Fun trivia: did 2011 Rome have one of the most unbalanced draws ever?

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Just having bantz, don't get too pissy.

Anyway, potential draw paths read as follows:

(4) Murray: Malisse, Troicki, not Melzer [injured], Djokovic, Nadal

(3) Federer: Tsonga, Gasquet, Berdych, Nadal, Djokovic

(2) Djokovic: Kubot, Wawrinka, Söderling, Murray, Nadal

(1) Nadal: Lorenzi, Youzhny, Fish, Federer, Djokovic

Totally reads like Djokovic and especially Federer get a killer draw, Murray gets a silly draw to tire out Djokovic if not beat him outright, Nadal gets an equally silly draw and then potentially tired Federer and Djokovic, having battled through their epic draws.

In actual fact, Federer deigned to lose to Gasquet hilariously, ultimately turning Nadal's draw into a feast till the final: Lorenzi, FLopez, Cilic-on-clay, Gasquet. Meanwhile, Djokovic's draw held up perfectly, requiring him to overcome three possibly dangerous claycourterers in a row to face the ultimate devil, and he did that, bested Murray in a late evening epic and still conquered The Nadal the following day despite less rest. Isn't that the sort of heroic win like a BO3 version of AO 09 that RAFA is so revered for? Yet Djovak's feat is praised orders of magnitude less frequently, makes one wonder.

 

[ibbi]

I think Federer's on paper draw would be really tough on a grass court, maybe even hard, but on clay?? Not particularly. It's tougher than Nadal's, sure, but I think Djokovic's even with Stan far from the player he would become, and Soderling beginning his dip from the clay court force he'd been the previous two years is still comfortably the toughest of the three.

I agree that Novak's feat here, especially considering he was at the tail end of playing 3 consecutive weeks, was incredible, especially given the Murray semi. For me it's maybe the single worst final beating I've seen Nadal take, and I'd include what happened in Australia this year in that.

I guess it's generally not as remembered as Nadal's Australian Open because it's not at a slam... I mean Novak went and basically repeated the trick (epic Murray semi, whole days less rest this time, and still beats Nadal) in Australia the following year, and everyone remembers that one

 

[Towny]

Can't see how it's one of the most unbalanced ever when Murray would have had to go through prime Djokovic and Nadal to win and Nadal would have to go through a decent post prime Fed then Djokovic to win.

Soderling was decent in early 2011, and he made a QF in Madrid, Rome and RG. Wawrinka did nothing of note in the clay season of 2011. And Murray was hardly a world beater on clay in 2011. The best of the 3 for sure, but Murray had it much harder facing Djokovic than the other way round.

As for Federer, Tsonga was actually pretty poor in 2011 prior to Wimbledon. Gasquet and Berdych were fairly tough though.

All in all, perhaps somewhat unbalanced but not even close to all time level.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Can't see how it's one of the most unbalanced ever when Murray would have had to go through prime Djokovic and Nadal to win and Nadal would have to go through a decent post prime Fed then Djokovic to win.

Soderling was decent in early 2011, and he made a QF in Madrid, Rome and RG. Wawrinka did nothing of note in the clay season of 2011. And Murray was hardly a world beater on clay in 2011. The best of the 3 for sure, but Murray had it much harder facing Djokovic than the other way round.

As for Federer, Tsonga was actually pretty poor in 2011 prior to Wimbledon. Gasquet and Berdych were fairly tough though.

All in all, perhaps somewhat unbalanced but not even close to all time level.

Issa yoke, mostly cause Djovak did have the draw of death on paper (Wawrinka was a R16 opponent - who'd have been better among the possible ones?) while Nadal plowed through a basic draw as usual but look what happened. Obviously 2019 Rome was way more imbalanced, can't remember the mugs in RAFA's draw until Tsip, who left his peak in Madrid, while poor Nole had to battle randomly peaking del Potro and Schwartzman, both at night too to give The Nadal maximum advantage.

 

[RS]

Can't see how it's one of the most unbalanced ever when Murray would have had to go through prime Djokovic and Nadal to win and Nadal would have to go through a decent post prime Fed then Djokovic to win.

Soderling was decent in early 2011, and he made a QF in Madrid, Rome and RG. Wawrinka did nothing of note in the clay season of 2011. And Murray was hardly a world beater on clay in 2011. The best of the 3 for sure, but Murray had it much harder facing Djokovic than the other way round.

As for Federer, Tsonga was actually pretty poor in 2011 prior to Wimbledon. Gasquet and Berdych were fairly tough though.

