[BlurredOut]

great game

glad i put $100 on the -200 Nadal ML in-game to compensate for my Federer 19.5 games, which he was a .5 game short of :/

[YOUSENKO]

Djoker can break nadal every single game with that stinging backhand that won't touch the net.

[face]

fed played like ass, wished we could have seen fed nail those shots he was trying to make. i did not think it was all that epic really. nadal got off easy with fed making errors.

[PAYTON20]

The rallies don't do it for me. I like the crazy shot making when you think they're out of the point and the battles back from love 40. The match tonight is the epitome of why I have absolutely obsessed about this sport for 30+ years. Anyone who say this sport is for pussies, etc needs to be locked up.

Sorry to say there are many in the US who have no clue and automatically label it as a pussy sport. Hmm wonder why there are no more good up-and-coming American players these days. Sad to say

[shari91]

fed played like ass, wished we could have seen fed nail those shots he was trying to make. i did not think it was all that epic really. nadal got off easy with fed making errors.

I don't think he played like ass at all. He's always been error prone... but he came up against the one guy he just cannot dismantle in Slams. He served well a lot of the time and made some great shots and I was glued to the TV the whole time because I didn't want to miss one point of the match. That to me - between two of the greatest who will ever play - constitutes an epic

[MagicDiceFlow]

Whoever says tennis is a pussy sport has obviously never stepped foot on a court and played a few grueling hours in the hot sun. In my opinion, much more grueling than football or basketball where you can take yourself out the game for a break or get subbed.

[face]

you kidding me? he hit the net 1000 times

[shari91]

you kidding me? he hit the net 1000 times

How many matches have you watched of his? He always does when he plays guys who are up there. There's a reason his nickname is Federror. This is nothing new for him... people just tend to forget about all of those errors if he wins the match but they focus on them if he loses. Makes sense I guess but this isn't out of the blue for this guy.

[aceking]

Nadal wins 3-1 .

thanks Fed for the easy $$$ !

[habitualwinning]

Sorry to say there are many in the US who have no clue and automatically label it as a pussy sport. Hmm wonder why there are no more good up-and-coming American players these days. Sad to say

I agree with what you say. Something else is that in the U.S. great athletes choose other sports like football(american style), baseball, basketball over tennis it seems because of the hype and potential money involved in going pro. They view tennis and soccer as more of a recreational activity despite the fact that for most of the world those are the two main sports. That's the way i see it anyway. If i was given the choice to go pro in any sport i would pick tennis but that's only because i really like the game. I'm sure a poll of many Americans would find tennis well below the other major sports here MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL.

[Yezzir]

How many matches have you watched of his? He always does when he plays guys who are up there. There's a reason his nickname is Federror. This is nothing new for him... people just tend to forget about all of those errors if he wins the match but they focus on them if he loses. Makes sense I guess but this isn't out of the blue for this guy.

Federror

Never heard that.

[face]

How many matches have you watched of his? He always does when he plays guys who are up there. There's a reason his nickname is Federror. This is nothing new for him... people just tend to forget about all of those errors if he wins the match but they focus on them if he loses. Makes sense I guess but this isn't out of the blue for this guy.

fed is aggressive and precise when he is on. that's what i was hoping for. i think nadal gets in his head, and i think nadal likes playing federer, because he can intimidate him into missing his shots. i don't see how you can say federer played well though if you look at the unforced error number.

[face]

nadal played great though. good job nadal backers. i thought he was on the decline.

[shari91]

fed is aggressive and precise when he is on. that's what i was hoping for. i think nadal gets in his head, and i think nadal likes playing federer, because he can intimidate him into missing his shots. i don't see how you can say federer played well though if you look at the unforced error number.

