Rome 2014

First topic message reminder :

ATP Draw: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?EventId=416&Year=2014

WTA Draw: http://www.wtatennis.com/singles-draws/tournamentId/643/round/7/rangeStart/1/rangeEnd/16

OoP:

Sunday, May 18, 2014

CENTRALE Start 1:30 pm
[1] Serena Williams (USA)
v
[10] Sara Errani (ITA)

Not Before 4:00 pm

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
v
[2] Novak Djokovic (SRB)

PIETRANGELI Start 2:30 pm

[6] Daniel Nestor (CAN)
Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
v
Robin Haase (NED)
Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

[4] Kveta Peschke (CZE)
Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)
v
[2] Sara Errani (ITA)
Roberta Vinci (ITA)

(Apologies for missing last two days. Been a bit under the weather).

Nole gets a break back... 2*-4, Nole to serve.

Kohli leads 5-3* Nole serving to stay in the set

Kohli leads 5-3* Nole serving to stay in the set

Is Tennis slowly becoming like boxing?

DirectView wrote:Is Tennis slowly becoming like boxing?

Especially on Clay, yes.

This is murrays best chance he will have against nadal on clay. Rafa the big favourite but nadal has been far from unbeatable in recent times and is dropping a lot of sets. Murray should really go out there and have a go! Nothing to lose for him.

I think ferrer could well beat Novak, djokovic will know how his injury healed....that is for sure after a match against ferrer on clay!!!

Best Chance for an outsider to win an Clay court masters, Stan already did it, Kei almost did it, now lets see whether Murray/Raonic or Ferrer could do something here.

I wouldn't exactly call Wawrinka an 'outsider' on clay.

Prior to winning Monte Carlo, he had previously reached the finals in both Rome(2008 L Djokovic) and Madrid(2013 L Nadal)

Novak fails to serve out a set again, this time againt Ferrer.

It's extraordinary how often that has happened over the last year or so.

Good win for Novak. Ferrer on clay always a tough proposition

Looked like a particularly brutal encounter between Novak and Daveed today.

If Novak's wrist can get through that, it must be completely fine.

Too early to call, but if a Nadal loses this it could to be seen as the clay season we look back and say "that's when the end started".

bogbrush wrote:Too early to call, but if a Nadal loses this it could to be seen as the clay season we look back and say "that's when the end started".

Have we already passed that stage though? A win over Murray searching for semblance of form isn't going to convince me this is the Rafa of old.

Come on Andy, bagel him.

bogbrush wrote:Too early to call, but if a Nadal loses this it could to be seen as the clay season we look back and say "that's when the end started".

Rafa has made a comment or two this week that make me wonder if he is wondering that himself.

Holy ice cream, Andy is crushing him.

The world is tired of Nadal and mud clay, its become like Russia and human rights, painful.

Maybe. Murray looks comfortable in the long rallies.

He still has his great effort and won't give up though.

One set and no FH winners. BH winners Andy 5, Nadal 0.

Andy folding, back issues, thought Nadal has kicked in gear, a little.

No not folding and Rafa has upped his level (not hard though). Andy's level has dipped certainly but I wouldn't call it folding as Rafa is playing some great shots to win points.

That was a totally unreal winner Andy hit there. I don't know of anyone in the game today and I mean anyone who could have pulled that one off.

Crowd chanting for Andy there.

Break back. Andy better with lots of errors, so he's unfolding now?

Regardless now it is pretty clear that Andy is finding a tad more form and consistency at long last. Lets hope he can carry this form and a bit more to the French Open.

Hope hawkeye is getting the Italian chants for Andy (not Rafa).

Keep it up boy, break him now.

Much better signs in Andy's game now. More like it Andy and just what the doctor ordered going to the French Open.

Yes yes yesss Andy 4:2 up and to serve.

Nadal breaks back. What a superb match this is.

Unbelievable Jeff!

Anybody's match now,

Crazy match. Nadal breaks back.

Great tenacity from Andy. He defended break points and pulled through. Rafa serving to stay in the match.

Well looks like Andy is destined to lose. Broken to love and Rafa to serve for the match at 6-5 in the final set. Will Andy get a better chance to beat Rafa on clay?

Rafa wins 1-6 6-3 7-5. Well played Rafa - he just got better and better. Hard lines Andy but he can take a lot of heart from that performance. Onwards and upwards Andy.

Nadal takes it. Great match, Andy looking good but not at best for FO.

Somewhat of a missed opportunity tonight for Andy but overall he has to be pleased. Seems to be finding his game on clay just in time for RG.

Jahu wrote:Nadal takes it. Great match,  Andy looking good but not at best for FO.

Agreed about it being a great match and about not being at his best but this was a step in the right direction and if he can carry improvement through the French Open then he can go deep into the second week and stack up ranking points as he missed the FO last year.

What exactly is up with Rafa? Probably his worst clay season since his teens. He won't beat even an undercooked Nole in this kind of form in this tournament or at RG. Probably has to hope another player does him the favour of eliminating Nole. He simply doesn't look right.

Dmitrov has a pretty strong chance of beating THIS Nadal. Would be less of a shock than getting beaten by Almagro.

mthierry wrote:What exactly is up with Rafa? Probably his worst clay season since his teens. He won't beat even an undercooked Nole in this kind of form in this tournament or at RG. Probably has to hope another player does him the favour of eliminating Nole. He simply doesn't look right.

It seems he takes much longer to get into a rhythm and he is often dropping sets against players he normally wouldn't. However, tonight could be a key match for both Rafa and Andy. Both have been going through a crisis in confidence and lacking consistency but this match may have sparked their seasons into life. They began to look like their old selves as the match wore on so perhaps they have now both turned the corner. We shall see.

I said it earlier, this was a big chance for Murray. To his credit he played very well! Can't remember seeing Murray play better on clay.

On the other hand nadal seems to be a shadow of his former self on clay. However his battling qualities are second to none. You just can never write him off, hats off to them both

laverfan wrote:

DirectView wrote:Is Tennis slowly becoming like boxing?

Especially on Clay, yes.

If Nadal/Murray was like boxing I'll make a point of watching more boxing.

Calder106 wrote:

laverfan wrote:

DirectView wrote:Is Tennis slowly becoming like boxing?

Especially on Clay, yes.

If Nadal/Murray was like boxing I'll make a point of watching more boxing.

To be honest, I still have no idea what this meant. So many things wrong with boxing, it's hard to know which habit tennis picked up.

And Raonic takes the first set on the tie-break. Impressive all-round display from him, and not just the serving. Djokovic looking rattled.

Novak was 3-0 up in that tie break and then lost 6 points in a row!

Come on Milo, send him home.

Raonic-Dimi final, lets gooooo

Can't be me only thinking this, but this has got to be the first time in years(on clay) where Nadal and Djokovic's serves have been under such siege.

Normally it's unusual for them to drop their serve once in a match, yet this year it's multiple service games dropped.

Another good win for Novak. To come through stepanek, kohlschreiber, ferrer and raonic is impressive given his recent absence. Whether he wins or not tomorrow, these tough matches should serve him well for the French open