tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
Will you leave this place forever if rafa recovers his mojo and start winning again??
2012: Bad Year for Nadal
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Will you leave this place forever if rafa recovers his mojo and start winning again??
tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
aphex
Banned
This is where you're wrong.
These people are devotees of the nadal, they have nothing to do with tennis.
Most of them have never held a racquet in their hands.
Even the consigliere of the nadal fanatics, shamelessone, with his tldr diatribes attempting to feign tennis knowledge, has admitted that he doesn't play tennis...
As soon as the nadal is gone from tennis, these people will be too.
I predict a career of Taylor Lautner idolization for most of them after their stint at tennis...
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
Not sure what you are getting at. Are you saying Djoker is better than Rafa ? or Rafa has more mental fortitude than Fed ?
Or simply because Djoker is much better than Rafa and beat him up all over the place Rafa can be excused for not having mental fortitude, whereas since Rafa beat up Fed mainly on clay, Fed was expected to have mental toughness on the rest of the surfaces, and once Fed duly exercised the said mental toughness he was no longer as mentally tough as Rafa
Regarding mental toughness, I think Fed's toughness is being able to forget tough losses and come back later on, he isn't necessarily very strong in a particular match -- if his opponent stands up and doesn't buckle down and takes the match to 5 (or 3) more often than not Fed loses.
Rafa is tough as nails during a match (exception of Djoker - i am undecided if his issues with Djoker are mental or Djoker is simply better), but seems to let previous tough losses play on his mind and affect his game negatively. While Rafa was beating up on Fed, Fed still crunched up the rest of the field, Rafa seems to unraveling against the field as well.
namelessone
Legend
This is where you're wrong.
These people are devotees of the nadal, they have nothing to do with tennis.
Most of them have never held a racquet in their hands.
Even the consigliere of the nadal fanatics, shamelessone, with his tldr diatribes attempting to feign tennis knowledge, has admitted that he doesn't play tennis...
As soon as the nadal is gone from tennis, these people will be too.
I predict a career of Taylor Lautner idolization for most of them after their stint at tennis...
LOLWUT?
I admit that I don't play tennis in winter cause it's damn expensive(the price of courts doubles) but I do play in spring-autumn. I had a big period when I stopped playing cause I didn't have a tennis partner but that's about it. I even played tennis weekly at a club(Club Sen) in Constanta(with a coach) for 4 years(8-12 years) when I was a kid.
It's a passion that I got, lost for a while, and got it back again when I was older.
But yeah, I don't play...
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namelessone
Legend
What's there to get?
I am saying that Djoker is a tougher adversary for Rafa than Rafa was for Fed because Djokovic(a tough matchup) follows Rafa on all surfaces whereas Rafa(tough matchup for Fed) was only a problem for on clay for Fed for most of his career. So Federer had a lot more room to breathe with his rival, that's what I am saying.
tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
This is where you're wrong.
These people are devotees of the nadal, they have nothing to do with tennis.
Most of them have never held a racquet in their hands.
Even the consigliere of the nadal fanatics, shamelessone, with his tldr diatribes attempting to feign tennis knowledge, has admitted that he doesn't play tennis...
As soon as the nadal is gone from tennis, these people will be too.
I predict a career of Taylor Lautner idolization for most of them after their stint at tennis...
Have you ever held a racket in your hand? may be,no??
You are not a school teacher who is just here to give lectures.Do you know how to hold a racket in "Eastern Grip" or a "Western Grip? Do you know that Jmac had a "continental forehand"? Of course,you don't.lol..
You better look at your self before pointing out your fingers at everyone.
aphex
Banned
LOLWUT?
I admit that I don't play tennis in winter cause it's damn expensive(the price of courts doubles) but I do play in spring-autumn. I had a big period when I stopped playing cause I didn't have a tennis partner but that's it. I even played tennis weekly at a club(Club Sen) in Constanta(with a coach) for 4 years(8-12 years) when I was a kid.
It's a passion that I got, lost for a while, and got it back again when I was older.
But yeah, I don't play...
Was it during the "big period" when you admitted that you don't play?
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
OK - Ergo, Rafa is mentally tougher than Fed ?
And Rafa is simply better than Federer on clay and a tough match-up on all surfaces barring indoor hard.
tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
Was it during the "big period" when you admitted that you don't play?
is that the same "big period" that i am thinking off??
namelessone
Legend
Was it during the "big period" when you admitted that you don't play?
