2017 Australian Open QF MILOS "the Lumberjack" Raonic vs. RAFAEL "the Bull" Nadal

Who makes the semifinal?

  • Total voters
    144
Sysyphus said:
Don't agree. Zverev is closing in on top 10 quality already, yes, but Raonic is top 10 quality by some margin. Don't forget that Z needed five sets versus Haase.
While Z may indeed already be hanging more credibly with Rafa in Rafa's bread and butter rallies due to Z's stellar backhand and decent movement, Raonic is far more trustworthy when it comes to the first two strokes — and the clear majority of points in this match will be restricted to max two strokes per player, believe it or not. The players who win those rallies nearly always win the matches here.

Rao has beaten Wawrinka and Fed in slam fifth sets for one, and Nadal has lost in fifth setters to non-top-10 players in his last three HC slam appearances, so I don't see that as undoable at all for Rao if it comes to that, but it would favor Rafa slightly.
Click to expand...
hehe ><sw column out on keyboard. Limit me vocabulary.:D

Raonic playing good. Hazee match no meaning. Rafa on a roll.o_O You may be right. Rafa can't run Raonic out of energy. Though Rafa on a roll hard to derail.:eek::eek::eek::D Rafa under_pin Raonic to death. Bring him in and eat him alive.:p

Zverev in big match top 5.;) Fed 2 time. _tanimal once in final.
 
It will be a match of attrition - The Missile will clutch hip and shoulder in agony in the third set. The Bull, not to be undone, will elicit the assistance of the trainers for back and wrist ailments (to no avail) as the Missile gets ready to serve for the fourth.
In the epic 5th set, both men will trade MTOs until Nadal finally serves it out with barrage of 130mph serves and a brilliant lunging, back flip somersault volley made with his right hand.
 
All comes down to whether Raonic can bring his serve. I was hoping for Nadal to put on a more convincing performance against Monfils after the tremendous way in which he closed the Zverev match but he didn't so he's definitely still prone to being taken out here.

Rafa has to be much more aggressive than he was in the Monfils match. You have to move Raonic around...if you just hit the mid court loopers that plays right into Raonic's hands.
 
Backspin1183 said:
Binman out. You happy, Hulk?
Click to expand...
Screen-Shot-2012-04-27-at-10.59.26.png


Over the moon.....
 
metsman said:
All comes down to whether Raonic can bring his serve. I was hoping for Nadal to put on a more convincing performance against Monfils after the tremendous way in which he closed the Zverev match but he didn't so he's definitely still prone to being taken out here.

Rafa has to be much more aggressive than he was in the Monfils match. You have to move Raonic around...if you just hit the mid court loopers that plays right into Raonic's hands.
Click to expand...

One thing I was thinking about is how Raonic's BH is gonna hold up against Nadal's FH. Last time they met in Brisbane he managed to protect that side and serve nearly flawless in the 3rd.

If Nadal is gonna step up into the court during rallies and not return from 4m back he gains a huge upperhand regardless of Raonic's form.

BTW do you root for Nadal to win it if not Fed?
 
Raonic is reported to have flu(or Man-flu) so he's not exactly at his sharpest which is essential for his attacking game to be effective against Nadal in the form I think Nadal's in. On that basis I don't see him beating Nadal unless he has a quick recovery. Looks like it's Nadal in the final unless Grigor lives up to the hype or Nadal has a bad match.
 
sarmpas said:
Raonic is reported to have flu(or Man-flu) so he's not exactly at his sharpest which is essential for his attacking game to be effective against Nadal in the form I think Nadal's in. On that basis I don't see him beating Nadal unless he has a quick recovery. Looks like it's Nadal in the final unless Grigor lives up to the hype or Nadal has a bad match.
Click to expand...

When did he get the flu? Do you know?
 
sarmpas said:
Raonic is reported to have flu(or Man-flu) so he's not exactly at his sharpest which is essential for his attacking game to be effective against Nadal in the form I think Nadal's in. On that basis I don't see him beating Nadal unless he has a quick recovery. Looks like it's Nadal in the final unless Grigor lives up to the hype or Nadal has a bad match.
Click to expand...

gg Nadal.
 
Red Rick said:
Lol at playing grand slam tennis on a legit flu. If he's really got the flu, then I'm the queen of Norway
Click to expand...

I put Man-flu in brackets. Yeah, real flu is serious, he probably has a bad cold/fever which can still take the edge of his sharpness/reaction time/timing.
 
This is a tough one to call. Raonic will have to serve 70% and more importantly, return serve well (and his ROS is pretty damn weak).

I think Nadal in four or five. This will be the first time in my life I will root for Giraffe boy-- owner of a wickedly ugly, boring style of tennis.
 
Red Rick said:
Lol at playing grand slam tennis on a legit flu. If he's really got the flu, then I'm the queen of Norway
Click to expand...
Hi Sonja!:cool:

Everything about RaoMUG is trumped up...he's UUUGGE and making Canada great again! He has a lingering cold and calls it the flu.

