he is still standing 10 meters behind the baseline. he never learns this kid.
everytime he plays defensive he gets spanked.
he should use his slice on this surface.

if he continues his moonballing from 10 meters behind the baseline, then he is screwed.

Did you say "moonballing"? :D

You must be an MTFer. I can tell from your "style". lol. And yes, he needs to stop standing so far behind the baseline - but he does that for a reason. because if he doesn't completely have his rhythm down, he'll shank the ball left, right and center.

attacker - we know what you think about Nadal (and Tomic).

Duplicate posts will no longer be accepted.

LOL he was standing far.... just outside "Melbourne"!!

Slightly disappointing from Nadal. He seems closer to the player he was at the end of 2009 than what he looked like in Abu Dhabi and Dubai few weeks ago. His rookie opponent got extremely nervy and Rafa got out of jail. Otherwise Rafa would have needed 4 sets (2 of them would have been tight) to win this. To be sure, Nadal played slightly better in set 2 and set 3. However his backhand (especially the down the line ) is not firing : it's devoid of pace, depth and penetration. He served harder, however the serving patterns were too predictable, and most of the serving was on the backhand side. I don't see him having as much variety wide on his opponent's forehand as he used to a year ago. (Is the lack of placement because of the need to generate more pace? He's still serving in the 200 kmph only occasionally) . Return of serve too is weak and short and Nadal couldn't capitalize on some poor 2nd serving by his opponent. Among the positives of the match were the movement which seems good and he seemed to grow in confidence as the match progressed which is strange because a 6 time grandslam champion shouldn't be so nervous.

Anyway, yesterday's match was a sharp contrast to the first round of AO 2009 where Nadal looked great while dismantling Rochus. Nadal will have to step it up "significantly" if he wants to be a genuine threat in this tournament. He's not playing at the level of the top players on hardcourts at the moment. I'm sure he knows that too. But it's only the first match. Let's see how the rest of the week pans out..

^^ "Doha" in the last post instead of Dubai.

imjimmy,

I didn't see the match in quite the same way that you did. For one thing, I try not to overanalyze first round matches. They are not necessarily indicative of how a player will do in a tournament. At least Rafa didn't drop a set the way Delpo did in his first match.

Rafa can be a slow starter, so I don't see a lot to be really concerned about right now. It seemed as though a light went on in Rafa's head after he got broken in the first set. He started playing more aggressively and took complete control in the tiebreak. I don't think it was a case of nerves on the part of his opponent. I think Rafa stepped up and started playing a lot better.

I think eleven aces from Rafa in a three set match is a very good sign. He appears that he has been working on his first serve. I thought he was able to take control of the points with his first serve and dictate play. He went up 5-0 in the second set, although I didn't get to see any of it, because espn decided to show Henin's match. They only showed highlights, but that was enough to see that Rafa really stepped up.

I took a brief look at Murray and he won easily, but I still don't put much stock in first round match play. Delpo wasn't anywhere near his best form, but I expect him to do much better as he progresses.

If Rafa needed a bit of a wake up call, that's fine with me. I did notice that he was missing some down the line forehands and too many backhands. The frustrated expression on his face said it all. He needs to get the feel of the court and get that rhythm and timing going. I am sure he will do just that.

Nativenewyorker: Everyone improves after their first match, and I don't expect Rafa to be an exception. That said, given the way he was striking the ball in Abu Dhabi and Doha right off the bat, I was hoping for a little better. I recall too that he started well in Australia last year. And so I'm a trifle disappointed.

As you mentioned he served 11 aces, which is good. He also Serve-Volleyed 3 times in the match which might be the same as what he did for the entire last season! The major worrying thing for me was his backhand, which didn't look sharp and he was not timing it well. And when he misses he goes back taking the ball late and neutralizing the effectiveness of that stroke which is such a weapon on hardcourts.

Anyway like you said it's just the first round. Hopefully this match got the blood flowing along with the serve, groundstrokes and the volleys. The next match will tell us how much..

nadal looked good from tie break of the first onwards.. he should be fine in the finals

@imjimmy

u get it! u said everything i was going to say.
u have more knowledge of analysing a game of tennis than these 'expert' controlfreak writers.

this match reminded me of his 1st round match against marcos daniel in the french last year and the 1st round match against victor troicki in the 2008 aussie open.
they both had chances to win the set, nadal was playing defensive and he relied on their mistakes to win.

