B2B Social Media Marketing

Read on if you are a B2B marketer without any idea of how to strategize your business’ foray into the world of Social Media Marketing.

Alright, according to a B2B social media survey by Pardot, 42% of B2B marketers report zero sales lead from Social Media. Bad news is it? Not quite in my book, as it means 58% do get leads. Takeaway1- “BE OPTIMISTIC”. So, how do they get the leads, do they have rocket scientists on board? obviously not!.They simply have forayed into the space with a clear strategy in place. The following lines should help any B2B marketer, big or small, to develop a clear understanding of what needs to be done to attain success on social media.

Listen

Any social media effort has to start with listening. Before even your first blog post or your first tweet, listen what is being talked about. Go ahead and take the services of social monitoring tools and listen what people are talking about your brand, about your products. Listed are a few insights that needs to be looked at:-

1. What are people talking about your brand and your products?

2. Where are these people talking on? Are they on Forums/Facebook/Linkedin etc.

3.What is being spoken about the competition?

4. What keywords or hashtags are people using when they talk about your brand. Monitoring tools like Brandwatch, Radian6 have comprehensive keyword cloud graphs.

5. Who are the industry influencers on social media?

Set your Goals right

Don’t just enter social media because your competitor is on it. That’s way too dangerous. Social Media is going to live forever, so you cannot afford to enter, create an audience and leave it when you are not getting results. If you are in it, you are in it forever. There’s no stopping mid-way, of course you can always change your strategy if it’s not working, but you cant leave the space until the audience is leaving a particular platform and embracing another. If it has to be done with a long term view, then better do it right. Never rush into it, remember the age old saying Haste makes waste? Take time, brainstorm and come up with a clear answer as to why you need to be on social media and what you would want to achieve by being on it. The first step of “Listening” should answer most of the questions for you. Takeaway2:- “LISTENING NEVER STOPS”

Choose the platform

Get out of the “I want to be on Facebook Syndrome” and see whether you really need to be on Facebook. If your audience is elsewhere, there’s no point in being on Facebook. Based on your findings during the listening phase, you need to choose the platforms. This probably reiterates the importance of listening for social media marketing. Almost each and every step depends on listening. The longer you listen the better insights you would be able to derive.

Post good and informative Content

Content will decide your success or failure on social media. Whichever platform you choose, you need to ensure that the content is appealing to the audience. A typical B2C marketer can afford to be slightly casual and be playful on his FB or Twitter profile, but a B2B marketer cant afford to do that. I dont mean to say be dead serious and sound boring, but ensure the tone suits your audience. Audience on social media easily understand marketing tone and this will put them off, so concentrate more on adding value. An occasional sales pitch is fine, but never base all your content with an intention of getting some marketing mileage. Takeway 3–”Content is still the King”

Run Ad Campaigns
Never hesitate to try out Ad campaigns on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Facebook and LinkedIn have comprehensive audience targetting options and it will help your message reach the right audience. You can run ad campaigns even if your business is not on Facebook. They are very inexpensive and the FB ad products can help you reach the exact audience. Moreover, they show you the exact potential reach of your message. Takeaway 4–” Not everything is free on Social Media” so spend, if the need be.

Analyze

Analyze and see if your efforts are meeting with success. Some key KPIs you need to look at are:

1. Visits to the website from Social Media websites.

2. Other web analytics stats like time spent on website, conversions etc

3. Clicks on Shortened links.

4. Number of ReTweets, @mentions, likes and comments (on Facebook or Linkedin Groups), shares, Increase in fans and followers etc.

Good news is that, not all analytical applications come with a cost attached to it. Some like twitter stats, FB and LinkedIn insights, Bit.ly Analytics are free, so try these out and derive insights.
Last Tip
Last, but not the least, take the aid of other forms of marketing, online or otherwise, to spread the word about your social assets. Have social asset buttons placed on your website, ask your employees to add the business’ social profile buttons on their email signature. If you are a guest speaker at a conference, make sure to add your social profile ids at the end of the presentations, make use of the back side of the employees’ business cards. Fill it with the social profile information. Never hesitate to try things and hope that everything combines well and gets you in the 58% of B2B marketers who get sales leads from Social Marketing efforts !!

Please feel free to drop in a comment or two. Any feedback good or bad are welcome

How can Federer regain the No 1 ranking?

