*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

Soder and Del Potro have been injury prone lately. Otherwise they are about to take over tennis.

 

[Jono]

Ferrer choke on the way vs. Verdasco.

 

[vcs]

I've never rated Verdasco, but gotta give him his due. Ferrer is a decent-to-good clay-courter. I hope Soderling whips him in the final, assuming he gets past De Bakker, of course.

 

[Jono]

Haha vcs I came to post the same thing.

Never been a Verdasco fan, but his win over Novak in Monte Carlo and his performances here in Barcelona, when he's clearly been tired from the amount of tennis he's playing, has been superb.

Provided he doesn't burn himself out, he'll do well for the rest of the clay court season. He's self-imploding a lot less.

 

[vcs]

Soderling through after a scare or two in the 2nd set. Should be a good final.

 

[Jono]

Verdasco too tired I reckon. Too much tennis lately.

Soder nice and fresh.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Yeah, has a pretty poor record against Söderling too.

 

[Jono]

Funny thing about that record was it was when Soderling was not even half as good as he is now. Sure Verdasco has improved, but not like Soder has.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Funny thing about that record was it was when Soderling was not even half as good as he is now. Sure Verdasco has improved, but not like Soder has.

Have some dough on a Collingwood/Söderling multi at $2.05. Feeling pretty confident at the moment.

 

[Jono]

Nice!

 

[vcs]

I think it could be close, Verdasco seems to be in decent form, has been tested a couple of times this week while Soderling has probably had it too easy. More importantly, Verdasco's head seems to be a bit more stable recently. Still, Soderling needs to win this to validate his recent consistency and build up a cushion before the French, because he most likely won't defend his RU points from last year.

Feels so strange not to have a Nadal coronation in this tournament. I'm really looking forward to the next Nadal-Soderling meeting on clay, could get a bit ugly for the Swede. Still, I love Soderling's attitude, he fears nobody and he'll go down swinging on his own terms.

 

[Jono]

Soderling is like a mercenary. Doesn't like anyone on tour. He's a one man wrecking machine

 

[vcs]

Soderling is like a mercenary. Doesn't like anyone on tour. He's a one man wrecking machine

Yeah, I'd love to read Nadal and Soderling's autobiographies to find out what they really think of each other. I like it in small doses, you don't get that old-school Lendl-Connors-McEnroe type animosity on the ATP tour these days.

 

[Jono]

Verdasco on fire early.

 

[vcs]

Great win for Verdasco. Seems Spaniards are unbeatable in Barcelona.

And Nadal beat this guy 0 and 1 last week. Scary.

 

[Jono]

Everytime I underrate Verdasco he burns me.

Firstly against Berdych (after being beaten by him twice, when I get on Berdych Verdasco finally beats him), then Novak, then Ferrer and now Soderling.

Way too many errors from Soder. You would have thought that would be more likely from Verdasco.

 

[vcs]

Got to give credit to Verdasco. Yeah, Soderling made a few too many errors, but that was because he was running scared of that Verdasco forehand ripping winners up the line. He did pretty well to hang in and win that 2nd set, TBH.

 

[Jono]

You know what I never realised until Monte Carlo and Barcelona? How awesome Verdasco's defence is when he really wants to not be a jackass and try and outhit his opponent all the time.

He was getting EVERYTHING in that first set.

 

[vcs]

Yeah, he's really good when he's got his brain engaged. Like that Australian Open semifinal against Nadal. He's also serving fewer double-faults these days and the backhand looks much more reliable.

I'm really missing Davydenko and Del Potro these days. Too many injuries.

 

[Jono]

Will be good to have them back.

You'd have the awesome top 12 or so players, with Berdych making a run and Nalbandian back.

Promising times for tennis coming up.