It looks like Rafael Nadal will have the last laugh over Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer

[onefineday]

Nadal's the only member of the big 3 playing in this tournament. Of course he'll be in the spotlight. And at 35 years of age contending against the young gen.

I do understand the logic. I am saying I like it.

 

[MeatTornado]

Well, Federer had it easy at the start of the race, only fair Nadal should have it a little easier at the end. And it's far easier to win slams against poor opposition when you are in your early/mid 20s rather than mid 30s. So Federer still had the easier time.

I would much rather have weaker competition once decline has set in in your 30s.

 

[Spencer Gore]

I would much rather have weaker competition once decline has set in in your 30s.

If Nadal was 23 he'd be sweeping all before him against this field, so that makes no sense.

 

[jackson vile]

Old Farterer who?

 

[MeatTornado]

If Nadal was 23 he'd be sweeping all before him against this field, so that makes no sense.

If the 2000s competition was as bad as you think it was, then full strength prime Federer wasn't necessary to beat them. 30s Fed could take care of Rod/Hew/Saf, no?

Better to save Peak Fed for the 2010s against Nadal and Djokovic in their primes, yes?

 

[ElChivoEspañol]

GB has announced lifting to all COVID restrictions and walk back of COVID passports, the rest of the world will follow as it is clear now that with the emergence of OMICRON COVID has become endemic.

I calculate that by Summer time every country will be on the same page and this will give Djokovic a lot more flexibility.

 

[fedfanforlifebebe]

Really looks that way now.
If he manages Medvedev he’ll
Be fully motivated for 22 at RG
and poor Novak will be helpless.

Any half decent version of nadal destroys everyone. except maybe prime federer vs nadal 22.

 

[Spencer Gore]

If the 2000s competition was as bad as you think it was, then full strength prime Federer wasn't necessary to beat them. 30s Fed could take care of Rod/Hew/Saf, no?

Better to save Peak Fed for the 2010s against Nadal and Djokovic in their primes, yes?

"I would much rather have weaker competition once decline has set in in your 30s."
You stated that as a principle. How is it better to face weak opposition once you've declined, rather than when you're at your peak?

 

[Adam Copeland]

"I would much rather have weaker competition once decline has set in in your 30s."
You stated that as a principle. How is it better to face weak opposition once you've declined, rather than when you're at your peak?

Nadal didn't grow up with these 96-98 born guys, he has the experience of 20 grand slams behind him while guys like Zverev are still trying to figure out wht it means to win, Medvedev at least seems a bit confident as he at least has 1 under his belt.

Compared to this Federer did not have the confidence of so many slams behind him as too grew up with Rod/Hew/Saf.

Experience matters as well.

We can say physically at 23 Fed could destroy someone who was 23 and this is a greater challenge if he was 35, however looking at things even 2017 Fed who was 35 at time would have thrashed these guys much better than Nadal can, experience matters.

Absence of Novak makes a big difference however, of course 35 yr old Fed and 35 old Rafa would rather not have Novak in the draw compared to 23-24 year old Fed who would be confident of taking on Novak ..... that is a difference, I agree.

 

[Adam Copeland]

In short ....

35 year old Fed could probably have taken this slam even in the presence of a 35 year old Nadal, but neither of them would win in the presence of Novak, that shows you need a younger version of Federer of mid 00s to beat this current Novak.

So young Fed was definitely stronger but so were his rivals compared to many of these fellows playing now, except Med and Zev others just aren't of grand slam level.

 

[Bubcay]

Tbh, at this point I don't even care for slam race . I am just happy to see Rafa competeting again on the tour . I just hope he's healthy and competing for next 2-3 years.

It would be great if this comes true for all of the big 3. I think each one of them still has a desire to compete and love for the game (yes even Roger). They should be able to play as long as they want to, unhindered by injuries or politics..

 

[Tshooter]

Rogie saw the writing on the wall so he stepped in to help his old friend VAMOS.

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1478773607023136770

 

[Yugram]

If the 2000s competition was as bad as you think it was, then full strength prime Federer wasn't necessary to beat them. 30s Fed could take care of Rod/Hew/Saf, no?

Better to save Peak Fed for the 2010s against Nadal and Djokovic in their primes, yes?

Plot twist is that Federer was better in 2008-2012 period than he was in 2003-2007. Just so happens that there were no Hewitt and Baghdatis and Srichaphan in the finals anymore for Federer to display his "magical" level.

