Any Fed OR Rafa fans a bit worried yet about the clay season? Looking at the Miami predictions thread probably not but I am. Reason; Canas
This guy looks like he spend his 15 month suspension in a boot camp (legs like tree-trunks). His appearance makes the Max Cady character in Cape Fear look like a choirboy.
Seriously;
I haven't seen his win over Fed but i do have seen the match against Ferrero. Canas should have won it in straight sets in the first place but his groundstrokes -specially against a solid baseliner like JCF- really impressed me. His forehand equals Rafa's forehand; same speed, same spin but placed with more depth.
His win over Fed wasn't a incident. Gasquet; be aware!

Let me tell you that as a Federer Fan I am actually very worried about the clay season...especially for Federer.

Canas is a very good claycourter who has already upon return won a clay court title.Then theres Nadal who seems to be peaking at the right time.Federer is borderlining obsession with the claycourt season and it nay just work against him.

So yes,Im worried about the claycourt season!

True about Canas.I saw his match against Ferrero and I agree he should/could have won in 2. But let's not forget that despite his run of form, Canas was a lucky loser when he beat Fed and a loser to Moya in the next round.

It's difficult to gauge Canas's chance from what I saw of his match with Ferrero. Ferrero hasn't got the depth and weight of shots he used to have. he is in a way a Davydenko without Nikolai speed of leg, return of serve skills and taking the ball early. I am very curious to se the match against Gasquet tonight. I have no doubt that Gasquet has the game to beat Canas but I also have no doubt that Gasquet might lose for lacjk of fitness, concentration or else. It could be a very interesting game anyway.

Regarding the clay season, I must say that shoudl Nadal stay fit, it will be a big challenge for Fed but frankly he is the only one I can see him lose with maybe an in-form Nalby (a very rare feat nowadays though). I maintain for the eptunth time that Fed's main challenge for the FO will be the change of weather conditions breaking his rythm (we know by now how important it is to get his rythm going) or simply a very hot day which will make Nadal's FHs and BH the equivalent of irretrievable lobs (also known as moon balls).

I think if Canas can get some sort of momentum going and not just win the occasional match-it will definetely make for a good clay court season, and introduce another contender into what up until now has only been a two horse race (and thats only for three months of the year).

I still believe Fed and Nadal will split Rome and Monte Carlo between them but I think Fed goes into RG with the edge.....

I'm sure Gasquet knows he'd better avoid the crosscourt forehand rallies but it will be difficult; Canas' game is quite imperatively.
For several reasons i prefer a Fed-Gas fourth round match up...

This is what the commentator David Mercer was saying in the match...Ferrero seems to be playing with more spin,no depth and no bite on his shots.He seems to be lacking the power that he had in his 2003 run!And quite frankly he is lacking big time!

;) Good. I did not listen to him on that very match but I always respected his commentary job. :P

This is why it is difficlt to see what canas' future holds cause Ferrero played to make him look good....almost like a coach makes you feel by sending you good balls.

Good match so far with Gasquet wasting many break points.

Hate to say i told you so..

Nevertheless i believe Roger will beat Canas in 2. The situation for Canas is different than it was in IW; there will be more eyes on him and he probably feels like he messed with the wrong bull.

Still, Canas will be a threat coming clay season for Fed as well Rafa :unsure:

You were right about the outcome (which I did not dispute btw) but as i suspected, it was not Canas' FH which did the damage but rather his retrieving skills or rather Gasquet inaptitude to play the big points. In a way quite reminiscent of the Canas/fed IW match.

I knew Canas would win...Gasquet has a mental frailty problem.He actually has so much talent at his disposal but he just couldnt put it together against Canas to pull off the win...Heaven help this boy!

Nevermind Tenez, i didn't meant to flatter myself ;)

Please feel free Greasepipe. I can't be the one blaming you for that.

(you probably remember how proud I was with the Masters prediction! ;) )

Yep! , but that was much more impressive than this meaningless prediction, even the semies a 100% score if i remember correctly!
:clap:

well greasepipe...Youzny is edging nicely towards another Nadal clash,something I like...What do you make of that?

i'm sure he is.. maybe in the hotel lounge? :P

So how's Canas's ranking going to improve now that he's in the final? How about if he wins?

I guess he should be getting close to the top 30 now that he's in the final; is that right? Winning would surely see *very* close to his goal of returning to the top 20.

Cañas will hit 31 or 30 if he loses. With his second Masters title in hand, he'd be around 23 or 24, which is remarkable. He's already virtually guaranteed an RG seeding, and will even be poised to nab a Top 16 seeded spot.

This is exactly where he'd want to be before moving onto his favourite (but not by far his only, as he's demonstrated) surface.

He's got a lot of momentum going in, and a lot of hunger obviously.

It'll be an interesting clay season, for sure --- and eyes will not only be on Federer and Nadal, but surely also on Canas and Djokovic, and possibly Murray (although his results on clay last year were disastrous).