West Coast Ace
G.O.A.T.
Except he won a lot of pts w his serve and never had to hit another ball. Oh, and Fabio's BH is a lot better.
US Open 2015 R3: Nadal (8) vs Fognini (32)
- Thread starter RS92
- Start date
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
It's not tough luck. It's Nadal being in terrible form. I don't care what you say about Fognini GOATing. The truth is that this would never happen against Federer, Djokovic, and perhaps not even Murray, (thinking about the Mannarino match). Those other 3 guys wouldn't ALLOW Fognini to play anywhere near as well as he did tonight.
In most cases, a lot of people are missing that point when it comes to guys pulling off these upsets. Nadal's shots just lack so much depth and zip right now that it makes it easy/easier for guys like Fognini to tee off.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Hitting 70 winners, especially with that weak of a serve, is not a fluke. It is taking advantage of midcourt loopy balls and going for it, over and over again.
AceSalvo
Legend
agreed.. may the best player win..
Yup rafa allows these guys to hammer his shots. People keep saying oh i cant believe another guy did this to nadal. Rafas loopy shots allow these guys to crush them.
In fact, by drawing the 32nd seed in the round of 32 he actually had the best 3rd round matchup assuming everything went according to form. Of course upsets mean that wasn't really true, but still he had the best 3rd round matchup compared to any of the other seed when the draw was released.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Fognini has never played a better match at a major. EVER.
marc45
G.O.A.T.
you hear various stories from players on what coaches said to them before matches, but unless you're in the room when their talking your never sure...it would be very interesting to here them talk about this match beforehand, or any ones this year...to be the fly on the wall...at this point I'm really not sure anything is really being said that is different
Michael Essien
Semi-Pro
Yeah this, he basically just started knocking it back like he was willingly going "Yeah, go on Fabio mate, finish it off" just setting it up for Fognini to smash a winner. No depth at all, and just hitting it in the middle of the court. Going to get eaten up all day. Federer and Djokovic etc would have seen it off hours before that ended, and in routine straight sets.
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
There isn't much to look forward to in tennis after the last Grand Slam of the season. Paris-Bercy or Shanghai isn't going to do much for his legacy. He should use the rest of the season to try out his new racket and to improve his shots. His shots not only lacked power but also depth. Fabio was at his best and Nadal kept feeding him short balls to pounce on.
Yes he did when he straight setted rafa earlier in the year.
West Coast Ace
G.O.A.T.
Kipling - Triumph, Disaster.
I think some of you are using the number of breaks to discredit the quality of the match. Neither gets a lot of free pts so it became a baseline duel.
marc45
G.O.A.T.
yeah, the men's game is cratering...but we have Kyrgios, and Napoleon, so we can still breathe
Spot on. Its easier to GOAT when your opponent is returning shallow shots down the middle.
beltsman
G.O.A.T.
ha ha ha
NextGeneration
Rookie
don't get fooled, look at who you are talking to
does it need any further explanation?
Confused. Thought he was a massive Rafa fanboy
Mr Feeny
Hall of Fame
Wait. Did he really say that?
THANK you, Captain Obvious...
tipsa...don'tlikehim!
Talk Tennis Guru
I totally agree, right now Nadal plays a game that let too much time to his opponents
in the past with more depth in his shots and more pace he was tiring his opponents to finally get the easy ball to hit a winner
right now the players are not bothered by it anymore
happy-for-that
Banned
Rafa and Fognini put on the best show of this year's US Open, hats off to both for providing such epic entertainment.
One of the most unique tennis matches ever played!
One of the most unique tennis matches ever played!
marc45
G.O.A.T.
oh christ?...how many times would Djokovic or Murray have broken him tonight?...are you saying they would never hold serve, because that's what FF would have needed to win
ForumMember
Hall of Fame
Irony is couple of good games in third set and all news headlines would have been screaming comeback of Nadal with a flawless and impeccable match against a good player. He was just two games away from those headlines.
My satisfaction is now, having watched first two and half sets of today's match, I am more hopeful of his comeback then I was before start of USO.
My satisfaction is now, having watched first two and half sets of today's match, I am more hopeful of his comeback then I was before start of USO.