All in all, perhaps somewhat unbalanced but not even close to all time level.

Murray was very good on clay in 2011. You can only make a case for 2015-16 being better.

 

[zuluzazu]

Issa yoke, mostly cause Djovak did have the draw of death on paper (Wawrinka was a R16 opponent - who'd have been better among the possible ones?) while Nadal plowed through a basic draw as usual but look what happened. Obviously 2019 Rome was way more imbalanced, can't remember the mugs in RAFA's draw until Tsip, who left his peak in Madrid, while poor Nole had to battle randomly peaking del Potro and Schwartzman, both at night too to give The Nadal maximum advantage.

Schwartzman is a mug only when he plays nadal but for djokovic he is a peaking ATG.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Schwartzman is a mug only when he plays nadal but for djokovic he is a peaking ATG.

Well he kinda peaked out there, no? Although Djovak should have won in str8s still, allowed conditions to throw him off for the 9000th time. Nadal doesn't even need these advantages on clay, yet he gets them and wins even more dominantly as a result and his fans are all over the Neptune.

 

[Towny]

Murray was very good on clay in 2011. You can only make a case for 2015-16 being better.

Yeah it was his 3rd best clay season. But like I said, he wasn't a world beater. Compare that to Djokovic who won 2 masters that year and put up more of a fight in his SF at RG. All I was saying was that facing Djokovic was a tougher prospect for Murray than facing Murray was for Djokovic. Given that Wawrinka wasn't much of a factor either, I would say it's a stretch to say Djokovic had a far tougher draw

 

[Red Rick]

I think @tennis_pro just had a brain aneurysm

 

[StrongRule]

Issa yoke, mostly cause Djovak did have the draw of death on paper (Wawrinka was a R16 opponent - who'd have been better among the possible ones?) while Nadal plowed through a basic draw as usual but look what happened. Obviously 2019 Rome was way more imbalanced, can't remember the mugs in RAFA's draw until Tsip, who left his peak in Madrid, while poor Nole had to battle randomly peaking del Potro and Schwartzman, both at night too to give The Nadal maximum advantage.

Nadal faced these two "beasts" in RG 2018, beat them both and still beat Thiem (who had both an easier draw and much more rest) in straight sets in the final. And don't tell me Schwartzman and Del Potro didn't play as well as in Rome 2019, you know it's not true. It's not Nadal's problems that Djokovic in good form struggles on clay more than Nadal does in poor form. (yes, in RG 2018 he was pretty bad)

Anyway, even if we forget about that, Djokovic fans should never complain about him being "tired" in the final. They should be thankful he didn't lose in the 1/4 finals, like he should have. Del Potro brought the choke of the year in that one. (IMO it was way worse than Wimbledon final choke)

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Nadal faced these two "beasts" in RG 2018, beat them both and still beat Thiem (who had both an easier draw and much more rest) in straight sets in the final. And don't tell me Schwartzman and Del Potro didn't play as well as in Rome 2019, you know it's not true. It's not Nadal's problems that Djokovic in good form struggles on clay more than Nadal does in poor form. (yes, in RG 2018 he was pretty bad)

Yeah it's honestly ridiculous how everyone loves to crumble when The Nadal is on the other side on clay, sure he's the double goat already but not unbeatable as you like to remember, yet everybody keeps struggling almost like they were facing 2008 Nadal or something.

Anyway, even if we forget about that, Djokovic fans should never complain about him being "tired" in the final. They should be thankful he didn't lose in the 1/4 finals, like he should have. Del Potro brought the choke of the year in that one. (IMO it was way worse than Wimbledon final choke)

You don't understand tennis stats as I've told you more than once. Djokovic should have won in routine straights, it was amazing how he lost all the right points to find himself on the brink of elimination... yes del Potro lost his nerve from then on, but not before it brought him close to a victory that wouldn't have ordinarily happened.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

FO was notorious in the 90s for crappy illogical draws.

 

[BH40love]

Masters tournaments are great watches for the fan at the venue and to really put the pros through the ringer. Most of the field is of the highest quality

 

[Mainad]

Yeah it was his 3rd best clay season. But like I said, he wasn't a world beater. Compare that to Djokovic who won 2 masters that year and put up more of a fight in his SF at RG. All I was saying was that facing Djokovic was a tougher prospect for Murray than facing Murray was for Djokovic. Given that Wawrinka wasn't much of a factor either, I would say it's a stretch to say Djokovic had a far tougher draw

Murray gave Djokovic by far his toughest match at 2011 Rome (he should have won it in my opinion). The final against Nadal was routine by comparison.