did rafa nadal robbed in 2007 wimbledon ?

skypadq

Hall of Fame
i want discuss this one
i heard so many people that rafa played 5 day in a row match in wimbledon , cause the rain
and as you know , rafa nadal was so close to win 2007 wimbledon too
that final went fifth set and first set tie break was so close
as rafa fan , i feel like played 5 days in a row is too much

anyone know this ?
how that wimbledon went on ?
 

Krish872007

Talk Tennis Guru
It definitely didn't help Rafa in the middle of the tournament. Bear in mind there were no roofs in those days as well.
The issue was the R3 versus Soderling which had loads of stop-start moments and went 5 sets. Then he had a 5-set battle with Youzhny where he was a bit deflated in the first 2 sets.
However it all sorted itself out by the time he played Berdych in the QFs. And then he got a walkover in the semis when Djokovic had to retire so he ended up not playing that much tennis in the second week
And he was 21 years old, so in fantastic shape physically speaking.
 

skypadq

Hall of Fame
It definitely didn't help Rafa in the middle of the tournament. Bear in mind there were no roofs in those days as well.
The issue was the R3 versus Soderling which had loads of stop-start moments and went 5 sets. Then he had a 5-set battle with Youzhny where he was a bit deflated in the first 2 sets.
However it all sorted itself out by the time he played Berdych in the QFs. And then he got a walkover in the semis when Djokovic had to retire so he ended up not playing that much tennis in the second week
And he was 21 years old, so in fantastic shape physically speaking.
still feel like played five days in a row is too much
first set tie break was very close
 

Krish872007

Talk Tennis Guru
still feel like played five days in a row is too much
first set tie break was very close

I don't think end of week 1 into week had much of a bearing on the back end of week 2, and especially the Final.
Also not really 5 continuous days of hard tennis. For 1 or 2 of those days they were on court for at most 30-40 mins lol, too much rain
 
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ibbi

G.O.A.T.
There was no roof, and he couldn't win his matches any quicker. How was he screwed? It was unfair. He was literally on court every day of the second week, but at the very least both semi finals were on the Saturday so neither guy was totally fresh.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
Nadal played more than 5 days in a row at 2007 Wimbledon.

After the first Friday, everything was on schedule. The Saturday was a day of persistent showers (no roof then), so a lot of matches from the bottom half of the draw never got completed that day. The weather forecast for the Sunday was plenty of sunshine and dry all day, while on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the forecast was full of persistent scattered showers in the London area. The Wimbledon referee, Andrew Jarrett, decided not to play on the Middle Sunday, which was obviously a bad mistake.

Nadal started his third round match against Soderling on the Saturday, and didn't finish it until the Wednesday due to the bad weather and no play on the Sunday, with Nadal and Soderling going on and off the court 12 times. Nadal then played his fourth round match against Youzhny on the Thursday, coming from 2 sets down to win. Nadal then played Berdych in the quarter finals on the Friday (Berdych led Nadal 3-2 in the head-to-head at the time) and Nadal won in straight sets despite many pundits predicting a Berdych win. Nadal then played Djokovic on the Saturday, Djokovic himself having won delayed marathons against Hewitt and Baghdatis. Djokovic started better against Nadal and won the first set, but then Nadal took control before Djokovic retired with blisters on his feet in the third set. Then Nadal had to play Federer in the final on the Sunday, losing in 5 sets, despite having 4 break points in the fifth set and blew the lot.

So, Nadal played every day from Monday to Sunday in the second week of 2007 Wimbledon. Federer had the opposite issue, having completed his first 3 matches on schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and then his fourth round opponent Haas pulled out to give Federer a walkover, so Federer went nearly a week without playing a match.

To be honest, I still can't believe that the referee didn't sanction Middle Sunday play at 2007 Wimbledon, knowing it would be sunny all day and that Monday-Wednesday was littered with scattered showers all over London.
 

MadariKatu

Hall of Fame
No. Today I watched an interview on spanish tv where they were going through different historic moments in wimbledon along Nadal's career. He said he wasn't %100 mentally focused during the last set. He didn't mention that playing several days hampered him. He said that after going through that tough match with Söderling, he was convinced he could do it.

Also, he had a match ball in the 3rd, and hit an easy shot out. The match could have ended there.
 

Sudacafan

Bionic Poster
London rain and Wimbledon moronic officials robbed Nadal in 2007, and I wasn’t aware of that.
Outrageous.
Then Nadal robbed Fed title of 2008, and Djokovic robbed Fed one title in 2014, one title in 2015, and one last title in the 2019, cos u no, Fed has the right to win the Wimpletons whenever he presents in the Court of the Centre.
 
D

Deleted member 771911

Guest
I don't think so. Fed was so good I think Rafa'd have lost all the same.
 

Martin J

Hall of Fame
It definitely didn't help Rafa in the middle of the tournament. Bear in mind there were no roofs in those days as well.
The issue was the R3 versus Soderling which had loads of stop-start moments and went 5 sets. Then he had a 5-set battle with Youzhny where he was a bit deflated in the first 2 sets.
However it all sorted itself out by the time he played Berdych in the QFs. And then he got a walkover in the semis when Djokovic had to retire so he ended up not playing that much tennis in the second week
And he was 21 years old, so in fantastic shape physically speaking.
Don't agree with this, I never had the impression that Rafa was deflated. Youzhny was playing probably his best tennis on grass ever in the first two sets, big serving followed by big forehands, a great net game and the overall aggression that Nadal couldn't defend against. He was blasting winners off both wings, I think he hit like 10 BH CC winners in the first two sets, it was a joy to watch his all-court performance. Nadal was simply being outplayed and it wasn't on his racquet.

What happened in the third set is that Colonel's back flared up (the same injury that forced him to withdraw from Halle a week and a half before) and his movement was visibly compromised. The winners from the first set were replaced by defensive slices as he couldn't reach the balls properly while Nadal was moving him from corner to corner. He took an MTO, but it didn't help.

Nadal played a lot of five setters at Wimbledon which he pulled off by sheer determination and maintaining his focus, but this is the match where he really got lucky. Youzhny deserves all the credits here.
 
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