Topic: Clay Monster's Limitations

[Clay Death]

here is a list of clay monster`s (nadal) limitations:

1. serve
2. return of serve
3. slice--it is useless
4. volley/net game--he needs to be more confident at being at the net to close/end points.

of these limitations listed, he can probably do without 2 and still dominate. first, he does not really need a big serve. if he could return with consistency and be somewhat aggressive with his return game, it will take a lot of pressure off that weak serve of his.

secondly, if you get to go in on your own terms, you dont have to be able to volley like roger or edberg.

he absolutely must develop a more effective slice and he has to find a way to return better. practice makes perfect.

[Alison2006]

here is a list of clay monster`s (nadal) limitations:

1. serve
2. return of serve
3. slice--it is useless
4. volley/net game--he needs to be more confident at being at the net to close/end points.

of these limitations listed, he can probably do wothout 2 and still dominate. first, he doesnt really need a big serve. if he could return with consistency and be somewhat aggressive with his return game, it will take a lot of pressure off that weak serve of his.

secondly, if you get to go in on your own terms, you dont have to be able to volley like roger or edberg.

he absolutely must develop a more effective slice and he has to find a way to return better. practice makes perfect.

Perhaps you should call him Clay/Grass Monster........I dread to think what you call the other ATP Players  

Anyway :

1) Serve.......I have been saying he needs to improve this for a while ( his 2nd serve needs improving Flipping fast)

4) I didn't see the match tonite...but he should come to the net more (at Wimbledon his volleys where quite good (but need improving...as does every other on the ATP tour..IMHO) I think he is Confident at the net, but he needs to do more often to shorten the points)

Just my thoughts  

Welcome BTW to the Forum  

[jeffrx]

Clay Monster played a great match against Safin.  He was steady and returned serve well enough to win. He showed great toughness in the first set tiebreak.  

Safin head a classis meltdown.  After losing the first set he was not the same and started trying to overhit.  I think he was frustrated beacuse Nadal wasable to chase down all of his shots.    

Great win for Nadal on a hard court.

[Clay Death]

thanks for the welcome alison. it is good to be here. i call nadal the clay monster and roger the king of grass.

the sport of tennis has had a long history of nick names. we will look into some of those nick names on another day.

in any case, he (clay monster) didnt play all that well today but won anyway. today would not have been good enough if he had to go against roger or even djokovic.

lets see how it goes it agaisnt mathiu tomorrow. mathiey is at career best #23 and has won something like 34 mathches this year. he is a dangerous player.

[Clay Death]

jffrx i am not going to agree with you. clay monster didnt look sharp. but i will cut him some slack: he has had a knee problem and it is his first match on hard courts since spring.

hey jffrx, what happened to that picture of clay monster bro?

[jeffrx]

Hercules, he bagled Safin in the second set.  I know it was all because Safin went away, but Nadal frustrated him to reach that point.

[Alison2006]

thanks for the welcome alison. it is good to be here. i call nadal the clay monster and roger the king of grass.

the sport of tennis has had a long history of nick names. we will look into some of those nick names on another day.

in any case, he (clay monster) didnt play all that well today but won anyway. today would not have been good enough if he had to go against roger or even djokovic.

lets see how it goes it agaisnt mathiu tomorrow. mathiey is at career best #23 and has won something like 34 mathches this year. he is a dangerous player.

Fair enough hercles....  I am well aware of the nick names......My fave for Rafa is king of Clay......I think it's better than clay monster    

Just my view  

[Clay Death]

i am still not going to agree with you jffrx. at least until you produce that picture of the clay monster.

[jeffrx]

Well Hercules, Allison is certainly entitled to her opinion.  King of Clay is pretty good. [/img]

[prattennis_1]

That first set in my mind (until very end) was terribly played by the clay monster. Many players could've taken that set from him (other than Fed). Ex: Andy Roddick.......or even big serving John Isner. The 2nd set was more of a freebie for him. Safin's got crappy mental strength. He's a psycho. His biggest limitation is serve and ret. of serve because if those two were better he wouldn't have to fight off these points for so long. He can end so many points so much quicker if those two things were better.

[jeffrx]

I turned it on at 5-6 in the first set, so maybe I missed the part where he played badly.  I saw mental toughness in the tiebreak.

[Clay Death]

agreed prattenis 1. he really needs to work on having a little better serve and a bigger return of serve.

that is the reason he struggles so much in his matches. first set took over an hour to finish. he was leading 4-2 and should have been able to close it out in routine fashion.

[prattennis_1]

But after that tiebreak you have to admit he was psycho.

[Dallas]

Hercules, he bagled Safin in the second set.  I know it was all because Safin went away, but Nadal frustrated him to reach that point.

[/b]


It doesn't take anything to frustrate Safin these days!  He had only about 50 UFEs in 2 sets!  Safin is just crazy... (and that's not in a good way).

[Dallas]

Hercules, he bagled Safin in the second set.  I know it was all because Safin went away, but Nadal frustrated him to reach that point.

[/b]


It doesn't take anything to frustrate Safin these days!  He had only about 50 UFEs in 2 sets!  Safin is just crazy... (and that's not in a good way).

Nadal will need to pick up his game too.  He was playing too defensively tonight.

[JadeFox21]

Yeah, Nadal didn't really play well today...he's lucky he was matched with a headcase.  Nadal was hitting his groundstrokes way too short (his main problem on hardcourts) and Safin was hurting him for a while.  But Safin started hitting wild (couldn't get the damn ball in play - especially in the second set) and really gifted Nadal that bagel.  But part of winning is hanging in there when you aren't playing that great...which is what Nadal did.  It frustrated Safin and he fell apart.

[Clay Death]

agreed. you cant hit short on hard courts. top guns will kill you. i feel so sorry for safin. he is a great player who is just not the player he used to be.

back to the clay monster. he will have to play better tomorrow agaisnt mathieu tomorrow.

his serve looked pathetic at best.

[yellowball]

Rafa certainly did not serve well tonight. He may be somewhere as we speak working on that serve... out in the street under lights or something. But, everything can change in just one day, tomorrow is a whole new match. Rafa got his feet wet tonight and I think he'll show up with a better game tomorrow.

He fell back to defensive play some, but he also tried on his serve (when he got it in!) to shorten the point a bit. He's got lots of things rolling around in his head to try because I feel sure he doesn't want to spend a lot of time learning the hard court game. He appeared to be moving very well, no knee problems.

Nicknames... as far as I'm concerned he'll always be the raging bull (Spain's name for him), which is on his shoes. I think that was his first nickname, it works for me. Clay Monster is good and there are couple of people that use that name that I really like a lot, but I want him to be more than Clay Monster... he is a raging bull.

[Clay Death]

hey yellow ball. welcome to tennis4you.com. good to see you here. you will find that people are very pleasant and kind here.

ok it is raging bull for you and clay monster for me. you are too funny. he probably is working on his serve under some street light even as you read this.

he (raging bull) did say in his post match remarks that he needed to improve his serve. safin just went away in the second set. poor guy used to be so good.


it is that magic 27 age. every single player loses a little step, a little speed when he or she hits 27. safin just cant move like he used to be able to.

[tennisfan78]

Hello there hercules, yellowball, prattennis_1, jeffrx. Welcome to tennis4you.

In my opinion Nadal is pretty strong mentally, and always comes up with something special, and finds a way to win a match even though if he is not playing his best tennis.  He makes the game very physical, and it plays to his advantage. His game is improving, but some top players do have the weapons to cause damage against him.  Thats why we see many 4 pr 5 setters in grand slams, tight sets, but Rafa with his never say die attitude some how manages to win.