fans of tennis are allowed to be fans on Nadal too
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I thought that was against the NITB and Tenez Rules of Tennis.

Anyway, have enjoyed my half hour of fun here. Off to my real life. Perhaps some on here might like to try it sometime.

C'mon NITB, we can't be accusing people without real evidence. Hawkeye wouldn't say he is a 'big' Federer fan.
For example is possible for someone who is not a Murray fan to get tired if every 2 seconds the same two people keep on posting repetitively 'Murray is the death of tennis.' Why not some more variety?

Tipsarevic is 'second tier', and in fact Raonic beat him a few months back. So How long before Raonic breaks into the top ten?

Anyway I apologise for going of topic.
NITB what's your predictions for tomorrow. Do you think it will be another Nadal Ferrer final?

I'd like to believe it will be a Nadal Raonic one.
And I expect a nice, competitive match for a change.

You think Raonic will beat Ferrer!
Brave choice, but I still think Ferrer will prevail.

"So How long before Raonic breaks into the top ten?"

Providing he stays healthy, it's only a matter of time. He's got a promising game.
I saw him receive Young player of the year award in the O2 (just before the Nole match), so maybe this year, he gets the most improved player of the year one.
he has improved a lot from last year, especially bearing in mind he has been injured.
I was impressed by his forehand today, esp the accuracy from the baseline.

I'd like Raonic to beat Ferrer, he can do it.

Although Ferrer is a good clay courter, I actually prefer to watch him on hard courts, where he has to grind a little bit less.

Yes I agree with NITB in this one, Raonic has got the ability to get into top 10.

I must say, there's nothing more depressing to watch than Nadal Ferrer or Nadal Verdasco tennis for me.
Sorry.

Well that's your opinion, fine by me.
Not mine though

I prefer Nadal Verdasco matches, they are more exciting than Nadal Ferrer matches.

Also Murray has had a lot of luck these last 2 years, with Delpo & Soderling injured and Berdy not upping his game, as Murray would of not seen any SF in Slams if these guys were up and running for last 2y.
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fair point.

Tipsarevic is 'second tier', and in fact Raonic beat him a few months back. So How long before Raonic breaks into the top ten?
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By year end? Bar injuries of course.

Here's a question:
when do you see any of the "young" players winning any bigger touraments, say 1000 to start with?
2014?

Four years ago I felt quite confident that Murray would win at least one slam. Probably expected maybe 1-3 for the whole career. I still give him better than 50/50 odds, but not nearly as sure anymore. Somehow he seems to have plateaued and is stagnating now at a level that - if the stars align - may give him a slam but where I can just as easily see that he may never quite get there.

Also, today's loss just about wraps up Barca I think. Never much doubt that Nadal would win but Murray had at least a glimmer of hope. The remaining guys will be quite lucky to do better than a 4:6 in any given set. Cannot wait for the remainder of the clay court season though. Will Federer continue his good run of form? Where will Novak be? He clearly looked like he was emotionally not there on Sunday but even before then, his 2012 form was not quite up to the 2011 standard. So will be interesting to see where he is at. Then also Delpo...

But I guess we first have to survive through Barcelona. Will try to catch some of the action tomorrow/Sunday as I have not seen any matches thus far.

Nitb: I did not realize Barcelona was an amateur event now.

when do you see any of the "young" players winning any bigger touraments, say 1000 to start with?
2014?
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I'd say in a year time...max.I have said so many times that youngsters really improve expotienally. When physique and confidence work together, they suddenly become the big thing. Look at Raonic's legs compared to Berdych or Murray...yet he won convincingly yesterday. Imagine teh day he really beefs up and because of it his confidence goes sky high.

That's all it takes. Same for the others except that they don't have Rao's natural physique it seems.

This is tough question to answer. Picking someone other than top-4 for winning a masters 1000 is brave. In fact I don't want even to pick Murray winning a masters unless he gets the fortune as he did on some of his masters wins.

For me I can see Dlogo, Raonic reaching some semis or maybe a finals as well of ATP1000, but winning may be a bit too far ahead of them, at least for the next year. The thing is the gap between the top rankers and the lower rakners is so huge, I just don't see anyone playing lights-out tennis discarding the aura that the top rankers have created on the chasing pack and come out winning a masters. If I have to pick anyone outside top-4, I'll still chose seasoned good players like Berdy, Tsonga, Ferrer ahead of Raonic, Harrison, Dlogo. But I'll definitely pick them to cause major trouble to some top rankers, creating more upsets than last and current year.


I agree young players improve greatly, but the gap is too wide to fill in just 1 year. The physical direction of tennis has hindered this to a great extent. Its almost impossible for a young player to stay with some of the top rankers who will just beat them in sheer strength and stamina.

Didn't Delpo win a slam at 21? I see Raonic as having more potential actually.

Let's see how he does today!

Today's Semi-finals:

[3] David Ferrer (ESP)-[11] Milos Raonic (CAN)

I would love to see Raonic hits booming aces and brilliant winners and win this one. He is a very good young likable player with some impressive tennis talent. Ferrer is going to be tough .. very tough test for him. Ferrer moves well on clay and can slog for hours. A lot of to-be winners will be retrieved, so Raonic needs to be calm on those occasions. Raonic's needs to win it in 2, 3rd set with crowd backing Ferrer and the match into a test of stamina, Ferrer is likely to take it in the end.

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)-[9] Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

Even if Verdasco ( the fiasco) is assured by some divine intervention that he will have 100 match points in today's match against Nadal, I'll still not put a penny on him to win this one. He must have already accepted his loss and started preparing for the next tournament. No Spaniard has the guts to beat Nadal, the one who did is too old and too injured to even get to face him. An easy straight sets win, like 6-3 6-1.

Good preview raiders

A bit harsh on Fiasco, i'm sure the lad believes in himself, but i still agree that Nadal should win in straights.

@tenez

Didn't Delpo win a slam at 21? I see Raonic as having more potential actually.
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Yes he did. And I would love it if Raonic wins a slam even this year. But for the moment I don't feel that confident about him. He is on the way in my book, still maybe a tad few distance to cover.

I'm hoping he win today against Ferrer. Else tomorow's finals is going to be very boring.

comment by raiders_of_the_lost_ark (U14067)
posted 16 minutes ago
In fact I don't want even to pick Murray winning a masters unless he gets the fortune as he did on some of his masters wins.
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What fortune? Was Shanghai 2010 lucky?