mike danny
Bionic Poster
Hey, not Fedr's fault he got Djokovic in those finals instead of Thiem.
2020 Roland Garros QF: Rafael 'Rafaello' Nadal v. Jannik 'the unrepentant' Sinner
- Thread starter Sysyphus
- Start date
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
No actual Nadal fan would ever want him to lose early since YE #1 is still in play if Rafa retains the RG trophy. And any actual Nadal knew that without being told.
T
TheNachoMan
Guest
You don’t root for your player to lose. Period.
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
Come on, I don't care about YE#1 anymore. He got it for the fifth time last year, this is better than anyone could expect from him. Anyway, his chances to get it this year are so low that there is no point of discussing it. At this point of his career slams are what matters.
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
STFU
Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
the avatar lol
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
Suri Vanilli.
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
Good match for Rafa in terms of getting in competitive sets without wasting too much time or energy on court. Definitely needs to step up his level, especially the first serve, but you've got to love how he has been converting in clutch opportunities this tournament, and set 3 was dominant.
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic's competition in AO finals wasn't exactly the strongest, I agree. But it's strange how he always loses at the "correct" time. He avoided Federer and Nadal in slams when he wasn't ready to beat them in 2017-2019. He lost early. But when he is in form he always meets them.
Amritia
Hall of Fame
I don’t loathe @StrongRule
He said he was going through a tough time.
The nadal predictions are a way of lowering expectations and thus pressure on himself/herself for Nadal matches.
To feel that sort of pressure on behalf of Nadal that you need to convince yourself there’s no shot anyway shows passion for Nadal, albeit manifesting in a weird way.
Secondly, when you see a match with a negative lens, it’s easy to be downcast and see what Nadal is doing wrong. Confirmation bias.
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
I never want him to lose. But losing early is better than losing in the final. If he has no chance anyway, so...
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Epic level trolling, SR!
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
Sinner was two points on serve away from winning the first set. Had he done it, who knows...Nadal could easily go down.
Dude, just **** off with your trolling
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Hmm... interesting to know a "Djokovic fan" doesn't value weeks at #1 or YE #1.
You used to be much better at trolling. Take this gentle nudge to be less transparent, it's a better affect and gig.
Dial back and be good at this.
E36BMWM3
Hall of Fame
Should’ve could’ve would’ve... the better player prevailed today, END OF STORY
StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
What will Djokovic do to this "better player" if he keeps playing like he did today?
arvind13
Professional
ah, the joys of keeping expectations low
E36BMWM3
Hall of Fame
I guess we’ll find out... Djokovic is playing lights out but it will depend on a) whether he makes it to the final and b) what level he’ll show up at. They’ve all had bad days at the office before
Tshooter
G.O.A.T.
TTW collectively has a very high ratio of time watching and talking about tennis to tennis insight. It could have been worse. It could have been innumerable posts of how Lorenzo Maserati was going to beat VAMOS.
Tshooter
G.O.A.T.
User name made me sombre today
Maybe he watched too much Diego Schwartzman serving for the set in the first QTRF?
jm1980
Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal is going to keep his 2000 RG points regardless of what happens
T
TheNachoMan
Guest
lol. rankings are such a joke this year
Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
A joke year deserves joke rankings.
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
He absolutely can. Schwartzmann is the third best clay returner behind Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal will be really under pressure constantly on serve.
Schwartzmann also has newfound belief against Nadal having a recent clay masters win against him.
Schwartzmann also has the benefit of being the underdog, and can just go out there and let it fly with zero pressure and dead, low bouncing conditions which will make Nadal's insane rally ball slightly more manageable.
The ideal situation would be if Nadal really sent a message and served incredibly well against Schwartzmann. I feel like we will know a lot more about his level depending on how he goes in that match.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
When it comes to someone who's won the event 12 out of 15 times and been injured on one of the others, yeah.
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NuBas
Legend
He has pop. It does seem like he puts everything into the shots but he has power.
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
Agree, i dont hate strongrule either. I get upset that he is overly pessimistic in match threads, and i think he underrates some of Nadal's late career achievements, but he is quite clearly a very passionate fan and knows a lot about the sport. I never get the feeling that he is commenting without having watched matches like I get with other folks.
His analysis of Nadal's mental state and whether he has become dispassionate about chasing the major record in these last few years of his career (particularly during CoViD) is some of the most unique stuff written on here.
