Hewitt is the greatest competitor in tennis history
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Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
You gotta be kidding me? IW 2005 was one of the worst MS finals I have ever watched. No competition. The huge rally was the only highlight. Hewitt also complained that his huge SF against Roddick wore him out.
The op has a point. Nadal is blessed with crazy genetics. It seems his entire family have good genes. So, Rafa can push his body more, while Hewitt breaks down fast.
I mean, it's crazy. Rafa plays like this for 10 years now and he is still on top. It's insane.
I mean most grinders in history break down so quickly. I think Rafa has a twin brother. I can't explain it. Or maybe two twin brothers. Mark my words, some day this will come out
. The biggest hoax in tennis history .
I mean, it's crazy. Rafa plays like this for 10 years now and he is still on top. It's insane.
I mean most grinders in history break down so quickly. I think Rafa has a twin brother. I can't explain it. Or maybe two twin brothers. Mark my words, some day this will come out
. The biggest hoax in tennis history .
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
I'd have to give the edge to Nadal in comparison with Hewitt here as well. He's just done it a lot more often. As great as Federer was in his prime, Hewitt still folded a few too many times for me.
USO 2005 was a nice fight, but Hewitt didn't put up much of a fight when he lost the TB 7-0 although he did win the 3rd set.
Wimbledon 2004 was another. He was up a break at 4-3 in the 4th and then promptly loses the set 6-4 and the match.
Contrast that with Nadal who was beating Federer in best of 5 matches on clay, and had a 5 set match at Miami 2005 with him, and then beat him in Dubai in 2006.
USO 2005 was a nice fight, but Hewitt didn't put up much of a fight when he lost the TB 7-0 although he did win the 3rd set.
Wimbledon 2004 was another. He was up a break at 4-3 in the 4th and then promptly loses the set 6-4 and the match.
Contrast that with Nadal who was beating Federer in best of 5 matches on clay, and had a 5 set match at Miami 2005 with him, and then beat him in Dubai in 2006.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
The op has a point. Nadal is blessed with crazy genetics. It seems his entire family have good genes. So, Rafa can push his body more, while Hewitt breaks down fast.
I mean, it's crazy. Rafa plays like this for 10 years now and he is still on top. It's insane.
I mean most grinders in history break down so quickly. I think Rafa has a twin brother. I can't explain it. Or maybe two twin brothers. Mark my words, some day this will come out
His doom was predicted as early as 2006, Im honestly surprised too, but the man is a genius. Bamos!!
Omega_7000
Legend
I think Nadal's mental toughness is a bit overrated...He is mentally tough but not the toughest of all time as his fans make him out to be...
Where he excels is executing his high percentage forehand without an error in pressure situations...That high spin forehand is almost an automatic response in every pressure situation...It's a go-to shot that he can rely 100% on and will never make a mistake with it...
It's a high percentage low risk shot that does not give his opponents any unforced errors...The shot doesn't work as well on slick surfaces but works on majority of surfaces in this era.
Where he excels is executing his high percentage forehand without an error in pressure situations...That high spin forehand is almost an automatic response in every pressure situation...It's a go-to shot that he can rely 100% on and will never make a mistake with it...
It's a high percentage low risk shot that does not give his opponents any unforced errors...The shot doesn't work as well on slick surfaces but works on majority of surfaces in this era.
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Omega_7000
Legend
You're comparing results against one player and you know tennis is all about match-ups...Hewitt did not/does not have the same match-up advantage that Nadal enjoys against Federer
Not to mention Hewitt's surgeries.
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
Whether he is mentally toughest of all time is debatable, but he is without a doubt one of the greatest ever in that department. It's not surprising that you are taking credit away from Nadal. Nadal doesn't just excel at spinning his forehand in, he often hits his best serves and groundstrokes on break points. Perhaps you should revisit some of those Federer-Nadal matches and see just how comprehensively Nadal outplays Federer on BP.
