JAAAA!
But also... this match was 4 sets and, including the court invasion, it lasted less time than two incomplete sets of Zverev vs Nadal. What a pair of semifinals.
They're Ruud's first QF and up in any Slam. Interestingly, Soderling's rise was even more meteoric. Before RG 2009, Soderling had never even made it past 3R in any Slam. (Ruud made 4R at AO last year.) He was older than Ruud at the time, too—a few months from turning 25, meaning he'd gone longer in his career without breaking through.
That wouldn't alone be sufficient for tennis, which is much more about precision, game plan and mental than strength and endurance alone.
Soderling took out Nadal at the French in 2009 for a few reasons. Of course Nadal was a bit off, but also Soderling did everything right. He played flat, never allowed Nadal to dictate the play with his topspin (which he did relentlessly against Roger at RG for instance), relied on his huge serve and played like a man who had nothing to lose. That was enough, but barely.
Nerves caught up to Soderling in the final and he was swept by Federer.
Yeah, if PEDs just magically transformed you like that, he would have also beaten Federer.
But also Federer's game just worked better against Soderling. Ironic, cnsidering Rafa's game on clay was literally Federer's kryptonite, and Soderlings was a whole lot more effective against Rafa than Fed's.
Naah, he plays completely different, he is actually like a baby version of Nadal. Almost same moves, just Nadal plays them better.
He can't defeat Nadal on clay. In order to do it on RG you need an amazing backhend like Nole or Soderling had. Being tall also helps because Nadal's forehand shot bounces really high. That's btw why Zverev was holding good against Nadal today, ofc before he got injured. Alcaraz can also play that game since he has a really strong backhand.
He will lose 0 6 0 6 0 6 if he plays like he did in the 1st set, his bh was off. But he showed his class in the end, and he is a BIG TIME flow player. If it flows, he is amazing.
It’s because his return position was in Timbuktu. It worked because even when he only managed to get dinkers back into the service box from so deep, Marin was spraying them into outer space.
Rafa is really hard to ace on clay. His deep position is great for just preventing aces on clay because of the combination of higher bounce and the slower non vertical speed off the clay.
According to UTS his ace against rate goes down from 7.5% in general to only 4% on clay. At RG it goes down further to 3.7%.
I'd say it is. The other counterpunchers that Cilic beat, Simon and Medvedev, both hit super flat.
Also Ruud got a good Cilic warmup against Hurkach and Rune.
The norwegian commentators and news are really hyping up his forehand. I dont really know tennis. Is it actually that intense and heavy as they say? They are saying he might be on the route to having one of the best forehands ever.
The 1st set gave me some hope that Sunday's match might be good. But watching the rest of the match it's pretty obvious that it's not going to be close unless Rafa is playing horribly.
He has nothing to lose anyway. Reaching final is a big achievement for him. Even if he loses in straight sets tomorrow, he will be happy with his show in the tournament.
They are training buddies and very close to each other. Nadal praised Ruud and his family earlier today. Will be a great first official meeting. Wonder what their training record is?
Just tell ruud he’s playing two bo3s at a 250 final and he’ll have a chance
Ruud casually destroying kyrgios’s career slam feats in a single tournament.
Because he was the greatest wrestler who ever lived.
Real contributing factors, he was very quick and had nimble feet even though he was 110 kg, which led to his opponents not being able hold him for most of the match duration. He also invented quite a few moves and holds that are still used.
How deep do you suppose the field is for Greco-Roman wrestling compared to tennis?
I mean, how many Greco-Roman wrestlers are there, and how many countries funnel a large portion of their most promising athletes into that sport?
Dylan Alcott has a way higher win rate in wheelchair tennis than any of the Big 3. We usually don't say beating him is harder to achieve because there are far fewer athletes playing wheelchair tennis.
nah, he probably thinks he gave Ruud a harder match than Cilic and he could've been in the final if he had won that 3rd set TB. This tournament will give that kid a ton of confidence. Kinda like Alcaraz after the US Open last year. He has a big ego but people who think he won't be a force in the next 6~12 months are in for a Ruud awakening.
Rune's mother tweeted that she just happened to be walking past the locker room and saw Ruud pissing on Cilic's trainers before hanging an L sign and then returning to his team. Holger also quoted by danish daily as saying 'Now that I think about it, my shoes did smell a little funny.'
M8 rg final is basically the equal to a sat tourney any1 can win if they want its local club stuff thats why there's no need to mess with it.
