[ys]

That's what was my feeling before these semis and now it is even stronger.
Rock, Paper, Scissors being Djokovic, Nadal, Federer on this surface.
For each of the three one is a bad match up, where opponent's strength has no match, and your strength is mostly neutralized. And one is a good match up. Where it is the opposite.
Djokovic loves high ball, and dislikes someone who has a better forehand and who has the skills to match pace with pace.
Nadal likes to play those who can't consistently hold his forehand assault. And dislikes those who can, as that takes out his single most important weapon.
Federer likes pace, likes opponents who depends on receiving high ball, as no one can bring the ball low down as well as him. And dislikes to play those who can kick it high to his backhand.
Rock, Paper, Scissors.. This game goes to Nadal, it seems .

[tests]

Originally Posted by ys

That's what was my feeling before these semis and now it is even stronger.
Rock, Paper, Scissors being Djokovic, Nadal, Federer on this surface.
For each of the three one is a bad match up, where opponent's strength has no match, and your strength is mostly neutralized. And one is a good match up. Where it is the opposite.
Djokovic loves high ball, and dislikes someone who has a better forehand and who has the skills to match pace with pace.
Nadal likes to play those who can't consistently hold his forehand assault. And dislikes those who can, as that takes out his single most important weapon.
Federer likes pace, likes opponents who depends on receiving high ball, as no one can bring the ball low down as well as him. And dislikes to play those who can kick it high to his backhand.
Rock, Paper, Scissors.. This game goes to Nadal, it seems .

i actually disagree.

I think novak is capable (this prime novak) of beating fed and nadal on clay... and nadal is capable of beating fed and novak (probably 50-50) on clay.. but fed is not capable of beating nadal on clay (he used to be, but not anymore).

nadal does indeed win though

[Fed=ATPTourkilla]

Nole's running backhand is just deadly against Rafa's cross-court forehand. He seems to get there quick enough to anchor his foot and slam it back deep cross-court, even when the point looks lost. Then he can unload from the forehand. Roger just can't do that with his backhand. But he can hit nasty skidding slices cross-court which Novak can't do anything about. But those slices are a complete failure against Rafa, who has enough topspin on his forehand to get the ball up and down with pace even when he's practically scraping it off the court.

[Topspin Forehand]

Djokovic can't get the ball high up on Fed's backhand. That is not his style. Federer is capable of great play when shots are in his wheelhouse. Nadal might struggle to get the ball up high if the conditions are heavy. We'll find out.

[ballbasher101]

Federer has been running around his backhand to hit forehands a lot during this French open. He can do that against a lot of players but not against Nadal sadly. I would have liked for Nole to win The French and for Federer to win Wimbledon and the US open but that is not going to happen now. Nadal will win on sunday and then take Wimbledon due to the massive confidence boost.

[tests]

Originally Posted by ballbasher101

Federer has been running around his backhand to hit forehands a lot during this French open. He can do that against a lot of players but not against Nadal sadly. I would have liked for Nole to win The French and for Federer to win Wimbledon and the US open but that is not going to happen now. Nadal will win on sunday and then take Wimbledon due to the massive confidence boost.

i guarantee you that once nadal is asked about fed, he will say "he's the favorite, no?"

Than will ass-**** fed in the final... ass-**** him again maybe at wimbledon... and than the USO it will be probably djokers or potros time

[ballbasher101]

Originally Posted by tests

i guarantee you that once nadal is asked about fed, he will say "he's the favorite, no?"

Than will ass-**** fed in the final... ass-**** him again maybe at wimbledon... and than the USO it will be probably djokers or potros time

I can't wait for the interviews, people know Nadal's mind games so most don't take notice I think. The true winner of the Djokovic-Federer match was Nadal and boy he must have been relieved to see the Djoker go out. One thing is guaranteed Nadal will serve 99% to Federer's backhand and Federer will dump about 50% of his returns into the net or short for Nadal to hammer away at the backhand. Federer might as well have tanked the match against the Djoker because now Nadal has a free lunch on sunday. Whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch has never seen Federer-Nadal final at Roland Garros.

[sexybeast]

Federer's defense destroys Djokovic's offense with variation, slices, changing tempo.

Nadal destroys Federer's backhand defense and prohibits the use of slices with his heavy topspin.

Djokovic's offense destroys Nadal's defense involving heavy topspin forehands and backhands high up to Djokovic's hitting zone.

Sounds right, Rock , Paper , Old scissors.

Old scissors can still cut paper through only to be destroyed by a rock. Rock avoids paper, fun story in this Roland Garros. Still hoping for a miracle where Old schissors cuts through rock....

[dodo]

come on, scissors!

[Paylu2007]

Originally Posted by dodo

come on, scissors!

This. I'm already tired of the fluke nadal with the draws.

[coonster14]

Originally Posted by sexybeast

Federer's defense destroys Djokovic's offense with variation, slices, changing tempo.

Nadal destroys Federer's backhand defense and prohibits the use of slices with his heavy topspin.

Djokovic's offense destroys Nadal's defense involving heavy topspin forehands and backhands high up to Djokovic's hitting zone.

Sounds right, Rock , Paper , Old scissors.

Old scissors can still cut paper through only to be destroyed by a rock. Rock avoids paper, fun story in this Roland Garros. Still hoping for a miracle where Old schissors cuts through rock....

^ QFT

[MaxPower]

I've heard a rumor from Paul Annacone that Federer's scissor is upgraded with a diamond saw blade

[barbadosan]

ballbasher and tests: I'm starting to believe that you two think it's more important to try to fulfill your own fantasies, than for Fed to achieve as much as he can, even at 29. I can't imagine asking someone I support to play below his capacity, just so another result might, and I say, might, happen. Nothing was written in stone that Nadal wouldn't defeat Djokovic, and nothing is written in stone about the Wimbledon result, but yet you would prefer Fed to have lost a match he won, on the basis of your, at the moment, idle speculation. Pshaw!

[ys]

Played out as we thought.
I don't think it is applicable to grass - Novak is too dependent on higher bounce, his game is much more difficult to execute on grass. We can only hope that Nadal and Fed are not drawn to play in semis at W.
And this triangle relationship is less applicable on hardcourts, as I do expect Del Potro and Murray to be much more of a factor on that surface so that it won't be nearly as much reduced to three players as it was on clay.

[Fed=ATPTourkilla]

Forget rock, paper scissors. It's more the fact that Fed is a complete pussy against Nadal.