federer:7-5,6-4
murray:6-4,6-4
almagro:6-3,6-4
nadal:6-3,6-2

Federer 6-4 6-4
Nadal 7-5 6-4
Murray 2-6 6-4 7-6(3)
Almagro 6-3 6-4

Gulbis, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(5)
Nadal 6-3, 6-4
Ferrer 6-4, 6-4
Almagro 6-3, 7-6

Gulbis 2-6, 6-4 6-1
Ferrer 6-4, 7-5
Almagro 6-2, 6-3
Nadal 6-3, 6-4

gulbis 7-6, 7-5
ferrer 6-4, 6-4
melzer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6
nadal 6-4, 6-3

federer 7-6 7-5
ferrer 7-5 6-3
almagro 6-3 6-4
nadal 7-6 7-5

gulbis 6-4 6-3
Ferrer 7-6 6-4
Almagro 6-4 7-6
Nadal 6-3 6-3

just as a matter of interest,who is faster around the court,nadal or monfils?

if you mean sheer speed nadal..
but due to having much superior reflexes monfils has a greater court coverage..

Federer 6-2, 7-6
Ferrer 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Almagro 6-4, 7-5
Nadal 6-3, 6-4

Federer 64 26 63

Ferrer 64 64

Almagro 75 64 63

Nadal 64 62

Expert Picks is one of 'my favourite things' ...

Nadal is the only constant in all the expert picks :)
But this Roger guy is amazing. Even when his form is dodgy he talks about keeping on playing till after 2012. He will have close to 25 slams if he continues his average of 2 slams a year.
Considering the way he is playing in the Madrid masters after the recent form dip, I just feel the law of averages is catching up with him as clayking pointed out in a post a few days ago and peaking right in time for RG.
My respect for him is growing and am saying this as a hardcore Rafan

federer 6-3 4-6 6-4
Nadal 6-4 6-2
Murray 6-3 5-7 6-4
almargo 7-5 6-3

Almagro -64 57 62
Nadal - 67 64 61
Federer - 64 62
Ferrer - 46 64 75

Federer 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
Ferrrer 7-5, 7-5
Almagro - 6-4, 6-3
Nadal 6-4, 6-4.

@tj, talking abt ur footspeed i think rafa has the edge but monfils is more acrobatic and flexible and perhaps better reflexes as mentioned by clayking so his coverage is a bit greater....

no one watching almagro-melzer???

melzer is struggling with his 2nd serve....almagro is red hot today

i think Monfils even has the advantage in sheer speed

but Nadal is better at turning defense into offense

Almagro was fantastic today. This court suits him well.

yep......he can trouble rafa...(if rafa wins today)

@ricky, it is tough to call.. monfils' strides are so huge in comparision to rafa, both get to balls seemingly out of reach but I think nadal's footspeed is slightly more , monfils's has better reflexes, those acrobatic abilities nd flexibilities .

and u are so right abt turning defence into offence, even muzza is sooo good retrieving but he cant turn defense into offence like rafa does.

@vamosrafa
i think when it comes down to sprinting,monfils wins. i read somewhere that he could run the 100m sprint in a tad under 10.5s Also,like u said,nadals excellent at turning defence into offence. Hes on par with federer in that regard. Also,i hope nadal wins easily. Monfils is one of the most underrated arrogant pricks the game has seen,and despite his immense talent,he doesnt play to win,he plays to entertain the crowd and pull off the impossible.

Federer is No. 1 at turning D into O

thats why he is one of the best defensive players despite not having the foot speed of Monfils and Nadal. He never makes amazing gets like Monfils and Nadal, but he can hit some balls back for winners that Monf and Nadal would only get back in the court.

this is gonna be funny....two guys in almost the same shorts playing each other...

