Tennis 2016

Hopefully one of the other players sorts themselves out for the clay season.

Raionic and Nishikori are no match for Djokovic. They also 25 and 26 respectively, so not really young guns.

Murray is the biggest disappointment in these two tournaments. He needs to beg Lendl to come back. I just think with his current coaching setup he won't beat Djokovic.

Federer is capable of beating Djokovic in a masters event. But hoping he's fit enough for the clay season. Don't know what you gonna get with Nadal. Djokovic has swatted him easily in the last few meetings. Nadal won't beat Djokovic until he improves his service game.

You looking at the top 20 players and there's not a lot you thinking that could trouble Djokovic.
 
That most recent QF tournament, was in a match where he retired.

Can't see past him finally winning at Roland Garros. If he does lose, I think it will be to either a resurgent Rafa (can't see him reaching the requireed level though) in a final or semi final or someone like Thiem in one of the earlier rounds.
 
One thing that really impresses me is that he rarely seems to get upset in an early round.

Even when Rafa was at his best he used to be prone to a stupid loss from time to time.

Djokovic swats the easy guys so efficiently that going into the final few matches of a tournament he's always the freshest one left.
 
Another ray of hope I guess is Giles Simon took him to 5 sets in Australia, and Anderson at Wimbledon. Maybe it's clutching at straws, but here we have two recent slams where he could and maybe should have lost (Anderson in particular).
 
There's been slams where he has pushed.

The problem is that there is nobody currently consistent with him apart from Fed maybe. Consistency doesn't mean you have to be winning every tournament. But reaching the semis or finals constantly.
 
Is up to the next wonderboy to step up like Nadal did. The current crop is mediocre.

Unless some miracle happen, Nole he will break all the records out there, sadly.
 
I honestly don't see anybody beating Novak all year. I know he'll lose at some point but I really haven't felt that one player was so absurdly far above the rest ever before. Its pretty incredible to watch.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
One thing that really impresses me is that he rarely seems to get upset in an early round.

Even when Rafa was at his best he used to be prone to a stupid loss from time to time.

Djokovic swats the easy guys so efficiently that going into the final few matches of a tournament he's always the freshest one left.
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Pentagruel said:
I honestly don't see anybody beating Novak all year. I know he'll lose at some point but I really haven't felt that one player was so absurdly far above the rest ever before. Its pretty incredible to watch.
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Good jinxing here lads.
 
Sharapova could be back sooner than expected after WADA showed willingness to give amnesties to athletes who failed drug tests due to Meldonium (there have been 172 cases so far) as they are not certain how long it takes the drug to clear your system.
 
Amir said:
Sharapova could be back sooner than expected after WADA showed willingness to give amnesties to athletes who failed drug tests due to Meldonium (there have been 172 cases so far) as they are not certain how long it takes the drug to clear your system.
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But she admitted to taking it this year when it was definitely banned.
 
I don't watch much tennis nowadays, but this second set between Nadal & Stan is pretty damn good.
 
Nadal gets his first ATP Masters 1000 title in what must be nearly two years. Back level with Nole in those racked up.

Good week for him, beating Thiem, Stan and Murray before beating Monfils. Good signs for Roland Garros but hopefully we'll see him play against Novak in one of the clay 1000s before then.
 
Two titles back to back for Nadal.

Still needs to beat Djokovic. But he's beating the other players.
 
Vamos Rafa!

yeah his h2h record againts Fognini last year was 3-2 in favour of the italian. Starting the year winning trophies and beating the players that had beaten him in the last year hopefully does wonders to his confidence.
 
It would be awesome to see a on-form Nadal at the French, if only to stop Djokovic steamrolling his way to another Slam without breaking a sweat.
 
Murray just taken a set against Nadal after breaking him.
 
