Let's all spare a moment for cheering this amazing run by a teenager

As a nadal fan, did you see 2005 coming??


  • Total voters
    16

Rafa4LifeEver

G.O.A.T.
lovely Ladies and gentlemen, has there ever been a teenage player in the history of tennis world, who could play at the level higher or matching that of 2005 nadal?? Enjoy his first ever, and my most favourite slam run of him here.


An unbelievable year, heaps of unbelievable performances and ye#2, could very well be #1 if not for the most consistent player of all time dominating at his peak level in that season.

(P.S. :- poll is for nostalgic Nadal fans only who happened to follow the greatest warrior of tennis world before breakout season)
 

Rafa4LifeEver

G.O.A.T.
Good opportunity to give a shout out to @sseemiller, the original Nadal fan who picked up on him back in 2002 and was among the earliest members here (registered Feb 2004) posting about Rafa from the outset, before his win over Federer in Miami when casuals started taking notice.
Oh.
Didn't quite notice that old of a poster here, gentleman..
 

ForehandCross

G.O.A.T.
Good opportunity to give a shout out to @sseemiller, the original Nadal fan who picked up on him back in 2002 and was among the earliest members here (registered Feb 2004) posting about Rafa from the outset, before his win over Federer in Miami when casuals started taking notice.


Imagine someone picking one of the youngsters this Early.


@Yugram has picked Alcaraz at just 16 years old. If he goes on to multiple slam it will be insane.
 

AnOctorokForDinner

Talk Tennis Guru
Imagine someone picking one of the youngsters this Early.


@Yugram has picked Alcaraz at just 16 years old. If he goes on to multiple slam it will be insane.

It's not difficult these days when everything is out there on the web, plenty of info and even direct match footage since challenger level. Every regular tennis fan would have taken notice of Alcaraz after he upset ARV in Rio. Seems to have a capacity for aggression at least.
 

aldeayeah

G.O.A.T.
Nowadays it's more expected/less devastating, but Rafa's BH passing shots were *chef's kiss* back then. Fed used to eat a ton of those too.

my first nadal match was davis cup final 2004 vs Roddick
 
N

Nuclear Warhead Sinner

Guest
I didn't see it coming because at the time I was 6 years old.
 
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accidental

Hall of Fame
It was pretty amazing, but not completely out of nowhere at the time

He had beaten Albert Costa in 2003 when he was only 16 and Costa was the defending Roland Garros champ. I remember watching that match on tv and being completely shocked at how athletic and fast/strong this kid was. Then in 2004 he had an outstanding year but missed the French due to injury.

And at the time, it seemed like only a matter of time before another teenage champ came along, as they tended to appear every 10 years or so up to then. And then there just hasn’t been any since...
 

JustMy2Cents

Hall of Fame
Imagine someone picking one of the youngsters this Early.


@Yugram has picked Alcaraz at just 16 years old. If he goes on to multiple slam it will be insane.
Alcaraz was in hard lockdown during this quarantine.. Today he has won against Goffin in straight sets!(y)(y)
Carlos Alcaraz surprises world No. 14 David Goffin and advances to eighth in the #GreatOceanRoadOpen with Mario Vilella, another Spaniard
 
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Hitman

Bionic Poster
I saw it coming a long while beforehand, since I saw him play live back in 2003. It was clear, and many were saying he was going to be the next big thing way before he actually was.

Personally I didn't like he changed his game style to be more clay centric back then when he was this uber aggressive when I first saw him, but cannot fault him one bit for it.
 

StrongRule

Talk Tennis Guru
I wonder what were the predictions for his semifinal against Federer back then. Federer was a dominant world number 1, but specifically on clay he didn't have much success. On the other hand, Nadal already had a dominant run on clay that year, beating an in-form Coria twice. Also, he showed he has the game to challenge Federer on hardcourt before. Anyone who watched tennis back then remembers who was the favorite in that semifinal?
 

TennisFan3

Talk Tennis Guru
lovely Ladies and gentlemen, has there ever been a teenage player in the history of tennis world, who could play at the level higher or matching that of 2005 nadal?? Enjoy his first ever, and my most favourite slam run of him here.


An unbelievable year, heaps of unbelievable performances and ye#2, could very well be #1 if not for the most consistent player of all time dominating at his peak level in that season.

(P.S. :- poll is for nostalgic Nadal fans only who happened to follow the greatest warrior of tennis world before breakout season)

Fed Nadal SF 2005 F.O: I remember watching this match and the set point of set 3 : Fed had a overhead which he could have put away - but Nadal somehow managed to reset the point back to neutral. He then hit a huge DTL forehand and put away a running forehand swing volley. Nadal broke serve, won the set and broke Fed's spirit. We were 4 people together and we all stood up and applauded. What a player this teenager was.

In some ways, that free swinging fearless warrior is no longer there anymore. Nadal has changed his game as he got older - he is risk averse and mentally weaker. But honestly, there was no younger player who was more fun to watch.
 
