Is there anything stopping Nadal

[jwestbury661]

What is going to stop Nadal on Clay. Djokovic just about beat ginepri so apart from federer (maybe) Nadal will not be stopped and if he continues this form into the grass season he will be undefeatable

[Moralspain]

Almagro, Soderling (if he beats Federer)...Federer is the less dangerous of all them

[Cro Morgan]

On clay, the only person who can beat Nadal is Nadal. Maybe a mental lapse, or his knees giving way. That's about it really.

On grass, Federer is still the one to beat.

[Moralspain]

Are you watching his matches guys?, he´s no longer as dominant as he used to be in the past (2-3 years ago), playing at this level can reach the final, no doubt, but if he meets Soderling again...the Swedish will beat him easily, and i´m talking about Soderling because if the final is against Roger, Rafa will win the title in 4 sets.

[Cro Morgan]

Soderling is a one Slam (final) wonder. He's not that good.

[Moralspain]

Soderling is a one Slam (final) wonder. He's not that good.

haha is this another prediction?, i hope you´re right btw

[maximo]

i have seen today bellucci vs nadal, and in my opinion nadal didn´t play well, i see that his rivals are afraid, and if the final is nadal vs federer, nadal will win in 3 sets, i would like federer beat nadal, but he has not tactic l, and nadal knows how to play with federer

[Coolhand Texas]

Moralspain is still in shock over last year

[Mike Rotchtickles]

such a pity (at least for me it is) that Soderling is not on Rafa's side of the draw. That would have been a great type of grudge re-match.
I think his big hitting aggresive style of play would be more effective against Nadal than against Federer.

[KluddKalle]

Soderling is a one Slam (final) wonder. He's not that good.

Perhaps, but did you see his match against Nadal last year? Nadal-fans can blame it on the knees or his parents divorce as much as they want, but Söderling played great tennis in that match and outplayed Nadal. And up until that match Nadal had dominated just as he does this year not dropping a set (if I remember correctly).

I for one hope your wrong in your prediction. But what I hope and believe are two different things.
If he wasn't about to face Federer I'd say he'll make the final. But sadly, Federer has a style that's not good for Söderling at all.

[jayl0ve]

I'm with you...JOHN MCENROE of all people actually had the nerve to say (during the Ginepri/Djokovic match) that Rafa's parents divorce was a 'big part of why he lost to Soderling' Total BS!!

[GOA MASTER MDMA]

at moment nadal is playing-anyone is watching him ?

it looks hes like a good horse in this match -he jump only that high -that he must jump to go over the barricade at moment.

this soderling stuff is crap in my opinion -

[Cro Morgan]

Soderling is a one Slam (final) wonder. He's not that good.

Perhaps, but did you see his match against Nadal last year? Nadal-fans can blame it on the knees or his parents divorce as much as they want, but Söderling played great tennis in that match and outplayed Nadal. And up until that match Nadal had dominated just as he does this year not dropping a set (if I remember correctly).

I for one hope your wrong in your prediction. But what I hope and believe are two different things.
If he wasn't about to face Federer I'd say he'll make the final. But sadly, Federer has a style that's not good for Söderling at all.

Soderling's performance against Nadal was the exception, not the norm. Reminds me of Tsonga's 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 beatdown of Nadal at the 2008 Australian Open. Has Tsonga reached that level of play again? Nope. Will Soderling? Doubt it.

[KluddKalle]

Soderling is a one Slam (final) wonder. He's not that good.

Perhaps, but did you see his match against Nadal last year? Nadal-fans can blame it on the knees or his parents divorce as much as they want, but Söderling played great tennis in that match and outplayed Nadal. And up until that match Nadal had dominated just as he does this year not dropping a set (if I remember correctly).

I for one hope your wrong in your prediction. But what I hope and believe are two different things.
If he wasn't about to face Federer I'd say he'll make the final. But sadly, Federer has a style that's not good for Söderling at all.

Soderling's performance against Nadal was the exception, not the norm. Reminds me of Tsonga's 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 beatdown of Nadal at the 2008 Australian Open. Has Tsonga reached that level of play again? Nope. Will Soderling? Doubt it.

You have a point, and you may be right. You and I surely have a different perspective on this, being American and Swedish. I've been following Söderlings career since he became a pro and I can, as objective as possible, say that Söderling has become a much better player in the past year and the ranking proves this. He went to the semis at the Masters final and just barely got knocked out by Delpo in a tough three-setter, that's gotta count for something?

It will be interesting to see how he's ranked in maybe six months because he has alot of points to defend in the ranking the next months. So let's talk about this again at a later moment...

As for Nadal and someone stopping him. I've noticed that his matches, even though they have all been straight sets, have been pretty long time wise. Could this pose a problem further down the road?

Nadals only nemesis - time...and maybe his knees...and the chilly relationship between his parents...

[Mike Rotchtickles]

@ Cro,

if were comparing the different match-ups versus Nadal, there's a big difference between the performances of Tsonga and Soderling.

You're 100% correct that Tsonga has not really followed up that win in the Aussie Open against Rafa, but as with regard to Soderling, he is a much improved player and has generally given Rafa tough matches, with the head to head being slightly in Rafa's favour at 3-2. So it's pretty close between them.

Even that one result of 6-1 6-0 in Rome last year, doesn't really tell the whole story. Sure it sounds like a complete domination by Nadal, but when was the last time you've heard of such a comprehensive looking win taking as long as 1h30 to complete?
I can't exactly recall now, but Soderling must have had about 10 break point chances in that match which he didn't convert. Many of the games went to deuce.

There's no doubt that Soderling's big hitting brand of tennis gives Nadal problems. Their H2H on grass, hard and clay, is indicative of that.
That's why I stated previously that I would have liked to have seen the Swede in Rafa's side of the draw, because I don't believe he can beat Federer but I do think he has a much greater chance against Nadal.

I'm not at all convinced like some others are that Soderling hit lightning in a bottle last year. His win was full of merit, and if he was given the oppurtunity to play Nadal, he might have been able to deliver again this year.