Tbh I don't remember but yeah, probably and it was true at the time since I did not play. I had like 6 or 7 years when I didn't even touch my Dunlop but then again, I had a lot of stuff going on at the time, tennis was the last thing on my mind. My uncle got me back into it in my early 20's cause a friend of his had a deal for a FREE COURT(unheard of in Bucharest) and we played for one year and a half each week, it was awesome. Then the deal broke(and as I said courts are pretty expensive, 2 hours here is 40 bucks in winter) and I stopped for half a year again but I found a colleague at work who plays, he brought friends along and now we share the cost of regular courts among us.
namelessone
Legend
How do you draw that conclusion?
aphex
Banned
You admitted it last year.
Therefore, you recently started playing tennis. Good for you.
Rhino
Legend
Yeah and lets also hope that he draws a peak Federer a few times to even up that H2H.
namelessone
Legend
Started playing tennis AGAIN. I've played the sport since I was a kid. At least I've played more in 2011 than in 2010 though it was with people of lower skill level so I don't think it counts all that much.
You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find people to play among people you know and the courts aren't exactly cheap. And the worse part is that even those that I try to bring over to tennis in a more permanent fashion seem pretty reluctant. It's a hard sport to get into for newbies since the discrepancy in skill level shows.
aphex
Banned
You mean you played when you were a kid, not since you were a kid.
Thanks for confirming you are a newbie and/or play with newbies.
So that we know how much stock to put into your tl;dr diatribes feigning tennis knowledge.
namelessone
Legend
True. Still, not exactly my first time with a racket.
For 2011 it's definitely true, I've been trying to get some colleagues into the sport. I figure that playing some underpar tennis is better than not playing at all. When I played with my uncle it was far better since he has played far longer than me(but even he is rusty after a long layoff) but now he's pretty old to keep up even though technically he still has it.
Troll detected.
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Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Yes, dear aphex, we can only hope that Ralpha has a majestic 2012.
Anything would be better than the awful year that '11 was.
nadalwon2012
Banned
January 2009: I have a hunch that 2009 will be a rather bad year for Federer.
Federer won 2 slams and made the final of all 4 slams.
January 2010: I have a hunch that 2010 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
Nadal became the first man in planet earth history to win slams on clay, grass, hardcourt in a calendar year.
January 2011: I have a hunch that 2011 will be a rather bad year for Djokovic.
Djokovic won 3 slams.
January 2012: I have a hunch that 2012 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
.......
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Just imagine how advanced nameless's knowledge and advice will be after he's accumulated a few years of tennis. He's already miles ahead of everyone else in his tennis acumen. GOAT material, he.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
But dear child, you weren't here in 2010. Or even 2009. And you have repeatedly confirmed that this is your first username at TW.January 2009: I have a hunch that 2009 will be a rather bad year for Federer.
Federer won 2 slams and made the final of all 4 slams.
January 2010: I have a hunch that 2010 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
Nadal became the first man in planet earth history to win slams on clay, grass, hardcourt in a calendar year.
January 2011: I have a hunch that 2011 will be a rather bad year for Djokovic.
Djokovic won 3 slams.
January 2012: I have a hunch that 2012 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
.......
aphex
Banned
January 2009: I have a hunch that 2009 will be a rather bad year for Federer.
Federer won 2 slams and made the final of all 4 slams.
January 2010: I have a hunch that 2010 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
Nadal became the first man in planet earth history to win slams on clay, grass, hardcourt in a calendar year.
January 2011: I have a hunch that 2011 will be a rather bad year for Djokovic.
Djokovic became the first man in planet earth history to beat down on nadal on clay, grass, hardcourt in a calendar year showing how worthless his slams of 2010 were.
January 2012: I have a hunch that 2012 will be a rather bad year for Nadal.
.......
a small correction
namelessone
Legend
Rhetorical question here but why, WHY do people keep responding to nadalwonwhatever?
nadalwon2012
Banned
But dear child, you weren't here in 2010. Or even 2009. And you have repeatedly confirmed that this is your first username at TW.
Why would I have to be here? I'm mocking the OP, not quoting the past. Speaking of quoting, why don't you quote these repeated 'confirmations'? Care to?
aphex
Banned
He represents the nadal fanbase, no?
nadalwon2012
Banned
a small correction
Stick to the slam facts if you want to edit my post correctly.
nadalwon2012
Banned
I guess I own them. Wasn't my intention....they just can't handle the truth.
