Nadal Clay 5.0 (Poll)
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Cesc Fabregas
Legend
Imo he brought his proper clay court game to Barcelona and Rome where he didn't drop a set in either.
Cesc Fabregas
Legend
You are right, did that too fast. It should be ALL-Court Nadal since he finished quite a few points at the net that season, actually had some very interesting W/UE ratios for clay (IIRC). But then at RG he went cold turkey on the net as usual.
imalil2gangsta4u
Hall of Fame
I think last year he played his best on clay
Ok, so I just calculated games lost per set played for nadal in 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2005. I didn't include roland garros in these calculations and these include the clay tournaments before RG, starting with either monte carlo or monaco in a given year.
2009 3.13 games lost per set played
2008 3.34 games lost per set played
2007 3.13 games lost per set played
2005 2.95 games lost per set played
In 2005 he played a ton more clay tournaments in the early and latter parts of the year. If you include every set he played on clay that year instead of just MC, Rome and Barcelona as above you get 3.08.
There is not a lot here between these stats. But those 2005 numbers are scary. But in 2005 he skipped hamburg because he was tired after winning MC, Barcelona and Rome; still not strong enough to take a stab at the 4th big one. In later years, when he is stronger, he plays hamburg and now madrid and that hurts his averages (he was dead man walking in 2007 hamburg). So I just compare MC, Rome, Barcelona results for each of these years
2009 2.62
2008 3.04
2007 2.84
2005 2.95
That chances the ordering quite a bit, this looks to be his best year.
Personally, I prefer 2005 or 2007 over 2008 or 2009 versions. He was a better mover on clay in 2005, more nimble (ofcourse also due to more practice on the surface). But by 2007 he had added a consistent DTL forehand on clay, a better serve and he still had that devastating margin for error on all his shots. All these versions are very different and it's fun to think about how they match up with each other.
I might redo all of these numbers after RG this year.
2009 3.13 games lost per set played
2008 3.34 games lost per set played
2007 3.13 games lost per set played
2005 2.95 games lost per set played
In 2005 he played a ton more clay tournaments in the early and latter parts of the year. If you include every set he played on clay that year instead of just MC, Rome and Barcelona as above you get 3.08.
There is not a lot here between these stats. But those 2005 numbers are scary. But in 2005 he skipped hamburg because he was tired after winning MC, Barcelona and Rome; still not strong enough to take a stab at the 4th big one. In later years, when he is stronger, he plays hamburg and now madrid and that hurts his averages (he was dead man walking in 2007 hamburg). So I just compare MC, Rome, Barcelona results for each of these years
2009 2.62
2008 3.04
2007 2.84
2005 2.95
That chances the ordering quite a bit, this looks to be his best year.
Personally, I prefer 2005 or 2007 over 2008 or 2009 versions. He was a better mover on clay in 2005, more nimble (ofcourse also due to more practice on the surface). But by 2007 he had added a consistent DTL forehand on clay, a better serve and he still had that devastating margin for error on all his shots. All these versions are very different and it's fun to think about how they match up with each other.
I might redo all of these numbers after RG this year.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
Wow captivating! But why is 2006 missing?
I hope tennis-hero is around. Those stats confirm my intuitive impression that 2007 and 2009 have been his most consistently dominant years on clay so far.
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lazy and for some reason I don't find his clay court play from that year that memorable.
I think we have to include RG to get the full picture. If we did that 2008 will probably rise and 2005 fall further. Possible 2008 might even push past 2007 at that point. But this looks to be his best year, knock on wood.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
You are absolutely right: in 2006, he lost 2 sets in Monte-Carlo, 1 set in Barcelona, 3 sets in Rome and 3 sets at RG. A great year nonetheless but definitely not the best ;-)lazy and for some reason I don't find his clay court play from that year that memorable.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
Yes, knock on wood, cross fingers and anti-jinx, but it's fascinating how Rafa seems to be still improving on clay. This year looks like it could be his best ever which is mindboggling considering how good he has been before. Is there any other year when he won 2 of the pre-RG tournaments without losing a set and when he arrived at RG having played 4 events and lost only 4 sets in all of them combined (3 of which in the same event, the last one)?
He had that one great match against hewitt at RG 06. I have to watch that match again at some point.
lol, that's a good idea.....but things are hectic right now.
Good question, it looks like in 2007 he won MC and Barcelona without losing a set. He also lost 4 sets in that year, one to davydenko at Rome, one to hewitt at Hamburg and 2 to federer at hamburg. But to be fair in 2005 he had to play some best of 5 setters towards the end of tournaments versus coria.
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