he will have to improve significantly for him to win the title.
u can see why top players have beaten him, they dont choke when given the chance.
nadal goes really defensive when the other is attacking, u got to fight fire with fire.
and his returning is awful, esp. his 2nd serve returns.
i find it hard to believe that he stands even further back when receiving the 2nd serve, wouldnt it be easier to step up and take it on the rise, take a couple of risks.
his theory is that he wants time to take a bigger swing at it, i think thats negative thinking.

when u get a look at a 2nd serve, u take it early and gain early control of the point.

but he did time the serve well, a bit more cleaner striking. i thought he bent his knees a bit more to generate more pace from his entire body instead of just using his upper body to generate all the pace.

and he needs to use the slice more, the slice bites on the aussie open surface and he has improved his slice the most i reckong along with his crosscourt backhand.

i just dont understand why people see one of the favorites play one match against guys ranked outside the Top 100 and suddenly draw conclusions about where they are going to finish the entire tournament.

Just because Nadal disposed of Luczak doesnt mean he is going to be in the final. Just because Nadal went to one tiebreaker with Luczak doesnt mean he is going to lose to Leonard Mayer in the next round. Just because Murray almost triple-bageled Anderson doesnt mean he is going to suddenly win his first Grand Slam without dropping a single set all tournament long.

murray looked good, he was humiliating anderson, anderson didnt do much wrong at times and murray was in genius mode. the passing shots, the great gets, the controlled aggression, etc. it was a great dominating performance, a warning shot to his opponents.

del potro said he was playing injured, i dont think he will get to the semis.
and leonardo mayer was making some noise last year with some good performances.
djokovic was in dominating form in 2008 and won the tournement, nadal was in dominating form in 2009 and won it, federer was in dominating form in 2007 and won it, and right now murray is in dominating form.



and btw how come womens tennis is not discussed in this forum?
i know its useless but there are a couple of good matches.
i just want to say that im very happy kirilenko won, she is the cutest and hotest chick in womens tennis in history, anytime i can see more of her, its real beauty to my eyes.
the only reason she doesnt get recognition for her gorgeous looks is because she hasnt won a major like a sharapova.
hope she wins 1 one day. she is a fiesty girl.

Ricky: While I agree that we cannot draw too much conclusion from one match, it still makes sense to analyze Nadal's play. Unlike Federer (or Delpo) Nadal is a big momentum player and his level does not fluctuate as much between matches in a tournament or between adjacent tournament. For most of the slams I've seen Nadal do well (or win), he's started strong and maintained his form through till the finals. When Nadal goes on a run he takes full advantage of his momentum. Wouldn't you agree that yesterday Nadal looked light he was continuing from where he left off in fall 2009 rather than in Abu Dhabi/Doha this yr.

attackingtennisrulez: Nadal stands back on the hardcourt while returning serve. which is fine, as that is the way he plays on his surface (unlike grass for ex). However the problem is that for many returns Nadal cannot get enough depth (or action) on the ball especially when he's running around his backhand plus cannot cut off the angles on the wide serves as he's so far back. This causes him to loose control of the pts in the return games on a hardcourt which is why he's easier to beat here compared to other surfaces. When Nadal is playing well a larger percentage of his returns go deep even from the back of the court. But that is one area where he will always be vulnerable.

riverjamir: I wouldn't think of Nadal in the finals, unless he improves.

imjimmy,

I can see where you are coming from with the expectation that Rafa would come out as strong as he did in Abu Dhabi and Doha. But this is a grand slam, there are more matches, there's more time to get into a groove, etc. I could see that Rafa was missing more backhands than he would like, but I just think he has to get the feel of the court and get into his groove.

Everyone's entitled to analyze or not analyze these early matches. I have always been of the opinion that you honestly can't read a player in his first match in a grand slam tournament. There are too many variables and these opponents have nothing to lose, no pressure, no expectations and can just come out and start swinging for the fences. Sometimes the top players don't even know these guys, haven't played them before or just need some time to get going.

I am not going to make the mistake of reading too much into Del Potro dropping a set in his first match. I watched most of it and his opponent was a short, pesky little guy who caused him some trouble. Delpo lost his cool in the third set over a call he didn't like. His concentration seemed to drop in that set. But he quickly asserted himself in the fourth set and manage to close it out.

I don't think Murray breezing through his first match means anything of significance. His first serve percentage was quite low, something that could have been exploited by a better player.

The goal is just to get through these dangerous early rounds against some lesser players without getting bounced out of the tournament. We have seen some shocking upsets in the early rounds in almost every grand slam. As long as you are still there in the second week, that's what is important.

imjimmy - of course we should analyze Nadal's play.

