Best performance vs Nadal in a RG final ?

abmk

abmk

Bionic Poster
All of the 6 below have the opponent winning 1 set.

1. 2005 - Nadal def Puerta : 67(6) 63 61 75

the set won was a 7-6 one.
Total games won = 16
% of games won = 16/41 = 39.02%
% of points won = 46.7%

this was versus the youngest nadal. the 1st and 4th sets were close. Edit : Puerta was serving for it at 5-4 in the 4th set and was up 40-15 , but nadal saved them both.

2. 2006 - Nadal def Federer : 16 61 64 76(4)
the set won was a 6-1 one.

Total games won = 17
% of games won = 17/37 = 45.9%
% of points won = 109/230 = 47.39%

nadal started off slowly in this one, federer started off fast. Then nadal recovered.
nadal was serving for the 4th set, but got broken. Then took the TB.

3. 2007 - Nadal def Federer : 63 46 63 64
the set won was a 6-4 one.

Total games won = 16
% of games won = 16/38 = 42.1%
% of points won = 46.7%

Nadal played pretty well. The conversion rate of 1/17 for fed tells a lot about his perf. on big points in this match.

4. 2011 - Nadal def Federer : 75 76(3) 57 61
the set won was a 7-5 one.

Total games won = 19
% of games won = 19/44 = 43.18%
% of points won = 130/273 = 47.6%

Close 3 sets. Federer started off really well, nadal a bit slow, federer was up 5-2 , had SP and lost 8 games in a row after a failed drop shot.

5. 2012 - Nadal def Djokovic : 64 63 26 75
the set won was a 6-2 one.

Total games won =18
% of games won = 18/39 = 46.15%
% of points won = 116/241 = 48.13%

A match of 3 parts : nadal dominating for the first 2 sets and 2-0 up. then enters wet conditions. djoko goes on a roll of 8 games (making it a break up in the 4th set ) . play suspended due to rain for the day. 3rd part, nadal comes and breaks djoko twice in the 4th to take it

6. 2014 - Nadal def Djokovic : 36 75 62 64
the set won was a 6-3 one.

Total games won = 17
% of games won = 17/39 = 43.58%
% of points won = 116/246 = 47.15%

nadal started off a bit slowly. djoko lost his way mid-way through the 2nd set. nadal pounced and kept up his level to finish it off.


------------------------------------------------

I think the best version of nadal among these is between 07/12 ( 07 more even, 12 more uneven due to the conditions).

05 nadal was possibly the weakest among the them relatively ( save maybe 14 ? ), plus puerta won less than 40% of the games plus puerta was suspended for performance enhancing substances, so should leave out puerta ?

I think that we can take out 14 as well because djoko didn't really do well after a set and half or so.

possibly take out fed 2006 as well - lots of UEs from federer - 60+ IIRC ?

that leaves us with fed in RG 07 final, fed in RG 11 final and djoko in RG 12 final.

So which one was it ?
 
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Very tough to say.
Federer 2007 was playing well - except on the points that mattered, where he couldn't convert. Nadal was a beast in that match.
Djokovic 2012 was pretty good. I don't think he started off particularly well whereas Rafa was playing one of his best ever French Opens - he absolutely flew out of the blocks. Pretty impressive to recover from 4-6, 3-6, 0-2 to take the 3rd set and then lead by a break in the 4th, potentially 1-2 games from taking it the distance.
 
2011 Fed outplayed Rafa for 3 sets but ended up 2-1 down which finished the match.

Had he took first set he could've won in 4 or took it to 5.

2006 Fed played brilliantly as well in sets 1 and 3 but again for some reason capitulated.

07 Fed was crap lucky to get 1 set.

2012 Nole was solid.

2013 Nole gave him best match there.
 
Steve0904 said:
Didn't Puerta serve to send it to a 5th only to get broken?
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oh yeah, my bad, remembered wrongly. Puerta was serving for it at 5-4. I thought it was the other way around.

Watching the end here now :


puerta was up 40-15 on his serve , had 2 SPs !
 
