[namelessone]

Originally Posted by 10is

I think their 2006 TMC encounter is the best either of them has played against each other on hard court. I personally think Nadal was a far more formidable hard court player in 2005 and 2006 despite not having won a hard court major at the time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vREl8AErhbA

Their 2007 match wasn't too shabby either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR7do5BFgzA

LOL.

How?

Ok, so he was a bit more aggressive with the forehand and he was faster(this being six-seven years ago) but he went out earlier in hc events with far more regularity than say, after 2008-2009. Nadal didn't even make a AO or USO SF until 2008.