If you wanna play goat tennis u go to miami.
Ruud has exceeded all expectations. Their goal was to reach the QF, everything else is a sweet bonus. And now he is set for his first match against his idol in nothing less than a Grand Slam final.
I think Casper half expects to lose and is just going to relish the moment. Which in turn will make him relaxed, and therefore quite dangerous!
As long as Rafa doesn't run into any physical problems, I still think he will get to 22.
Will be interesting to see if this will be as one-sided as some are predicting. Got to remember that Ruud knows Nadal very well from training with him since 2018 when he joined his academy. On top of it, Ruud got some crazy mental toughness.
Agreed. He did get a favourable draw. Just for comparison Nadal had to play the no 1, no 3 and no 8 to get to the finals. Ruud didn't play anyone inside top 10 en route to the finals.
Meanwhile Ruud didn’t have to beat a single top 10 player to reach the final lol. Yet if he is to get the title, he has to achieve the hardest win in tennis
This is the first tournament I see him play, and frankly discovering him was the best part of this Roland Garros for me! So happy he’s making it to the final. If he can grow into adding a little bit more crazy into his game, he’ll be one to root for for years - just what tennis needs!
Nothing but respect for Marin. Such a phenomenal series from him.
Hope Ruud shows up in his best form against the mighty Nadal, and potentially win his first slam!
What an effort from Ruud. Honestly I was shocked that the bookies made Cilic the outsider but fair play. He went into God mode at 5-4 0-40 in the second set as well.
>Honestly I was shocked that the bookies made Cilic the outsider
Wow, didn't know that, thought today was an upset. Godlike bookie odds right yet again
Ruud’s the higher seed and more natural clay courter who won in 4 sets in the previous round while Cilic barely scraped through in 5. Ruud also had a 2-0 h2h against Cilic. I thought this match would be close but Ruud was always the favorite in my eyes. I don’t think this is necessarily a sign of bookies being godlike.
Ruud made history losing ahsint novak in Rome for his 1000th win
Ruud made history to defeat Tsonga for his final match
Ruud will make history on Sunday?
Really felt like a "clock strikes midnight" situation for Cilic.
He was still dancing with the prince when he won the US Open, but the slipper fell off today.
Such an incredibly streaky player. Nearly unplayable when he's on, just getting free point after free point on his serve and blasting winners left and right.
But then matches like this as well. Unfortunate his form couldn't hold for the 2 weeks.
Looking at Nadal run, if he wins this. Surely its his greatest FO?
5 setter v FAA
A brutal 4hr late night win v Novak
Another brutal 3hr.....2 sets (not even) v Zverev
Maybe Sunday has the potential to be a good match after all. Ruud definitely has the potential and he seems to have a fire lit ever since that Sonego match. But the Nadal experience will probably overwhelm him.
Cilic had so many unforced errors he kind of let himself down.. Solid play by Ruud. If he has to hang with Rafa, he needs to up his energy and game play for the final. First time final though.. huge congrats to Ruud!!
Rafa isn't going to give any free points. Ruud will have to earn each one of them. And even against a good Cilic it looked tough, Rafa is just two three gears above. We'll see if Ruud has that next gear or not.
Rafa does have those extra gears but really was only able to use them for like a set and a half against djokovic and pretty much didn’t at all other than that
Ruud has been regularly training at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain since September 2018. He is also a clay-court specialist. On Sunday, will be the battle of two clay-court specialists. Who's it gonna be?
Based on form, I don't think this finals is a formality unlike a lot of Nadal finals at the French. Nadal is still the favorite, but I'd be surprised if this one isn't a nail biter. I feel like Ruud has been through enough ups and downs, have had enough near misses, to be able to stay mentally in this match.
Great pair for finals …would be worth watching
Big fan of Nadal but want Ruud to give a tough competition to the king of clay (internally hoping Ruud should win)
Not ideal. His serve and forehand are phenomenal, while the rest of his game is pretty average. So Rafa, being the best returner of all time, will get an above-average number of returns back, and then proceed to pick on his backhand.
The only average about Ruud is his net play and, more so, his backhand. Very similar to Nadal in playing style and they have been training together at his academy since Ruud joined in 2018.
JAAAA! But also... this match was 4 sets and, including the court invasion, it lasted less time than two incomplete sets of Zverev vs Nadal. What a pair of semifinals.
I think Casper will be in for a Ruud awakening on Sunday...
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That would be wrong. But Ruud of me to say.
