BabyDal vs. PeakDick

Was the classic BabyDal vs. PeakDick encounter one of the greatest signs of the Bull's early talent?

  • Yes, #51 BabyDal beating the world #2 against all odds is impressive.

    Votes: 6 54.5%
  • No, beating PeakDick is as unimpressive as it gets.

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • Total voters
    11

Sport

G.O.A.T.
As we're celebrating Nadal's careeer as per his recent retirement from yesterday, I wanted to ask the forum... Was the classic BabyDal vs. PeakDick DC 2004 battle one of the matches where you knew Nadal was the real deal (along with the also classic Miami 2004 Fedal match)? Little bit of historial perspective: Davis Cup 2004, finals. Spanish captains made the risky choice to put Nadal, a little known kid from Mallorca who was #51 in the world and merely 18 years old, to face Roddick, the #2 in the world and US' star player. The decission took everybody by surprise in Spain, and Ferrero didn't take it well. After all, Ferrero was the LEGEND that bring Spain its first Davis Cup in 2000 and had also won RG the previous year in 2003. And yet, teenager BabyDal succesfully defeated world #2 PeakDick, when the former was at the height of his powers... The rest is history.

 
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Sport

G.O.A.T.
I'm very excited by PeakDick
Back in 03-04, PeakDick would penetrate his rivals' defense with that huge forehand he had.

Many have complained about his tactical change in 05 toward a more conservative/less UE-prone approach with his forehand technique.
 
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metsman

Talk Tennis Guru
Ned losing a set here (almost 2) is a pretty big mark against him if we're being honest with ourselves.
 

FD3S

Hall of Fame
Ned losing a set here (almost 2) is a pretty big mark against him if we're being honest with ourselves.
In retrospect it was surprising he dropped even one. The aggressive playstyle Roddick used to annihilate Nadal in straights at the USO that same year wasn't one that was particularly conducive to success on red clay and even if Rafa lacked a little zip power-wise compared to what was to come he was already insanely fast.
 

FD3S

Hall of Fame
Didn't Roddick defeat Nadal in 2010? Also, Roddick owns the current player who has circumstantially achieved the most.
He did and it was an impressive win. Up until 4-3 in the second Rafa was dealing with the passive Roddick ground game comfortably and easily ripping passing shots by him when he sliced cross-court and came in - once the Reebok forehand came out of hibernation and Roddick started hitting more aggressive/better timed approaches, the match turned on its head. His life got significantly more complicated when the majority of first balls Roddick sent him after his made returns weren't neutral ones he could attack.
 

RoddickAce

Hall of Fame
Clay behemoth Roddick, with his unbeatable defensive clay game and weak serve, was lucky he didn't face Rafa on the fast court courts of the US Open that year. Otherwise he would have struggled to win a set and take another to a TB against Rafa, who clearly trembles in fear at the sight of clay courts.
 

FedForGOAT

Professional
No mention that this was on RED clay where Roddick is barely above 50% for his career…

It might have seemed surprising at that point, since we didn’t know just how uninspiring Roddick would be on clay.
But given what we know now, no it’s not much of a sign
 

aldeayeah

G.O.A.T.
This was the first Rafa match I saw! The memories :cry:

However, even back then we kinda expected our dirtballers to bury the Americans into the deathtrap that was laid out for them - a super slow stadium clay court with a 27,000-strong crowd. Especially since Agassi wasn't there.
 

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
HC a different story as always for Nadal.

i prefer this one :)

as regards the dirt match, if only muddick made a better use of his set point in the 3rd... :X3:
... that might have nipped the topspin plague in the bud and saved tennis for a couple of decades.

doc-brown-back-to-the-future.gif
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
No , when he won MC and Rome back to back beating Coria is when we can say greatest sign of his talent.

Because a loss to Nadal on clay while bad for Roddick , doesn't tell much. But 2 big losses definitely did in 2005.
 

metsman

Talk Tennis Guru
No mention that this was on RED clay where Roddick is barely above 50% for his career…

It might have seemed surprising at that point, since we didn’t know just how uninspiring Roddick would be on clay.
But given what we know now, no it’s not much of a sign
Trust me, everyone knew in 2004 how uninspiring Roddick was on clay anywhere outside Houston. He had a decent run in rome in 2002, but then was well under .500 in big clay court events and Davis Cup in 03 and 04 (reaching the Houston finals twice and then winning a mickey mouse event).
 

Berrettini_Fan

Semi-Pro
If Roddick was so bad on clay, why did Spain feel the need to trot out a teenage Nadal over proven vet Ferrero? Also, who was the other Singles Match player for Spain since this implies Ferrero was excluded from Singles.
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
If Roddick was so bad on clay, why did Spain feel the need to trot out a teenage Nadal over proven vet Ferrero? Also, who was the other Singles Match player for Spain since this implies Ferrero was excluded from Singles.
Because Roddick was still number 2 and Ferrero is not bad at all. They gave Nadal a shot at number 2.
 

aldeayeah

G.O.A.T.
That still doesn't explain why Ferrero was skipped over for the match.
Ferrero was in questionable form at the end of the year (and indeed he kept performing subpar for a while). Carlos Moya was the #1 player for Spain.

Nadal had already won clay events and was seen as a near future clay star, and he was much fresher after having had to skip the 2004 clay season due to injury.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
That still doesn't explain why Ferrero was skipped over for the match.
There were some doubts about Ferrero after the post-chickenpox return. Going with Nadal instead of Ferrero to face Roddick in the 2004 Davis Cup final was a gamble for captain Jordi Arrese, but it paid off.

Their rankings at the time were Ferrero at number 31 and Nadal at number 51. Ferrero had started 2004 at world number 3, and Ferrero was world number 1 for 8 weeks from 8 September 2003 to 2 November 2003.
 
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