Federer also lost to Gulbis in 2014 and it was a pretty bad loss.
/thread
Federer won a set in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011. All of these performances were not any worse than Djokovic's 2012 final performance, and better than 2014. Both won 4 sets against a decent or better Nadal, and that's if we agree that 2014 Nadal can even be called decent. Yes, Djokovic has pushed Nadal to 5 sets in 2013 (though this had more to do with mentality than with anything else) but how is it more impressive than beating absolute peak Djokovic who was on a 43 match winning streak in 2011? You are clearly trying to bring Federer down, and have very strange arguments for that.
Nadal was definitely in his clay prime in 2006. Young Nadal was a beast. He was on an 81 match winning streak on clay in 2005-2007, and you are bringing him down? Makes sense, especially when it is coming from a person who likes to hype 2015-2016 Nadal.
2006, I'll ignore for obvious reasons.
Agree about 2007/2008/2012 but not so sure 2013 Rafa was better than 2005/2006 Rafa on clay. I would say a little worse. He was better in Rome in 2005-2006 and MC in 2005-2006 and RG is up for a debate he peaked in the last 4 rounds for RG 13.
It's tough to take a thread seriously when the OP can't spell Kohlschreiber's name correctly.
Give Federer 20 tries and I guarantee he never loses to a non-Nadal player in a FO final. Interesting how you chose to dismiss that.
Yeah, because Federer at 2012 RG was certainly as good as the one at 2011 RG.... He shouldn't have even reached Djokovic and only lucked out due to his injury in the QF.
It was 2016. And that Thiem isn't taking down any top player playing well. Any version of prime Federer on clay would beat that Thiem easily too.
Yeah, 2016 Murray who didn't play well in the final and then Djokovic letting his foot off the gas pedal in 2015 allowing Murray to come back. Not comparable to 2009 Delpo or 2011 Djokovic. More comparable to Federer letting his foot off the gas against Haas at 2006 AO. Doesn't mean Haas was a tough opponent.
Djokovic has only one win over a truly in-form opponent at RG. It is what it is.
3 of those came in 2015 alone. That's why people don't really pay attention to those.
"2015 doesn't count because Nadal wasn't playing well"
If Fed loses Wimbledon and USO finals to Djokovic, he can lose an RG final to Djokovic.
Djokovic wouldn't have done jack against the 2012 monster without the damping conditions. You think Fed also wouldn't have fancied his chances in damping conditions against Nadal?
This.
Djokovic has done a bit better against Nadal, but not to the extent you're making it out to be.
Was 2013 Rafa really better than 2005-2006 on clay? I don't think so.
It's true. Fed never played against Nadal in that kind of form."2015 doesn't count because Nadal wasn't playing well"
Djokovic can lose to Federer in a RG final too. I'm talking more about losing to a much lesser player.
Uh, Soderling?
Thiem matches up well with old Fed. Let's not extrapolate that any further. 2016 Thiem was worse than 2017-present Thiem on clay.
Not many more top 10 wins.
Soderling beat (near)-prime Fed. Wawrinka beat prime Nole. Robin and Stan are the kind of players who can swing freely and fearlessly against the top guys. Not really much difference there.
Yeah that is massive for Novak.
In 2005 his FH and BH did not get more attacking until 2007 but he hit it with more monster spin and he was scary fast. But fair if your talking about RG i think still that is debateable. I do not know if 2013 Nole would beat 2005/2006 Nadal on clay as well even at RG.
It's a tennis forum. You chill. I am just replying later than the others.
I'm just saying. Federer gets penalized for never pushing Nadal to 5. Djoker should be penalized too for losing a RG final to a non-Nadal player, something Fed hasn't done.
Rafa's form was too bad for his reputation and mentality to matter too much in this equations. He never beats a prime Fed at RG with that kind of form.
You pretty much guaranteed Fed would never push Nadal to 5 sets if you have him 20 times. I did the same thing you did.
He managed to run it around due to the damp clay conditions in which we all know Nadal is vulnerable. Federer never got to play Nadal in those conditions.
