Rafael Nadal-Sportsman of the year

[Blinkism]

Originally Posted by Rippy

OK... so you would agree, as there are quite a lot of murders taking place, that the law against murder is not good enough and needs to be changed?

You're equating murder to stretching the time limit between serves?

Your analogy is weak.

[Rippy]

Originally Posted by Blinkism

You're equating murder to stretching the time limit on serving?

Your analogy is weak.

It's not the "murder/time limit" that was the focus of the analogy, rather that I disagreed with the notion that just because a rule is broken, it means it should be altered. I could have used any example of a rule which has a purpose.

[namelessone]

Originally Posted by P_Agony

You are trying to justify Nadal's habbits with the OCD excuse. If he can't obey the rules (or anyone else for that matter), he should be punished for it. The rules are there, and Nadal is breaking them, no matter what the reason is. For that reason alone he is not worthy of sportsman of the year, and that is that.

I didn't say he should be voted by all,I said that to me he had the most sporting moment of the year in AO and the way he handled himself after the whole injury ordeal,not to mention the fact that he has always stayed to sign autographs even after humiliations and he was actually very nice to the guy who came on court in USO,most players would have been scared. But whatever,I digress.

Nadal has developed OCD over the years. It's pretty clear by now. Since he suffers from this and it slows the game down because of his quirks,to the point of breaking the time rule,someone(preferably the umpire) should enforce it by penalizing him. But they rarely do and it isn't just Nadal's case. The ATP doesn't seem to give a crap about this "rule" anymore. That's the truth. And it's not like it should be negotiable. There are other guys who go maybe 5 seconds,not 10-15 like Nadal,over the clock but they don't get sanctioned. If we count the seconds after the point is over,a lot of the players in the top30 get close to 30 seconds. When was the last time you saw a top player get warned because he was taking too much time?

[Blinkism]

Originally Posted by Rippy

It's not the "murder/time limit" that was the focus of the analogy, rather that I disagreed with the notion that just because a rule is broken, it means it should be altered. I could have used any example of a rule which has a purpose.

The rule is not a fundamental rule in tennis as a sport.

It's a rule designed for televised tennis and professional tennis, in general.

Other rules such as when a ball is in or out, how to keep score, etc. are fundamental across the world to keep the sport uniform.

Time between serving in different parts of the world, across different competitive leagues, etc. is different because it is not a uniform or fundamental part of tennis's rules.

Murder, as far as I know, is uniformly illegal across the world- unlike many laws which differ around the world.

Your analogy was weak and, go ahead, use another rule. Make your point.

[Rippy]

Originally Posted by Blinkism

The rule is not a fundamental rule in tennis as a sport.

It's a rule designed for televised tennis and professional tennis, in general.

Other rules such as when a ball is in or out, how to keep score, etc. are fundamental across the world to keep the sport uniform.

Time between serving in different parts of the world, across different competitive leagues, etc. is different because it is not a uniform or fundamental part of tennis's rules.

Murder, as far as I know, is uniformly illegal across the world- unlike many laws which differ around the world.

Your analogy was weak and, go ahead, use another rule. Make your point.

Whether it's fundamental or not is irrelevant. I'm afraid I really don't follow.

As I said, just because a rule is routinely broken does NOT mean that the rule is not fit for purpose and should be discarded - I don't feel another example will illustrate that any clearer.

[P_Agony]

Originally Posted by namelessone

I didn't say he should be voted by all,I said that to me he had the most sporting moment of the year in AO and the way he handled himself after the whole injury ordeal,not to mention the fact that he has always stayed to sign autographs even after humiliations and he was actually very nice to the guy who came on court in USO,most players would have been scared. But whatever,I digress.

This I agree with 100%.

Originally Posted by namelessone

Nadal has developed OCD over the years. It's pretty clear by now. Since he suffers from this and it slows the game down because of his quirks,to the point of breaking the time rule,someone(preferably the umpire) should enforce it by penalizing him. But they rarely do and it isn't just Nadal's case. The ATP doesn't seem to give a crap about this "rule" anymore. That's the truth. And it's not like it should be negotiable. There are other guys who go maybe 5 seconds,not 10-15 like Nadal,over the clock but they don't get sanctioned. If we count the seconds after the point is over,a lot of the players in the top30 get close to 30 seconds. When was the last time you saw a top player get warned because he was taking too much time?

The last time was actually Djokovic vs. Nadal in Cincy. Other than that, not many. I usually watch the top guys, and most are pretty quick. DP has a time issue as well, and Verdasco from time to time. Murray is OK I think, Fed is super quick (I think even the biggest Fed hater would agree), Roddick is quick, Davy has a long service motion but not much around it so it's OK.

[malakas]

Originally Posted by Blinkism

The rule is not a fundamental rule in tennis as a sport.

It's a rule designed for televised tennis and professional tennis, in general.

Other rules such as when a ball is in or out, how to keep score, etc. are fundamental across the world to keep the sport uniform.

Time between serving in different parts of the world, across different competitive leagues, etc. is different because it is not a uniform or fundamental part of tennis's rules.

Murder, as far as I know, is uniformly illegal across the world- unlike many laws which differ around the world.

Your analogy was weak and, go ahead, use another rule. Make your point.

LOL what is this equating murder with exploiting a timerule?

But other than that there is really no point arguing.There is a rule,a rule is a rule and when exploiting a rule at the expense of your opponent that is not sportmanship but the opposite.This is an ATP rule so it can't get more official rule than that,no matter the rules of the minor leagues all over the world.
All rules are rules,and all rule-breaking is rule breaking.

So definitely not sportsman of the year.

The players are the ones voting,so no matter what the Nadal fans,the Nadal fan club "journalists" and posters here say,the time wasting IS important to the players and can't see him winning any time soon this.

I think Santoro would be much better for this award.

[Blinkism]

^^ I agree with what you're saying.

If it's true that Nadal never even got nominated for the ATP Sportsmanship Award, I think it's a shame.

[mandy01]

Originally Posted by Blinkism

^^ I agree with what you're saying.

If it's true that Nadal never even got nominated for the ATP Sportsmanship Award, I think it's a shame.

I have a feeling he might get nominated this year. .Nadal did well to handle the adversities he faced this year like Roger did last year(though I do consider Roger to be much more of a fair guy on court ).He was of course incredibly nice after the AO.So I suppose they'll put him up there.

I would personally take Blake or if its among the top guys-DP overall.