@Ricky, i agree with you but only partially. " but he can hit some balls back for winners that Monf and Nadal would only get back in the court." but what abt those SICK and IMPOSSIBLE passing shots nadal comes up with , from the bakhand or the forehand ! yes federer can come up with magical shots to save him but for me nadal is the best at turning defence into offence, one dipper and he sets up an easy passing shots, or those clean winners that seem impossible to generate.... fed's footspeed is underrated but I think he is quite fast too...his bkhand slice and that squashed forehand really make his defensive play COOL...

@tj,,, oh 10.5 is amazing ! may be he is faster than rafa then....have u seen bjorn phau running on the court??? BULLET !

@clayking, are u from spain?? and is there any one here who lives in spain??

@vamosrafa
hes indian i think.

if you are speaking of fastest, phau is the fastest!!
as for monfils and nadal, nadal is faster on foot..
the thing with monfils he has sharper reflexes and gives of the impression he is faster..
for eg:- if nadal takes 0.5 seconds to turn around, monfils takes 0.3.. (just an example)
so he will make the faster turn due to sharper reflexes and cover the court a bit faster..
however speed wise nadal (to the best of my belief) is faster..
have not heard of 10.5 seconds thing..

vamos,
i'm from India..
we are neighbours i think.. :P

@ricky
agree with you that feds the best at turning defence into offence. He can also come up with outrageous passing shots,like the one against djokovic at US 08,or the one he hit between his legs against Djk the followin yr :)

@clayking..ohh great to hear that. Yes we are neighbours :) , and yess i will pe responding to that clay court knowledgable debate we were having , rafa vs borg :) i have not forgotten , exams start from tomorrow so I dont have much time to write long posts, will reply on that thread SOOn :)

@vamosrafa
lol,my exams finished today:) what course are u doing btw?

now i will have to dig it up again..
i forgot which thread was that and even forgot what all i have put forward and what arguments were left in my arsenal.. :P
on a side note, do you watch cricket??
just asking because today is a big day for your team!!

best of luck vamosrafa....hope ur team pulls of an upset..

poor us clayking....our team got bundled out,its high time our cricket players shrugged off the ipl party fever

@clayking
australias gonna own pakistan. and sri lanka will own england,and then my dream final will occur :)

only jokin. england will lose to australia:)

It all boils down to muzz's 1st serve %age ...

ricky - When ferrer 'blasted' muzz two weeks ago, there was more to it than the clay - if I remember right, muzz served at well below 40%.

If muzz serves over 60%, he'll win, probably in 2.

If muzz serves 50-60%, he'll probably win in 3.

If muzz serves under 50%, ferrer will win, but may need 3 sets depending on how near to 50% muzz's first serve is.

@tj , it is pakistan vs Australia, and paki has put up 191 :P we are the slight favorites now ,.lol..but we all knw how good OZ s are at crikt..so good luck

@vrael ...thanks mate :D

alex -

It's often that way with Muzz, though with Ferrer's return game, I don't think we can assume that 50-60 will get the job done. He might need a touch more than that against ferrer.

cheryl, so glad your prediction on federer was wrong.

Go Kelli!

@ vamos. So aus do to pak what sl did to india :(

cheryl -

first set has just narrowly gone to ferrer. ferrer's 1st serve was 89%, muzz's was 45%. Says it all, as I predicted. Had muzz been over 50%, he'd at least have taken it to a tie-break, even with ferrer firing at 89%.

The real damage was done in the first half of the set when muzz was running at 30%.

ferrer might have a good return of serve, but muzz's is better - demonstrated by the fact that he managed to gain a break of serve with ferrer serving at 89%.

muzz muzz muzz muzz muzz.

Here's the buzz:

I see kizz clijzz of Belgizz is out of RG, so too is davydezz, dezz pozz and youzz.

Are you as pizzed off as I izz?

I don't get why would the organizers of the tournament have this match scheduled this late...whoever wins tonight will be useless tomorrow...seems totally unfair...and I feel sorry for Murray...I really wanted him to win this match but he does not seem to have any energy left to fight back Ferrer...

