CAMELOT FANTASIES

I just got home.


watching the match now.

here is the deal:

andy is tired and it shows. he played two 5 setters so that has left him leg weary.



rafa is going to have to step it up and I think he will. he has the extra gears.


andy is just off today. that is helping rafa's cause a great deal.


even paul annacone is saying the same thing in so many words: he said andy is "lacking clarity".

also rafa continues to run around his backhand as much as possible. he has to let that wing get into rhythm.

it makes the game easier and he will be more confident as a result of it.


but who the hell is going to tell Rafa that. he doesn't even listen to himself.

So true. That's the flattest I've ever seen Andy. But, this was still a good tournament getting to the SF. I think the weariness showed up in the Monfils match. But at least he proved he can play on clay, contrary to popular opinion.

I think you're right about this too. Rafa only listens to his mom and dad. Other than that, he does what he wants to do.

Is this crazy? Nadal and Djokovic By the Numbers

Strangest fact: Nadal has never beat Novak when he was No. 1!


Nadal-Djokovic, By the Numbers, Episode 42

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Nadal-Djokovic,-By-the-Numbers,-Episode-42.aspx

By Chris Oddo | Saturday, June 7, 2014

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

On the eve of their heavily anticipated Roland Garros final, we take you inside the numbers of the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry.

No two rivals in ATP history have met more than them, and on the eve of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's heavily anticipated Roland Garros final, we take a journey inside the numbers of this storied rivalry.

42 The numbers of times that Nadal and Djokovic will have met after Sunday, which will be the most of any two players in Open Era history.

More than:

McEnroe v. Lendl (36, Lendl leads 21-15)
Becker v. Edberg (35, Becker leads 25-10 )
Lendl v. Connors (35, Lendl leads 22-13)
Sampras v. Agassi (34, Sampras leads 20-14)
McEnroe vs. Connors (34, McEnroe leads 20-14)
Djokovic vs. Federer (34, Federer leads 18-16)

239 The combined number of weeks that Nadal and Djokovic have spent at No. 1 as of this week. Nadal has 138 and Djokovic has 101. The winner of Sunday’s final will hold the No. 1 on Monday.

22-19 Nadal holds the edge in the pair's career head-to-head mark. Djokovic has taken the last four, including their last battle in the Rome final in May, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

1 The numbers of players to own four or more victories against Rafael Nadal on clay. Novak Djokovic notched his fourth in Rome, but he has still yet to defeat Nadal in five previous matches at the French Open.

878,976 The number of times that Djokovic has woken up in a cold sweat thinking about this net touch, which happened in the fifth set of their semifinal last year while Djokovic was up a break:

5 The number of winning streaks of three or more matches that Rafael Nadal has put together against Novak Djokovic.

21 The number of finals that the pair have contested. Djokovic leads 12-9, on the strength of a 7-3 edge in hard court finals. Nadal leads 5-4 in clay-court finals, and he won the pair's only Roland Garros final in four sets in 2012.

12 Number of Grand Slam encounters that Nadal and Djokovic have had.

More than:

Federer-Djokovic, 11 (Federer leads 6-5)
Federer-Nadal, 11 (Nadal leads 9-2)
Lendl-McEnroe, 10 (Lendl leads 7-3)

Nadal leads the Grand Slam series 8-3, on the strength of his 5-0 Roland Garros mark vs. Djokovic.

7 The longest winning streak that one has achieved against the other. Djokovic won seven consecutive finals against Nadal, beginning at Indian Wells in 2011 and ending at the Australian Open in 2013. Nadal's longest streak against Djokovic is five.

6-4 Nadal holds the edge in deciding sets against Djokovic, but the pair have split their two fifth sets, with Djokovic winning in Australia in 2012 and Nadal winning at Roland Garros in 2013.

13-4 Nadal's record against Djokovic on clay. The Spaniard has taken four of the last six, while the pair have split the last eight after Nadal had won the first nine on dirt.

317-24 Nadal's record on clay, which includes 44 titles and a 52-match winning streak in clay-court semifinals.

145-39 Djokovic's record on clay, which includes 9 titles.

8-4 Nadal’s record against Djokovic in tiebreakers.

5/29/2006 The date the Djokovic and Nadal played their first tour-level match. Djokovic retired after dropping the first two sets in the 2006 French Open quarterfinals.

6 Number of Grand Slam finals that the pair have played. They have split the six, with Nadal winning the last two.

81
Length of Nadal's career-best clay-court winning streak. His current streak is now at 6.

65-1 Rafa's career record at Roland Garros. Of those 66 matches, the Spaniard has only been pushed beyond three sets 16 times. He has only gone five sets twice, including last year's epic semifinal with Novak Djokovic, which he won 9-7 in the fifth.

3 Remarkably, Djokovic is the only man to own three or more Grand Slam victories against Nadal. Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Murray each own two.

13 Number of times that the pair have met as No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. Djokovic carried the No. 1 ranking against No. 2 Nadal six times, going 3-3.

That part isn’t so remarkable, but this is: Nadal has held the No. 1 ranking seven times against No. 2 Djokovic, going 0-7!!! Strange, yet true. Nadal is 6-8 lifetime against the Serb when he holds the No. 1 ranking.

5:53 The length of their 2012 Australian final, which is the longest Grand Slam final in the history of tennis.

34 Nadal’s current Roland Garros winning streak, which is the longest in French Open winning streak, but still seven behind Bjorn Borg’s 41-match Wimbledon winning streak, which lasted from 1976 until the 1981 final.

- See more at: http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Nadal-Djokovic,-By-the-Numbers,-Episode-42.aspx#sthash.8JNJHIzH.dpuf

Rafa the invincible.

He did it lady TT.


this is why Camelot is required reading.


we called it.

Very true general, and his return was short the whole match... Key service stat: Nadal's second serve won% was not so good, similar to what it has been this year only 50%, whereas for his career on clay it has been 56-57%.  So he was there for the taking, but Djokovic simply played worse.  Djokovic was only 36% on his second serve points won, while for his career on clay he has been 54%.

Nadal had 44 winners vs 38 UE's - that's an average of almost 10 UE's/set, which is rather high for him on clay. But he got more aggressive starting in the second set, and kept that aggression throughout the match, and in the 3rd set he played much cleaner with only 5 errors, which is about his usual when playing well.
Split out by set it was:   Set 1- 5:8,   2- 18:13,  3- 11:5, 4- 10:12

Djokovic had 43 winners vs 49 UE's .

Split out by set it was:  Set 1- 11:8,   2- 13:14,  3- 12:14, 4- 7:13

Except for the 3rd set, the errors made by both were nearly the same.  In the 4th set, both players tired and weakened, but Djokovic weakened much more and his drop off in aggression was quite noticeable and reflected in his winner stat.

Yes, Nadal won, but there is still room for improvement for him. 

Djokovic did not look healthy out there as the match went on.  Maybe the heat had something to do with it, but it looked like he spit up/vomited a couple of times and some said he might have had a stomach flu/virus.

Respectfully,
masterclass

Uncle Toni: We Knew If Rafa Didn’t Win The Fourth He’d Lose The Fifth

Respectfully,
masterclass

14th major is a historical achievement of staggering proportions.



I will start a thread here at your place to honor and celebrate his 14th major.

stay tuned.

It is amazing. I still can't believe it.

for about a set and a 1/2 rafa's backhand was just horrible.


and I mean really horrible. I have never really seen it this bad.

that is where majority of those 38 errors came from.

so he was far from his best.

He was physically compromised. I think the back was hurting him, but he was also cramping towards the end of the match.