I'm calling it now: Fully fit Del Potro will not be a huge threat to Nadal

[abmk]

LOL only disturbed his serve? How do you explain that? A TORN stomach muscle. Anyway, Rafa wasn't playing well in 2009 before the stomach muscle problem and also after it had healed. He never played well in 2009, and you are kidding yourself if you think he was anything like 2010 Rafa.

1.no, he played very well in the first half of 2009

2.he played very well in the 2 matches before the SF, the gonzalez and the monfils match

3. his ground game was pretty fine - how do I explain that ? By watching , bah !!!!!

4. either way, his injury was nowhere comparable to delpo's

5. now go back to your nadal shrine - that's the only place fit for you. The rest of the world isn't upto listening to your rafa worship !

 

[nadal_slam_king]

1.no, he played very well in the first half of 2009

2.he played very well in the 2 matches before the SF, the gonzalez and the monfils match

3. his ground game was pretty fine - how do I explain that ? By watching , bah !!!!!

4. either way, his injury was nowhere comparable to delpo's

5. now go back to your nadal shrine - that's the only place fit for you. The rest of the world isn't upto listening to your rafa worship !

My point is Rafa didn't just play poorly in Montreal/Cincy/US Open (and that injury did originate at Montreal btw), he played poorly at the World Tour Finals, because he simply lacked confidence and wasn't going for his shots. And if you saw the clay events before Roland Garros you'd have observed that Rafa did look a step slow, and we later learnt that Rafa was taking painkillers continuously just to play in those clay events. Rafa was never in form in 2009 after Indian Wells. That shows how great he is on clay that even his worst clay form is enough to win (although he didn't win everything). It's a good preview of 30-year-old Rafa.

If you saw the Gonzo match you'd have seen a guy tanking the 3rd set, he didn't want to be there for some reason. Monfils is just too easy for Rafa, even so Monfils got a set and looked dangerous and if you watch their meetings since that US Open Rafa won a lot easier. The 2010 Rafa vs Monfils is very one-sided, much more one-sided than 2009.

 

[Mustard]

Nadal won 2009 Monte Carlo for the loss of just 1 set, won 2009 Barcelona without dropping a set and won 2009 Rome without dropping a set. All that came after 2009 Indian Wells.

 

[TACOSRULE]

Nadal won 2009 Monte Carlo for the loss of just 1 set, won 2009 Barcelona without dropping a set and won 2009 Rome without dropping a set. All that came after 2009 Indian Wells.

watch those matches. 05 nadal was more aggressive

 

[Mustard]

watch those matches. 05 nadal was more aggressive

He did look thinner in 2009, like he had lost some muscle. Nadal said in a recent interview that the original problem started as far back as the 2008 Paris Masters when he had to retire against Davydenko. His knee went again in similar fashion during the 2009 Rotterdam final against Murray, a tournament where he had gruelling matches just 1 week after winning the 2009 Australian Open. Nadal returned to action soon after Rotterdam, but his knees slowly got worse over time, match-on-match, tournament-by-tournament until it became like a timebomb waiting to go off.

By the time of his 2009 Madrid quarter final against Verdasco, Nadal's movement did look extremely sluggish. I think the straw that broke the camel's back was the semi final match against Djokovic at 2009 Madrid. Nadal didn't look convincing at all at the start of the 2009 French Open, but he was back to his best against Hewitt in the third round and moving great. Tendinitis can be like that, better some days than others. Against Soderling in the fourth round, he ran into a very hot opponent on the day and Nadal's movement and game just wasn't good enough to beat Soderling in that match.

 

[TACOSRULE]

good post.

It was so boring watching Nadal during the clay season. He literally became a retriever/counterpuncher. I know some people think that he was always one but he can be very offensive when he needs to.


It was just really stupid scheduling that year. His family problems couldnt have helped mentally either.

 

[abmk]

My point is Rafa didn't just play poorly in Montreal/Cincy/US Open (and that injury did originate at Montreal btw), he played poorly at the World Tour Finals, because he simply lacked confidence and wasn't going for his shots. And if you saw the clay events before Roland Garros you'd have observed that Rafa did look a step slow, and we later learnt that Rafa was taking painkillers continuously just to play in those clay events. Rafa was never in form in 2009 after Indian Wells. That shows how great he is on clay that even his worst clay form is enough to win (although he didn't win everything). It's a good preview of 30-year-old Rafa.

If you saw the Gonzo match you'd have seen a guy tanking the 3rd set, he didn't want to be there for some reason. Monfils is just too easy for Rafa, even so Monfils got a set and looked dangerous and if you watch their meetings since that US Open Rafa won a lot easier. The 2010 Rafa vs Monfils is very one-sided, much more one-sided than 2009.

no, rafa played pretty well in monte carlo/rome/barcelona ... it was only in madrid that he started playing a bit badly ..

all those news of painkillers etc during clay season are just excuses for the whipping that sod gave him at paris

monfils and gonzo both pushed rafa hard for the first 2 sets @ the USO, rafa's ground game was excellent there ... he played well from the ground vs delpo too, but delpo was just better

he didn't play well at WTF, his level there was nowhere close to how well he was playing at the USO

 

[nadal_slam_king]

I don't have the quotes to prove it, but I was reading peoples opinions very early in the 2009 clay season, long before Madrid and they saw what I saw. Rafa was late on the ball throughout the 2009 clay season, and even his one-sided sets were taking longer than usual because he was winning with retrieving skills rather than the killer forehand. Like I said before, it was revealing in that it shows he can still dominate on clay while being a step slow which is a good sign for his future when he's 30+. I suspect he would have hustled his way to another 2009 Roland Garros crown if he got past Soderling.