In this week’s Changeover Podcast, Brodie of Mind The Racket, Amy, Lindsay, and Juan José talk about Novak Djokovic’s big win over Rafael Nadal in Monte-Carlo, Fed Cup, and make predictions for this week.
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Andy Murray on clay is like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead: when he’s good, he’s very, very good, but when he’s bad, he’s horrid.
I suspect the core reason for this is more mental than anything else; maybe the slowness of the surface gives Murray TOO much time to think about his shots and get frustrated about his play. Maybe, like Brodie suggested, movement and feel on clay is an innate gift that can’t be learned easily. Or it could just be another result of his role as the most contrarian and unpredictable member of the Big Four; it’s actually pretty fitting that the guy who imploded on his favorite surface at 2011 Indian Wells and Miami and then rediscovered his form on his worst surface at Monte Carlo and Rome would choose the tournament right after his ascent to No. 2 to suffer his worst loss of the season so far. Just wait until no one expects anything from him on clay; _that’s_ when he’ll decide to go on a tear!
Predicted Winners
Barcelona – King of Clay (Will match his number of titles at Monte Carlo)
Bucharest – Seppi (Would have picked Simon but guess who looms for him? Juan Jose favorite ATP player)
Marrakech – Medina Garrigues (WTA active leader in clay titles)
Stuttgart – Li (due to a better draw than Sharapova)
Great podcast guys as always. Brodie always seems lost when he talks about tennis though unless it’s about Raonic haha.
Anyway JJ, the last time Nadal got bagled on clay was not in 2005 but in 2007 against Federer in Hamburg.