Mainad
Bionic Poster
Shame he couldn't begin practicing on it at Queen's.
Can Nadal win Wimbledon one more time?
- Thread starter kailash
- Start date
Shame he couldn't begin practicing on it at Queen's.
stephenclown
Professional
He is too vulnerable to a lot of players on grass. His last 6 years were 2R, 1R, 4R, 2R, A, 4R. This is not the sign of someone who plays well on grass at the moment. If he makes it to the final and it was against fed, he would be a massive underdog, probably odds to lose in 3.
TennisFan3
Talk Tennis Guru
That is true. But let's be realistic. The current post prime Nadal is just NOT good enough. The fact that he won UsOpen last year had more to do with the lack of strength in the field than about Nadal's game. Imagine if Djokovic had not declined, Nadal might not even have won RG, forget about the UsOpen
What does Nadal do better than before? Maybe he is slightly more aggressive on his backhand (which is debatable IMO). But even that is neutralized by the lack of speed when he is pushed wide to the backhand ( something that Fed has exploited just as Djokovic used to earlier - by hitting their fh cc wide to Nadal's bh).
Other than the backhand, everything else is significantly worse. His ROS, usually the weakest part of his game, is like garbage now - basically a joke outside clay. His serve is worse, nowhere close to 2010-2013 level. His forehand also isn't as offensive. His best shot - the inside out forehand, he doesn't hit as often. His cc forehand lands short more often that not. Let's see some tapes of Nadal from 2007-2013 to see what his forehand used to be. Then of course, his defense has declined. He is a step slower, and late on the passing shots. His fitness is also suspect. That is why in most matches, he loses a large % of 10+ shot rallies, where as that stat used to be reverse earlier.
So yeah, Federer improved his game to beat Nadal. But again it's not peak Fed, we're talking about. I mean the 2004-2009 Fed, would likely demolish the current one. He doesn't have to be that good to beat Nadal anymore. People talk as if Federer is playing the best tennis of his life. That isn't true at all. Truth is both of them are old, and while one would expect the younger Nadal to have an advantage, that's not the case. Simply because Nadal is older in tennis years because of his physical style and constant injuries.
TennisFan3
Talk Tennis Guru
To answer OP - I don't think Nadal can win Wimbledon. Not unless he gets extremely lucky and improves his ROS -"significantly". Both are unlikely.
Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
In fact Federer's backhand wasn't that great at Miami last year and he still won. So it does have a lot to do with Nadal's new game plan playing right into Fed's hands.Well, Nadal's current forehand is still awesome and if Federer is "off" and doesn't stick with that aggressive backhand throughout a match vs Nadal, Federer will lose IMO.
In any case, Nadal is the one who will likely have to get to Federer at Wimbledon and he hasn't been too successful reaching the second week in the past six years. Let's see the draw. Nadal may get a joke draw.
Ray Mercer
Hall of Fame
Nadal’s been a bum on grass since he was 25 years old. One of the earliest surface declines in the history of the open era.
No way
He can win the USO and get that elusive Second Aussie
Wimbledon seems impossible
zagor
Bionic Poster
Yeah, Delpo really exposed him with a 7-18 H2H, right. Beating an ATG in one big match doesn't mean you're exposing him, it just means you were better on the occasion.
Fed's H2H with Novak is also fine considering the 5 year age gap, hardly a black mark the TTWers are making it out to be.
Yes, many. Including you Ultradr/Fastdunn before you backtracked on it because well you're far too fanatical and butthurt to give any credit to one of the best player in the history of the sport.
Well that's because everytime he beats any of those players, they're not in top form according to you so the old man can't win really. Heck, he beat Nadal 4 times last year in a season in which the latter reached multipl slam finals and finished as #1.
Also Wawrinka?!? Seriously, you couldn't find a different example to a guy who's never beaten Fed off clay in 15+ meetings?
Have to ask, what happened to Cilic? You used to praise that guy a lot after he beat Fed in 2014 USO before you've suddenly stopped, what changed?
His backhand has been weak while he was fiercely competing with Djokovic.
Somehow Djokovic broke it.
Before that, Nadal always had strong/aggressive backhand. He is righty after all.
McEnroe said Rafas backhand strongest two hander hes ever seen.