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aldeayeah

G.O.A.T.
I wonder what were the predictions for his semifinal against Federer back then. Federer was a dominant world number 1, but specifically on clay he didn't have much success. On the other hand, Nadal already had a dominant run on clay that year, beating an in-form Coria twice. Also, he showed he has the game to challenge Federer on hardcourt before. Anyone who watched tennis back then remembers who was the favorite in that semifinal?
I saw the match back then but didn't follow tennis closely enough to know.

However, looking at historical betting data, there wasn't a clear favorite. Some sites had Federer as a 60% favorite, while others had Nadal as high as 66%.

Nadal was a 90% favorite for the final, though, which ended up being a super tough match.
 
I think I heard of him in one of those sports programme, with footages of him in juniors/exos and just starting out in the pros. I thought he was a unique player, especially how he trained to play left handed. I feel he is a once in a lifetime kind of player; his intensity, drive and fearlessness were just on another level.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Felix needs massive improvements in returning department, ma'am. His consistency needs to go up a notch as well, I really don't want the youngster to be a 2 hander version of Denis Shapovalov.
Oh, I agree, but the fact remains Felix is 20 and can dramatically improve. If he becomes a great player, then all credit to Gogo for calling it when he was just 16.
 

BackhandDTL

Hall of Fame
Phenomenal player, phenomenal season - but unfortunately he didn't face more than one Big3 member, so it doesn't really count :rolleyes:
It counts but it was in a weak era. A prepubescent dirtballer winning multiple HC masters speaks to the crapola era
 

JustMy2Cents

Hall of Fame
I saw the match back then but didn't follow tennis closely enough to know.

However, looking at historical betting data, there wasn't a clear favorite. Some sites had Federer as a 60% favorite, while others had Nadal as high as 66%.

Nadal was a 90% favorite for the final, though, which ended up being a super tough match.
I was interested in this question and googled.
In Nadal’s 95 total matches at the French Open, he has been listed as the betting favorite 93 times and has played the role of the underdog just twice. 2015QF, 2005 SF
2005 Semifinals vs. Roger Federer
Six matches into Nadal’s French Open career, he was first listed as an underdog against a 4-time grand slam singles champion named Roger Federer. For the Nadal-Federer rivalry to come, it was their third career match and first in a Grand Slam.
This site gives some predictions too... Gasquet to win against Rafa if he can keep his nerve!
 

aldeayeah

G.O.A.T.
My source is http://tennis-data.co.uk/

B365WB365LCBWCBLEXWEXLIWWIWLPSWPSL
2,25​
1,61​
1,36​
3​
2,23​
1,72​
1,9​
1,7​
2,33​
1,699​

The columns "W" are for the winner (Nadal) and the columns "L" are for the loser (Fed).

As you can see, Bet365, Expect or Pinnacles Sports had Fed as a roughly 60% favorite, while Centrebet had Nadal as a 66% favorite, and Interwetten had them really close (with Fed a very slight favorite).
 
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abmk

Bionic Poster
I wonder what were the predictions for his semifinal against Federer back then. Federer was a dominant world number 1, but specifically on clay he didn't have much success. On the other hand, Nadal already had a dominant run on clay that year, beating an in-form Coria twice. Also, he showed he has the game to challenge Federer on hardcourt before. Anyone who watched tennis back then remembers who was the favorite in that semifinal?

federer was the slight betting favorite in RG 05.
It changed in RG 06 where they made Nadal the favorite.
 

Cupcake

Hall of Fame
Well, what happened to seles was pretty sad.

Yes, very sad. She is my all-time favorite female player. Graf's later career wins to me will always be tarnished.

Rafa is my all-time favorite male player. I first heard his name in an interview with Carlos Moya years ago, and before Rafa had won much. Moya said to watch out for another player from Mallorca, who was very young, but an even better player than he was. And he was correct. :)
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
I wonder what were the predictions for his semifinal against Federer back then. Federer was a dominant world number 1, but specifically on clay he didn't have much success. On the other hand, Nadal already had a dominant run on clay that year, beating an in-form Coria twice. Also, he showed he has the game to challenge Federer on hardcourt before. Anyone who watched tennis back then remembers who was the favorite in that semifinal?

Rafa was picked as the fav for the title after he won Rome. Federer was a solid second.
 

BackhandDTL

Hall of Fame
In terms of strength the AO was better, but the USO was a bit more interesting to watch, especially seeing Agassi's progress to the final. I veered off into the enjoyment factor a bit there. In terms of strength, though, it was still fairly respectable. Not much worse than RG imo
I think 04 was good. AO strong, WB strong, USO average. (if Hewitt was good then probably strong....Oldassi was not entirely an apt nickname in 04, I think he was doing a serviceable job moving laterally at the USO)

05-06 were crap though when it came to HC slams and WB, barring AO 05 which Fed didn’t win anyways. Backassi was a sitting duck at the baseline at USO 05, Roddick and Hewitt were pitiful at Wimbledon 05, Roddick subpar USO 06. Hewitt might have been the lone decent performer (USO 05) against Fed in the slams Fed won.
 
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