Eren
Professional
Choose your words carefully. Tomorrow, Tsitsipas will face this Djokovic. I hope Tsit wins, but that's hope, not a realistic expectation lol.
Nadal admits to having a bad day
- Thread starter Beckerserve
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Choose your words carefully. Tomorrow, Tsitsipas will face this Djokovic. I hope Tsit wins, but that's hope, not a realistic expectation lol.
Eren
Professional
It's like 7-2 in their H2H lol.
I mean whenever Nadal loses there.
How many people has Nadal played at RG? But for whatever reason, it's just against Djokovic that he plays so poorly that he loses.
Eren
Professional
In 2015 Nadal lost to anyone, even on clay.
This time, no excuses. Both Djokovic and Nadal had a bad start in the clay pre-season. Both of them got their act together at Rome where Nadal won the final against Djokovic.
He crushed Djokovic 7 months prior to win RG, won a few weeks earlier against Djokovic in Rome, had all the momentum going in his favour, won the first set. He broke back twice in the third set.
Djokovic was too good for Nadal this time around.
D
Deleted member 629564
Guest
What happened in Monte Carlo happened.
And what happened in Barcelona happened.
What happened in Madrid happened.
What happened in Rome happened.
What happened in Paris happened.
And here we are.
We are in Mallorca.
And what happened in Barcelona happened.
What happened in Madrid happened.
What happened in Rome happened.
What happened in Paris happened.
And here we are.
We are in Mallorca.
It's pointless to harp on this now, but at RG he didn't just lose to anyone. He lost to Djokovic. The same (and only) guy who beat him 6 year later and the guy with the most clay wins over him.
It's not a coincidence.
Beckerserve
Legend
Tsitsipas only hope is the heat causes Djokovic to struggle.
Beckerserve
Legend
Glad you agree pre 2011 is crucial as well. Federer era. Nadal era.Yeah, like they are 9 years apart, like pensioner and teenager, huge gap definitely.
itrium84
Hall of Fame
Not sure what you mean, but ok, I guess I do agree if you say so.
The Guru
Legend
Do you even take your own arguments seriously? I'm genuinely curious
King No1e
G.O.A.T.
Nadal might've not played as well as he did last year, but he wasn't bad by any stretch. Djokovic was just seeing it like a football for those last 3 sets, end of story.
GhostofPetros
Semi-Pro
Just like his servant Federer
Beckerserve
Legend
10 double faults. 55 UFEs. Find me a Nadal match where he has been that poor.
Nadal might've not played as well as he did last year, but he wasn't bad by any stretch. Djokovic was just seeing it like a football for those last 3 sets, end of story.
Beckerserve
Legend
What part of my statement is not factual?
Backspin1183
Talk Tennis Guru
He has every right to be unhappy with not being able to bing his A game. But that doesn't take anything away from Novak's victory. Nadal's level this tournament was still good enough to beat everyone else but Novak and maybe Zverev (but only if he's serving extremely well).
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
At 4-3 in the third set, the announcers showed UFE total. It was something like 13-5 in favor of Joker. But the match was tied. That means Rafa, while making far more errors, was also hitting more winners. Rafa was more aggressive... Although in the fourth set, there were a lot of Rafa UFE with very few winners.
The Guru
Legend
I'm just curious if you're playing a character, messing around, or genuinely believe your stuff.
Beckerserve
Legend
In 3rd set Nadal hit 23 UFEs. That is appalling at any level for a pro.
Nadal actually played like it was a grass court. Now while i think he is spent, he has remodelled his game and if he goes to Wimbkedon it will be interesting how he does there. Problem is his serve is a liability.
Beckerserve
Legend
Answer the question. Dont duck it
Bumbaliceps
Professional
If that helps you, that guy pretended he didn't know how many times Rafa lost at RG, because he doesn't care about losses as he is a pure alpha male.
The Guru
Legend
Lmfao you ducked my question first by answering it with a question
Beckerserve
Legend
Your question had no significance. Mine was a direct question asking you to point out what i said that was factually inaccurateLmfao you ducked my question first by answering it with a question
The Guru
Legend
Ur unreal
Beckerserve
Legend
You going to answer the question or accept defeat and not bother?Ur unreal
BauerAlmeida
Hall of Fame
"Admitted".
norcal
Legend
Sinner wasn't close to beating Nadal, you make a terrible bookie.
Start da Game
Hall of Fame
he should have stopped playing roland garros couple of years back and shift focus completely towards the other three slams.........12 titles was enough and he would only be ruining his greatness by over extending his participation there.........i don't want to see him lose to the likes of next gen starting next year.........clay takes a lot out of the body, so it is better to just shift focus to the other three slams where he is not much expected to win anyway.........