His elbow hurts so he wears an armsleeve well after the soreness went away. He has all the grace of a baby giraffe on ice skates, so he wears a mouthpiece to help with his balance. Between those two affectations, I'm not half surprised if he soon dons shoulder pads and a helmet when he next runs into the umpire's stand like RBA did in 3R vs Ferrer.:eek:
 
stringertom said:
Hi Sonja!:cool:

Everything about RaoMUG is trumped up...he's UUUGGE and making Canada great again! He has a lingering cold and calls it the flu.

His elbow hurts so he wears an armsleeve well after the soreness went away. He has all the grace of a baby giraffe on ice skates, so he wears a mouthpiece to help with his balance. Between those two affectations, I'm not half surprised if he soon dons shoulder pads and a helmet when he next runs into the umpire's stand like RBA did in 3R vs Ferrer.:eek:
Click to expand...
All the more reason FAA and Shapo cant rise through the ranks quickly enough
 
stringertom said:
Hi Sonja!:cool:

Everything about RaoMUG is trumped up...he's UUUGGE and making Canada great again! He has a lingering cold and calls it the flu.

His elbow hurts so he wears an armsleeve well after the soreness went away. He has all the grace of a baby giraffe on ice skates, so he wears a mouthpiece to help with his balance. Between those two affectations, I'm not half surprised if he soon dons shoulder pads and a helmet when he next runs into the umpire's stand like RBA did in 3R vs Ferrer.:eek:
Click to expand...

When a giraffe meets a bull in the wilderness, do they both just scratch their heads in surprise and look silently at each other? Neither natural enemies nor kindred spirits, both vegetarians but one feeding off the top-cover of the forest and the other grazing on the grass beneath its feet. There's nothing about this encounter that wows the spectator. Give me mongoose and a cobra or two wild kangaroos any day of the week.
 
Mainsacross said:
When a giraffe meets a bull in the wilderness, do they both just scratch their heads in surprise and look silently at each other? Neither natural enemies nor kindred spirits, both vegetarians but one feeding off the top-cover of the forest and the other grazing on the grass beneath its feet. There's nothing about this encounter that wows the spectator. Give me mongoose and a cobra or two wild kangaroos any day of the week.
Click to expand...
While Golden Eagles soar above with sinewy talons prepared, waiting to pounce upon the tired and awkwardly slow prey below::cool:
 
InsideOut900 said:
One thing I was thinking about is how Raonic's BH is gonna hold up against Nadal's FH. Last time they met in Brisbane he managed to protect that side and serve nearly flawless in the 3rd.

If Nadal is gonna step up into the court during rallies and not return from 4m back he gains a huge upperhand regardless of Raonic's form.

BTW do you root for Nadal to win it if not Fed?
Click to expand...
I would root for probably Dimitrov/Tsonga, then Nadal/Stan.
 
Tough one to call. Milos said that he has the flu and Nadal is playing very well. I'm just going to enjoy the match as it is without a prediction.
 
Bold Prediction: RaoMug to lead by 2 sets to 1, and go up a break in the fourth. On the ensuing service game, he suddenly gets distracted by a distinct lack of hair gel in the temporal section of his Mug Piece and goes down 0-40. While doing his darnedest to serve an ace and dig himself out of this hole, he swallows his mouthpiece. No one in the stadium is tall enough to perform the Heimlich maneuver effectively on the tottering lumberjack. The Golden Bull has a flash of inspiration and climbs up into the umpire's chair and ejects the umpire with a kick, seemingly in a valiant effort to save his opponent, but in reality to force the mouth piece even further down into the Canuck's thorax. RaoMug chokes to death without ever winning a grand slam. Talk Tennis rejoices. The ************* and the Anti-Rafa faction come together for once.
 
Sysyphus said:
Don't agree. Zverev is closing in on top 10 quality already, yes, but Raonic is top 10 quality by some margin. Don't forget that Z needed five sets versus Haase.
While Z may indeed already be hanging more credibly with Rafa in Rafa's bread and butter rallies due to Z's stellar backhand and decent movement, Raonic is far more trustworthy when it comes to the first two strokes — and the clear majority of points in this match will be restricted to max two strokes per player, believe it or not. The players who win those rallies nearly always win the matches here.

Rao has beaten Wawrinka and Fed in slam fifth sets for one, and Nadal has lost in fifth setters to non-top-10 players in his last three HC slam appearances, so I don't see that as undoable at all for Rao if it comes to that, but it would favor Rafa slightly.
Click to expand...

