[Mark Lenders]

Originally Posted by Chase Visa

Oh fair enough. Didn't know about the Tokyo match as I wasn't following tennis at the time.

Counted it as 4-3 as Berdych beat Del Potro in a Challenger match back in 06, but Berdych was Top 20 that year and had already won a Masters, whereas Delpo was only 17 and out of the Top 100 at the time, so it probably shouldn't count.

Yup, that definitely shouldn't count as it is no indication of how they matchup. With that said, Berdych has more weapons to counter JMDP than Tsonga and especially Soderling, since he doesn't have a weak wing in rallies, is tougher to get off position and absorbs power relatively well. Still, when Del Potro and Berdych face again JMDP will be the clear favorite unless it's on grass - and even then I'd probably expect Delpo to win.

Originally Posted by Chase Visa

Honestly, looking at some of Simon's matchups, he appears to have a mental block against other French players. They don't just beat him, they own him.

It's not just because they're French though (although there might be a mental block). All of Tsonga, Llodra and Gasquet don't let Simon get any rhythm and don't give him pace/power to feed off. Tsonga and Llodra dominate him with their serves (that Simon can't read or return at all) and ability to finish points off fast at the net, while Gasquet just mixes up his shots well, never giving Simon any flat powerful balls to work with.

Simon prefers big flat hitters like Berdych or Del Potro who give him pace to feed off, if you don't give him pace he becomes a very ordinary player, he is just not comfortable creating his own pace; even when he tries to be aggressive, his shots aren't powerful enough to penetrate the slow courts. Even Federer won the 5th set of their AO encounter by basically taking pace off the ball thus neutralizing Simon's game.

[Topspindoctor]

Just out of amusement can you do Nadal vs Gasquet? I have my own thoughts on this match up and want to see if they coincide with your own.


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[Chase Visa]

Single-handed backhand has something to do with it, plus Nadal is just a much better player.

That's it simply, plus he also seems to struggle with grinders in general who don't play flat.

[Ben D.]

Gasquet is no match for top 4. It's irrelevant. Even playing his very top level, he can barely snatch a TB before getting baked. He has no answer to big 4, like 99.9% of players in the world. Look at what happened to Tsonga 2 weeks ago. And he is #8 and supposed to compete with these guys. There are on a whole different planet.

other interesting/odd match-ups:

GAËL MONFILS	8-1	PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER
MIKHAIL YOUZHNY	4-0	NICOLAS ALMAGRO
DAVID NALBANDIAN6-1	ROBIN SODERLING
ROBIN SODERLING	5-0	JO-WILFRIED TSONGA
DMITRY TURSUNOV	5-2	RICHARD GASQUET

[Mark Lenders]

Originally Posted by Topspindoctor

Just out of amusement can you do Nadal vs Gasquet? I have my own thoughts on this match up and want to see if they coincide with your own.


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Not much to say here. Actually the topspin forehand vs one handed backhand isn't even Gasquet's main issue in this matchup, he's just even more 'trapped' than against Ferrer. If he tries to step in and hit through Nadal, Nadal will easily defend him into oblivion, if he stays back Nadal will easily outgrind him. He lacks the power and/or the speed/defense/movement to really hurt Nadal. This coupled with the FH vs BH dynamics creates a huge mismatch.

Originally Posted by Ben D.

Gasquet is no match for top 4. It's irrelevant. Even playing his very top level, he can barely snatch a TB before getting baked. He has no answer to big 4, like 99.9% of players in the world. Look at what happened to Tsonga 2 weeks ago. And he is #8 and supposed to compete with these guys. There are on a whole different planet.

other interesting/odd match-ups:

GAËL MONFILS	8-1	PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER
MIKHAIL YOUZHNY	4-0	NICOLAS ALMAGRO
DAVID NALBANDIAN6-1	ROBIN SODERLING
ROBIN SODERLING	5-0	JO-WILFRIED TSONGA
DMITRY TURSUNOV	5-2	RICHARD GASQUET

Haven't watched enough to give any good views of Youznhy vs Almagro and Tursunov vs Gasquet unfortunately. As for the other three:

Monfils vs Kohlschreiber

Monfils gets to a lot of balls but unlike most great defenders he hits with a lot of power, his forehand and backhand are both among the biggest on tour. Kohli notoriously struggles against powerful flat shots and ends up shanking a lot, as well as feeling the need to go for too much. It's also become a mental issue in recent matches imo.

Nalbandian vs Soderling

Angles, angles, angles... Nalbandian (at least in his heyday) is a horrible matchup for flat power hitters with poor movement, he has little problems absorbing their power and moving them around with short angles, he's also a brilliant returner of serve.

Soderling vs Tsonga

Tsonga struggles against big hitters in general, since he's on the back foot in rallies too often for his liking and his backhand can't hold up. His horrible return of serve only makes it worse.