Federer 2011 I think. I say this a lot, but I remember watching that match almost in shock that at 30 years of age he'd finally started to try something different against him. I seem to remember wondering what the hell took him so long.

Puerta was doping, right? So you can call it maybe Rafa's best performance, but hard to give credit to the other dude. I think Fed's 2006 effort was pretty good if you can forgive the second set, but I think that was the year (or maybe it was 2007, not 100% sure) that he had spent like 5, 6 hours fewer on court heading into the final, so it's hard to get excited about either performance overall.

I guess technically the best performance was Novak's when it got cloudy, rainy, and heavy in 2012. He went into beast mode for a good while there, but the rest of the match he didn't have much to offer.
 
Krish872007 said:
Very tough to say.
Federer 2007 was playing well - except on the points that mattered, where he couldn't convert. Nadal was a beast in that match.
Djokovic 2012 was pretty good. I don't think he started off particularly well whereas Rafa was playing one of his best ever French Opens - he absolutely flew out of the blocks. Pretty impressive to recover from 4-6, 3-6, 0-2 to take the 3rd set and then lead by a break in the 4th, potentially 1-2 games from taking it the distance.
Click to expand...
story of his life
 
I think up until the rain 2012 probably trumps 2008 because Djokovic was playing much better than Federer was in 2008 and yet the match was completely one sided.

But the match didn't end here so i gotta say 2008 overall.
 
Vs Puerta, Against an in-form and elite CC specialist, who was hitting big and heavy off both wings, willing to play typical marathon clay points and threw everything he had at Ned, but came up short. Nadal's 2005 clay season was very impressive overall.
 
Tano said:
Who would have thought that Nadal's first Roland Garros final would be the toughest of his career and his last the easiest?
Click to expand...
Because the 2005 field actually had clay experts who understood how to play efficient tennis on the surface and take a full advantage of it. Nadal beating them all was a testament of his greatness on the surface.
 
Tier 1: Puerta 05, Fed 07, Fed 11, Djoker 12 (in that order tbh)
Tier 2: Fed 06, Djoker 14
Tier 3: Ferrer 13, Thiem 19, Djoker 20
Tier lol: Fed 08, Stan 17, Thiem 18, Ruud 22
 
05 Puerta, 06 Federer, 12 Djokovic, 11 Federer, 14 Djokovic, 07 Federer

Rest aren’t worth mentioning. 13 Djokoivc top followed by 05 Federer if we include semi finals.
 
Djoker 12 should be last on the list.

Nadal was killing him until the rain came down.

When they resumed the next day, Nadal went back to killing him.

Puerta got close to taking it to a 5th... but that was against Nadal in his first slam final, his nerves would have been through the roof... plus I don't want to give Puerta credit because he was a cheat.

So boils down to Fed 06, 07 and 11.

I'd say overall, 2007 was his best performance. Not only was Nadal in better form in that event vs the other 2, but it was more consistent from Fed despite wasting a lot of bp chances in the first set.

2011 was Fed's best chance... because it was the worst version of Nadal he faced in an RG final... But he capitulated in the first set when he missed the drop shot and then he fell apart again in the fourth set.

2006 wasn't a great performance from Fed, but at least he started well and almost pushed the match to a 5th, that has to count for something.

Final ranking:

1 - 07
2 - 06
3 - 11
4 - 05
5 - 12
 
The_Order said:
Djoker 12 should be last on the list.

Nadal was killing him until the rain came down.

When they resumed the next day, Nadal went back to killing him.

Puerta got close to taking it to a 5th... but that was against Nadal in his first slam final, his nerves would have been through the roof... plus I don't want to give Puerta credit because he was a cheat.

So boils down to Fed 06, 07 and 11.

I'd say overall, 2007 was his best performance. Not only was Nadal in better form in that event vs the other 2, but it was more consistent from Fed despite wasting a lot of bp chances in the first set.

2011 was Fed's best chance... because it was the worst version of Nadal he faced in an RG final... But he capitulated in the first set when he missed the drop shot and then he fell apart again in the fourth set.

2006 wasn't a great performance from Fed, but at least he started well and almost pushed the match to a 5th, that has to count for something.

