Topic: Your Expectations for the Great Argentine Slasher

[hercules]

d-pot has impressed the great clay warrior. here is what nadal had to say about d-pot, the great argentine slasher:

Nadal: Del Potro will crack top 4 in 2012
Ticker - Monday, December 5, 2011
 
  
After beating Juan Martin Del Potro in a long four-set match to clinch the Davis Cup for Spain, Rafael Nadal says that the Argentine might be able to reach the top of the game in 2012.

"Del Potro has a very high level as a player," he told reporters of the 2009 U.S. Open champion. "It's all relative. For a long time he was giving incredible shots that nobody else can do. He will be a very good player. It's clear that he's a candidate for No. 1. He will be amongst the first four players in the world next year.  He's a very complete player. He doesn't have any cracks in his game. He's very solid. He will be unstoppable next year if the [wrist] injury allows him."



what are you own expectations for the great argentine slasher. i think he is making significant strides.

i am convinced that clay warrior is right. watch out for d-pot in 2012. i believe he will get back to his winning ways.

well you have the floor now. what is missing from his game? can he do some major damage at slams in 2012?


 

[Tennis4you]

Uh oh, did he just dis Murray and push Murray to #5?

DelPo is still a wild card for me.  I would like to see him fit, injury free and firing on all cylinders.  I cannot imagine a player that would not be troubled by him he is was 100%

[medwatt]

For me the biggest factor in Delpo's game that can make him No 1 is match fitness. I read somewhere ago that Delpo shouldn't have the excuse of poor match fitness when his injury is located in his wrist. Now I would like to make it clear that even before the injury Delpo suffered from poor match fitness. Take for example Toronto final against Murray in 2009 where he was clearly tired and on his last legs. Again the same very season against Murray at WTF. Now beating Fed in 5 sets doesn't point out your match fitness because we all know how fast and quick Fed plays. If he had played Nadal that final he wouldn't have got a chance if the match had gone 5 sets.
Delpo always looks laboured and haggard and the only way he can get to No 1 is by playing quicker and dominate on serve. I can not see him improve his fitness.

[hercules]

it sounds like it scott. murray and nadal are supposed to be close friends.
 
at any rate, d-pot`s confidence grew after his u.s. open slam in 2009. he has serious testicular fortitude as a result of that slam win.
 
the guy is just about impervious to pressure.
 
i look for him to do well at 3 of the 4 slams. not sure about grass.

[swish]

Wonderful thread.

About DelPo's endurance:
He can build his endurance to where it needs to be but there's more to it.

Managing your reserves for 5 sets.
Even Nadal and Federer could find themselves running out of gas with poor management of their energy reserves during a match.
Fed is a master at this, he plays a fine line of controlling how much energy he uses in all sets. At set #5 he can be more free with it's use and try to time it as the final set goes by.

This isn't just in tennis, running/cycling and other long endurance sports use these kind of energy saving techniques.
DelPo doesn't seem to have a good sense of this and with not enough endurance to begin with it becomes a bigger problem.

[hercules]

but he does have all that easy power general swish. thanks to those huge levers.
 
a more dominating serve also saves a lot of energy. i think he is on his way with such a serve.

[pawan89]

Uh oh, did he just dis Murray and push Murray to #5?

DelPo is still a wild card for me.  I would like to see him fit, injury free and firing on all cylinders.  I cannot imagine a player that would not be troubled by him he is was 100%

Who knows. Maybe he's planning to take out Djokovic in the off season by stealing his magic pod. Or he's implying that Federer will be too busy chasing his 17th grandCHILD by next year and not his 17th grandSLAM. Or that he himself is dedicating himself to going undrefeated the whole clay season by beating everyone and going undefeated the rest of the year by not playing anyone and hence dropping out of the top 4.

[swish]

but he does have all that easy power general swish. thanks to those huge levers.
 
a more dominating serve also saves a lot of energy. i think he is on his way with such a serve.

 
I'd like to see him put a lot of emphasis on that serve.
He should be able to really make it a huge weapon, he's tall and add his arm length to that and you have a deadly weapon.
 

[hercules]

but he does have all that easy power general swish. thanks to those huge levers.
 
a more dominating serve also saves a lot of energy. i think he is on his way with such a serve.

 
I'd like to see him put a lot of emphasis on that serve.
He should be able to really make it a huge weapon, he's tall and add his arm length to that and you have a deadly weapon.
 

that is an awesome service motion.

i have to agree. he can make it a weapon. fed and sampras must have won at least a million easy points with their serves alone over the years.

[Alex]

 I expect DP to win one of the  ATP masters tournaments in 2012 (maybe IW or Miami).  It would be good for his confidence. He hasn't won a big tournament for a long time (by big I don't mean Estoril). I also feel that he'll do very well in New York next year.