 

[octobrina10]

In before Nadal loses and his foot starts hurting again.

Rafa's left foot is hurting all the time. Pain levels change.

 

[FlamingCheeto]

 

[MeatTornado]

Plot twist is that Federer was better in 2008-2012 period than he was in 2003-2007. Just so happens that there were no Hewitt and Baghdatis and Srichaphan in the finals anymore for Federer to display his "magical" level.

Pretty ridiculous to leave 2013 Fred off that list. That's when he was just hitting his stride I say.

 

[Yugram]

Pretty ridiculous to leave 2013 Fred off that list. That's when he was just hitting his stride I say.

I’m quite sure 2013 Federer could pose to 2004 Hewitt the same clinic 2004 Federer did.

 

[MeatTornado]

I’m quite sure 2013 Federer could pose to 2004 Hewitt the same clinic 2004 Federer did.

Hey you're the one who omitted him.

 

[octobrina10]

So no more foot injury then?

Rafa has a congenital anomaly of a bone in his left foot. It won't disappear.

 

[GabeT]

Rafa has a congenital anomaly of a bone in his left foot. It won't disappear.

Everybody has something

 

[octobrina10]

Everybody has something

But you wrote about his foot injury.

 

[GabeT]

But you wrote about his foot injury.

Yes I did

 

[duaneeo]

I don’t put Ned above Fred for now but if he gets this AO would be hard to put Fed ahead given he will have 100 extra weeks and WTF over Nadal which will then have slams, masters Olympics and H2H will also have 8 slams outside of clay to feds 9 outside hard so to me that’s negligible distribution plus he is a multiple surface champ with DCGS so yeah the writing will be on the wall for FRED

Nice try. If Nadal wins the AO, he will have 8 slams outside of clay to Federer's 12 slams outside of grass. And, the distribution of 13-4-2-2 compared to 8-6-5-1 will still be quite considerable.

 

[DIMI_D]

Nice try. If Nadal wins the AO, he will have 8 slams outside of clay to Federer's 12 slams outside of grass. And, the distribution of 13-4-2-2 compared to 8-6-5-1 will still be quite considerable.

I don’t understand how you all claim this his most successful surface is hard he may be the best on grass but it’s irrelevant. 50% of slams are on HC and 75% are on faster courts! So nice try to you kind sir

 

[DIMI_D]

At the end if you are a multiple surface and career champion there is nothing to really prove the benchmark is the slam race it holds absolutely the most weight add in he had to consistently win 1 slam on the his best surface 1/4 chance a yr vs 75% chance for Fed and Nadal, if we were talking about 13 time Wimbledon champion I would think a lot of this skewed business wouldn’t even be debated.. Do you think any player would fight so hard and go into detention and court to play in tour finals?

 

[DIMI_D]

Nice try. If Nadal wins the AO, he will have 8 slams outside of clay to Federer's 12 slams outside of grass. And, the distribution of 13-4-2-2 compared to 8-6-5-1 will still be quite considerable.

Simply answer this question which surface does Federer have his most slams on?

 

[BGod]

Considering Novak's AO ban and 2020 Wimbledon cancellation among the other gaps, he absolutely needs to be AT LEAST 2 Slams ahead of Novak to even have the argument of being the greater player. So better get on that.

 

[Fabresque]

Obviously he cares and wants the record but out of the 3, I feel like he’d be the one who wouldn’t be super arrogant/entitled if he got it, and wouldn’t care if he didn’t get it. Unlike a certain Swiss.

 

[vex]

I honestly think if Rafa conjures the magic to pull out AO22, he’ll finish as GOAT

 

[vex]

Considering Novak's AO ban and 2020 Wimbledon cancellation among the other gaps, he absolutely needs to be AT LEAST 2 Slams ahead of Novak to even have the argument of being the greater player. So better get on that.

Nah Novak’s AO ban falls on Novak. He played a stupid game that no one else was dumb enough to play and he won a stupid prize.

 

[TMF]

I don’t understand how you all claim this his most successful surface is hard he may be the best on grass but it’s irrelevant. 50% of slams are on HC and 75% are on faster courts! So nice try to you kind sir

50% of slams are on hard court, but not all hard courts play the same(Plexicusion/Rebound Ace/DecoTurf). There are reasons that Nole is vastly successful at AO than USO, and Agassi the opposite.