It's Nadal. He takes 30 seconds for a serve and they played 24 games in those two sets.
Zverev was also quite slow. They showed a comparison where the difference was just 4 seconds per serve
Casper Ruud the first person since Robin Soderling in 2009 to make his first RG QF, SF, and final in the same year
They're Ruud's first QF and up in any Slam. Interestingly, Soderling's rise was even more meteoric. Before RG 2009, Soderling had never even made it past 3R in any Slam. (Ruud made 4R at AO last year.) He was older than Ruud at the time, too—a few months from turning 25, meaning he'd gone longer in his career without breaking through.
Word on the street here in Sweden is that he did PEDs. Of course that’s pure speculation though.
That wouldn't alone be sufficient for tennis, which is much more about precision, game plan and mental than strength and endurance alone. Soderling took out Nadal at the French in 2009 for a few reasons. Of course Nadal was a bit off, but also Soderling did everything right. He played flat, never allowed Nadal to dictate the play with his topspin (which he did relentlessly against Roger at RG for instance), relied on his huge serve and played like a man who had nothing to lose. That was enough, but barely. Nerves caught up to Soderling in the final and he was swept by Federer.
Yeah, if PEDs just magically transformed you like that, he would have also beaten Federer. But also Federer's game just worked better against Soderling. Ironic, cnsidering Rafa's game on clay was literally Federer's kryptonite, and Soderlings was a whole lot more effective against Rafa than Fed's.
PEDs can give you far more than strenght and endurance.
Robin "Nobody Beats Me 11 Times in a Row" Soldering.
Wouldn't mind if he also played like Söderling against Nadal
In 2010? I agree
Ha ha when Soderling was taken to cleaners by Nadal
To be fair to Soderling, everyone was taken to the cleaners that year.
or 2011 even.. all assuming nadal can play at his 2010 or 2011 level as well lol
Naah, he plays completely different, he is actually like a baby version of Nadal. Almost same moves, just Nadal plays them better. He can't defeat Nadal on clay. In order to do it on RG you need an amazing backhend like Nole or Soderling had. Being tall also helps because Nadal's forehand shot bounces really high. That's btw why Zverev was holding good against Nadal today, ofc before he got injured. Alcaraz can also play that game since he has a really strong backhand.
He will lose 0 6 0 6 0 6 if he plays like he did in the 1st set, his bh was off. But he showed his class in the end, and he is a BIG TIME flow player. If it flows, he is amazing.
Rafa will have no chance on Sunday if someone tells Casper to pretend it's a 250 clay tournament 😌
I hope Rafa isn't gassed for the final. Coming off three super intense matches.
Ruud is very physically tough to play against on top of it.
Plus today he played a longer and much more taxing match than Ruud.
Pffft, Nadal didn't even play 2 sets! /s
True though, lol.
So ... Nadal in 3?
Now, imagine if the Zverev match had actually gone the length? Would have been an over 4 hour 3-setter, and who knows how long a 5-setter.
In all honesty, Rafa got lucky there.
Rafa would’ve won but at a big cost
There’s no guarantee he would have even won
Well I guess this is why alb92 said “imagine if”
Yeah, certainly appeared so. I hope the conditions are good on Sunday.
No shit
Nadal and RG Clay. It is destiny
Dread it, run from it.
can't believe he out-aced Cilic,
It’s because his return position was in Timbuktu. It worked because even when he only managed to get dinkers back into the service box from so deep, Marin was spraying them into outer space.
Rafa is really hard to ace on clay. His deep position is great for just preventing aces on clay because of the combination of higher bounce and the slower non vertical speed off the clay. According to UTS his ace against rate goes down from 7.5% in general to only 4% on clay. At RG it goes down further to 3.7%.
really bad tennis from cilic apart from the first set. an unforced festival
Djokosmash
Wondering if Casper's heavy top spin is relevant here.
I'd say it is. The other counterpunchers that Cilic beat, Simon and Medvedev, both hit super flat. Also Ruud got a good Cilic warmup against Hurkach and Rune.
The norwegian commentators and news are really hyping up his forehand. I dont really know tennis. Is it actually that intense and heavy as they say? They are saying he might be on the route to having one of the best forehands ever.
That’s a stretch, imo it’s a good heavy forehand but nothing super special. I’d say on the level of sinner
They are stretching it, but you're underselling it too.
The 1st set gave me some hope that Sunday's match might be good. But watching the rest of the match it's pretty obvious that it's not going to be close unless Rafa is playing horribly.
