tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
Such a double standard..one calls you a ape and you reply his msg properly and When it comes to me you call me Moron..
You hurt me..
IF borg agrees to plays an exibition match with rafa then how many games can he win?
- Thread starter tusharlovesrafa
- Start date
Such a double standard..one calls you a ape and you reply his msg properly and When it comes to me you call me Moron..
You hurt me..
mental midget
Hall of Fame
i don't see technological changes coming any time in the near future that will represent as great a shift as did wood to composite, or gut/nylon to polyester, simply because from a physical standpoint the game cannot afford to get much faster. we may continue to see incremental improvements in spin production, but there's a limit to how fast an athlete can move on the court, and i do believe the governing bodies of professional tennis are likely to outlaw any technology that resulted in an 'unrecognizable' shift of fundamental gameplay.
also, nadal would be plenty good with a wooden racket. he's not my favorite player, but it's incredibly naive to suggest he's simply a product of a large-headed racket and polyester strings.
borg number one
Legend
I agree as to the first portion. There are some limits on the human body. Just look at some of the injury problems cropping up now. Nadal would still be great with a wood frame, as he'd adjust his strokes. He is a splendid athlete. Yet, the racquet width is a big factor as to what swings are possible (surface area as to the shot as the racquet is slanted). So, he would have to adjust his stroke production significantly. Going the other way does not entail the same degree of adjustment. Of course, you then have to defend against greater firepower, so that's yet another consideration. So, with modern frames, hitting becomes lot easier, yet the defense demands are greater, hence the shift towards more physicality that we've seen.
See: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2007-06-20-raquet-tech_N.htm
See: http://www.coachesinfo.com/index.ph...e&catid=95:tennis-general-articles&Itemid=173
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mental midget
Hall of Fame
agree with all of this.
zagor
Bionic Poster
The original is OK but the sequels? The less said the better.
D
Deleted member 21996
Guest
Xemi666
Professional
:lol: I wonder if you're trolling or just delusional.
accidental
Hall of Fame
I would say he could take 8 games maybe. But only if they play best of 15 sets format
accidental
Hall of Fame
Cash only retired in 1996, and if he played a 14 year old Nadal that would have been in 2000, so Cash would have only been a few years removed from the tour.
Cash is also one of the fittest former players going around and is one of the best players for his age group on the seniors tour and has basically coached full time since his retirement, coaching rusedski and Philippousis full time in 97-99 as well as running his tennis academy
That's ridiculous, and I think today's guys are better. It just doesn't make sense--what racquets are they using?
aphex
Banned
tusharlovesrafa
Hall of Fame
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Well, duh. If Nadal was using a graphite racquet and Borg was playing with wood it would be no contest.
If both we're playing with graphite, I think Rafa wins in straights most of the time, though I could see Borg pushing him. If wood, then Borg.
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bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
It's an exhibition. He gets at least 4 games, probably 5. Nadal could beat him 6-0, 6-0, but, again, it's an exhibition.
borg number one
Legend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPGh4p0dyIk
See Borg on his strengths here from the HBO Documentary, Fire&Ice. On red clay especially, endurance is a huge component. Borg says "I've never actually been tired in a tennis match". That is amazing!
See Borg on his strengths here from the HBO Documentary, Fire&Ice. On red clay especially, endurance is a huge component. Borg says "I've never actually been tired in a tennis match". That is amazing!
Netzroller
Semi-Pro
As for the original question, 55yo Borg would most definitely not win a game against Nadal.
As for this racket technology discussion, there is one problem.
We only know 2 things: We know how prime Borg played with a wooden racket and we know how Rafa plays with a graphite stick.
Obviously, they have never played each other. However, some have seen these players many times and we can all watch their videos. Therefore, we can make a somewhat educated guess about how a match of these two would go. I see that this scenario is not fair, but it is one you can have a somewhat serious conversation about.
On the other hand, we'll never know how (young) Borg would play with a graphite stick and how Nadal would have played with a wooden stick. If they had played at a different time, they might have developed an entirely different style of play and different techniques. Every player is to a great extent a product of his environment. How they play(ed) is/was a reaction to the equipment, courts, opponents they faced etc. Both are obveiously very talented, so they could have certainly adapted to different situation. Thus, this all becomes pure speculation and the 'equalizing' argument, saying they would have been x% better/worse with cerain equipment is highly flawed.
What we could possibly find out is how Nadal plays with a wooden stick (as a one time try), in case he agrees to play a exo with wooden rackets
As for this racket technology discussion, there is one problem.
We only know 2 things: We know how prime Borg played with a wooden racket and we know how Rafa plays with a graphite stick.
Obviously, they have never played each other. However, some have seen these players many times and we can all watch their videos. Therefore, we can make a somewhat educated guess about how a match of these two would go. I see that this scenario is not fair, but it is one you can have a somewhat serious conversation about.
On the other hand, we'll never know how (young) Borg would play with a graphite stick and how Nadal would have played with a wooden stick. If they had played at a different time, they might have developed an entirely different style of play and different techniques. Every player is to a great extent a product of his environment. How they play(ed) is/was a reaction to the equipment, courts, opponents they faced etc. Both are obveiously very talented, so they could have certainly adapted to different situation. Thus, this all becomes pure speculation and the 'equalizing' argument, saying they would have been x% better/worse with cerain equipment is highly flawed.
What we could possibly find out is how Nadal plays with a wooden stick (as a one time try), in case he agrees to play a exo with wooden rackets
borg number one
Legend
I agree with your post. I think you're right. We do have substantial data on players going from wood racquets to primitive graphite frames though. We saw McEnroe switch to the Dunlop Max 200g in 1983, we saw Connors switch to a Pro Staff in about 1984 (when he was about 32), and so on. The pro tour switched from wood frames en masse in 1983-1985 really and we saw the difference in play. Plus, everyone, not just the pros, made the switch from wood frames to graphite frames (with some of us playing with metal frames in between). So, there is substantial data as to players that did actually make that switch in competitive play. We don't have nearly as much data in the other direction, with players trying to switch from graphite frames to wood frames. We also have accounts such as this:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2007-06-20-raquet-tech_N.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64xdbcU_qJc (McEnroe vs. Connors in 1984)
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