2019 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell...ATP 500...Barcelona, Spain

[nytennisaddict]

Kei routines FAA 1st on court today. Nadal, who is clearly struggling by his clay standard, plays Ferrer today. Ferrer has been playing well. Could be very interesting. Fabio withdrew this tournament. May be thinking he can make a full on run at FO.

i am a kei fan, but was rooting for the underdog, faa, but kei was playing really well.

despite being a nadal fan, i would find it amazing if ferrer can muster up one last tourney win before he retires this summer.. always loved the little engine that could.

seems like a smart play for fabio to rest. still a hand full of 250 clay tourneys (not to mentions madrid/rome) for him to get practice on before FO

[stroke]

Yes, Obviously, the Italian Open is big for Fabio. That is a great tournament.

[gzhpcu]

Plus Fabio in the Foro Italico has a stadium full of Italian fans supporting him...

[stroke]

Nadal has his hands full today. Struff has a lot of weapons, hits a great ball off both sides and a big serve. Nadal is looking a bit sluggish to me, particularly running wide to his forehand. We all know Fabio pretty much hit him off the court. Struff has those tools. It is certainly the most compelling match in the quarters.

[don_budge]

Nadal has his hands full today. Struff has a lot of weapons, hits a great ball off both sides and a big serve. Nadal is looking a bit sluggish to me, particularly running wide to his forehand. We all know Fabio pretty much hit him off the court. Struff has those tools. It is certainly the most compelling match in the quarters.

Yeah...I watched Struff pound Stefanos Tsitsipas into submission in the third set yesterday. Tsitsipas looked like he wanted to make a game of the third set but Struff sort of kicked in the afterburners and that was that. My first thought was how was this guy going to do against Nadal. What are the bookies saying? What are the odds? If they are like 20-1 put a C-note on the match for me. Fognini beat Señor Skunk by tactically taking control of the match from both wings...Struff looks capable of doing the same. They were saying he has been playing good ball of late. I think you made a comment about him during the last tourney. If he gets the idea in his head that he not only wants to beat Nadal but also that he can...look out.

Daniil Medvedev gradually asserting himself at the top of the heap in the Next Generation generation. But one by one these guys make a move then fall back. Dominic Thiem asking himself the question this afternoon as well. How bad do they want it? It almost looks to me as if Nadal's interest might be waning just a bit. With his style of game "interest" is paramount for him. The slightest fall of in form will make it doubly tough for him. Being the ultimate grinder.

[stroke]

Struff played a very good first set, but at the end of the set, Nadal suddenly looked like his old self, movement and forehand wise, and took it. Second set we will see if Struff can stay with him.

[glacierguy]

Thiem vs Pella - 1st set was fantastic. Power, touch, grit and determination. Loved it.

[stroke]

Thiem vs Pella - 1st set was fantastic. Power, touch, grit and determination. Loved it.

Sounds like contending clay court tennis

[stroke]

What a great quality match between Medvedev and Kei. Medvedev 6-4 in 3rd in a match that truly seemed that could have gone either way. Medvedev certainly seems to be on the short list of non Nadals for the FO title.

[stroke]

Thiem certainly looks like the clay heir apparent in winning 1st set vs Rafa 6-4.

[gzhpcu]

Looks like the changing of the guard... Djokovic, Nadal suddenly no longer invincible. No clear heir apparent, but lots of good players.

[don_budge]

Thiem certainly looks like the clay heir apparent in winning 1st set vs Rafa 6-4.

Looks like the changing of the guard... Djokovic, Nadal suddenly no longer invincible. No clear heir apparent, but lots of good players.

Well there is nothing new under the sun. We are born and then we die. Yesterdays invincible are todays cat food. Dominic Thiem showed Rafael "The Skunk" Nadal who's boss with a straight set pounding in the Barcelona sun. It could be that Nadal doesn't have the match play under his belt yet after a rather lengthy layoff but on the other hand he is not getting any younger.

