Nadal makes shock exit

I always find myself moaning about how the supposed best women players always seem to lose in the early rounds of grand slams, however at the French Open this year it has been the men who have suffered.

Two of the ’big four’ have lost before the quarter finals and I am truly shocked in the fashion they have bowed out.

A friend text me after the Nadal match claiming he thought the result was predictable which is ridiculous. Nadal’s loss to Soderling is simply unbelievable considering he hasn’t lost a set at the French Open since the 2007 final and the Spaniard really looked second rate today.

He did not hit with enough length throughout the match and Soderling punished this fact.

From start to finish the Swede hit every ball as hard as he could which worked perfectly as Nadal surprisingly couldn’t cope with the power he was generating.

I and everybody else watching this match thought that Soderling would have a dip sooner or later and Nadal would then gain control but it just never came. Take a look at Nadal’s demise here.

My immediate thought is that Nadal’s schedule has been too rigorous this year considering he has been to the final of every tournament he has played coming into the French. However he shot down this type of suggestion from journalists in his press conference but I reckon deep down he knows he is physically and mentally tired.

By the way I thought Nadal’s French Open attire was quality. Check out my review.

On the Djokovic front I have no idea how he managed to lose in straight sets to Kohlschreiber. Don’t get me wrong, the German is a masterful player on his day but his performances fluctuate so much it’s untrue.

I would put a hefty amount of money on whoever ‘Kohly’ is playing next because despite his immense talent, he is always liable to play like a complete donkey.

For example at the Australian Open earlier in the year he started with a decent straight sets win over Sam Querrey and then got himself into a right mess against old boy Fabrice Santoro losing in five.

Nadal dominates Murray

Frankly the Indian Wells final was embarassing to watch.

The wind was horrific and Murray simply couldn’t cope. However this contest certainly did not decide who is the overall better player.

This match decided who was the better player in gale force winds which was always going to be Nadal due to his technique which allows for a high margain of error.

Murray was forced to serve at 3/4 speed throughout the match as it was just impossible to apply any pace due to the fact the ball was being blown all over the shop when he threw up.

If I was in the crowd for that match I would have been so disappointed as it wasn’t very nice to watch at all. Just knowing how much the wind was effecting Murray really put a downer on the spectacle.

Unsurprisingly Murray got very angry and I can totally sympathise with him as playing in ridiculous winds is probably the most annoying thing in the world when you are losing.

Nadal seemed to cope fine with the conditions and his spinny serve held up perfectly. He did not face a single break point throughout the match. It was like a home coming for him considering he grew up playing on the wind swept coast of Mallorca.

Australian Open Review :: Verdasco

Fernando Verdasco was the surprise package of the Australian Open and I am now wondering if he can follow up this performance in the coming year.

How many players do you see who have a brilliant run in  a big tournament and then fail to bring their best form to any other event afterwards.

For example Kohlschrieber, Nieminen and Tipsarevic in the 2008 Australian Open and how about Rainer Scheuttler and Arnaud Clement at last year’s Wimbledon. 

The Spaniard, despite being a top 30 player for the last four years, has never really lit any tournament alight with only two singles titles in his career.  Two. 

The other surprising fact is that the last of his title wins came in 2004 in Valencia so to summarise he is currently ranked ninth in the world and hasn’t won a title for five years.

The one thing to Verdasco’s credit that I have noticed through looking at his results is that has delivered consistent performances reaching the last 16 and quarter finals in a number of events throughout his time on the professional circuit.

He played quite simply unbelievable tennis in Australia to beat Tsonga and Murray and then he came so close to upsetting Nadal. His shot making was at a level I had not seen before and against Nadal, although he fired around double the amount of winners, his legs would carry him no more and the more resilient (hacker!) Nadal prevailed.

For me Nadal was always going to win the final as he now has Federer’s number. The main fact being that Federer has a definite weakness in the backhand side and Nadal exploits it brilliantly. 

Federer wants to be known as the best player ever and he needs to win two more grand slam titles to prove this and I have my doubts as whether he will achieve this goal.

Roddick makes an early exit – Is it that much of a surprise?

Andy Roddick went out in the second round of Wimbledon yesterday which isn’t a big shock in my opinion. His preparation for the tournament wasn’t brilliant as he had only played two competitive matches since a back injury sustained on May 5th ruled him out of Hamburg and the French Open.

As a result he simply wasn’t match tight against a very talented opponent. As I said in my predicition Tipsarevic was going to cause him trouble as the Serb is a better player from the back of the court.

It seems strange when people act like this result was an un-thinkable shock. Tipsarevic has had a string of good results this year after his five setter against Federer in the Australian Open which seemed to make him believe he could be one of the best players in the world.

This year Tipsarevic has beaten Fernando Verdasco, James Blake, Mikahil Youzhny and Paul Henri Matheiu which tells everyone he is some player.

