Roddick / Robredo

[barry]

Another clay court specialist Robredo, playing at night again. Roddick should be well rested. Easy draw has put him in the semi's again.

[Peter Samprer]

there's no easy draw! any player can beat anyone in a good day. you roddick haters should shut the puck up!

[Jayzzz]

Three easy sets for Roddick.. again! I predict 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

[barry]

Peter Samprer

So far Roddick has played broken down clay court players, and one 1400 rank player which I am not sure what surface he could compete on.

I sure Federer or Agassi would love his draw, but he is the last American in the top 20 for a while. Andre is going to retire end of this year.

[Lindsay16]

"Andre is going to retire end of this year."

When did he come out and say he was...last i heard he wasn't sure..

[Matt H.]

well, it doesn't get any easier than Federer's draw.

Bagdahtis and a walkover.....

[yee]

Matt H, Federer does have to play Costa and Santoro, both who had always given him tough matches.

Anywa, the real rest starts now. I don't think any of the players left want to be in either Federer's or Andre's draw at this moment.

Barry, Andy really doesn't need easy draw to get where he is now in this tournament.

[Roforot]

yet another brilliant post on the same topic from the astute Barry! How admirable is your persistance; lesser men would have become bored w/ rehashing the same topic ad nauseum, but it seems to still stimulate your cortex! Keep it up Barry!

Originally Posted by Roforot

yet another brilliant post on the same topic from the astute Barry! How admirable is your persistance; lesser men would have become bored w/ rehashing the same topic ad nauseum, but it seems to still stimulate your cortex! Keep it up Barry!

Don't laugh. It took a village to raise that idiot.

[barry]

Roforot

Someone twist your arm to read the posts, did not know it was manatory. Once again Roddick is playing another clay court, lets keep it real, just the facts

[Aoya]

A fact is something undisputable, an opinion is something trivial, like a player is a clay courter. Clay courter is an opinion, because I could just as easily assert that Robredo is in fact a better Grass Courter..or Hard Courter..or whatnot.

[barry]

aoya

You could assert anyting, but facts is he is a clay court player, and has done better on clay court surfaces. His style of play is clay court! Is Roddick a clay court player? Thank about it!

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/players/23

[The Franchise]

Oh, it's me people, it's me...following up on my promise to respond to Barry's usual idiotic posts. But today, instead of disagreeing with him, I will instead go along with what he says. Yes, Robredo is a clay courter, and in fact, Roddick will crush him like powdered sugar. But you see, the reason is not for Roddick himself, but for protection of the rest of the ranked players. Being such compansionate beings that they are, the organizers of the tournament knew that if they let a Henman or a Hewitt play Andy early, Andy will just send them home early crying to their mommies. Now let me ask you, what's the point of that? There is no need to embarrass such players by putting them in the path of A-Rod so early. If you have someone like Robredo getting crushed, he can at least say to himself, "well, I'm just a clay courter, I didn't stand a chance anyway." Yes, he will also go home and cry to his mommy, but not as much as someone who's better on hardcourts. All in all, I have to applaud the organizers for their thoughtfulness and their compassion.

PS: Go Agassi.

[ZhuangCorp]

Originally Posted by Aoya

A fact is something undisputable, an opinion is something trivial, like a player is a clay courter. Clay courter is an opinion, because I could just as easily assert that Robredo is in fact a better Grass Courter..or Hard Courter..or whatnot.

Uhh....no.
Look at his record, watch his style of game, or even ask him. Tommy Robredo is definitely a clay court specialist.

I think that at the beginning of the draw, Roddick and Federer both had equally fair draws. However, on Federer's half, the top seeds haven't dissapointed( Agassi and Henman). However on roddick's half, the top players have lost (Safin, Ferrero). Federer hasn't had to play anybody tough so far either other than Santoro. Roddick has gotten easy clay courters... and 2 teenagers. Now Federer has to play Agassi and then Henman. Roddick gets easy match against Robredo but then a tough match against Hewitt.

[!Tym]

Canas wasn't an "easy" player as you say. Two years ago during that hard court swing? Man, he caught FIRE. Never seen him play better, he was going toe to toe with all the top guys back then Safin, Haas, Roddick. He also looked amazing in patches against Moya at the French that year (virtually invinsible in some stretches, it was just crazy...it seemed like there was nothing Moya could do to get the ball by him) before running out of gas against Costa.

Canas was always a fighter, but never quite talented enough; but that year everything really started to come together for him and it looked like his hard work and unbelievable grit and determination could make him a modern-day Muster.

But since then, he's really fallen off and kind of gone back to his old form, which was merely ok but not great, kind of like a clay court version of Jonas Bjorkman before his breakout year in 97 where he played totally over his head...after that year, he came back down to earth and returned to the normal Bjorkman, i.e. good but not great.

This year, it's Schuettler who returns back down to earth.

Obviously, Canas was derailed by injuries, but the way he played two summers ago was something else.

He was really coming into his own, and had he not got injured; I honestly would not have been surprised at all if he won the U.S. Open that year. He was so confident back then, and never seemed to miss, and seemed like he could run down ANY ball ALL day long, it was almost like he was bionic or like Muster in his prime where you just felt like there was nothing you could do to break his spirit and legs. He was basically playing like a slightly more powerful Hewitt, which is very formidable indeed.

Oh well, it's amazing how injuries can so quickly derail a player's career.

I'm telling you right now, that in spite of Ferrero's age, if he doesn't get his confidence and game back soon by next year's clay swing; I think he could be finished as an elite player...his ego maybe permanently bruised, and if he continues to have injury problems that will definitely be it. Once player's start to think you're vulnerable and you lose that psyche edge, you can and do suddenly look and feel very ordinary. Look what that qualifier did to Ferrero this year.

Everyone's so good, that when you're down any number of players can take advantage.

The difference with the elite players is that when they're confident, they really are THAT much better than the rest. But it's like so many top players who've gone by the wayside through the years. They're great when they're on, but when they're not? Join the crowd. They can be every bit as mediocre. The difference is that they have or once had a top gear whereas others do or did not, but at the same time once you've reached the top, there is nowhere else to go but down.

Remember anybody can play as bad they want, but not just anyone can play as good as they want.

That's why I don't take much stock on how EASILY top players win when they're on a good streak. Any top player can do that. The top players that LAST are the ones who can survive when they're on a mediocre streak, to me that speaks about not just one's ability and health, but also one's mental toughness.