Gasquet vs. Blake, 4th Round
- Thread starter Tchocky
- Start date
M
Morrissey
Guest
Gasquet playing his usual lackluster self.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Same here.
leonidas1982
Hall of Fame
I am liking his chances against Nadal tomorrow. Although past performance, 3-0 against Nadal, does not tell what may happen tomorrow, Blake will be well rested and full of energy to face Nadal.
bodave2
Professional
Its ok man, Blake does that all the time. He is on fire then if hes down a few games he spirals down fast.
One match? Give me a break.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Not just one match,overall I think people overrate him here.That's just my opinion nothing against Gasquet,he has a beautiful backhand but forehand,serve and especially mental toughness just aint there.He may improve over time so we'll see.
leonidas1982
Hall of Fame
Yeah in 2006
M
Morrissey
Guest
He IS a hit or miss player. That's how he plays on the court. Go for broke and if that don't work he's got nothing else. He lost to Nishikori at Delray Beach and lost in his first match in San Jose vs Ginepri 6-2, 6-2. That's hit and miss right there.
Yeah I can agree with that. His forehand can be a liability as seen in this match. occasionally he will have a day on fire and beat a top player showing what he is capable of but often he seems to under perform. I hope he can get more consistent at playing his best tennis.
Blake is playing great and he is a bad matchup for Nadal on hardcourts.
Add the fact that Nadal played a 3 hours match today and they play tomorrow night. Things look good for Blake but you can never underestimate Nadal´s chances.
IvanAndreevich
Legend
Bad guess. They played 3 times and Blake always won. All on hard court. However, here Nadal might do better.
M
Morrissey
Guest
Nadal has 3 slam titles, 2 Wimbledon finals a winning h2h vs Fed, 23 titles, 9 Masters Series. That's a hit. On a consistent basis. Blake has no slams and no Masters Series. Nadal lost to Youzhny in the FINAL a few hours after his 4 hour long match with Moya the night before. Still made the Aussie SF too.
Don't call me a hater - I want Nadal to do well. But I am kinda fed up with people defending Nadal by saying yeah yeah yeah see how much he's achieved. I just think he's talent is up there with Mac, Connors or even Lendl and if he's happy with being mentioned 50 yrs later as a "great clay courter, good class player but limited success on hard court" so be it. Otherwise he better change, and fast, as time waits for no one and the youngsters are not making things easier
leonidas1982
Hall of Fame
Blake beat Nadal (straight sets) in 2006 Indian Wells Semifinals. I don't believe the court surface was different then.
aceroberts13
Professional
Wow, why didn't you just say you have no clue about Blake at all.
I think Blake will play great against Nadal. He's shown no reason not to.
Sports_fan
New User
I wish I could have seen the match but congrats to Blake. Nadal vs Blake should be good I like them both so no matter who wins its cool.
IvanAndreevich
Legend
I think Nadal's HC game has improved since then is what I meant
caesar66
Professional
Perhaps you mean "dismal"? Who knows, his record could take care of nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and diarrhea.
Just teasing ya, but blake actually has pretty well owned nadal in the past, been a while since they've played though, so it will be very interesting!
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Perhaps you mean "dismal"? Who knows, his record could take care of nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and diarrhea.
Sure its not abyssmal?
caesar66
Professional
Doc Hollidae
Hall of Fame
Got back from Indian Wells last night. My impression of Gasquet was not a good one after this match. His forehand was a huge liability and looks very awkward. However what struck me the most was his return of serve. Gasquet would start at the baseline and then back peddle 4-5 ft. back before hitting the return. He seemed to back peddle less on first serves and the most on second serves. Not only did he return poorly, but when he did make a return there wasn't much depth and Blake just did whatever he wanted.
That's not surprising if you were watching his matches.. his returns second serves from far back even on grass on consistent basis, but that is not the reason he lost so badly. He was just frozen for duration of the match.. did you notice that he couldn't move there at all and was not even reacting. That was shocking to see as he usually has great anticipation. His feet were in cement, maybe he was nervous or just got paralyzed by James' first 3 points of the match (clean winners on return)
Gasquetrules
Semi-Pro
Congrats to Blake
I didn't get to see the match but looked at the stats. Blake killed Gasquet's second serve, winning sixty percent or better of the points on the Gasquet second. Even though Gasquet got in a decent percentage of first serves, it wasn't enough.
This was a surprise, considering their past history and the way Blake has been playing this year: up and down. He had a couple good runs in Australia, and then loses to Ginepris and Nishikora. I guess he was just really on his game today and Gasquet was off his. It happens.
Blake is a quality player. You don't spend as much time in the top ten as he has over the past few years just by being lucky... so it would be tough for Gasquet or anyone else (other than Federer) to beat Blake three times in a row all on hard surfaces.