And even if Nadal relies on consistency, so what? So now Connors, Hewitt, and Borg are not some of the toughest players to play the game because they liked to play high percentage tennis on big points? :???:
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
True, but I have to give it to Nadal still. I might give it to Connors overall, but Nadal goes over Hewitt. Hewitt is a bit like Ferrer in that respect IMO. Ferrer is very good at battling against players he knows he can beat, but when he plays Nadal (or any of Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, or Federer for that matter) he cracks more often than not at the important parts of matches.
That's what Hewitt was like against Federer in 2004-2005, but he rarely cracked against players that he had belief against before he played the match.
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Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
"matchup advantage" is just a fancy of saying one player has another player's number. Back in the early 2000s, Hewitt was the one who had the matchup advantage against Federer.
Start da Game
Hall of Fame
op, even hewitt would tell you that it is nadal......
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
Good post,I started watching Tennis religiously back when Hewitt was number 1 and I guess I have just seen his nerve falter way too many times to consider him on the same level as Nadal. It wasn't just Federer, Hewitt often collapsed mentally against worse players; double faulting at inopportune moments and making very costly errors especially with his forehand.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
One of the candidates for Lleyton Hewitt's greatest performance was in April 2001 in Davis Cup, where he played against Gustavo Kuerten. It took place on clay in Florianopolis, Brazil, which was Kuerten's hometown. At that time, Kuerten was at the peak of his clay-court powers. Hewitt won 7-6, 6-3, 7-6, in a very high quality match, to complete the whole weekend having won 9 straight sets and Australia claiming victory in the tie. Kuerten was in tears as he left the court.
Omega_7000
Legend
I wasn't taking credit away from him and neither was it meant to be a negative comment...He has trained to perfect his top spin forehand to the point that he doesn't need to think about it under pressure...All credit to him for perfecting it!
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
But how does that take away from the mental strength? Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors used to hit with ruthless consistency on big points. Hewitt was not much different. Who would you say is the mentally toughest player than?
McEnroeisanartist
Hall of Fame
It would seem that the best way to determine greatest competitor is to look at the occasions that a player was down two sets to love and either pushed the match to five sets or won the match.
Can someone please do this for Federer, Hewitt, Nadal, and Connors.
Can someone please do this for Federer, Hewitt, Nadal, and Connors.
kiki
Banned
Manuel Orantes has the record I guess
Borg and Lendl saved 0-2 situations at major finals, Connors never did it and I don´t think neither Federer or Nadal.
C
chandu612
Guest
Backerer looses to Hewitt , and now he is the greatest competitor ? Lol who's next
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
Who said that?
rossi46
Professional
Hewitt complain ??? That's a first.
West Coast Ace
G.O.A.T.
Nadal has the body of an athlete - he was (barring injury) probably going to be good at any sport he played. Hewitt was a runt and told he'd never amount to anything. He's fought for everything. Nadal fights hard too - but he gets a lot of easy wins because guys just cave in.
FWIW: Hewitt has lost the 1st set 6-1 and come back to win 11 times; Nadal 3.
FWIW: Hewitt has lost the 1st set 6-1 and come back to win 11 times; Nadal 3.
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal won 13 slams
Fed's won 17 slams...but he's more of an aggressive pusher.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
Jimmy Connors says hello.
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
Not even Jimmy Connors, says Wilander and McEnroe. I think those guys know more than some random tennis fan on an internet forum, me thinks. My 2 cents.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ubnh3vd5qk
This was Connors at nearly 40.
I've seen tons of Connors videos and boy was he intense. Nadal doesn't even come close with his girly fist pumps. He would probably even look funny if he didn't posses big musscles.
The-Champ
Legend
But then again, Connors likes those Nadal fist
pumps..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2L1--HK2Bs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXhFsI1h3XE&feature=youtu.be&t=49s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siN7k1XYUl8&feature=youtu.be&t=53s
bigred1910
Rookie
i knew it was a fair few but dayumm thats just insane. do you know who when where and what the end scores were?
