Goran Ivanisevic believes Rafael Nadal’s comeback is “the best news in tennis”

[Azure]

Nadal last time was having a bad showing in United Cup and AO. What he needs is some exos to first get into playing form. If he can't perform good, I will say wait for clay season. No need to worry about HC.

If Nadal is even semi healthy, he becomes a contender.

Nadal's clay elo rating right now is about 2450, same as Nole's overall Elo rating. No one is close to him in the clay elo today. I would be last guy to doubt him on clay. Let's see.

I thought you said you’ve moved on from Nadal. Why do you keep mentioning him?

 

[nolefam_2024]

I thought you said you’ve moved on from Nadal. Why do you keep mentioning him?

Less traffic here. Just saying this is what he would do. This year was bad.

 

[Aestheticsaboveallelse]

He still struggled with peak wawrinka though. As well prime Fedal and Murray at times. To beat Djokovic you have to stay with him in the long rallies and then have the magical shots that the game changer. Stan had it with the BH DTL shot. As well as clutch serving, returning and could go hours and be mentally tough on the big points.

A large part of that is Djokovic hits a similar ball from the baseline constantly and Wawrinka feeds on the predictable rhythm. Wawrinka was terrible vs Federer as he got disrupted by his variety, slices, taking ball early, all court attack

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

A large part of that is Djokovic hits a similar ball from the baseline constantly and Wawrinka feeds on the predictable rhythm. Wawrinka was terrible vs Federer as he got disrupted by his variety, slices, taking ball early, all court attack

True. It was a matchup thing. Federer handled Stan so well. Nadal did as well. Good point about the slices and aggressive play too.

 

[Azure]

Less traffic here. Just saying this is what he would do. This year was bad.

It is because interest will die when the scenario is not interesting. Its not a rub on Djokovic but I keep mentioning…a field without battles of equals will be boring.

 

[nolefam_2024]

It is because interest will die when the scenario is not interesting. Its not a rub on Djokovic but I keep mentioning…a field without battles of equals will be boring.

I agree. The problem is people are too optimistic with Raz. People expect too much and when Carlos even reaches SF of ATP finals (top 8 only), he is a failure.
I thought indoors the guy is going to suck. He is just 20 and he relies on his speed to win matches rn. But in AO we may see a huge push by Carlos or Rune.
These end of the year tournaments are good to stack up points but have less bearings for summer.

 

[Azure]

I agree. The problem is people are too optimistic with Raz. People expect too much and when Carlos even reaches SF of ATP finals (top 8 only), he is a failure.
I thought indoors the guy is going to suck. He is just 20 and he relies on his speed to win matches rn. But in AO we may see a huge push by Carlos or Rune.
These end of the year tournaments are good to stack up points but have less bearings for summer.

Yes. Too much expectations from a kid of 20. We need to be realistic too. Lets hope they push and we have more battles.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Goran is bae

 

[Bartelby]

Nadal may come, but is he back?

 

[Deleted member 758560]

time will tell, bartel

 

[AgassiSuperSlam11]

I heard Andy Roddick say that he doubts Nadal will make his return in the AO unless he can play one of the 250 tune-ups first. Unless he is 100% physically back he might as well start the South American clay season in Argentina and Brazil then try to get a WC (if needed) to play the US Sunshine double.

 

[Lauren_Girl']

I would love to see him against the current "weak era".
So many interesting matchups if he can come back strong.

We never had a Nadal-Hurkacz for instance. I'd love to see the Hurkacz from Wimbledon 2023 against him.
Too bad we never had a Nadal-Sinner outside of clay. Nadal won the 8 sets but 6 of them were very close. Seeing how he struggled in 2020 on clay in the first 2 sets, I can only imagine how difficult it'd be against Sinner from 2023 on HC...
A Nadal/Alcaraz match in a Slam...
Also against Rune and Shelton.
Will probably never happen, but stilll... I keep hearing that the tour is so weak right now. Nadal is only 1 year older than Djokovic, if he is nearly as good as Djokovic, he should mop the floor with these young guys, right?

 

[Apun94]

2023 Nole is way more epic

Great. Another fool comparing dick sizes

 

[Apun94]

No one needs Nadal lol, apart from those having fixation with watching him obsessively pick his butt.

What we get from him every time he comes back is very predictable. It's either sucking the life out of tennis on clay or megavulturing via MUG draws and politics. Hard pass.

AWWWWWW

 

[pirhaksar]

He will be unseeded. Protecting ranking only gets him into tournaments.

Will be going against top ranked players in early rounds…is there a chance of Djokovic vs Rafa in round 1? Now that will be something.

 

[esvc]

Great. Another fool comparing dick sizes

Don't worry, Nadal has a much much bigger number!

 

[D.Nalby12]

He is not winning slams.

 

[-NN-]

Potentially it is great news, depending on his results upon return. It'd be cool to see him draw top players very early on — the drawologists are gonna really need to step up their game for Nad's navigation.

 

[L4S10s]

 

[paolo2143]

if healthy, he will beat him easily

He lost to him in 21 and beat him in hard fought 4 setter in 22 and that was a Novak who was massively under prepared in competitive matches and had not really recovered from entire Aussie open dbacle.

Even a fit Rafa may find Novak a tough match up in 24 should they meet considering his long abscence and Novak's physical conditioning.