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Rafa is gonna win Wimbledon. He shoulda won last year if he didn't blow it in that 5th set.
TENNIS: 2008 French Open on the "Terre Battue" - Rafa Defeats Rog, Remains Undefeated, Ana's Champ!
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I hope so.
I think the glaring weakness in his game is his hard court play. Not sure if it's because he's simply inexperienced on it or whether his game needsadjustments, but I'm leaning towards the latter.
He is so strong, he can crush the ball especially with his monster forehand. On clay his ridiculous topspin works great, but maybe he'd be better suitedtaking some spin off on the hard courts and hitting a faster, flatter shot? Not sure...but I think guys like Djokovic and even guys out of the Top 10 areeither better or simply more consistent hard -courters
I think the glaring weakness in his game is his hard court play. Not sure if it's because he's simply inexperienced on it or whether his game needsadjustments, but I'm leaning towards the latter.
He is so strong, he can crush the ball especially with his monster forehand. On clay his ridiculous topspin works great, but maybe he'd be better suitedtaking some spin off on the hard courts and hitting a faster, flatter shot? Not sure...but I think guys like Djokovic and even guys out of the Top 10 areeither better or simply more consistent hard -courters
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Actually, I think he was okay today. It was awkward, Rafa almost seemed sorry for Federer and it took the excitement out of the win and Roger looked like aman that had gotten used to losing. Last year, it was far more devastating. He was going for 4 straight GS titles (he had won the 2006 Wimbledon, 2006 USO and2007 Aussie). I believe he was up a set and had a couple break points early in the second set. Plus I think Stefan Edberg handed the championship trophy (orwas that in '06)?
This year, even with the Higueras and a belief he was better, he was probably looking at the other half of the draw thinking, "Nadal has only lostabout 15 games in 4 matches. That averages to about 1.25 games a set.. oh crap."
Bottom line, he is still the 2nd best clay court player in the world (1 semi and 3 finals in 4 years) and it's really just a testament to the greatnessof Rafa on clay. And for the record, Roger learned to play tennis on clay. Even if you watch that Nike commercial about a year ago when Tiger was talking aboutRoger, one of the first clips that showed him as a kid, had him playing on clay.
Looking toward Wimbledon, Roger has to be concerned. If Nadal even got fractionally better on grass, his days of domination may be through. I didn'teven realize it until I saw the replay after the final, but in the first 4 sets last year, Nadal was only broken once.
I honestly think at this point, if Djokovic and Nadal are on opposite sides of the draw, they may play for the final.
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my bad... for some reason, I was under the impression that Fed grew up on carpet (indoor) and hards... but yeah, I do recall that Nike commercial of hisyounger days on clay...
Wimbledon - does Nadal have a shot? Definately... he's reached the finals in the past two years, so undoubtedly he can 'handle' the grass... butwith Djokovic's strong form this year, he'll certainly mix things up a bit... I hope he and Nadal won't be in the same side of the draw AGAIN...
Wimbledon - does Nadal have a shot? Definately... he's reached the finals in the past two years, so undoubtedly he can 'handle' the grass... butwith Djokovic's strong form this year, he'll certainly mix things up a bit... I hope he and Nadal won't be in the same side of the draw AGAIN...