[Mark Lenders]

Did a Ferrer vs Delpo match up analysis in another thread, so thought it was a good pretext to bump this thread and update the OP:

Originally Posted by Mark Lenders

As for the Ferrer vs JMDP matchup: Ferrer does well a lot of things that trouble JMDP. He reads his serve probably better than anyone else and isn't really fazed by his powerful shots down the middle of the court. He can redirect JMDP's bullets back to his baseline (slowly taking time away from him) and maintain plenty of depth in his defensive shots, he also rarely lets JMDP hit his FH on the run - a trap in which someone like Federer for instance often falls.

He exploits a lot of chinks in JMDP's armor, namely his predictable serve and lack of backhand DTL (Ferrer can keep running down his crosscourt shots and returning them deep all day long), which in the longer run ends up exposing JMDP's slow movement. Conversely, look at how a more aggressive-minded player like Soderling completely owns Ferrer: JMDP is not a particularly aggressive player and rallying with Ferrer is not the best idea for these tall players with movement problems, Ferrer makes them hit more shots from very awkward position on the court than probably anyone else on tour. Before his surgery, JMDP didn't have many problems with Ferrer, but for some reason he barely hits any BHs DTL since his return, which gets him locked into cross court rallies with Ferrer far more often than he'd want.




Because there are actual matchup issues on show. Do you think the reason Del Potro has split meetings with the top 4 in the past 10-12 months and never beaten Ferrer is because Ferrer is better than them. There are reasons why he struggles more against Ferrer, as explained above.

[End da Game]

berdshit vs djokovic has got to be the worst

[BauerAlmeida]

Manuel, if you haven't done it already, what do you think about Nalbandian vs Gasquet? David leads 7-0 and Gasquet only won two sets.

[blackwell]

Originally Posted by Mark Lenders

Nalbandian (at least in his heyday) is a horrible matchup for flat power hitters with poor movement

Does Soderling have a poor movement

[Mark Lenders]

Originally Posted by BauerAlmeida

Manuel, if you haven't done it already, what do you think about Nalbandian vs Gasquet? David leads 7-0 and Gasquet only won two sets.

Gasquet's court positioning + Nalbandian's unparalleled ability to open up short angles make this mismmatch. Nalbandian can just easily move Gasquet around and constantly have him out of position.

Originally Posted by blackwell

Does Soderling have a poor movement

Yes... he's a very slow mover.

Originally Posted by End da Game

berdshit vs djokovic has got to be the worst

Dude, we need your expert vote and analysis in this thread: http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=257570

[tennisobserver]

Berdych and Djokovic, Gasquet and Nadal

[Mark Lenders]

Originally Posted by Mark Lenders

Nadal vs Berdych

Nadal leads 12-3, but has won the last 11 matches, dropping only 2 sets in the process. He won 20 consecutive sets at one point. Berdych played a brillaint match earlier this year in Australia, still didn't take more than a set.

Reasons for this:

-Berdych's game is based on overpowering/hitting through his opponents from the baseline, his serve isn't a huge weapon nor is his net game. Hitting through Nadal on the current uber slow conditions is almost impossible. Nadal just keeps retrieving one more ball until Berdych inevitably makes the error.

-Berdych can't do anything on the Nadal serve. He's one of the best returners on tour, does a lot of damage even on the Federer serve. But against Nadal? Nothing. Even on second serves he can rarely get the initiative off the return.

-Nadal knows how to play against Berdych. He's usually more aggressive vs Tomas than most other matches, can take his time away better than anyone else and also expose Tomas's movement issues (as Tomas himself admitted). He also has no trouble with Berdych's hitting patterns, he actually reads them like an open book and they play into his strengths.

Confirmed yet again, especially the second point. Nadal actually won 100% of points on his second serve today.

[Kyle_Johansen]

The worst thing to do against Rafa is try to outhit him. He will return everything. The play is to outmaneuver him, and that usually works best by going to his forehand and then backhand. Rafa knows if you try and outhit him and you aren't on fire (Soderling, Rosol, etc), you will eventually miss or he will turn defense into attack. Whenever anyone has success vs Rafa, it's because they work him over and remain patient.

[Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Kyle_Johansen

The worst thing to do against Rafa is try to outhit him. He will return everything. The play is to outmaneuver him, and that usually works best by going to his forehand and then backhand. Rafa knows if you try and outhit him and you aren't on fire (Soderling, Rosol, etc), you will eventually miss or he will turn defense into attack. Whenever anyone has success vs Rafa, it's because they work him over and remain patient.

Which one handers cannot do against Rafa unfortunately. . Rafa will hit constantly to the backhand and until he breaks it down.

Another problem for one handers is the return of Rafa's serve. Rafa serves 99% to the backhand against them and gets a poor return.

Nadal is the worst matchup for one handers.