It’s that time of year. Clay court season hath commenced. Everybody loves Monte Carlo, it’s even Rafa’s favorite event.
Rafa is pursuing his ninth Monte Carlo title but today he looked a bit shaky getting broken in the first game vs. Gabashvili who is at a career high ranking just outside the top 50. Rafa regained control though and cruised to a 64 6l win in the round of 32 match.
Federer dominated Step once again. Fognini scored a tough win over the always tough Agut. Stan stomped Cilic. After the embarrassing Davis Cup doubles failure in Geneva, Stan looks to have regained his spectacular January form, which has been mysteriously absent lately.
Super G Dimitrov grinded down Ramos in three sets. Raonic battled back to beat Lu in three. GGL of Spain defeated Dolgopolov in two. Robredo grinded Benneteau in three. Also, Busta busted La Monf. Rosol rolled Llodra. And Iron Man Almagro, fresh off the Houston final, mashed Mashut.
My pick is Djokovic to defend his title.
Let the Monte Carlo discussion begin…
Scoop Malinowski · April 16, 2014 at 7:12 pm
Photo by the recently married Tennis-prose.com photographer Henk Abbink. Congratulations again Henk and Griselda 🙂
Dan Markowitz · April 17, 2014 at 7:55 am
Nadal is blitzing Seppi, just destroying him. It must be so frustrating playing Nadal on clay although Gabashvili was doing well early yesterday. The key is to be super aggressive, but Nadal seems to bring his opponents down to their average level over the course of the match.
loreley · April 17, 2014 at 9:50 am
Gabashvili was a qualifier. At one point it’s just too much tennis. Nadal said later that Seppi was tired.
Isn’t it funny that Dimitrov lost to a guy in a pink shirt? Remember Rasheed banned pink for Dimitrov 😉
I knew that Gulbis would lose in 1st round when I saw the draw. Dolgopolov was the worst case for a first match on clay. It’s against probability theory how often Ernests gets an-inform player early on. It should happen only once in 10 tournaments. It works for the other players, but not for him.
For Thiem it was a tough loss in first round too. He was up a set & break against Mahut. Afterward he told on FB that he doesn’t know right now why didn’t play well, because they practised a lot & his shots worked in practise.
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Nadal looks great but Djokovic will solve him on Sunday. Dolgo lost next round to GGL, that was odd. Good to see Gulbis playing dubs with Raonic though they lost. Gulbs should keep on playing dubs. Dubs will make his overall game more cohesive.
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Dimitrov still trudging through that up and down phase. Not sure if I can see him evolving into a dominant dynamo.
loreley · April 17, 2014 at 1:02 pm
I’m sure Raonic benefits from playing doubles as well. Maybe even more then Gulbis.
They are always like that together. Last time they laughed through their match against Fedwrinka 😉
http://i.instagram.com/p/m3mYQUI902/
Dolgopolov had to come back on earth at some point.
GGL made it only into main draw Monte Carlo, because Gasquet withdrew. Now he’s in the quarters. Probably he’s more in form than Dolgo or Berdych, because he won the title in Casablanca. Dolgo said later, he played a bad match.
loreley · April 17, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Forgot to say, that Gulbis won two doubles titles.
Mitch · April 17, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Djokovic has apparently picked up a wrist injury, but he’s posting Rafa like scores so far against quality dirtballers.
Dan Markowitz · April 17, 2014 at 2:11 pm
C’mon, Gulbis had one of the easiest first round matches at the USO to the Austrian, Hairer, is it, and lost that match. The guy is an emotional guy and in big matches that emotion often works against him. Plus, he’s just not as good as the top 10 players.
I hate to burst the Gulbis bubble, but then again I love it. No, I root for Gulbis. He’s just a nut.
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Hmmm Mitch, if Djokovic has a hurt wrist and he’s destroying people with it, then maybe he should hope that wrist injury stays exactly like it is. ) Djokovic looks unbeatable.
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Wow I did not know Gulbis won two dubs titles, he snuck those by us. Gulbis does have a talent for winning titles once he gets himself in the final.
Gaurang · April 17, 2014 at 9:49 pm
Wow Djokovic with 6-0 6-1 scores against Montanes and the Spanish newcomer Pablo Carreno Busta (who defeated Monfils in straight sets), is playing solid tennis. He will be able to defeat Fed and go to the Finals against Rafa for sure. I favor Djoker in that match – but no guarantees against the king of clay.
loreley · April 18, 2014 at 2:48 am
@Dan
It’s true, that in the rare cases Gulbis has a doable draw, especially in Slams, he screws it. But that doesn’t change the fact that the most of the time he draws the toughest guys early on. How often did he get Haas in 2nd round? Players need a bit luck to be good too. Probably you are right, that he is too emotional to be a top player.