But hey... how's this for a real reach of an excuse... Gasquet lost deliberately so he won't have to waste a weekend playing Davis Cup in the US? He's had immense pressure put on him the last three years by the French fans for Davis Cup wins... all while he has been very young... and it's taken a lot out of him emotionally and physically... all the criticism because of some very tough five-set losses to quality players like Tursanov and Youzhny. It's left him drained just before the European clay court season. So if he gets his clock cleaned by Blake (the weaker US player), then why not send some other French player like Mathieu or Llorda who has won more matches this year to play with Tsonga? Gasquet gets to rest up and prepare for the red clay.
Despite the loss, I believe Gasquet went one round further this year than 2007, so he'll pick up some points. He was bounced very early from Miami by Canas last year, so maybe he can pick up points there, too. Then skip Davis Cup and get ready for the clay.
I didn't get to see the match but looked at the stats. Blake killed Gasquet's second serve, winning sixty percent or better of the points on the Gasquet second. Even though Gasquet got in a decent percentage of first serves, it wasn't enough.
This was a surprise, considering their past history and the way Blake has been playing this year: up and down. He had a couple good runs in Australia, and then loses to Ginepris and Nishikora. I guess he was just really on his game today and Gasquet was off his. It happens.
Blake is a quality player. You don't spend as much time in the top ten as he has over the past few years just by being lucky... so it would be tough for Gasquet or anyone else (other than Federer) to beat Blake three times in a row all on hard surfaces.
But hey... how's this for a real reach of an excuse... Gasquet lost deliberately so he won't have to waste a weekend playing Davis Cup in the US? He's had immense pressure put on him the last three years by the French fans for Davis Cup wins... all while he has been very young... and it's taken a lot out of him emotionally and physically... all the criticism because of some very tough five-set losses to quality players like Tursanov and Youzhny. It's left him drained just before the European clay court season. So if he gets his clock cleaned by Blake (the weaker US player), then why not send some other French player like Mathieu or Llorda who has won more matches this year to play with Tsonga? Gasquet gets to rest up and prepare for the red clay.
Despite the loss, I believe Gasquet went one round further this year than 2007, so he'll pick up some points. He was bounced very early from Miami by Canas last year, so maybe he can pick up points there, too. Then skip Davis Cup and get ready for the clay.
N
nikdom
Guest
Too late to the party sir, the strippers are gone.
Gasquetrules
Semi-Pro
Gasquet's forehand
I don't think Gasquet's forehand is bad. It's only poor in comparison to his backhand.
He can flatten the thing out and hit incredible shots from anywhere on the court for cold winners... or hit with lots of topspin in longer rallies for consistency. I actually like Gasquet's forehand.
And Gasquet does have the ability to rally effetively from very deep in the court against power hitters and even hit passing shots from well behind the baseline. Of course, if an opponent is really on and taking the ball early and hitting with power and not making errors Gasquet can lose from deep in the court. In their two previous matches Blake got Gasquet made Blake work enough to tire him a bit and he started missing his shots. That's pretty much how Nishikora beat Blake, made him work hard enough that he began missing his first serves and his attempts at baseline winners.
Gasquet plays with the Head Instinct XL Tour racquet, and the thing has so much power that you actually can rally 15 feet behind the baseline and rip shots with it. I know he has supposedly switched to the new Head MicroGel Pro, but I believe he's still using the Instinct Tour model with the MicroGel decals and paintscheme.
Blake was just on his game against Gasquet... so good for him. Too bad he couldn't get past Nadal after Tsonga had really worked the Spaniard over the day before. Blake missed a real opportunity.
I don't think Gasquet's forehand is bad. It's only poor in comparison to his backhand.
He can flatten the thing out and hit incredible shots from anywhere on the court for cold winners... or hit with lots of topspin in longer rallies for consistency. I actually like Gasquet's forehand.
And Gasquet does have the ability to rally effetively from very deep in the court against power hitters and even hit passing shots from well behind the baseline. Of course, if an opponent is really on and taking the ball early and hitting with power and not making errors Gasquet can lose from deep in the court. In their two previous matches Blake got Gasquet made Blake work enough to tire him a bit and he started missing his shots. That's pretty much how Nishikora beat Blake, made him work hard enough that he began missing his first serves and his attempts at baseline winners.
Gasquet plays with the Head Instinct XL Tour racquet, and the thing has so much power that you actually can rally 15 feet behind the baseline and rip shots with it. I know he has supposedly switched to the new Head MicroGel Pro, but I believe he's still using the Instinct Tour model with the MicroGel decals and paintscheme.
Blake was just on his game against Gasquet... so good for him. Too bad he couldn't get past Nadal after Tsonga had really worked the Spaniard over the day before. Blake missed a real opportunity.
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