Yeah baby. This is what I'm talken about. Nadal all the way.

Dear Lord,

Thisn is rafaisthebest calling, kinda feel I have to introduce myself seeing as you and I do not talk much.......my fault, I know, you are God after all. Okay, I won't waste your time, here's the deal: you make Rafa win RG 2011 and I will never, ever say a rude word about Roger. Fair transaction, don't you think? You notice You got until Sunday to respond otherwise all bets are off? You realsie this has taken a lot out of me, begging I mean, not my ususal cup of tea, so make it snappy....Your decision I mean......might be tempted to withdraw my offer.

So,..... what do You say?

Yours (forever, if Rafa wins Sunday and will be Roger's BFF),
rafaisthebest

rafael nadal has more chances than djokovic as federer looks to be a difficult opponenet as compared to murray however a nadal djokovic final will be a very interesting affair and it can go either way and serb being a slight favourite if both win their semis in straights however the semis will also tell a lot

Go back 12 months.... could anybody then have imagined what we are writing today about the semis and finals at RG?

rafaisthebest,

Because thou hast not read My word, "Pride cometh before a fall" and thinketh that thou art the best, and because thou hast wrongly assumed that Roger was the apple of My eye, verily have I delivered the dominion of Roland Garros over to another, one who hath suffered much and been maligned by many, Andy Murray.

But if that worketh not, it shall be Novak Djokovic.

Roger thinketh he be God himself and needeth not My help.

alex
, 6/1/11 8:16 PM


Go away, will ya......? Am waiting for the real GOD to answer my prayers.........

alex, there are absolutely no expectations on Andy to win RG this week so he just might do it :-)

I would prefer a Nadal-Djoker final because if Fed won, we cannot say whether Nadal is the king of clay this year. I want to see both players say they played their best tennis. I'm happy to see Djoker and Murray in the running as all 4 have a shot at the title. But who's got the edge now?

That was Rafa's 225th clay win.



Vamos Rafa!

^^i'd like him to get his 227th on sunday.....hope he beats murray comprehensively too...he needs all the confidence....VAAAAMOS

Forget about Rafa's 227th win...........................i want to see him win his 10th SLAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rafaisthebest , 6/1/11 7:23 PM

I so much feel the same way, I am literally begging God to give Rafa the Confidence & mental toughness so that he will demolishing anyone across the net, be it NOLE!!!
If only God could hear us!!!! Once again PLEASE GOD PLEASE!!!!

VAMOS!!! Go Get the 6th FO RAFA!!!

227th win == 10th slam...

We are on the same page here...lol

lol......................yeah vrael............we are, i just prefer the sound of 10th SLAM!!!...........hehehehe!!!!!

Exodus 31:15 Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death

surely then, if "God" exists, he won't stand behind anyone in sunday's final.

Friday, 3 June.............Rafa's birthday. Sooooooooooooo glad he will be celebrating it in Paris......normal service. that is the way things should be, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west...........

Good luck Rafa...........VAMOS!!!!!!!

croc
, 6/1/11 10:15 PM

Go away.........!!!!

croc - he would have to stand behind Rafa then because for Rafa tennis is his hobby not work (just yet anyway). His very passionate hobby.

good one, Maya!

Here's an article on the Rafa match which kind of ridicules all the hype about Soderling's upset specialty:
http://sportshaze.com/barcelona/polideportivo/french-open- 2011-rafael-nadal-overcomes-robin-soderling-to-move-to-semifinals-3778

croc -

The Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, which is maybe why the women's game is in such a poor state :-)

alex. good luck for your lad in the semis. unfortunately, i think some religions have sabbath on fridays, so i hope it doesn't mean his foot is in danger again :P

I know that what counts is your nr of winners balanced against the nr of unforced errors but, can anyone tell me why Rafa - having one of the most fearsome forehands in the tour - always finishes up with half the winners of his opponent?

I just watched replay of Nadal's first round match against Isner and I must say Nadal wasn't playing too bad. Isner was playing out of his skin. Federer would probably have lost if he had faced Isner. Djokovic and Murray might have been stretched to 5 sets or even lost.

what's ur gmail ricky???

and how long shud be the previews?

ridimon@gmail.com

two paragraphs (or one long one) for each match and exact score of both

Shireling - rafa's forhand creates a lot of forced errors from his opponents racket. That can probably explain his low winner count

Shireling is very demanding of Rafa!

Poor Soderling, with his such UE he would have even lost to Simon.
226 will come in next Monte Carlo.

