Rafael Nadal - Will he ever reclaim the throne of men's tennis?

Augustus

Augustus

Hall of Fame
IMO Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest competitors of all time in tennis, and arguably the GOAT on clay. His 2008 season was unbelievable; he finally dethroned Federer in one of the best matches of all time and became the first man since Borg to win the French and Wimbledon in the same year.
He continued his dominance at the Australian Open and proved he was one of the best on (slow) hardcourt as well.

Unfortunately his kneed didn't hold up and we all know the rest of the story.
Although he came back and reached the semis of the US Open, his groundstrokes don't have the same penetration anymore.

Although I'm a big fan of Federer, I truly hope Nadal will return to peak form next year, but I doubt it. I think the start of 2010 will be critical; if he doesn't win the French next year, that might prove the final blow. Another injury could be too much as well.

What are your thoughts on this? Will Nadal regain his 2008 form and maybe become No. 1 again, or are his best days behind him?
 
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F

flying24

Banned
I dont think he will ever have a year like 2008. He could return to #1 again at some point but I wouldnt bet on it either. I do think with his latest bout of injuries he has already lost a bit physically, and he also had built the perfect momentum and while he was gone some others shone and it will be hard to get all that momentum back again.
 
L

Ledigs

Legend
I don't think it's all or nothing in 2010 for him. He's not old and the other top 5 besides fed are not consistent winners. He has plenty of opportunity to win more majors so be back on top. He's not going to play a perfect delpotro every tournament. Unless djoke Murray or dp become freakishly consistent like fed, nadal is there with the best of them
 
flyinghippos101

flyinghippos101

Legend
Agreed to your post. It at this point seems very likely that the Nadal that provided some good results on hard pre-dead knees is gone, I have a feeling he'll regress to the primarily "clay courter" He'll make occasional deep runs at the AO and US and make a few more finals, but don't expect any more wins from Nadal at the GS besides the French.
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
no.

federer provided the blueprint of how to destroy nadal even on clay at madrid.

and there are guys who can do it even better than federer.
 
L

Ledigs

Legend
Which would still be impressive. Why are we more impressed with hc wins than clay? He'd be a winner on hc if he had grown up on them
 
L

Ledigs

Legend
Oh interesting. Well he's still great on clay but nadal is better. I never said anything bad about fed. He is goat on all surfaces. But winning French many times is nothing to sneeze at, especially when beating fed in prime on the surface he also grew up on
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
Ledigs said:
Oh interesting. Well he's still great on clay but nadal is better. I never said anything bad about fed. He is goat on all surfaces. But winning French many times is nothing to sneeze at, especially when beating fed in prime on the surface he also grew up on
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no, i said it regarding your earlier statement that nadal would win hc slams, if he had grown up on HCs...
 
sanchino

sanchino

Semi-Pro
I think Nadal will be more careful in selecting where and how much to play and fully expect him to be a threat at the French and Wimbledon. I have never considered him a major threat at the US Open anyway.
 
The-Champ

The-Champ

Legend
aphex said:
no.

federer provided the blueprint of how to destroy nadal even on clay at madrid.

and there are guys who can do it even better than federer.
Click to expand...



He provided that "blueprint" in Hamburg 2007 as well, with an even more convincing numbers.....but what happened when they met at the french?
 
myalterego

myalterego

Rookie
I think Nadal has great shot at winning the AO, FO, and Wimbledon. Considering he's won them all at some point, and has beaten Federer several times in these finals, I'm sure he can do it again when he's healthy.
 
big bang

big bang

Hall of Fame
aphex said:
no.

federer provided the blueprint of how to destroy nadal even on clay at madrid.

and there are guys who can do it even better than federer.
Click to expand...

why do people keep bringing this one up??? Rafa was done before the match started, 4 1/2 hour against Djoko the evening before! every decent top 10-20 player would have won that match. Rafa was slow and made more UE than ever seen because he came late to every shot.
Its so funny to hear *******s saying this over and over again, but guess it will stop when the claycourt season stars next year:)
 
T

TheMagicianOfPrecision

Guest
big bang said:
why do people keep bringing this one up??? Rafa was done before the match started, 4 1/2 hour against Djoko the evening before! every decent top 10-20 player would have won that match. Rafa was slow and made more UE than ever seen because he came late to every shot.
Its so funny to hear *******s saying this over and over again, but guess it will stop when the claycourt season stars next year:)
Click to expand...
Vi e hviiiide...vi e rööööe...fantastic theory! Did u come up with that on ur own?? Well , Fed lost to Nadal in AO because Mirka was pregnant!
 
T

TENNISSLAVE

Banned
He will be a contender. ..but not a domimator.

