Wow. All three of you picked Cilic against Del Potro? What a pleasant surprise!!

Colleen, Del Potro was BAGELED by Florian Mayer. That should come with some sort of fine, not to mention the fact that it doesn't bode well for his chances against somebody who is an actual outside contender for the title.

interesting and bold picks for today - herald some good tennis, lets see what happens.

interesting matches to see.. i hope there is no more injuries like saturday, please

Hmmm ... I hope Delpo takes this. I cannot forgive Cilic's performance against the Australian GOAT.

hey is there any registered member on tennistalk also on tennisinsight because i saw a couple of posters there pasting this particular blog there with the heading 'from tennistalk' ??!! :S

hope you guys haven't jinxed it by finally picking isner :P

I'm going to go for Murray over Isner in 4 or 5 sets. I agree with Vincent that ace machines tend not to trouble Murray much.

There is only one Rafael Nadal
Vamos!

Hope you guys are getting some sleep. I don't know how you deal with the 15 hour difference. You do sleep, right? Perhaps you are napping now in wait for the play to begin. Anyway thanks for the great posts and good luck with your predictions.

Nadal over Karlovic in 5
Murray over Isner in 3. 1 tight set and then 2 easy ones.
Delpo over Cilic in 4 sets - with 2 tight sets.
Roddick over Gonales in 4 sets - with 1 tight set
___________

It's very strange, but TT crew is underestimating Murray and Delpo big time. Murray is likely to atleast make the final here. I don't think even Nadal has a chance against Murray, as much as it pains me to say so.

Murray over Isner sadly since even if Rafa wins this one, Murray will clean his clock...

I can only pray that Isner catched fire and blows Murray away, oh and Rafa does not have a brain fart like yesterday!!

i just dont see Murray really testing Nadal

of course Nadal has to get past Karlovic first, so we may never know

Yet you picked Isner to beat Murray?

i dont see murray not testing nadal.
the guy is on form and even has proven he can beat Nadal in HC Slam.

Isner without his serve is like batman without his cloak, once his aces dried up he was done.


There is only one Rafael Nadal
Vamos!

* Pats Self on the back *

Just as I had predicted, Murray in straights. 1 tight set and 2 easy ones!

Murray has always played Nadal close on hardcourts. Even when he was half the player he is (AO 2007). Against Rafa, Murray plays aggressively, as Nadal gives him plenty of balls on his backhand at a nice height to tee off. Even on clay Murray gave Rafa a scare earlier this yr, prompting Nadal to say that Murray might be the strongest challenger on clay. Meaning that Murray is a bad matchup for Nadal.

chr18 - what do you mean "yet" ???

imjimmy-'even when he was half the player he is (AO 2007)' ok agreed but rafa was also half the player he is rite now! murray is a bad matchup in some ways but a good match up in some ways too,not a bad matchup like djoker.i expect a real test but rafa will come thru inshallah.

interesting to see rafa standing a bit closer to the baseline then he normally would,perhaps to cut off the angles

i think now i really hate del potro. going to 3rd set now, but i can't stand his attitude. leading n dominating for most of 2nd set, but throwing racket after fail to break set, then keep whining about the sun. Add it with the wrist injury that he showed no sign when he won, but become an excuse when he losed, c'mon man! ok, now he got trainer coming for something at his foot, serve him right!!

Actually I think Rafa is a bad match up for Murray instead of the other way round. Murray has always had difficulties in beating Rafa, and he must always be at the top of his game to have a chance. Look at the three recent encounters on hard courts when Murray beats Rafa - USO 08 where Murray has to play out of his skin to beat a 'not so fresh' Rafa; Abu Dhabi exhibition 09 final where Murray has to run himself ragged to beat a Rafa who was a bit rusty after coming back from injury; Rotterdam 09 final, where Rafa was limping in the second and third sets. These are not excuses, but from these examples we can see that it is very difficult for Murray to beat Rafa; he has to be at his very best to have a chance to beat Rafa. Murray's game seems to frustrate attacking players like Fed, Nole, Delpo and Cilic, who may get impatient when the ball keeps coming back at them. Rafa has all the patience in the world to deal with that, for eg, when he was against Monfils at the USO 09.

but rafa is not the same old rafa yet, maybe after this match or australian open. karlovic break at 5-4 with 40 love. then back at the start on january, he lost to davydenko again by fail to save breakpoint/match point at 4-5. the old rafa i know can easily save those break points, not to mention match point. once this mentality come back, i will start back him again, but not at this point.

nully,

With all due respect, I must disagree with your take on Rafa's match with Karlovic. In that one break of serve, Karlovic got really lucky with several net cords fallling his way. It's not like Rafa gave it away. From that point on, Rafa never had any problem holding his serve. Also, getting even one break off Karlovic in three sets is quite a feat. If you are familiar with him, he can be one of the most difficult and dangerous players. He stands there like a statue banging aces all over the place, doesn't give his opponent a chance to get any rhythm and and puts enormous pressure on whoever he plays by forcing them to hold their serve.

