Nadal Indoors vs Murray on Clay

[nowhereman]

Who is the better player on their worst surface?
Nadal Indoor Stats
- One Masters Title(2005 Madrid)
- 2 WTF Finals(2010, 2013)
- 16-12 Record at the WTF
- 2 Titles Overall(One of them on clay)
- 75-35 Overall Record Indoors(68.2%)
Murray Clay Stats
- One Masters Title(2015 Madrid)
- 3 Roland Garros Semis
- 28-8 Record at Roland Garros
- 2 Titles Overall
- 80-38 Overall Record on Clay(68%)
Discuss

 

[timnz]

Who is the better player on their worst surface?
Nadal Indoor Stats
- One Masters Title(2005 Madrid)
- 2 WTF Finals(2010, 2013)
- 16-12 Record at the WTF
- 2 Titles Overall(One of them on clay)
- 75-35 Overall Record Indoors(68.2%)
Murray Clay Stats
- One Masters Title(2015 Madrid)
- 3 Roland Garros Semis
- 28-8 Record at Roland Garros
- 2 Titles Overall
- 80-38 Overall Record on Clay(68%)
Discuss

If you really mean indoor hard when you say indoor (indoor clay if far from Nadal's worst surface), then I think Nadal has a slight edge over Murray on clay... It I think Murray is gaining on him....he only just lost to Djokovic at Roland Garros last year.

 

[timnz]

Who is best

Lendl on grass
McEnroe on clay
Connors on European clay
Becker on clay
Edberg on clay

I'd say Lendl . 2 queens club titles and 2 Wimbledon finals, 1 Australian open final on grass, 5 Wimbledon semi's

 

[nowhereman]

If you really mean indoor hard when you say indoor (indoor clay if far from Nadal's worst surface), then I think Nadal has a slight edge over Murray on clay... It I think Murray is gaining on him....he only just lost to Djokovic at Roland Garros last year.

I would agree, but Murray is definitely improving his clay game, as seen last year. If he can keep last year's form up this year, he would be better on clay than Rafa indoors IMO.

 

[nowhereman]

Who is best

Lendl on grass
McEnroe on clay
Connors on European clay
Becker on clay
Edberg on clay

I'd say Lendl . 2 queens club titles and 2 Wimbledon finals, 1 Australian open final on grass, 5 Wimbledon semi's

Again agreed. Although, wouldn't making a separate thread on this be more appropriate?

 

[123456789]

Novak Djokovic on ice

 

[Bender]

Rafa tends to have extreme results indoors. He's either really good throughout a tournament (falling just short of the best usually), or just awful.

Murray OTOH is almost always just above mediocre, with glimpses of brilliance during isolated matches from time to time.

 

[Flash O'Groove]

Nadal has achieved little indoors but he has often played at a level just beneath the very best, which is not something Murray has done on clay, at least no more than once or twice.

Nadal-Federer semi-finals at the Master Cup in 2006 and 2007 were both very high quality match, and Federer was right in his peak. In 2010 Nadal defeated Djokovic and Murray before losing to Federer, in 3 tight sets againt (very good match). Even last year he gave a tough match to Fed at Basel, and he also beat Wawrinka, Ferrer and someone else in the RR. Each victory at the WTF is worth something because only the best players qualify, and often these players are great hardcourters.

Murray has maybe a better resume on clay but it's misleading in my opinion because he lacks a victory against a great inform player on clay. The closest he has done to achieving that is his five setters against Novak last year. Beating Nadal...well Nadal was certainly not playing anywhere close to his best, but still beating Nadal on clay is always an achievement.

 

[Chanwan]

Nadal has achieved little indoors but he has often played at a level just beneath the very best, which is not something Murray has done on clay, at least no more than once or twice.

Nadal-Federer semi-finals at the Master Cup in 2006 and 2007 were both very high quality match, and Federer was right in his peak. In 2010 Nadal defeated Djokovic and Murray before losing to Federer, in 3 tight sets againt (very good match). Even last year he gave a tough match to Fed at Basel, and he also beat Wawrinka, Ferrer and someone else in the RR. Each victory at the WTF is worth something because only the best players qualify, and often these players are great hardcourters.

Murray has maybe a better resume on clay but it's misleading in my opinion because he lacks a victory against a great inform player on clay. The closest he has done to achieving that is his five setters against Novak last year. Beating Nadal...well Nadal was certainly not playing anywhere close to his best, but still beating Nadal on clay is always an achievement.

Overall, I agree.
But Murray's been close a number of times. Didn't Novak save a MP or two against him on clay in 2011? There was also a match vs. a fit Rafa on clay, where he won a set and then lost, partly due to injury.
Overall, Rafa's still done more on indoor hard though. And imo, by some margin given how many of his opponents there have been top-10'ers over the years (hence the winning percentage, which is equal, heavily favors Rafa).

 

[Djokovic2011]

Slight edge to Nadal but I'd imagine at the end of their careers that Murray's clay resume will be the more impressive.

 

[metsman]

Nadal has achieved little indoors but he has often played at a level just beneath the very best, which is not something Murray has done on clay, at least no more than once or twice.

Nadal-Federer semi-finals at the Master Cup in 2006 and 2007 were both very high quality match, and Federer was right in his peak. In 2010 Nadal defeated Djokovic and Murray before losing to Federer, in 3 tight sets againt (very good match). Even last year he gave a tough match to Fed at Basel, and he also beat Wawrinka, Ferrer and someone else in the RR. Each victory at the WTF is worth something because only the best players qualify, and often these players are great hardcourters.

Murray has maybe a better resume on clay but it's misleading in my opinion because he lacks a victory against a great inform player on clay. The closest he has done to achieving that is his five setters against Novak last year. Beating Nadal...well Nadal was certainly not playing anywhere close to his best, but still beating Nadal on clay is always an achievement.

06 TMC semi had some entertaining shotmaking but lots of errors from both and Federer had some stretches of serial error-making which made the scoreline closer than it was. 07 TMC Nadal got destroyed but he was never beating Federer on a fast indoor court. Against a lot of others it might have been enough.

 

[Krish872007]

Slight edge to Nadal but I'd imagine at the end of their careers that Murray's clay resume will be the more impressive.

But RAFA was level at 3-3 in the 3rd set with Federer in Basel, playing some of his best indoor tennis ever

 

[Djokovic2011]

But RAFA was level at 3-3 in the 3rd set with Federer in Basel, playing some of his best indoor tennis ever

That's the only reason I gave him the slight edge Krish.