Carlito pulls out of Rome due to an arm injury, hopefully he is 100% for The French Open and Olympics
It's difficult to switch away from a setup that has already given him a great deal of success, but if he doesn't want to give up his Babolat Pure Aero 98, maybe a string change is required.
It's difficult to switch away from a setup that has already given him a great deal of success, but if he doesn't want to give up his Babolat Pure Aero 98, maybe a string change is required.
He's got one of the harshest setups out there using PA98 and RPM blast. It's kind of amazing that Nadal was able to avoid arm issues for an entire career using an even stiffer older gen PA and thicker RPM blast. I imagine changing to a hybrid or softer sting setup may come at the expense of topspin generation which is part of his game. There's not really such thing as an arm friendly Babolat frame so short of getting out of his agreement with Babolat I'm not sure what he can do. There's a reason that a lot of male players use H22 or pro stock Blades as they are more old school thin beam, plush feeling frames that aren't going to beat up your arm like some of the more modern thicker beam, spin frames.
I think Lehecka is going to be difficult to beat for Felix although I would have never thought he would take out Ruud.
I think it could boil down to who serves better today and I might have to give the edge to Lehecka. That said, Jiri did look a little nervous yesterday when he saw Medvedev was compromised physically and started making unforced errors. I think it certainly goes three sets though and would not at all be surprised to see a tie-break to decide things in set 3.
He's got one of the harshest setups out there using PA98 and RPM blast. It's kind of amazing that Nadal was able to avoid arm issues for an entire career using an even stiffer older gen PA and thicker RPM blast. I imagine changing to a hybrid or softer sting setup may come at the expense of topspin generation which is part of his game. There's not really such thing as an arm friendly Babolat frame so short of getting out of his agreement with Babolat I'm not sure what he can do. There's a reason that a lot of male players use H22 or pro stock Blades as they are more old school thin beam, plush feeling frames that aren't going to beat up your arm like some of the more modern thicker beam, spin frames.
Do we know if Carlitos is using a full bed of RPM Blast? A lot of pros are using natural gut in the mains and a poly in the crosses (some switch that around). Natural gut is known for its comfort and feel, but not great for tension maintenance. At any rate, it has to be a concern for Alcaraz and his team that these arm issues continue to flare up.
Does FAA have some type of power that's making his opponents have to forfeit these matches that he's unleashing here? If this happens at Roland Garos I'll be suspicious.
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Does FAA have some type of power that's making his opponents have to forfeit these matches that he's unleashing here? If this happens at Roland Garos I'll be suspicious.
There are people speculating that the clay on the main show court is not as thick as it should be (i.e. it is thicker on the outer courts) combined with it being quite slippery and that it might be causing some players to slip leading to some of the injuries we are seeing.
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Taylor Fritz alluded to how different centre court is playing as compared to the other courts and said it was very slippery in the post-game interview. It starts about 9 minutes 30 seconds in.
Genie Bouchard Opens Up About Overcoming Critique on the Tennis Court
The athlete wants to disregard the stigma around mental health in professional tennis