Roger Federer has shattered most records in Tennis. However, there are a few that still elude him, the Olympic Gold medal, the calendar slam and most weeks at the top spot, he is currently a week short of Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks, among a few others (please pitch in the comments section).
The Olympic Gold medal and the calendar grand slam cannot happen in 2011, but he has a bright chance to regain the top spot sooner than most people think it is.
Let’s take a look at what Roger Federer has to defend and earn this year:
Tournament 2010 Points to Defend Potential Points to Gain
Indian Wells Lost in Rd of 16 90 910
Miami Masters Lost in Rd of 16 90 910
Monte Carlo Didn’t play – 1000
Rome Masters Lost in 2nd Round 10 990
Estoril Open Lost in Semi-Finals 90 160
Madrid Masters Lost in the Finals 600 400
French Open Lost in the Quarters 360 1640
Wimbledon Lost in Quarters 360 1640
Total: 1600 Total: 7,650

Now, let’s take a look at Rafael Nadal’s schedule till Wimbledon and the points he has to defend:

Rafael Nadal has a whopping 7,360 points to defend as compared to Federer’s 1600. Currently, Nadal has a lead of close to 4,000 points over Federer. If Nadal, loses 2000 points and Federer gains 2000, by the end of Wimbledon, Federer will reclaim the No 1 spot from Nadal.
Federer has to win at least two masters and win either the French or the Wimbledon to earn a solid 4000 points. The key here will be to win those Masters tourneys (Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome) that Nadal won last year, as this will result in Nadal losing a few points.
Once the Masters are done with, Federer has to win at least one Grand Slam and hope that Nadal falls in or before the semis.
Federer is still playing well enough to be able to beat most players on tour. His likely road blocks will be in the form of Djokovic and Nadal, but the best part is he won’t be facing Djokovic before the semi finals and Nadal before the finals of all the Masters and Slams. This gives Federer a chance to earn a few points before taking on Djokovic/Nadal.
Federer will need form, fitness and some luck to regain the No 1 by the time Wimbledon ends.

Follow www.tennisfanz.com to get updates on Tennis

Australian Open- 2011 Draw

So the first biggie of 2011- THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN, is all set to start on 17th January. The Draw is out and here is a quick look at the possible opponents of the top 5 seeds.

Top Seed- Rafael Nadal

1st round: Marcos Daniel
2nd round: Qualifier/Gimeno-Traver
3rd round: Feliciano Lopez
4th round: John Isner/ Marin Cilic
Quarterfinals: David Ferrer/Mikhail Youzhny/David Nalbandian
Semifinals: Andy Murray/Robin Soderling
Finals: Roger Federer/Novak Djokovic

Second Seed- Roger Federer

1st round: Lukas Lacko
2nd round: Giles Simon
3rd round: Albert Montanes/Xavier Malisse
4th round: Mardy Fish/Sam Querrey
Quarterfinals: Andy Roddick/Gael Monfils/Stanislas Wawrinka
Semifinals: Novak Djokovic
Finals: Rafael Nadal/ Andy Murray

Third Seed- Novak Djokovic

1st round: Marcel Granollers
2nd round: Ivo Karlovic
3rd round: Viktor Troicki
4th round: Nicolas Almagro/Ivan Ljubicic
Quarterfinals: Tomas Berdych/Nikolay Davydenko/Fernando Verdasco
Semifinals: Roger Federer
Finals: Rafael Nadal/Andy Murray

Fourth Seed- Robin Soderling

1st round: Potito Starace
2nd round: Qualifier
3rd round: Thomaz Bellucci/Denis Istomin
4th round: Ernests Gulbis/JO Wilfred Tsonga
Quarterfinals: Andy Murray
Semifinals: Rafael Nadal
Finals: Roger Federer/Novak Djokovic

Fifth Seed- Andy Murray

1st round: Karol Beck
2nd round: Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo/Illya Marchenko
3rd round: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/ Leonardo Mayer
4th round: Jurgen Melzer/Baghdatis
Quarterfinals: Robin Soderling/Jo Wilfred Tsonga
Semifinals: Rafael Nadal
Finals: Roger Federer/Novak Djokovic

I will follow-up this post with a deeper analysis of the draw and the players who could spring a surprise or two this Australian Open.

What should Andy Murray do to win a Grand Slam?