[hercules]

agreed. i think nadal has a better view of these things than we do. he has to deal with these players first hand,  day in and day out.
 
he says that d-pot is going places in 2012.
 
will he be greater threat on clay or the hard courts in 2012?

[FedFanForever]

Let's not judge DelPo off how he did in a mud match(in Spain) against Nadal. Once we get the Argentinian Slayer on hardcourts it will be a different story.

[hercules]

ditch the crack pipe man.
 
last time i checked, they do play real tennis on clay.

[Emma]

 The type of a player D-Pot is - especially the type of game he plays (strictly a ball basher) - he's more than likely to phase out if he doesn't wrap things up in quick three sets. It's not always who does what to him but what he does to himself. The reason why he was able to go toe to toe with Federer in that 2009 USO final is because, he had an easier and the kind of match he typically needs in the semi-final against Nadal. Had Nadal worked on him in the way he normally does, Federer would have slaughtered him in the final. The only that kept D-Pot going was the sheer will power that fortnight and realizing how close he came to winning. It almost became a life or death situation for him. But in the long run, it cost him two years on the tour. Anything he had faced in that particularly tournament had to do with his physical attribute and the type of game he has - nothing else.

The difference between Federer and D-Pot is huge. Federer plays tennis; D-Pot simply uses his power to overshadow his opponents. These kinds of D-Pots aren’t meant to last long let alone produce great consistent results year in year out. Pick all the bashers from the past and see where they stood in the big picture. You will see most champions are either like Federer or like….nowadays Nadal, Nole etc. and there’s a specific reason behind it.

[hercules]

well he surprised us in 2009 at the u.s. open.
 
who is comparing him to fed, nole, or the clay warrior.
 
all i am saying is that he may be good for a couple of deep runs at slams if grass is not involved.
 
also i think he is top 5 again sooner or later which will be a remarkable achievement for him.
 
 

[swish]

DelPo is playing in Sydney, Australia starting the 8th of January.

I saw some good things at the davis cup so he's rounding into form.

This year he has to get his arse in gear, I'm not playing around with him anymore, he better get the job done.

The endurance has to be there or at least getting better, I'm tired of seeing his arms hanging and him looking at the top of his shoes near the end of matches.

And the serve has to get better, he's tall and he's long, no reason he can't use that to his advantage.

The mental part is there so that'll be a big help.

[swish]

The type of a player D-Pot is - especially the type of game he plays (strictly a ball basher) - he's more than likely to phase out if he doesn't wrap things up in quick three sets. It's not always who does what to him but what he does to himself. The reason why he was able to go toe to toe with Federer in that 2009 USO final is because, he had an easier and the kind of match he typically needs in the semi-final against Nadal. Had Nadal worked on him in the way he normally does, Federer would have slaughtered him in the final. The only that kept D-Pot going was the sheer will power that fortnight and realizing how close he came to winning. It almost became a life or death situation for him. But in the long run, it cost him two years on the tour. Anything he had faced in that particularly tournament had to do with his physical attribute and the type of game he has - nothing else.

The difference between Federer and D-Pot is huge. Federer plays tennis; D-Pot simply uses his power to overshadow his opponents. These kinds of D-Pots aren’t meant to last long let alone produce great consistent results year in year out. Pick all the bashers from the past and see where they stood in the big picture. You will see most champions are either like Federer or like….nowadays Nadal, Nole etc. and there’s a specific reason behind it.

Hitting the ball hard is DelPo's game, no one hits like him and even Nadal said the same thing.
He'll never be a great mover so that separates him from the top 4 immediately, it's all about power for now.
 
DelPo isn't the typical basher anyway, he can play angles with power, all he needs is to fine tune his game on that front.
 
What he did in 2009 he should be able to do now, he's at the age of physical prime.
 
No use comparing him to Nadal or Fed, he has his own game and will do what he can. 
 
 
 

[FedFanForever]

swish - it's true. Nobody hits the ball harder then the Argentinian Slasher. His forehand is a cannon shot and his backhand is no slouch.

[hercules]

i agree with general swish.

[Emma]

Well, Del Potro is a giant so it's no wonder he hits the ball harder. If you don't allow him that, what is he left with? Does he have a plan B or C? Just fine tuning your game won't cut it because it's not going to work all the time or the majority of the time. But it all depends on what you expect from him I suppose. If you take away that Slam of his, he's not left with much. He's overall career so far is not as shining.
 
Del Potro is like your action movie where you get instant results, instant satisfaction. Your money, you think, is well spent. I can see why a lot of the guys dig him. If you give them a classic like Memento, I guess half of the same audience would fall asleep.