See the top seeded guys. They have two or three easy rounds to gain confdence till they get challenged. The most of the time their opponents are tired, because they play too much. Or do you think that GGL has much left in the tank to challenge Djoker today?
The only upset I can see today is Raonic beating Wawrinka. If he loses the match, he just defeated the guys he ws supposed to beat. Same with Dimitrov.
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 8:54 am
Wow, Nadal just was taken down by Ferrer 76 64. We have a new king of clay, people. We have a new king of clay.
loreley · April 18, 2014 at 9:03 am
It took Ferrer 10 years to beat him on clay again. He served twice for the match. Pfff.
Nadal looked pretty beatable to be honest.
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 10:15 am
I think Nadal is spooked by how well Djokovic is playing. I speculate Rafa knows Djokovic is back, and he’s gonna be even better now than he was three years ago. That one sided loss in Miami was devastating for Rafa. We saw some of the effects of it today. Maybe Rafa subconsciously didn’t want to play Stan again either.
Doogie · April 18, 2014 at 10:31 am
For his class Rafa is struggling all year long.
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 10:55 am
Yes Rafa does seem a lil off this year Doogie … let the speculations begin as for why. 🙂
Doogie · April 18, 2014 at 11:03 am
@scoop
On other side Ferrer – Stan will be very intresting too.
I believe the Warrior will win it. Should be great match!
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Agree Doogie, Stan vs. Djokovic rematch looks like the final on Sunday. And there’s nothing to complain about with that intriguing matchup.
Doogie · April 18, 2014 at 3:57 pm
U misunderstood me – I think Ferrer will beat Stan 🙂
Nole will win in straight sets tomorrow.
Dan Markowitz · April 18, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Don’t know if Nole will win in straight sets. Another one hander surprising had Nole in trouble today, and Garcia-Lopez is not, shall we say, in Fed’s league. I think Fed wants very badly to beat Djoko after he let him escape in IW.
gans · April 18, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Never underestimate Federer especially since it’s Novak not Rafael
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 6:44 pm
But Dan the problem for Fed is that Djokovic just LOOOOVES to beat him. Should be another classic with Djok winning in a tough third set.
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Wise words Gans wise words.
Its always a tricky test,
to subdue the Federer Express,
Rogie has some newfound power and pop,
but Djokovic will probably come out on top,
🙂
Scoop Malinowski · April 18, 2014 at 6:51 pm
Doogie, don’t know about you but I’d much prefer to see a Djokovic-Stan final than Djokovic-Ferrer, Fed-Ferrer or Fed-Stan.
Dan Markowitz · April 18, 2014 at 10:57 pm
I think Fed/Stan would be my choice. I like to see one handers prosper. Amazing that Fed and Djoko are squaring off for 34 th time and Fed leads the series 17-16. I thought for sure Djoko had won more matches than Fed in this h-to-h, but not so.
Gaurang · April 19, 2014 at 2:42 am
Scoop I think you are right. Psychological effect of the Miami defeat might be playing on Rafa’s mind. Hope it does not become as severe as his 2009 occurrence where he started loosing easily to many players on hard courts.
Scoop Malinowski · April 19, 2014 at 7:10 am
The problem with seeing Fed Stan is that Stan always seems to defer to his big bro.
Scoop Malinowski · April 19, 2014 at 7:14 am
Gaurang, also Rafa surely is seeing how well Djokovic is playing this week, aside from the GGL match. Remember, Chris Clarey asked Rafa after he lost to Djok im Miami, at the press conference, if he enjoys playing Djokovic and Rafa replied a quick, No. I think Rafa has a serious headachovic.
Scoop Malinowski · April 19, 2014 at 12:35 pm
Looked like Djokovic tried to crush Fed but Fed hung in there. Kept it close. Great battle. Then when Djokovic squandered that 40-l5 lead and the 40-love lead at the end of the first set, he just bagged it. Djokovic tried to subdue Fed quickly but when he couldn’t do it he didn’t want to dig down deep today, which is understandable. My sense is that Djokovic just isn’t going to kill himself playing all out to beat Fed or Rafa before the FO. He’s going to save his best and peak for Paris, not MC or Rome or Madrid. Fed wanted it more today. Once again it was a helluva first set, amazing tennis by both.
Abe Froman · April 22, 2014 at 8:37 am
scoop, definitely looks like rafa ‘tanked’ at this tourna…..currently battling a lot of demons ! hopefully, he’ll overcome it and regroup for paris….i still like rafa to win RG – with fed, stan, djoko with legit shots to bleed the bull out – if they’re lucky LOL