Cilic could have put up a better fight today

[HetTheGreaterer]

Yeah...
Atleast he has a backhand which is existent and can cope up with nadal. And forehand is lethal too, if not at the extent of delpo FH...
Also a slightly better movement..
Also cilic would have gone for outplaying/blowing off nadal instead of outrallying him (which is impossible unless you're djoker)...
Delpo just tried to outgrind rafa and paid heavy price
delpo just worsly folded like a cheap tent and proved once again that his body cant hold for long span of BO5.
Cilic could have taken off a set or two from nadal.. ...
Bad for cilic and good for nadal that delpo's game matches better with cilic......
Express your views

 

[D.Nalby12]

Cilic had played his own offensive game for sure.

 

[I Am Finnish]

Did not watched it? But Was del potro that bad?

 

[Mike Sams]

Did not watched it? But Was del potro that bad?

Yes. Very very bad. Might've been a very different story on grass but he was physically and mentally done after the first set when he went 0/7 in BP chances and Nadal squeeked it out.

 

[Mike Sams]

Cilic had played his own offensive game for sure.

I liked Cilic's amazing fight back from a set and a break down in the AO encounter with Nadal. Most players would've gone away quietly like Del Potro but Cilic raised his game and fought with intensity. That's what we want to see at this level.

 

[ibbi]

He does have better movement, and he does have a better backhand (and return) but Rafa has played lots of guys with good backhands and good movement (and returns) and he still manages to whoop their ass pretty much every single time at this tournament. Del Potro is less of a mug than Cilic is, there is no accounting for his brain fart of an effort today, but there's not much reason to assume that a much more regular choker like Cilic would have done significantly better. Maybe he would have lost each set by a single break? Not much reason to hold out hope for much more.

 

[ibbi]

I liked Cilic's amazing fight back from a set and a break down in the AO encounter with Nadal. Most players would've gone away quietly like Del Potro but Cilic raised his game and fought with intensity. That's what we want to see at this level.

I'm sure if Del Potro had been playing Nadal on the quicker, lower bouncing Rod Laver Arena then he could have come up with a lot more than he did playing him on a sunny day on Chatrier.

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

He does have better movement, and he does have a better backhand (and return) but Rafa has played lots of guys with good backhands and good movement (and returns) and he still manages to whoop their ass pretty much every single time at this tournament. Del Potro is less of a mug than Cilic is, there is no accounting for his brain fart of an effort today, but there's not much reason to assume that a much more regular choker like Cilic would have done significantly better. Maybe he would have lost each set by a single break? Not much reason to hold out hope for much more.

At slams, cilic is far better than delpo as we have seen in last year....
I know, that we can't hope for his win, but he could have snatched atleast a set.... Not leaning and mentally surrendering like delpo did today

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

I'm sure if Del Potro had been playing Nadal on the quicker, lower bouncing Rod Laver Arena then he could have come up with a lot more than he did playing him on a sunny day on Chatrier.

Rod laver arena, whether fast or slow, high bouncing or low bouncing; has always been the place of least success for delpo

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

Fedalic is the new big 3.

 

[ibbi]

Rod laver arena, whether fast or slow, high bouncing or low bouncing; has always been the place of least success for delpo

Well, if you want to get technical it's the place of least success for Nadal too and THIS place where they just played? You're not going to find many tennis players who have done much better than he has on a single court. Just because Cilic played Nadal close in Australia doesn't mean he would have here. Cilic was serving less big yesterday than Del Potro was today, Cilic in the three sets they played yesterday hit FIFTY UNFORCED ERRORS! AGAINST DEL POTRO! What do you think he would have done against Grindy McGrinderson and the topspin of doom? Del Potro only hit 32 today, and look how one sided it was.

 

[Max G.]

I see no reason to believe Cilic would have done better. Delpo was better than Cilic and got crushed by Nadal. If Cilic had won, it's not like he would find some magical gear that lets him match Nadal on clay. Cilic isn't a claycourter either, really.

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

Well, if you want to get technical it's the place of least success for Nadal too and THIS place where they just played? You're not going to find many tennis players who have done much better than he has on a single court. Just because Cilic played Nadal close in Australia doesn't mean he would have here. Cilic was serving less big yesterday than Del Potro was today, Cilic in the three sets they played yesterday hit FIFTY UNFORCED ERRORS! AGAINST DEL POTRO! What do you think he would have done against Grindy McGrinderson and the topspin of doom? Del Potro only hit 32 today, and look how one sided it was.

