Masters Series Monte-Carlo : 4/21 - 4/27 ; Monte-Carlo, Monaco

[BGT]

And big props to Sammy taking out Moya. That's a big win for him, and not just on clay.

What you mean is, big shocker for Moya, losing on his favourite surface to possibly the most incompetent clay-courter in the top-100: he's an ace merchant who makes Karlovic look mobile.

That's mean. Looking at the stats, Sam only hit 4 aces and had just 49% 1st serves in, so obviously, he was less reliant on his serve than expected. Did anyone see this match?

Roughly translated: Moya lost to an ace merchant who was unable to produce the aces or even a decent 1st serve %  It's like putting Guillermo Coria's serve onto the rest of John Isner's game, then losing to it 

You've lost me.

[kickserve]

And big props to Sammy taking out Moya. That's a big win for him, and not just on clay.

What you mean is, big shocker for Moya, losing on his favourite surface to possibly the most incompetent clay-courter in the top-100: he's an ace merchant who makes Karlovic look mobile.

That's mean. Looking at the stats, Sam only hit 4 aces and had just 49% 1st serves in, so obviously, he was less reliant on his serve than expected. Did anyone see this match?

Roughly translated: Moya lost to an ace merchant who was unable to produce the aces or even a decent 1st serve %  It's like putting Guillermo Coria's serve onto the rest of John Isner's game, then losing to it 

You've lost me.

Querrey is all serve and very little else. Without his serve functioning, he beat Moya on supposedly Carlos' best surface, thus his 'very little' was still better than Carlos' clay game. Time to retire, Moya 

[tennisfan78]

where is herc. Clay is his thing, and he hasnt said anything about the results so far.

[tennisfan78]

Here is an interview with Rafa at Montecarlo   

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oXt2QLoa_ss&feature=user

[kittens25]

Querrey is all serve and very little else. Without his serve functioning, he beat Moya on supposedly Carlos' best surface, thus his 'very little' was still better than Carlos' clay game. Time to retire, Moya 

What a mean and nasty thing to say about an extremely talented young player.        Shame on you.   

[Tennis4you]

where is herc. Clay is his thing, and he hasnt said anything about the results so far.

Not sure, he has been a little less active these last few days...

[hercules]

where is herc. Clay is his thing, and he hasnt said anything about the results so far.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaz up tennis fan? i am keeping an eye on the action. saw Kuerten play today. i dont know why he is putting himself through this.

no surprises so far. Verdasco going out in the first round is a bit of a surprise.

clay monster got in some doubles action today. he has a little bit of a problem on his hands. he has to safely navigate through Ferru and Davydenko. Ferru could extend him and keep him out there for over 3 hours which is not good.

there is nothing wrong with Davydenko. he just chokes when he sees Fed across the net. once he realized that Fed was all business, he ran like a coward that he is. he said that he didnt want to "lose 6-2"? can you believe that. he actually said that he could have finished the match.

i dont buy all this fanboy crap. nothing is granted for the Clay Monster here. he will have to earn it. i think a better picture emerges if he can bag this title. that should clear the way a little as well as send a strong message to the rest.

not having won a title in 10 months has to affect him to some extent. lets see how he handles it all. also, all the pressure on the planet is on him now. he has to win every single match and every single clay event he enters. the only exception is Hamburg but even there he has to make the finals.

this is a much tougher task for him this year than in the past. he is not a machine and we cant expect him to keep doing this year after. it just too much for one person. he has allowed his fitness to decline over the course of last 12 months and it could have some consequences during the clay circuit. and then there is that mental burden of knowing that you win everything.

this is why i will be happy if he can just put away the Rome and Roland Garros titles. anything else is extra.

[dmastous]

And big props to Sammy taking out Moya. That's a big win for him, and not just on clay.

What you mean is, big shocker for Moya, losing on his favourite surface to possibly the most incompetent clay-courter in the top-100: he's an ace merchant who makes Karlovic look mobile.

That's mean. Looking at the stats, Sam only hit 4 aces and had just 49% 1st serves in, so obviously, he was less reliant on his serve than expected. Did anyone see this match?

Roughly translated: Moya lost to an ace merchant who was unable to produce the aces or even a decent 1st serve %  It's like putting Guillermo Coria's serve onto the rest of John Isner's game, then losing to it 

You've lost me.

Querrey is all serve and very little else. Without his serve functioning, he beat Moya on supposedly Carlos' best surface, thus his 'very little' was still better than Carlos' clay game. Time to retire, Moya 

I think Querrey has a bit more talent off the ground than you give him credit for. He's only 6' 5".