"Nadal will be in the final" is not analysis, however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdlye8LH3jc haha great interview :D
and i dnt understand one thing..mysteries abt rafa's weight! he insists almost begs not to say anythng like 'you have lost alot of weight' ..he says believe me i am the same,the weighing machines prove it! dont believe anythng u read.but many writers believe he has lost weight and many fans too :S

he is kidding himself if he thinks he hasnt lost weight.
maybe the scale hes measuring in is broke.

just look at the 2008 french open nadal body and his current body.
2008 french open body was like a beast, he looked bigger and WAYYYYYYYY more intimidating.
but its good he has slimmed down because his knees took too much force and beating becuase of his weight, this will help him to play for a while longer.

Gotcha ricky! In my defense, I never said that Nadal would (or would not) make the final :) At this pt it's too early to say who will make the final. The only thing we can be sure of is that Nadal will have to play "significantly" better (and I'm not saying that he won't) to make the final.

NativeNewYorker: I agree it's not a very fruitful exercise to project the chances of a player on the basis of a single match. However a lot can be be ascertained by how confident a player is and how he is striking the ball in these early matches. Very few players play awfully and then suddenly turn it on in the 2nd week. (Federer could be an exception to this).

imjimmy, I think you have a pretty good point. Sometimes with Rafa, you just FEEL it when he's going to win a slam. I remember the 2008 French Open thinking that I couldn't imagine him losing.

I didn't think the match against Luczak was as bad as some make it out to be, though. His court position in the first set wasn't great, but it was corrected in the second set. Because his winner to unforced error ratio was quite healthy, I'd consider his first round match a success.

yeah, i know what you mean cheryl. i knew this time last year that rafa would be walking away as the champion. i just had that feeling. didn't have it at rolland garros. i'm not so sure how he'll do here. it's impossible to judge from the first match. he started slowly, but then he always does whilst he gets the feel of the court and stuff. it's better to just take it one match at a time and see how he plays round by round i reckon

I was at the game last night, Nadal didn't look confident enough to win this one..he was making too many unchracteristic errors..one thing for sure, he's a rock star, people love him here

whenever nadal has won a slam, he has dominated from the first match.

last year he made rochus look like a 5 year old kid that has never picked up a tennis racket.

federer is different, he can just turn it on whenever he likes, its his genius.

after seeing nadal's first match, nadal will be lucky to get past murray.

atr... assuming murray gets to the quarters. he's never gotten that far yet

After seeing Nadal over the years, it seems that he is a big confidence player. Perhaps more than anyone else. I?ve never seen anyone use momentum and confidence as effectively as Nadal does.

How often have we seen him playing great tennis in one tournament and then fading in the next? When he hits his stride, he takes full advantage and goes on a great run. That?s happened several times in his career:

-2006 won the entire clay season used momentum to go to Wimb Final.
-2007 starting from Indian Wells won everything until Wimb Final
-2008 went on a tear from Monte Carol to Olympics ( 8 titles, 10 finals)
-2009 won AO and then used the momentum to rack up every tournament in sight ( 5 titles out of 7 tournaments)

I don?t think he played all that well in 2009 after the AO, but he took full advantage of all the momentum he had. How many matches did he win after looking all but done?

Confidence is big for Nadal. When he?s really confident, his focus on court is second to none. He can win "without even" raising his level significantly. That's when he becomes the "hardest" player to beat on the tour.

At this moment he seems at cross-roads mentally. I don't sense he's ready yet. I think there will be sometime before he peaks mentally and then go on one of his great runs. AO might be one tournament too soon for him. Let's hope it happens in the summer during the clay and grass season so that he can make full use of his absence last year.

I agree that in the past there was this sense that Rafa would win. I have had that feeling myself in other grand slam tournaments. But this time around, I just don't know. I haven't seen Rafa much of late, so this was my first real chance to see him live in an entire match.

I was seriously ill for quite a while and my doctor ordered lots of bed rest, which meant no staying up late to see Rafa. That's why I didn't see Rafa at Paris and the WTF in London, as well as Abu Dhabi and Doha. But I am now clear to stay up late and watch Rafa, so it's been great just to finally see him. Then I can try to get a sense as to where he's at.

I watched the match again and the thing that stood out to me, was that Rafa was able to step up when he got into trouble in the first. He started playing more aggressive and was able to break back and then he blanked his opponent in the tiebreak. In the second set Rafa really took over. From that point on, I don't think he ever lost control of the match. He got the early break in the third set, but didn't get broken back as he has done of late. He held his serve and got the win. That's more like the old Rafa.

I believe that Rafa showed mental toughness and the ability to step it up when necessary. For a player who has been struggling with his own confidence, that's important. That is what I choose to take from this match. It's a given that Rafa needs to play better as he moves on. I am sure he knows that. For now I will just have to watch and see what happens.