Ferrer will at least be playing at night, but I agree it's completely unfair for a less than 24 hour turnaround. The organizers need to fix that immediately.

Lol, thank you maxi. :)

I was thinking that same thing last night when fed played so late kelli. But I guess it's the only way to get all the matches in in the few days that they have.

i agree that it's less than ideal. The format for Masters events is brutal.

Oh and hurray for Kelli - she went 4 for 4 on the quarterfinal picks. :)

I think Monfils is more a sprinter, and Rafa an all distance runner. Rafa has the stamina to run the whole day, and he also can sprint around quickly when required. Monfils on the other hand, lacks the stamina and many times after running around like crazy, he was seen panting for breath.

Talking about Fed peaking in time for RG, not sure about that yet, as Madrid plays more like a hard court, suits Fed's style of play. RG not known to be fast (except last year when the weather was dry). This year it seems that the weather is cold and wet, though not sure in two three weeks time, what the weather will be like.

I think it is unlikely that Fed will win two slams a year from now on, till he reaches the tally of 23 or 25 slams. There is Rafa, and there are the other young guns. Though they are not doing well at the moment, they are still young and improving, while Fed will be older each year.

luckystar, believe it or perhaps you won't, but ALL players will get older each year! Not just federer! and look how ferrer is playing - 28 years old, apparently this was going to be his last year on tour, but he is playing so well, that he has "postponed" that thought for now. Murray was 23 - 5 years difference.

Fed at AO, 28, Murray 23. Everyone gets older, it is how you pick and choose your tournaments, (as rafa is realising), and how you look after your body, with conditioning and your mind with motivation. If fed has got continuing great body conditioning and motivation to stay at the top, there will be nothing to stop him from staying on tour and acquiring more tournaments.

Why do people just talk about Federer ageing? as if everyone else is going to do a benjamin button? Fed is still young and still improving. This year Oz - he played his best tennis. give the guy a break.

luckystar and maxi, whatever the conditions are at RG Federer has definitely upped his game. It seems both he and Rafa should be in good form for the French and Wimbledon ... can hardly wait. :)

Wow Maxi relax! Luckystar is entitled to an opinion and it's not gonna kill Federer. Sheesh! If you don't like difference of opinions, you shouldn't be in a forum.

@vmk1...lol...team australia won from a seemingly impossible positions...congrats tj600 ;d

@tj, both of us always manage to watch tennis despite exams,lol....i am doing bachelors in economics and i have 4 courses right now....had an exam for principles of financial accounting.... :D soo glad rafa is in to the finals :D

nice course. im doing engineering. and vamosrafa,i actually would have prefered sri lanka to beat england :( Its just that i live in australia so they are my 2nd favourite.

:D....team autralia is INCREDIBLE>...80 runs from 36 balls....mike hussey was jut WOWWW....22 off the last over from him ...amazing.....england's hope is kevin peitersen, Oz's have to make sure they get him out .....ad yes Aus-Eng rivalry is SOO exiciting to watch... :)

remi, i'm fine thanks for asking. if you dont like differences of opinions, you shouldnt be in a forum.

aus vs england will be good. but i think aus will have too much for england. and btw,when are they going to allow international matches to be played in pakistan?

goooooo england!!!!

@tj..
you yesterday asked about gulbis's fav surface..
i saw the question now and well it is hards..
and yes, if he continues this form, he will be a contender at uso..

p.s. tomorrow, i'll root for england, bcoz australia have too many trophies in their cabinet :P

aussies owned the hapless pakis.
england are useless at cricket.

shows how dominant australia is at sport.
ricky dimon u should read about aussie sports, we are the best at sport in the world, only 20 million people.

atr where are you based? kakadu?

@atr,
spain is best in the major sports of world(, australia is a close 2nd..
but i know its no use telling u..

clayking, next things is atr will say oz is going to win the world cup soccer - thrashing brazil in the final match

ausies owned pakistan??? they barely won thanks to michael hussey!