2015 Rome Masters - ATP 1000

[m2nk2]

Really? because right now he seems to be troubling novak plenty in the second set

Nah, he just went down a couple of levels to save his body and less risk of getting injuries. It's enough if he wins in a TB or 7-5

 

[tennis_commentator]

Obviously, you are one of the people Stakhovsky was referring to on twitter." Federer started losing matches, and everyone said he was done. Nadal is losing and everyone is optimistic." Lol.

That's because Federer has never dominated an event the way Nadal dominates Roland Garros.
9 titles in 10 years of play.
And you know the year Nadal peaked? 2008, and he lost to Ferrero (7-5 6-1) at Rome that year (and Nadal had won all 4 of their clay meetings leading up to that) :lol:

 

[Steve0904]

I'm not saying those guys would beat him. But you can't deny some opponents will make a match more competitive than others.

Almagro is as good as a bye. For any of the top guys really. He can't seem to gain any traction since he came back from injury layoff.

So who's going to make it more competitive? Let's look at all the top guys 2nd round opponents in Rome.

Murray-Chardy. Djokovic would cremate Chardy.
Federer-Cuevas Read above
Nadal-Ilhan Read above

Seriously, out of those guys, Almagro is the one with the most clay pedigree, and is actually as of this moment at 5-4 in the 2nd set with Djokovic.

There's nothing here, man. Don't look for things that aren't there.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

All I'm saying is that with the tour as it is today, what's a "tough" draw for Djokovic? He's even beaten a guy like Isner handily twice already this year.

We go through this every time there's a player dominating the tour. There are no tough draws for Djokovic right now. There were no tough draws for Nadal on clay until recently. There were no tough draws for Federer until he declined. Why does everybody suppose that is besides weak era BS?

They're just that good.

Weak eras are baloney. We can only go by performance, and Federer, Djokovic and Nadal perform(ed) better than everybody else.

 

[heninfan99]

almagro fighting greatly this set

 

[heninfan99]

...and challenging Raonic for GOAT hair.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Almagro is going to take this to a tiebreak.

 

[Tennis wizard]

Nice turnaround from that **** first set .. lets go almagro!

 

[Pagoo]

So who's going to make it more competitive? Let's look at all the top guys 2nd round opponents in Rome.

Murray-Chardy. Djokovic would cremate Chardy.
Federer-Cuevas Read above
Nadal-Ilhan Read above

Seriously, out of those guys, Almagro is the one with the most clay pedigree, and is actually as of this moment at 5-4 in the 2nd set with Djokovic.

There's nothing here, man. Don't look for things that aren't there.

I'm not looking for anything. I wasn't necessarily talking about Rome alone.

Anyway, we can agree to disagree.

 

[Steve0904]

They're just that good.

Weak eras are baloney. We can only go by performance, and Federer, Djokovic and Nadal perform(ed) better than everybody else.

Yeah. I agree. I honestly think that Federer had it pretty tough overall with Nadal on clay and grass in his prime, and the HC competition was pretty deep with Djokovic and Murray coming up later.

Now with Novak, the young guns haven't really stepped up to displace Federer, Nadal, and Murray, and as a result, at least 2 of them are no competition for Novak. I think that could change with the switches to grass and faster HC, but this idea that there are easy draws in earlier rounds for Djokovic and that they make him look better than he is, is not right. All draws in earlier rounds are easy for him right now.

And Djokovic is a great player anyway. No matter how weak it is right now, it would still take something special to displace Novak. He's playing great right now and he still finished #1 in 2012, 2011, and 2014 when the tour was in a better state than it currently is.

 

[heninfan99]

WOW Amazing mini break back one hander from Almaster!

 

[heninfan99]

ANOTHER MINI BREAK. SPanish croud ROARS.
Serving for set

 

[Steve0904]

I'm not looking for anything. I wasn't necessarily talking about Rome alone.

Anyway, we can agree to disagree.

7-6 Almagro.

 

[m2nk2]

Ok, didn't expect that, gut nice going alamagro!

 

[heninfan99]

ALMASTER ROARS! Takes 2nd set from the world #1.

 

[heninfan99]

Consider it brought!

 

[Pagoo]

Okay, guess I spoke too soon about Almagro. Kudos to him for making this competitive. I thought he was done after the first set.

Let's see how far he can go in the decider.

 

[Tennis wizard]

Okay, guess I spoke too soon about Almagro. Kudos to him for making this competitive. I thought he was done after the first set.

Let's see how far he can go in the decider.

