Fed fans : Are you warming up to Nadal ?

Are you more appreciative of Nadal now ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 20.8%

  • I always respected him

    Votes: 36 50.0%

  • Say what ? I am VLBJ

    Votes: 21 29.2%
  • Total voters
    72
sbengte

sbengte

G.O.A.T.
Question for those Fed fans who harbored a strong dislike for Nadal : With the recent turn of events, are you starting to warm up to Nadal and have you developed more respect for him ?

For one, he has taken his beatings from Fed like a man : no momentum breaking MTOs, no post loss injury excuses. He's been nothing but gracious in defeat. He is also starting to look more human in the past few years and it is obvious both Fed and Nadal won't be around forever and we are seeing what may be the last few meetings of the biggest rivalry of our times.

Nadal used to get a lot of hate on the forum a few years ago, not sure if it has died down now because he isn't winning as much.

Discuss.
 
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1

1HBH-DownTheLine

Guest
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MasterZeb

MasterZeb

Hall of Fame
Always used to think of him as an absolute tw*t but have recently warmed to him and and have realised how lucky I've been to be able to watch an all time great alongside federer and now Djokovic.
 
Noelan

Noelan

Legend
Tennisanity said:
Nah, all of that is PR. His true nature still comes out on the court when he cannot think, it's just instinctual action - still always grimacing up to the sky on every point he doesn't win, even clean winners. It's really pathetic and paints Nadal as the true anti-humbalito he really is.
Click to expand...
LOL
 
cc0509

cc0509

Talk Tennis Guru
I started to like and respect him when I saw how hard he worked to excel at Wimbledon in 2006/7/8. Before that I saw him as mostly a dirtball beast. When he beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2008, I was pi$$ed but started to respect him at the same time. When he was at his physical and explosive best with his jaguar-like speed, the way he covered the court with insane defense and brutal attacking forehand which he could hit from anywhere, he was fabulous to watch IMO. A real athletic specimen.
 
Sysyphus

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
Sure, I see a bit of Woody Allen in him to be honest — endearingly neurotic. Afraid of darkness, dogs, and lightening +++. To me not at all the macho warrior some of his fans or clothing brands sometimes will try to portray him as.

Still, doesn't mean I want to see him win the big tourneys, and I'm still not the biggest fan of the 6000-rpm-shots-from-three-metres-behind-the-baseline style. Big respect for his talent and grit though. Solid ambassador.
 
6

6-3 6-0

Guest
Never disliked Nadal (or Djokovic for the matter). Trolls get annoying and sometimes I retaliated by taking shots at their favourite players. That's it. IMO It is impossible to dislike or even hate a player whom you don't know in person as a normal fan. Surely the defeats of Federer by hands of Nadal has hurt over the years but in the end its a game where one wins and one loses and they've provided us with classics like Rome '06, Wim '07/'08, AO '09/17, etc. Can't really complain about that...

I used to be neutral towards Nadal till 2012 and his 2013 run really impressed me after the timeout of 6 months and occasionally root for him when Fed is knocked out or is out of tour.
 
OddJack

OddJack

G.O.A.T.
Warm up? The antiques are still there. The annoying jumping and stare down at coin toss, the time violations, the picking, the continuous sneer, the stupid bottles, the 16 points body touch before the serve...
I enjoy seeing him get beat. I am warming up to that.
 
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Steve0904

Steve0904

Talk Tennis Guru
Depends on what you mean. I've never hated Nadal the way some have. Never joined in serious bashing started mostly by people who take tennis too seriously, but I've never enjoyed his style of tennis either, and there's still a part of me that enjoys watching Nadal lose to just about anyone. The fact that it's primarily Federer doing it now just makes it even sweeter. That said, tennis is only a sport so there are more important things in life.
 
P

Praetorian

Professional
I think the first fallacy is that in order to like one, you automatically have to dislike the other. The 2nd fallacy is thinking that this board is a representation of other fans of either/or around the world. The reality is the fanatics of inflexibility on this boards. Heck, most guys don't even know these boards exist (y'know, many are older, and don't really make a 2nd career aspiring to be forum experts), but from what I've personally seen; while one may favor the other, I haven't seen one where they still didn't have much admiration and respect for the other's game. I loved both their games for so many different reasons: Nadal for his never-say-never fighting spirit, and Federer for the sheer beauty and elegance on how he plays the game. Their games had personality.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
I never hated Nadal for beating Roger so often in the past. I was angry at Roger that he endlessly choked and had that dreaded "deer in the headlights" look whenever they played. I dislike Nadal taking 30 seconds between every serve and the endless toweling off. The slow pace of play is excruciating to watch-- that is my complaint against Nadal (and Djoker).

Rafa as a person I have never hated and I certainly respect his mental strength. At his peak, the only mentally stronger player I ever saw was Pete.
 
Mr Feeny

Mr Feeny

Hall of Fame
6-3 6-0 said:
Never disliked Nadal (or Djokovic for the matter). Trolls get annoying and sometimes I retaliated by taking shots at their favourite players. That's it. IMO It is impossible to dislike or even hate a player whom you don't know in person as a normal fan. Surely the defeats of Federer by hands of Nadal has hurt over the years but in the end its a game where one wins and one loses and they've provided us with classics like Rome '06, Wim '07/'08, AO '09/17, etc. Can't really complain about that...