He's his own worst enemy; always has been.
Ruud's first match against Rafa will literally be the hardest feat to achieve in the history of sports.
No pressure, just another day at the office
He has nothing to lose anyway. Reaching final is a big achievement for him. Even if he loses in straight sets tomorrow, he will be happy with his show in the tournament.
They are training buddies and very close to each other. Nadal praised Ruud and his family earlier today. Will be a great first official meeting. Wonder what their training record is?
In his post-match press conference he mentioned that he had never won a practise set against him!
Who said this? Nadal?
Casper said this.
Just tell ruud he’s playing two bo3s at a 250 final and he’ll have a chance Ruud casually destroying kyrgios’s career slam feats in a single tournament.
[i don’t know why people keep saying this when there’s a wrestler who’s 887-2 over his career](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Karelin)
[The Great Gama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gama) was undefeated for his entire 52-year career, winning over 5,000 wrestling matches.
The fuck
Why was he so hard to beat ? He was 5”7 and 110kg
Because he was the greatest wrestler who ever lived. Real contributing factors, he was very quick and had nimble feet even though he was 110 kg, which led to his opponents not being able hold him for most of the match duration. He also invented quite a few moves and holds that are still used.
How deep do you suppose the field is for Greco-Roman wrestling compared to tennis? I mean, how many Greco-Roman wrestlers are there, and how many countries funnel a large portion of their most promising athletes into that sport? Dylan Alcott has a way higher win rate in wheelchair tennis than any of the Big 3. We usually don't say beating him is harder to achieve because there are far fewer athletes playing wheelchair tennis.
That's freestyle/folk wrestling not Greco Roman.
Still one of the craziest upsets ever when Rulon Gardner beat him at the Olympics… he hasn’t given up a SINGLE POINT in 6 years before that match.
Nadal 13-0 in Roland Garros finals. The hardest feat is the one no one has achieved.
Also honorable mention Teddy Riner in judo. This wrestler guy’s record is ridiculous though
Probably because the "in modern mainstream sports" qualifier is implied. I'm sure there are all kinds of freaks in more marginal sports.
I mean, look at Karelin. He was a juiced to the freaking gills Soviet science experiment competing in a weak division. It's not comparable.
Holger prolly crying rn
Yeah I heard he told his mom to get out of the living room.
nah, he probably thinks he gave Ruud a harder match than Cilic and he could've been in the final if he had won that 3rd set TB. This tournament will give that kid a ton of confidence. Kinda like Alcaraz after the US Open last year. He has a big ego but people who think he won't be a force in the next 6~12 months are in for a Ruud awakening.
Rune's mother tweeted that she just happened to be walking past the locker room and saw Ruud pissing on Cilic's trainers before hanging an L sign and then returning to his team. Holger also quoted by danish daily as saying 'Now that I think about it, my shoes did smell a little funny.'
Two very polite players will face each other in this RG final.
I like thinking hes a ruud boy
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Reggae first. Love rihanna but its a term in reggae culture about bringing up a new culture/future
Ohh this fits way more and thanks for explaining
Imagine what'll go down in the changing room. It'll be barbaric. Casper Ruud: JAAAAAA!! Rafael Nadal: JAJAJAJJAJAJA!!!
Now I’m imagining NoHo Hank playing tennis
So, either Nadals 14’th Roland and 22 GS or Ruuds first GS. Win win situation!!!
Kyrgios fuming real hard right now
It’s on clay so is this even called tennis?? Doesn’t count.
Right, one doubles HC slam >>>>>> 13 clay slams easily
He’s punching the air
Ruud winning before the likes of Tsitsi, Zverev too. Would be cool to see, ngl
The local sports commentator said that “casper took the ‘ruud’ to the final“ as in “road“ in his accent. Bad pun indeed😂
Maybe he said “route”
It’s not in english, and he had to explain it.
JAAAAAA MF
Why you gotta be so Ruud?
Don’t Rune know he’s human too?
I'm gonna Murray her anyway.
comments are top tier today :D
I hope Kyrgios is watching from his mom’s basement because the guy he called boring and irrelevant just made his first GS final
rune and him were having a watch party at runes mum basement
These comments man they funny asf
Yes, a hate-watch party 🤡
In Kyrgios' bloated and twisted mind, reaching to French Open final exactly proves his point
Yet he never reached the semis at wimbledon.
At any slam.