You must go to almagro and kiss his feet for forgivness

 

[merwy]

Guys there is a thread for this match, just so you know

 

[Pagoo]

Tough luck for Almagro. He fought hard after the first set.

It's very hard to upset Djokovic. His improved serve makes it even more difficult lately.

 

[tennis_commentator]

This Djokovic-Almagro match reminded me of Nadal-Djokovic at Roland Garros.
Djokovic tries hard, comes close, but the result is always inevitable.

 

[heninfan99]

tsonga being alittle overdramatic

 

[m2nk2]

This Djokovic-Almagro match reminded me of Nadal-Djokovic at Roland Garros.
Djokovic tries hard, comes close, but the result is always inevitable.

This year, sadly Nadal won't make it far enough in the draw to face Djoko...

 

[heninfan99]

great point. Tsonga looking sluggish and taking the american too lightly

 

[heninfan99]

set point for Tsonga

 

[heninfan99]

Tsonga grabs first set with serve & volley

 

[tennis_commentator]

Tsonga is a stronga and more skillful (and more athletic) version of Kyrgios.

 

[heninfan99]

dat qball forehand!

 

[heninfan99]

ewwww the american volley was ugly...can't watch this any longer

 

[batz]

Murray WILL play Rome after all. Chardy tomorrow.

 

[jm1980]

Bagel set?

Bagel set.

 

[Chanwan]

Ferrer-Gasquet in the 2nd round - odd times!

 

[tennisaddict]

How come Rafa is playing Ilhan and Berdych playing someone ranked 280 in a masters 2R ?

 

[heninfan99]

Gasquet fighting for this 2nd set.

 

[heninfan99]

Gasquet serves & volleys set point against gutsy

 

[heninfan99]

first serve left the building

 

[heninfan99]

congrats to ferrer

 

[newpball]

Good job Ferrer.

He keeps going and going and going.........

:grin:

 

[batz]

How come Rafa is playing Ilhan and Berdych playing someone ranked 280 in a masters 2R ?

Berdych is playing a wildcard who beat Giraldo in R1

 

[veroniquem]

How come Rafa is playing Ilhan and Berdych playing someone ranked 280 in a masters 2R ?

And how come Djoko had to play Almagro?
It's called a draw.

 

[veroniquem]

Grandpa Ferrer is rocking it. What a man

 

[GabeT]

I'm not looking for anything. I wasn't necessarily talking about Rome alone.

Anyway, we can agree to disagree.

No, not really. Check my sig.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

How come Rafa is playing Ilhan and Berdych playing someone ranked 280 in a masters 2R ?

as batz said Donati beat Giraldo in R1 (WC local players are always dangerous) and Ilhan went through the qualifying, beating Gimeno-Traver and also won his 1st match in the main draw by beating Mannarino.

 

[President]

What the hell happened to Gasquet? Has he just been permanently injured over the past two years?

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

What the hell happened to Gasquet? Has he just been permanently injured over the past two years?

more or less yes, last year was his back, still was his back earlier on in 2015
...but after losing to Berdych in Madrid he said he felt good and had no pain so hopefully he'll be back in the top 15, he deserves it.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Remains to be seen if Tomic can ever win match on clay.

He beat Rosol on clay in Monte Carlo last month.

Happy he's improving his clay game, played relatively well against an opponent who can be tough at times. He should skip the Nice Open next week in France cause even if he is seeded he'll probably lose first round. Just head straight to RG and practice and hopefully reach the 3R there.

 

[heninfan99]

Piatti dumped him and he sank like a stone after reaching top 10 and semifinal slam glory AGAIN. Then injury...but he seems to be doing okay now though he wasn't nearly has hungry as he can be today.

He beat Ferrer back to back under Piatti. Piatti has moved on to part time work with Raonic who will get a slam.

What the hell happened to Gasquet? Has he just been permanently injured over the past two years?

 

[ultradr]

I think we have pretty good chance to have Federer-Nadal semi.

 

[La Grande]

Why is Ferrer called "Ferru" ?

 

[The Green Mile]

Why is Ferrer called "Ferru" ?

From one of those blogs that the players used to do:

I’m a bit sad because a lot of people came to see me: my family as well as my friends from Valencia and Javea and I was playing at home. In total it was more than 50 people and most of them drove more than an hour from Javea every day to come to see me. They all call me Ferru (¨iron¨ in Valencian dialect). I’ve always had that nickname since a coach called me like that and now my parents are the only ones to call me David.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2006/blogs/davidferrer.aspx