One more year passed without success in a Grand Slam for Andy Murray. It isn’t that time is ticking fast for the 23-year-old, but give the talent this lad has, it is surprising, and at times frustrating, to see him not win a major by now.

He has won a handful of Masters 1000 series, beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on odd occasions, and is consistent at making a second week appearance in most Slams. However, he falters on each occasion and fails to lift a major.

His best bet to win a major was 2010 Australian Open, when he crossed the first hurdle by beating Nadal in the QFs. He then beat Marin Cilic in 4 sets to reach his second slam final. However, his hopes were dashed by Roger Federer, the second hurdle, in a lopsided final.

The big question for all Murray Fans is what should he do to win a Slam?

Murray is a defensive counter puncher and his game lacks variety. He has shown once in a blue moon that he can play offense as well, but that will hardly win him a Grand Slam. He has to take a leaf out of Nadal, who started as a defensive counter puncher and kept on adding new facets to his game and now uses his lethal forehand as offense. Murray’s present game is extremely predictable so he has to start employing a flatter forehand and use it as a surprise offense shot to take his opponents aback. Chipping and charging, once in a while, will keep his opponents guessing.

Murray has beaten Nadal twice in Grand Slams and has a winning record against Federer, but come the big occasion and he is expected to crumble under pressure against these two giants of the era. Federer and Nadal are experts at gauging the mental state of an opponent. They exactly know what bearing their “come ons” & “Vamos’” have on their opponents. You will never find a Nadal or a Federer yelling or smashing racquets. They remain ice cool even when they lose points. Even if they are upset they don’t let it affect their own game. On the contrary, Murray yells at himself, hits at his racquet strings and at times smashes his racquet. A Federer or a Nadal will sense this emotional vulnerability and nail their opponents. Murray has to remain calm and composed irrespective of the position he is in a match.

Nadal and Federer will be the guys to beat at all the majors in 2011. There is no second thought on that. Anyone harboring hopes of winning a major in 2011 has to beat at least one of these two. Given Murray’s current ranking, he will be drawn to meet either Nadal/Federer in the semi finals. So, he has to hope that someone else takes one of them out before the semis and the guy (either Nadal or Federer) in the final has an off day, because beating Nadal and Federer in two consecutive matches will be tough even for the immortals of the game, let alone Andy Murray. Rub of the green, few minor adjustments to his game and his mental conditioning, should help him lift his maiden Grand Slam.

All you need to know about Twitter…

Twitter has become a phenomenon of sorts and is making huge waves across the world.  Its popularity has scaled to such heights that even the Marketers have started taking note of it seriously.

But is the hype really worth it?

Absolutely! We know how powerful a medium internet is nowadays, especially after the advent of Web 2.0.

People now have the license to express their views and opinions in a public domain. People can and write about their experiences, likes, dislikes. People have an opinion on almost everything under the sun

So what’s the big deal? Why should the Marketers care about it?

Gone are the days when there were only 4Ps in Marketing and “People” had no place in the books. Now, with time Marketing as a concept has evolved and included “People” in what is now 6Ps of Marketing.

Not only, has “people” been included, but it’s right on top of the 6Ps.

Marketers should definitely take note of it, because their audience is drifting away from the traditional media to the internet media. Take this for example:

People reading news on websites has increased with a huge potential to overtake (if not already) newspaper readers. People watching sports on live streaming sites also, has increased.

The marketers don’t market and sell to extraterrestrials; they sell and market to people very much alive and kicking in this planet. And these people have now got a powerful medium to write, talk and opine about almost everything under the sun. It is highly imperative for marketers to follow the audience.

Why only Twitter?

Only Marketers who love playing with danger will ignore other social media sites. It’s not only twitter, but the entire social media like, face book, blogs and other networking sites that a marketer should take care of. However, I will limit the scope of this article to Twitter and leave the others for some other day.

What should one Know about Twitter?

There are a few elementary things that one needs to know in twitter. They are as follows:

• Hash Tags (#): Hash Tag is a simple way to attach hash symbol (#) before a tweet to ensure that your people find your tweet when they launch a search for that hash tag, word/category.

The Business Angle: A business can benefit tremendously by using hash tags. They can find various posts referring to their brand. They can get to know what people have and are discussing about their brand. Secondly, they can also find potential customers with the help of hash tags.

