ATP500 Barcelona Open 2024

Choose your Champion

  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
Hitman said:
Nadal is like old Rambo, coming back for one last bloodbath.

Its over.
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im-gonna-tear-you-apart-destroy-you.gif
 
One thing I particularly enjoyed today was seeing someone who actually knows (a) how to drop shot and (b) when to ****ing use said drop shot. With the exception of Alcaraz - and even he spams it hilariously poorly when things aren’t working for him - there are so few top players who are good at that shot any more
 
jl809 said:
One thing I particularly enjoyed today was seeing someone who actually knows (a) how to drop shot and (b) when to ****ing use said drop shot. With the exception of Alcaraz - and even he spams it hilariously poorly when things aren’t working for him - there are so few top players who are good at that shot any more
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Djokovic is there as well.
 
I am sad because of freaking livestream. I hope someone can link full match somwhere so we can see King one more time.
 
jl809 said:
One thing I particularly enjoyed today was seeing someone who actually knows (a) how to drop shot and (b) when to ****ing use said drop shot. With the exception of Alcaraz - and even he spams it hilariously poorly when things aren’t working for him - there are so few top players who are good at that shot any more
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Rune hits the drop shot exceptionally well. Not at Nadal's level, but it's impossible to replicate his clay genius.
 
BeatlesFan said:
His strokes were fabulous. His serve was way down in velocity and his lateral movement definitely a step slow. But he dominated almost every rally. So a mixed bag, but exciting to see Rafa back!
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I’ll second that. He exceeded my expectations at the end of the day as long as he can play a couple of matches here and emerge healthy, then he can build on that. If anyone deserves a positive outcome in their later years, it’s Nadal.

Love this man; the best natural talent to ever pick up a racket (in my opinion of course) who consistently defied the odds, the critics and and the nay sayers.
 
Nadal was looking much sharper at Brisbane but good that he get match play and he can improve every match. It's okay since 2020 after long periods in return Nadal looks way slower but he always improves. He did in Brisbane aswell. I hope he still has gear to improve the movement.
 
Phenomenal said:
Nadal was looking much sharper at Brisbane but good that he get match play and he can improve every match. It's okay since 2020 after long periods in return Nadal looks way slower but he always improves. He did in Brisbane aswell. I hope he still has gear to improve the movement.
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All in all it's positive considering the last minute "entry" and i don't care serve much now tbh he is either cautious or some little problem there. Second set looked better to me. It's normal that he is rusty and FH was shaky. As long as movement can get better it's all fine. Watching him again is incredible of course.
 
BeatlesFan said:
Look at his body language, he's moving very slowly between points, no fire. Rafa is very subdued. There's no way he's 100% but he's still 500 times better than Cobolli.
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time will tell where rafa is at, but even if he was feeling great and privately thinking he can win RG, i doubt he would be showing his hand now, he is going to be playing within himself however he feels.
 
TennisFan3 said:
Looks likely as a farewell summer for Nadal, The way he is serving (especially) and moving it seems unlikely that he would continue after the clay season. And it would be hard for him to be competitive in this state.
What a privilege it's been to watch Nadal all these years - one of the greatest to every play the sport and perhaps the biggest warrior ever seen on a tennis court.
Djokovic is the only one carrying the baton now of the big 3.
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He just won
 
Kralingen said:
Rafa’s serve when it looks good still is fine but it’s inconsistent and he’s double faulting more now. His form clearly isn’t feeling natural at the moment.
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Actually rafa's serve looks good and by that i mean he was placing it in all 4 corners. yes his serve speeds were way down but he isnt going to be serving fulll gun in Barcelona or even the first week of RG. Rafa's best RG performances have come with slower serve speeds but higher percentage of first serves.
As he adapted his game for faster courts his clay game became less god like due to him losing that precision on serve to ensure he always got a FH the next shot. As he tried serving bigger he lost the accuracy and the best players could get returns to his BH.
The biggest weakness i saw today was the return of serve when stretched out wide. Tsitsipas would cause him real issues id think as would Zverev. But its a work in progress.
 
I think Rafa probably has to risk going for more on his serve now. Yes, he's still great off the ground and can grind to some degree, but he needs more free points or points where he's immediately ahead off the serve and can put a way a groundstroke quickly.
 
bluetrain4 said:
I think Rafa probably has to risk going for more on his serve now. Yes, he's still great off the ground and can grind to some degree, but he needs more free points or points where he's immediately ahead off the serve and can put a way a groundstroke quickly.
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Not on clay. You dont get free points on clay unless you have a zverev serve really. Its why in recent years Djokovic couldnt really hold a candle to Nadal on clay and suffered many bagels and breadsticks because his beefed up serve didnt have any real effect on clay against Nadal.
Rafa can be a threat at RG serving like he is. It is outside of clay where he will be a sitting duck if he cannot increase the power consistently.
 
messiahrobins said:
Not on clay. You dont get free points on clay unless you have a zverev serve really. Its why in recent years Djokovic couldnt really hold a candle to Nadal on clay and suffered many bagels and breadsticks because his beefed up serve didnt have any real effect on clay against Nadal.
Rafa can be a threat at RG serving like he is. It is outside of clay where he will be a sitting duck if he cannot increase the power consistently.
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Nadal actually has the best S+Forehand game on clay. Atleast one of the best, Tsitsipas great here aswell.
Post 2017 Nadal still wins on clay by dominating shorter points as it occurs most.
 
messiahrobins said:
Rafa can be a threat at RG serving like he is.
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I have to strongly disagree. Obviously he can demolish any of the lower-ranked players even if he had a broken ankle. But he is probably not going deep at RG with an average first serve speed of 160 km/100 MPH. It's not just the service speed, his entire service motion was different and he wasn't landing on his feet the way he normally does. Even someone like Humbert or Mannarino would punish such weak serving. Of course, Nadal has such an aura on clay he might be able to serve WTA level and opponents will choke against him anyway.

Also problematic is Rafa's inability to be stretched wide and retrieve balls he used to get to easily. Age has no mercy. I actually want to see him win RG and today was just his first step. Hopefully he will show more against Demon.
 
BeatlesFan said:
I have to strongly disagree. Obviously he can demolish any of the lower-ranked players even if he had a broken ankle. But he is probably not going deep at RG with an average first serve speed of 160 km/100 MPH. It's not just the service speed, his entire service motion was different and he wasn't landing on his feet the way he normally does. Even someone like Humbert or Mannarino would punish such weak serving. Of course, Nadal has such an aura on clay he might be able to serve WTA level and opponents will choke against him anyway.

Also problematic is Rafa's inability to be stretched wide and retrieve balls he used to get to easily. Age has no mercy. I actually want to see him win RG and today was just his first step. Hopefully he will show more against Demon.
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To be fair, his opponent today didn't really make him do any of the things you are worried about him being able to do. I, too, am curious to see how he plays against the Demon, which should tell us more about his current state. My only hope is that he doesn't hurt himself.
 
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