So there are still some people hoping for a Rafa loss the next match? 226 will come this Friday, don't worry. And if Rafa can reach the final, he'll be hard to beat!

There's no need for Rafa to take extra risk in such windy conditions if he can transfer such risk to his opponents. His opponent has to take more risk if he wants to beat Rafa, for clearly Rafa is the better player in the match and the best on this surface. Rafa will only need to take more risk on the hard courts against top opponents.

holdserve,
LoL, you're right! It's the fault of many a fan - we want our favourite player to play absolutely 100 % amazing all the time :).
I'm just saying because we all know how physical Rafa's game is and how he's also considered one of the most physically strong players yet his huge forehands don't end into so many winners.
The way Djoko is playing - if Rafa were to meet him in the final - I'm not sure his usual conservative top-spin game game is going to be enough to win it but I know that it's not a matter of asking Rafa to change his entire way of playing but more of making some adjustments... wishful thinking....
But there's still Murray to be dealt with and we all know he's a tough one :)

Shireling, I believe it's because aces and unreturned serves count as winners. If the receiver makes contact with a serve but doesn't return it it's a winner for the server so is an ace.

Can a tiebreak be reported as a thrashing?

I think aces are considered winners but not unreturnable serves where the returner's racket touches the ball. Those should be considered errors, not winners.

The title of the article refers to the match as a whole, not just the tiebreak.

Wait and see the results of the match between Nole and "who was that again?" to find out what thrashing meant.

holdserve would you consider it a thrashing overall?

In some people's books a real thrashing is what Rafa did to Fed in the final in 2008, dismissing him 61 63 60. Now that's a thrashing in anybody's books.

I think some people are being rather deluded about Nadal's performance yesterday.
There was no `thrashing` people but there was a Soderling near implosion.
Probably due to the conditions.
Rafa played a bit better than before & took advantage, that's all!
To be honest I think the quality of Tennis from the top 4 has NOT been great.
It only threatened to spark into life with the Novak Del/Del Potro late evening match that was ruined by the Idiotic planning of this tournament.

LOL@nadline

I guess Nadal's defensive skills were very good comparable to past . I think Nadal
played his down the line forehand very well especially in second and third set and that is one shot that will help him against Djoker if both of them contest the finals.

Nadal/Murray match is on first, followed by Djoko/ Fed.

If Andy wins, then Fed will be greatly motivated to win his match thinking he has a chance to get one more title!

If Fed wins then he it will be because he has played phenominal tennis against New Nole. I would hate Andy to beat Rafa and then get another drubbing from Fed :(
It's all so very complicated......

...one more title before he sails into the sunset? :-)

"If Andy wins, then Fed will be greatly motivated to win his match thinking he has a chance to get one more title!"

Agreed, he probably won't make it anyway but
Andy clearly has issues with the hyperbolic pressure of a slam final, I actually think he would have a slightly better chance against Novak than `the Greates Player Of All Time` tm
Still, he could always make this tournament his breakthrough one.
Not likely, but stranger things have happened......

who knows?...................I'd say Rafa fOr the win!!!!

I wish the Nole/Fed semi had been first. If Nole had won, I wouldn't mind either Rafa or Andy winning. But now that the Rafa/Andy match is first, I hope Rafa wins! Like deuce, I would hate it if Andy beat Rafa only to get a drubbing at Fed's hands. Fed's greed and drive are prodigious. He is like a dragon collecting his treasure.

Why is Rafa's (and Andy's) match first?........Rafa only just finished playing Sod...............Djoko has already had the whole week off and Fed played almost three days ago!!!!!!! Whats this about?!!!!........not fair at all!!!!!

The Organisation of this event has been poor to say the least.
They put the mens matches on at night when they're 5 sets long as well.
After all the doubles and the Ladies matches are done.
Must some bullshit gallic chivalrous excuse.

In some people's books a real thrashing is what Rafa did to Fed in the final in 2008, dismissing him 61 63 60. Now that's a thrashing in anybody's books.
nadline
, 6/2/11 10:37 AM

LOL@nadline
vamosrafa
, 6/2/11 2:02 PM

Nadline, you are predictable.
vamosrafa, you have gone down in my estimation.

thinking about it nadline, *pause*, yes. you're right. similar to the thrashing novak has given rafa the last 4 times they played.

er..similar to the thrashing federer gave rafa last year...to win his fifth WTF, how many has rafa won nadline?

Yawwwwnnn......Maxi YOU are predictable. How many bagles did Nole give Rafa in the last 4 masters like Rafa gave Fed in 2008 FO?? IW and Miami weren't even straight sets. Wow , you would stoop to whatever low level to vent your anger. Whether you liek it or not, the 2008 FO finals WAS a thrashing!

