"I don't care, I'm going to win" - Nadal after being told of roof closure for RG Final

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
Alpha king :cool:



"When they come to tell us that the final will be played indoors, we wonder how we're going to announce that to Rafa," Moya said. "15 minutes from the match, Francisco Roig (Rafa's co-trainer) told him so. And there, Rafa's response was: 'I don't care, it doesn't change anything, I'm going to win this match'."

"Rafa had never said such a thing to me before a match," Moya added. "He knew he wouldn't fail. Nadal is such a humble person. It wasn't arrogance, it was a feeling of confidence, of security."

 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
d91.gif


Daaaamn Rafa that's what I wanna hear. I believe it too, the confidence was there from the first ball.
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
All a matter of perspective on what we decide is arrogance and what is confidence.

When you're 99-2 at a slam and your legacy is literally on the line (we know what the story would have been if he lost that match) this was entirely the mindset he should have had though. Hearing it makes me happy he finally manned up before a Novak match to get that 20th slam. This is the one year where he would have had a reason to go in being safe and timid.
 

King No1e

G.O.A.T.
Alpha king :cool:



"When they come to tell us that the final will be played indoors, we wonder how we're going to announce that to Rafa," Moya said. "15 minutes from the match, Francisco Roig (Rafa's co-trainer) told him so. And there, Rafa's response was: 'I don't care, it doesn't change anything, I'm going to win this match'."

"Rafa had never said such a thing to me before a match," Moya added. "He knew he wouldn't fail. Nadal is such a humble person. It wasn't arrogance, it was a feeling of confidence, of security."

Fake news. He obviously said, "I don't care, I just gonna win, no?"
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal looked confident out of the tunnel. Probably more so than I've ever seen him. Doesn't surprise me that he might have said that. Lot of dumb things were said during 2020 RG that probably didn't sit well with him.

Team Djokovic made the worst mistake by saying Nadal had no chance in the final. They should have tried to put more pressure on him by saying he was the heavy favourite and all. Wouldn't have won them the title but would have been a better contest in the final.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Why wouldn't he be confident? He was only 12-0 in finals at that point. I don't know why so many people were picking Djokovic anyway like a change of balls would cause such a dramatic difference. Clay is still clay and Rafa is by far the best on it. They need to stop talking so much about this match though months later, like the 13th time was that much of a shock. They're going to end up jinxing Rafa in June when it's time to do it again.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Team Djokovic made the worst mistake by saying Nadal had no chance in the final. They should have tried to put more pressure on him by saying he was the heavy favourite and all. Wouldn't have won them the title but would have been a better contest in the final.

It wasn't team Djokovic. It was Ivanisevic who I never saw im the stands the whole tournament, and don't even think he was there. Vajda would never say something so stupid.
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
Why wouldn't he be confident? He was only 12-0 in finals at that point. I don't know why so many people were picking Djokovic anyway like a change of balls would cause such a dramatic difference. Clay is still clay and Rafa is by far the best on it. They need to stop talking so much about this match though months later, like the 13th time was that much of a shock. They're going to end up jinxing Rafa in June when it's time to do it again.

Agreed. It's been discussed a lot by now. I guess it's the off season making many posters still discuss matches that happened months and years ago. We'll move past them once tennis returns in January.
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Agreed. It's been discussed a lot by now. I guess it's the off season making many posters still discuss matches that happened months and years ago. We'll move past them once tennis returns in January.

He's talking about Team Rafa.

Why wouldn't he be confident? He was only 12-0 in finals at that point. I don't know why so many people were picking Djokovic anyway like a change of balls would cause such a dramatic difference. Clay is still clay and Rafa is by far the best on it. They need to stop talking so much about this match though months later, like the 13th time was that much of a shock. They're going to end up jinxing Rafa in June when it's time to do it again.

Let's not act like at least a third of the forum didn't think Djokovic would win, or like Nadal said he didn't like the conditions at the beginning of the tournament, and how Djokovic himself said he thought this was his best chance. It's easy to normalize Nadal winning the FO now, but that's not what it was like this year for plenty of reasons.
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
It wasn't team Djokovic. It was Ivanisevic who I never saw im the stands the whole tournament, and don't even think he was there. Vajda would never say something so stupid.

I'm sure he was there in the stands during the match. He is very much in the coaching team of Djokovic.
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
He's talking about Team Rafa.



Let's not act like at least a third of the forum didn't think Djokovic would win, or like Nadal said he didn't like the conditions at the beginning of the tournament, and how Djokovic himself said he thought this was his best chance. It's easy to normalize Nadal winning the FO now, but that's not what it was like this year for plenty of reasons.

