of the second set. Then Rafa had triple break point on Kei, and Kei somehow managed to come up with 5 straight points to win the game. Not looking good for Rafa. Kei on a roll.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Nadal held his service game, and had Nishikori on the ropes on his serve, but Nishikori escaped with some good serving. Nishikori might be running out of steam, but he still is up a break at 3-1. Nadal has to hold and try to keep pressure on Nishikori. Crowd screaming for Nadal on Nishikori errors and during points. Nishikori complained to chair ump, but chair ump said he can do nothing. Didn't even make an announcement to ask the crowd to stay quiet during points. Not that it would help...this is Madrid
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Nishikori and Nadal both hold, and it's 4-3 Nishikori to serve, but he has called the trainer. Trainer is on taking care of his back, but no official MTO. Oh my. Nishikori so close to the finish line. Two more holds will do it. Rafa needs some divine intervention the way Kei has been playing. He's simply outplaying Nadal, hitting strong to his backhand wing, opening up the court, and hitting sharp angles to the forehand. If Rafa gets to those, then Kei hits behind Rafa as he runs to cover the backhand. Same patterns.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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And Nadal finally breaks. Nishikori down 15-40, having some trouble getting to the balls wide to his backhand, serves well to get back to deuce. But then he makes an unforced error, and then after a long rally, Kei hits the net cord and the ball sails long. Nadal makes big fist pump on the Nishikori error and crowd goes wild. Not the most polite crowd, but their hero is down, so it is what it is. They would be wildly cheering double faults now. Kei's physical condition might be in question now.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Now Nishikori takes an official MTO for his back. Worrying looks from his team.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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And Nishikori has lost his edge and is broken for the set to even it up at 1 all. Nadal looks in the driver's seat now as Kei's back appears to be hurting him. He was clearly looking to end points quickly on his serve. A failed drop shot and going for lines with abandon. Sad for him and his fans, but Nadal and his fans have a reprieve. 1 more set for the title.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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And it's over. Nishikori clearly injured, down 3-0 , has retired. A real shame for him, he was playing so well. Well, that's the story of his career also. He does get injured a lot, though he has been better this year than most. Nadal takes Madrid.
Congratulations to Nadal and his supporters.
Commiserations to Nishikori and his fans.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm quite unhappy with Clay Warrior.
Now he has Rome to straighten things up. He did not look good out there today folks.
Respectfully,
masterclass -
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Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm quite unhappy with Clay Warrior.
Now he has Rome to straighten things up. He did not look good out there today folks.
Respectfully,
masterclass
Did not look good? He looked downright horrible. And as you predicted he needed divine intervention.
Although Nadal is going through a rough patch, it doesn't really bother me. It's hard to compete at such a high level for a decade and counting. Sometimes, something's got to give, and the rain must fall on everyone.
I don't think he's going to be able to recover in time this year. There appears to be too much going on in his psyche. I think the problem is mental more than anything and he hasn't quite gathered his bearings.
But hey, it's just tennis, matches, and careers. As long as you have your health, family, and a support system, those kinds of things go out the window for me. -
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Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm quite unhappy with Clay Warrior.
Now he has Rome to straighten things up. He did not look good out there today folks.
Respectfully,
masterclass
Um, it was kind of implied, LOL!
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Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm quite unhappy with Clay Warrior.
Now he has Rome to straighten things up. He did not look good out there today folks.
Respectfully,
masterclass
he is just not working hard enough in practice general masterclass and it showed today.
and what is worse, he is not working hard on the things he needs to: the backhand and the return of serve.
this last 20 minutes at the end of his 90 minute practice sessions to play some points or a practice set does not give him a chance to work on his return. and in course of that practice set or just points that are played, he runs around his backhand as much as possible.
and as you have suggested and as I have noted in his practice sessions, he is just running around his backhand to hit as many forehands as possible.
he just does what he wants to. I can assure you that he is not listening to anybody but himself.
so all these short cuts are making his life very hard out there. that is why he got run over by ferru in monte carlo. he had not lost to ferru on in clay in 10 years.
same with almagro in Barcelona: he had never lost to almagro. he slaves away against him for 2 hours and 48 minutes in barcelona.
