Nadal loses at Frech

H

hornpharmd

5,000+ Posts
I simply can't believe it.

He had won 31 straight matches at Roland Garos, and 4 straight titles. In those 31 matches he had only dropped 7 sets and the last one of those was in 2007.

Federer beat Nadal in a final at Madrid recently in straight sets. It would appear that Nadal is not the dominate the player he once was on clay.

Federer and Roddick seemed set for a face off in the quarters. The top half of the drop now seems to be wide open.

What an absolute shocker.
 
It could have been straight sets pretty easily, Nadal was down 5-6 (30-30) serving in the 2nd set before cruising in the tiebreak. Djokovic lost yesterday also, should be interesting the rest of the way.

Roger better make the most of this, he may not be so fortunate again.
 
Roger may finally be healthy which is enough to battle the roid driven Nadal. Nadal has only done better after Federer got a string of injuries and since Nadal got all swole up all of a sudden.
 
This sits well with me. It's a general policy of mine not to root for guys who wear capris.

Not that there's anything wrong with that ...
 
I don't think he was wearing capris this year. Maybe that was his downfall. Kind of like Sampson having his hair cut.

Or maybe there are more diligent drug tests and he can play like it's his first match in a week every time he steps on the court. He actually is experiencing a bit of fatigue.
 
Nadal definitely didn't look to be the super athlete that he normally is. Instead of pushing the other guy around on the court he was the one getting pushed around.

I did notice that he seemed to be much leaner and lighter than last time I saw him play, which was admittedly the Australian. Is he trying to lose weight to increase his mobility? If so it is definitely having an impact on his strength and power......and that for the most part is his game and what gives him the edge over most of the other players including Federer.

His serve looked more mediocre as well. That phase of his game had improved by leaps and bounds over the last 2 years. Seems to have gone back down.
 
Roger wins. Haas completely collapsed after missing a break point up 4-3 in the 3rd set. He went on to lose 15 of the final 17 games.
 
Nadal is merely playing the way he used to play, the way he is supposed to play. He is normal now. Minus the roids he is a good player, not a great player. Welcome back to status quo, Nadal.
 
Nadal looked tired to me. Probably just too much tennis or maybe he had a stomach bug or something. Who knows? This rest will do him good.
 
I don't know about the roids and I will let those allegations be.

I will say that he looked noticably leaner and that loss of strength and power has an obvious effect on his game.

Federer wins in 5 sets to advance to quarters. He lost the 1st 2 sets of that match but he actually won more points in those 2 sets. He just didn't have the stuff in crucial points and games during that stretch. The 2nd half of the match he completely dominated once he got everything going.

Roddick loses and so Fed will play Monfils next to try and keep his record streak of semi's in majors alive.

Top half of the draw looks tough. I see Murray vs. Davydenko in semis.
 
I just saw highlights from a women's match today, but I saw them from my kitchen, through my window, through the neighbor's window, and then across their TV room away from the TV.It appeared that a young-ish short girl beat a seeded player who was at least 6 inches taller than her and maybe up to 9. Their handshake at the net was an eye opener.
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UPDATE:

I just qatched French Open highlights and it turned out that it was Maria Sharapova (6' or 6'1") who lost to Dominika Cibulkova (5'3").

I've frozen my screen on the handshake because the size difference is amazing. The Link
 
Man this tournament is not going as expected at all. Everybody you would think would win is losing.....except for Federer....hope I didn't just jinx him.
 
I like Federer (I'm pretty sure that he's never been on the juice), but this could be Potro's breakthrough. He's so tall that nearly every shot he is hitting down (it seems) and just in case he is a little slower than people who aren't 6'6", the clay allows more time for him to get around.
 
Well Federer rolls into the Semis. Fed reaches the semis for the record 20th straight time in a Slam.

Del Potro has never won a match much less a set against Roger. I don't see this changing tomorrow.

Roger is going for his 14th singles slam win (to tie Samprass) and the career grand slam (french is only slam he has not won).

Not the semis matchups we expected but Federer is the story now.
 
They said that streak is twice as long as the next longest. If he beats Del Poltro that will also make 15 out of the last 16 grand slam finals.
 
Wow! Soderling wins the first 2 sets before losing the next two and falling behind 1-4 in the fifth set. Then he rips off 5 straight games to make it into the final.
 
Federer has his work cut out for him down a break in the 3rd set. tied at 1 set a peice.

del potro has been playing really well i knew this would be a very competitive match, i'm guessing 5 setter here...
 
I'm predicting at least a 4 setter
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and although I would like to see Federer pick up another Grand Slam, if he doesn't, Potro is my man. (And has been since last summer. Viva Argentina!)
 
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