What I'm saying is that that's just Federer. It always has been even when he was smoking everyone. It's just that no one could capitalise on it back then. The guy shanks more balls and hits them in the net more than probably any #1 that's ever played but he's managed to still win so that part gets forgotten, until he loses (especially if you have money on him). To me, he played a great match. And if I hadn't have watched the Berdych/Nadal match again yesterday and looked at numbers, I would've backed him. But after seeing Nadal in that one, and then you think of the H2H of these two in Slams, I just couldn't trust Fed with my cash again. That's just a personal thing though. No one was silly for backing Fed... he did the best he could do but it's bloody tough to suddenly beat someone who has always owned you in these spots. Just like Nadal's going to face the same problem if Djoko gets through.

[face]

good post. nadal owns fed. it's a FACT. not really good idea to bet against nadal. i'm not even gonna bet on djokovic against nadal. nadal is good, you can never be too surprised if you lose against nadal. it's getting to where i hardly want to back anyone though, lol. no way i'm putting money on:
raonic, monfils, wawrinka, roddick, or even tsonga.

i'm gonna bet against raonic in fact, i think he is not very good.

[Sport_Fish]

good post. nadal owns fed. it's a FACT. not really good idea to bet against nadal. i'm not even gonna bet on djokovic against nadal. nadal is good, you can never be too surprised if you lose against nadal. it's getting to where i hardly want to back anyone though, lol. no way i'm putting money on:
raonic, monfils, wawrinka, roddick, or even tsonga.

i'm gonna bet against raonic in fact, i think he is not very good.

Yeah, its gonna be so hard to bet Djoko against Nadal. Eventhough he's likely gonna win, but u just nvr know when Nadal will come alive.

Having said that, can't wait to see the over/under on this game. Anything better than 44 should be a lock on over

[shari91]

good post. nadal owns fed. it's a FACT. not really good idea to bet against nadal. i'm not even gonna bet on djokovic against nadal. nadal is good, you can never be too surprised if you lose against nadal. it's getting to where i hardly want to back anyone though, lol. no way i'm putting money on:
raonic, monfils, wawrinka, roddick, or even tsonga.

i'm gonna bet against raonic in fact, i think he is not very good.

I won't pick a side in that match unless Murray gets through. If anything, I'll just lay the over 3.5 again and say a prayer. I really want Nadal to win that one but it's matches like this that kill bettors. Too many emotional bets either way and not enough discipline to bet on actual stats and what % the odds are implying - myself included.

The positive about what you're suggesting though is that it helps you weed out matches. There are some players I won't even contemplate betting on regardless of what supposed scrub they're playing. And most of them are French (no offence to any SBR Frenchies). Raonic was a real earner for a few of us in the Tennis Forum last year because he was always a dog and was being severely under rated purely because of his lack of experience. Beefcake and I kept harping on about this guy (partially because I'm a biased Canadian) but mainly because we knew he'd moved to Spain to train for months on clay and that toughens you up and brings you to more equal footing very quickly. Now that he keeps coming out the favourite though, there's no way I can touch him. Net game isn't there yet and he's too slow around the court. When people can return his serve, he's got nothing. Basically a younger Isner at the moment although I do think he's going to improve tremendously. He's just not there yet.

And yeah, the other ones on your list are all unbackable for me except for Tsonga at times. Not often though. Usually I put him in the too hard to even bother with basket and forget about his matches. Just not a lot of consistency there and you at least want to know the people you're risking your cash on are going to try 110% in a match. With him you're not sure until he's bloody won the thing.

[ChalkyDog]

Really awesome match! Had to go to sleep because of work, blah blah blah. Watched some extended highlights, and will probably watch it via DVR when I get home.

Congrats to the Nadal backers!

But seriously, I do not see how he doesn't lose to Djokovic.

Nice write up, Shari!

[Deuce]

I had Roger 3-2 +480. Waddyagonnado?

[H1Cypher]

Mike and Mike on espn in the morning, before I take a nap. I know they don't know shit about tennis(and neither do I), but they seem to think Nadal is not on the level of Federer. A great player- who has nadals number but Fed is arguably the greatest of all time