ATP 1000: Monte Carlo (Daily Order Of Play)!

First topic message reminder :

Monte Carlo.... tennis is finally coming home!

After weeks of sleepless nights caused by travelless jetlag, tennis caravan is back to where it belongs and looks best: Europe!

Ahead are a few potentially historically huge months:

Novak Djokovic could be the first man after Rod Laver to hold all 4 slam titles.

He could also be the first man to achieve the Golden slam, if he wins the gold at the Olympics.

All grand dreams, very difficult to achieve, yet, for this grand dreamer, nothing is impossible

Back to Monte Carlo, and the first 1000 Masters even on clay:

Bar Federer's last minute wild-card change of mind, all the best players are in town:

*Legendary Rafael Nadal with his mind-boggling 7 straight tournament wins.
*Novak Djokovic with his mind-boggling 7 straight finals wins over Nadal
*Andy Murray , pressure free and hungry. Could surprise many.
*David Ferrer, the eternal bridesmaid...will give someone a great workout in the semi-final!
*Delpo? No Federer in the draw, may release the "old" smooth powerhouse.

and.....

everybody else except the Biggest clay question mark called Isner, who withdrew from the tournament needing rest and preparation for the remainder of the season.

Official website:

http://www.monte-carlorolexmasters.com/


The Draw:

http://www.monte-carlorolexmasters.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?Year=2012&Draw=ms

Easier to follow, PDF version of the draw:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/410/mds.pdf

Order of play for Wednesday, 17th of April (no PDF version yet):

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Scores/schedule.aspx?EventId=410&Year=2012&Seq=5

Set in the glorious scenery of glittering, breath-taking sparkling Medditeranean vista, I will be there daily in spirit sighing and dreaming....

For Monte Carlo with its vintage charm, class and timeless air of dolce vita is my favourite tournament (let's leave that heart-breaker called Wimbledon out of this conversation just this once!)

I have bought a large vintage poster of Monte Carlo recently, and it hangs framed behind my desk reminding me of those days when the world took its time....and nobody moaned that much ....and ladies wore dresses when they played....and looked and behaved like ladies ....

http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/16398/wm/pd1802170.jpg

Now, let's get into the mood, shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFabjc6mFk4


AND, last but not the least...

GO NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!1

laverfan wrote:

reckoner wrote:
"Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"

Did you steal this from Yummy? This was oft-quoted by her.

erm. Hell no.

That quote is from Carry on Cleo!

Nice to see you too LF

arrr reckoner, you know your Carry On's...
Sid James...dirtiest laugh of all time hey?

Hey welcome back Haddie-nuff. How's things?

lydian wrote:arrr reckoner, you know your Carry On's...
Sid James...dirtiest laugh of all time hey?

you know it!

babs windsor and her flying bikini top lol

HN, a bit of a change of climate there then!

Lydian England is getting more snow than Canada... they had 23deg in March this year.. how things change eh ??..

CaledonianCraig wrote:Hey welcome back Haddie-nuff. How's things?

Hi ya Craig howya doin ... ??? Im fine NOW thanks hope you are too... :D

Nice to have you back Haddie, congratulations on Monte Carlo. Rafa deserved it and it looks like all the talk from some segments that he was finished was more than a bit premature.

lol indeed socal, they've been writing Nadal off for years now...considering he was "washed" up in 2009 he's not done bad to struggle on for another 3 years yet. But he's still got to beat Nole in the other events/slams yet...Nole will spring back fighting in Madrid and Rome I'm sure of that....once he's picked up the mandatory trophy in Belgrade that is

lol HN...yeah the weather is bizarre here and there it seems. I know in Toronto they have a good climate from recent years...nice standard of living over there too.

reckoner, we all remember that one...indeed isnt that the epitomal memory (or mammary) of those carry on films? Certainly made her career...and got an even louder laugh from Sidney no doubt...they were having an affair off-stage I believe. What a carry-on

Hi socal... nice to see you... though we are on opposite sides of the net... we have never fallen out over it have we. Your balanced posts have always impressed me and Ill forgive you for supporting the "enemy" :whistle:

You know I may well be putting my neck out here... (my usual will or wont)
but albeit I am making allowances for the downbeat Novak on Sunday I truly am of the belief that Rafa in the frame of mind he was on Sunday would have won anyway. Anyone who has read Rafa´s book will have seen that Rafa has admitted that in tennis terms he is not as good as many on tour.. but where he has always "scored" is in his mental ability to stay focussed. I am of the belief that this is what has been missing for months (indeed since he actually wrote that book) because I think there was trouble in the Rafa camp... but I think Novak did him a favour.. Rafa hates to lose ... and his ego, his mental ability to stay focussed took a bashing. It was a hard lesson for Rafa but I think Novak has taught him something.. and seriously and you can let the hens out of the henhouse if Im wrong... Novak will now have a fight on his hands.

Well Haddie, the win can't help but help Rafa. But i don't know if I draw too much from this MC victory. Clearly Novak was a couple of levels off his very best. Nadal served better but other then that I didn't see him do very much differently then in the previous encounters that Novak won. I mean we all knew after the AO final that Nadal wasn't too far away, a lot of things went right for him and wrong for his opponent in this tournament. I think we have to see the clay court season play out before we draw too much from a single match.

You may have a point there HN about the losses waking Nadal up from a focused point of view...or rather that the losses stopped the constant bickering that was going on in Team Nadal and reunited them all back into a common cause..."Challenge Djokovic". I think its still going to be tough for Nadal on HC but on clay there is no doubt that Nole will find it harder this year than last to beat Rafa on clay again. Watching the Madrid final again yesterday showed how close that match was and Rafa just wasnt right in the head last year somehow. But we'll see...I like the advancement on his serve yesterday and more balls into Nole's FH rather than predictably in the stronger BH...he's been doing some thinking. The true test will be the faster blue clay of Madrid...but Nole will be regrouped and all guns blazing there...he has a title and points to defend!

Socal... he didn´t have to do much differently did he.. he knew it and so did Novak. But Rafa was not passive yesterday he was aggressive and determined.. and its a long time since Ive seen that "Im not going to lose this match" look he had yesterday-.Rafa has been troubled mentally .. he lost his confidence as I believe that he had a problem with Uncle T.. They have resolved their differences but a lot was spoken about in that book..As I say I do not expect it to be easy for Rafa.. but I do think that even given Novaks off colour performance he himself saw something different in Rafa´s game.

I will admit that I am nervous for Rafa he desperately needs another win to boost the confidence that he gained from that match yesterday. Whatever Lydian/Socal this is gonna be interesting times me thinks.Whatever its tough at the top and these two are streets ahead... Bjorn Borg admitted in his recent interview today´s tennis is way beyond anything he played or indeed could ever play. The competition is incredibly tough and even Novak and Rafa have to keep looking over their shoulders.

That is true Haddie, tennis is very fickle you can't rest on your achievements even for a second no matter how much you have achieved. I think both guys will have to look over their shoulder at Murray for sure especially at the hardcourt events. i still see this as just one battle, and of course it can't but help Nadal to break the streak, get a win against his biggest rival and to lift a trophy after a lengthy drought.

reckoner wrote:Y'know I think you guys lock and delete a little too much.

This is a 12 page thread which documents what happened. Killing it rather than letting it go its natural course just doesn't seem right to me.

Too much of this goes on. What is the point of posting to a thread if it is going to be deleted at the drop of a hat?

If one doesn't value the time people spend contributing to this forum, they will stop contributing.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not in favour of locking and/or killing any threads. I did not want any celebrations on this thread for the events that transpired earlier. Neither did I want any post-event bickering to show up here. This thread can continue as is.