For example; a #laptop search on twitter will give you a real time stream of tweets related to laptops.

Marketers can find a person looking to buy a laptop, and pitch in with their product. This platform has become a breeding ground to find potential customers.

• Follow Friday: Follow Friday is a concept that proves beneficial to all those users in Twitter, who don’t know whom to follow.  Under this concept every week users nominate a person of their choice to follow and since it is done mostly on the weekends users call it Follow Friday.

The Business Angle: A marketer instead of, blindly searching for people can actually get a reasonable idea of the most popular users in Twitter. If certain user has a lot of followers, which means people look up to that user and his/her opinion counts a lot. Marketers will get to know if their brand is being talked by these popular users.

• ReTweets:  Re tweet is nothing, but re posting a tweet, so that followers of that particular user get to know of that tweet. For example; X is following Y and Z is following X. Y tweets an interesting one. X reads that tweet and likes it. X now wants Z and his other followers to read this tweet as well. So he reTweets and everyone following X now gets to know about the tweet made by Y. Also, it is a way to giving credit to the person who first tweets the post.

The Business Angle: A marketer can get to know the popular tweets and see how many people are retweeting it. This will give the marketer a fair idea of how his tweets are faring.

• Topic Trends: This feature in twitter helps the users know about the topics people are talking about now. This feature is found on the right hand side of your home page.

The Business Angle: Every business house in the planet will be interested to know, if they are in the current discussion.  If yes, how is their brand faring in current discussions. If they find that people are discussing about buying a product which their company deals in, then they might pitch in their product.

The above things will help to get started. I will follow this article up with another article on strategies for twitter marketing.

Rafael Nadal ousts Federer to win Madrid Masters

The tennis world, deprived of a Nadal-Federer match for exactly a year, finally got to see the blockbuster match with Nadal coming on top of federer in a rematch of last year’s Madrid Masters final.

 Nadal delighted fans all over by beating the world number 1 to win 3 masters series in a row. A feat no man has ever achieved before. Nadal won the keenly contested match 6-4, 7-6.

 Nadal broke early in the first set to take a 2-1 lead. However, Federer broke back immediately before losing serve decisively at 4-3. Rafa then served out the first set with relative ease. The second set also saw the two players exchange breaks of serve before holding serves. The set went on to a tie-breaker and Nadal sealed victory on his second championship point.

 This was Nadal’s 18^th Masters 1000 series win and in process he surpassed Andre Agassi for the most number of Master 1000 wins. Overall, this was Nadal’s 39^th tour level victory.   

 Rafael Nadal is in rich vein of form and is unbeaten this clay season dropping just 2 sets in 15 games so far. Nadal, with this triumph, will return to No 2 on the tour rankings.

 Nadal now leads Federer 14-7 in overall career meetings. Both players now head to Paris for the French Open which starts on May 23 and the tennis world will hope, yet again, for a blockbuster match on the second Sunday at Roland Garros.

Nadal crushes David Ferrer to win Rome Masters

Rafael Nadal achieved at the age of 23 what took Andre Agassi a lifetime- win 17 masters series. With this win Nadal has surpassed Federer who has 16 masters series titles to his credit. Nadal defeated David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 in an all Spanish encounter at the Rome Masters final. Nadal was in imperious form stamping his authority over Ferrer and the red dirt.  Nadal’s mental toughness and focus was once again on display as the match saw two rain interruptions. Nadal showed no signs of fatigue after a long semi-final against Gulbis. Ferrer, on the other hand is also enjoying a rich vein of form that saw him beat Andy Murray and Fernando Verdasco en route to the finals here at Rome. The crowd at Rome witnessed fierce tennis in the first set as both players held serve till 5-5 before Ferrer, finally buckled under intense pressure applied by the Emperor of Clay. Nadal then served out the first set at 7-5. The second set was routine for Nadal as he broke Ferrer twice to earn a well deserved win, his 5^th title in 6 years, in Rome. This is the second title for Nadal this season after he ended an 11 month title drought in Monte Carlo Masters a fortnight back. The Spanish matador has been in red hot form on clay this season dropping just one set to win both the tournaments he participated in. Rafael Nadal now heads to the Madrid Masters where he was a finalist last year. Going by the form he is in at the moment, it won’t come as a surprise if he wins 3 titles in a row.

