Madrid Masters - Day 2 thread

[lydian]

Schedule for today:

1 N. Djokovic v D.Gimeno-Traver May 8, 5.45pm
14 R. Gasquet v T. Bellucci May 8, 4:00 PM
10 J. del Potro v F. Mayer May 8, 4:00 PM
13 F. Lopez v J. Melzer May 8, 2:15 PM
D. Nalbandian v M. Raonic May 8, 2:00 PM
16 A. Dolgopolov v P. Andujar May 8, 12:00 PM
C. Berlocq v M. Granollers May 8, 12:00 PM
15 F. Verdasco v D. Istomin May 8, 12:00 PM
12 G. Monfils v P. Kohlschreiber May 8, 12:00 PM
A. Seppi v M. Llodra May 8, 12:00 PM
S. Wawrinka v O. Rochus May 8, 12:00 PM
F. Delbonis v A. Ramos Live
9 G. Simon v F. Fognini Live
A. Montanes v M. Cilic Live
B. Tomic v R. Stepanek Live

Nalby vs Raonic should be an interesting one, and you have to fancy Milos on this fast court (he has a good chance to take out Federer I'd wager).
If Stepanek beats Tomic we know this is indeed a fast court...
Any other matches stand out?

[lydian]

Cilic (that great clay player) takes 1st set 6-3 vs. Montanes.
Stepanek takes 1st set 6-2 vs. Tomic.

Maybe early clues these courts are playing very fast?
Players have said they are bouncing lower as well as faster.
In which case I bet Raonic is going to be a 'nightmare' on these courts...

[lags72]

I think Federer has more to fear from Raonic than from Nalby.

If Raonic comes through today, I fancy him strongly to inflict what would be the first R1 (effectively) exit for Federer for quite some time

Others of interest for me are Tomic v Stepanek : the teenage aspirant vs the wily old (very old!) campaigner. Oops ... I'm way behind..... Stepanek already well on his way ....!

and Gasquet v Bellucci, they can both turn on the style

[lydian]

I quite agree Lags...Raonic is on form and this looks like a fast court (slippy, low bounce and altitude - 2000ft), and Federer must be rusty after his break. Still Milos has to beat Nalby yet who's pretty good on fast courts too, and he may then clam up against Fed - 'aura factor' - given he's still a young guy with only 1 x top8 win to his name yet.

[lags72]

ah, I found it ....'twas Gulbis the evil man wot did it.... Rome, back in 2010 ..... ie, the last R1 exit by Federer. And Fed was still Numero Uno at the time

[reckoner]

I dunno, anything's possible I suppose, but in my opinion the old man has a bit too much talent and guile for Raonic.

I think Fed will be recharged rather than rusty and hopefully in good form.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Raonic beating Murray on clay will have Roger on his toes, not going to pick the score, 2 sets or 3 doesn't matter. I believe Roger has won Madrid twice, time for a hat trick, hero.

[lydian]

Fair call...I just think on this "clay" surface this could be a coming of age moment for Raonic - its apparently got an even lower bounce than yesteryear. Will be interesting to see how Nadal and Djokovic handle these conditions. But as Almagro says...these courts are hardly the ideal preparation for Roland Garros...its almost like have an Indian Wells before USO. But we'll of course see re: Fed, agreed his talent and serve on a fast surface will likely make the match tight whatever...and Raonic will need to play out of his skin to snatch it, nothing less will do the job.

Anyway, I see Simon had a very tough battle against Fabio "I've got cramp" Fognini...

[lags72]

My 'live' scoreboard isn't actually live any more .... in fact it seems to have rigor mortis ...!

Who won Stepanek / Tomic ....??

Is it raining by any chance ....... ??

[Josiah Maiestas]

Stepanek won him, 6-2 7-5.

All I can see is "Awaiting updates".

[lags72]

Ok thanks

I suspect Tomic will not be best pleased to be beaten in straights by a 33 year old .....

(I appreciate that English is most likely not your first language JM, but I think we much prefer "beat him" rather than "won him" ! )

[lydian]

Yep...which further makes me wonder just how quick this surface must be when a 33yr old S&V player wins in straights.

[hawkeye]

Yep...which further makes me wonder just how quick this surface must be when a 33yr old S&V player wins in straights.

