US OPEN (Grand Slam), 26/8 - 9/9 2013. Main thread - information.

[banskogirl]

My 2nd stream has just failed :(

[Linda]

:crying:

http://norwaysport.co.uk/skysports1.html

[traveller7]

1 set all!

[DaveArneRiise]

Nole levels it up then after winning the tie breaker. Excellent tie breaker from him.

[banskogirl]

Oh dear, think Stan can win now? I hope so...

[traveller7]

So good to watch a bit of competitive tennis come on Stan!

[DaveArneRiise]

Oh dear, think Stan can win now? I hope so...

If he keeps playing the way he is he's in within a chance. Question is will he be able to sustain this high level for another couple of hours or so? He managed it throughout the match against Andy, but a lapse may be on the horizon. Hopefully he can keep it going though. He played well in that tie breaker, Nole was just faultless.

[Jane]

Come on now, Stan - lets see what you can do

[Linda]

After this, no-one can criticise Andy for losing to Stan.

[banskogirl]

After this, no-one can criticise Andy for losing to Stan.

No one with any sense Linda, but I think we all know they have none!

[JAMES4578]

Certainly good contest but whilst a long way to go think Nole may well have turned the tide,had a bit extra when it mattered having been on the ropes. Tbh don't think Wawrinka would do much in final,so would rather Djokovic won.

[Linda]

Really? I was thinking that playing like this, Stan could even challenge Rafa (although of course we don't know yet whether it will be Rafa or Richie in the final).

[traveller7]

Held to love Stan come on!

[JAMES4578]

Really? I was thinking that playing like this, Stan could even challenge Rafa (although of course we don't know yet whether it will be Rafa or Richie in the final).

Just doubt Stan could sustain the level in the final but suppose you can never be sure,would be surprised if Rafa doesn't advance to final particularly in light of Gasquet's successive 5 setters.

[DaveArneRiise]

tripple break points for Stan, golden chance this. Takes the first of asking, will serve for the set!

[Linda]

yes! :cheer:

[traveller7]

Awesome stuff from Stan think this is going to be a great 5 setter

[banskogirl]

Go Stan! Serve for this set!

[DaveArneRiise]

Overhead put away and an ace brings up 30-0 2 points away. Dare I say this could be a routine hold?

[Jane]

Yessss - Stan leads 2 sets to 1:clap::clap::boogie::boogie:

[banskogirl]

Go Stan! 6-3 this set!

[traveller7]

:yahoo: another set for Stan!

[Linda]

Stan leads 2 sets to one! Allez!

[DaveArneRiise]

Stan showing his strength of character! Leads 2 sets to 1.

[JAMES4578]

some superb form from Stan to clinch the 3rd,though of course Nole may find a way back again.

[traveller7]

DF means Nole breaks to go up 2-0 eek :sofa:

[traveller7]

Make that 3-0

[banskogirl]

Oh no Stan, come on!!! You can do this!

[JAMES4578]

Definitely heading for a 5th now,hopefully both well in the decider!

[banskogirl]

Hubby just ordered Court Confidential :)

[Linda]

Stan having an injury timeout! It seems something wrong with his back! :crying:

[harriet]

stan needs to lose his serve, next game, so djo serves it out
thus stan will serve first fifth set
stan having med timeout, groin strain i reckon, he's been 'massaging' himself under his towel at several change overs

[harriet]

I think stan is too wounded to make much of a match of it from now on, shame, but a wounded warrior would just be eaten up by rafa

[Jane]

2 sets all

[traveller7]

Into a fifth as I thought (although didnt predict lol)

[Linda]

It goes to a 5th then - come on Stan! :swingin:

[harriet]

two sets all, stan to serve first. wonder how strong stan can be?

[hfwardhouse]

Wow. Been away eating dinner!!! Well done Stan! Come on!!!

[Linda]

Ump told Stan off 'cos area around his chair is messy! Never heard that before.

[DaveArneRiise]

Just surpassed 15 mins this one game, deuce number 10 on Stan's serve.

Stans holds, that game lasted over 20 mins, unbelievable!

[JAMES4578]

Such a dramatic and exciting game, Stan eventually holds for 2-1!

[Linda]

This is one of the best matches I have ever watched. The second semi will be an anticlimax after this.

[harriet]

W H A T A G A M E !!!!!! 21 mins, 12? deuces, and STAN finally closed it out. djo now serving at 1-2

[banskogirl]

Sorry everyone, can't get stream to work while any other page is open :sofa:

[Linda]

:crying:

[traveller7]

Nole breaks and is ahead for first time in match, could be the turning point but wont write Stan off yet!

[JAMES4578]

Can't take anything for granted in this match but Nole may be grinding Stan down now.

[traveller7]

4-2 Nole is it all over?!