so they are all working and all improving. nadal refuses to improve this year.
on another note that is probably why the world watches him. he gives them all a chance to beat him and sometimes they do.
he gives them 1/2 the court. he gives up his chance to let his backhand get into some sort of rhythm. he gives them chances on their serve as he just looks to hit forehands on the return of serve if he can.
his slice as weak. he poses no threat at the net.
so I believe that nadal holds the world on the edge of the seat . they all have their chances to beat him because he leaves so much off the table.
his athletic ability, his blinding speed, his physicality, his amazing movement, his topspin forehand, and his will has always been enough for most of them but now it is getting easier for them and harder for him.
why? very simple. as I have suggested, he just does not put in the work like he used to.
this is not rocket science.
now he has 1000 points to defend in rome also. what he needs to show himself is that he can improve with each match. that will get him the title and it will send out a clear message.
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Yeah, I agree. I am too not getting Andy's smile either. Some of the Murray fans think it's so cute and cheeky but I can't help but feel there's more to it than that. I have a hunch but I want to wait for it until the end of year.
Wimbledon will tell a lot or perhaps it will tell all.
Ha ha ha. I can't wait. Do spill the beans, Emma.
It's actually not too mysterious, really. You know how Andy is and how he berates himself if he's not happy with his own play. Lately he's stopped doing it because he's performance he is now finding at appalling level and that's generating that sarcastic smile at his own self. If you watched any of his recent matches, you would see him smiling after errors that he wouldn't be making otherwise. He smiled in the same manner after he won against Almagro because in his mind, he didn't feel he was the true winner.
If he's berating himself or kicking himself - that would mean he still wants to play well and win the match. And that he has some fire left in him and he's trying to ignite that. Lately he doesn't even feel that and he smiles at himself because he finds it hopeless.
I guess he had relied on Lendl a bit much to motivate him when things are down (it was bound to happen after the Wimbledon win, something he chased all his life) but the sudden departure of Lendl brought him even more down. He did not at all see that coming so he feels clueless.
It's a pity though that he's unable to motivate himself. He badly needs a coach who will bring him back from his own misery and will motivate him to achieve something much bigger. It will have to be someone he truly likes, because he's the kind of a person or player who likes to win for others. He's already done a great deal for his country so whatever is left will have to be something for himself and he's not too keen on that.
Let's see what happens. Let's see who he hires. He has finally narrowed it down to a couple of people but he hasn't talked to them yet. Let's see if this new coach can do wonders. It will be a lot up to Andy as well and I hope Andy understands that too.
This doesn't mean though he's depressed. He's, in fact, a bit too happy and content. -
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Nishi came into the final match with a plan. He's going to outhit and outrun Nadal and make it a very short and quick win. In his mind, either he'd win or lose but that was the plan - not that he though he'd definitely win but he definitely had his hope. And he did a good job too until he took the break in the 2nd set. You know, these top players especially Federer and Nadal - they are like sharks. They can smell blood from miles away and they are always hungry and desperate. So when Nishi took that break, it sent Nadal a message that he was waiting for and he struck right away. Nishi knew he had no chance in the 3rd set since he was coming off a marathon match against Ferrer and had only less than 24 hours recovery time. Something that took away most of his stamina. So he wanted to keep things short if possible and had he not taken that short break to get his back fixed, I believe he would have won the match in straight sets. But that break was unfortunate and deciding factor of the match. He showed he was injured and it's never a good idea especially if you are leading the set and only a couple of games away from winning the match.
Well, what's done is done. Nadal did get lucky with the draw opening up nicely and then followed by a half dead opponent in the final. But then again, sometimes things do happen for a reason and players do get lucky - it's not just Nadal.
Congrats to both. Nishi played an excellent tournament. And I am glad he's taken himself out of Rome. This will give him enough time to heal his back and get his strength back.
Nadal, along with Andy, is going through a very low phase at the moment though Nadal is still playing a lot better than Andy - clay's notwithstanding. They are humans after all.
Oh and I am surprised (or maybe not) Federer is playing in Rome only after a week long break. -