I thought this was Rafa's most mentally tough and confident match yet. He moved closer to the baseline to get a better read on Karlovic's serve and it paid off. He was aggressive, had a lot of forehand winners and kept his focus and concentration. There isn't a top player alive who wants to play Karlovic ever. I think Rafa is now ready for Murray.

i still feel rafa isnt playing well enough to beat murray......

it will be difficult.........BUT I HOPE DOES BEAT THE SCOT!

vamos!

what i was most impressed with nadal was his AGGRESSIVE return of serve.
he was closer to the baseline taking the ball early and cutting off all the angles.
and he hit his forehand with more confidence especially the down the line(DTL) forehand.
nadal's usual sick passing shots were coming back as well.
although he seems a bit slow to get to those drop volleys by karlovic.

his serve was ok as well, but will need to be unbelievably good to beat murray.

murray will take the ball early on his backhand and smash it into nadal's forehand side deep and fast and get the winner or wait for the short reply.

nadal must be ultra aggressive taking it to murray.

i dont care what the betting odds are, murray is the hot favourite for this match having not lost a set and playing with confidence.
but there is always the hope that nadal will hit form all of a sudden.

nadal is a fighter and he is the underdog which he loves.

my prediction is if nadal takes the 1st set, then nadal will win in 4 or 5.
if nadal loses the 1st set, then nadal could get destroyed.

I was very impressed with Rafa against Karlovic, he hardly put a foot wrong and dropped his serve due to some bizzare net cords. Murray has not actually had a real match yet, he's just coasted along with very little opposition.

Rafa has a 7:2 lead over Murray, I know this does not include the exhibition match in Abu Dhabi, but we can also discount the Rotterdam match because Rafa was playing one legged and he still managed to take a set, he bravely carried on totally hampered to the end of the match, when others would have retired.

It's so nice that Rafa's half is playing first instead of playing catch up.



There is only one Rafael Nadal
Vamos

gonzo is walking on water right now, in the 4th set now and gonzo just did an incredible lob, and then on roddick's serve just SMASHED roddick's serve.
gonzo is in god-mode right now.
WINNER after WINNER by gonzo!

wow. Didn't think Gonzo would put up this much fight!

Of course, I also didn't think Murray would win...LOL! Good on Muzza, though - he's in right fine form.

woooow...Gonzo just got robbed...
What a shame... Mats will be happy like pigs in mud!!!

OH MY GOD!!!!

roddick is a cheat! that there is no doubt!

gonzo was robbed in that 4th set, and the umpire has no balls just surrendering to roddick's vile filth. the umpire is clearly intimidated. gonzo was on that ball without doubt.

comeon gonzo send this overrated and overhyped roddick home to texas.

if gonzo loses this match, he will have been cheated and robbed by roddick and an intimidated umpire.

god i hope roddick never wins another slam EVER again. majority of people cannot stand that guy.
the most hateable player since mcenroe.
hope cillic takes out roddick, we dont need to see that guy's face anymore.

comeon nadal, murray, cillic and federer, dont ever let roddick win another slam.

GONZO WAS ROBBED!!!
RODDICK NEVER WON THE MATCH!!!!

that wasnot roddick's cheating ,it was a bad call from the umpire (he was the one to decide). I lose all sympathy for gonzo when i recall that olympics semi finals match between him and blak.that was one of the biggest cheats ive ever seen in my life, he perhaps robbed blake a place to fight for the gold medal ! such a big lie from gonzo in that match ,was ridiculous and done against a fair play guy like james.

Fantastic day of tennis it was ,great returns of serve, mammoth forehands ,classy backhands and blistering aces. Here is how our experts stand at the moment

1.Vincent:19 points ( finally makes the breakthrough & touches the perch after a perfect day of predictions)
2.Ricky:19 points (reluctant to relinquish the top spot ,hangs in there mighty tough)
3.Cheryl:18 points(resurgence from her rival sees her drop to no.3)
4.Kelli:17 points(persists her relentless pursuit of catching the toppers,a flawless day spurs her to a marginal difference of 2 points from no.3)

*competition among players heating up intensely and same is the case with the TT experts. Kelli Demario still wields the golden racquet :D

VAMOSS KELLI !! !!! :D :p

VAMOS, vamosrafa--GREAT POST!

thank you so much rpcv ,a needed appreciation :D :D lol..u rock :D

Yep ... Vamos! vamosrafa.

it's not at all bad call

it's gonz's mistake...

he thought the ball was going out....that's why he decided not to play that.

gonzo shud know the hawk eye rules..atleast he has to hit the ball ...for the umpire to say it "let".

it was fair call
don't make it as big issue

attacker making it as big issue ..i think he is such a moody person

I disagree. I don't think Roddick did anything wrong at ALL. Gonzo lowered his racket because he thought the ball was going out - and he did so BEFORE the call. In fact, it's possible that the linesperson was subconsciously influenced by Gonzalez rather than the other way around. He COULD have made a play on it, but he didn't. That's not Roddick's fault.

Monday picks - http://www.tennistalk.com/en/blog/Ricky_Dimon/20100124/Monday_Matches_ of_the_Day_-_Expert_Picks

Gonzo's fault

the call came well after he let it go

LOL (really hard) @ vamosrafa, thank you. It's an honor to be part of the competition....and to have anyone as part of my cheering section. :D

I have to defer to my colleagues here- whether you like him or not, Roddick isn't at fault. Gonzo had to strike on a challenge earlier.

me pleasure kelli :D