Oh yeah I missed that. Thought he was referring to posters on here.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Agreed. It's been discussed a lot by now. I guess it's the off season making many posters still discuss matches that happened months and years ago. We'll move past them once tennis returns in January.

I actually mean Moya here, his coach. Posters have little effect on things really. Months later he's still talking about it. Probably would be better to be focusing on the next Slam.
 

Rabin

Professional
This is what struck me most about this match, forget about the result. Rafa has had such a tendency to show nerves in big moments, especially these past few years. Oftentimes he has trouble serving a set/match out. He had a slight dip in the third, but apart from that he seemed in the zone.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Let's not act like at least a third of the forum didn't think Djokovic would win, or like Nadal said he didn't like the conditions at the beginning of the tournament, and how Djokovic himself said he thought this was his best chance. It's easy to normalize Nadal winning the FO now, but that's not what it was like this year for plenty of reasons.

I'm talking about ex-players, coaches, etc. Most of them picked Djokovic and were quite wrong. Nadal ran through the tournament easily, per usual, so looked pretty normal to me. Lol. I don't recall Djokovic saying this was his best chance btw.
 

BackhandDTL

Hall of Fame
I'm talking about ex-players, coaches, etc. Most of them picked Djokovic and were quite wrong. Nadal ran through the tournament easily, per usual, so looked pretty normal to me. Lol. I don't recall Djokovic saying this was his best chance btw.
Lol. Djokovic knew for sure he was going to win the match. He’s not going to explicitly say this because he’s not a c0ck like Kyrgios or something.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Lol. Djokovic knew for sure he was going to win the match. He’s not going to explicitly say this because he’s not a c0ck like Kyrgios or something.

From the way he played, I will have to disagree. Lol. I mean you should believe you are going to win because if not, why bother playing the final but he played one of the worst matches of his Slam career. He wouldn't do that if he felt that match was his to lose, like in AO.
 
Why wouldn't he be confident? He was only 12-0 in finals at that point. I don't know why so many people were picking Djokovic anyway like a change of balls would cause such a dramatic difference. Clay is still clay and Rafa is by far the best on it. They need to stop talking so much about this match though months later, like the 13th time was that much of a shock. They're going to end up jinxing Rafa in June when it's time to do it again.
It's classic example of how not to behave after a big win against one of your biggest rivals. So much gloating, so much arrogance. Almost 3 months after the match and they are still talking about this match, rubbing it in the face of Djokovic. Lol
Even Federer was showing more humility during his Slam winning period. o_OAt least he was more respectful towards Roddick and Hewitt, that's for sure. Crazy stuff from the Spaniards. :oops: 8-B
 

FRV4

Hall of Fame
I am impressed, but I’d call it arrogance. I am impressed by arrogance when it is backed up, because I think most of the greats are arrogant.
 
D

Deleted member 770948

Guest
I just want Nadal to bagel Djokovic again like last year's Rome.
Bagel is such a unique experience, as it was the only bagel ever in a match between Nadal-Djokovic.
Nadal never needed his prime to beat Djokovic on clay.
Nadal has won their last 3 clay meetings, in comprehensive fashion, straight sets 2017, straight sets 2018, and 60 46 61 last year.
The gap between Nadal and Djokovic on clay has never been greater than it is today.
Well the gap between Nadal and Djokovic on clay has never been greater.
Nadal won their last 3 clay meetings, 2 of which were in straight sets, and the 3rd was 60 46 61 and that is the only bagel ever recorded in a match between Nadal and Djokovic.
Will Djokovic do any better on Sunday? Not according to what we just saw in the Semis.
Djokovic is going to finish 2020 with ONE slam title, and its the most unconvincing slam of Djokovic's careeer (down 2-sets-to-1 in the AO Final vs. slamless Thiem).
NbXRXVS.jpg
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
It's classic example of how not to behave after a big win against one of your biggest rivals. So much gloating, so much arrogance. Almost 3 months after the match and they are still talking about this match, rubbing it in the face of Djokovic. Lol
Even Federer was showing more humility during his Slam winning period. o_OAt least he was more respectful towards Roddick and Hewitt, that's for sure. Crazy stuff from the Spaniards. :oops: 8-B

Well honestly, Moya comes off quite arrogant. Even from the smug look always on his face when he is sitting in the stands. He annoys me just as much as Ivanisevic. But yea, not good to gloat too much because it can come back to bite.
 

kevaninho

Hall of Fame
I'm talking about ex-players, coaches, etc. Most of them picked Djokovic and were quite wrong. Nadal ran through the tournament easily, per usual, so looked pretty normal to me. Lol. I don't recall Djokovic saying this was his best chance btw.

