Nadal nervous about coming back!

[Tennis_Hands]

Originally Posted by Mainad

Says he's nervous about returning to the tour, doesn't yet feel his knee is fully recovered but hopes that will be the case by the time of Monte Carlo, ie. the start of the clay season!

This doesn't even make sense. How is playing on HC going to help?

He has considered playing off and on during the first three months of 2013

Playing selectively puts Nadal in advantage, compared to his peers on Tour. I hope, that ATP does something to stop this circus.

[zagor]

It's only natural that he is, still as soon as he founds some groove he should have little to no trouble except against the very best.

The nature of Nadal's game is such that even when Nadal himself is not in his best form it is still extremely difficult to handle for the vast majority of players on tour.

People here often see players making too many errors against Nadal or being unable to maintain their leads against him as choking or similar but the reality is that it's so difficult to keep up a high level of aggressive play against the kind of action Nadal puts on the ball (he's pretty unique in that regard).

[RAFA2005RG]

Originally Posted by cc0509

What about beating Djokovic OFF CLAY again? Nadal has not conquered that yet!

Well, at the hardcourt slams, they've played:
2010 US Open Final - Nadal in 4
2011 US Open Final - Djokovic in 4
2012 Australian Open Final - Djokovic in 5 (7-5 fifth set, 6 hours)

If Djokovic is ahead in their hardcourt rivalry, its only by the smallest of margins, regarding their slam hardcourt meetings anyway.

And Djokovic leads in the non-slam hardcourt meetings, although Nadal beat Djokovic at the 2010 World Tour Finals in straight sets and Nadal also beat Djokovic at the Olympics. So those are big events.

Nadal hasn't "conquered" Djokovic on hardcourts, but in terms of head2head Nadal is a lot closer to Djokovic on hardcourts than Djokovic is to Nadal on clay. Apart from 2 wins over Nadal in 2011 (Madrid and Rome), Djokovic has done nothing to Nadal on clay.

[Mike Sams]

Originally Posted by smash hit

Nadal's post match press conference Wimbledon,

Q. After what you saw of your opponent, particularly in the last set, do you think he can go on to be a threat in this tournament? Can he achieve more wins? Can he go a long way in the tournament?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. How old is him?

Q. He's 26.
RAFAEL NADAL: He didn't in the past, but you never know what's going on in the future. The thing is today he played great. He played special.
Sure, if he played the way he played the fifth set, you can win against everybody. But I think everybody who follows tennis knows that that's very difficult to do every day.
But if he's able to do it this time, he will have his chance. I wish him all the best.

Sounds like Nadal gave him the credit he deserved.

You didn't read what came out of Nadal's mouth later when he was finally out of his shock.

[RAFA2005RG]

Originally Posted by Mike Sams

You didn't read what came out of Nadal's mouth later when he was finally out of his shock.

I'm sure you would post it if it was anything interesting.

[Mike Sams]

Originally Posted by RAFA2005RG

I'm sure you would post it if it was anything interesting.

I don't need to. He and his Uncle talked down the Rosol loss as a result of Nadal's knees. But they never mentioned the knee until AFTER Rosol won. So Nadal again, like Federer, "can't accept defeats with the same calm as he accepts his wins."

[TennisCJC]

I think they should just amputate both legs just above the knee and give him some new hi-tech prosthetics. He would be the ultimate warrior grinding through matches and defeating all his rivals without legs. What a champion!

[West Coast Ace]

I wonder how nervous the guy holding the little plastic cup in Australia is going to feel...

[cc0509]

Originally Posted by RAFA2005RG

Well, at the hardcourt slams, they've played:
2010 US Open Final - Nadal in 4
2011 US Open Final - Djokovic in 4
2012 Australian Open Final - Djokovic in 5 (7-5 fifth set, 6 hours)

If Djokovic is ahead in their hardcourt rivalry, its only by the smallest of margins, regarding their slam hardcourt meetings anyway.

And Djokovic leads in the non-slam hardcourt meetings, although Nadal beat Djokovic at the 2010 World Tour Finals in straight sets and Nadal also beat Djokovic at the Olympics. So those are big events.

