R. Nadal vs B. Paire - Barcelona 3rd round

tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
Benoit Paire for the win
lol.gif

https://twitter.com/benoitpaire/status/327486240192602112/photo/1
 

tipsa...don'tlikehim!

Talk Tennis Guru
paire still fighting in the second, actually he's good when he feels no pressure, nevertheless i have to agree, rafa does not look too good, i worry about his french open
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
He has several weeks to get ready for the French. I'll start worrying about the French if he doesn't do well in Rome.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Maybe Nadal is declining as Paire would never get this many games against Nadal of three years on this surface.
Nobody cares about games. The only thing that matters is to win in straights most of the time and even that I'm not sure. Djoko was losing sets left and right in M-C and he still won the tournament.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Relax. He's leading 4-2 and he's probably gonna break for 5-2. Half asleep Rafa will still own a guy like Paire. :)
Annnd right on cue, Rafa will serve for the match at 5-2!
 
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veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Routine win for Rafa. His next opponent only just finished the first set (it looks like it will be Ramos). Everything peachy.
 

pds999

Hall of Fame
Rafa really isn't at it at the moment is he. I rewatched the Monte Carlo open final at the weekend and am surprised he pushed Novankle as hard as he did with so many unforced errors (35 I recall) and with his topspin just not biting. Unless Rafa gets his act together pretty sharpish and the sun comes out on the clay season, Novak is going to go into RG the favourite in my book.
 
This is very surprising. Rafa hasn't played one decent match since Indian Wells. After the level I saw from him in Aculpco and Indian Wells, I thought he would clean up the clay season. I am not sure what the reason is really but its very worrying.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
It's not because Rafa loses the occasional match to Djoko that he will necessarily lose to anyone else (see 2011 clay season). But I'm not sure I can trust a poster with "overratedivanovic" as a user name to comprehend that point ;)
 

djokovic2008

Hall of Fame
Nobody cares about games. The only thing that matters is to win in straights most of the time and even that I'm not sure. Djoko was losing sets left and right in M-C and he still won the tournament.

Believe me Rafa wants and easy as possible match at this stage like he was used to getting but unfortunatley its not in his control any more. Like you say its aslong as he wins now that matters.
 

pds999

Hall of Fame
I think Rafa is going to have to work a little on his fitness in the next few weeks. Matches will help that. He said after MC that he didn't feel fit enough to play with maximum intensity for all the points he needed to which might explain the very high UE count. He also needs to hope the sun comes out because the conditions in MC didn't help him much and take away a lot of his game. Lastly he needs to work on his length again. It started the week pretty good but got worse and worse. Again that will come with matches.
 

malbaker86

Hall of Fame
The thing that will determine who's the favorite for RG is the draw. I don't care about the winner or Rome or Madrid or Barcelona. How the draw plays out is going to determine the favorite
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
The draw will be important too, however I still think Rafa has to win at least 1 of the masters to arrive at RG as the favorite (I'd be surprised if he didn't). He can win RG no matter what of course but that's a different thing from being the favorite.
 

malbaker86

Hall of Fame
Buet we all need to be realistic here...there's only two CLEAR favorites fro RG. Others can win it should things open up for them, but we KNOW there are two people who can win this tourney no matter what....
 
It's not because Rafa loses the occasional match to Djoko that he will necessarily lose to anyone else (see 2011 clay season). But I'm not sure I can trust a poster with "overratedivanovic" as a user name to comprehend that point ;)

I am not saying he will Rosoled on clay, the clay field is far too weak for that. I am talking about his level at the moment. His game is in shambles at the moment (way worse than his 2011 level on clay ). You know Rafa is struggling when he hits 15-20 UEs in a single set on clay against an opponent (Paire) who quite possibly has one of the worst forehands in top 100 and its not like Paire was redlining.

And my username has nothing to do with that :mrgreen:
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Malbaker: I'm not contesting that but favorite is determined in great part by recent form. So I would hesitate to declare someone a firm favorite unless they did well in the clay season overall.
 

malbaker86

Hall of Fame
Malbaker: I'm not contesting that but favorite is determined in great part by recent form. So I would hesitate to declare someone a firm favorite unless they did well in the clay season overall.

Yep that's true. I'd feel more "confident" if he was out there looking better than he has been in the past few matches so I do agree with you. I'd rather him "struggle" now than next month tho :)
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
I'm pretty sure he's gonna win Barcelona but that's not a tournament I'm gonna sweat. He already has a 500 title after all (Acapulco). I hope he has a strong showing in Madrid but I know he doesn't really like that venue: altitude and stuff. That's why I'm mostly waiting for Rome. That's where we can judge his form the best before RG.
 

Clay lover

Legend
This Paire guy is quite an anomaly. He would run around his forehand sometimes to hit a 2hbh. He hits the ball quite hard though off both wings.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
And it was the first time Rafa was playing him, so I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from that particular match.
 
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