Roger Federer was able to stave off the inevitable a few years back with a change of equipment and it essentially bought him some time. If ever anyone needed any proof that size does matter this is the case. But Roger has left his most recent mark by concluding things ASAP most on the quicker surfaces. On any reasonably quick surface he is going to dominate as he alone has the game STYLE to conclude things quickly from anywhere on the court. The serve and tactics certainly help his cause.

But Fafa is a different animal with a different sort of problem. On clay things are not to be concluded so easily and the key is to be the last man standing. But yesterday and the other day we saw two players now that on given days had the stamina and the aggressiveness to keep the Spaniard out there longer than he could remain effective and in his comfy zone. Interesting how the two different games of Fabio Fognini and Dominic Their proved to be "Nadal Proof" in such a short span of time. Both players have the right amount of quickness to stay in the point for that one more shot and both have the ability to conclude it on either side...forehand or backhand. Sounds a bit like the Novak Djokovic/Roger Federer recipe to slay the dragon. The guys are catching on and developing at the same time. Thiem looks to be just a bit stronger in every facet of his game. The serve has been kicked up a notch. The forehand has more spin and more velocity when he wants to end it. The backhand is rather startling and at the same time he showed a better and more effective slice when he elected to use it. He threw in some nice touch drop shots and a couple of volleys. In short he is a superior player than he was a year or two ago when he had the "deer in the headlights" look at times. He may be a challenger for the crown at Roland Garros. But let's not forget this is a completely different venue. Three out of five is no walk in the park.

Daniil Medvedev quietly and unassumingly took his deal up another notch with an impressive win over cagey Kei Nishikori. I thought Nishikori might just be the sort of player who may have enough in the bag to detail "Mr. Pencil". But Medvedev has taken a nice steady pattern over the past two years to get to where he is at. There might be a chink in his armour yet to be discovered but instead of the meteoric rise of for instance Alexander Zverev this fellow has been fighting it out in the trenches and gradually risen to his present level.

The final today has a new look to it and legitimately so. It also has the dubious distinction of being an example of the classic existential question in tennis...one handed or two?

[don_budge]

Interestingly enough Dominic Thiem won the only match between the two finalists at Barcelona. A three set win in St. Petersburg, Russian. Maybe just a tad of incentive for Medvedev. But this is a huge moment in the career of Daniil Medvedev. A couple of weeks ago he took down Novak Djokovic on a big stage. This is just a notch above that occasion as he looks to avenge the sole loss against Thiem. The clay is a different proposition than the indoor surface they faced off on before. One might think that Thiem is the more accomplished clay court player at this point in their careers. Medvedev's game is a bit flatter on both wings with Thiem able to create a larger margin for error on both the forehand and the backhand. That slightly "quirky" forehand and the flat backhand of Medvedev might be tiny little liabilities that Dominic can exploit.

Huge moment for Thiem as well. He needs to capitalize on his big win over Nadal and not get caught up in yesterdays press. This is where the "Big Four" for years have dominated the rest of the tour. But there seem to be a couple of new faces that are starting to appear on a more consistent basis week in and week out. Consistency being one of the most important of all hallmarks of great tennis players.

One might make a case for the consistency of Rafael Nadal over the years on clay as a exemplary example. Stellar consistency. He showed up to play. Even yesterday. But it looks to me as if the grind is becoming too much of a grind.

[don_budge]

But I wouldn't count Señor Nadal out of being a contender for the French Open one more time. But now he must straddle the razor's edge and get enough match play and at the same time stay injury free. This is going to be a big ask.

[stroke]

Thiem is the favorite at -300. Medvedev is +260. Seems a bit strong to me. Medvedev is a real fighter out there just like Thiem. And I agree about not counting Nadal out. He will still be the oddsmakers favorite going into the FO. To me, these last 2 losses on clay for Nadal looked different. Fabio was just red hot, raining down roped winners all over the place. Thiem though just seemed to play his game and seemed to be not be red lining his game. He just simply beat Nadal at his game. It was impressive, and how could one not like Thiem. Seems like a great guy.