Will Rafa skip Madrid this time
- Thread starter thalivest
- Start date
ruerooo
Legend
Wasn't there some concern also about the altitude?
thalivest
Banned
Yeah I think so. I hope this time he does the sensible thing and cans Madrid from his schedule. I have a feeling he will and I hope I am right. If he plays Madrid I doubt he will win the French to be honest.
The only problem with Nadal skipping Madrid, is that if he does he'll go 3 weeks without any competitive match practice ahead of the French. Yes he won both tournaments, but I believe that he said he was uncomfortable going into the French in 2005 and 2006 after a 2 week break.
Of course he isn't going to skip Barcelona. That tournament means an awful lot to him and has lot of history. It's pretty well known that the surface and conditions at Monte-Carlo are more similar to those at the French than the other big clay warm-up events. Maybe he should skip Rome instead of Madrid, although Rome is another tournament that he loves and has many special memories at.
Of course he isn't going to skip Barcelona. That tournament means an awful lot to him and has lot of history. It's pretty well known that the surface and conditions at Monte-Carlo are more similar to those at the French than the other big clay warm-up events. Maybe he should skip Rome instead of Madrid, although Rome is another tournament that he loves and has many special memories at.
ruerooo
Legend
Oh please don't say that.
I'd like to think the risk of injury is going to be lessened just from his switching surfaces. (You know most of the really difficult injuries have come on hard court.)
You know Rafa is a very competitive guy, and he has his finalist points to defend.
thalivest
Banned
Winning the French will give him more points than being in the finals of Madrid and crashing out in the 4th round of the French like last year. Of course Rafa is competitive but I would like to think he isnt stupid and will learn from past mistakes.
ruerooo
Legend
Well, if he does decide to play in Madrid, I don't think that exactly establishes that he's stupid.
As Augustus said, there are other factors -- I kind of thought myself that the biggest reason he didn't skip it last year is because it's a Spanish tournament; and I'd forgotten it is the only clay Masters he hasn't won.
(Yet.)
West Coast Ace
G.O.A.T.
Well played!
Thought I remembered it that way too... how'd he do that?Gees....
Federer played Madrid and the FO. Won them both...
As much as I respect Rafa that was one of the lamest excuses ever. I think the Williams Sisters would say "WTF?" to that one...
davey25
Banned
Gees....
Federer played Madrid and the FO. Won them both...
Federer went out early in Monte Carlo and Rome, and didnt play Barcelona or any smaller clay events.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Reminds me of something Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson, once said about his decision to drop goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, in the 1990 FA Cup final replay. Fergie said "The easy decision would have been to play him. The hard decision won us the cup".
The scenario is similar for Rafa, the easy decision is to play Madrid and make the fans and organisers happy, as he did last year. The hard decision could win him the French Open.
samprasvsfederer123
Banned
i hope federer takes both, and nadal waits till next year till the MAN Federer gets his clendar grand slam,
lol jk
i am a fed fan though, if he knows his limits then he wont play but he has made the mistakes before, i dont know..
Mustard
Bionic Poster
I think we can safely assume that Federer will be ready for the French Open. He has an uncanny knack of being ready for the slams.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
The only thing I'm hoping for is that his frigging body will hold up. Everything else is secondary at the moment.
Jonny S&V
Hall of Fame
He won Estoril, didn't he?
ruerooo
Legend
I don't think Roger played Estoril last year.
abmk
Bionic Poster
he lost in the semis to djoker at rome. that is not early ...
But yeah, rafa needs to cut down his schedule
But skipping Madrid and then not winning the FO would be even more damaging.
forzamilan90
Legend
true. but i think to defeat nadal there, he really needs to get down and dirty in these warm up clay events.
I don’t think whether if he’s playing Madrid or not will have any impact at RG. He did played Hamburg in the past which was being replaced by Madrid now, but still won the FO. It’s either you show up or you don’t. I’ll guarantee you if Rafa loses the FO, the excuse will comes from his fans will be skipping(or not) Madrid was a terrible move!