He has Soderling , DP, Murray, Fed , Djokovic that hurt him continously. Then there are about 5 -8 other guys in the top 30 that can upset him on any surface except clay . Not very promising.
 
mandy01

mandy01

G.O.A.T.
Yes,he can.He has not much pressure to perform the rest of the season..so he can just relax and come back strong.He's still the best on clay.One loss at the FO wont change the fact that he has the best of abilities on the surface.
I dont know about AO.I guess the second week of AO should be a good indicator of whether or not he'll start strong.I reckon he will.
Overall next year looks better for him.He has virtually nothing to defend at 2 of the four slams.He could gain a massive number of points at Wimbledon.So I do think he has excellent chances to come back to the no.1 spot though of course I would more than love to see Roger continue his fantastic run st the top.
 
Augustus

Augustus

Hall of Fame
A lot of people underestimate the mental effects of an injury like the one Nadal had. Not only he needs to fully recover physically, but he has to regain the momentum he lost.

Although he is a mentally very strong player, every setback makes it more difficult. First he lost to Soderling and missed Wimbledon, and when he came back he lost all the matches against his rivals comprehensively. Especially the schooling he received from Del Potro was a major blow IMO.

That's why I think the start of 2010 will be crucial for Nadal, like I said in my first post. He really needs some success in the not so distant future, and more disappointments in the next months might prove too much.

If Nadal wins no Slams next year and comes back in full force in 2011 or even 2012, I'll admit I was totally wrong, no problem, but I highly doubt it.
 
Nadalfan89

Nadalfan89

Hall of Fame
It's been said before and I'll say it again.

Nadal has 6 GS's at 23 years old. He has a gold medal in singles and he just made it to the semi-finals of his worst tournement after coming back from an injury - the injury lost him his 1st place ranking.

He'll be back on top by 2010 easily. He get's written off so easily on this board it's as if he was Gulbis.
 
R

rommil

Legend
Nadalfan89 said:
It's been said before and I'll say it again.

Nadal has 6 GS's at 23 years old. He has a gold medal in singles and he just made it to the semi-finals of his worst tournement after coming back from an injury - the injury lost him his 1st place ranking.

He'll be back on top by 2010 easily. He get's written off so easily on this board it's as if he was Gulbis.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes those informations are not entirely guarded in the archives of the CIA. Since you sound very confident about it, when in 2010 do you reckon Nadal will grab the top spot again?
 
Nadalfan89

Nadalfan89

Hall of Fame
rommil said:
Yes, yes those informations are not entirely guarded in the archives of the CIA. Since you sound very confident about it, when in 2010 do you reckon Nadal will grab the top spot again?
Click to expand...

When Wimbledon comes around and Nadal has 0 points to defend, He'll retake number 1. Of course if he has a good clay season, including a FO win, he could be number 1 before Wimbledon.
 
JoshDragon

JoshDragon

Hall of Fame
Nadalfan89 said:
When Wimbledon comes around and Nadal has 0 points to defend, He'll retake number 1. Of course if he has a good clay season, including a FO win, he could be number 1 before Wimbledon.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Unless he's injured, he'll be number 1 again for sure.
 
tacou

tacou

G.O.A.T.
I think it'll be one of two extremes. Either next year he will be back to top shape and dominate everyone except Del Potro and the occasional hard court hot streaker (i.e. a Tsonga or Soderling)

or

It will an injury plagued year that will prove to be one of his last
 
big bang

big bang

Hall of Fame
TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
Vi e hviiiide...vi e rööööe...fantastic theory! Did u come up with that on ur own?? Well , Fed lost to Nadal in AO because Mirka was pregnant!
Click to expand...

hmm I thought it was because he was pregnant???
you think its a theory LOL, playing the longest 3 set match in history and have to play the next day again.. it doesnt sound like a theory, well perhaps if you are swedish:)
 
IvanAndreevich

IvanAndreevich

Legend
big bang said:
hmm I thought it was because he was pregnant???
you think its a theory LOL, playing the longest 3 set match in history and have to play the next day again.. it doesnt sound like a theory, well perhaps if you are swedish:)
Click to expand...

Nadal is fit, unlike some of his "fans" here believe. Trust me.
 
A

Agassifan

Hall of Fame
Augustus said:
He continued his dominance at the Australian Open and proved he was one of the best on hardcourt as well.
Click to expand...

Let me correct you... one of the best on slow hard courts.

That said, I won't write off Nadal just yet. He is still the favorite to get to No. 1 once federer declines further.
 
Winners or Errors

Winners or Errors

Legend
Didn't Nadal just make the semis of the US Open with a torn or pulled stomach muscle? Are people writing this guy off too soon? He had some very solid matches in the Open, and if he can get injury free for another run I think he could win there... Losing to Del Potro when you can barely move or serve over 100MPH is far from an embarrassment.
 
jonnythan

jonnythan

Professional
Winners or Errors said:
Didn't Nadal just make the semis of the US Open with a torn or pulled stomach muscle? Are people writing this guy off too soon? He had some very solid matches in the Open, and if he can get injury free for another run I think he could win there... Losing to Del Potro when you can barely move or serve over 100MPH is far from an embarrassment.
Click to expand...