Im not sure it was pretty easy, if you watched his matches.

He was dreadful in Rome beforehand also.

Even the last 2/3 years, Djokovic has been made favourite before RG, because hes the best on every other surface, and its been claimed Nadal would freeze if he had to face Djokovic in the final.

The same people who said Nadal only beat Djokovic at Rome 2019, was cos Djokovic was 'tired' going into the final ... LOL
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
From the way he played, I will have to disagree. Lol. I mean you should believe you are going to win because if not, why bother playing the final but he played one of the worst matches of his Slam career. He wouldn't do that if he felt that match was his to lose, like in AO.
Absolutely false. Excuses of bad loser, Djokovic played as good as he could. In fact, he played great, but Nadal was too much. A well-playing Nadal is unstoppable in the Phillipe Chatrier, and contrary to popular belief, the conditions this year favored him even more. Nadal is still relatively fast, but his speed has obviously declined since his early and mid-20s. During the Roland-Garros 2020 edition, new ultra-heavy balls were used. Those balls made the conditions slower than ever, I have never witnessed a slower rhytm of play at RG. Considering Nadal is not at the peak of his speed anymore, those new ultra-heavy balls favored him because he had more time to reach defensive balls. Djokovic did everything he could. He tried drop-shots, but in those slow conditions Nadal was reaching too many of them. Djokovic also tried very deep shots, but Nadal could reach all of them thanks to his impressive defensive ability and the slower pace of play. Djokovic had a high number of unforced errors because Nadal forced him to have them. Nadal was reaching almost every defensive ball and continously forcing Djokovic to produce an extra shot.
 
Last edited:

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Absolutely false. Excuses of bad loser, Djokovic played as good as he could. In fact, he played great, but Nadal was too much. A well-playing Nadal is unstoppable in the Phillipe Chatrier, and contrary to popular belief, the conditions that year favored him even more. Nadal is still relatively fast, but his speed has obviously declined since his early and mid-20s. During the Roland-Garros 2020 edition, new ultra-heavy balls were used. Those balls made the conditions slower than ever, I have never witnessed a slower rhytm of play at RG. Considering Nadal is not at the peak of his speed anymore, those new ultra-heavy balls favored him because he had more time to reach defensive balls. Djokovic did everything he could. He tried drop-shots, but in those slow conditions Nadal was reaching too many of them. Djokovic also tried very deep shots, but Nadal could reach all of them thanks to his impressive defensive ability and the slower pace of play. Djokovic had a high number of unforced errors because Nadal forced him to have them. Nadal was reaching almost every defensive ball and continously forcing Djokovic to an extra shot.
I agree with most of what you said, but let's not go overboard.
 
D

Deleted member 770948

Guest
Is this your way of thinking you and Rafa are simpatico? Because he'd be embarrassed by like 80% of the things you say around here.
Nobody has a clue what Nadal is thinking.
Plus most of my posts are stats/results.
 
D

Deleted member 744633

Guest
When Sunny Deol steps up to land the first punch on the villain's face, he knows there can only be one outcome- soon the villain will be ground into the dust! Rafa is like that in French Open finals :)

maxresdefault.jpg
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Absolutely false. Excuses of bad loser, Djokovic played as good as he could. In fact, he played great, but Nadal was too much. A well-playing Nadal is unstoppable in the Phillipe Chatrier, and contrary to popular belief, the conditions this year favored him even more. Nadal is still relatively fast, but his speed has obviously declined since his early and mid-20s. During the Roland-Garros 2020 edition, new ultra-heavy balls were used. Those balls made the conditions slower than ever, I have never witnessed a slower rhytm of play at RG. Considering Nadal is not at the peak of his speed anymore, those new ultra-heavy balls favored him because he had more time to reach defensive balls. Djokovic did everything he could. He tried drop-shots, but in those slow conditions Nadal was reaching too many of them. Djokovic also tried very deep shots, but Nadal could reach all of them thanks to his impressive defensive ability and the slower pace of play. Djokovic had a high number of unforced errors because Nadal forced him to have them. Nadal was reaching almost every defensive ball and continously forcing Djokovic to produce an extra shot.

So Djokovic serving in the 35% range for a set and a half is the best he can play? Lol. You sound ridiculous. We know Nadal is the best on clay and would win anyway but no need to embellish. The match was 3 months ago and I have no desire to talk about the same match that has been beaten to death on this site.
 
Top