Mutua Madrid Open, 2018

[stotty]

The tournament is now underway and Djokovic has a stinker of a first round. Can anyone stop Nadal? The clay court machine. Roger Federer is not in the house and neither is the forum's most esteemed poster. Is there a link? Will they both resurface for SW19? I hope so. The forum's prolific posters are few and when one is absent the others have to paddle that bit harder. My arms are starting to get tired.

Benoit Paire takes on Pouille tomorrow. The shot-making may be interesting if they both play well. Paire never seems to improve despite his huge talent; Pouille, on the other hand, seems to steadily get better every time I see him.

Del Potro may be a slight threat to Nadal...anyone else?

[klacr]

Berdych had horrible showing today with Gasquet. Needs a serious intervention to get back into peak form.
Madrid is an interesting event. A little altitude has given Nadal issues in past but in his current form the summit of Mt. Everest would not faze him. He is the GOAT on clue and there is no comparison. Djokic's match with Nishikori should be an interesting one for sure. Djokovic trying to regain form and Nishikori coming off a nice finalist appearance in Monte Carlo.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

Nadal is prohibitive 4/9 favorite followed(distantly) by Zverev at 15/1, Thiem and Delpo at 16/1, and Novak at 18/1.

[stotty]

Novak wins his tricky opening match. He looked pretty good towards the end of the match I felt.

[klacr]

Novak is gaining speed. Movement looks better. He just looks more at ease out there. Serve looks better as well. Better than the video in the interactive forum, which is odd.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

A good win for Coric today. That boy knows how to grind...a robot if ever there was one. What happened to Chung? I didn't see the match but cannot understand how Chung can get annihilated on clay with a baseline game that good.

Good win for Shapovalov beating the mercurial Benoit Paire. Paire is no pushover when he's in the mood, which he was. Monfils wins to go through to play and lose to Nadal for the umpteenth time.

[stotty]

Just when we thought the ship was steadying, Djokovic comes unstuck again, this time to Kyle Edmund. Back to the drawing board again.

Murray is now looking doubtful for the grass court season as his recovery is still not complete. A final decision is yet to be made but it doesn't look good.

Nadal versus Monfils next. Who's your money on?

[stroke]

I watched the Nadal Monfils match. Monfils did not really go away until the very end. He just had no answers except the occasional perfect drop shot or go for broke forehand. Nadal just brutalized him from the baseline.

[klacr]

I watched the Nadal Monfils match. Monfils did not really go away until the very end. He just had no answers except the occasional perfect drop shot or go for broke forehand. Nadal just brutalized him from the baseline.

This can be a reusable post for future Nadal matches as well. Nadal just a different level than anyone else, and it's not even close. Let's just fast forward to grass season

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

This can be a reusable post for future Nadal matches as well. Nadal just a different level than anyone else, and it's not even close. Let's just fast forward to grass season

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Yep, even getting a set off him is a world-class achievement. And when you consider how good players are off the baseline these days, it's unreal.

Let's see if Thiem can come up with anything...very much doubt he can be consistent enough in attack to make an impression. Zverez is the only one in my view who has a slim chance. He has the backhand and the long levers. If he plays with abandon he might grab a set. But, yes, roll on SW19. Hopefully Roger will be rested and fit and playing at full throttle.

[stotty]

Well Thiem certainly came up with something. I haven't seen the match yet but will catch a replay when I can. Anyone see it?

[bottle]

What exciting highlights!

[klacr]

Thiem gave a Nadal a steads dose of high looping forehands to push him deep and blistering forehand bombs when the ball landed short. Nadal was missing more backhands than usual. But this was more a credit to Thiem than Nadal. At 6-5, deuce in the first set, Thiem served and volleyed. I loved it.

Call me crazy, but I feel Nadal will be just fine for Rome and Roland Garros. No concern in the Nadal camp by any means.

On another note, two one-handed backhands in the semis of a clay court event. Thiem and Shapovalov. Not too shabby.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

And Roger is number 1 again... while on vacation...

[gzhpcu]

In any case, Thiem out Nadaled Nadal. He hit huge looping topspin, more than Nadal, and hit very high bouncing topspin serves, alternating with fast flat groundstrokes. The altitude certainly helped. What he needs now is consistency.