[Eden]

Originally Posted by NYCtennisfan

i highly doubt it. He'll definitely be a factor the AO though.

In a way, these losses to Nalbandian are a good thing for Federer. He has been too passive of late and against Nalbandian, he got away from what allowed him to beat Nalbandian 8 times out of 9 and coming within two points on serve to make it 9 times out of nine: aggressive with the FH, attacking first, not getting pinned to the BH, driving the BH DTL and CC with power. It's better that he lose now than at the AO.

Nalbandan when playing well will always trouble Fed, but for anyone to say that there is 'nothing that Fed can do' is ridiculous. If there really was nothing he could do, if it were a matchup like Hewitt vs. Henman or Federer vs. Robredo, then Federer would not have almost won 9 in a row against Nalbandian. No way.

On another note, Nadad will have gained a lot of confidence from Paris unless he somehow loses to Baggy. This could really give him wings during the TMC, especially if he gets a favorable group. Fed really needs to show at the TMC to set the tone for early next year or he could lose the #1 ranking at the AO.

Thanks for your comment. As always a very appreciated analysis

I hope you are right with your words that these losses are a good thing for Roger. As we have seen in the past he came indeed back stronger after losses. He is experienced enough to analyze what went wrong

The past encounters between Roger and David have often been close and could have gone either way. It will be interesting when they meet the next time, especially when it is during a GS. The best of 5 modus should favour Roger a bit more.

Although Rafa got a beatdown today he will surely have collected selfconfidence from the tournament. Much will depend on the groups at the TMC. Djokovic had a few days rest now and will probably be highly motivated for Shanghai.

[oneandonlyhsn]

I think we all need to relax a bit, Roger is playing decent tennis not as good as he can but he is doing enough. I dont mind him losing to Nalby atleast he wasnt bagelled like Nadal

When Nalby is on he is a beast, and a beautiful one if I may add. I for one hope that Roddick or Davydenko pulls out of Shanghai and Dave gets in. That would create a lot of drama.

[World Beater]

Originally Posted by oneandonlyhsn

I think we all need to relax a bit, Roger is playing decent tennis not as good as he can but he is doing enough. I dont mind him losing to Nalby atleast he wasnt bagelled like Nadal

When Nalby is on he is a beast, and a beautiful one if I may add. I for one hope that Roddick or Davydenko pulls out of Shanghai and Dave gets in. That would create a lot of drama.

ideally gonzalez should withdraw. not that i hope for it or anything but i cant see him doing any damage in his current form.

nalbandian is a beautiful player. Who can work the angles like him. David is a chess master

[rofe]

Originally Posted by World Beater

ideally gonzalez should withdraw. not that i hope for it or anything but i cant see him doing any damage in his current form.

nalbandian is a beautiful player. Who can work the angles like him. David is a chess master

His short backswing (especially off the backhand wing) allows him to execute his chess moves.

I was actually impressed by how he was thinking on court today. For example, players now know that Nadal doesn't like flat balls to his forehand but it was interesting to watch Nalby realize (maybe his coach did) that Nadal does not like deep topspun shots to his backhand and execute that perfectly today. There were so many times today when Nadal sent a ball DTL to Nalby's forehand (hoping for a weak return) only to find that he has to deal with a deep topspun shot to his backhand resulting in a mid court reply.

[NYCtennisfan]

Originally Posted by rofe

His short backswing (especially off the backhand wing) allows him to execute his chess moves.

I was actually impressed by how he was thinking on court today. For example, players now know that Nadal doesn't like flat balls to his forehand but it was interesting to watch Nalby realize (maybe his coach did) that Nadal does not like deep topspun shots to his backhand and execute that perfectly today. There were so many times today when Nadal sent a ball DTL to Nalby's forehand (hoping for a weak return) only to find that he has to deal with a deep topspun shot to his backhand resulting in a mid court reply.

Federer has had a lot of success as well with that junkball to the Nadal BH, but he has a really hard time hitting it consistently with control with his one-handed BH which he seems to be pinned on throughout Nadal service games.

[World Beater]

Originally Posted by rofe

His short backswing (especially off the backhand wing) allows him to execute his chess moves.

I was actually impressed by how he was thinking on court today. For example, players now know that Nadal doesn't like flat balls to his forehand but it was interesting to watch Nalby realize (maybe his coach did) that Nadal does not like deep topspun shots to his backhand and execute that perfectly today. There were so many times today when Nadal sent a ball DTL to Nalby's forehand (hoping for a weak return) only to find that he has to deal with a deep topspun shot to his backhand resulting in a mid court reply.