It is fair enough to say Roddick was not at his best today but the Serb took advantage of this and got the job done.

Novak Djokovic’ loss to Marat Safin on the other hand is a bit more of a surprise. Again similar to Roddick’s case, you could say Djokovic wasn’t at his best but Safin didn’t give him a chance to play and get into his stride.

Safin put pressure on the Serb constantly and instead of responding in his typical impressive fashion, Djokovic on this occasion wilted under the barrage of power and precision from the strong Russian. It was like watching a heavy-weight versus a light-weight.

Djokovic couldn’t come up with any answers during the match but he did reveal he was mentally tired after the match. Nadal has won three tournaments in a row and is currently on a 19 match winning streak. Shouldn’t he be playing a poor match soon then where he does two double faults to lose the match? I’d put my bank on the Spaniard not losing as easily as this during Wimbledon.

I’m afraid Djokovic just didn’t show up for this match and was outclassed by a past master who may just have re-found that winning feeling.

I must add that James Ward, the British Number 8 who blogs for this website won a set off Marat Safin at Queens, something Djokovic could not do!

Superhuman Nadal delivers yet again

 

I really am astounded at the fitness levels and drive of Rafael Nadal.

Many times this year the winner of a previous weeks tournament loses in the first round of the next.

Fatigue and niggling injuries are usually cited as explanations but with Nadal this simply does not happen.

Nadal was the winner of TWO previous tournaments on clay winning twelve matches in a row and he then breezes into London wins another five and claims his first grass court title.

To go with all this, his tennis at the Artois Championships was simply breathtaking all week and this says what an amazing athlete and true competitor he is.

I really wasn’t sure who would win the final as Djokovic is also a brilliant player and I gave the Serb the slight edge because of the amount of matches Nadal has played recently but the Spaniard really dug deep in an entertaining match.

As for Wimbledon many people are now saying Nadal can go one step step further than in two previous attempts and win it.

Well why not? He is on the form of his life at the moment and has adapted his game quickly to suit the grass courts playing further up the court and therefore taking the ball early hitting lower to the ground than he would on clay and hard.

But Federer has also claimed at title in a far less documented tournament (due to being held in Germany) and he should never be written off and in my eyes still remains the favourite.

The Spaniard though is moving ever closer to ending Federer’s grass court reign and if they do meet in the final for the third year in a row what a spectacular battle it could be.

French Open springs no surprises

I always seem to have a problem getting into the French Open. It simply doesn’t inspire me to write about or watch it.

Once again Rafael Nadal won the event and this time did so without dropping a set. This is obviously a spectacular achievement however I don’t think it makes for spectacular viewing.

I’m all for the dramatic side of tennis. Five setters, racket smashing and arguing with the umpire are more my style and the French Open seemed to breeze past too easily.

Federer was very disappointing and to win only four games is poor and my immediate reaction is that he just ran out of gas after a long clay court season.

It seems superhuman Nadal will be dominating the clay court game for years to come. 

Match Prediction 18/05/08 Hamburg Final

Hamburg Final – Best Of three sets

Roger Federer SWI (1) – Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

In my opinion this will be Federer’s best chance to beat Nadal on clay this season. The Spaniard came through against Djokovic in three as I predicted but was tested to the limit both mentally and physically. The three hour long match was fantastic with at least 10 points that could be included in the collection of ’amazing point’ videos on Youtube.

Nadal will definitely feeling the after effects of that match today and the Swiss master will be much fresher having cruised through every round. If Federer goes 4-0 ahead in a set like in the Monte Carlo final I very much doubt the Spaniard will perform the same sort of fight back. I really fancy the world number one here to reclaim his title here but this will be no walkover however and Federer will need to be on top of his game attacking the Spaniard’s backhand as much as possible. A three setter could be on the cards but Federer will prevail.

Predicted Winner  :: Federer

 

Match Prediction 17/5/08 Hamburg

Hamburg – Germany - Semi Finals

Roger Federer SWI (1) – Andreas Seppi ITA (43)

Federer has not been pushed in this tournament as yet and it is hard to see Seppi providing him with too much trouble here. The Italian looked very nervous a number of times during his quarter final clash with Kiefer yesterday and if the highly charged German could have kept his cool at the crucial times he would have advanced. Instead Kiefer lost focus moaning at the referee and line judges at balls that were clearly in.

To a certain extent I think that the German deserved a semi final place as he has played very well this week but he got lost in the moment. Fair play to Seppi for plugging along but against Federer he will not allowed a second chance and I think a routine straight sets win is on the cards here for the Swiss master.

Predicted Winner :: Federer

Novak Djokovic SRB (3) – Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

The biggest match of the year so far in my opinion. Can Djokovic reach number two in the world? I’m not so sure. Nadal will do everything possible to beat the Serb here to protect his ranking and I think he will pull a big performance out of the bag.