Final ranking:

1 - 07
2 - 06
3 - 11
4 - 05
5 - 12
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The rain was kinda there though. I would struggle to put it last IMO.

As for 2007 it would interesting to know how many BP's Fed had were errors off his own bat I am pretty confident Nadal would have saved more than half of them. I think 10 of those came in the space of like 3 games or so and Fed only had one in the last 2 sets.
 
RS said:
The rain was kinda there though. I would struggle to put it last IMO.

As for 2007 it would interesting to know how many BP's Fed had were errors off his own bat I am pretty confident Nadal would have saved more than half of them. I think 10 of those came in the space of like 3 games or so and Fed only had one in the last 2 sets.
Click to expand...

2012 was last of the top 5, not last overall... that's obviously Ruud
 
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RS said:
I know I meant of the top 5.
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In that case, I gave my reasoning...

I get your point, that the rain was part of the match, but if we're judging performance, then Nadal outplayed him for the vast majority of the match...

05 Puerta nearly took it to 5. 06, Fed nearly did as well. 11 Fed was competitive with Nadal for the first 3 sets. 2007 Fed was competitive for the majority of the match.

Djok was only able to take some ascension due to the rain completely changing the conditions...
 
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Best performance vs Nadal would pretty easily be Djokovic 2013 or Soderling 2009, but neither of those was a final. Maybe Federer in 2006 or 2007? Not sure which. 2011 Nadal was much weaker than other years (light years better still than 2015 and some later years mind you) so wouldn't pick that even though Federer did play very well in the final.
 
The_Order said:
In that case, I gave my reasoning...

I get your point, that the rain was part of the match, but if we're judging performance, then Nadal outplayed him for the vast majority of the match...

05 Puerta nearly took it to 5. 06, Fed nearly did as well. 11 Fed was competitive with Nadal for the first 3 sets. 2007 Fed was competitive for the majority of the match.

Djok was only able to take some ascension due to the rain completely changing the conditions...
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I suppose I am quibbling there probably is that big a difference between all of them so I don't think your order is a big issue. I would say 07 Fed was consistently the best but Djokovic 12 hit a kind of high that no one else touched.
 
ibbi said:
Federer 2011 I think. I say this a lot, but I remember watching that match almost in shock that at 30 years of age he'd finally started to try something different against him. I seem to remember wondering what the hell took him so long.

Puerta was doping, right? So you can call it maybe Rafa's best performance, but hard to give credit to the other dude. I think Fed's 2006 effort was pretty good if you can forgive the second set, but I think that was the year (or maybe it was 2007, not 100% sure) that he had spent like 5, 6 hours fewer on court heading into the final, so it's hard to get excited about either performance overall.

I guess technically the best performance was Novak's when it got cloudy, rainy, and heavy in 2012. He went into beast mode for a good while there, but the rest of the match he didn't have much to offer.
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Federer was 29 in that final.
 
Sport said:
Federer was 29 in that final.
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You could already see the physical drop off compared to how he played pre 2007/2008. 2006 final he was getting everything back, making superb defensive retrievals. By 2011 he had lost at least half a step and relied on his ball striking more and more.
 
I think Nadal's biggest opponent was himself, to continue to 'A', win and win and win and win and win, but 'B', also dominate like no one has ever dominated in tennis. Everyone else around him was fodder to step on, pile up, and raise himself up.

That said, Fedrr.
 
Martin J said:
Vs Puerta, Against an in-form and elite CC specialist, who was hitting big and heavy off both wings, willing to play typical marathon clay points and threw everything he had at Ned, but came up short. Nadal's 2005 clay season was very impressive overall.
Click to expand...
A lot of people don't know that Puerta served for the fourth set at 5-4 up in that set, and had 3 set points. Nadal saved them all, broke serve, held his own serve and broke serve again, to win in 4 sets.

Nadal won his last 36 matches on clay in 2005. That streak would reach 81 by May 2007.
 
