Australian Open 2008, but the semifinals are reversed, what happens?

[InsideOut900]

Say we have Nadal-Federer and Djokovic-Tsonga in the semifinals.

Who would you favour in each match, who would win the potential final afterwards?

To spice it up, let's presume Nadal plays better, since he was a bit shellshocked against Tsonga and severely underperformed, but this time he gets to play Fred, his favourite match-up.

First, Djokovic-Tsonga, what changes from the Federer/Nadal match-up:

• Tsonga's serve would be way less effective, as Novak was very good off the return in that tournament; Tsonga barely aced Djokovic 11% of the times in the final, compared to 22% against Nadal, while having a higher 1st serve % in the F too
• Djokovic was playing very aggressive in the SF, he hit more winners and overall more offensive shots(including forced errors) than Federer, a rare occurence in their match-up, so Tsonga's offensive game would be far less effective too, especially if he is forced into the BH corner often
• Tsonga's superior net game in the SF could prove handy, Djoko isn't the best at countering netplay

This has the potential to be another Nadal-Verdasco match in terms of both level and score development.
I don't see Tsonga GOATing for 3 sets in a row against Novak and Djoko himself was GOATing in the 2nd set of the SF, as well as being very clutch in the other 2.

So based on that I would say Novak in 5, winning 2 out of the first 3 sets, losing the 4th and winning in 5.

Second, Nadal-Federer, again, what changes:

• Federer was in decent shape, able to hang in with Novak and even push him to the limit at times, however, he was a hair slower and less explosive than usual, on top of not very clutch(though he got servebotted in a nasty fashion too)
• Nadal was very passive in the SF, but doing alright in the tournament otherwise, assuming he is not faced with that monster Tsonga, he can raise his level and take advantage of Fed's slightly diminished game to do some damage

Other than that, it's all just a guess game, since neither did something great in particular like serving or returning very well(though Federer's BH was honestly quite good against Novak, while Nadal's FH and pure physical ability could come into play if Federer feels slightly off, as we have seen in 2012 and 2014).

I would say Federer in tough 4 sets purely because he was the much better HC player at that time.

Final:
Djokovic beats either of the two, probably Nadal in 4 easy sets and Fed in 4 contested sets;
Tsonga beats Nadal in 4 tough sets, but likely losses to Fed, he really felt pressure for being in his 1st final.

What are your predictions and why?

 

[FRV4]

Nadal and Federer final. Idk who wins that.

Wow this was a dumb comment by me

 

[ADuck]

Federer looked pretty mediocre to me and I truly believe he was compromised in that match, but Nadal was also thoroughly exposed against Tsonga so I guess that match is a toss-up either way but I'll lean towards Rafa due to the matchup and history. Djokovic-Tsonga would be interesting, no idea. You'd have to think it'd be a closer match than the final as Tsonga would handle the pressure better.

 

[BackhandDTL]

Say we have Nadal-Federer and Djokovic-Tsonga in the semifinals.

Who would you favour in each match, who would win the potential final afterwards?

To spice it up, let's presume Nadal plays better, since he was a bit shellshocked against Tsonga and severely underperformed, but this time he gets to play Fred, his favourite match-up.

First, Djokovic-Tsonga, what changes from the Federer/Nadal match-up:

• Tsonga's serve would be way less effective, as Novak was very good off the return in that tournament; Tsonga barely aced Djokovic 11% of the times in the final, compared to 22% against Nadal, while having a higher 1st serve % in the F too
• Djokovic was playing very aggressive in the SF, he hit more winners and overall more offensive shots(including forced errors) than Federer, a rare occurence in their match-up, so Tsonga's offensive game would be far less effective too, especially if he is forced into the BH corner often
• Tsonga's superior net game in the SF could prove handy, Djoko isn't the best at countering netplay

This has the potential to be another Nadal-Verdasco match in terms of both level and score development.
I don't see Tsonga GOATing for 3 sets in a row against Novak and Djoko himself was GOATing in the 2nd set of the SF, as well as being very clutch in the other 2.

So based on that I would say Novak in 5, winning 2 out of the first 3 sets, losing the 4th and winning in 5.

Second, Nadal-Federer, again, what changes:

• Federer was in decent shape, able to hang in with Novak and even push him to the limit at times, however, he was a hair slower and less explosive than usual, on top of not very clutch(though he got servebotted in a nasty fashion too)
• Nadal was very passive in the SF, but doing alright in the tournament otherwise, assuming he is not faced with that monster Tsonga, he can raise his level and take advantage of Fed's slightly diminished game to do some damage

Other than that, it's all just a guess game, since neither did something great in particular like serving or returning very well(though Federer's BH was honestly quite good against Novak, while Nadal's FH and pure physical ability could come into play if Federer feels slightly off, as we have seen in 2012 and 2014).

