Barcelona Open

[gzhpcu]

I did not mean the missing players would beat him, just make the contest more interesting. Not a rout.

[stroke]

Nadal has been the best clay court player in the world since he was 19 years old and won his 1st FO in 2005. He probably would have won the FO in 2004 at age 18 but he was out injured. Obviously, his clay court record and accomplismants are beyond belief.

[stroke]

I doubt it would make the slightest difference. The greatest player of all time has virtually no record at all against Rafa on clay, nor has Murray or Wawrinka. The only player who has a credible record against Rafa is Novak. In the best of three sets Rafa was always slight favourite over Novak, but Novak could at least win sometimes and make it interesting. But over five sets even Novak can't do it when Rafa is at his best.

I missed the game today. I wondered how the kid's one hander would stand up to the barrage. I might catch some highlights later. The one-hander against Rafa on clay is a lousy match-up. Even Roger's sophisticated weaponry on the wing has come up short every time.

I watched the match. His backhamd, Gasquet like, held up about as well as Gasquet's does on clay vs Nadal. Just not a good pattern for any one hander(or 2 hander). He hit some very good shots, but like almost all who play Nadal, he could not find the sweet spot between being aggressive enough to prevent Nadal from taking over the point, and going for too much and making too many errors.

[gzhpcu]

And Rafa at 31 is getting stronger...

[stotty]

I watched the match. His backhamd, Gasquet like, held up about as well as Gasquet's does on clay vs Nadal. Just not a good pattern for any one hander(or 2 hander). He hit some very good shots, but like almost all who play Nadal, he could not find the sweet spot between being aggressive enough to prevent Nadal from taking over the point, and going for too much and making too many errors.

Literally everyone has tried route one and failed every time. Djokovic can out manoeuvre him and does it is by dissection. But Murray has had a couple of results against Rafa on clay whereby he has hit down the middle and given him balls he can't work with much...clever stuff. Murray can mix up baseline play better than anyone, which doesn't come across on TV. He can also blanket the court equally well as Rafa. Neither Murray or Novak bother with route one tennis against Rafa. They seem to have worked out a better plan than the rest of the field. At least they can get the odd result against him.

[stotty]

And Rafa at 31 is getting stronger...

He was certainly as strong as ever at last year's Roland Garros, his most emphatic victory to date. Let's see if he can do it again this year.