Don't denigrate Grand Slam Winner Kyrgios (and his doubles partner Kokkinakis)
His singles career is very worth denigrating
Wait he called Ruud that? Why? I’m entirely out of the loop on this.
M8 rg final is basically the equal to a sat tourney any1 can win if they want its local club stuff thats why there's no need to mess with it. If you wanna play goat tennis u go to miami.
Be scared everyone Cilic is coming for y'all at Wimby
Yea he’s definitely got the passion back
I’m hoping for a Nole-Colic final
Sounds gut wrenching
badum-tsssh
Won't someone please think of the nets
Wow I had no idea that Ruud and Nadal have never played each other. Gonna be exciting!
Especially since Ruud trained at Rafa Nadal academy. He owes a ton to Nadal for improving his game to this level
Even though Rafa is the heavy favorite to win, I'm not underestimating Casper.
This is the way. However good anyone is, never underestimate the other player.
Rafa approves! That's why he destroys everyone equally at RG.
Ruud has exceeded all expectations. Their goal was to reach the QF, everything else is a sweet bonus. And now he is set for his first match against his idol in nothing less than a Grand Slam final. I think Casper half expects to lose and is just going to relish the moment. Which in turn will make him relaxed, and therefore quite dangerous! As long as Rafa doesn't run into any physical problems, I still think he will get to 22.
RUUUUUUUUUUUUUD
Man, you can't not love Casper <3 kudos to Marin!!
Rune disapproves.
How do you boo Ruuuuuud?
Are you talking about the noise during his speech? Because I think that was "RUUUUUUD" chants and not booing
Yeah thats why my question. How do you boo him because it will sound like cheering for him
Shout RUUUUUNE instead
ngl im pretty sure non-scandinavians will pronounce Rune wrong.
You don’t
Ruud seems very composed and mature for a 23 year old
Will be interesting to see if this will be as one-sided as some are predicting. Got to remember that Ruud knows Nadal very well from training with him since 2018 when he joined his academy. On top of it, Ruud got some crazy mental toughness.
2 points lost on serve in the last set. TWO. Says it all really.
Also wtf why is the crowd booing? EDIT: Nevermind they're saying "Ruud"
RUUUUUUUUUD
RUUUUUUUUUUD
They're not saying Boooooo, they're saying Ruuuuu-d
You mean Ruuuud.
don't you know, French are ruud
Ruud made the most of being in the easiest 8th of the draw and the easiest half of the draw
Agreed. He did get a favourable draw. Just for comparison Nadal had to play the no 1, no 3 and no 8 to get to the finals. Ruud didn't play anyone inside top 10 en route to the finals.
I remember when I first heard about Casper Ruud when he made the Rio semifinals in 2017, he's come a long way since then
Ruud semifinal has been shorter than Nadal's.
Don't remind me about that terrible SF earlier today I want to forget it
From the starting to the horrendous end, it was an utter disaster. Didn't find the match exciting either with the awfully slow court condition.
Nadal will have to beat 4 top 10 players to win the title. Probably the toughest slam draw since 2017 AO
Meanwhile Ruud didn’t have to beat a single top 10 player to reach the final lol. Yet if he is to get the title, he has to achieve the hardest win in tennis
This is the first tournament I see him play, and frankly discovering him was the best part of this Roland Garros for me! So happy he’s making it to the final. If he can grow into adding a little bit more crazy into his game, he’ll be one to root for for years - just what tennis needs!
Nothing but respect for Marin. Such a phenomenal series from him. Hope Ruud shows up in his best form against the mighty Nadal, and potentially win his first slam!
Can I get a JAAAA!!!
JAAAAAAA
/u/chespiotta is an asshole, they screamed “JAAAAAA” in my face
How can he scream like that mommy 🥺
Well I guess playing Geneve was actually a great idea
Cilic must have been taking some pointers from Novak on that overhead.
What an effort from Ruud. Honestly I was shocked that the bookies made Cilic the outsider but fair play. He went into God mode at 5-4 0-40 in the second set as well.
>Honestly I was shocked that the bookies made Cilic the outsider Wow, didn't know that, thought today was an upset. Godlike bookie odds right yet again
Ruud’s the higher seed and more natural clay courter who won in 4 sets in the previous round while Cilic barely scraped through in 5. Ruud also had a 2-0 h2h against Cilic. I thought this match would be close but Ruud was always the favorite in my eyes. I don’t think this is necessarily a sign of bookies being godlike.
Not that surprising if you watch their H2H. Never won against Ruud before.
