Who suffer more pain in defeat: Borg or Nadal ?

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by Chopin

Mac was obviously part of the burnout. We all know the story about Borg leaving before the trophy celebration...he was not a happy camper that Mac had in many ways overtook him at the top of the game. If he hadn't felt so challenged, I doubt he would have felt so burned out.

The runner-up leaving before the trophy presentation is hardly unique at the US Open. Connors did the same after losing the 1977 US Open final to Vilas, as he was still very angry with how the match ended.

[krosero]

Originally Posted by Strobe Lights

I think Mac said this. I don't agree with him though. Nadal has great volley success but part of that is down to the fact that he almost exclusively comes in when he knows the volley is likely to be easy. He is a very good volleyer though and I think part of his on-court intelligence is that he limits himself to when he goes to the net.

If he attacked and came in as often as Fed then I think we'd see him miss more often and he would revert to baseline play. However, Fed does miss too many easy volleys, while making the difficult ones.

It's true, Nadal does not approach the net that much, and the real test of his volleying ability would be if he were to come in regularly and frequently. I'm not talking Rafter/Edberg frequency, just more than he does now.

With his current game he can come in a little more, but if he wants to come in a lot more, how will he do it? Behind his serve? Behind looping forehands that sit up? Behind a slice approach?

[pc1]

Originally Posted by krosero

It's true, Nadal does not approach the net that much, and the real test of his volleying ability would be if he were to come in regularly and frequently. I'm not talking Rafter/Edberg frequency, just more than he does now.

With his current game he can come in a little more, but if he wants to come in a lot more, how will he do it? Behind his serve? Behind looping forehands that sit up? Behind a slice approach?

Probably Nadal's best approach is when he flattens out his forehand and hits it deep into a corner. You never know. Ken Rosewall was strictly a baseliner until he turned pro and realized he was a natural volleyer. But Rosewall had a big advantage over Nadal because he played doubles a lot. I think Nadal can be a pretty good volleyer but of the top four players I actually think Andy Murray has the best volley.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by Chopin

Mac was obviously part of the burnout. We all know the story about Borg leaving before the trophy celebration...he was not a happy camper that Mac had in many ways overtook him at the top of the game. If he hadn't felt so challenged, I doubt he would have felt so burned out.

Borg I'm sure wasn't very happy but I do think the death threat on his life had a lot to do with him leaving early.

[Chopin]

Originally Posted by Mustard

The runner-up leaving before the trophy presentation is hardly unique at the US Open. Connors did the same after losing the 1977 US Open final to Vilas, as he was still very angry with how the match ended.

Connors was an *** though and Connors did a lot of things. Borg was a good sport in comparison and I think it only shows how much that loss to Mac hurt him.

[borg number one]

I think all greats feel a lot of pain from there defeats, especially at the majors, whether it's Nadal, Federer, Borg, McEnroe, Connors, or Laver. Borg's situation was quite different than it was for any other player really, given his track record in tennis from 1973-1981 especially. In 1982, he was arguing with Tour organizers as to having to qualify for Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and the US Open, which was of course a preposterous situation. I think even though Nadal is going through a tough stretch with Djokovic, he will bounce back somewhat and he may eventually turn the corner. If you look at 1980-1981 for Borg, he won 5 of the 8 biggest tournaments and made the finals in the other three. Even in just 1981, he won the Masters indoors and the French Open, while making the finals at W and the US Open. Plus, McEnroe was no threat on red clay. With Djokovic, it's quite a different situation, as he is poised to contend for every major at this point. As to Nadal, I'm sure that AO loss was especially tough for him, but we'll see if he can turn the corner on red clay first against Djokovic. Also, we'll see if Federer can continue to poise a significant threat to both Djokovic and Nadal starting with the FO.