I agree that Raonic is ahead of Zverev as of right now in terms of tennis level (though I can't speak of this tournament, because I havn't seen much from Raonic besides a few sets vs. Agut today). However one thing to note, is that I think Zverev generally is a tougher match-up for Nadal than Raonic - and that's mainly due to the backhand (also the better movement and defensive capabilities of Zverev, but to a lesser extent) Raonic, although much improved, still has a questionable backhand. Zverev possibly has the best crosscourt backhand at the moment. One of Nadal's weak spots is when the opponent is able to deal with the topspin and in return send back flat, deep and angled backhands to Rafi's forehand side. When an opponent does that consistently, they take away a huge part of Nadal's game. Zverev is much, much better at doing that than Raonic, who won't be able to go backhand to forehand with him. So even though Raonic is better than Zverev at the moment, Zverev was a tougher match-up for Nadal imo.

Historically Rafa has dealt well with great servers, Milos included. Raonic has improved a bunch though, now centering his game, not only around his serve, but around first-strike tennis and setting the point up with his serve (compare his aces to Isner/Karlovic where he falls a lot behind, then compare the 1st and 2nd serves won; about equal). Nadal has always been great at passing shots, but I think he's lost a step. On top of that Raonic' volleys have become so much crisper, so I think his s/v'ing will trouble him if he doesn't get a proper read on his serves and just float the returns up high.

With all that said I think (and hope) Nads will be ready for this one and get it done in 4. I voted for 5.
 
Last edited:
By the way @Sysyphus. I basically only read your first sentence before responding. Should have read the rest of your poast. Funny we mention the same things!
 
I really don't know about this. Rafa had a letdown in the R4 match and would have been in serious trouble had it not been for the presence of Gurufils.

Raonic has shown some absolutely incredible patches of play mixed in with some very vulnerable patches.

Dead 50/50, IMO.
 
Krish872007 said:
I really don't know about this. Rafa had a letdown in the R4 match and would have been in serious trouble had it not been for the presence of Gurufils.

Raonic has shown some absolutely incredible patches of play mixed in with some very vulnerable patches.

Dead 50/50, IMO.
Click to expand...
Guru seriously let Rafa off the hook there. Let's see if Rafa can learn from this and not make the same mistakes.
 
I don't believe Raonic has the flu, like most people, he confuses the flu with a common cold. If he really had the flu, I don't think he'd be able to play professional tennis let alone win a match in a best of 5 sets format. I'm going to go against the trend here and pick Nadal in 4 sets. Raonic may have had the upper hand in most of they're recent meetings, but he's never beaten Rafa in a slam/best of 5 sets which is quite different IMO. Nadal may not play like when he was in his prime, still he's playing his best tennis since last spring. To me, this match will be similar to the Zverev match which Nadal won by fighting hard as he's always been known to do. Zverev/Raonic both have big serves and lots of power from the baseline, however I think Raonic has a superior serve but a weaker ground game. I think Nadal will find a way to win this. Vamos Rafa!
 
SinjinCooper said:
Over the course of their upcoming match, Raonic will hit about ten times as many different types of shots as human metronome Nadal will. His ilk has already driven tennis to the verge of extinction. It draws worse ratings than M*A*S*H* reruns.

Milos is what tennis needs.
Click to expand...

I'm in no way a nadal fan however I cannot think of a single reason to support Raonic. From what I've seen of him he exhibits absolutely no charisma or personality and find watching him play tennis makes me want to change channels. Hell I'd rather watch a WTA match (with the sound on ) than Raonic
 
Dan Z said:
........... Hell I'd rather watch a WTA match (with the sound on ) than Raonic
Click to expand...

Looool! I'll take it that you are not too keen on MR!

As for the match, I detect increased confidence / momentum in each man, and as such, it ought to be well contested. My feeling is that RN will prevail.
 
This is a pickem match IMO.
If Rafa defends his serve well he will win for sure, but that's a big ask. I sense Milos has more confidence now against anyone not named Djokovic or Murray
 
Raonic is nervous I think.
I had no idea why he was angry in 1st half of Agut match,
At least, he seems to be agonized over whether he should approach the net or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The Green Mile
  • Poll Poll
2015 Australian Open Mens 4th Round: Rafael Nadal vs. Kevin Anderson
11 12 13
Replies
602
Views
24K
vive le beau jeu !
vive le beau jeu !
The Green Mile
  • Poll Poll
2016 Paris SF - [2] Andy Murray vs [4] Milos Raonic
Replies
28
Views
3K
Mainad
Mainad
Marius_Hancu
  • Poll Poll
Will Nadal play Barcelona?
2
Replies
71
Views
6K
powerangle
powerangle
S
Raonic vs Karlovic(Exhibition Match) up next at the SAP open..
Replies
34
Views
3K
Bud
Bud
Team10
  • Poll Poll
2014 Japan Open (Tokyo) FINAL: [4] K. Nishikori vs. [3] M. Raonic
2
Replies
66
Views
4K
tipsa...don'tlikehim!
tipsa...don'tlikehim!
Back
Top