Big 3 fans: Most confident you’ve been in your favorite to beat the other two?

[Fabresque]

Title says it all. When have you been so confident in a win for your guy that you genuinely had zero qualms or worries before the match?

For me: against Nadal it was 2020 ATP Cup Finals. Usually when Djokovic and Nadal play there’s an expectation of an epic battle/encounter, regardless of if it’s hard court, grass court, or clay courts.

But this time, I had zero reservations that Novak was gonna blow him out of the water.

Against Federer, hard to say since he was always a tough cookie, but probably ‘16 and ‘20 AO SF’s. Both looked good in ‘16 but Djokovic was in absolute god mode. ‘20 Novak looked pretty normal. High level at the AO as always. Roger looked torrid, he barely scraped by Sandgren and canceled his practice before the match. Most people expected a retirement. He still showed up though and put up a great fight, total kamikaze tennis, throwing everything at Novak. Couldn’t win a set tho.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Never tbh, and that's part of why it was so exciting being a Rafa fan

 

[BauerAlmeida]

Against Nadal some HC matches in 2015 or so.

Against Federer yeah, probably AO 2020.

 

[aldeayeah]

Never tbh, and that's part of why it was so exciting being a Rafa fan

tbf I was pretty confident about the 2008 RG final, although I didn't expect kamikaze Fed

 

[ibbi]

2014 Australian Open final. He’s never lost a set to this guy. No worries.

 

[Nadal_King]

For Rafa I was confident heading into 2018 Rome Sf against Djokovic, Djokovic’s form was really not that scary for Rafa on clay and Rafa had got that win last year off him after a long time. Against Roger was pretty confident heading into Rg 2019 Sf, Roger was well past his prime on clay and Rafa was still a huge force so it was just one winner for me heading into the match

 

[tennis_pro]

For Nadal it was probably vs Fed in Rome 2013. Nadal in super form and Fed the opposite of that.

 

[MichaelNadal]

For Nadal it was probably vs Fed in Rome 2013. Nadal in super form and Fed the opposite of that.

#InAnEpicKit

 

[InsideOut900]

• Djoko vs. Nadal: Beijing 2015
• Nadal vs. Djoko: some clay match from 2006-2007 (either RG 06-07 or Rome 07) or Madrid 2017 and probably some other clay matches
• Djoko vs. Fed: AO 20 because of Fed's fitness, age and AO record vs. Novak
• Fed vs. Djoko: AO 07, GOATing Fed vs. young Djoko
• Nadal vs. Fed: Rome 13 or RG 19
• Fed vs. Nadal: probably YEC 06/07 as Ned was never great indoors

 

[DSH]

Wimbledon 2008
US Open 2010.

 

[StrongRule]

• Djoko vs. Nadal: Beijing 2015
• Nadal vs. Djoko: some clay match from 2006-2007 (either RG 06-07 or Rome 07) or Madrid 2017 and probably some other clay matches
• Djoko vs. Fed: AO 20 because of Fed's fitness, age and AO record vs. Novak
• Fed vs. Djoko: AO 07, GOATing Fed vs. young Djoko
• Nadal vs. Fed: Rome 13 or RG 19
• Fed vs. Nadal: probably YEC 06/07 as Ned was never great indoors

Are you serious about the two in bold?

 

[StrongRule]

RG 2008 probably.

 

[jl809]

Nadal vs Djokovic: Rome 2018. Djokovic sucked, Nadal was in great form, easy. Djoker made a decent go at it though

Djokovic vs Nadal: excluding the obvious 2015-16 stuff (probably ATPF SF in that time)….ATP Cup 2020. Nadal had literally just lost to Goffin and had sucked Vs De Minaur, and the court was fast. He actually did better than I thought he would

Federer Vs Djokovic: since they didn’t play at all from mid 2016-mid 2018 (lol), probably Cincy 2015, since the Cincy record was a thing at that point in their rivalry and Fed was mincing everyone that week. I also kinda knew he’d win the ATPF RR match somehow (then knew he’d lose the final)