Shushh! We all have to pretend that it's only the colour thats changed. It makes it easier to mock any player that complains as of course they are just making a fuss about nothing...

[lydian]

In his interview after losing to Stepanek today, Tomic said "The blue clay was a bit strange for movement, it was slippery". Incidentally, Tomic got to the 1/4F of Munich last week.

[lags72]

I can almost hear Crystal Gale

"..... and don't it make my brown eyes blue.... "

[lydian]

lol, was going to say its a "Blue Monday" for Tomic but its Tuesday...!

[JuliusHMarx]

I can almost hear Crystal Gale

"..... and don't it make my brown eyes blue.... "

Was yesterday Blue Monday? Is that why they asked the players "How does it feel..."

Edit - 1 minute behind lydian - story of my life.

[lydian]

JHM
With a name like mine I'm glad to see there are other musically thinking posters on here...

[lydian]

BTW, see Raonic had a fairly routine 64 64 win over Nalby...could be Federer next.

[lags72]

ok, must check what odds they're offering for a Raonic win over Federer

Last time the great one played on clay he fell to big bad John Isner. And that was on Swiss soil

Worth a few bob methinks .....

[lydian]

Yep, got to be worth a punt!
You sometimes saw this in the 90s, that if the guy was a big enough server/attacker they can play through the clay. I remember the time Rafter beat Muster at the French Open...kind of played Muster off the court. Goran used to do it alot too. When the serve is as big as Raonic's (and his FH too) then anything can happen if it all clicks...

[TRuffin]

All the predictions of Raonic will beat Federer.....maybe, but Federer DOES have weapons of his own you know:-)

[HarpoMars]

Exactly TRuffin!
Raonic looks so clumsy when moving somehow, I don't think he'll upset Federer. It depends if Fed is on song, and I believe Fed will relish the challenge this week after a long rest. Well that is what I hope anyway...

BTW they've played only once before-

Indian Wells 2012: Federer 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4

Glad the live score thingy is working now, twas annoying.

[hawkeye]

Yep, got to be worth a punt!
You sometimes saw this in the 90s, that if the guy was a big enough server/attacker they can play through the clay. I remember the time Rafter beat Muster at the French Open...kind of played Muster off the court. Goran used to do it alot too. When the serve is as big as Raonic's (and his FH too) then anything can happen if it all clicks...

I didn't watch Raonic but this sounds depressing especially as I agree with HarpoMars when I have seen Raonic play he just looks so clumsy. Have just seen a few games of Del Potro and that looked similar. Zzzzzz. All this on a so called clay court. This sort of tennis may make some happy but it caused me to turn off mens tennis for much of the 90's...

[socal1976]

Raonic is the protypical type of playor the fast court guys want favored on tour. This dull style of huge serve overwhelming the rest of the game is really boring but many people oddly enough on the internet want to speed up conditions so Raonic goes from holding 94 percent of the time to holding 100 percent of the time.

I like some of the early matchups, i think these courts are going to favor the big servers more than at any other clay court. I was watching a bit of the almagro match and he was bombing aces. A lot of aces and quick points for a clay court.

[Haddie-nuff]

Hawkeye

I absolutely agree with you 100% Sampras killed my interest in tennis and to think we may now have a Sampras Mark II I shudder to think.
I have to also agree I find him clumsy. Del Potro is not exactly light footed but I even so I prefer to watch him the the Canadian Wonder Boy

[Super D Boon]

Hawkeye

I absolutely agree with you 100% Sampras killed my interest in tennis and to think we may now have a Sampras Mark II I shudder to think.
I have to also agree I find him clumsy. Del Potro is not exactly light footed but I even so I prefer to watch him the the Canadian Wonder Boy

Yeah, I yearn for more baseliners as we clearly don't have enough of them! Bring back baseliners that's what I say!

[Haddie-nuff]

So glad you agree

[LuvSports!]

whats happening to nole?!?!? 5-2 down 2nd set :O

[Chazfazzer]

Nice serving there from Gimano-Trayer (I think that's roughly how you spell his name...) to win the second set. I'd still bet my house (if I owned one) on Djokovic comfortably winning the decider though.

[LuvSports!]

chaz - whats happened with nole?
is he playing poorly?
and is the other guy playing well?