Djokovic is without question a  better player on hard but on the dirt its a different story. The Spaniard is known as an unbelievable mover, particularly on clay and I can back this up having seen him training in Monte Carlo a couple of weeks ago. He is extraordinarily quick around the court and Djokovic will have to be at the top of his game. The Serb is yet to take a set of Nadal on clay but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened here.

The player of the year so far is full of confidence and he will surely fancy his chances as Nadal possibly isn’t 100 percent after his second round exit last week, due to a blister on his foot. With Djokovic’ solid groundstrokes we are sure to see some long rallys and he will have to keep away from Nadal’s forehand wing as much as possible as it has been devastating in recent weeks.

I think this match will be close but Nadal will come through in three.

Predicted Winner :: Nadal

Match Prediction 04/05

ATP Barcelona Final Clay

Rafael Nadal (2) – David Ferrer (5)

My tip Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters last week beating Federer in straight sets. He gave chances to Federer however the Swiss master was unable to capitalise particularly in the second set where he was 4-0 up.

 It was interesting to see Nadal not having the upper hand in the match on a few occasions for example when going a break down twice in the first set, but he broke back immediately each time and he showed when really needing a game he can turn on the style. I think Federer certainly has the game to trouble the Spaniard on this surface but he would need to play a near flawless match.

Ferrer is obviously a very different player when compared with Federer and I’m not sure his battling style of play is capable of beating Rafa. To beat Nadal you simply have to do more than just battle as he will battle just as hard. Ferrer doesnt really have the power or accuracy in his groundstrokes to trouble the World Number 2 and you can be sure there will be a few long rallys in this match.

The only similarity between Federer and Ferrer is that they were both a double break up against Nadal in the second set in their most recent matches and both times Nadal rallied back to win the respective sets 7-5. This shows Nadal’s level of grit and determination and if he is going to lose a set on this surface he will not let it pass easily.

It has to be noted that Nadal is in fact yet to lose a set this clay court season and the only thing that is ever going to stop him winning every match is physical condition.

However he is looking 100 percent here and I think I routine straight sets win is on the cards here.

Predicted Winner :: Nadal

ATP Munich BMW Open

Fernando Gonzalez ( 15 ) - Simone Bolelli ( 58 )

Bolelli came back from the dead against Mathieu who is not on particularly good form at the moment. I have been waiting for Gonzalez to finally show some form and the time is now for the Chilean.

A short time a go I tipped Gonzalez to do well in the Sony Ericsson Open and said:  

“Fernando Gonzalez did not make the most of his draw losing in two tight sets to Canas so I will be kept waiting for the Chilean to hit the form in which he is virtually an unstoppable force and it just a matter of time before he gets back into the top ten.”

Well I think Gonzalez will be able to win his first title of the season here as he has looked quite comfortable on the clay this week. Bolelli has shown in recent performances that he is no mug but the quality of the ‘Gonzo’ serve and forehand coupled with his experience should be the telling factors in this match but don’t be surprised if this goes to three sets.

Predicted Winner :: Gonzalez

 

Match Prediction 27/04 Monte Carlo Masters

Best of three sets – Clay

Final

Roger Federer (1) SWI – Rafael Nadal (2) ESP

I tipped Nadal to win this tournament and he has cruised through the rounds so far. His battling displays have been impressive on his favourite surface and its going to take a seriously flawless performance from Federer to stop him winning his first title of the season. The interesting point is that the Swiss master has actually played near flawless tennis in his last two matches which makes for a thrilling prospect.

Nalbandian was brushed aside easily after he lost the first set and Djokovic is going back old ways as he retired in the second set as Federer was dominating him. His reason for retiring was that he hadn’t been well for three days. Well this obviously didn’t effect him against Querrey two days earlier and I think this makes Djoko look weak. Federer did not look at all impressed when the Serb came over to him to shake his hand.

Federer must have some belief back after coming back from 5-1 down in the third in his first round match and he really looks fired up here. This is why I think this match will be very close and most probably go to three sets. I feel if Federer gets his tactics right, for example not trying to beat Nadal from the  back of the court and mixes his play up he could unsettle the Spaniard. Moving into the net is an essential tactic here so he can avoid long drawn out points which Rafa revels in.

However overall I still feel this match is Nadal’s to lose as he has been on quite stunning form this week himself and there was a point against Davydenko yesterday which said everything about his character and ability on clay. He was sent wide by the Russian and Rafa attempted a pass down the line which Davydenko drop volleyed. The Spaniard then ran from one side of the court to the other and got the ball just as it was about to touch the ground and he passed Davydenko at the net. I couldn’t believe my eyes as Nadal had absolutely no right to get to that ball.

If Nadal replicated this sort of grit and desire against Federer he will be picking up his first title of the season.

Predicted Winner :: Nadal