2015 Tennis Thread: the Nadal farewell tour?

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jon abbey

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Also, even though I have always rooted for Serena and I absolutely hated Martina Navratilova while she was playing (she is a fantastic announcer on The Tennis Channel now), I think Martina still gets my vote for best player ever, or at least in my lifetime.
 
She had to deal with Chris Evert at the start of her career and Steffi Graf later on, Serena hasn't had a lot of alltime-level competition along the way, players like Henin and Clijsters peaked and then retired relatively quickly. Martina was #1 in the world for 332 weeks (Serena is at 243 currently), and also she was easily the best female doubles player ever, winning a ridiculous 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles over 16 years. Throw in ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, the last when she was a few months away from turning 50 in 2006 (!!!) and she gets my vote still. 
 

jon abbey

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It'll be interesting to see how much of a fight Wawrinka can give Djokovic today. Djokovic leads their lifetime series 17-3 (16 of the last 17), but Federer had a similarly lopsided career record against Stan, and still got steamrolled.
 
Maybe the most relevant factoid is that their last four meetings at Grand Slams have all gone five sets, Novak winning three of the four. They haven't played on clay since 2012, Djokovic has won their last five meetings on clay, but not sure how much that matters since those were between 2008-2012. 
 
Also of course Novak had to gear up to play for an hour or so of super intense tennis against Murray while Stan got the day off, although I don't think that will especially matter. 
 

LuckyBen

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First set to Novak. Wawrinka might steal a set, but Djokovic looks unstoppable in service.
 

cromulence

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Set apiece! Djokovic looks affected by the wind and had to fight for every service game in that set.
 

jon abbey

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Wawrinka has looked like the decidedly better player for most of this match, Novak is in big trouble.
 

BigMike

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Good for Stan  Guy has had one of the weirdest career trajectory's in the modern history.  The guy never made a GS semifinal until after his 28th birthday, and now he has 2 championships. 
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Nadal is on the verge of going down two sets to one against Dustin Brown, a 30-year-old qualifier from Germany with a career record of 31-54.
 
Needless to say, he looks like total shit.
 

fletcherpost

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Dustin Brown did beat Nadal in their only previous meeting, which was on Grass but was just after the French Open so Nadal wouldn't have been at his peak, but it must give Brown confidence. And he's going for broke which is the right strategy and he's playing fast, only 15 second between points, Nadal is around 25.
 

fletcherpost

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This is what Nadal's forehand looked like V Murray in Madrid, and Novak in Paris. The looping cross court going long or lamely being dumped into the net, short on power.  Poor Nadal.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Nadal saves two match points on his serve, one after Brown passed up a chance to hit a volley only to see the ball fall good.
 
Lets see if he can serve it out without combusting here.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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There it is.  This might be the highlight of Brown's singles career - great stuff from him.
 
I wonder how long Nadal will keep playing.  He had such massive mental strength and was such an intense competitor in his prime. Playing like a mortal as his body can't do the same things it once could almost seems like torture for him.
 

bosox4283

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Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
There it is.  This might be the highlight of Brown's singles career - great stuff from him.
 
I wonder how long Nadal will keep playing.  He had such massive mental strength and was such an intense competitor in his prime. Playing like a mortal as his body can't do the same things it once could almost seems like torture for him.
 
Nadal's drop in form has happened so quickly. Just last year, he reached the finals of the Australian, then won the French. Nadal had some bad luck, suffering a wrist injury and having his appendix removed. 

Are the knees the problem? Are there simply too many miles on those legs? 
 
Would Nadal be better served taking off the rest of this year, resting and planning for 2016? Perhaps there is something still left in the tank.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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bosox4283 said:
 
Nadal's drop in form has happened so quickly. Just last year, he reached the finals of the Australian, then won the French. Nadal had some bad luck, suffering a wrist injury and having his appendix removed. 

Are the knees the problem? Are there simply too many miles on those legs? 
 
Would Nadal be better served taking off the rest of this year, resting and planning for 2016? Perhaps there is something still left in the tank.
 
Maybe.  I don't know if there is a specific physical ailment or just aging in general.  But its been about a year now (really since last year's French) that he has looked pretty poor and he has had a fair amount of time off in that period due to the injuries you mentioned.
 
He reminds me a little of Tiger Woods right now - a guy likely dealing with some physical limitations due to age/injury but who, perhaps as a consequence, has also lost the absolute self-confidence and insane will-to-win that helped fuel his prior success.
 

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But his return game is very mediocre. If his level drops a bit on serve, Djokovic will break and send him home.
 

BigMike

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Anderson had 2 return games early in the set he absolutely should have won. Djoker is a champion and you have to take it from him   I generally like him, today was one of those days it was easy to see why others don't
 

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Fed and Murray through to the Semis. Should be a good match. Feds in very good form. He's serving really well. As a huge Fed fan this is the only tournament he has a shot to win. He plays so well on the grass. If he beats Murray it will be his first finals appearance at a major since last years Wimbledon.
 
Hoping Stan the man makes it through to the semis. I think he will give Djoker a run for his money.
 
Edit: Well easy semi for Djoker coming up. He should beat Gasquet pretty easily.
 

Dummy Hoy

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What a game in the second set. Touch under 15 minutes so Murray could hold and knot the second set up at 5. These guys are fun to watch.
 

BigMike

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Dummy Hoy said:
What a game in the second set. Touch under 15 minutes so Murray could hold and knot the second set up at 5. These guys are fun to watch.
 
Fed then beats him up the the next 2 games to take the second set,  now up 2-0.
 
Murray looking disheveled and a bit beaten by the end of the second, we'll see if he can rebound.
 
Honestly in the long game I thought the quality of play was a bit mediocre.  Both guys seemed to tighten up, and a ton of unforced errors
 

johnmd20

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Deweys Stache said:
Amazing. 35 years old and beats Murray in straight sets. That backhand winner in that last game was insane. If he serves Sunday like he did today he'll win #18.
 
33. But still pretty old in tennis years. Pulling for a great match on Sunday, and a Federer victory.
 

Ed Hillel

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Serena is just amazing. She's a US Open title away from a Grand Slam Title...at age 33!
 

johnmd20

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Federer is giving Djok everything he has and Djok is pushing it off and winning the key points. Djok will win the first set.
 

Ed Hillel

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God damnit, Feds refuses to rear back and hit the winner on these set points.