I used to be neutral towards Nadal till 2012 and his 2013 run really impressed me after the timeout of 6 months and occasionally root for him when Fed is knocked out or is out of tour.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much it. It's mostly dislike for the fanboys rather than the players.

Having said that, I never cared for the gamesmanship with Nadal. Keeping his opponents waiting, an unfathomable amount of medical timeouts throughout his career, exceeding the allocated time limit between points etc.
But overall, he's not that bad. He's really likable. And charismatic. Some of the things he does, he does to win. It irks us a little but I don't think they Federer fans that much. He's a good guy.

Djokovic is someone I don't care too much about either way. He always seemed less relevant than Nadal. Even his recent slams. He dominated when nadal was a shell of his former self and Federer was a grandfather. Overall, in the GOAT race, Nadal has always been more relevant to me, and probably most Federer fans.
The retirements, the gamesmanship is much worse than what Nadal ever dreamt of doing, in my opinion. The stuff he tried to pull against Stan was disgusting (Rafa tbf had his own controversy with stan). I've always thought that Djokovic resorted to underhanded tricks more than anyone.

Murray is someone everyone's always respected. He might be as boring as watching paint dry but I don't think there's ever been an incident which rubbed people the wrong way. He's always a stand up guy and plays clean and fair.
 
K

KINGROGER

G.O.A.T.
He annoyed me with his luck in 06 Rome final (lucky passing shot at 3-1 down 5th set TB) and 2012 AO SF after being outplayed in both and also his MTOs in Hamburg 08 final and 11 RG final which turned the matches around. Gamesmanship that I have no time for.

I have respect for his 09 AO performance and at Wimbledon. He simply outplayed Federer in 08 and served big when facing BP 5th set even though it should've gone to another day with the darkness making it unplayable.
 
vive le beau jeu !

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
sbengte said:
Question for those Fed fans who harbored a strong dislike for Nadal : With the recent turn of events, are you starting to warm up to Nadal and have you developed more respect for him ?

For one, he has taken his beatings from Fed like a man : no momentum breaking MTOs, no post loss injury excuses. He's been nothing but gracious in defeat. He is also starting to look more human in the past few years and it is obvious both Fed and Nadal won't be around forever and we are seeing what may be the last few meetings of the biggest rivalry of our times.

Nadal used to get a lot of hate on the forum a few years ago, not sure if it has died down now because he isn't winning as much.

Discuss.
Click to expand...
great poll options
default_msp_thumbup.gif

my appreciation of the nadal remains unchanged... :oops:

PS: i'm triple ! :eek:
 
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Djokovic2011

Djokovic2011

Bionic Poster
Definitely seems that way. I suspect the same thing will also happen with Djokovic once they know for a certainty that he won't be finishing close to 18 or winning two more HC majors. ;)
 
C

Charlie

Guest
Always liked Djokovic and Federer a lot more than him, but it was never some big dislike towards Nadal. And yes I was warming up to him when early losses started happening more often. Wasn't nice seeing him suffer several injuries throughout his career either.

The Vamos a la Playa Brigade is a laughing stock though. :)
 
C

Charlie

Guest
tennisaddict said:
Dislike of Nadal stopped after seeing Novak win 6 majors in such a weak era 2014-16

Poor Rafa never had the luxury of facing weak opponents
Click to expand...
He wasn't a stranger to kind draws. He had a crappy Djokovic a couple of times. Murray wasn't any better in some meetings when facing Nadal. Not to mention that just this year Nadal had a shot to defeat the same player that Djokovic was successful against back in 2014-16.

But ok, Nadal never had any luxury. o_O
 
Noelan

Noelan

Legend
mike danny said:
Yeah, you're right. Rafa was the only one with an aura :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
He deliberately forgot all that talk from players and experts about Djokovic aura in the same years about which he is whining. Guy just can get over Djokoivic denying Federer 3 slams , that's it.

Sure we all know about Roger aura from 04/07
 
tennisaddict

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Charlie said:
He wasn't a stranger to kind draws. He had a crappy Djokovic a couple of times. Murray wasn't any better in some meetings when facing Nadal. Not to mention that just this year Nadal had a shot to defeat the same player that Djokovic was successful against back in 2014-16.

But ok, Nadal never had any luxury. o_O
Click to expand...

He made 21 finals and won 14 of them.

Did not have the luxury of facing second tier players and going on to lose against them , barring 2014 AO , when he was injured before the match
 
C

Charlie

Guest
tennisaddict said:
He made 21 finals and won 14 of them.

Did not have the luxury of facing second tier players and going on to lose against them , barring 2014 AO , when he was injured before the match
Click to expand...
The sun rises in the east.

Someone give the Bull a medal for having to beat Puerta, Soderling, Berdych and Ferrer in some of the Slam finals. I can only imagine how much that exhausted him. And the bold part is especially cute. :)
 
tennisaddict

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Charlie said:
The sun rises in the east.

Someone give the Bull a medal for having to beat Puerta, Soderling, Berdych and Ferrer in some of the Slam finals. I can only imagine how much that exhausted him. And the bold part is especially cute. :)
Click to expand...

He beat Fed and Djok even before he got to those second tier players. He did not have the luxury of facing 35 year old every time
 
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