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
I'm not saying Nadal isn't intense just that Connors was even more.
Some people say Nadal's balls are heavier. Somebody even measured this.
If this is true, how come Fed has 3 children and Rafa 0?
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
LOL. There is no way Ferrer is equal with Hewitt in mental strength. Hewitt has had rough battles with Djokovic, and he nearly took him out at the Olympics. On clay Ferrer folds and lets Djokovic walk all over him, same with the rest of the Big 4, except maybe Murray.
ttwarrior1
Hall of Fame
I never liked hewitt until about a couple years ago. Now I want to watch him as much as possible. I hope he gets a good draw and doesn't have to play some top player in his 1st or 2nd match.
Gonzalito17
Banned
eliars, Hewitt weighs l70 now he was l45 in his prime years at the top. That's a welterweight. Nadal is a HWT.
Gonzalito17
Banned
Ferrer has never been even remotely close to being the number one player in the world, even for just one or two weeks. Hewitt was number one for TWO YEARS. No comparison of Hewitt and Ferrer, two different levels.
BrooklynNY
Hall of Fame
I actually agree with a lot of Sid's posts.
Hewitt does to me have the tendancy to just wilt.
Granted I don't think he had a chance of winning the 2004 USO vs Fed. But he certainly had almost as big a hand in the scoreline as Federer did.
He was just giving away opportunities, and that day Fed took most of them
Hewitt does to me have the tendancy to just wilt.
Granted I don't think he had a chance of winning the 2004 USO vs Fed. But he certainly had almost as big a hand in the scoreline as Federer did.
He was just giving away opportunities, and that day Fed took most of them
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
I'm not comparing them on a tennis level. Hewitt is clearly a much better tennis player than Ferrer, but that was not what I said at all. Do you guys even read the posts that you're responding to or what?
You can't just ignore Feds 6 WTF titles.
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
What are you talking about?
The-Champ
Legend
Hewitt is a better player than Ferrer no doubt. But what ranking do you think peak Hewitt would have today with Murray, Djokovic and Nadal?
M
monfed
Guest
Yea I think so too. Take away Nadal's topspin FH and make him hit flat, you'll find that Hewitt has more pure fight than overestimation Nadal.
This is sort of a trick question. We can't transport Hewitt from 2004 to today.
If he was in his prime today, he would be 27 years old today. So, obviously due to evolution and other factors, he would be totally different player. Better player than in 2004.
That's why this comparison across generations is so tough. We also can't just transport Djokovic in 2004. If Djokovic was 24 in 2004 playing against peak Hewitt, he would be different player also. He wouldn't be able to see Fed and his generation play for all those years and learn from them. No evolution advantage, so his level would be lower than today.
And merging two players from different generations means less majors for both of them to win, cuz they split titles. They take from each other probably. So, both win less titles.
If we put peak Nole and Murray to 2006. Do they take away from each other? Or do they push Fed, to raise his level, so he reduces them to another Roddick and Ferrero.
That's why those kind of comparisons are flawed.
I think he would be the only player to defeat Rafa at RG.
kiki
Banned
Rafa has never met someone quite like him.
Gonzales used to break a locker room or two every month or so...
Yeah. I mean today most players are "pussies". Rafa just looks them in a bad way and they bend over. Or even worse. Rafa just praises how Fed is the goat, so Fed is just happy to lose.
I guess from sportsmanship view, this is great. But from competitive view, this is embarrassing. Connors said it's a war out there. Rafa agrees.
But most players today just treat it as a picnic. Happy to even make to semis losing to top guys.
Gonzo would not allow Rafa to pull this stuff and get away with it.
kiki
Banned
I don´t see Nadal as an intimidating fella...except in the current era.
NatF
Bionic Poster
He'd be third in the world. Quite possibly with a Wimbledon and WTF win this year.
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