[Helen40]

Please has anyone got a link for a stream

[traveller7]

http://lsh.streamhunter.eu/static/popups/1688051006351340.html

Nearly all over

[traveller7]

It is over Nole is through in 5 sets and over four hours fantastic match

[Linda]

:crying: :crying: I think Stan ran out of steam at the end.

[Jane]

Wow - what a match - 165 points each!!!

[patmoren]

That was a real blockbuster, well done to Nole for prevailing against an on fire Stan.

[harriet]

terrific game! think djo will be a lot happier playing rafa than he was today versus stan

[traveller7]

Wonder if Nadals match will be as exciting?! Hope so

[RoastLamb]

Pretty gutted for Stan. AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Always the bridesmaid.

Great match tho'. That 3rd game in the fifth set was tremendously exciting.

[JAMES4578]

Incredible match and well done to Nole for finding a way as Stan was astounding at times but perhaps his stamina was quite so strong. Credit on a great run though of course wish Andy had been in his place! Somehow I doubt Nadal/Gasquet will have the same drama.

[harriet]

commentary now on 5live SE, unfortunately one of them sounds greg rusedski

[traveller7]

Apart from the one break at the beginning of the set its on serve and Gasquet holding well -Nadal serving for the set at 5-4

[traveller7]

And Nadal wins it 6-4

[JAMES4578]

Rafa also breaks right at the start of the 2nd,tough for Gasquet to make a real match of it now.

[traveller7]

Back on serve come on Gasquet!

[JAMES4578]

Gasquet certainly putting Rafa under some pressure as he leads 6-5 in 2nd!

[traveller7]

tiebreak
gasquet 0-1
0-2
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7

Nadal wins 2 sets to love up dont see Gasquet winning now

[RoastLamb]

Vamos Rafa! :cheer:

[JAMES4578]

Not a great breaker from Richie and surely will go down in straights now.

[traveller7]

Nadal broken Gasquet straight away in the 3rd like in the first now leads 3-1

[Linda]

Well done Rafa! :yahoo:

[harriet]

what a sad way to lose, dfs have been gaquet's undoing just now and in the tb

[traveller7]

Not the same as the other day shame, well done Rafa lets hope its a good match on Monday

[RoastLamb]

Awesome job for Rafa! To get to the final without losing a set and suffering only one break is amazing. I just wish he was playing Andy in the final.

[JAMES4578]

Awesome job for Rafa! To get to the final without losing a set and suffering only one break is amazing. I just wish he was playing Andy in the final.

Well Rafa's certainly been in great form but he did lose a set to Kohli in the last 16. Pity Andy not there and yet to experience Murray/Nadal Slam final, in fact they haven't played each other since 2011

[RoastLamb]

Well Rafa's certainly been in great form but he did lose a set to Kohli in the last 16. Pity Andy not there and yet to experience Murray/Nadal Slam final, in fact they haven't played each other since 2011

Oh yes! He DID lose a set but with a tiebreaker hence no break. Thanks!

[patmoren]

Real battle by Nole but wore Stan down in the end. Clinical from Rafa, Gasquet still breaking down when under pressure.

[DaveArneRiise]

Gasquet breaking Nadal in the 2nd set was the first time in the tournament Nadal was broken. That's incredible.

[Linda]

Just been looking at the match stats. The most surprising one is Net Points Won: Gasquet 24/35, Rafa 22/28. That's a huge amount of net points. That must surely be unprecedented in the modern game.

[super8]

Rafa v Nole will slip into their usual game plans for each other.

Nole will try to wear down the Rafa forehand with his cross-court backhands.

Rafa will stand as close to the baseline as he can to take the ball early and force Nole back.

Nole will stretch and bend to try to counter this.

Several energy-sapping rallies ensue.

Rinse and repeat.

[murrayfan89]

If i had to pick a winner i'd be leaning towards Djokovic. I think at his best, he's better on hardcourts than Nadal. It's a shame Andy couldn't be there, but i'm gonna enjoy the match tonight :)

[supergran]

I don't care who wins....but I will be watching unless it goes on into the early hours.:unclesam::superman::USflag:

[traveller7]

I think Nadal will just about come out on top but Nole will give him a good fight (I hope)

[ljs]

well im gonna watch nadal vs djoko , but cant say im excited

[Linda]

I'm on the edge of my seat already! :excited:

[RoastLamb]

I'm on the edge of my seat already! :excited:

Have been all day. What a long wait. Even longer for you lot in the UK!

[Jan]

I'm not staying up for this - will just be too tired to function tomorrow. Hope those of you who do stay up get to see a great match!

[WimbledonAce]

How come its so late this year?

[jeannie13]

Hope Novak wins-I'm fed up of commentators saying that Rafa is unbeatable. No one is unbeatable.