Nadal hasn't "conquered" Djokovic on hardcourts, but in terms of head2head Nadal is a lot closer to Djokovic on hardcourts than Djokovic is to Nadal on clay. Apart from 2 wins over Nadal in 2011 (Madrid and Rome), Djokovic has done nothing to Nadal on clay.

I just meant that since Djokovic has defeated Nadal in seven straight finals on all surfaces in 2011, Nadal has not shown that he can conquer Djokovic OFF clay. That remains to be seen.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by cc0509

I just meant that since Djokovic has defeated Nadal in seven straight finals on all surfaces in 2011, Nadal has not shown that he can conquer Djokovic OFF clay. That remains to be seen.

This is a fair point. Nadal hasn't conquered Djokovic yet, considering Nadal won one slam to prevent Djokovic winning four against him in a row. If he can get a few wins non clay, especially hard, then we can truly say, he has gotten the advantage back.

[cc0509]

Originally Posted by Hitman

This is a fair point. Nadal hasn't conquered Djokovic yet, considering Nadal won one slam to prevent Djokovic winning four against him in a row. If he can get a few wins non clay, especially hard, then we can truly say, he has gotten the advantage back.

Yes, Nadal has obviously been able to win "his surface" slam at the FO and get that turned around which is admirable but we don't know if Nadal will be able to defeat Djokovic at the off clay slams. If anybody can do it, Nadal can. We may never see it because Nadal may be making injury excuses for the next two years and thus never play a "real" match off clay.

[TMF]

Not only Nadal hasn't beaten Nole off clay, but he hasn't won off clay event in 2012 and 2011. All of his 7 titles in those two years are on clay.

[smoledman]

Originally Posted by Mainad

Says he's nervous about returning to the tour, doesn't yet feel his knee is fully recovered but hopes that will be the case by the time of Monte Carlo, ie. the start of the clay season!


http://bleacherreport.com/tb/d9ctG?u...ampaign=tennis

He should be nervous, the beatdowns on hardcourts will be even more ferocious then ever.

[batz]

Originally Posted by TMF

Not only Nadal hasn't beaten Nole off clay, but he hasn't won off clay event in 2012 and 2011. All of his 7 titles in those two years are on clay.

Was Rafa's last non-clay title the 2010 US Open?

[Steve0904]

Originally Posted by batz

Was Rafa's last non-clay title the 2010 US Open?

He won Tokyo which was his next tournament after the USO.

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

LOL 1 year off tour and not fully recovered? He's making excuses already, LOLLLLLLLLLL

well if your knees are really done they will never recover no matter how long you wait.

[Crisstti]

Originally Posted by RAFA2005RG

Nadal hasn't "conquered" Djokovic on hardcourts, but in terms of head2head Nadal is a lot closer to Djokovic on hardcourts than Djokovic is to Nadal on clay. Apart from 2 wins over Nadal in 2011 (Madrid and Rome), Djokovic has done nothing to Nadal on clay.

Yep. Nadal has won bigger events on hc against Djokovic than the other way around on clay.

Originally Posted by cc0509

I just meant that since Djokovic has defeated Nadal in seven straight finals on all surfaces in 2011, Nadal has not shown that he can conquer Djokovic OFF clay. That remains to be seen.

I'd say he showed he can, what remains to be seen is whether he will.

[rafan]

Anyone know what day he is playing in the middle east on 27th/28th of this month

[RAFA2005RG]

Originally Posted by cc0509

I just meant that since Djokovic has defeated Nadal in seven straight finals on all surfaces in 2011, Nadal has not shown that he can conquer Djokovic OFF clay. That remains to be seen.

So that means you are only considering events in 2011. Everybody knows Nadal was better in 2010 (the year Nadal beat Djokovic at the US Open and World Tour Finals) than he was in 2011. It is a bit too "convenient" to disregard results prior to 2011. Would peak Djokovic have beaten peak Nadal? I'm not convinced, considering we are currently watching peak Djokovic and he needed 6 hours to defeat Nadal at the Australian Open (Djokovic's favorite slam surface, and Nadal's 3rd or 4th best slam surface).

[Magnus]

Nadal is scared to be caught on drugs usage again.