D
Deleted member 77403
Guest
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
You seem to be saying that it was not really a big deal for Fed to win the rest the of the GS as Rafa was not a big challenge, on the other surfaces. In other words you seem to be downplaying Fed's achievements on surfaces other than clay. Or at least you seem to be saying that since Fed didn't have to beat Rafa on the other surfaces nothing can be said about his mental toughness.
This is one way to look at it. The way I see it Fed did not allow his multiple losses to Nadal to play on his mind or prevent him from beating the rest of the field, Nadal seems to have been affected to the point where he is losing against the rest of the field.
namelessone
Legend
LOL, how do you get that from what I was writing?
I was merely replying about the toughness of their respective adversaries and that adversaries skillset on ALL SURFACES. Rafa wasn't that tough for Fed because he only had to deal with Rafa in one third of the season, after that Rafa usually fell in QF/SF of other slams and even when he won on non-clay he would get injured shortly and give Fed another shot at coming back in. Djoker is not like that, he made many finals on ALL SURFACES and in big events, like slams and masters events so Rafa had to face him in almost every final in 2011.
Both guys(Fed/Rafa in this example) had their bad matchups but for Fed it was easier because Rafa was a non-factor in 2 out of 4 slams before 2008(heck 2008 was the first year when Rafa made all 4 SF in GS yet he had been nr.2 in the world since 2005).
Fed had some pretty weird defeats after WB 08 and AO 09 if you remember them. In fact his whole "resurrection" in 2009 was when his main competitor for those 2 slams(RG and WB) took himself out with bad scheduling around knee problems. To compare with Nadal's current situation, it's as if Djokovic announce that he has a bad back and won't compete in the next 2 slams.
But I don't get your rest of the field bit with Nadal. When has Rafa dominated the rest of the field? He usually stomps most of them into the ground on natural surfaces but he hardly dominated on HC when HC is 65% of the tour yet Rafa wins maybe one HC event every year. Fed was molesting the rest of the field while having problems WITH ONE GUY ON ONE SURFACE. It's only natural that the rest of his results wouldn't have differed that much after a Nadal loss. Meanwhile, Rafa, in the year when he won 3 slams(and improved on his HC game), lost on HC to Garcia Lopez, Baggie, Ljubicic and Melzer, some of these after great wins, in WB and USO. So I don't know how much stock to put into Rafa's losses on HC this year after this Djokovic debacle. With some it may be that he is affected by losses, with some it may be because the other guys played better or are naturally more gifted for a HC game.
aphex
Banned
LOL, I just remember Ralph not losing a set until round 4 when Soderking ripped him a new one
namelessone
Legend
LOL, I just remember Ralph not losing a set until round 4 when Soderking ripped him a new one
And we know what happened between these two when Nadal was in a healthy state(when they met in RG the following 2 years and WB 2010)
Oh my bad, I forgot that Sod carried a injury in those matches...
aphex
Banned
Yep, Sod spanked him in 4. RG'09-true story...
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Maybe your posts are too long to read, let alone respond to
namelessone
Legend
Maybe your posts are too long to read, let alone respond to
So it's a little like this:
nadalwon2012
Banned
Are you saying Nadal has let the losses to Djokovic negatively affect him against the rest of the field?
Nadal has made the last 3 slam finals. Nobody has beaten him, except for Djokovic.
And at the Indoor World Tour Finals it was nothing new to see Nadal miss the semis. He has a relatively awful record at World Tour Finals, not even winning a set in 2009. And losing in any tournament in the 2nd half of the year is common for Nadal. Most of his titles have come in the first half of the year, throughout his career, except for the Masters event in Canada, and the 2008 Olympics.....
If anything, Nadal is responding to Djokovic more impressively than Federer responded to Nadal. Nadal is beating the "rest of the field" more comprehensively in slams than Federer did. Nadal started really owning Federer at the slams in 2008 when he won Wimbledon and 2009 when he won the Australian Open. After that, Federer started being stretched to 5 sets by guys like Haas and Roddick, and losing to Del Potro at the US Open. I can only remember one 5 setter Nadal faced in 2011 - the Isner match. Apart from that, Nadal has been brilliant, and was 4-1 vs Murray in 2011 and 4-1 vs Federer in 2011. And undefeated vs Del Potro.
namelessone
Legend
aphex
Banned
Thanks for confirming Nadal is at his peak.
nadalwon2012
Banned
Like I said, Nadal only owned Federer at slams overall from 2008 onwards. So look at what Federer did at slams after 2008.
He was taken to 5 sets by Roddick, Del Potro, Haas, and then lost to Del Potro at the US Open. That is very unimpressive vs "the rest of the field".
