Indian Wells SF: Carlos Alcaraz vs Rafael Nadal

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vamos Rafa Nadal
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Who will win the match and how many sets?


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Unless Nadal has a metldown , i don't see Fritz winning. Just his opponents name and the stage will kill him mentally and he will turn into a ue machine
Fritz cannot afford to choke. I agree that may happen but if it does he will never win anything of note. He should view this as a great chance. Nadal surely will be cooked.
 
same old nonsense from Nadal call the trainer just before the opposition serves then that break decides the whole match. Disgraceful carry on
He called trainer 2 games prior and he took during the break and broke after saving couple of bp himself, I know you are not able to cope with it, lol.
 
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But which is better? A weak serve that is well-placed, or a big serve that is readable?

If you're playing Fed or Nole, I'd pick the former. But if you're playing Rafa, I'd pick the latter.
20-25 mph is a massive difference. And he really wasn't able to crank it up today due to the wind. Just trying to keep it in play. But yeah, I get your point.
 
Weak reply. I'm pointing out a genuine cheating ploy that Nadal has used countless times in history and yes I am annoyed that it has yet again worked but the fact people can overlook it is disgusting. Nadal is not alone, other players have used such tactics too but it has to stop. MTO's like today have to stop. It's getting completely out of hand. Taping up a bleeding hand or something similar I get but a quick magical muscle rub is STUPID. It doesn't change anything if there is an actual issue and these days it is 100% used for gamesmanship purposes and I am SICK of it.
Cry some more
 
I was specifically addressing the claim Carlos will be an ATG. At his age, both Becker and Wilander had won 2 slams. Fed at 19 defeated Pete at Wimbledon, so he proved his chops too.

There's utterly no excuse for an 18 supposedly "future ATG" to lose this match to ancient Rafa off-clay. I like Carlos, but calling it as it is.
Of course, times change, it used to be the peak of your career was 25. Call it as it really is.
 
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So if young Fed gets an 'A' for beating Pete, young Rafa gets an 'A+' for beating Fed, that means Carlos is looking at an 'A-'.
 
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Weak reply. I'm pointing out a genuine cheating ploy that Nadal has used countless times in history and yes I am annoyed that it has yet again worked but the fact people can overlook it is disgusting. Nadal is not alone, other players have used such tactics too but it has to stop. MTO's like today have to stop. It's getting completely out of hand. Taping up a bleeding hand or something similar I get but a quick magical muscle rub is STUPID. It doesn't change anything if there is an actual issue and these days it is 100% used for gamesmanship purposes and I am SICK of it.
To be fair, Rafa asked for the medical timeout 2 games back. He played out till the next break between serves for the timeout.
Alcaraz had opportunities in that time in Rafa service game. It was upto alcaraz to grab them.
Also in the second set when he was struggling with the wind, he played it out despite clearly at a disadvantage.
 
Alcaraz looks like a Thiem clone without the solid kick serve and a better drop shot. He sprayed too many errors. He needs a better serve.
You can't compare Alcaraz to Thiem.

Alcaraz is 18 yo , and already got 2 titles under his belt, Thiem was 21 when he got the 1st one.

Thiem at 22 yo highest ranking was 18, Alcaraz at 18 yo is already 17.

Give Alcaraz 3 years more to develop, then compare him to Thiem, that would be more fair, don't you think?
 
You can't compare Alcaraz to Thiem.

Alcaraz is 18 yo , and already got 2 titles under his belt, Thiem was 21 when he got the 1st one.

Thiem at 22 yo highest ranking was 18, Alcaraz at 18 yo is already 17.

Give Alcaraz 3 years more to develop, then compare him to Thiem, that would be more fair, don't you think?

Yes it would be more fair. Ferrero needs him working on his serve.
 
To be fair, Rafa asked for the medical timeout 2 games back. He played out till the next break between serves for the timeout.
Alcaraz had opportunities in that time in Rafa service game. It was upto alcaraz to grab them.
Also in the second set when he was struggling with the wind, he played it out despite clearly at a disadvantage.

Nadal was whining in the 2nd set to try and stop the match because of the wind. Also He didn't "play it out" because he called out the supervisor to discuss it and was told the match would not be stopped. Nadal did everything he could to manipulate things in his favour so i disagree with your assessment.
 
You can't compare Alcaraz to Thiem.

Alcaraz is 18 yo , and already got 2 titles under his belt, Thiem was 21 when he got the 1st one.

Thiem at 22 yo highest ranking was 18, Alcaraz at 18 yo is already 17.

Give Alcaraz 3 years more to develop, then compare him to Thiem, that would be more fair, don't you think?
Good points.
Also considering that alcaraz already has pace on his serve, am sure he will improve placement/ spin and become a better server.
After the first set he should the mental toughness to change tactics and lower his UEs. That is remarkable considering he is just 18. He had his opportunities in the 3rd. Was just unlucky in some instances with Nadal at the net. He could have easily won this.
 
Nadal was whining in the 2nd set to try and stop the match because of the wind. Also He didn't "play it out" because he called out the supervisor to discuss it and was told the match would not be stopped. Nadal did everything he could to manipulate things in his favour so i disagree with your assessment.

You are cheating the readers. When he spoke to the supervisor the set was on serve. Stopping it wouldn't have given anyone an advantage.
 
Rafa will find a way, i know that. Alcaraz has a lot more firepower than fritz and he couldnt do anything

Alcaraz serve does nothing to Nadal. Fritz serve can bully Nadal all day long and make life brutal. Fritz can blast his FH and had a great 1-2 punch. I actually think Fritz is a tougher MATCHUP for Nadal than Alcaraz.
 
Alcaraz serve does nothing to Nadal. Fritz serve can bully Nadal all day long and make life brutal. Fritz can blast his FH and had a great 1-2 punch. I actually think Fritz is a tougher MATCHUP for Nadal than Alcaraz.

I don't know how much better fritz can play than kyrgios the other day. Even opelka played Nadal quite solid.
 
You are cheating the readers. When he spoke to the supervisor the set was on serve. Stopping it wouldn't have given anyone an advantage.

The poster i was replying to was implying that Nadal was not coping with the wind as well as Alcaraz was (something i agree with) so i was meerly building on that premise and suggesting that Nadal wanting to stop the match WAS him trying to swing things to his advantage despite the score not displaying the advantage at that time.
 
The poster i was replying to was implying that Nadal was not coping with the wind as well as Alcaraz was (something i agree with) so i was meerly building on that premise and suggesting that Nadal wanting to stop the match WAS him trying to swing things to his advantage despite the score not displaying the advantage at that time.

The match was a seesaw at that point with both players struggling. There was no clear advantage to Alcaraz in the wind.
 
I just want to point out it took Roger Federer 4 years to win his first Grand Slam, and Djokovic was either 3 or 4 years. (I thought Rafa was only 2 years? Not certain). So Carlos is doing great and will likely continue to improve his serve and the rest of his game and will be winning tournaments for many years to come, including Grand Slams.
 
Nadal was whining in the 2nd set to try and stop the match because of the wind. Also He didn't "play it out" because he called out the supervisor to discuss it and was told the match would not be stopped. Nadal did everything he could to manipulate things in his favour so i disagree with your assessment.
I didn't get a read on the conversation between Nadal and supervisor so would not comment on that. But I feel that if he had to stop play with an unnecessary medical timeout, he would have done it at the 2nd set when he was behind.
He did it when they were evenly placed in the 3rd.
Also, I think even if Rafa/Novak do these things purposely, it is more in grand slams or arch rivals where the stakes are high. They don't bother too much especially against friendly opponents.
 
Alcaraz serve does nothing to Nadal. Fritz serve can bully Nadal all day long and make life brutal. Fritz can blast his FH and had a great 1-2 punch. I actually think Fritz is a tougher MATCHUP for Nadal than Alcaraz.
I don't agree that he is a tougher matchup in general but I do think Alcaraz didn't serve well in this match. He needed the consistency he had in his previous matches in this tournament, especially the Monfils match. I think it was a mental issue about playing Rafa though and he wouldn't have had that problem with Fritz. But I do agree that Fritz could win tomorrow if he and Rafa play at the same level they did today. But Rafa might lift his game...
 
The poster i was replying to was implying that Nadal was not coping with the wind as well as Alcaraz was (something i agree with) so i was meerly building on that premise and suggesting that Nadal wanting to stop the match WAS him trying to swing things to his advantage despite the score not displaying the advantage at that time.
Speculative opinion then basically, with no actual evidence.
 
The match was a seesaw at that point with both players struggling. There was no clear advantage to Alcaraz in the wind.

There was. Anyone watching the match could see there was a clear difference in both performances but I know when it comes to discussing Nadal me and you are always going to be on opposite ends of the spectrum so it's pointless us arguing about this.
 
I don't agree that he is a tougher matchup in general but I do think Alcaraz didn't serve well in this match. He needed the consistency he had in his previous matches in this tournament, especially the Monfils match. I think it was a mental issue about playing Rafa though and he wouldn't have had that problem with Fritz. But I do agree that Fritz could win tomorrow if he and Rafa play at the same level they did today. But Rafa might lift his game...
I don't think Rafa played that bad like you think. He played against Alcaraz who gets almost every ball and played great. Second set was windy could have gone either way Alcaraz made less mistakes returned well and probably was bit better.
When match started looked like Alcaraz was the agressive one only his serve was problem and UE. it was up to him. But then 2. set specially it seemed to me Nadal was more agressive playing riskier than usual. Third set was great battle.
 
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Nadal was whining in the 2nd set to try and stop the match because of the wind. Also He didn't "play it out" because he called out the supervisor to discuss it and was told the match would not be stopped. Nadal did everything he could to manipulate things in his favour so i disagree with your assessment.
Lol, read what he said in reply to mto and you find something new to .. lol
 
I know our sample size is extremely limited, but that's easily the best match I've ever seen anyone 35+ play. Genuinely shocking he was still able to bring that kind of level to the court.

It was like a tennis lesson out there from Fed.
And I had the chance to watch it live at Indian Wells!
 
Nadal is generous both to those who like him and those who dislike him.
He has even given his critics the soothing coping mechanism of thinking he only won because he had that medical time-out in the third set.
This is extremely generous, because now they can tell themselves he didn't win because he's good/better, but only because he cheated at that specific moment.
His generosity extends beyond his fans, even going as far as to make his haters comfy in their own delusions. Truly a special player.
 
Didn’t watch the last set but it sounds like claydal cheated? Called an MTO for an injured pec and then magically played better afterwards?
 
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