The last time Nadal lost at Monte Carlo Federer had no grand slams. Sensational run ended by a special player - straight sets win almost unthinkable. Djokovic clearly is the best in the world and the most versatile having won 8 of the 9 MS1000 including all the clay titles. He's won both the hard court and grass Slams. Only the French Open and Cincinnati left to complete the set which nobody else has.
That first set yesterday was impeccable and the game to break Nadal at 5-6 wow. Only Novak can stand up to Rafa on clay - the most difficult challenge in tennis. Hopefully they meet in the final and not the QF of RG.
How can Andy Murray compete! i think Andy will grab wimbledon or the US OPEN again
RG is the only slam that Murray is highly unlikely to be competitive, he's never made the final of a clay event and the highest ranked player he's beaten on the surface is Davydenko (#9). Federer is always amazing on grass and faster hard courts so Wimbledon and USO is really difficult to predict.
Rome final at 4pm today, Nadal v Federer. Last tournament before RG data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Federer has never won here but let's hope he is, at the very least, competitive.
Not a cat in hells chance unfortunately.
I just wanted alittle resistance from roger once his odds went under 1.1 on betfair
**** you Rogerdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Nadal is a terrible match up for Federer, USO is probably the only Slam where he has a decent shot at beating him.
RG starts next week, I think it'll be a pretty predictable tournament with Rafa winning it, Nole and Federer getting to the SF (depending on whether they are in Rafa's half of the draw, the other to make the final) and Murray losing before then.
I actually think Novak could win RG. If he plays to the level he did last year and puts Nadal under pressure like he did then, and barring another rain interruption, then he has an extremely good chance. Novak has the measure of Nadal on every surface other than clay but has beaten him on clay. Will be interesting.
I hope he does. If Djokovic plays like he did at Monte Carlo then it will be close should they face each other. Djokovic needs to concentrate on each match first, losing vs Dimitrov and Berdych just before RG isn't ideal.
Yes I agree, it's not. That said however, Djokovic has stunning self belief and willpower. His indomitable mental strength and stamina are simply unbelievable. He never knows when he's beaten. The Oz open final (last year) against Nadal was the greatest final I've ever seen and its not often you Nadal out muscled.
Since then he's got even better and you sense (assuming they meet) Nadal might crumble against him if it's close.