Straight sets win for Murray. Beats Nadal in Madrid for the second year running.
 
saivet said:
Straight sets win for Murray. Beats Nadal in Madrid for the second year running.
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Not surprised. Nadal seems to struggle in Madrid. Not his best clay court tournament. Nadal could meet Djokovic in the quarters this week at Rome and the winner could face Federer.

Big week for Rafa as Rome court plays similar to the French open courts. He needs to beat Djokovic and get that belief back. To be fair I could say that about Murray and Federer too. But it's bigger for Rafa as French is only grandslam he could realistically win.

Hope he does it as it be great for tennis if we get players challenging Djokovic.

Thankfully Murray will also be getting a new coach. Hope he gets Lendl back. Even for just big events only like Becker does with Djokovic will be worth it.
 
Berdych is a joke.

Shocked to see Djok got bageled in that opening set. Hope he comes through, interested to see how Rafa will be against him.
 
Isn't it bizarre that the best player in the world - by a mile - can lose a set 6-0 to some journeyman. And then we have Goffin beating Berdych 6-0, 6-0 also :wenger:
 
shaggy said:
Isn't it bizarre that the best player in the world - by a mile - can lose a set 6-0 to some journeyman. And then we have Goffin beating Berdych 6-0, 6-0 also :wenger:
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I think Djoker is bored now by just winning so he wants to toy around with fans a bit first.
 
Very good start by Nadal. Just hoping he can keep it up.

His serve in the past month has improved miles.
 
Now Djokovic is starting to dictate the rallies.

Good match so far.
 
Djokovic wins.

Nadal will be disappointed with that after leading 4-2 in first set and serving for the second set.
 
Nadal definitely improving but still so so so mentally non existent.
 
these losses must be tough for Nadal. he did improve considerably, yet it's still not enough, not even for a set. if I'm not mistaken, he hasn't won a single set against Djoko for two years now. and he will need 3 at RG, while playing at least 4 or 5.
 
Missed the match. Despite it being straight sets, the score line suggests they were both competitive at least. People's thought on Rafa's chances at RG?

I'm thinking it may still be too much for him to beat Novak, but he's playing at a level where I think he can beat all the others. Though Murray is looking good on clay too these days.

Just hoping he's not in the same QF as Novak.
 
What was encouraging for me is that Nadal wasn't completely dominated in the baseline exchanges. In some of the mauling's he's endured at the hands of Djokovic of late, he'e been so far behind the baseline and not being (or allowed to be) aggressive enough. He went toe to toe with him today and came out on top of a fair share of grueling points, getting quite good depth on his shots. He still chucks in a few more unforced errors on the forehand than he used to, but he's getting much more depth on that shot compared to his dismal 2015, and it's actually looking like a weapon again. His biggest weakness for me is like 'wr8_utd' mentioned, his inability to come out on top in the big points. He should of at the very least taken the match into the 3rd set.

TL;DR - Promising enough to make Novak sweat a bit, but probably not enough to finish him off should they meet at RG.
 
Genuinely think if Rafa had a biggish first serve he'd be on 20 slams by now. This was another match against Djokovic where Rafa had to fight for most holds whereas Novak breezed through several service games. Every single time he plays Djokovic he has to fend off 10+ break points whereas Novak barely gives away 5 or 6. Djokovic is perhaps the greatest returner of all time but I've seen Nadal struggle against other players because of his serve as well.

Not to mention that the less energy expended with easy service holds throughout his career could have helped him with injuries also.
 
I've read that his serve is more of a choice. He prefers a more accurate serve and also sees it as an opportunity to set up the point to how he wants to play it. Also, a faster serve means the ball will likely come back at you quicker, which I'm not sure he likes.

I don't remember it quickly but always see people saying that his serve was a real weapon at USO 2010 and he's just never served like that again. Not sure why really.
 
Can't decide if Nadal should be encouraged because he could have won in straight sets yesterday, or disheartened because he still didn't get a set off Djokovic despite playing well. I guess at least he's in a good position to benefit if Djokovic feels the pressure at the French.
 
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