Djokovic only owned Nadal at slams overall in 2011. So look at what Nadal did at slams in 2011. Nadal was simply brilliant vs "the rest of the field" in 2011. Nadal beat Federer at Roland Garros (6-1 in the 4th set). Nadal beat Murray at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open in 2011. Nadal beat Del Potro at Wimbledon and Davis Cup. Simply BRILLIANT vs "the rest of the field".
aphex
Banned
Exactly. We're witnessing the peak of the prime of the apex of nadal.
C
celoft
Guest
Who knows? 2012 could definitely be his last year winning a slam. Borg, Sampras and Federer won slams for 8 years in a row. Nadal so far has won slams for 7 years in a row. So his slam winning days are winding down for sure.
nadalwon2012
Banned
No, he would be winding down if he was Federer. Nadal is not Federer. Nadal will smash the record for consecutive slam-winning years. Nobody in history has dominated a slam more than Nadal dominates Roland Garros. He will ride that slam into his 30s. Plus I thought Nadal played better at 2011 Wimbledon for the first 6 rounds than he played in 2010 Wimbledon.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
If you relied solely on this forum for info regarding Rafa, you would be led to believe that he was one step away from receiving his last rites on his deathbed. But if you actually saw the matches that Rafa played in 2011, especially the ones against Djokovic you would see that Rafa was beastly.
Tennis Channel showed the best matches of 2011 in the month of December so I saw all of the Nadal v Djokovic matches again. Nadal was in top form (except for the disappearance of that magic 2010 US Open serve). You just have to realize that the heavy, high bouncing topspin to the backhand that he uses against everyone just doesn't work against Djokovic. Djokovic loves that ball and Nadal was in a quandary as to what to do. It's hard to change the habits he has formed over the almost 20 years he has probably played tennis.
I believe that in 2011 Nadal was completely in top form physically. Mentally he was roughed up by Djokovic and a few other players who took advantage of his weakened mental state. As for 2012, changing his mental state is probably harder than changing strategy. But what will it say about Rafa if instead of fighting hard and rising to the challenge he just mentally caves?
Tennis Channel showed the best matches of 2011 in the month of December so I saw all of the Nadal v Djokovic matches again. Nadal was in top form (except for the disappearance of that magic 2010 US Open serve). You just have to realize that the heavy, high bouncing topspin to the backhand that he uses against everyone just doesn't work against Djokovic. Djokovic loves that ball and Nadal was in a quandary as to what to do. It's hard to change the habits he has formed over the almost 20 years he has probably played tennis.
I believe that in 2011 Nadal was completely in top form physically. Mentally he was roughed up by Djokovic and a few other players who took advantage of his weakened mental state. As for 2012, changing his mental state is probably harder than changing strategy. But what will it say about Rafa if instead of fighting hard and rising to the challenge he just mentally caves?
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
Care to remind us what happened to Nadal at that US open
As your post clearly suggests, Nadal was at his beastly best in 2011, and will continue to be at his godawesomebutt*****ing best in 2012. Since Nadal is so good it is a foregone conclusion that he will reach the finals all the GS. This will directly enable Nadal to lose even more impressively to Djoker -- which will help Djoker win the CYGS, after which you can create another couple more usernames and tell us why you think Nadal was at his best.
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
namelessone
Legend
What happens if Rafa fights hard in 2012 and the challenge is too big(it is a scenario that could happen) for him and loses?
What then?
No credit to him, right?
He just gave up, amirite?
sunny_cali
Semi-Pro
Perhaps I am reading too much into Nadal's losses to Murray/Tsonga/Monfils. Perhaps it's a bit too premature to say if Nadal is mentally unraveling against the rest of the field. To me, more than the losses themselves, its the manner of his losses that suggest that he is losing it mentally, but perhaps it is possible that these losses are aberrations, and I am jumping the gun. Let's wait and watch how the beginning of the season unfolds.
dudeski
Hall of Fame
So, which old account are you?
Lets just say I've been "reading" this forum for a while
There are plenty examples of one tennis player dominating another (hello... Fed v Rafa). Just go out and compete. You don't talk about losing passion for the game to the press. Tell that to your family and/or therapist. Don't talk about wanting a 2 year ranking system. I think that talk is all related to his drop of mental strength. Roddick gets his butt beat against Fed every time but I don't think that anyone thinks that Roddick just gives up. Fed is always the underdog against Rafa and no one thinks that Fed just gives up. Just go out and fight. You are either going to win or lose.
