Federer and Nadal return to North America for the U.S. Open Series. Roger is the defending champ. He struggled last year dropping sets against Gonzo, Tursunov & Gasquet. Nadal lost in the quarters to Berdych. Andy Murray returns to the tour for his 1st tourney since Rome back in May due to wrist injury. This is Roger's 1st tourney since Wimby. Nadal won in Stutgart after getting to the finals at Wimby but this is 1st tourney in about a month. I expect shaky starts for both players.
actually rain wasn't a signficant factor here in Toronto a yr ago. Travel certainly wasn't as Toronto and Cinci are close, maybe 1 hr flight (not like he's flying, say,to Australia from Toronto). FATIGUE does play a role in this scheduling nightmare which the ATP feels is 'okay'.
Federer has NEVER won both Toronto and Cinci in a calender yr. The two times he has won The Canadian Open he has lost Cinci: last yr 2nd rd to Murray and in '04 a FIRST round exit to Hrbaty. These two events are TMS events-- it's too demanding on the players to have these two back-to-back, too much tennis. Fields of 56 squishing to finish both in 2 weeks. From Tuesday on it's consecutive day tennis until Sunday, THEN TO DO IT AGAIN at Cinci. Tor and Cinci ARE NOT like Indian Wells and Miami (also TMS events, also played back to back). The latter have larger fields and played over TWO weeks. Nadal thought he could handle ROme than Hamburg (he has always skipped TMS Hamburg)--he paid dearly for that as he clearly ran out of steam finally losing his clay winning streak to Fed in the final.
anyway, if he wins at Montreal, history is agasint him to win Cinci.
Federer has NEVER won both Toronto and Cinci in a calender yr. The two times he has won The Canadian Open he has lost Cinci: last yr 2nd rd to Murray and in '04 a FIRST round exit to Hrbaty. These two events are TMS events-- it's too demanding on the players to have these two back-to-back, too much tennis. Fields of 56 squishing to finish both in 2 weeks. From Tuesday on it's consecutive day tennis until Sunday, THEN TO DO IT AGAIN at Cinci. Tor and Cinci ARE NOT like Indian Wells and Miami (also TMS events, also played back to back). The latter have larger fields and played over TWO weeks. Nadal thought he could handle ROme than Hamburg (he has always skipped TMS Hamburg)--he paid dearly for that as he clearly ran out of steam finally losing his clay winning streak to Fed in the final.
anyway, if he wins at Montreal, history is agasint him to win Cinci.
I had to give my vote for Nadal because the poll looked too dominating for Roger :missingte
Seriously Nadal had last year this time problems with injuries and he started to be tired from the season what we saw from last year US Open. This court should be not so fast and Cincinnati at next week will be faster so I think this is the one tournament Nadal wants to win more. I watched the draw and Roger should have no biger problems to the final. Andy Murray might be a bad opponent on the third round but this will be his first tournament after the injury. If Soderling wins Safin he will meet Nadal on the second round which might have a potential to be a tighter match, specially remembering their "good spirit" from Wimbledon. Then there surely is Berdych on the same draw but it seemed to me that Nadal has developed his game to the level where he no longer is as much hurtable by powerful groundstrokes as before. It is just grazy how his serve has gone forward and how he can do keep the deepness in his hits and make the good ankles. Djokovic is also a dangerous opponent but as far as I have seen his game it is good but maby next year is the year he will be the badass. Djokovic is a versatile player but his head is sometimes somewhere else and when he gets that ok, he will be the one to challenge Roger and Nadal.
The last tennismatch I saw was Nadal's last match against Wawrinka on the clay. Wawrinka showed some great stuff and he is a real deal right now on the clay. Nadal was a dog in the second set when Wawrinka dominated the game, a situation where you can not see Nadal very often but it was just incredible how he handled the situation. His mental toughness is something what I have never seen before on the tenniscourts and if he reachess the final he surely is the favourite against Roger.