West Coast Ace
G.O.A.T.
Spoken like a total armchair. You're beyond clueless.
NBP
Hall of Fame
lol. if thats what makes you sleep...
MasturB
Legend
He needs to get points to avoid being in danger of dropping out of the Top 10.
Carsomyr
Legend
Sure, but as great as Nadal is, he doesn't mix it up or throw different looks like Federer and, to a lesser extent, Djokovic and Murray, do.
That's why he's always been more prone to upsets to players blasting the cover off the ball. It's been much, much worse this year, but he really did play high quality tennis for the vast majority of the match. It was some really vintage stuff.
People always say this bs. Joker and fex would have broke fog like a bronco and held their serve.
tipsa...don'tlikehim!
Talk Tennis Guru
if this win could give some confidence and fire up Fognini it would be nice - he would make the current era more interesting for a year or 2
NBP
Hall of Fame
He takes it like a man and doesn't avoid the tour.
NextGeneration
Rookie
Yes that's why people tend to hit with more topspin and margin when they want to play it safe
La Grande
G.O.A.T.
Nope, keep working hard like the true champion and professional he is.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Quality of the match was good. But for Rafa to lose 4 service games (1st one from deuce, next two at 30 and last one at LOVE) was horrendous.
Fognini lost two at 15 and the third one he had like 6 game points/saved 2 BP's.
Set 3 and 4 was truly beautiful from Fog.
Fognini lost two at 15 and the third one he had like 6 game points/saved 2 BP's.
Set 3 and 4 was truly beautiful from Fog.
Is 12th any worse than 10? I dont believe so. He does need to protect his top 8 rank though
StanTheMan
Hall of Fame
Aside from the big 4, no one has beaten Nadal in a major without a very good serve suporting their game (Darcis, maybe?)
Until today. That's the most impressive thing. Fognini beat Nadal from the baseline. And everyone saying Nadal didn't return a lot of balls deep enough.
Hell, most balls there wouldn't be returned at all by 98% of the players. Nadal in his prime would probably defend better, but that's hardly the point.
Until today. That's the most impressive thing. Fognini beat Nadal from the baseline. And everyone saying Nadal didn't return a lot of balls deep enough.
Hell, most balls there wouldn't be returned at all by 98% of the players. Nadal in his prime would probably defend better, but that's hardly the point.
romeo8880
G.O.A.T.
They wouldn't have broken him nearly as much as nadal did. Nadal was prime nadal tonight and it still wasn't enough. Fabio was GOAT status.
JohnnyMac Fan!
Legend
marc45
G.O.A.T.
thank you...give Fabio credit, he has skills... but the story is as much on the other side of the net...idk about Lopez, I do know when he gets handled by ND the story goes back to being 99% about Nadal
Did you watch the match? Federer lost to Robredo last year...stop with the player bashing.
***
I'm convinced some posters in this thread didn't even watch the match. Amazing points from both players--easily the best hitting of the tournament. Both should be proud.
beltsman
G.O.A.T.
I used to be a huge Bull-hater, everyone knows this.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Stop letting basic trolls fool you. Any DUMB ASS "Nadal fan" that always says positive **** post after post, isn't a fan. But a lame-o trying to bait more hate.
Carsomyr
Legend
Yes, he did indeed say that 10 minutes after I posted it.
AceSalvo
Legend
cmon.. give Grandpa Fed a break.. 29 is not even close silly..
Hmmm, I wonder how many times in the last 10 years either Novak or Fed have been broken 4 straight times on HC.
Nadal is a 1-dimensional baseline defensive player, with no answers and no options when his level drops or someone redlines. People have pointed out this simple truth many times.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Rafa's? In fairness horrible matchup for Rafa as Fog loves the Rafa ball. Three losses to Fog this year.
Zetty
Hall of Fame
Fair, Fognini was streaky, but the ceiling he had in the match was abnormal, just like a couple/few years ago when Federer got wiped out every once in a while by big hitters like Berdych and Tsonga that just got into the zone.
Your high. Fabio took what rafa gave him. Joker and fed would not have given him loopballs to crush all night.
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