Saturday, September 10, 2011

Archie's Picks: Nadal-Murray

===
Archie is riding Rafa right now, and with good results. So he poked his head up from his bowl this morning and said 'you know what? I'm going with Rafa again.' Then he chowed down the rest of his raw meat and licked his chops. He's thinking that's what Rafa, who is 12-4 vs. Murray in 16 career matches, is going to do today.

See Archie's Federer-Djokovic pick here
See Archie's Federer-Tsonga pick here:
See Archie's Murray-Isner Pick here:
See Archie's Roddick-Nadal pick here
See Archie's Djokovic-Tipsarevic pick here:
See Archie's William's-Pavlyuchenkova pick here:
See Archie's Stosur-Zvonareva pick here:
See Archie's Pennetta-Kerber pick here:
See Archie's Petkovic-Wozniacki pick here:
See Archie's French Open Picks here:
See Archie's Wimbledon picks here:

Archie's Pick: Rafa
Why: Because archie believes Rafa is part pit bull.

My Pick: Rafa
Why: I'd like to pick the upset here, but after watching Rafa's bloodletting vs. Andy Roddick yesterday, I'm thinking that Nadal is primed to make a run this weekend (and Monday) in New York. I think ideally Rafa, being the warrior that he is, would like a chance to get revenge against Djokovic in the final. If that doesn't happen, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to expand his dominion over Federer to the slower-playing hardcourts in New York.

Either way, the scheduling gods gave Rafa a nice break when they moved the final to Monday. Rafa then gave himself a break when he made short work of Roddick in the quarters yesterday. Murray has had a good tournament, and he's a formidable foe for anybody on the hardcourts. But I think he will get broken more than he breaks, and in tennis, that usually means you lose. Until Murray has a more reliable first serve that he can call upon in big points, games, and tiebreaks, I think he's destined to lose to a player like Nadal. I don't think there is much that separates these two great players, especially on a hardcourt, but the serve is one of those things, and it can't be overlooked. That's why I'm picking Rafa, just like Archie, in a tough 4-setter today.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Leave your two cents here!