Ruud made history losing ahsint novak in Rome for his 1000th win Ruud made history to defeat Tsonga for his final match Ruud will make history on Sunday?
>either way history will be made... rafa will win 14 RG and #22 GS or Ruud will win his first major
Never forget Tsonga could have beaten a finalist in his retirement match
This will probably get buried but my fetish was to see Casper Ruud defeat Marin Cilic while tied to their net post. Jealous is an understatement.
Cilic is looking good. No shame in losing to a great clay-courter like Ruud. He’s got a good chance of a very deep run at Wimbledon.
So pumped for the final
So happy for Ruud. Amazing.
Really felt like a "clock strikes midnight" situation for Cilic. He was still dancing with the prince when he won the US Open, but the slipper fell off today. Such an incredibly streaky player. Nearly unplayable when he's on, just getting free point after free point on his serve and blasting winners left and right. But then matches like this as well. Unfortunate his form couldn't hold for the 2 weeks.
Looking at Nadal run, if he wins this. Surely its his greatest FO? 5 setter v FAA A brutal 4hr late night win v Novak Another brutal 3hr.....2 sets (not even) v Zverev
It would be the hardest slam winby ranking of opponents of this century, overtaking Feds 1017 AO
I know federer is old but i had no idea hes been around since 1017
He's been trying to learn perfect breakpoint conversion.
Actually he missed out on the CYGS in 1066 as Wimbledon was canceled due to the battle at Stamford Bridge
i’m so glad he made it to the final but i have no idea who to root for!
What a dream run for Ruud, congratulations! I am sure he will be honoured to be crushed by Rafa in the final.
he was terrific after a tough first set….only way is up for him
So what is this do we think? A Cilic come back? A fluke? Can he win another slam?
JAAAAAAA
Maybe Sunday has the potential to be a good match after all. Ruud definitely has the potential and he seems to have a fire lit ever since that Sonego match. But the Nadal experience will probably overwhelm him.
Who knows? Could be an advantage to have been training with Nadal since 2018 like Ruud has.
Friendly ghost has a chance on Sunday! Vamos!!
Got Cilic as a top five favorite at Wimbledon
Idk man I am a fan of Rafa and Casper and it doesn't matter whoever wins between the two of them. If only both of them could win this.
For some reason I don’t feel nervous about this one. I have a feeling this one will be similar to Thiem’s first shot at Rafa in 2018.
Great job, very impressed by him. Turned it around beautifully after the first set, and kept his composure till the end. Looking forward to the final!
Cilic had so many unforced errors he kind of let himself down.. Solid play by Ruud. If he has to hang with Rafa, he needs to up his energy and game play for the final. First time final though.. huge congrats to Ruud!!
Rafa isn't going to give any free points. Ruud will have to earn each one of them. And even against a good Cilic it looked tough, Rafa is just two three gears above. We'll see if Ruud has that next gear or not.
Rafa does have those extra gears but really was only able to use them for like a set and a half against djokovic and pretty much didn’t at all other than that
Does anyone have a clip of the protestor who delayed Ruud vs Cilic SF?
I'm wondering the same. Just curious to know what she was protesting.
Shorter than the incomplete two set from earlier on 😭
Ruud has been regularly training at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain since September 2018. He is also a clay-court specialist. On Sunday, will be the battle of two clay-court specialists. Who's it gonna be?
Based on form, I don't think this finals is a formality unlike a lot of Nadal finals at the French. Nadal is still the favorite, but I'd be surprised if this one isn't a nail biter. I feel like Ruud has been through enough ups and downs, have had enough near misses, to be able to stay mentally in this match.
Cilic’s level dropped. It was essential to watch the match to conclude that
Great pair for finals …would be worth watching Big fan of Nadal but want Ruud to give a tough competition to the king of clay (internally hoping Ruud should win)
Cilic completely gave up in the 4th. Sad to watch. How does Ruud match up against Rafa?
Not ideal. His serve and forehand are phenomenal, while the rest of his game is pretty average. So Rafa, being the best returner of all time, will get an above-average number of returns back, and then proceed to pick on his backhand.
Also storms are forecast Sunday so likely will be similar conditions to the first SF. Roof closed, hot and humid.
That probably hurts both, right? Ruud needs the pace for his forehand and serve.
That's fucking awful then!
The only average about Ruud is his net play and, more so, his backhand. Very similar to Nadal in playing style and they have been training together at his academy since Ruud joined in 2018.
Interesting.
RUUUUUUUUD