Two things surprised federer when he played nalbandian

serve
fh

nalbandian has been hitting his fh with some real weight. You can just see the ball kick off the surface and give opposing players fits.

Although nalbandian has been on-fire and playing well, i honestly do not find his game high risk. He looked so comfortable pulling nadal side - side. He was playing his normal game and choosing his spots to change the pace and depth of his shots.

nalbandian would hit the slow junk ball to nadal's bh and then boom the medium fast flat ball would push nadal back deep - take control of the point. Even when nadal made some amazing gets, david just didn't panic because he knew he could always take the upper hand. David is the best at redirecting the ball when he is in trouble. Nadal has nowhere to go on a fast surface against nalbandian.

nadal has always been vulnerable to angles which is why david can master nadal. Nadal doesn't have as much trouble with depth because he stands in the parking lot to retrieve shots. roger doesn't have the same mastery of the angles that david has off both the fh and bh.

ive seen david play really well before but he has never been so comfortable on the court. This is no fluke folks.

[ytben]

Originally Posted by World Beater

ive seen david play really well before but he has never been so comfortable on the court. This is no fluke folks.

Let's hope you're right. Nalby's tennis is certainly much more exciting to watch than the other players that're "in the mix". Roger'd better get his act together come AO.

Did anyone else laugh while watching the end of Nalby's speech? Nadal was standing behind him and Nalby said "See you in Roland Garros"

[nobama]

Originally Posted by World Beater

ive seen david play really well before but he has never been so comfortable on the court. This is no fluke folks.

Let's see what he does during and after AO next year. If he plays like this consistently over several months and goes deep/or wins a slam then I will agree with you.

[lsy]

Originally Posted by World Beater

ideally gonzalez should withdraw. not that i hope for it or anything but i cant see him doing any damage in his current form.

nalbandian is a beautiful player. Who can work the angles like him. David is a chess master

So true.

It was disappointing to see Rogi losing to Nalby again (almost brought me back to those nightmare pre03, I think we have a thread "Why can't Rogi beat that meathead" created by Dirk somewhere here in 2003 ), but when he was beaten by such great play, can only say too good ...besides it worked out at the end with that bagel Nalby dished out to Nadal in final I watched that match, that was such a beatdown

Come on Rogi...bring that AO04 play back vs Nalby!!!

[World Beater]

Originally Posted by mirkaland

Let's see what he does during and after AO next year. If he plays like this consistently over several months and goes deep/or wins a slam then I will agree with you.

well i am not saying he is going to start winning slams or anything.

but i think a return to the top 5 at some point isn't too far fetched.

[NYCtennisfan]

[quote=lsy;6232272]So true.

It was disappointing to see Rogi losing to Nalby again (almost brought me back to those nightmare pre03, I think we have a thread "Why can't Rogi beat that meathead" created by Dirk somewhere here in 2003 ), but when he was beaten by such great play, can only say too good ...besides it worked out at the end with that bagel Nalby dished out to Nadal in final I watched that match, that was such a beatdown

Come on Rogi...bring that AO04 play back vs Nalby!!![/QUOTE]

Actually, his performance at the 2005 USO was much better as he completely owned him in that match. His performances at last year's Madrid and TMC weren't that bad either.

[nobama]

Originally Posted by World Beater

well i am not saying he is going to start winning slams or anything.

but i think a return to the top 5 at some point isn't too far fetched.

Oh sure if he stays interested I would agree.

[World Beater]

Originally Posted by lsy

So true.

It was disappointing to see Rogi losing to Nalby again (almost brought me back to those nightmare pre03, I think we have a thread "Why can't Rogi beat that meathead" created by Dirk somewhere here in 2003 ), but when he was beaten by such great play, can only say too good ...besides it worked out at the end with that bagel Nalby dished out to Nadal in final I watched that match, that was such a beatdown

Come on Rogi...bring that AO04 play back vs Nalby!!!

I miss Dirk and his Ninja stories

Sawan reminds me a lot of dirk except sawan is on the other side of the spectrum ( his star wars metaphors and allegories)

[shacklebolt]

Originally Posted by NYCtennisfan

Federer has had a lot of success as well with that junkball to the Nadal BH, but he has a really hard time hitting it consistently with control with his one-handed BH which he seems to be pinned on throughout Nadal service games.

Do you think Nalbandian can achieve these results when he has played as much tennis as his opponents? I mean he was a lot fresher than everyone he played this fall. I'm just wondering?