10/18/08 3:06 AM | Cheryl Murray
Rafael Nadal makes his ninth consecutive semifinal with an appearance in Saturday’s Madrid semi. His opponent is Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Rafael Nadal is having the kind of year most tennis players can only dream of. Not only does he have a gold medal, and the French Open and Wimbledon titles, but he has a staggering 77-9 match record. Gilles Simon is having somewhat of a breakout year himself. He has won three tournaments this year and is ranked 16th in the world (down a few spots from his career high of 13 in August).
Simon got the biggest win of his career in Toronto with a second-round shocker over Roger Federer. He advanced to the semifinals, where he lost to Nicolas Kiefer. Simon’s record against Nadal is 0-2; not exactly promising for the Frenchman for Saturday’s outcome. Both of Nadal’s wins came on hard courts.
Nadal has more difficulty on hard courts than he does on clay or grass, but he is still a force to be reckoned with, even on his worst surface. The single worry for Nadal is that he had some pain in his shoulder prior to his match against Feliciano Lopez on Friday. The injury did not seem to affect Nadal’s play, but it is something to watch for.
Health issues aside, Nadal should win this one.
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Complete agreement. Simon was nowhere near my radar screen coming into 2008, now I really like him a lot. What a fighter. And a he gets more out of his talent than any player on tour, without question.
Unfortunately (or I guess fortunately since like Nadal even more) he does not have the game to trouble Nadal, and furthermore he has spent a TON of time on the court this week. Nonetheless, a rout by Nadal will not discount the week or the year that Simon has enjoyed.
RickyDimon , 10/18/08 4:46 AM
What to say, Nadal is the tennis king, I'm wondering how someone can constant play like he's doing, what a performance yesterday, is there anybody who can have influence on his game, must admit, I'm delighted, all the best for him, but I already know, he'll get this Master, regards from Novak's fan...
gordana , 10/18/08 11:34 AM
ur expectations are in vain ..cuz nadal lost...
trickless nadal cannot survive in d no.1 spot for so long as fedex does....pity nadal's performance wid simon...wat nadal can do is just returning d ball wid out any tricks...simon does d same n finally it was nadal hu hit unforced errs n he ruined his winning chances....
nadals winning secret is ..d only thing in mind is returning d ball...tats it..wid out any placements n tricks...n his opponent out of frustration or lack of patience tries to hit a placement shot n tat results in unforced errs...tats d reason y nadal has less unforced errs than his opponent...trickless tennis player.....no style..no elegance...don know serving ace....pity him..
ravikiran , 10/25/08 7:41 PM
you don't get to no. 1 without any tricks. obviously you don't play the game.
and did you forget that your mr arrogant also also lost to the much smarter andy murray in the other semis?
remi , 10/26/08 2:00 AM
and dont u know tat ur sucker lost to murray in USOPEN semifinals...
fedex lost to some one who is a great player at d moment..he is world no.4.....but nadal lost to simon....and unseeded player........LOL on nadals incapability...
ravikiran , 10/26/08 8:11 AM
what a foul-mouth little git! how many tournaments did your sucker win this season? how many early round knock outs did your sucker suffer?
remi , 10/26/08 9:42 AM
and how many titles did ur sucker win u ninny filthy lump......u foul mouth first started addressing roger as arrrogance..if u do say v r not here to just see n njoy urposts...even v can do d same.....just be under control n mind ur languag ewhile speaking abt roger....fedex won usopen straight away 5 times in a row........LOL......no hard court title for nadal....and pete sampras is considered all time best ...i don know whether u know d fact or not that pete havent won any clay court title........so no matter on what type of court the player wins...wat matters is d no of titles at d end of d day...fedex leads in that.............
and for ur info..nadals winning percentage is 89.2 dis yr...
and rogers in 2004-92.2.....2005-95.2(wow wonderful)...2006-94.7......2007-88.2....
is nadal ever into such hihg winning percentages....two times 95..wow wonderful by roger......nadal can never ever reach tat even in his dreams........hahahahahahahaha
ravikiran , 10/26/08 9:57 AM
my...my.. what a foul mouth little temper tantrum!
I notice your writing has gone back to original format and spelling.
jean , 10/26/08 12:38 PM
if some body is doing d same..even i do..i cannot sit quietly n njoyyy ur stupid posts....
so stop saying fedex as arrogance ..then i wont be harsh...or else i address others d very same way..its up to u people....u anti rogers......
ravikiran , 10/26/08 12:51 PM
Did you know that... Rafael Nadal won 81 consecutive matches on clay during 2005 and 2007.
homos, Jan 8, 2009 1:20 PM
homos, Jan 8, 2009 12:22 PM
homos, Jan 8, 2009 12:18 PM
jean, Jan 8, 2009 11:07 AM
gordana, Jan 8, 2009 9:51 AM
sisterofnight12, Jan 8, 2009 1:49 PM
homos, Jan 8, 2009 1:25 PM
RocketQueen, Jan 7, 2009 3:06 AM
Rafael Nadal
Gilles Simon
ATP Masters Series Madrid

Can't wait to see these guys play. I feel somewhat torn because I've grown to like Simon a lot. Hopefully Rafa's shoulder wont cause any problems. Really looking forward to attending this one!!! Vamos and Allez! *Keeping fingers crossed for a Nadal-Federer final~
RafaNadalGirl20 , 10/18/08 4:23 AM