Actually my judgement was based on following points

1) cilic and delpo plays almost same game and delpo matches well with cilic so he defeated him

2) nadal always targets opponent's BH with heavy topspin bombs, he can do that with delpo easily as delpo's BH is non-existent and will drop many short balls and errors. But with cilic as opponent, this strategy could have backfired as his BH can handle topspin bombs well and hit winners too

3) Also, cilic has a lethal FH (somewhat less than delpo but still lethal), so rafa would have trouble. And what I think is that delpo played pretty loopy FH on crucial moments, but cilic would have gone for crushing one

4) In grandslams, fitness-wise and mentality-wise cilic is stronger than delpo nowadays. He does not get gassed like delpo did and also would have not given up. (Came back from set and break down to force nadal into manufacturing an injury)

5) delpo went for rallying and outgrinding nadal, which is not possible. In so many opportunities of hitting a winner, he just hit the ball back to nadal. What I think is, that cilic would have surely gone for blowing nadal off the court and hitting more winners.......

6) In BO5 matches, nowadays cilic has more stamina and long-lasting capacity than delpo. He lost just because delpo is a worse matchup for him (like young/old/any fed for stan, but stan is killer for ultron djoker and old fed not)
So he won't just have gave up like delpo.....

7) ROS, movement and court position....... All three departments :- advantage cilic. Delpo was actually standing so much behind baseline that nadal exposed his weak movement oftenly by dropshots....

My Conclusion :- cilic would have forced match into 4th set or maybe a decider (no way he beats nads on clay).. and having 1/2 TBs...

But its all my judgement. I respect your views as well

 

[Sport]

I liked Cilic's amazing fight back from a set and a break down in the AO encounter with Nadal. Most players would've gone away quietly like Del Potro but Cilic raised his game and fought with intensity. That's what we want to see at this level.

Nadal got injured before the 5th set in the Australian Open. Also, it was fast hard courts.

Cilic lost to Delpo this Roland Garros QF. And Delpo got destroyed by Nadal. So Cilic would have been even more destroyed on clay by Nadal.

Schwartzman is a far better clay payer than both Cilic and Del Potro at the moment.

 

[AceSalvo]

Even better. Marco Cecchinato would have put up a better fight.

 

[ak24alive]

Cilic by no measure is as mentally strong as Delpotro. I don't know if he would have done better or not but saying that he is mentally stronger than Juan Martin is near stupid. We are talking about a guy who these top pro players dread playing. Nadal on clay is a different story altogether but Novak, Rog and Rafa all know deep down that if this guy would have been fit and injury-free they would have had lesser slams for sure. I am angry at Juan Martin right now because I expected a great match(which we didn't get obvio) but by no measure is Delpo weaker than Cilic.

 

[Plamen1234]

Cilic could have taken more games than Del Potro did against Nadal but at the end Nadal would have won easily in straight sets so there is no much difference .Cilic nor Del Po can challenge Nadal on clay.They are not like Schwartzman who is really good clay court player .At least we have very good final at RG.

 

[MeatTornado]

Cilic by no measure is as mentally strong as Delpotro. I don't know if he would have done better or not but saying that he is mentally stronger than Juan Martin is near stupid. We are talking about a guy who these top pro players dread playing. Nadal on clay is a different story altogether but Novak, Rog and Rafa all know deep down that if this guy would have been fit and injury-free they would have had lesser slams for sure. I am angry at Juan Martin right now because I expected a great match(which we didn't get obvio) but by no measure is Delpo weaker than Cilic.

I trust Delpo 10x as much as Cilic in a big point. But Cilic's game probably could've done better to stretch the match out in the first place, before eventually faltering under the pressure in the 4th or 5th set.

 

[Goosehead]

awarding hypothetical wins to players who already lost..so we can have a cilic/nadal sf..tt logic in full flow.

 

[ak24alive]

I trust Delpo 10x as much as Cilic in a big point. But Cilic's game probably could've done better to stretch the match out in the first place, before eventually faltering under the pressure in the 4th or 5th set.

I don't think he would have gone 5th set at all. Even a 4th set is a stretch. Nadal would have out grinded him and beaten him in 3 just as easily.

 

[Backspin1183]

Nah. Cilic would also have been creamed. Delpo was at least very difficult for Rafa in the first set. Cilic wouldn't have done any better. Might have been an easier opponent for Rafa.

 

[justasport]

yes very disappointing match from del potro....he quit after the first set....cilic wold have fought like crazy at least

 

[Julian Houston]

Yes. Very very bad. Might've been a very different story on grass but he was physically and mentally done after the first set when he went 0/7 in BP chances and Nadal squeeked it out.

Even if potro won the first set he is done as well..

 

[Mike Sams]

Even if potro won the first set he is done as well..