[Chazfazzer]

I only saw from 5-1, where Nole held his serve comfortably, and then his opponent scraped through his serve to win the set. Nole wasn't returning particularly well (he missed a few standard second serve returns), but Gimano-Trayer kept pulling out pretty big first serves when he needed them. From what I saw of Gimano-Trayer's all-round game, though, I'm surprised he's troubled Djokovic, as he looks a little bit weaponless.

[LuvSports!]

thanks, if i think he is who im thinking of, he was the one who took a set off murray at wimbledon last year 1st round.
I didnt think then he was weaponless hmm

[lags72]

Close match just finished with Gasquet edging out Bellucci

I said earlier today that this would be an interesting one, especially having seen how much Bellucci pushed Federer at IW in March

[lags72]

Djoker finally with the upper hand. Was beginning to wonder if his 137th ranked opponent could repeat his Barcelona '06 triumph ..... !!

[lydian]

Interesting match...interesting courts!
These courts are a handful...they appear faster than alot of DecoTurfII's!
All the big servers will do well here...Isner, Raonic, Berdych...maybe even Verdasco who also can serve 140mph.
I guess with Cilic vs Isner, one of the big servers will be knocked out...but Nadal, Djokovic and Federer will have a hard time at this event!

Be interesting to hear Nole's comments about the courts later - not sure he's too happy about them!

[LuvSports!]

feds has the best serve which may see him with a good chance if he ends up meeting novak and/or rafa

[lydian]

Agree it will prove a strong weapon this week luvsports....but Raonic will be a very strong handful tomorrow. The way this court plays its more like a warm up for USO than RG!

[hawkeye]

Now that they have corrected the colour what they need is some form of glue to hold down those loose bits that make the surface so slippy...

[LuvSports!]

i know its off topic but i can't contain myself so here goes....

I JUST GOT A JOB AT WIMBLEDON THIS SUMMERR AWAHHOOOOOOO!!!

VICTORY DANCE !!!

[HarpoMars]

From what I've been reading on this thread, the courts would surely help Federer, am I right??

Wohoo!!! Congrats LuvSports! I hope its something that will put you in touching distance with the players. That would be awesome

[Positively 4th Street]

Be interesting to hear Nole's comments about the courts later - not sure he's too happy about them!

Just a bit! Just read some quotes and he seems distinctly unimpressed:

Djokovic on blue clay

Watched some of his match and he seemed agitated. Once due to a thoroughly rotten line call, but mainly due to Tiriac's folly.

[Guest]

i know its off topic but i can't contain myself so here goes....

I JUST GOT A JOB AT WIMBLEDON THIS SUMMERR AWAHHOOOOOOO!!!

VICTORY DANCE !!!

I suppose when we hear that Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have to pull out due to food poisoning, we will know who to blame congratulate

[LuvSports!]

From what I've been reading on this thread, the courts would surely help Federer, am I right??

Wohoo!!! Congrats LuvSports! I hope its something that will put you in touching distance with the players. That would be awesome

cheers bru so damn happpy IM BUZZZINNNGGG HES LIVING THE DREAM BACK TO THE BEST PLACE EVAAAAA

[LuvSports!]

i know its off topic but i can't contain myself so here goes....

I JUST GOT A JOB AT WIMBLEDON THIS SUMMERR AWAHHOOOOOOO!!!

VICTORY DANCE !!!

I suppose when we hear that Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have to pull out due to food poisoning, we will know who to blame congratulate

haha sorry to disappoint but im not anywhere near catering, tis a shame my rat-o-van's go down a treat!

[TRuffin]

From what I've been reading on this thread, the courts would surely help Federer, am I right??

Wohoo!!! Congrats LuvSports! I hope its something that will put you in touching distance with the players. That would be awesome

I was thinking the courts would help Fed too and a bit amused by the "Raonic is going to beat him" train, but after seeing what Djokovic said in his presser- I think it's a real tossup.. Djokovic said the court is horrible to move one, that it basially creates a 1 serve and done game as the returner can't even move................. all that bodes badly for Federer-

[Guest]

Interesting interview with Pete Sampras on Novak Djokovic.

The impression I got is that Novak would like to stay number one for four or more years and to continue to win slam titles. His motivation seems to be to represent and showcase his country Serbia. This perhaps suggests Novak would go into politics when he hangs up his racket.

http://tinyurl.com/c288jba

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