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© 2015 AFPMurray beats Nadal to win Madrid Open
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The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2015 AFP
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some14some
Congratulations Murray, seems he is strong against players whose names begin with "N", first Nishikori and now Nadal (!)
Simon Phillips
But but Nadal was saving himself for his next match! ;)
fxgai
It's tight in there for the 4th ranking. Looks like Raonic has leap-frogged Kei into that spot. I'm cheering for Kei to get a nice 4th ranking and some easier draws for the upcoming grand slams.
smithinjapan
Congrats to Murray! A first place finish has been pretty evasive for Murray, so I'm glad he got it.
Simon Phillips: "But but Nadal was saving himself for his next match! ;)"
Hahaha!! Nice!
fxgai: "I'm cheering for Kei to get a nice 4th ranking and some easier draws for the upcoming grand slams."
Why? Is he not talented enough to beat the higher level players? Is that the only way he can win? I hope he faces the best of the best and bests them! no more of this "saving his energy" crap when he loses. And if he loses, I'd rather see him lose well to the top seeded players than win a tournament against the 50th or 20th seeded players.
Kurobune
Congrats to Andy. The newlywed (with an expectant wife) really looked good against the "Clay Master." It's on to Rome everybody ! Ganbarre, Kei-san !
fxgai
Sure he is. But having to beat more of the top guys to win a tournament is tough work. Being 5th not 4th means you have a tougher draw - if you are in the top four, you're not going to play your top 4 peers until the semis of a tournament.
But if you are ranked 5th or worse you are going to probably hit top 4 players in the QFs, and then still have to beat tough opponents in the Semis and Final to win the whole thing. That's all I mean. Nadal is unfortunately going to find himself in this situation due to his bad run with injury.
Kei though is likely to gain points in the next couple of months, since he was injured after this time last year. I personally think he's likely to be back to 4th by the time Wimbledon rolls around. Hopefully he's there in time for Roland Garros, where he had a terrible showing last year. But by now everyone knows he can play on clay.
smithinjapan
fxgai: " I personally think he's likely to be back to 4th by the time Wimbledon rolls around."
How can he possibly move up any further if he's constantly "saving his energy" and losing? And sorry, if you're saying you want him in fourth so that he has an easier time, it's similar to saying he can't hack a tougher one. A true player, and a true top player, can beat the 'top players' leading up to and in the semis. That's how you get to be a top player -- not by hoping you get a lucky draw and then just having a couple of top players to beat at the end.
Anyway, I hope he does well, as I like the competition and how it's spread, but I'm tired of the excuses when he loses. Murray did an amazing job this round, and Kei fans alike should be admitting it; not talking about, YET AGAIN, how it was some disadvantage to or 'energy saving' by Kei that lead to the loss, not the talent of Murray that led to the win. I'm not saying you specifically, but you know what I mean.
fxgai
Err, Nishikori just won in Barcelona a couple of weeks back, then made the SFs in Madrid where he lost to the eventual champion. It's not such sloppy work. Nishikori has beaten all the top players before.
As for the importance of the draw, it can't be underestimated. If you have two guys with equal ability but having different draws, one facing a series of tougher opponents, if those two guys face off against in the final, who do you expect is going to win? The one who is fresher, due to the easier draw, of course. These guys are human beings, not supermen.
Take Nishikori at the US Open last year. He beat a top 10 player in the QFs, beat Djokovic in the SF, but then basically fizzled in the final against a lesser opponent. It'd take a harsh person to suggest that fatigue had not taken any toll on him.
It's not hope that's involved, it's points, gained from good performances, like those which Nishikori has been putting in for the past year. What you can take note of is that Nishikori was injured in the final at Madrid last year, and in subsequent performances gained very few points. This year he is not injured and will presumably pick up points (his peers meanwhile weren't injured this time last year and will need to do better than their performances last year in order to increase their points).
So don't be surprised if Nishikori is back into 4th ranking soon, and getting an easier draw as a result!!
Well done to Muzza of course.
smithinjapan
fxgai: "t'd take a harsh person to suggest that fatigue had not taken any toll on him."
It's be a person who can only make excuses who thinks ONLY one player suffers from fatigue when that player loses, and then never mentions that the other player might have been suffering from fatigue when their favorite player wins.
"So don't be surprised if Nishikori is back into 4th ranking soon, and getting an easier draw as a result!!"
I wouldn't be, although it's going to be a little harder now that he's dropped to sixth.
fxgai
Where did I say I think that? Getting a tough draw and having to play tough opponents will take it's toll on anyone. That's why I hope Nishikori isn't the one getting the short straw.
It'd be interesting to see actually, statistics on tournament winners who were seeded 5th versus those seeded 4th. Obviously 4th seeds should be expected to win more on ranking alone, but the draw must have an impact too.
We'll see. I will bet you Nishikori will be at least 5th in the rankings this time next week, what do you say? And he hasn't even played a match yet. He might be 4th, too, depending on how the current Rome tournament goes.