Moya on Rafa's "mental and physical fatigue," pulling out of Wimbledon, and the SF against Djokovic

[kevaninho]

Even though he's lost so many of the last clay matchups against Nadal, it doesn't seem to impact his mentality or willingness to do battle.

After his latest tough victory I would bet he's even more confident in his chances.

But you could say the same for Nadal.

Remember 2011 when Djokovic started a 7 in a row run over Rafa? Including 2 on clay.

What did Rafa do?

Well, he was close to winning the AO 2012, then went on to win 6 of the next 7 matches himself, with a couple of huge ones in Canada and USO 2013.

They are all capable of turning it around. Its just more difficult when your body is failing you as you age.

Im pretty sure Fed is as determined mentally to beat these guys when he sees them across the net too. But physically he can only do so much.

Djokovic is definitely in the best shape of the 3.

 

[The Blond Blur]

Rafa is so exceptional that he could obviously win nearly any tournament at any time. So can Djokovic. So could Federer in his best years. But each individual possesses different attributes and different preferences. Nadal has always preferred to play a "full" spring clay schedule consisting of MC, Barcelona, Madrid (previously Hamburg) and Rome. Rafa likes to get those reps on clay. He likes the build-up of the CC season. Sure, we can speculate that he would benefit from eliminating a warmup event or two from his schedule at this stage of his career, but the evidence doesn't really support doing so. Clearly, he would rather cut back in other parts of the year so that he can work into the CC season and play his typical schedule.

It was widely spoken about (by Moya, by Rafa himself and repeated by various media members) that Rafa needed Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome to obtain the necessary reps and confidence in 2019. Nadal lost in the semis of those first three tournaments before winning Rome two years ago. Then he swept through RG as usual. I'm not sure what can be gleaned from the abbreviated fall 2020 clay court season.

This year appeared quite similar to 2019, except that Nadal had played very little tournament tennis in months. In fact, following the fall 2020 RG, Nadal played in three official tournaments between October 2020 and April 2021 (three tournaments in six months). He looked rusty and off in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, but found a way to eek out the Barcelona title over Tsitsipas. Perhaps he didn't need to play Madrid, but he had a week off after Barcelona and it's in Spain. As in 2019, it wasn't until Rome that he really obtained the necessary confidence. He didn't lose to Djokovic in the RG semis because he overplayed. He lost to Djokovic because Djokovic is equally exceptional and happened to play a bit better on more key moments later in the match.

And in this very interview Moya says that RAFA was exhausted from the long CC season, and he looked it in the match. There’s literally no point at all in playing Madrid. The conditions there are nothing like RG, so getting reps in there won’t help in the slightest in preparing for a major. 2019 was 2 years ago, and with each passing year he’s going to have to be more selective when it comes to planning his schedule and playing events. Playing that many events in a row in that short of time at his age is just no sensical.

 

[jm1980]

Being tied with Federer on 20 slams is why Nadal missed that easy volley at 3-4 in the tiebreaker, and why he was too gun-shy to hit down-the-line........instead grinding crosscourt.

 

[GabeT]

Greatest volleyer, ladies and gents

That looks like me last weekend. Only multiply it by 10

 

[Texas Tennis Fan]

Exactly. That is why I don't believe in " Objective poster" theory . Those who call themselves objective are biased AF .

I have seen few fans here refuse to believe Novak was injured even if his toe bleeds or his elbow bleeds in full public view , even if he falls down on court very badly . They keep laughing at it and make threads discussing for days that he was not injured .

But the same fans readily accept injury excuse of their favourite player after the player lost an important match . And the player only claims injury after the match is over . There were no visible signs of injury before or during the match. But these shameless fans totally want everyone to believe their favourite players/ God's excuses . Lol hypocrites

Ofcourse there are respectable fans in all fanbases .so we need to be respectful to the decent , respectful ones .

I sort of agree. But I'd still put it as a 1-10 listing of objectivity. I am a Djokovic supporter and may never get above a 7 in objectivity, but I still like to think I am more objective than a lot of posters. I will also say, since we Djokovic ic supporters are happy about the RG 2021 results, that it is easier to be more objective now than before RG.

 

[Tennislover26]

Rafa has no mental fatigue. It's all BS. His body cannot cope with the strain against top players. That is why he is taking a long break to recover and focus on the US Open.

 

[Texas Tennis Fan]

OK but even Nadal '20 was much better in that regard (as proven by the score), and it was only 8 months ago...

Players can play differently in a single day. It happens.

 

[socallefty]

Nadal will be a lot fresher than everyone else in August, on the way to his 6th Canada title and 5th US Open title........and he may even win Cincy again.
Also a great chance at winning the ATP World Tour Finals, considering he beat Tsitsipas and Rublev at London last year, and almost beat Medvedev in straight sets....
Lucky Nadal skipped Wimbledon, while all those suckers waste their time and energy on it....

Nadal seems to typically skip Wimbledon after Roland Garros losses/withdrawals. He hasn’t won the US Open in any of the years that he skipped Wimbledon. In fact, I’m trying to remember if any ATP player has skipped Wimbledon and then won the US Open in the last twenty years and I can’t think of any.