Well you can't discount the injuries entirely.

We're not discussing what his potential is. He has the potential to be one of the best of all time and rack up 20 slams. But the reality is that he has been injured for most of this year with two or more fairly serious injuries. He's young and plays very hard and very fast so it's entirely possible or likely that injuries will follow him around for the remainder of his career.
 
navratilovafan

navratilovafan

Banned
Winners or Errors said:
Didn't Nadal just make the semis of the US Open with a torn or pulled stomach muscle? Are people writing this guy off too soon? He had some very solid matches in the Open, and if he can get injury free for another run I think he could win there... Losing to Del Potro when you can barely move or serve over 100MPH is far from an embarrassment.
Click to expand...

The semifinals was a total smackdown. His play wasnt that much impacted by an injury to explain that on its own. The only real difference was the serve which is never very good anyway . Being completely healthy would not have made the difference enough for him to win, maybe not even win a set since he was never in any of the 3 sets. Yeah with an injury he made the semis but it is not like his draw was that tough. Two decent but vastly overrated (atleast on TW) players. If he had played someone more dangerous like Soderling, Verdasco, Roddick, Cilic, or even Del Potro himself being he was the 6th seed, in the round of 16 or quarters he might well not have made the semis with his injury.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
big bang said:
why do people keep bringing this one up??? Rafa was done before the match started, 4 1/2 hour against Djoko the evening before! every decent top 10-20 player would have won that match. Rafa was slow and made more UE than ever seen because he came late to every shot.
Its so funny to hear *******s saying this over and over again, but guess it will stop when the claycourt season stars next year:)
Click to expand...

why do people keep bringing this up? the official match time was 4:02, not your overhyped statement. secondly, nadal and djokovic were stalling so much they actually only played tennis a third of that time. it's so funny to see *******s make excuses. Nadal should've put djokovic away sooner. if he planned his schedule more accordingly, he wouldnt have lost to fed, or to Soderling for that matter.

stop being stupid.
 
R

rafan

Hall of Fame
Oh my. Only last year we were hearing: "Federer has had his day, he will never win another slam" and so on and so on. What a load of bunkum is talked about Nadal and Federer who have conquered these so called big hitters time and time again. Nadal cruised past Soderling earlier this year and there is no reason when he is completely fit again that he will not beat him again. These guys didn't get where they are with a defeatist attitude. Lets see how long the big hitters can keep their game going before they feel the effects of modern day tennis also and have to pull out because of injury
 
malakas

malakas

Banned
No.In my opinion he won't ever again manage to become no.1. Though that doesn't mean he won't win a couple of more slams.
I think after Federer falling down again,it will be Murray the next no.1.:/
 
S

SerbWhoLovesDelPo

Guest
Cup8489 said:
why do people keep bringing this up? the official match time was 4:02, not your overhyped statement. secondly, nadal and djokovic were stalling so much they actually only played tennis a third of that time. it's so funny to see *******s make excuses. Nadal should've put djokovic away sooner. if he planned his schedule more accordingly, he wouldnt have lost to fed, or to Soderling for that matter.

stop being stupid.
Click to expand...

One third of that time? OK, so that's about 1 hour and 20 minutes. That's how long Madrid was without the "stalling".

So, correct me if I'm wrong: Djokovic-Nadal match in Cincinnati was about 1.5 hour long. Now, one third of that is: 1/2 hour. So, the match in Cincinnati was really only 1/2 hour long, but it was extended to 1.5 hours because of stalling. Right?

Am I using your logic correctly?
 
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zagor

zagor

Bionic Poster
I think there's a very good chance he'll get back to #1 sometimes in the future but I don't see him ever becoming as dominant as Fed or Sampras.
 
L

Ledigs

Legend
malakas said:
No.In my opinion he won't ever again manage to become no.1. Though that doesn't mean he won't win a couple of more slams.
I think after Federer falling down again,it will be Murray the next no.1.:/
Click to expand...

In the non-Fed eras, winning one or two slams would be enough to put him at number 1.
 
R

rommil

Legend
If Nadal is just going to zip back and forth to the top spot then I think it's better for him just to concentrate on winning the big ones. If he plays well, is ranking would not matter much anyways. He stands so very far away in breaking that consecutive number 1 record and his game and mentality doesn't entirely contribute to that. He has however, a chance to make a dent at other records while he is younger. Like what he should have done before, he needs to be wise with his plans and scheduling.
 
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