[Linda]

The Queen of Spain is sitting in the crowd.

Vamos Rafa! :swingin:

Rafa breaks! Vamos! :swingin:

[traveller7]

Nadal breaks much to the delight of the crowd - seems very Nadal loving tonight there

[themass15]

Vamos Rafa!!:clap:

[Linda]

whew, tough hold.

[Linda]

First set to Rafa 6-2! Woo hoo! Vamos Rafa! :swingin:

[DaveArneRiise]

That was an insane 50+ shot rally for Nole to break, however Nadal still looks fresh as daisies and I wonder if in the long run that will those brutal rallies harm Nole the most. Appears this could be the case, Nadal breaks straight back.

[david1610]

One set all. Three set classic remaining!

[RoastLamb]

Djoko wasn't playing his best in the first set. Now he is!

[Linda]

:sofa:

[supergran]

Can't stay up any longer. Goodnight all. Don't mind who wins which is a bit strange as I always used to root for Rafa.:unclesam::USflag:

[RoastLamb]

:sofa:

This is getting away from Rafa really, really quickly. Too bad.

[traveller7]

Just reading harmans book apparently Andy and Nole had a 54 shot rally in last years final

[jeannie13]

I give up--I'm going to bed. C'mon novak!!!! Looks like it's going to be a long match.

[david1610]

This is getting away from Rafa really, really quickly. Too bad.
Don't be so sure... he breaks back and perhaps the effect of the Warinka match might start to tell on Nole.

[traveller7]

Nadal gets the 3rd set from being 2-0 down they are fighting so hard out there

[RoastLamb]

Don't be so sure... he breaks back and perhaps the effect of the Warinka match might start to tell on Nole.

Hope so. Third set to Rafa despite being a break down. Blimey!!! :sofa:

[Linda]

Vamos! :cheer: :cheer: Come on Rafa! :swingin:

[traveller7]

Andy Murray has beaten Djokovic 8 times and Nadal 5. Watching this, you are reminded what a monumental feat that is

Love this tweet that Sallydaisy has just retweeted!

[traveller7]

Nadal on fire now 3-0 i have an appointment at 915am so should get to bed really but need to see what happens!!!

[DaveArneRiise]

Nole has done extremely well to make it such a competitive match to be frank, considering the brutal 5 setter he had against Stan. On this form Nadal is unbeatable IMO.

[JAMES4578]

Some incredible tennis,feel that Nole had the momentum in the 3rd but just couldn't sustain the level and Nadal found the inspiration. Rafa up 3-0 in 4th now,tough for Djokovic to extend the match.

[RoastLamb]

Mary Carillo on CBS just said that the best three matches ever on grass, hc and clay featured Rafa.

[traveller7]

I hate to say this but against this form I fear Andy would of found it extremely hard to beat either of these guys at the moment

[DaveArneRiise]

I hate to say this but against this form I fear Andy would of found it extremely hard to beat either of these guys at the moment

Agreed, especially when his best form proved elusive throughout the tournament really. He'll be back to his best in no time though ;)

[traveller7]

Indeed he will :)
Nadal serving for the Championship at 5-1

[DaveArneRiise]

Congratulations Rafa, thoroughly deserved. Great champion and best player in the world currently. Well done Nole for making it such a great match.

[traveller7]

Well done Rafa you can see how much it means to him, think the five setter for Nole wore him out as it did at Wimbledon. Superb tennis though glad it wasnt all one way.

[RoastLamb]

Rafa won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

[david1610]

Well done Rafa. Don't forget Nole has "only" won the AO in the last two years.

[david1610]

I am not sure we will ever see somebody take the August North American Masters and the US Open again - unless Rafa does it next year!

[Linda]

Amazing Rafa! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :trophy:

[murrayfan89]

Congrats Rafa.

[JAMES4578]

It certainly was an amazing performance from Rafa and the quaility in the 2nd and 3rd sets was incredibly high. Nole just couldn't maintain the high level for long enough though for much of the 3rd set he seems to be in the ascendancy,it was a blow though that he failed to capitalise on the 0-40 at 4 all and he just wasn't as strong mentally afterwards. Disappointing that the 4th set was a bit of an anti climax in comparison but overall an exciting final.

[Reef]

I watched sets 1 & 2 and part of 3 before fatigue got the better of me, though I had 5live on the radio by my bed....dozed off then came to just as Rafa won the final point. Novak certainly came back with a vengeance in the second set but even then I thought he looked tired and would have difficulty sustaining the barrage from Rafa. And so it proved.

Congrats to Rafa - incredible performance - but it occurred to me that perhaps he is currently playing lights-out tennis in case the knee problem recurs sooner rather than later and he feels he needs to cram as much in as possible in the knowledge that his career could be shorter than average?