In contrast, the Big 3 have done the W-USO double 8 times and so, winning Wimbledon is much more of a predictor of the USO champion since 2004.

 

[jm1980]

Nadal seems to typically skip Wimbledon after Roland Garros losses/withdrawals. He hasn’t won the US Open in any of the years that he skipped Wimbledon. In fact, I’m trying to remember if any ATP player has skipped Wimbledon and then won the US Open in the last twenty years and I can’t think of any.

The last (male) player to skip Wimbledon and then go on to win the USO was Orantes in 1975.

Him and Newcombe in 1973 are the only two (male) players to have done so in the Open Era

 

[tkramer15]

And in this very interview Moya says that RAFA was exhausted from the long CC season, and he looked it in the match. There’s literally no point at all in playing Madrid. The conditions there are nothing like RG, so getting reps in there won’t help in the slightest in preparing for a major. 2019 was 2 years ago, and with each passing year he’s going to have to be more selective when it comes to planning his schedule and playing events. Playing that many events in a row in that short of time at his age is just no sensical.

I agree that players must constantly reevaluate their schedules as they get older, but this is a tricky case considering that Nadal had played such little tournament tennis in the past six months. If he is going to significantly lighten his schedule elsewhere, then it becomes even more difficult to simply scrap a significant clay court event, particularly one in the capital of his home country (different conditions notwithstanding).

Moya isn't making things up -- I'm sure Rafa was exhausted after the Djokovic loss, particularly because he had to really search for his best form over the course of April and May. He didn't find it until perhaps midway through Rome. Without the matches in Madrid, does Rafa overcome Sinner, Shapovalov and Zverev in Rome and gain that level of confidence going into RG? Perhaps. That's impossible to say. But it's also highly unlikely that playing three additional matches (six sets) in Madrid caused him to lose to Djokovic in an epic four set RG semifinal. Considering that Nadal blitzed his first four opponents at RG in straight sets and appeared to be getting stronger as he entered the semis, it's a really tough sell. Nadal ran away from Sinner and Schwartzman with final set bagels. He played absolutely flawless tennis to jump ahead of Djokovic 5-0, but Djokovic is pretty good too (sarcasm).

The conundrum that Rafa (and basically anyone) faces as they age -- How much/how little should I play to be match fit and confident for the most important events while avoiding fatigue and "overplaying." The perfect blend tends to be quite elusive. Had Musetti been able to finish off Djokovic in the fourth round, the storyline would've been "Why did Djokovic play that meaningless added event in Belgrade the week before a slam?" I'm guessing that would've been the storyline had Djokovic lost to Berrettini or Nadal or even Tsitsipas as well.

Nadal is unique in that he feels like he needs the repetitions, perhaps more so now than he did just a few years ago. He clearly wasn't himself in either Monte Carlo or Barcelona. We can debate from afar whether he truly needs four tournaments to adequately prepare for RG, but that's how he has treated it for his entire career.

 

[DRII]

numb/ailing wrist...

not only did he miss 'easy' shots like that, he kept hitting his FH right back to Djokovic, even with an open court!

I'm telling you, Nadal's wrist was giving him issues starting in the 1/4 final against Diego.

 

[DRII]

Nadal seems to typically skip Wimbledon after Roland Garros losses/withdrawals. He hasn’t won the US Open in any of the years that he skipped Wimbledon. In fact, I’m trying to remember if any ATP player has skipped Wimbledon and then won the US Open in the last twenty years and I can’t think of any.

In contrast, the Big 3 have done the W-USO double 8 times and so, winning Wimbledon is much more of a predictor of the USO champion since 2004.

illogical post...

 

[MichaelNadal]

This is where you need that Williams sister swinging volley. LOL at the entire stadium putting their hands on their heads.

 

[beard]

And in this very interview Moya says that RAFA was exhausted from the long CC season, and he looked it in the match. There’s literally no point at all in playing Madrid. The conditions there are nothing like RG, so getting reps in there won’t help in the slightest in preparing for a major. 2019 was 2 years ago, and with each passing year he’s going to have to be more selective when it comes to planning his schedule and playing events. Playing that many events in a row in that short of time at his age is just no sensical.

We are reading how he should skip Madrid or Barcelona or what so ever... For years same reading... Yet, Rafa is playing almost every clay tournament every year...

I can conclude two things:
- Rafa is plain stupid and should finally listen to ttw community
- Rafa knows better what's good for him than ttw community

Just to clear... I think too that Nadal should skip some clay before FO... But, I still think Rafa would know better than me what suits him better...

 

[beard]

This is where you need that Williams sister swinging volley. LOL at the entire stadium putting their hands on their heads.

There is one from Wimbledon where all hands are up... On Kyrgios match point, and Rosol match point... Can't find now, maybe someone can help...

 

[MichaelNadal]

There is one from Wimbledon where all hands are up... On Kyrgios match point, and Rosol match point... Can't find now, maybe someone can help...

Morning bestie

 

[beard]

Morning bestie

Morning is past here in Europe, but thanks...

 

[MichaelNadal]

Morning is past here in Europe, but thanks...