Djokovic Vs Federer: excluding obvious AO 20 SF, probably Paris 2018 indoors. 2018 Fed just didn’t seem there really and Djoker seemed incapable of losing (he’d lose the next match, which was a big surprise)

Nadal Vs Federer: Rome 2013 lol. And it was every bit as ugly as predicted. AO 2014 is up there too

Federer Vs Nadal: Shanghai 2017, I think Nadal had done his knee a bit Vs Cilic in the SF, it was a fast fast court, and Fed had gone nuclear in their last 2 matches on slower HCs. As easy as anything

 

[StrongRule]

Nadal vs Djokovic: Rome 2018. Djokovic sucked, Nadal was in great form, easy. Djoker made a decent go at it though

Djokovic vs Nadal: excluding the obvious 2015-16 stuff (probably ATPF SF in that time)….ATP Cup 2020. Nadal had literally just lost to Goffin and had sucked Vs De Minaur, and the court was fast. He actually did better than I thought he would

Federer Vs Djokovic: since they didn’t play at all from mid 2016-mid 2018 (lol), probably Cincy 2015, since the Cincy record was a thing at that point in their rivalry and Fed was mincing everyone that week. I also kinda knew he’d win the ATPF RR match somehow (then knew he’d lose the final)

Djokovic Vs Federer: excluding obvious AO 20 SF, probably Paris 2018 indoors. 2018 Fed just didn’t seem there really and Djoker seemed incapable of losing (he’d lose the next match, which was a big surprise)

Nadal Vs Federer: Rome 2013 lol. And it was every bit as ugly as predicted. AO 2014 is up there too

Federer Vs Nadal: Shanghai 2017, I think Nadal had done his knee a bit Vs Cilic in the SF, it was a fast fast court, and Fed had gone nuclear in their last 2 matches on slower HCs. As easy as anything

Nadal's form was anything but great. He lost to Thiem in Madrid with some terrible play, and also was coming from a VERY bad 1/4 final match against Fognini. Also had no serve at all. Add to that his mental problems against Djokovic. He had to suffer in that match, especially in the first set.

Nadal was never the favorite in a match against Djokovic after 2013.

 

[DSH]

Nadal's form was anything but great. He lost to Thiem in Madrid with some terrible play, and also was coming from a VERY bad 1/4 final match against Fognini. Also had no serve at all. Add to that his mental problems against Djokovic. He had to suffer in that match, especially in the first set.

Nadal was never the favorite in a match against Djokovic after 2013.

Although the matchup does not favor him, 30-29 against has not been that bad for the Spanish player, except for a couple of quite painful defeats in the relatively recent past.

 

[StrongRule]

Although the matchup does not favor him, 30-29 against has not been that bad for the Spanish player, except for a couple of quite painful defeats in the relatively recent past.

Only reason why Nadal is losing the head to head is them meeting lots of times in 2014-2016. Also, Nadal was robbed a few times by the organizers in the last few years.

 

[Hitman]

Only reason why Nadal is losing the head to head is them meeting lots of times in 2014-2016. Also, Nadal was robbed a few times by the organizers in the last few years.

Can you list all the years that you personally feel we had good Djokovic vs good Nadal, so only those years count?

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

Never tbh, and that's part of why it was so exciting being a Rafa fan

Oh come on. Basically most french open matches you must have been super confident! Lol

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

Nadal's form was anything but great. He lost to Thiem in Madrid with some terrible play, and also was coming from a VERY bad 1/4 final match against Fognini. Also had no serve at all. Add to that his mental problems against Djokovic. He had to suffer in that match, especially in the first set.

Nadal was never the favorite in a match against Djokovic after 2013.

Djokovic was never the favourite against nadal at the French open or Djokovic open in last few years.