I would say Federer in tough 4 sets purely because he was the much better HC player at that time.

Final:
Djokovic beats either of the two, probably Nadal in 4 easy sets and Fed in 4 contested sets;
Tsonga beats Nadal in 4 tough sets, but likely losses to Fed, he really felt pressure for being in his 1st final.

What are your predictions and why?

Then Tsonga wins the whole thing.

That guy was unreal in the SF.

he probably faces Rafa in the final whom he beats

 

[Federev]

Say we have Nadal-Federer and Djokovic-Tsonga in the semifinals.

Who would you favour in each match, who would win the potential final afterwards?

To spice it up, let's presume Nadal plays better, since he was a bit shellshocked against Tsonga and severely underperformed, but this time he gets to play Fred, his favourite match-up.

First, Djokovic-Tsonga, what changes from the Federer/Nadal match-up:

• Tsonga's serve would be way less effective, as Novak was very good off the return in that tournament; Tsonga barely aced Djokovic 11% of the times in the final, compared to 22% against Nadal, while having a higher 1st serve % in the F too
• Djokovic was playing very aggressive in the SF, he hit more winners and overall more offensive shots(including forced errors) than Federer, a rare occurence in their match-up, so Tsonga's offensive game would be far less effective too, especially if he is forced into the BH corner often
• Tsonga's superior net game in the SF could prove handy, Djoko isn't the best at countering netplay

This has the potential to be another Nadal-Verdasco match in terms of both level and score development.
I don't see Tsonga GOATing for 3 sets in a row against Novak and Djoko himself was GOATing in the 2nd set of the SF, as well as being very clutch in the other 2.

So based on that I would say Novak in 5, winning 2 out of the first 3 sets, losing the 4th and winning in 5.

Second, Nadal-Federer, again, what changes:

• Federer was in decent shape, able to hang in with Novak and even push him to the limit at times, however, he was a hair slower and less explosive than usual, on top of not very clutch(though he got servebotted in a nasty fashion too)
• Nadal was very passive in the SF, but doing alright in the tournament otherwise, assuming he is not faced with that monster Tsonga, he can raise his level and take advantage of Fed's slightly diminished game to do some damage

Other than that, it's all just a guess game, since neither did something great in particular like serving or returning very well(though Federer's BH was honestly quite good against Novak, while Nadal's FH and pure physical ability could come into play if Federer feels slightly off, as we have seen in 2012 and 2014).

I would say Federer in tough 4 sets purely because he was the much better HC player at that time.

Final:
Djokovic beats either of the two, probably Nadal in 4 easy sets and Fed in 4 contested sets;
Tsonga beats Nadal in 4 tough sets, but likely losses to Fed, he really felt pressure for being in his 1st final.

What are your predictions and why?

Mono-erer has no chance w any of them.

 

[Jonesy]

Rafa wins it all. Nadal would eat his friend like always in the semi. Tsonga only peaked in the semi, he would beat Djokovic and get blasted by a more consistent Nadal in the final.

 

[King No1e]

Djoker would still win because he was on fire that fortnight and the AO courts are just tailor-made for his style of play. Would be a thriller, 4 or 5 sets against Tsonga, then Fed would probably edge out Nadal (could go the other way too, possibly a much lower quality version of the 09 final with wild momentum swings). And Djokovic would beat whoever is waiting for him in the final, since he was a few notches better that tournament than either Fed or Nadal.

 

[zagor]

Don't think the end result would be different, Novak would win the whole thing IMO no matter the draw. Don't think Tsonga got tight in the final either, he just faced a guy with a much better ROS and depth of shots.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Federer looked pretty mediocre to me

He had mono, so he wasn't winning the event. Look at his 2008 results as compared to 2004-2007. He fell off a cliff in terms of titles and tournament wins.

 

[ADuck]

He had mono, so he wasn't winning the event. Look at his 2008 results as compared to 2004-2007. He fell off a cliff in terms of titles and tournament wins.

I agree at the AO but later than that no.

 

[Nadal>>>>>Federer]

He had mono, so he wasn't winning the event. Look at his 2008 results as compared to 2004-2007. He fell off a cliff in terms of titles and tournament wins.

that is what happen when weak eras end