And he was way ahead of most of us in predicting just how much the changed conditions were going to affect Nadal and Djokovic respectively.
arvind13
Professional
yeah but he's almost 35. a talented clay courter should be able to atleast push him to five sets. as i said before put a young moya or corretja or brugera or courier and they would beat this nadal. this guy sinner isn't in their league
EpitomeOfAwesome
Semi-Pro
in the America, we call this Arm chair quarterbacking
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
Nah, they wouldn’t beat him. You massively exaggerate how hard it is to be 34 in today’s tennis. Nadal had the age advantage tonight, not Sinner. 34 is far preferable to 19. Didn’t used to be so but is now. Sinner has a long way to go but looks promising. Will be three years or so before anything big can be expected of him (sure, we can hope for it to be sooner, but age is against him for at least three more years).
I loved Corretja and Moya by the way. Liked Bruguera.
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
His brilliant tennis comes like his hair, in patches.
PeoplesChamp
Legend
Meant to watch the whole thing but fell asleep after the 1st set. I guess I knew it was over when Sinner couldn't snag the 1st. Promising guy from what what I saw. Pretty tough mentally it appeared and a bludgeoning BH. He will do fairly well in the future.
kishnabe
Talk Tennis Guru
Will dbl fault on mp like in 2012 and 2014. Tip over smash like 2013.
Djokovic has shown weakness against Nadal at RG ( Better player in 2013). Just like Federer against Djokovic at SW19 ( Better player in 14 and 19)
aldeayeah
G.O.A.T.
Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but I wouldn't pick any version of Chokerretja against Nadal in RG (and yes I know he has a positive H2H against baby Rafa; that means nothing, I mean he has a positive H2H against pre-prime Fed too)
aldeayeah
G.O.A.T.
I mean he was pretty competitive for 1.5 sets, that's better than the average Nadal RG QF opponent. Kid has a bright future, especially if his serve improves.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
“Sinner is a very, very young talent with a lot of power, great shots,” said Nadal. “The conditions here were a little bit difficult because he was hitting every ball very hard, for me it was difficult. The ball, with this court, the spin is not there. For me, it was difficult to pull him out of the position.
“I think in the third set, I did it much better and I finished being much more aggressive. That’s the only way. So, I’m just very happy to be in the semi-finals again in Roland Garros. No doubt it’s the most important place and, for me, the most beautiful place.
Afterwards, Nadal was asked about the late finish. He said that the cold, windy conditions were particularly hazardous.
“Of course, it is not an ideal finish, a match at 1.30 in the morning. But the problem is the weather … Honestly, it is very, very cold to play tennis, no? I know football players play under these conditions, but it is a little bit different. They are all the time moving. We stop, we come back, we stop on the changeovers. It is a sport that you are stopped in a lot of moments, no? I think it is a little bit dangerous for the body to play with these very heavy conditions.”
www.theguardian.com
“I think in the third set, I did it much better and I finished being much more aggressive. That’s the only way. So, I’m just very happy to be in the semi-finals again in Roland Garros. No doubt it’s the most important place and, for me, the most beautiful place.
Afterwards, Nadal was asked about the late finish. He said that the cold, windy conditions were particularly hazardous.
“Of course, it is not an ideal finish, a match at 1.30 in the morning. But the problem is the weather … Honestly, it is very, very cold to play tennis, no? I know football players play under these conditions, but it is a little bit different. They are all the time moving. We stop, we come back, we stop on the changeovers. It is a sport that you are stopped in a lot of moments, no? I think it is a little bit dangerous for the body to play with these very heavy conditions.”
Rafael Nadal weathers cold and Jannik Sinner to reach French Open semi-final
Rafael Nadal overcame his first real test at this year’s Roland Garros, beating 19 year-old Jannik Sinner 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Roland Garros semi-final
www.theguardian.com
Subway Tennis
G.O.A.T.
The high quality power ball-striking, court craft, amazing hands and touch, athleticism, ice-cool demeanour.... Sinner has got it all.
Okay, so he got clattered when Nadal was freed up and playing super-aggressive in the third set, but he showed more than enough to indicate he is going to be a superstar.
Okay, so he got clattered when Nadal was freed up and playing super-aggressive in the third set, but he showed more than enough to indicate he is going to be a superstar.
roysid
Legend
Yep. Djokovic losing in wim 17 and AO 18 was shocking. Once he realised even if he wins he is no position to challenge Roger in the next round , he just threw in the towel
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Corretja was a massive choker, couldn’t even beat Sampras when Pete was throwing up on court at the USO. No way would he defeat even 40 year old Nadal. The others you mention would be another matter.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Can't believe I lost to Nadal @Federer and Del Potro