All-rounder
Legend
If he fails to win Monte Carlo and Rome then no he won't skip Madrid
ksbh
Banned
ksbh
Banned
I don't think it's got anything to do with clay. Rafa is ahead of the rest of the pack on any clay. It's the scheduling that does him in and hopefully he's learnt from past mistakes.
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
He said in Miami:
------
Q. Ian [sic] Tiriac said this week that he doesn't understand why you don't play Madrid. The tournament will continue to be a great tournament without you. What's your opinion?
RAFAEL NADAL: Ian [sic] Tiriac probably doesn't know if I play Madrid, or not because it's in my schedule, so...
Q. When you take a decision if you played Madrid or not?
RAFAEL NADAL: I play Madrid. I told you before. I said Madrid is in my schedule. Probably or Ian Tiriac don't know about my schedule, or you understand bad from him.
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=62555
-------
Now let's see if Tiriac was well-informed in advance about Nadal's plans.
------
Q. Ian [sic] Tiriac said this week that he doesn't understand why you don't play Madrid. The tournament will continue to be a great tournament without you. What's your opinion?
RAFAEL NADAL: Ian [sic] Tiriac probably doesn't know if I play Madrid, or not because it's in my schedule, so...
Q. When you take a decision if you played Madrid or not?
RAFAEL NADAL: I play Madrid. I told you before. I said Madrid is in my schedule. Probably or Ian Tiriac don't know about my schedule, or you understand bad from him.
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=62555
-------
Now let's see if Tiriac was well-informed in advance about Nadal's plans.
World Beater
Hall of Fame
what fatigue...nadal will have at least one week rest before madrid.
its not like nadal has been playing back to back weeks...and he has been destroying ppl. his matches have been quick for his standards.
no fatigue issue here.
its not like nadal has been playing back to back weeks...and he has been destroying ppl. his matches have been quick for his standards.
no fatigue issue here.
Blinkism
Legend
Well, he skipped Barcelona and Davis Cup this year so if he skips Madrid he'd be going into the French Open with only 2 claycourt tourneys for practice.
I'm not sure that'll be enough for him. He'll probably play this year, when you consider that almost all of his matches have been a breeze since Miami.
I'm not sure that'll be enough for him. He'll probably play this year, when you consider that almost all of his matches have been a breeze since Miami.
paulorenzo
Hall of Fame
second this.
Bud
Bionic Poster
The altitude also screws up the ball action/trajectory. It's a poor tournament to lead into a GS.
D
Deleted member 3771
Guest
No need to skip it even if it plays more like the US open than the FO. He gets a week rest between each tournament( Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, FO). It would have been a big problem to play Barcelona as it would have been 3 weeks tennis without a rest.
Rhino
Legend
He's a professional athlete for crissakes. There are three weeks until RG and Madrid will only take up one of those, so of course he won't skip it.
However if he were to skip it, it would probably help Federer beat Pete's record of 286 weeks, because their points total will be very close at the end of RG.
However if he were to skip it, it would probably help Federer beat Pete's record of 286 weeks, because their points total will be very close at the end of RG.
I honestly don't think that Nadal will be around for a long time. So maybe he should just risk and try to win everything in sight. Because he might have already gone too far in terms of punishing his own body. He has a good chance now that the other top guys are weak (I'm pretty sure he would win Madrid even if others were at their normal level, but he could do it now with less work and save his body)
People talk about Madrid affecting Nadal last year because of the altitude, or it being to close to the French Open. They forget that the real reason he was affected by it was that epic semi-final he played against Djokovic, neither player was the same after that match. So unless that happens again this year, playing Madrid shouldn't hurt his French Open chances too much
clayman2000
Hall of Fame
It didnt help that Federer was absolutely clutch against Rafa in the final
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
Absolutely, I knew Verdasco was going to run out of steam this week with Ferrer due to playing two finals in a row, and then getting to the semis of the third one. He was running on fumes.
That was a huge mistake for Rafa, so glad he's not repeating that.
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