Arena Federer/Nadal/Djokovic Era - Now 1/3rd Over

I've said it before-- there is some kind of wall for men right around 12-13 grand slam titles. That's not to say people don't surpass it, since of course several men have. However, even Federer was different by then. Sampras fell off at a precipitous rate, Nadal really hit a bad time, and now Djokovic's wheels have come off.

Having said that, Nadal hasn't looked this good at a Slam since the U.S. Open in 2013, when he was on the back end of a rampage through the hard court season.

 

I've said it before-- there is some kind of wall for men right around 12-13 grand slam titles. That's not to say people don't surpass it, since of course several men have. However, even Federer was different by then. Sampras fell off at a precipitous rate, Nadal really hit a bad time, and now Djokovic's wheels have come off.

Having said that, Nadal hasn't looked this good at a Slam since the U.S. Open in 2013, when he was on the back end of a rampage through the hard court season.

 

I'm glad it's a Madrid rematch between Thiem and Nadal in the semis. Here's hoping they both can put on a great show for the crowd.

And Stanimal is through to semis. These are great matchups, assuming Murray wins.

 

Now onto the big news of the day: a young Latvian woman ranked 47th in the world wins a 2017 French open semi-final on her 20th birthday.

 

Thiem just lost his first set of the 2017 French Open. One step closer to having two French Open champions battle it out in the final.

 

yeah, stan is undefeated in 3 major finals. he plays his best on the big stage.

 

Rafa bageled Thiem in the third set and routed him overall at 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Thiem probably checked out after the second set.

Rafa hasn't been this dominant at Roland Garros since 2013, when he had that match for the ages against Djokovic in the semifinals. As a longtime Nadal fan, I want Rafa to obliterate Wawrinka as payback for the 2014 Australian Open final. I have no expectation of this actually happening, of course, but I would be thrilled if it came to pass. I expect a close final between Nadal and Wawrinka, though I favor Nadal for it.

I think Nadal would have easily handled Murray, and Wawinka will give Rafa a much tougher contest. I believe it was 2014 when Nadal breezed past Murray in their semifinal (6-3, 6-2, 6-1).

 

McEnroe said a few days ago Thiem wasn't going to give Nadal any trouble, assuming he got past Djokovic, but I didn't wan't to believe it, hoped it would be a tougher fight.

 

Sad return of negativity from Halep. Up a set and a break, loses a chance at a second break and for some reason she gets frustrated and gives away the set. Loses a critical break in the third off a total freak ricochet off the net cord on a shot by Ostapenko that was clearly going way out. Absolutely gave it away from there, couldn't wait to lose. Too bad, she had a good thing going, we'll see if she turns back into a headcase. You could see that some of her supposed positive attitude was fake, sorta repressive, and the facade cracked under the pressure.

 

hard to watch this second set

 

I wonder how many posts I'll have to make before one goes through.

Edit: Finally. Nadal cruising so far. The chair umpire is the best possible for Nadal-- Pascal Maria.

6-2, 3-1 right now.

 

Thread title change please: "Federer/Nadal Era ..."

In retrospect, Thiem can be pretty proud of his performance on clay this year, the only player to beat Nadal on the surface. Did Nadal even drop a set otherwise?

 

So pleased to see Rafa win his 10th title at Roland Garros. Doubly so that he crushed Wawrinka to do it.

We keep saying it in different ways, but it's surreal that it's 2017 and that we're cruising toward Wimbledon as if it's 2008 (or perhaps 2010, which was the last time Federer won the AO and Rafa the FO in the same year). It looks like Federer was wise to duck the Nadal freight train this year in Paris, which is no critique of Federer. He just understands what he needs physically at this point.

I sure would like to see another Federer-Nadal final at Wimbledon. A lot of people will lose their minds if that happens. Rafa just needs to get himself into the second week at Wimbledon. If he can do that, I think he'll get through to the final.

 

So apparently Federer and Nadal will be set up to meet only in the final, should each of them get that far. What a story it would be to see them meet for the title again nine years after the last time they met at Wimbledon. Rafa needs to make it out of the first week for that to happen though, and he hasn't done that since 2011. I think we've sort of lost sight of how well Rafa did at Wimbledon from 2006-2011, making the final in every year that he participated and winning twice.

 

wimbledon! nadal and murray cruise in their first round matches. wawrinka in trouble, down two sets to one against medvedev.

 

yeah, he really struggles on grass. murray vs. dreddy brown could be a fun second round match. an upset is unlikely, but brown is very entertaining on grass.

edit: bedene beat karlovic 8-6 in the fifth when he achieved the only break of serve in the entire match.

 

I was a bit concerned about Federer for a bit, as it looked like he was going to drop the first set. He obviously came back strong, blowing away Lajovic 7-0 in the first set tiebreak. He's up two sets and a break in the third set. I think he'll be moving on.

 

delpo's upset is a little misleading. gublis is a long-time pro and better than his ranking, which was hurt by having almost a year off due to injury. still, i was looking forward to the potential delpo/novak third round match.

 

true, but he looked like he was really breaking through on the surface around 2012 when he lost that epic semifinal match in the london olympics to federer, then beat djokovic for the bronze medal, and then the next year reached the semis at wimbledon. regardless of playing surface, his career is really a tale of never being able to stay at top form due to always battling back from one ailment or another.