2016 US Open Round 16 - Rafael Nadal vs. Lucas Pouille

[beast of mallorca]

Didn't see the match. Sad to hear of Rafa's loss. But that's how it is. Work on you game Rafito. Hope You Do Better Next Time.

Great job Lucas. Congrats. hope you do well for the rest of the Open......

 

[Felix le chat]

don't know if anyone saw Pouille on the panel on ESPN2 after but he said something very interesting..he and Nadal practiced last week and he said he was having difficulty returning Nadal's serve from the ad side standing close to the baseline..made the adjustment, dropped back to return, then worked his way back up to the baseline during rallies

lesson?...choose your practice partners wisely

+1.....Here's the clip of their practice session:

They played 2 friendly sets and Rafa whooped Pouille 2 and 1.....After that Pouille's coach Emmanuel Planque gave Lucas crap for the rest of the day ("you were hitting too cute, not agressive enough...")....obviously it paid off...

 

[racquetreligion]

Bone head Edmund

Edmunsters FH does have some smoke and its smokes itself as well

 

[JohnnyMac Fan!]

+1.....Here's the clip of their practice session:

They played 2 friendly sets and Rafa whooped Pouille 2 and 1.....After that Pouille's coach Emmanuel Planque gave Lucas crap for the rest of the day ("you were hitting too cute, not agressive enough...")....obviously it paid off...

So slow. His uncle pissed me off just by looking at him

 

[racquetreligion]

+1.....Here's the clip of their practice session:

They played 2 friendly sets and Rafa whooped Pouille 2 and 1.....After that Pouille's coach Emmanuel Planque gave Lucas crap for the rest of the day ("you were hitting too cute, not agressive enough...")....obviously it paid off...

great post and thanks for the link

 

[Mainad]

Wait, weren't you the guy who said this was near peak Rafa who was gonna light up next week?

Surely things haven't got that bad!



But if he's insistent, Daveed could let him have a pack or 2 (if he asks nicely)!!

 

[Wynter]

It was amazing match of the tournament imo

Cheers, they really need to put Pouille on at an acceptable time for me :'(

 

[PDJ]

Are you watching @PDJ?

No. But I'm a Brit

 

[ArcspacE]

LOL

 

[D.Nalby12]

I've seen most of his big matches live. I've watched a lot of Nadal over the last year. This is the best he's played in the 2015-2016 period on hard courts. Nadal's issue has been his first serve. He actually won a solid 73% of first serves against Pouille and had solid velocity on his serve given the state of his wrist.

Nadal's stats are well down the last few years and the big area is serve. I don't think I've said his stats are better than his earlier years. Most players have improved their serve games in their later years. Nadal has been a painful exception. He's close with a healthy wrist to being a real threat if he beefs up his serve like all the other players. He's been heading in the right direction.

Nice Avatar.

 

[Meles]

Nice Avatar.

Sort of a tribute to Nathaniel who was a nice TTWer, but sadly has left.

 

[bananaforehand]

Gutted with result. Those games at 4-2 and 4-3 in the 5th set make it that bit more of a bad defeat. Credit to Pouille though, he recoveredwell when it looked like the match was getting away from him.

 

[joekapa]

Any videos of the final points ?

 

[sbengte]

Aaargh.....I didn't even bother checking scores or watching this match fully confident that Nadal will win in straights and then he had to go and lose........Was it atleast a good match or were they mugging it up ?

 

[Checkmate]

Highlights for those who missed the match like me.

 

[veroniquem]

Aaargh.....I didn't even bother checking scores or watching this match fully confident that Nadal will win in straights and then he had to go and lose........Was it atleast a good match or were they mugging it up ?

They sort of alternated good play and bad shanks. A bit of a messy affair tennis-wise but the drama part was top notch as is often the case in Nadal's (marathon) matches.

 

[irishnadalfan1983]

I've seen most of his big matches live. I've watched a lot of Nadal over the last year. This is the best he's played in the 2015-2016 period on hard courts. Nadal's issue has been his first serve. He actually won a solid 73% of first serves against Pouille and had solid velocity on his serve given the state of his wrist.

Nadal's stats are well down the last few years and the big area is serve. I don't think I've said his stats are better than his earlier years. Most players have improved their serve games in their later years. Nadal has been a painful exception. He's close with a healthy wrist to being a real threat if he beefs up his serve like all the other players. He's been heading in the right direction.