The Satyam Experience…

I still remember the day 20^th September 2007, arguably the happiest day of my life, when Satyam visited our college (IBS, Chennai) to hire. Scores of anxious batch mates awaited the interview panel to arrive and give us a pre placement talk. The team from Satyam arrived a good 45 mins later. They breezed us through a very brief presentation about the company and job profile on offer for us.

 A few disappointed souls (intelligent ones) opted out of the process.

 The process began with a round of group discussions, fortunately for me the topic asked to discuss was the one I had come well prepared for. Close to 50 students cleared the group discussions. Personal interviews followed the group discussions.

First to go was my close friend and then room mate Arindam. Time was passing at snail’s pace that day. Arindam came out after 55 mins and said in his characteristic style “pura puri stress interview”.

He looked completely a$@ f***ed !!!

This sent a shiver down my spine…..After another couple of guys, it was my turn!

I took the name of Lord Sai and walked in with a big smile on my face. 45 minutes later I came out with an even bigger smile, quietly confident that I will be through.

It was close to 7.30 pm when the panel was done with the interviews. We all were eagerly waiting for the results.

The panel then started announcing the names of candidates who made it.

After the announcement of a few names, the announcer found some difficulty in pronouncing a name; I knew it had to be my name, after all pronouncing “Gollapudi” for a North Indian at the first go, isn’t that easy.

The announcement of my name was followed by me yelling “yes”. I stood up, looked upwards and thanked the almighty.

Arindam’s name was also announced but, sadly then and fortunately now, my other room mate Sayan missed out. Both I and Arindam were on cloud 9; we hugged and congratulated each other.

I still remember me saying to Abhinav (one of my friends) “yaar meri life bana di bhagwaan ne”

Joining Satyam

6^th May 2008, was the day when I joined Satyam as a management trainee in Hyderabad. All of us assembled at SSL (Satyam School of Learning). I must admit that it was quite an impressive building. We all completed the joining formalities and finally received the coveted Satyam Identity card. I felt a sense of achievement, when I wore the card for the first time.

We all were supposed to attend a 15 day induction cum training cum “whatever” program at Satyam Techology Centre (STC) from the 8^th of May.

We needed to board a STC bound Satyam bus from Anand theatre. An hour after boarding the bus we reached STC, the green sprawling Satyam International headquarters campus.

I don’t think anything in Satyam can get better than STC.

It boasts of a tennis court, swimming pool, gym, synthetic basket ball court, snooker tables and a small zoo. I fell in love with STC because of the tennis court and swimming pool.    

The training program commenced and after a few hours all of us lost interest in it.

With every passing day the program became a pain in the ass for every one. The post lunch session usually witnessed a meager turnout with people bunking sessions to leave home early. I and Arindam couldn’t muster courage to bunk the classes so, we started enjoying cat naps in the training hall itself.

A few days later all of us were allotted to different departments. Arindam was allotted a different unit and subsequently transferred to Chennai. 

I wanted to my office to be in STC, so that I could stay at the dorms and enjoy the club facilities but as it turned out; my place of work was in the other corner of the city. I was grossly disappointed….

22^nd May was the day when I began my working relationship with Satyam.

I was part of a newly formed team and was very happy with the kind of work I was assigned. Ramesh, my first boss was a gem of a person, very friendly and protective. Ours was a great team; all of the teammates gelled very well with each other and soon became good friends. Office seemed to me like an extension to college.  

Weekends @ STC

I don’t know why, but I was very fascinated with tennis, as a child I used to dream of playing tennis and STC was the place where I could realize my dream.

I just could not wait to lay my hands on the Wilson tennis racquets and play on the clay courts of STC.  

I reached STC at around 4 in the evening; there was not even a single soul on the court. I went to the club office took the trainer along with me and started playing. The game of tennis is a lot more difficult than it seems. An hour later, sweat soaked, I headed for the swimming pool and followed it up with a steam and sauna bath session. At the end of it all, I was physically drained and mentally refreshed. As a result of my weekends at STC, I was more active both physically and mentally.

That was probably the best phase of my life. I was financially independent, physically fit and mentally active.

At this juncture life seemed like a bed of roses to me!

The last few months…

Yeah! Life was indeed a bed of roses but, not without a few thorns which kept pricking my little “culo” time and again.

I received the first of those pricks on Jan 7^th.