No WTF for Rafa, but his Olympic singles gold medal more than makes up for it. When did Fed win his?

Do yourself a favour Maxi and go jump into a lake...and stay there!! You are not even a tennis fan. A high achieving 16 time grand slam winner and history maker does not deserve a pathetic low life 'fan' like you!

oh jean. I think it's you know who too.

Jean. You're right. Did Youzhny give rafa a thrashing as well, was that in 2007 or doesn't that count? I have to stop replying to you jean, because I think you like the arguing. I don't much.

I like to think though that fed was able to move on from that 2008 tournament (I look on the bright side, he was able to reach 3 finals and win 1 when soderling thrashed rafa in the fourth round), and go on to win another 3 slams. The mark of a great champion Jean. Fed won his olympics medal in beijing 2008 Jean. Would you like me to send you the dvd? Let me have your email address and I'll do that for you.

I said SINGLES gold Maxi. Are you blind AND stupid? That was the medal Fed was after. Not the doubles. He bragged and braged about it leading up to the Olympics. Unlike you, Fed doesn't like to settle for second best. Deal with it.

I think you confuse winning with thrashing. Yes, you are dfinitely stupid. Wasn't it you who thought 'seeding' is the same as 'ranking'? You have a lot to learn Maxi. Start NOW. Maybe in a decade or so, you might catch up with the rest of us of us. Good luck!

Hey Jean, anything Fed achieves is automatically more valued than anything that Rafa achieves. So an Olympic doubles gold is worth more than a singles gold i.e. it is singles gold +. Tut tut, did you not know that?

I think it will be a Fedal final. Rafa will beat Murray, as Rafa is the better mover on clay, and he knows how to play the clay court game better than Murray. I'm sure Rafa will put in his best effort as it is a slam semifinal. Fed vs Nole, I think it's 50-50 chances. Fed is very experienced in slams and knows how to pace himself well. As long as he doesn't go walk about like the way he did in last years USO semifinal, he has the variety to deal with Nole. Just don't stay at the baseline and rally with Nole, move up to the net as much as possible, like the way he did at last year's WTF. I think both Fed and Rafa can deal with the windy conditions better than Nole and Murray.

People are fond of saying Fed goes walkabout. I think Fed is in decline. True, if it is windy, Fed may have an advantage. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine Fed winning against Nole.
Fed appears impressive in this tournament because he hasn't really been challenged. He appeared pretty impressive in Dubai whereas Nole seemed to be struggling a bit. But when they met in the Dubai final, Fed was thrashed.
Nole has got a huge weapon against Fed. That is his backhand.
Fed's weakness is his backhand against a player of Nole's caliber. While you cannot rule out Fed winning, chances of a Nole win are more, much more.
If Nole doesn't suffer from nerves, it would be a straight sets victory.

Some people are not fans of anyone they are just anti-Rafa and they all show up when anything is at stake like vultures, I hope they'll all be disappointed by the end of this weekend.

I would like Fed to beat Nole not because if Rafa makes the final Fed will be easy meat but if Nole fails to get to the final then Rafa keeps the No1 ranking.


Vamos Rafa!

If Fed is in 'decline' then how could he beat the top eight guys comfortably to win the WTF championship? Well after 2006/2007, which was Fed's peak, he's certainly coming down from his peak and now 2011, he's certainly 'decline' from that peak. Still he's the top three guys in the tours, and like Rafa once said, the no.3 in the world can also win tournaments, no?

Don't underestimate Fed, he'd played Nole thrice this year, surely he learned something each time and since he's come so far and reaches his third semifinal in a row in slams, I'm sure he'll try his best to reach the final. Rafa looks vulnerable this year on clay, and Murray isn't that great on clay, should Fed get past Nole, he may have a good chance of winning the FO. And if it's Rafa that he beats in the final, this victory may have an effect on both Fedal at Wimbledon. So I think Fed won't let this chance get past easily, he'll certainly fight it out with Nole.

I would agree with all your arguments if Fed were aged 28 or less. There is an enemy he cannot beat and that is Father Time.
Frankly, I doubt that Federer can in normal circumstances ever win French Open or Wimbledon again. But we have the unusual circumstance of three or four young greats in their prime and if they bash each other up to injury or exhaustion, Fed, because he rarely gets defeated by anyone other than the top 5 or at worst top 10, he has a chance. But he no longer has the capacity of winning by beating two or more of the greats. He has to depend on their beating each other up.