Djokovic vs Nadal: 50

Last time I looked Nadal was 4-0.

6-2, 6-4…an almost ‘vintage Rafa’ and this, mind you, is Madrid ‘clay’ (smiliar to fast hard court) and Madrid ‘ball-flying’ conditions which are far from the much more ideal ‘Rafa clay’ conditions in Rome and Paris. He won a clay slam already and, if he remains healthy, may well do the same this year with the addition of Barcelona. Neither string of wins has been achieved by any player in the Open Era (yet).
That and a 10th Roland Garros would secure an Emperor (and not King) of Clay throne.
The way he has managed Madrid conditions should give him and his team confidence for this year’s coming GS.
In his interview Novak, right now, is saying Rafa is the favorite to win RG but, knowing Novak, for sure he will try and re-group.

It is mystifying how Djokovic could complete the career Grand Slam eleven months ago to now hes barely a serious contender at any major. Cant think of a more sudden downward spiral in tennis.

Stating the obvious, but it is amazing what Nadal and Federer have done in 2017.

Unrelated, but does anyone know why Sock/Kyrgios were unable to play their semifinal match today? I can’t find anything anywhere.

chazz: Kyrgios has a problem with his left hip, which was the reason for him pulling out.

Rafa could actually have his very best king of clay season this yr. Odd how the older he gets the less concern there is for overplay on clay. Maybe making mincemeat out of everyone has given the team extra confidence they can steamroll thru to the RG final. Or Rafa is in the best shape of his life. If Rafa had not bliwn that fifth set lead to Fed in Melbourne, he’d be on his way to one of the best years in ATP history. Fed must play the French Open. If he skips Paris it will overshadow the whole event.

Predicted win for Simona in Madrid.
Now she has to move up and show what she can do in GS tournaments without coaching help and on 3 different surfaces.
She has an opportunity to take the place seemingly vacated by Kerber whose downward slide seems miserably unstoppable.

Mladenovic could go far in RG.

I hope Simona stops throwing her racquet. She does this often and hitting the ballboy when she threw it during this last match was serious. She (and the kid) were lucky he was not injured.

Hartt –

I didn’t see the match – just the score so I missed the racquet throwing. I know she’s done that in the past but thought she’d got over it. Women don’t seem to chuck their racquets that much although I saw Angie do it in IW I think but it’s unusual for her. Not anywhere near a ballboy either.

If Simona had hurt the ballboy I imagine she could have been defaulted.

That’s surely a job for Cahill – stop the racquet throwing and the OCC. Simona needs a serious mental coach as well. And maybe WTA can put on some group
therapy ?

Dan – you don’t really believe Djokovic has been taking steroids all these years and gone undetected ?
Perhaps Kerber’s stopped taking them as well ?
(that last is a joke BTW – I’m not looking to get sued and I say it only to show how unlikely the idea is)

To be entirely accurate I need to make an amendment, Simona kicked her racquet, rather than threw it. She was near the side of the court, the racquet went flying and hit a ballboy who was running behind. They showed his face – he looked totally shocked.

I wish they were much tougher about smashing balls and throwing racquets. I think it should be an immediate loss of a point, don’t wait until someone is hurt. Players are indulging in this behaviour so often now that it is just a matter of time before someone is injured.

And Simona still throws racquets often. It is getting so I am less keen on rooting for her.

Djokovic dropped his team and halved his effort. We should expect garbage results – even this Masters final is better than I’d expect.

As for Halep, a sweet win. Savor it, Simona!

To me Tomas Muster was the bar on clay. Then Nadal erased those records as a teenager! That’s why he’s going down as one of the best players to pick up the sport.

Scoop –

Sure you need to ‘vent’ but you don’t need to do it so that other people can get hurt.
Kicking her racquet ? Come on. She’s behaving like a spoilt kid. She thinks she’s entitled, the hosannahs she gets in Roumania.

I never saw BKJ, Martina N or Chris Evert throwing, smashing or kicking racquets and they won their fare share of titles.

BTW I’m not a ‘fan’ and although I don’t play tennis I can certainly make a judgement on the human behaviour I see in front of me.
Simona won Madrid last year.The surface suits her. I’ll start truly rating her, as I said, when she goes far in a GS. Otherwise, no. A wasted talent who needs a coaching prop.
I agree with Hartt – should be instant penalties for bad behaviour. Then it might stop.

Scoop, yes players can vent but there are other ways to do it. A big roar is quicker and does not put anyone in danger. And Roger’s racquet-throwing days were when he was still a young player. He realized he had to control his temper to be successful and he did just that.

There is an interesting piece in tennis.com about Simoma. She said that Cahill split with her temporarily after Miami. He was upset that she gave up in her match against Konta. Halep said that made her work to be better mentally in her matches.

Hartt –
Yes – but I can’t see that happening until Simona really makes an effort to be independent and stop this OCC rubbish and maybe get some help in controlling her temper. No shame in asking for help.
In Stuttgart she was without Cahill and said she was trying to be more professional and work things out for herself which sounded very encouraging, but come Madrid Cahill’s back and she’s leaning on him again.
Simona dealt fine with Konta & Co in Fed Cup – she can do it on her own.
In the end you have to.
Somewhere along the line Angie stopped believing in herself, with the results we have seen,and I don’t think her coach can solve this for her. It’s got to come from within.

Behaviour – never saw Borg chuck a racquet etc. He got that out of his system as a young teenager.

Yes Doogie, Tiafoe is the real deal. He came back from 5-2 down in the tiebreaker to beat Chardy who I’m sure was the crowd favorite in his home country.

What a nailbiter! Rafa wins… but just. Dominic has definitely established himself as one of the few true contenders to take it to Rafa both in Rome (possibly in the QF) and then in Paris.

The Nadal vs Thiem match was very entertaining. A close first set and Thiem kept fighting in the 2nd. Am really looking forward to watching him the rest of the season. And he gave a delightful runner-up speech, very engaging.

Madrid winner can win French Open. It’s a wide open year, Simona has a shot. Kerber has a shot. Konta has a shot. Mladenovic I think can make it interesting. It will either be best semifinals at a French in a while or the worst!

Confidence matters more than surface. Winning reinforces that I want to do this again feeling. Simona hasn’t had it for a while where she is last one standing. Nadal hadn’t either until a few weeks ago.

Muster had the clay streak, Dan. He wasn’t Borg and I never saw Borg play outside his comeback highlights, which doubled as the remix of his twilight.

Borg is a hall of famer, but for me I watched a lot of Muster and his dominance on the red stuff. So when Nadal arrived on the scene and within a year and a half had the clay record for a win streak as a teenager, that’s obscenely outstanding.

Said it before and will say it again: Like Agassi said Nadal is a freak. So is Federer, so is Djokovic. Their win streaks are unbelievable to the point we’ve come to expect their dominance forever, Tom Brady style. But it’s still unreal to have the records they do. Unheard of.

Scoop – regarding having not seen such a sudden decline like Djoker’s since last year’s French….look at Wilander’s career post 1988 US Open title. Won only 1 other ATP title in his career, I think.