It's just his backhand got broken when Djokvic was stronng basically.
And his serve since 2014 has been on/off. Sometimes glimpse of his top form and next tournament not so good.
I agree he is probably past his prime.
But I think one thing about 2018 clay season, his forehand seems to be pretty close to his prime form.
I think that's why some people in tennis community expect he will do better this time.....
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
And boy was that surprising.
WeakEraKing
Rookie
Nadal with 2010 serve and return
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
He would take out his anger of the last 6 years on the ball.
Boy I wanna see this Rafa one more time.
Tennis_Hands
Banned
That was also Contador's best year as a doped rider, and the doped spanish national football team World Cup win.
Great success all around.
marc45
G.O.A.T.
Rafael PlazaVerified account @Rafael_Plaza
Ya entrena Rafael Nadal sobre la hierba del @MallorcaOpen. Primera vez en casi 12 meses.
Translated from Spanish by Microsoft
He trains Rafael Nadal on the grass @MallorcaOpen. First time in almost 12 months.
Ya entrena Rafael Nadal sobre la hierba del @MallorcaOpen. Primera vez en casi 12 meses.
Translated from Spanish by Microsoft
He trains Rafael Nadal on the grass @MallorcaOpen. First time in almost 12 months.
He played very well in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017. In 2014 and 2017 he easily could have made semis.
Nadal is not bad on grass as his record in last 6 years suggest. While I believe he was not that good on grass during 2006-11 period. Had close matches in early rounds. Few points here and there, Rosolisation would have occurred much earlier.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
2014 and 2017 still annoy me.
titoelcolombiano
Legend
Yes
WeakEraKing
Rookie
That was also Contador's best year as a doped rider, and the doped spanish national football team World Cup win.
Great success all around.
^ a typical fed dick rider whose claims are as weak as Federers weak era 2004-07. God bless you mate, did Federer use lube this time?
Tennis_Hands
Banned
WeakEraKing
Rookie
Which part of my post you find factologically incorrect?
What lube did Federer use?
Tennis_Hands
Banned
He was playing really well last year. If he can replicate that form and gets a bit lucky with the draw it's possible. But the problem is he's not playing and serving as well as he did last year.
sbengte
G.O.A.T.
What is this new urban legend about Nadal not being able to play on grass pain free due to his knees ? Where did he say that ?
Also how come the incessant grinding in the long clay season doesn't cause any pain in the knees anymore ?
Where have you been last 14 years?
That's big part of why hes strong on clay and not so much on others.
It's an issue of bending deep and footing on the surface, due to extended tissue under his knee born.
It's like old people loving clay courts.
The worsening part is from Tony's words like a few weeks ago, explaining why he has not done well at Wimbledon last a few years.
I agree with the serving part.
But I think there was also ups and downs in serving last year. It's just he happened to be serving great at RG.
He just has more ups and downs in serving since 2014 lower back injuries.
But forehand part, he was still having issue in all 2017.
General consensus was he won't fully recover prime form in his forehand and serving.
I think the lower back injuries was significant blow.
But somehow, his forehand in 2018 has been really good.
Saved him many troubles.
D
Deleted member 743561
Guest
Not this year.
Remaining injury-free throughout his career has increased his longevity, though!
Remaining injury-free throughout his career has increased his longevity, though!
AceSalvo
Legend
ehmmmm...
newpball
Legend
Never say never, there could always be some kind of a player's strike where the complete top 20 stay home except for Nadal.
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
He can, he was some break points away of doing that yesterday.
justasport
Professional
No, he can't. This was his year with Roger and Marin Cilic out on the opposite side of the draw, and a Nole who was totally unsure of himself and ready to go down had Rafa taken those set points or break points in the fifth. Rafa knew this was his huge chance to finally win a third Wimbledon title and the pressure was to much causing him to tighten up and choke big time. I mean he had a dead tired Kevin Anderson waiting in the final! Nope, that was it for winning another Wimbledon trophy. He does the same thing in Australia anytime he gets a chance to finally win a 2nd title there. Either nerves become such that he gets injured because he's so tight, or he has a huge chance and misses easy shots to allow guys to come back and beat him. It's Roland Garros from here on out for Rafa. The question will be how much longer can he hold down the fort there?
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