David Ferrer destroys Rafa, absolute GODMODE ferrer, must watch

[Tennis_Hands]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

It was actually in 2nd or 3rd game of the first set. IIRC, Nadal was sprinting forward to chase down a drop shot. As he was slowing down from his sprint, he started looking at his box and talking about something.

That is correct, as far as the original version is concerned.

However, my question was refering to two things:

1) the fact that, during the match Ferrer was painting the lines. The entire match, starting from game 1 till the end.

2) even at the end of the match Nadal was able to play pretty spectacular points. Watch the point at 4-1 30-30 in the third. If you think, that such play is possible with the quoted injury, then you probably as well believe, that capricorns exist.

Mind you, Nadal was playing against a top 5 player, and not some mug.

[namelessone]

Originally Posted by Tennis_Hands

That is correct, as far as the original version is concerned.

However, my question was refering to two things:

1) the fact that, during the match Ferrer was painting the lines. The entire match, starting from game 1 till the end.

2) even at the end of the match Nadal was able to play pretty spectacular points. Watch the point at 4-1 30-30 in the third. If you think, that such play is possible with the quoted injury, then you probably as well believe, that capricorns exist.

Mind you, Nadal was playing against a top 5 player, and not some mug.

Nadal injured himself in a very long game at the beginning of the match.

Here it is straight from the horse's mouth during the match while talking to his box:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1bqb0e5VM

He says he tore something but and when someone in his box probably infers that he should retire he flat out refuses(probably because he retired in AO 2010 as well). Ferrer is the last guy you want to face while having mobility problems.

Why do you think Nadal is talking to his team at 2-1 in the first set about his physical problems? Because they are nothing to worry about at that point?

In the first set he goes off court with the trainer at 2-1 and at 4-1 again, both times before Nadal's own serve.

Go to 2:52 of this vid and tell me that this is the face of a guy that doesn't really have a physical problem at the time(again, this is at 2-1 in the first set, why would Nadal get disheartened this early on if it isn't something serious?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g07Xu5ZkDWo

Even his opponent recognized that Nadal was injured for most of this match.

[Sid_Vicious]

delete post..

[Sid_Vicious]

Originally Posted by Tennis_Hands

That is correct, as far as the original version is concerned.

However, my question was refering to two things:

1) the fact that, during the match Ferrer was painting the lines. The entire match, starting from game 1 till the end.

2) even at the end of the match Nadal was able to play pretty spectacular points. Watch the point at 4-1 30-30 in the third. If you think, that such play is possible with the quoted injury, then you probably as well believe, that capricorns exist.

Mind you, Nadal was playing against a top 5 player, and not some mug.

Oh, I agree. Ferrer was playing great tennis at the 2011 Australian Open. Nadal was not in for an easy night even if he had been in full form. IMO, Ferrer's performance at the 2011 AO might be his best GS performance ever. Check out the first 2 sets of his match against Murray in the SF...just inspired tennis from Ferrer. With that said, I must insist that Nadal was not at his best in that match.. I watched that entire match and even as someone who was very anti-Nadal at that time (I didn't want Nadal to get 4 in a row), I could tell that Nadal was struggling. As a matter of fact, if you think that Nadal was playing even remotely close to his top level, then you probably also believe in supernatural creatures.

Clumsy movement to the forehand side, desperate down-the-middle net approaches, landing awkwardly after making returns, low percentage winner attempts with his backhand, giving up on chase-able shots.....Yeah, Nadal was a mess in that match.

[Tennis_Hands]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

Oh, I agree. Ferrer was playing great tennis at the 2011 Australian Open. Nadal was not in for an easy night even if he had been in full form. IMO, Ferrer's performance at the 2011 AO might be his best GS performance ever. Check out the first 2 sets of his match against Murray in the SF...just inspired tennis from Ferrer. With that said, I must insist that Nadal was not at his best in that match.. I watched that entire match and even as someone who was very anti-Nadal at that time (I didn't want Nadal to get 4 in a row), I could tell that Nadal was struggling. As a matter of fact, if you think that Nadal was playing even remotely close to his top level, then you probably also believe in supernatural creatures.

Clumsy movement to the forehand side, desperate down-the-middle net approaches, landing awkwardly after making returns, low percentage winner attempts with his backhand, giving up on chase-able shots.....Yeah, Nadal was a mess in that match.

No, I don't think that.

I think, that it was a combination of Nadal, playing himself into form for the final rounds of the tournament, Ferrer's absolutely insane level in this match and maybe some minor ailments, that are typical for pro players, that were troubling Nadal. However, that is far from what Team Nadal tried to feed us with.

[Sid_Vicious]

Originally Posted by Tennis_Hands

No, I don't think that.

I think, that it was a combination of Nadal, playing himself into form for the final rounds of the tournament, Ferrer's absolutely insane level in this match and maybe some minor ailments, that are typical for pro players, that were troubling Nadal. However, that is far from what Team Nadal tried to feed us with.

Yes, of course. Nadal obviously didn't have any serious ligament or muscle tear. He was back on court playing intense matches with Djokovic just 2 months later. However, that injury did hamper Nadal's movement enough to cripple his game. Without his movement being sharp, Nadal was very vulnerable playing against a guy like Ferrer on one of the slowest HCs on tour.

[DeShaun]

Originally Posted by tennispro492

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN16WPJ2k7U

I've cued http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN16WPJ2k7U#t=3m43s because it shows Rafa, only three games into this match, moonballing his unusually non-submissive pigeon. It's not as if Rafa by then had tried everything else and so he finally had to resort to moonballing; no, that couldn't have been the case because they were only three games in. Here is many believe the most electrifying player of all time, playing men's singles like a seventy year-old female doubles partner.

[veroniquem]

Except for their very first encounter, the only (very limited) success Ferrer has had vs Rafa was on hard court: 3 wins: at AO, USO and WTF. The only other player to have beaten Rafa at those 3 events is Djokovic.