Nah, he would've given up on the 2nd set and made a push in the 3rd.

 

[Mike Sams]

Nah. Cilic would also have been creamed. Delpo was at least very difficult for Rafa in the first set. Cilic wouldn't have done any better. Might have been an easier opponent for Rafa.

That's what we all thought in Australia as well. It took Cilic a set and a half to finally put his foot on the accelerator and go for it against Nadal. For the first hour he couldn't put a damn ball in play. Who knows what he might've done had he stepped on the court against Nadal today. But it would've been a hell of a lot better effort than the big lumbering walking injury.

 

[sarpmas]

DP lost the plot after the 1st set loss. He didn’t have plan B and kept bounding his shots, nadal read DP’s shot very well and just fed on DP’s pace to redirect his shots to open space. Think Cilic probably could do better and mixed up his shots like he did in AO.

 

[GOATzilla]

It's ALWAYS the player who didn't/couldn't reach Nadal, would have had a better chance. We get it

 

[AlexanderTheGreat08]

Yeah he probably would’ve won two more games

 

[jonafern]

Crying after a quarter final like you have won the tournament doesn't help. After I saw that the semi was always going to be a walk in the park.

Cilic's game probably matches up better than DP's right now against Nadal. Didn't DP use to spank Nadal for a small period of time around 2009?

Cilic hits a flatter shot off both wings and stands closer to baseline so if he red lined he would have possibly made a good match out of it.

Sent from my SGP611 using Tapatalk

 

[Djorau]

Rod laver arena, whether fast or slow, high bouncing or low bouncing; has always been the place of least success for delpo

The Same Del Posssum who got his butts whooped by Berdych?

 

[wangs78]

Delpo is more of a one trick pony. When he is on and putting the ball deep and with pace it’s very hard for anyone to beat him. He’s also mentally strong in close matches so doesn’t choke usually. I think today he never found a rhythm, and it is clay after all, where the surface neutralizes attackers a great deal. Cilic might have tried a few extra things (doesn’t mean he would have won but at least he might have kept Nadal guessing a little longer). But as other said, after the first set today Nadal basically just pounded DP into submission with practically no resistance.

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

Cilic by no measure is as mentally strong as Delpotro. I don't know if he would have done better or not but saying that he is mentally stronger than Juan Martin is near stupid. We are talking about a guy who these top pro players dread playing. Nadal on clay is a different story altogether but Novak, Rog and Rafa all know deep down that if this guy would have been fit and injury-free they would have had lesser slams for sure. I am angry at Juan Martin right now because I expected a great match(which we didn't get obvio) but by no measure is Delpo weaker than Cilic.

Right now, at slams, delpo is much much weaker than cilic in stringing wins together (but matches up well with cilic so won)

yes very disappointing match from del potro....he quit after the first set....cilic wold have fought like crazy at least

Yeah he would surely have fought and snatch atleast a set from nadal.

Crying after a quarter final like you have won the tournament doesn't help. After I saw that the semi was always going to be a walk in the park.

Cilic's game probably matches up better than DP's right now against Nadal. Didn't DP use to spank Nadal for a small period of time around 2009?

Cilic hits a flatter shot off both wings and stands closer to baseline so if he red lined he would have possibly made a good match out of it.

Sent from my SGP611 using Tapatalk

This....
Nadal can easily mock delpo's BH but not cilic's

The Same Del Posssum who got his butts whooped by Berdych?

Yes the same Del Thortro

 

[FatFedererFanTurnsSlim]

Actually my judgement was based on following points

1) cilic and delpo plays almost same game and delpo matches well with cilic so he defeated him

2) nadal always targets opponent's BH with heavy topspin bombs, he can do that with delpo easily as delpo's BH is non-existent and will drop many short balls and errors. But with cilic as opponent, this strategy could have backfired as his BH can handle topspin bombs well and hit winners too

3) Also, cilic has a lethal FH (somewhat less than delpo but still lethal), so rafa would have trouble. And what I think is that delpo played pretty loopy FH on crucial moments, but cilic would have gone for crushing one

4) In grandslams, fitness-wise and mentality-wise cilic is stronger than delpo nowadays. He does not get gassed like delpo did and also would have not given up. (Came back from set and break down to force nadal into manufacturing an injury)

5) delpo went for rallying and outgrinding nadal, which is not possible. In so many opportunities of hitting a winner, he just hit the ball back to nadal. What I think is, that cilic would have surely gone for blowing nadal off the court and hitting more winners.......