Clay is clay and nadal is always favourite declined or not.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Oh come on. Basically most french open matches you must have been super confident! Lol

We're talking about the big 3 though, I always had too much respect to think he was just gonna automatically beat Novak or Federer. I was scared each time

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

We're talking about the big 3 though, I always had too much respect to think he was just gonna automatically beat Novak or Federer. I was scared each time

Fair enough. They are all quality but Nadal was a god on clay.

His level on clay was higher than Fedovic off clay. I understand your worry as a fan though and due to how great Fed and Novak were and still very good on clay too.

 

[StrongRule]

Djokovic was never the favourite against nadal at the French open or Djokovic open in last few years.

Clay is clay and nadal is always favourite declined or not.

Perhaps you should watch the poll results of the 2022 1/4 final. And that's just one example.

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

Perhaps you should watch the poll results of the 2022 1/4 final. And that's just one example.

On TTW you are correct. However, I doubt most of the experts or bookmakers agreed.

Maybe on 2020 they did. Mainly on TTW it was just wishful thinking from a lot of non-Nadal fans to see a different winner..

 

[joekapa]

At this match. Everybody was expecting a 2012 type thriller . I said it would be a beatdown. Which it was.

 

[StrongRule]

At this match. Everybody was expecting a 2012 type thriller . I said it would be a beatdown. Which it was.

Lol.

 

[joekapa]

Lol.

If you listen to the commentary, even the experts were expecting a 2012 slugfest. As the match progressed, they were dumbstruck....

 

[Sport]

Title says it all. When have you been so confident in a win for your guy that you genuinely had zero qualms or worries before the match?

For me: against Nadal it was 2020 ATP Cup Finals. Usually when Djokovic and Nadal play there’s an expectation of an epic battle/encounter, regardless of if it’s hard court, grass court, or clay courts.

But this time, I had zero reservations that Novak was gonna blow him out of the water.

Against Federer, hard to say since he was always a tough cookie, but probably ‘16 and ‘20 AO SF’s. Both looked good in ‘16 but Djokovic was in absolute god mode. ‘20 Novak looked pretty normal. High level at the AO as always. Roger looked torrid, he barely scraped by Sandgren and canceled his practice before the match. Most people expected a retirement. He still showed up though and put up a great fight, total kamikaze tennis, throwing everything at Novak. Couldn’t win a set tho.

So Nadal took Novak to a tie-break: "Novak totally blow him out of the water"

Federer took Novak to 0 tie-breaks: "Roger put a great fight, total kamikaze tennis".

There's no justification for such different wording. Nadal made his match slightly closer, as he actually pushed a set to the tie-break, unlike Roger. If Roger put a great fight without reaching a tie-break, so did Nadal who actually pushed it to a tie-break.

Of course, you can say it's all relative because Fededer was injured. But we can always find justifications of thst kind, you can also say Nadal was tired after his long match with De Miñaur (he even couldn't play the doubles match in the final due to exhaustion).

 

[Sport]

On point.

Roger Federer. Indian Wells 2017. It was evident he was gonna best Rafa after his recent IW exhibition. Also Shanghai 2017. Federer was playing high-level that year, plus it was indoor hard (the match was played under a roof due to rain), his best surface and condition and Nadal was injured with a bandage in the knee and had to retire from the next tournaments and also against Goffin in the ATP finals from the same sustained injury. Fatality scripted from the beginning.

Rafael Nadal. Roland-Garros 2006, 2007 and 2008. Wasn't following that much tennis back then, but he was a lock against Fedovic at RG, especially those years. Also RG 2019 SF against Roger.

Novak: AO 2020 against Roger, ATP Cup 2020 against Nadal.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Point blank.

AO 2016 vs Federer I knew a beatdown was coming.

RG 2015 vs Nadal I knew a beatdown was coming.

These two times I was most confident vs them. And Nole didn't disappoint.

 

[Breakpointerer]

So Nadal took Novak to a tie-break: "Novak totally blow him out of the water"

Federer took Novak to 0 tie-breaks: "Roger put a great fight, total kamikaze tennis".