Yeah it probably has been his best level in either 2015/2016.

The serve is a serious problem on a HC - you simply have to pick up more free points than he is doing.

 

[Levi_Ackerman]

It's taken me a while to warm up to Nadal, basically because of my perception that he owes 3-5 of his GS titles to one pattern: XTS FH to Roger Federer's BH, in GS finals.

But over the past couple of years, I've come to respect and admire the guy, his game, and his achievements. And there's no doubt that his match with Pouille tonight was the match of the tournament so far, and a great candidate for a classic match.

EDIT: removed my name. Must've thought I was writing email.

LOL.

Yeah it probably has been his best level in either 2015/2016.

The serve is a serious problem on a HC - you simply have to pick up more free points than he is doing.

This! He doesn't even have to serve aces! He could try serve and volley, or net approach shot construction like Murray and Djokovic do. But noooooo....that's too hard for our Rafa. He would rather serve and then move back 2 - 4 metres behind the baseline. Note: his opponents don't push him back behind the baseline, he chooses to move back 2 - 4 metres behind the baseline and hit from there.

When Rafa plays Novak, he gets out of his comfort zone. He tries to be aggressive. He sits on the baseline and hits from there, but Djokovic being Djokovic - i.e. better than Rafa and everyone on tour - pushes him back with the depth of his shots. When Rafa is playing anyone other than Djokovic, on the other hand, he moves back of his own volition. It's mystifying!

 

[sbengte]

Didn't see the match. Sad to hear of Rafa's loss. But that's how it is. Work on you game Rafito. Hope You Do Better Next Time.

Great job Lucas. Congrats. hope you do well for the rest of the Open......

I don't know whether to applaud you for your great attitude or scratch my head as to how a fan can be so calm after your guy loses such a cliffhanger.

 

[Deleted member 77403]

I don't know whether to applaud you for your great attitude or scratch my head as to how a fan can be so calm after your guy loses such a cliffhanger.

Well, it helps that he didn't see the match.

 

[Nostradamus]

pouille does it again. i've learned not to count you out, dude.

Poille is just flash in the pan. he is Not in Monfils caliber. Monfils is just too good

 

[Krish872007]

Hmm, there is a reason that hard-hitting players who start redlining prevail against Nadal. They start playing aggressively right away, don't give him enough rhythm and as a result he (Rafa) starts dropping the ball short, which makes it easier to put away. At least the current Nadal does this - he doesn't get consistent depth on his forehand

 

[Chicharito]

Remeber Nadal won a slam for 10 straight years. This year he didn't even reach a slam QF.

 

[loosegroove]

Caught a replay of the tie break courtesy of a Youtube highlight vid (it showed the entire tie break). Wow, those two forehands Nadal netted on short balls were really bad errors. What should have been outright winners for him, turned into two very costly unforced errors.

 

[Levi_Ackerman]

Well, it helps that he didn't see the match.

This!

 

[suvnvolly]

Looked like pouille cud easily go another set. This guy is a bull. Love his game. Touch. Power. Defense. Craft. Stamina!

 

[gn]

No. But I'm a Brit

But you do like French players, right?

 

[PDJ]

But you do like French players, right?

Not so much - too dramatic with questionable work ethic. But if you played league tennis here you'd understand! It's just become white noise set to a Piaf soundtrack

 

[Djokovic2011]

Not so much - too dramatic with questionable work ethic. But if you played league tennis here you'd understand! It's just become white noise set to a Piaf soundtrack

But I think I'm right in saying that you like Cornet, non?





















Especially when she beats Serena.

 

[PDJ]

But I think I'm right in saying that you like Cornet, non?





















Especially when she beats Serena.

I like Cornet because she doesn't roll over and die when she plays Serena and don't mind her diva tantrums and she works her ar*e off on court. But her behaviour is not so different to over half of our mens first team.
My stoic reserved English nature is quite an asset on court

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Looked like pouille cud easily go another set. This guy is a bull. Love his game. Touch. Power. Defense. Craft. Stamina!

Never thought I would hear that about Nadal's opponent...how things have changed.

 

[user]

Since 90's Clay isn't here, I will gladly do his job.

If this MUG MUGouille wins, I bet he'll just FOLD like a house of cards the next round. That's the problem with the MUGs these days. They play one good round of tennis and then disappear the rest of the year. That doesn't win you slams. LMAO!

MUG MUGouille.