[Tennis4you]

where is herc. Clay is his thing, and he hasnt said anything about the results so far.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaz up tennis fan? i am keeping an eye on the action. saw Kuerten play today. i dont know why he is putting himself through this.

no surprises so far. Verdasco going out in the first round is a bit of a surprise.

clay monster got in some doubles action today. he has a little bit of a problem on his hands. he has to safely navigate through Ferru and Davydenko. Ferru could extend him and keep him out there for over 3 hours which is not good.

there is nothing wrong with Davydenko. he just chokes when he sees Fed across the net. once he realized that Fed was all business, he ran like a coward that he is. he said that he didnt want to "lose 6-2"? can you believe that. he actually said that he could have finished the match.

i dont buy all this fanboy crap. nothing is granted for the Clay Monster here. he will have to earn it. i think a better picture emerges if he can bag this title. that should clear the way a little as well as send a strong message to the rest.

not having won a title in 10 months has to affect him to some extent. lets see how he handles it all. also, all the pressure on the planet is on him now. he has to win every single match and every single clay event he enters. the only exception is Hamburg but even there he has to make the finals.

this is a much tougher task for him this year than in the past. he is not a machine and we cant expect him to keep doing this year after. it just too much for one person. he has allowed his fitness to decline over the course of last 12 months and it could have some consequences during the clay circuit. and then there is that mental burden of knowing that you win everything.

this is why i will be happy if he can just put away the Rome and Roland Garros titles. anything else is extra.

Did your boy win his doubles match today?  I find it odd that he was complaining about the clay court schedule but he decided to throw down some dubs too.  Hopefully that doesn't bite him in the long run.

As far as Kuerten...  I thought he might sneak out a first round win for some reason, clearly I was delusional...

[tennisfan78]

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaz up tennis fan? i am keeping an eye on the action. saw Kuerten play today. i dont know why he is putting himself through this.

no surprises so far. Verdasco going out in the first round is a bit of a surprise.

clay monster got in some doubles action today. he has a little bit of a problem on his hands. he has to safely navigate through Ferru and Davydenko. Ferru could extend him and keep him out there for over 3 hours which is not good.

there is nothing wrong with Davydenko. he just chokes when he sees Fed across the net. once he realized that Fed was all business, he ran like a coward that he is. he said that he didnt want to "lose 6-2"? can you believe that. he actually said that he could have finished the match.

i dont buy all this fanboy crap. nothing is granted for the Clay Monster here. he will have to earn it. i think a better picture emerges if he can bag this title. that should clear the way a little as well as send a strong message to the rest.

not having won a title in 10 months has to affect him to some extent. lets see how he handles it all. also, all the pressure on the planet is on him now. he has to win every single match and every single clay event he enters. the only exception is Hamburg but even there he has to make the finals.

this is a much tougher task for him this year than in the past. he is not a machine and we cant expect him to keep doing this year after. it just too much for one person. he has allowed his fitness to decline over the course of last 12 months and it could have some consequences during the clay circuit. and then there is that mental burden of knowing that you win everything.

this is why i will be happy if he can just put away the Rome and Roland Garros titles. anything else is extra.

Hey herc. Yeah, you are right that we are just expecting Rafa to perform like a machine out there. He will definitely have a lot of pressure, but  he had proved that he does well under pressure. One thing is for sure, if his game is on, he is unstoppable.

[hercules]

where is herc. Clay is his thing, and he hasnt said anything about the results so far.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaz up tennis fan? i am keeping an eye on the action. saw Kuerten play today. i dont know why he is putting himself through this.

no surprises so far. Verdasco going out in the first round is a bit of a surprise.

clay monster got in some doubles action today. he has a little bit of a problem on his hands. he has to safely navigate through Ferru and Davydenko. Ferru could extend him and keep him out there for over 3 hours which is not good.

there is nothing wrong with Davydenko. he just chokes when he sees Fed across the net. once he realized that Fed was all business, he ran like a coward that he is. he said that he didnt want to "lose 6-2"? can you believe that. he actually said that he could have finished the match.

i dont buy all this fanboy crap. nothing is granted for the Clay Monster here. he will have to earn it. i think a better picture emerges if he can bag this title. that should clear the way a little as well as send a strong message to the rest.

not having won a title in 10 months has to affect him to some extent. lets see how he handles it all. also, all the pressure on the planet is on him now. he has to win every single match and every single clay event he enters. the only exception is Hamburg but even there he has to make the finals.

this is a much tougher task for him this year than in the past. he is not a machine and we cant expect him to keep doing this year after. it just too much for one person. he has allowed his fitness to decline over the course of last 12 months and it could have some consequences during the clay circuit. and then there is that mental burden of knowing that you win everything.

this is why i will be happy if he can just put away the Rome and Roland Garros titles. anything else is extra.

Did your boy win his doubles match today?  I find it odd that he was complaining about the clay court schedule but he decided to throw down some dubs too.  Hopefully that doesn't bite him in the long run.