RS said:
As for 2007 it would interesting to know how many BP's Fed had were errors off his own bat I am pretty confident Nadal would have saved more than half of them. I think 10 of those came in the space of like 3 games or so and Fed only had one in the last 2 sets.
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It was more self-inflicted on Fed's part. Way too many of the unreturned serves should've been put back in play. 07 Nadal wasn't exactly whipping it in there.

1st set
1-2, 15-40: BH UE
1-2, 30-40: Forced error off the +1
2-3, 15-40: Ace
2-3, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
2-3, 40-AD: FH UE (Wild miss trying inside-out)
2-3, 40-AD: Unreturned (FH, 2nd serve, smh)
2-3, 40-AD: Forced error
3-4, 0-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-4, 15-40: FH UE
3-4, 30-40: BH UE

2nd set
3-3, 0-40: Nadal BH winner
3-3, 15-40: CONVERTS OMG WTF
3-5, 15-40: Unreturned (FH)
3-5, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-5, 40-AD: Nadal BH winner
3-5, 40-AD: BH UE

4th set
0-1, 40-AD: Forced error (basically a winner)
 
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MeatTornado said:
It was more self-inflicted on Fed's part. Way too many of the unreturned serves should've been put back in play. 07 Nadal wasn't exactly whipping it in there.

1st set
1-2, 15-40: BH UE
1-2, 30-40: Forced error off the +1
2-3, 15-40: Ace
2-3, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
2-3, 40-AD: FH UE (Wild miss trying inside-out)
2-3, 40-AD: Unreturned (FH, 2nd serve, smh)
2-3, 40-AD: Forced error
3-4, 0-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-4, 15-40: FH UE
3-4, 30-40: BH UE

2nd set
3-3, 0-40: Nadal BH winner
3-3, 15-40: CONVERTS OMG WTF
3-5, 15-40: Unreturned (FH)
3-5, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-5, 40-AD: Nadal BH winner
3-5, 40-AD: BH UE

4th set
0-1, 40-AD: Forced error (basically a winner)
Click to expand...
Fed’s return of serve vs Nadal was maddening at the time. Bro could’ve tried anything, could’ve hit through the BH, could’ve stood a few feet back and lobbed returns back to the baseline to try reset the point. Anything put trying to chip every BH back and being aced by Nadal of all people.
 
Mustard said:
A lot of people don't know that Puerta served for the fourth set at 5-4 up in that set, and had 3 set points. Nadal saved them all, broke serve, held his own serve and broke serve again, to win in 4 sets.

Nadal won his last 36 matches on clay in 2005. That streak would reach 81 by May 2007.
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I think most people are aware of that (at least now), since it has been repeated many times here in threads (which is good, they may pay more attention to that match in the future).

The reason I rate his 2005 clay season very high is his success against a strong competition on the surface, where he beat them all winning the biggest titles (Rome, MC, Barcelona, FO) and all that during his breakthrough year, that's just stunning. You have to travel back to 1974 to witness a similar feat.
His streak of 87 consecutive wins on dirt is nothing short of a miracle, but his 2005 victories are most important/impressive in my book.
 
Let's watch them all in order and discuss 8-B

Lemon-garlic-chicken-wings-3-3-500x375.jpg
 
MeatTornado said:
It was more self-inflicted on Fed's part. Way too many of the unreturned serves should've been put back in play. 07 Nadal wasn't exactly whipping it in there.

1st set
1-2, 15-40: BH UE
1-2, 30-40: Forced error off the +1
2-3, 15-40: Ace
2-3, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
2-3, 40-AD: FH UE (Wild miss trying inside-out)
2-3, 40-AD: Unreturned (FH, 2nd serve, smh)
2-3, 40-AD: Forced error
3-4, 0-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-4, 15-40: FH UE
3-4, 30-40: BH UE

2nd set
3-3, 0-40: Nadal BH winner
3-3, 15-40: CONVERTS OMG WTF
3-5, 15-40: Unreturned (FH)
3-5, 30-40: Unreturned (BH)
3-5, 40-AD: Nadal BH winner
3-5, 40-AD: BH UE

4th set
0-1, 40-AD: Forced error (basically a winner)
Click to expand...
Interesting. It didn't feel like it watching to me.
 
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