Yeah, also beating Novak in a best of 5 is a much tougher prospect. Also we shouldn't forget that Nadal has been taken close by Gulbis and Ferrer (twice) in the past week. When those guys lose 1 set to Rafa it's match over, Novak is a different level though, he usually gets better.
Got to say that RG is my least favourite Slam purely because Nadal is so dominant. Wimbledon and the USO are where the top four guys all have an equal (or thereabouts) chance of winning. Also easier for some lower ranked guys to break through (Del Potro 09 USO and Berdych Wimbledon 2010). The AO and RG have become almost exclusive to Nole and Nadal.
Murray withdraws from RG so top four seeds are: 1 Djokovic, 2 Federer, 3 Nadal and 4 Ferrer.
Murray's pretty much a non-factor on clay so this is not that much of a loss to him only having 320 ranking points to defend anyway and it gives him time to prepare for Wimbledon where he easily one of the favourites. The draw for RG means, with those seeds, that Djokovic and Federer are going to be on opposite sides of the draw as are Nadal and Ferrer. Could have a Nole-Rafa semi but hopefully not.
...and we do. Rafa v Nole possible semi and Federer v Ferrer. Nice draw for Federer.
I thought Eurosport were doing the French Open in 3D?
All the usuals are through (except Berdych). Tomorrow could throw up the best match of the week in Djokovic v Dimitrov. For those that don't know, Grigor is considered to be the brightest young talent in the game and has modeled his game exactly on Federer. Everything from the ball bounces on the service motion to the backhand... and he beat Djokovic at Madrid last month.
Women's tennis is in its worst state for many years.
You think it's going to get better and then it doesn't.
Watching Azeranka at the minute and she constantly hits the ball out. I'm sure the crowd are wondering why they bought tickets for that court. Appalling!
not in 3d this year on eurosport talk about a step backwards
Just watching Fognini vs Nadal and Nadal is well off his best. Fognini however, is simply making too many unforced errors which is keeping Nadal in it. He's doing all the hard work by breaking Nadal, then being broken straight back with some very loose play allowing Nadal to gather momentum.
Only going to be one winner here and if Fognini plays like this and loses he will kick himself as Nadal looks there for the taking from the evidence of this first set.
Simon doing that thing some poorer players do where they actually appear to try in a match against Federer data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Most other games they'll go through the motions, but against rafa/federer they play like their families honour depends on it data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
QFs matches are almost confirmed (Nadal is winning by 2 sets v Nishikori as is Gasquet v Wawrinka).
The most interesting match looks like Federer v Tsonga, Jo hasn't dropped a set yet and looks very good. These two always serve up a good game - Wimbledon 2011 and Australian Open this year were entertaining 5-setters. Not sure when the QFs begin, tomorrow or Wednesday.