Just a thought.

[patmoren]

Can't say I enjoyed watching, far too brutal for me, I would rather watch a match with a bit more touch rather continually banging back across the net. Credit to Nadal though he has had a great run since his return from injury. Did they give him new knees!!!

[traveller7]

Well done Rafa. Don't forget Nole has "only" won the AO in the last two years.
Thats amazing really no 1 in the world yet Andy has won more slams than him?!

[Sallydaisy]

Thats amazing really no 1 in the world yet Andy has won more slams than him?!
Well, they've both won 2 since the Australian Open in 2012 ... statistics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Slam_Men's_Singles_champions)
;)

Nole's ranking includes 2 x Finalist points from Wimbledon and the USO, 1500 for winning the WTF in 2012, 2 x 1000 Masters points (Monte Carlo and Shanghai) and 2 x 500's (adding to a further Masters!) from Dubai and Beijing.
He's defending a lot in the next 2 months - I think it's around 3010 including 10 from the Paris Masters 2012.
But he can replace that with a current non-countable if he has any ... ???

Andy is defending 1180 during the same time period (but has a couple of 250's he can add back in) and Rafa is defending 'nada'!!!

More interesting is the Swiss battle for #1 ...
Stan is defending 270 (current 3150) whereas Rogi is defending 1260 (current 4515).
If neither played again to the end of the year Roger would have 3255 and Stan 2880.
Just 380 points should do the trick for Stan the Man ...

[Jan62]

Congrats to Rafa. Whatever they did to his knees, I'd like the same done to mine please! Not that I have the athletic build to start with, but its pretty miraculous how he's come back in 2013. Unbelievable. I didn't see the match - staying up till the wee small hours is strictly reserved for Andy - but sounds pretty amazing, especially that 54 stroke rally.

[RoastLamb]

What annoyed me immensely were the commies saying that THIS was the match EVERYONE wanted to see. Well, NOT ME!!! I wanted Andy vs Rafa and I suspect many on this forum wanted Andy vs anyone other than Rafa. :fingersear:

[Sallydaisy]

I wanted it to be Andy v Federer because although Muzzah beat Fedex to the Olympic Gold medal he hasn't beat him in a Grand Slam Final and that's something I wanted for Andy.
:)

[RoastLamb]

Personally I never want to see Federer in another GS final. Ever. Enough already. Andy beat him at the Olympics and that's more than enough for me. ;)

[harriet]

first set djo looked bewildered, rafa looked so focussed, lean and mean. second set djo got the bit between his teeth and came out with that indomitable 1000 yard stare again, all serbia behind him, and rafa in turn looked vulnerable, almost worried. but in third rafa turned the tables, djo lost his advantage and failed to break rafa, from 0-40 down, and then lost the set, penalty of serving second as usual. last set was a nightmare.
Boris, who comes out with the trite as if it were the first edition, was, I thought quite acute re djo - needing to embrace the battle, not just play tennis,that he was guiding the ball rather than playing with the freedom he needed, and that he was not as good a player as 2 years ago.
djo does look drawn, face bones very sharp, tired

[traveller7]

I wanted Andy v anyone but not to be this year he will be back at the WTF
It is a great win for Nadal seeing as he was out with his injury. 21-0 his hardcourt match record since he came back astonishing.

[Jan]

So Rafa cleaned up this hard court season, just like Andy cleaned up the grass court season. If only the grass court season was a bit longer!

[Linda]

It's going to be a week longer next year :)

But still not long enough.

[super8]

Big congratulations to Rafa Nadal. His results throughout the tournament speak for themselves - he was a deserved winner of the tournament.

What struck me about his game was how he's worked on a weakness that Nole used to target so effectively. Rafa's forehand used to break down under sustained pressure from Nole.

Rafa's forehand down the line is quite a weapon now - and Nole hardly played his crosscourt backhands. In fact, he always chose to play inside-out forehands, which clearly he felt were less at risk of being counter-attacked.

Overall, I thought the men's tournament was ok. Not many terrific matches, from what I saw. Andy will certainly play better tennis in slams to come. Hopefully he can take encouragement from Rafa's improvement, and also come back with an even better version of his own game. I'm sure he and Ivan will be working through things well.

[Reef]

It's going to be a week longer next year :)

But still not long enough.
Is it? How come? I didn't realise that....

[Linda]

Wimbledon will be a week later. Stuttgart will change from clay to grass and move from after Wimbledon to before it.

[jeannie13]

Wimbledon will be a week later. Stuttgart will change from clay to grass and move from after Wimbledon to before it.

I thought this wasn't happening till 2015 !!!

[Linda]

Oh really? Sorry, that's me getting confused and thinking too far ahead then! :shamed: