Cicni Masters

[Coolhand Texas]

fish played very well this whole summer. Him and Nalbandian are going to cause some headaches during the open!

[Andymachine]

As faster the court is, as much vunerable Rafa was and still.

Yes and i think Nadals problem on a fast hard court is that he likes to have a large swing to generate all that spin and when faces a hard hitter his shots can go mid court with not as much top spin and become sitting ducks , hence why he not won US Open and i dont believe he will

[coke4]

fish played very well this whole summer. Him and Nalbandian are going to cause some headaches during the open!

Nalbandian looked very vulnerable on the fast courts in Cincinnati, the speed isnt suiting his game at the mo

[jayl0ve]

Put Nalbandian on a marshmallow court and he'll be tearing s**t up

[Coolhand Texas]

I still think nalbandian will cause some trouble

[Elargento]

yeah me too, nalbi is veyr underrated.

[Moralspain]

As faster the court is, as much vunerable Rafa was and still.

Yes and i think Nadals problem on a fast hard court is that he likes to have a large swing to generate all that spin and when faces a hard hitter his shots can go mid court with not as much top spin and become sitting ducks , hence why he not won US Open and i dont believe he will

Australian Open court (hard court) is that slow? , or Indian Wells court?? i mean he won in Australia 1 year ago playing 2 of the best matches i can remember from him (Verdasco in SF and Federer in the F), just asking.
I think the problem here is we expect Nadal to crush everyone like he does on clay, and that's impossible.
I mean, as other members have said he's not the best on hard courts, but he's definetely a great player.

Single titles on hard court:

-Segovia (2003)
-Montreal (2005)
-Beijing (2005)
-Dubai (2006)
-Indian Wells (2007)
-Toronto (2008)
-Beijing (2008)
-Australian Open (2009)
-Indial Wells (2009)

I'm sure most of the specialists on hard courts can't only dream with winning all those titles.


That being said I AGREE, he's not the favorite for the US Open, but when he's on a tennis court anything can happen, and yeah there're 10 players, at least, who can beat him on hard, but that doesn't make him a bad player on that surface, my humble opinion.

PS: I´m sure Murda agrees with me

[djarvik]

Australian open is significantly slower then a lot of US Courts, including US Open. AO courts are more bouncy also, giving Nadal that extra bite of his top spins.

I honestly don't think Nadal will get far. It will be an early exit for him. (QF for him at this stage is early)


He needs to be 110% on Hard Courts of US to win. As it stands - he is nowhere near that (seeing him play last month or so on hard courts). Granted, there is still a week or so of rest, but I still think he will be tired by the 3rd round.

That said, with the right draw and a few upsets he can be looking at a Final. He is number one seed and Fed is on the other side. Delpo is out along with a few other hard hitters. Its a best of five, so all the mediocre hard hitters may not last long enough to bounce him of.

I say this year is his best chance so far. Maybe the last chance (Delpo coming back and a few other Biggies improving).

[djarvik]

Have a look at Nadals to tourneys on US Hard Courts:

Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
Round Opponent Ranking Score
R64 Bye N/A W
R32 Taylor Dent (USA) 83 W 6-2, 7-5
R16 Julien Benneteau (FRA) 32 W 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-2
Q Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 20 L 4-6, 6-4, 4-6


Dent was serving for the second in this one, then remembered who he is and his rank and decided against it. He lost because of 2924 errors. Nadal really was just there, didn't do anything to win this match but simple push the ball back. Then Benneteau?? ...hmm....that is an ugly win for Rafa, should have straight setted him with a blowout in second, instead, he was late on a lot of balls and hitting very short. Then Marcos gets him. This match Rafa actually played good, Baggy is just build for Hard Courts.


Toronto, Canada
Round Opponent Ranking Score
R64 Bye N/A W
R32 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 24 W 7-6(12), 6-3
R16 Kevin Anderson (RSA) 87 W 6-2, 7-6(6)
Q Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 37 W 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
S Andy Murray (GBR) 4 L 3-6, 4-6

Tight against Wawrinka, that considers clay to be his best service. Then, big serving and one dimensional Anderson. Again tough win. Kohlschriber should not have won a set of him, but good comeback. Then Murray puts him to place.

The more I look at it, the more I think this year is not the one. He has little match time on hard courts this year, and each match was a battle so far. USO is best of five, so if he gives up a set in 2 early rounds....he will not last till SF or F. Will be just too tired to deal with the Big Boys of fast court.

Yes, he got to QF and SF but his draws were dreamy. Look at Fishes draw and who he had to beat to get to Finals.

[emate007]

Just saw that Fish had a tiebreaker to win a Masters!
Bummer, I had all my toes crossed all night just for Mardy.

[fedfan]

Playing best of five though should help Nadal as he is always. Very tough to put away I would still put him very high on the list of likely winners.

[Chederer]

im watching the new haven tournament blake vs riba...blake is kicking butt....but to the clay courter riba so not much there, but good to see him bagel someone rather than himself

[Chederer]

anyone going to watch the dent schwank match? its coming up next

[Coolhand Texas]

im watching the new haven tournament blake vs riba...blake is kicking butt....but to the clay courter riba so not much there, but good to see him bagel someone rather than himself

got that right

[VillaJ100]

good bagel for dent.