StrongRule
Talk Tennis Guru
Not joking here. After all, there should be some point when you realize you just should stop playing. IMO the correct moment is when you simply can't deal with the younger players anymore. A year ago Nadal was still the best of the big 3 against the young generation. But this year we saw another huge decline in his mentality, and he totally lost that advantage. Right now Nadal is one of the mentally weakest players.
1. He lost to Thiem in AO after being up a break in both the first and second set and losing them. Lost all 3 tie breaks in this match.
2. In Rome he lost to the first decent opponent he faced.
3. He got fully outplayed by Zverev in Paris, no chances there. Played extremely bad on big points.
4. WTF was some of the worst mental performances of his career. He against lost two tiebreaks to Thiem, when in one of them he was up with 4 minibreaks. Also was up a break in the second set and choked. Then he choked a set against Tsitsipas after hitting a double fault on a setpoint, the third set was also full of choking. Finally, today he was serving for the match against Medvedev and choked again. Once again lost a tiebreak. This time he couldn't get away with it, he lost the match.
That looks like a short list, but the season itself was short. Nadal just can't deal with the young players mentally anymore, he is clearly bad on the big points. Moreover, he might be done physically. Today he looked totally gassed in the third set, and that was after a short season. What can we expect in BO5 then, if he can't even stay fit in BO3 after such a short season?
So yeah, maybe it is time to think about retirement. He won his 20th slam this year, this is more than anyone could expect from him. He might not be the GOAT, but he is one of the greatest of all time. But from now on the younger players will only get better, and as we see Nadal is not good enough physically and mentally to stop them anymore. So maybe it would be smart to retire while being at the top, instead of waiting until you fall even harder.
Added a poll, interesting to see the opinions about what Nadal can realistically achieve from now on, with the younger players only becoming better.
1. He lost to Thiem in AO after being up a break in both the first and second set and losing them. Lost all 3 tie breaks in this match.
2. In Rome he lost to the first decent opponent he faced.
3. He got fully outplayed by Zverev in Paris, no chances there. Played extremely bad on big points.
4. WTF was some of the worst mental performances of his career. He against lost two tiebreaks to Thiem, when in one of them he was up with 4 minibreaks. Also was up a break in the second set and choked. Then he choked a set against Tsitsipas after hitting a double fault on a setpoint, the third set was also full of choking. Finally, today he was serving for the match against Medvedev and choked again. Once again lost a tiebreak. This time he couldn't get away with it, he lost the match.
That looks like a short list, but the season itself was short. Nadal just can't deal with the young players mentally anymore, he is clearly bad on the big points. Moreover, he might be done physically. Today he looked totally gassed in the third set, and that was after a short season. What can we expect in BO5 then, if he can't even stay fit in BO3 after such a short season?
So yeah, maybe it is time to think about retirement. He won his 20th slam this year, this is more than anyone could expect from him. He might not be the GOAT, but he is one of the greatest of all time. But from now on the younger players will only get better, and as we see Nadal is not good enough physically and mentally to stop them anymore. So maybe it would be smart to retire while being at the top, instead of waiting until you fall even harder.
Added a poll, interesting to see the opinions about what Nadal can realistically achieve from now on, with the younger players only becoming better.