There's no justification for such different wording. Nadal made his match slightly closer, as he actually pushed a set to the tie-break, unlike Roger. If Roger put a great fight without reaching a tie-break, so did Nadal who actually pushed it to a tie-break.

Of course, you can say it's all relative because Fededer was injured. But we can always find justifications of thst kind, you can also say Nadal was tired after his long match with De Miñaur (he even couldn't play the doubles match in the final due to exhaustion).

Fed did reach a tiebreak

 

[D.Nalby12]

Federer was very comfortable against Nadal in 2017. I was very sure he would win Miami and Shanghai match..

 

[StrongRule]

On point.

Roger Federer. Indian Wells 2017. It was evident he was gonna best Rafa after his recent IW exhibition. Also Shanghai 2017. Federer was playing high-level that year, plus it was indoor hard (the match was played under a roof due to rain), his best surface and condition and Nadal was injured with a bandage in the knee and had to retire from the next tournaments and also against Goffin in the ATP finals from the same sustained injury. Fatality scripted from the beginning.

Rafael Nadal. Roland-Garros 2006, 2007 and 2008. Wasn't following that much tennis back then, but he was a lock against Fedovic at RG, especially those years. Also RG 2019 SF against Roger.

Novak: AO 2020 against Roger, ATP Cup 2020 against Nadal.

No way. Not after the consecutive losses to Federer, and especially the horrible form Nadal showed for most of the 2019 clay season. As I remember, some Federer fans were predicting Federer to win, there were even threads about it.

 

[AO13]

Never. I felt like it would always be a close contest when Big 3 play against each other. Maybe I am being unrealistic or maybe I am giving too much respect to Roger and Rafael, but that's the way I felt.

 

[Mivic]

For Fed against Nadal it might even be Dubai 2006 or something, except he lost that one.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Never. I felt like it would always be a close contest when Big 3 play against each other. Maybe I am being unrealistic or maybe I am giving too much respect to Roger and Rafael, but that's the way I felt.

Giving too much respect. Way too much.

 

[AO13]

Giving too much respect. Way too much.

But then it tastes much sweeter when Novak wins.

 

[Biotic]

On point.

Roger Federer. Indian Wells 2017. It was evident he was gonna best Rafa after his recent IW exhibition. Also Shanghai 2017. Federer was playing high-level that year, plus it was indoor hard (the match was played under a roof due to rain), his best surface and condition and Nadal was injured with a bandage in the knee and had to retire from the next tournaments and also against Goffin in the ATP finals from the same sustained injury. Fatality scripted from the beginning.

Rafael Nadal. Roland-Garros 2006, 2007 and 2008. Wasn't following that much tennis back then, but he was a lock against Fedovic at RG, especially those years. Also RG 2019 SF against Roger.

Novak: AO 2020 against Roger, ATP Cup 2020 against Nadal.

Your camp was very very confident in Nadal beating Djoko at 2021 RG. Especially yourself.

 

[Pheasant]

I’ve never been confident that Federer would beat Nadal. Nadal started out tough against Fed right out of the gate. He beat Fed in their very first match. Granted, Fed was sick. But still. Their very next match, Fed was 100% healthy and at his very peak, yet needed 5 sets to beat Nadal in Miami. From that point on, I never was confident against Nadal.

The 2007 USO was the last time that I was confident that Fed would beat Djoker. Djoker showed some serious skills in that match. His nerves caved a little, which was the big difference. But he was bombing 128 mph serves. And he was crushing forehands, along with doing a good job returning Fed’s serves. This Djokovic kid scared me. He improved a lot in 2007. After the 2008 Wimbledon final, I figured Fed was about done with winning majors. Maybe, he gets to 14 if he’s lucky. But he wasn’t passing Sampras; no way.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Your camp was very very confident in Nadal beating Djoko at 2021 RG. Especially yourself.

Sport strongrule and others wanted to feast on Nole's body but Nole turned the tables on all rafans that day. Best day.