I am not going to make any predictions for anyone. I rarely do it. I know that last year I watched Rafa's matches and had a really good feeling about his chances. All the commentators were talking about was Murray and Fed. But this time I just have to watch more of Rafa. I never count him out of any grand slam.

atr, I don't understand u at all... u said that u hate defensive tennis but at the same time u give too much credit to Murray, the mother of all defensive players (which I?ve no problem with him at all because I like all style of plays as long as they are entertaining) by saying he is genius. So my question is, do you hate defensive tennis or do you just hate Nadal because from the way you write, it is ridiculous if u don?t hate either one of them?

is anyone watching federer's match? andreev is on fire

huykle,

I've been watching it. Andreev won the first set, but Fed is up 4-1 in the second.

@imjimmy

yea i agree about nadal's having big runs when confident.
nadal is still mentally fragile.
where is the nadal that was a mental giant so many times especially when break point down, he was like the man.
on clutch points, he used to be the man.

that has disappeared.

I must say I agree with the analysis of Rafa's game yesterday. He start very slowly but now that Federer and Djokovic have played, I wonder whether some will still be alarmed at how Rafa played? I actually thought Rafa played very well considering that he had never played Luczak before and Luczak did play well above his ranking of 76 plus he had the cheers of the home crowd on his side which gave him added confidence. I agree that players always think they can beat Rafa and will go for broke - and in some cases they may take a set off him, or take him to a tiebreak. I was also encouraged with the way Rafa responded. Yes it's true the backhand did let him down somewhat - timing issue possibly and it could have been nerves - as the defending champion - all eyes were on him especially with all his recent troubles - that does put added pressure on players; but I think he will improve this. Generally the top players lift their games from Round 4 onwards/QF, depending on the opponent. We must also bear in mind that the mens' game has depth. Lots of players can beat the top players, we are seeing some players with a different mindset/fearless.

For tennis supporters, this is exciting and so for me it's great when Rafa is the last man standing! I don't think he should be criticised for the way he played yesterday, which was the 1st round of a grand slam!

Sec1SupaLaura,
I agree with your take on this. The fact that both Federer, Djoko and Delpo had to win tough shows that Rafa's form is no worse than the other players. Only Murray had an easy first round, because Anderson put up no resistance. I guess if Anderson had played any of the top four, the result would have been the same.

There are a lot of players in the top 100 who can beat the top players on their day, which makes it all the more remarkable that Federer and Nadal and Djokovic have been able to sustain their position for such a long time.

Rafa will be playing around 2/3am GMT tomorrow, so that means a sleepless night for me. But he is worth it.

Vamosssssssssssssssss!

Rafa will have no trouble against Lacko tomorrow. He had a little difficulty in that first set against Luczak, but from what I saw, he's pretty much back on track...his serve was clicking and forehand was buzzing. It would be pretty routine for Rafa tomorrow and I will definitely be cheering him on :)

But Match Of The Day at Rod Laver tomorrow is definitely Cilic v Tomic. Crowds are going to get SO rowdy.

best atmosphere in Laver maybe. Match of the Day is Del Potro vs. Blake.

Ricky, am waiting your preview to Delpo v Blake. Interested to see what your picks would be. :) For me I'm definitely going with relatively easy straights for Delpo.

I must say I agree that Del-P v Blake will be the match of the day (IF Blake is on form)!

i agree with cheryl's analysis. rafa took time to settle down and his court positioning in the first set was not good. added to that was the fact that luczak probably played the best tennis of his life with the support of the home crowd. however, being mostly on the challenger circuit, he unfortunately couldn't keep at that level for a best of 5 set match. by 2nd set, rafa raised his level and didn't look back. he admitted later in an interview that luczak's mistakes in the tie break helped bail him out. i agree with imjimmy that rafa doesn't look like the rafa of ao 08. rafa himself said he's not as prepared.

jyannis - I'm not previewing Blake-Delpo.

But I will discuss it and pick it in our Matches of the Day blog. I'll put the link here when it is up.

tomic vs cilic is huge.

there is huge hype on it.
i hope the crowd can wild and get really rowdy and noisy. that is rattle cilic and give tomic the edge.

if tomic takes the 1st set, i pick tomic to win.

I will be watching too Carrie, he sure is worth it, even if it stresses me out like hell!!! Vamos!

Wednesday picks - http://www.tennistalk.com/en/blog/Ricky_Dimon/20100119/Wednesday_Match es_of_the_Day_-_Expert_Picks

we all have Cilic in 3

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