But so what? Nadal's pet slam is clay and Federer's pet slam is Wimbledon.

 

[Adam Copeland]

I don’t understand how you all claim this his most successful surface is hard he may be the best on grass but it’s irrelevant. 50% of slams are on HC and 75% are on faster courts! So nice try to you kind sir

75% of the slams on faster courts ? LOL
This is not the 1990s

If 75% slams were on fast courts then Nadal would have 2 or 3 slams outside the french open at max and all of those would come before 2014.

 

[Midaso240]

Nadal is the big favourite in the slam race now. No doubt about it. I just hope Novak can finish in 2nd place.

The thing that Djokovic has in his favour is that no one is even close to him at Wimbledon. I mean Berrettini is the closest challenger of the young guys and he's an absolute joke of an opponent for Djokovic on grass

 

[Djokovic_is_the_best#1]

The thing that Djokovic has in his favour is that no one is even close to him at Wimbledon. I mean Berrettini is the closest challenger of the young guys and he's an absolute joke of an opponent for Djokovic on grass

Yeah I agree. Djokovic is the big favourite for Wimbledon and the big advantage is he won’t need to be vaccinated to play in London.

 

[Deleted member 762343]

Great. Now it's time to get out of bed.

 

[DIMI_D]

50% of slams are on hard court, but not all hard courts play the same(Plexicusion/Rebound Ace/DecoTurf). There are reasons that Nole is vastly successful at AO than USO, and Agassi the opposite.

But so what? Nadal's pet slam is clay and Federer's pet slam is Wimbledon.

Yes true not completely the same but it’s the same surface

 

[Tennisbg]

Rafa's left foot is hurting all the time. Pain levels change.

Soft clay helps every year.

 

[D.Nalby12]

Every top/seeded/in form player Nadal was supposed to play till final has fallen.

Djokovic (SF) - Deported
Zverev (QF) - losing to Shapo
Karatsev/Hurkacz (4R) - Both lost
Kokk (2R) - Lost in opening round.

Only if Medvedev gets knocked out before final - Nadal could get ATP 500 level draw to win slam again. Unbelievable luck.

 

[Mediterranean Might]

Every top/seeded/in form player Nadal was supposed to play till final has fallen.

Djokovic (SF) - Deported
Zverev (QF) - losing to Shapo
Karatsev/Hurkacz (4R) - Both lost
Kokk (2R) - Lost in opening round.

Only if Medvedev gets knocked out before final - Nadal could get ATP 500 level draw to win slam again. Unbelievable luck.

Yeah, but again this perfectly illustrates that you can only play who's in front of you. They gave Nadal one of the hardest possible draws and here we are. Med still is the biggest challenge either way

 

[Yugram]

Every top/seeded/in form player Nadal was supposed to play till final has fallen.

Djokovic (SF) - Deported
Zverev (QF) - losing to Shapo
Karatsev/Hurkacz (4R) - Both lost
Kokk (2R) - Lost in opening round.

Only if Medvedev gets knocked out before final - Nadal could get ATP 500 level draw to win slam again. Unbelievable luck.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Every top/seeded/in form player Nadal was supposed to play till final has fallen.

Djokovic (SF) - Deported
Zverev (QF) - losing to Shapo
Karatsev/Hurkacz (4R) - Both lost
Kokk (2R) - Lost in opening round.

Only if Medvedev gets knocked out before final - Nadal could get ATP 500 level draw to win slam again. Unbelievable luck.

"He's the Heartbreak Kid, McMahon"

 

[Picmun]

Zverev was never the favorite.

 

[Picmun]

Its R3 man.. calm down.


Zverev is still the favorite.

 

[victorcruz]

Every top/seeded/in form player Nadal was supposed to play till final has fallen.

Djokovic (SF) - Deported
Zverev (QF) - losing to Shapo
Karatsev/Hurkacz (4R) - Both lost
Kokk (2R) - Lost in opening round.

Only if Medvedev gets knocked out before final - Nadal could get ATP 500 level draw to win slam again. Unbelievable luck.

Amazing how all the in-form players took L's. Maybe they weren't as in form as you thought they were.

Amazing how Shapo is not quite in form. Find better ways to cope.

 

[Picmun]

Thanks to the real champion Nole, Nadal will be on 22 slams soon.

TTW thinking at its very best.