Seriously Nadal had last year this time problems with injuries and he started to be tired from the season what we saw from last year US Open. This court should be not so fast and Cincinnati at next week will be faster so I think this is the one tournament Nadal wants to win more. I watched the draw and Roger should have no biger problems to the final. Andy Murray might be a bad opponent on the third round but this will be his first tournament after the injury. If Soderling wins Safin he will meet Nadal on the second round which might have a potential to be a tighter match, specially remembering their "good spirit" from Wimbledon. Then there surely is Berdych on the same draw but it seemed to me that Nadal has developed his game to the level where he no longer is as much hurtable by powerful groundstrokes as before. It is just grazy how his serve has gone forward and how he can do keep the deepness in his hits and make the good ankles. Djokovic is also a dangerous opponent but as far as I have seen his game it is good but maby next year is the year he will be the badass. Djokovic is a versatile player but his head is sometimes somewhere else and when he gets that ok, he will be the one to challenge Roger and Nadal.
The last tennismatch I saw was Nadal's last match against Wawrinka on the clay. Wawrinka showed some great stuff and he is a real deal right now on the clay. Nadal was a dog in the second set when Wawrinka dominated the game, a situation where you can not see Nadal very often but it was just incredible how he handled the situation. His mental toughness is something what I have never seen before on the tenniscourts and if he reachess the final he surely is the favourite against Roger.
Fed vs. Nadal - never in doubt. Should be a great tournament. Alot of brilliant matches in the first round.
I'd love to see some different players in the final, but after that Wimbledon final, Fed vs. Nadal would be pretty special. It would be good to see Nadal finally make some inroads on Federer's domination of hard/grass.
I'd love to see some different players in the final, but after that Wimbledon final, Fed vs. Nadal would be pretty special. It would be good to see Nadal finally make some inroads on Federer's domination of hard/grass.
1. R. Federer -160
2. R. Nadal +400
3. A. Roddick +1695
4. N. Djokovic +1447
5. R. Gasquet +2988
6. L. Hewitt +5065
7. T. Berdych +4317
8. T. Haas +6997
9. J. Blake +5377
10. F. Gonzalez +5271
11. A. Murray +6888
12. G. Canas +7323
13. M. Baghdatis +8422
14. N. Davydenko +7323
15. M. Safin +10667
16. I. Ljubicic +9537
17. R. Stepanek +11500
18. D. Nalbandian +11238
19. M. Youzhny +11500
These are the latest odds from Pinnacle. Roger shouldn't have too much trouble getting to the finals. Canas & Nadal are the only two players that can give him problems and both of them are on the other side of the draw.
2. R. Nadal +400
3. A. Roddick +1695
4. N. Djokovic +1447
5. R. Gasquet +2988
6. L. Hewitt +5065
7. T. Berdych +4317
8. T. Haas +6997
9. J. Blake +5377
10. F. Gonzalez +5271
11. A. Murray +6888
12. G. Canas +7323
13. M. Baghdatis +8422
14. N. Davydenko +7323
15. M. Safin +10667
16. I. Ljubicic +9537
17. R. Stepanek +11500
18. D. Nalbandian +11238
19. M. Youzhny +11500
These are the latest odds from Pinnacle. Roger shouldn't have too much trouble getting to the finals. Canas & Nadal are the only two players that can give him problems and both of them are on the other side of the draw.
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uppy:red007, that really was incredible by Fed. 6-5, 40-0, triple set point--proceeds to hit a fh error followed by two bh errors. Wow. A hold there and it's an easy straight set victory at Montreal. Kudos to Novak, he played well. Fed had 49 winners to Novak's 24. Fed had a 48 ue's!!!! If he has a weakness, it's his bevahiour when things get tight (which he rarely is in , lol). He handled Wimbledon, the 5th set Vs Nadal v well. He was not to blame for that epic 5th set loss Vs Safin at Melbourne Park, Marat too good. He WAS TO blame for this loss at Montreal. More often than not it's the fh that kills him in tight situations--that fh at 1-2 in 3rd set tiebreak was just plain awful
geesuz red, you didn't hedge and you had Novak at +350ish for the taking?
geesuz red, you didn't hedge and you had Novak at +350ish for the taking?