I and one of my colleagues on our way back to the office after a tea break, observed lot of worried faces from the glass doors. We swiped in and walked into a noisy environment. We were shell shocked when we got to know that our Chairman had resigned.

Without wasting much time I logged into my system to check the authencity of the news. To my horror, our chairman had not only resigned but, confessed to involvement in fraudulent activities.

Once the news broke out, the stock prices went for a toss! This was the second prick, I had some investments.

Ouch! That was painful.

That day was really tough for all of the employees. I couldn’t sleep all night. The next few days were spent pondering about issues like, salary and job security. The govt appointed board was very protective of the associates. Every other day we received emails, which assured that associates were the top priority.

An old proverb says “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”. I followed it and started looking for opportunities elsewhere as I knew my unit wasn’t a revenue generating unit and people from my unit will be the first ones to face the axe.

Meanwhile, we continued to receive emails about Associate protection and future course of action for the company.

A takeover seemed to be the only option left to save the sinking ship. One fine day in the month of April, another company took over Satyam. This was a breather of sorts for us. All of us were now hopeful of some good news coming our way.

Good news came our way in the form of a Sabbatical. The third prick! Close to 10k employees were handed out a sabbatical with only basic pay for 6 months. I was disappointed but, I knew it could have been lot worse.

Lot of people had lot of things to say about the Sabbatical and the way the company treated us but, in my heart I knew the company treated us well by not sacking us…. Another company might have just said “fuck off” and thank you! and we could have done nothing about it.          

A couple of months later, I got an offer from another company and I finally resigned from satyam in the third week of August putting an end to the bitter sweet relationship.

 Being my first company, Satyam will always have a special place in my heart. I still sometimes miss Satyam, more so STC….

Wanted Dead or Alive- review

image source: ONE INDIA

 Wanted Dead or Alive, the remake of the telugu/tamil blockbuster Pokiri, is a masala entertainer starring Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia.

Wanted kicks off with Radhe (Salman), a fearless goon who kills for money, bashing a few other goons in a set up reminiscent of the Amitabh classic Deewar fight scene.

Radhe’s courageous, ruthless and casual style of killing makes him the most sought after henchman in the Mumbai Mafia. He is hired by Golden, the right hand of dreaded Don Gani bhai. Radhe’s alliance with them marks the launch of a spate of gang wars. At this juncture enters janhvi (Ayesha), who is eyed by a lustful sub inspector (Mahesh manjerekar). Radhe and janhvi fall in love with each other.

Meanwhile the commissioner of the Mumbai Police vows to extricate crime from the city. An interesting and surprising twist makes Radhe the most wanted man in Mumbai. How Radhe clears all the hurdles and emerges victorious is what unfolds in rest of the movie.

Now, there is absolutely nothing that’s new in this full on masala movie but, the movie rides on the star power and charisma of Salman Khan. Almost, each and every dialogue was followed by wolf whistles and claps from the front benchers.   

Ayesha’s role did not have much meat in it. However, she plays her part with sincerity and looks stunningly beautiful.

Songs in the second half slowed down the pace a bit but, the movie picks up its tempo with the entry of Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj). His portrayal of the funny Don is immaculate and ensures that it tickles your funny bone.

All the elements of a typical masala are carefully drafted into the scheme of things to make this movie an entertaining affair.  

 Now, the big question Is wanted worth the Hype and Hoopla around it?

Yes! Its worth it but, pseudo intellectuals better stay away !

Rafa Loses

Juan Martin Del Potro handed out  nadal, the worst defeat of his career. Rafa was completely mauled by the big hitting, big serving  Argentine. He played imposing tennis throughout the match and beat nadal 6-2,6-2,6-2.

 He outplayed nadal in all departments of the game. His serves were booming, forehands fierce and volleying precise. He beat the great champion left right and centre. Rafa tried his best but, his game was found wanting against the lanky Argentine.

I am grossly disappointed with nadal’s performance. Nadal has  lot of thinking to do as far as his game goes. All throughout the US Open he has lost his serve to lesser known players. Rafa has to improve on his serves if he has any plans of adding to this tally of 6 grand slams.

 However, this is a good result for him considering the fact that he was not 100 % fit.  I firmly believe that the spanish matador will be back  and avenge this defeat. 

All of the tennis world was hoping for a Rafa roger final but, potro had different plans.