As far as Kuerten...  I thought he might sneak out a first round win for some reason, clearly I was delusional...

well that davis cup commitment kept him off clay. that said, he is a creature of habit. he plays these doubles to get quickly get acclimated to the conditions.

he played doubles last year in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Rome so i expect that he will stick with that formula.

Borg didnt waste his time with doubles and spent the extra time practicing and it worked for him.

[Tennis4you]

Interesting.  It cannot hurt his net game too.  Although I thought he volleyed very well at the Fo and the Big W last year.  Especially the touch volleys!  I thought maybe for a moment that he had been taking lessons from OSU.

[tennisfan78]

well, playing doubles doesn't make any sense to me. He already has so much tennis to play in the next few weeks, why to waste energy with doubles??? 

[hercules]

well, playing doubles doesn't make any sense to me. He already has so much tennis to play in the next few weeks, why to waste energy with doubles??? 

affirmative. i would just take in extra practice sessions. i can understand the dynamics of all this for hard courts where you really do need to get used to the court conditions fast but not clay. if you have not played on clay all year then extra practice sessions is the way to go. that is the formula used by players like Borg, Vilas, Muster, and Lendl.

[Tennis4you]

i guess doubles is far less physical which helps some...

[Alex]

I don't really like the fact that Djokovic is playing doubles either. We all know how physically demanding clay is.

[kittens25]

I don't really like the fact that Djokovic is playing doubles either. We all know how physically demanding clay is.

Yeah I dont think he should play doubles during the clay court season either.  His stamina may be improving but it still isnt his forte, and clay requires much more if then any other surface, and the clay court season is currently very condensed.   So he will need all his energy.   On top of that he probably would be coming to net less on clay then any other surface, so the whole practice of the all court game and dimensions used in doubles are least likely to come into play in his singles on clay anyway.   He really doesnt need the practice or tuning on the aspects of his game for a clay court, that you tune with doubles.

[pawan89]

And big props to Sammy taking out Moya. That's a big win for him, and not just on clay.

What you mean is, big shocker for Moya, losing on his favourite surface to possibly the most incompetent clay-courter in the top-100: he's an ace merchant who makes Karlovic look mobile.

That's mean. Looking at the stats, Sam only hit 4 aces and had just 49% 1st serves in, so obviously, he was less reliant on his serve than expected. Did anyone see this match?

Roughly translated: Moya lost to an ace merchant who was unable to produce the aces or even a decent 1st serve %  It's like putting Guillermo Coria's serve onto the rest of John Isner's game, then losing to it 

You've lost me.

Querrey is all serve and very little else. Without his serve functioning, he beat Moya on supposedly Carlos' best surface, thus his 'very little' was still better than Carlos' clay game. Time to retire, Moya 

If you watched him beat Tursunov (not that that's an amazing feat or anything) at the AO and in general any of his matches in AO this year, I don't think you'd have said that. I mean beating Moya on clay is still an impressive feat but Querrey has been working on his ground game and that was the thing I was most impressed with when I saw him. And he's 6'6, that's only an inch or two taller than Safin. Karlovic and Isner on the other hand are like half a foot taller than Safin. And yeah his movement isn't amazing but he plays a decent enoguh baseline game and has enough height to counter high topspins to pull off a victory like this every now and then.

[hercules]

I don't really like the fact that Djokovic is playing doubles either. We all know how physically demanding clay is.

Yeah I dont think he should play doubles during the clay court season either.  His stamina may be improving but it still isnt his forte, and clay requires much more if then any other surface, and the clay court season is currently very condensed.   So he will need all his energy.   On top of that he probably would be coming to net less on clay then any other surface, so the whole practice of the all court game and dimensions used in doubles are least likely to come into play in his singles on clay anyway.   He really doesnt need the practice or tuning on the aspects of his game for a clay court, that you tune with doubles.

affirmative.

[kickserve]

And big props to Sammy taking out Moya. That's a big win for him, and not just on clay.

What you mean is, big shocker for Moya, losing on his favourite surface to possibly the most incompetent clay-courter in the top-100: he's an ace merchant who makes Karlovic look mobile.

That's mean. Looking at the stats, Sam only hit 4 aces and had just 49% 1st serves in, so obviously, he was less reliant on his serve than expected. Did anyone see this match?

Roughly translated: Moya lost to an ace merchant who was unable to produce the aces or even a decent 1st serve %  It's like putting Guillermo Coria's serve onto the rest of John Isner's game, then losing to it 

You've lost me.

Querrey is all serve and very little else. Without his serve functioning, he beat Moya on supposedly Carlos' best surface, thus his 'very little' was still better than Carlos' clay game. Time to retire, Moya 

I think Querrey has a bit more talent off the ground than you give him credit for. He's only 6' 5".

OK, I maye be exaggerating some, but can you think of a top-100 player whose game is worse suited to clay?

*Only you on here could say 'only 6'5" ': that makes him extremely lanky from my angle.