GhostOfNKDM
Hall of Fame
I saw Rafa all week, first against Sinner then Diego. He looked great to me! I was super impressed with what he was doing at his age still.
In fact I thought Novak was going to get rolled at one point and the first five games were like deja vu.
If anything both guys were nervy and it makes sense given the significance of their clash - their recent history, the slam count race on the line. After set 2 both guys settled down and the quality of the match got much much higher.
As a neutral, to me whatever pressure Rafa felt was because of the guy on the other side of the net. If Novak had mentally caved at some point, like down 2-3 30-30 on his serve in the 3rd set (?), I can totally see Nadal becoming super saiyan an taking over the match in a flash like he did against Diego. I bet nobody would be complaining of poor form then. But Novak did not. He hung in like a tough customer not letting temporary setbacks become his fate.
Many players give up against Nadal after battling for a while and losing a crucial game. Like Schwarzmann the ither day in set 2.
Novak adjusted tactically as he later mentioned with his FH, kept his shots deep and moved Nadal around, made a ton of defensive shots from extreme positions, served well and returned well.
Rafa fans, you guys have enjoyed tremendous success with your guy over the years at RG. You should be fair and magnanimous with giving credit to Novak for this win because he totally deserves it. Anything else sounds whiny and petty.
Yes, it hurts.. deal with it. Us Fed fans had to deal with much worse in 2019. I’m sure Rafa will be back competing at a hig level at Wimbledon soon.
P.S - and frankly I don’t know what this has to do with 2008 Rafa. Both guys are 34.
In fact I thought Novak was going to get rolled at one point and the first five games were like deja vu.
If anything both guys were nervy and it makes sense given the significance of their clash - their recent history, the slam count race on the line. After set 2 both guys settled down and the quality of the match got much much higher.
As a neutral, to me whatever pressure Rafa felt was because of the guy on the other side of the net. If Novak had mentally caved at some point, like down 2-3 30-30 on his serve in the 3rd set (?), I can totally see Nadal becoming super saiyan an taking over the match in a flash like he did against Diego. I bet nobody would be complaining of poor form then. But Novak did not. He hung in like a tough customer not letting temporary setbacks become his fate.
Many players give up against Nadal after battling for a while and losing a crucial game. Like Schwarzmann the ither day in set 2.
Novak adjusted tactically as he later mentioned with his FH, kept his shots deep and moved Nadal around, made a ton of defensive shots from extreme positions, served well and returned well.
Rafa fans, you guys have enjoyed tremendous success with your guy over the years at RG. You should be fair and magnanimous with giving credit to Novak for this win because he totally deserves it. Anything else sounds whiny and petty.
Yes, it hurts.. deal with it. Us Fed fans had to deal with much worse in 2019. I’m sure Rafa will be back competing at a hig level at Wimbledon soon.
P.S - and frankly I don’t know what this has to do with 2008 Rafa. Both guys are 34.
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weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
I would be shocked if he plays Wimbledon.
GhostOfNKDM
Hall of Fame
ok fine he can sulk on his yacht.
Beckerserve
Legend
You must have missed 1st set.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
And you are proud of your Sinner prediction because... he only received one bagel?
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
Epic!!!!bad bull-day at the bull-offfice?...
I think it is true on the French Open.
But i would say instead of having a bad day, he is not so good in shape than earlier in his carrier, he have hited a lot of defensiv slice backhans, it was not characterish for him.
It was a great match, for 3 sets, until Nadal ran out of gas. A lot of people think the 3rd set of one of the greatest ever played.
Nadal running out of gas in the 4th set against Djokovic, it has happened before! 10 years ago, at '11 USO, Nadal lost the 4th set 1-6. Friday, he lost it 2-6!
So age was not the obvious factor.
Beckerserve
Legend
35 makes a huge difference. Also happened v atsitsipas in Oz.
If anyone thinks that was peak Nadal they are in cloud cuckoo land.
OMG I haven't seen this movie in forever!
peoplespeace
Professional
Nadal will never get this close to winning a French open title again!
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
He maxed out. This was bound to happen sooner or later. The fact that this dude who won 2 Wimbledons and 1 AO is sitting at 20 Slams is beyond anything he could've dreamed of.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
ACE of Hearts
Bionic Poster
The only way nadal can get this one out of his system would be to win a slam before the year’s over. He’s unsure about wimbledon. That’s not good.
Shangri La
Hall of Fame
It's so humble of Nadal to admit that.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Not to take away anything on how well novak played, but after watching the match now, it really did look like Rafa had a bad day. He missed some routine groundies that normally don't miss. Can't say it was the tremendous power of novak that did it.... Not really......
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