thor's hammer
Semi-Pro
Many have noted that tennis and boxing as athletic contests share many similarities, and frequently come down to matchups: Just because Player A can beat Player B and Player B can beat Player C doesn't necessarily mean Player A will beat Player C.
Watching Del Potro play Nadal today made me think of boxing in the 70's and Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. I think physically and stylistically in many ways they correlate closely to Federer, Nadal and Del Potro: Federer is a thinker who dances and stings, Nadal is a relentless pursuer, Del Potro is a huge banger.
On hard courts anyway Del Potro looks like he can hit Nadal off the court, (anyone remember Foreman lifting Frazier off the ground with a punch in one of their fights?), but I suspect even though Federer has shown himself to be stubborn and go toe-to-toe with Nadal on clay that if he finds himself in a similar situation with Del Potro he will play smart and "box" his way to a win.
Watching Del Potro play Nadal today made me think of boxing in the 70's and Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. I think physically and stylistically in many ways they correlate closely to Federer, Nadal and Del Potro: Federer is a thinker who dances and stings, Nadal is a relentless pursuer, Del Potro is a huge banger.
On hard courts anyway Del Potro looks like he can hit Nadal off the court, (anyone remember Foreman lifting Frazier off the ground with a punch in one of their fights?), but I suspect even though Federer has shown himself to be stubborn and go toe-to-toe with Nadal on clay that if he finds himself in a similar situation with Del Potro he will play smart and "box" his way to a win.
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