6) In BO5 matches, nowadays cilic has more stamina and long-lasting capacity than delpo. He lost just because delpo is a worse matchup for him (like young/old/any fed for stan, but stan is killer for ultron djoker and old fed not)
So he won't just have gave up like delpo.....

7) ROS, movement and court position....... All three departments :- advantage cilic. Delpo was actually standing so much behind baseline that nadal exposed his weak movement oftenly by dropshots....

My Conclusion :- cilic would have forced match into 4th set or maybe a decider (no way he beats nads on clay).. and having 1/2 TBs...

But its all my judgement. I respect your views as well

All good points Het bhai but it's clay. Pushing it to a 4th is not entirely an unreasonable conclusion though but 5,4,2 is the likeliest result.

 

[AlexanderTheGreat08]

The Same Del Posssum who got his butts whooped by Berdych?

Have you seen Cilic’s h2h against Delpo?

 

[AlexanderTheGreat08]

Actually my judgement was based on following points

1) cilic and delpo plays almost same game and delpo matches well with cilic so he defeated him

2) nadal always targets opponent's BH with heavy topspin bombs, he can do that with delpo easily as delpo's BH is non-existent and will drop many short balls and errors. But with cilic as opponent, this strategy could have backfired as his BH can handle topspin bombs well and hit winners too

3) Also, cilic has a lethal FH (somewhat less than delpo but still lethal), so rafa would have trouble. And what I think is that delpo played pretty loopy FH on crucial moments, but cilic would have gone for crushing one

4) In grandslams, fitness-wise and mentality-wise cilic is stronger than delpo nowadays. He does not get gassed like delpo did and also would have not given up. (Came back from set and break down to force nadal into manufacturing an injury)

5) delpo went for rallying and outgrinding nadal, which is not possible. In so many opportunities of hitting a winner, he just hit the ball back to nadal. What I think is, that cilic would have surely gone for blowing nadal off the court and hitting more winners.......

6) In BO5 matches, nowadays cilic has more stamina and long-lasting capacity than delpo. He lost just because delpo is a worse matchup for him (like young/old/any fed for stan, but stan is killer for ultron djoker and old fed not)
So he won't just have gave up like delpo.....

7) ROS, movement and court position....... All three departments :- advantage cilic. Delpo was actually standing so much behind baseline that nadal exposed his weak movement oftenly by dropshots....

My Conclusion :- cilic would have forced match into 4th set or maybe a decider (no way he beats nads on clay).. and having 1/2 TBs...

But its all my judgement. I respect your views as well

Cilic would’ve lost in straight sets, Not even a TB, If put up more of a fight you mean winning two or three more games then I agree

 

[GreenClay]

Delpo. Cilic.
It’s the entire field. How come nobody younger than fed and Nadal can put together more that a clutch performance or two a year? Granted, fed and Nadal are both playing great for their ages, but they’re both PAST THEIR PRIMES, yet they lap the field. Pathetic

 

[Tennis_Hands]

DP lost the plot after the 1st set loss. He didn’t have plan B and kept bounding his shots, nadal read DP’s shot very well and just fed on DP’s pace to redirect his shots to open space. Think Cilic probably could do better and mixed up his shots like he did in AO.

Bolded: absolutely.

 

[sarpmas]

It was so demoralizing for DP seeing his bullets kept coming back even faster with purpose from Nadal. Nadal is so consistent and mentally strong, no wonder it is near impossible to beat him on clay in a best of 5 match.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

It was so demoralizing for DP seeing his bullets kept coming back even faster with purpose from Nadal. Nadal is so consistent and mentally strong, no wonder it is near impossible to beat him on clay in a best of 5 match.

I have said it many times: Nadal is mentally strong when the conditions favour his game, otherwise not that much.

In the case with RG it is the former.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Rafa would have crushed Cilic on Chatrier in the semi

 

[Nadal15thslam]

The real question is: How did Del Potro beat Cilic with such form?

 

[Backspin1183]

That's what we all thought in Australia as well. It took Cilic a set and a half to finally put his foot on the accelerator and go for it against Nadal. For the first hour he couldn't put a damn ball in play. Who knows what he might've done had he stepped on the court against Nadal today. But it would've been a hell of a lot better effort than the big lumbering walking injury.

Cilic on clay against Nadal. Lol

 

[robthai]

Thiem would have crushed both these guys

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

The real question is: How did Del Potro beat Cilic with such form?

Game matches up well with marin

 

[Pagoo]

Cilic wouldn't have done much worse, that's for sure!

 

[tennis_pro]

Yea totally hed win 9 games instead of 7.

 

[Mike Sams]

It's ALWAYS the player who didn't/couldn't reach Nadal, would have had a better chance. We get it

It's about matchups and styles.