Going 5 against FAA of all people on Phillipe Chatrier might be the final coffin in Nadals tennis career. He has given his fans so many good moments and so many epic matches. But seeing Nadal struggle to hit 2 BHs in a row is too painstaking for fans who have watched him at his pomp in 2008. I think Nadal, Stan and Thiem should compete in the prestigious Helsinki Open now. Good luck Rafa on your future endeavours after tennis and it was good while it lasted.
Nadal is Finnish!!!
- Thread starter zuluzazu
- Start date
How many accounts @StrongRule has?
Was anything wrong in my other thread. But still people will call me a troll.You already have a thread you could have posted this in.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Shame on Nadal winning a 4 hour match against someone half his age who is #4 in the race and hit the fuzz off the ball all match 
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Rafa still in good enough form to take out Djoker.
LOL its FAA not Alcaraz nor Djokovic. FAA has done nothing on clay. Nadal got broken from 40-0 up with a slew of unforced errors. I think AO2022 was the candle burning bright before it gets extinguished. Father time waits for noneShame on Nadal winning a 4 hour match against someone half his age who is #4 in the race and hit the fuzz off the ball all match
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
Son, he has been far better on HC over last three years than on clay. So , please don't lump all courts together. On clay he's not agressive and it's making him run unncessarily and putting BH under pressure while on hc he's playing way agressive. He won Acapulco without losing a set. Was on a winning streak of 20+ matches.
He is not beating Djokovic and most probably not Alcaraz on hards as well
Aabye5
Talk Tennis Guru
Of all people.
I want you to think very carefully about which player gave Nole the hardest challenge in Rome.
kevaninho
Hall of Fame
Yet he just beat Alcaraz on HC recently LOL Do you watch any tennis outwith the slams?
Aabye5
Talk Tennis Guru
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
He beat Alcaraz on HC. Why don't you look at his hc matches ? He doesn't stand 20 feet off baseline there even on second serve , doens't grind and his serve actually work there. On clay , for some reason he is still grinding.today , he didn't play bad at all. What he did badly was not taking initiative on big points 0-30, on bps and relying totally on FAA to give it to him. If he is agressive on bps he will beat Djokovic , yeah ,you hear it here first.
kevaninho
Hall of Fame
Comparing Rafa to both current Thiem and Stan, who cant get past the 2nd round in slams these days, is beyond insulting.
That is why I said most probably. Alcaraz will improve and that was a hard fought match. Defeating Alcaraz is a maybe but he is not defeating Djokovic on hards
kevaninho
Hall of Fame
Backtracking on the Alcaraz statement, and then stating the obvious about not being able to beat Djokovic on HCs.
You sure know your tennis.
Newballsplease872
Rookie
Good riddance.
Already vultured way too much
Already vultured way too much
Beulah Jesus
Hall of Fame
Bumbaliceps
Professional
Don't get trapped, he is a troll
Didnt I literally say most probably???
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
victorcruz
Hall of Fame
It's time to stop posting
What is this, Spiderman???
NonP
Legend
True, but going into this FO neither had won even 55% of their games on dirt which is outright mediocre territory. When FAA took the 1st set I actually thought the kid had a real shot, and while he couldn't quite complete the job this bodes well for the rest of his '22 season and the much-ballyhooed Djoker-Bull rematch is likely to be something of a disappointment a la last year's.
Stef and especially Carlitos must like their chances atm. You rarely get handed a draw this wide open regardless of era so I'm hoping for a new winner this time. The Greek Plagiarizer FTW!
Of all people.
I want you to think very carefully about which player gave Nole the hardest challenge in Rome.
Nole is also lackluster this year so let's not go overboard. He or Bull is by no means a shoo-in this time.
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
Son, you should read "studies in pessimism " by Arthur Schopenhauer, pessimism is indeed very healthy and makes you enjoy the existence.
Aabye5
Talk Tennis Guru
They are 35+ years old. What do you expect? Them to dominate forever?
I have been applying this quote in my life long before Spiderman. I have seen my friends get sad over not getting into Stanford. I never expected Stanford and I am happy with my grad school admit in CMU
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travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
It’s not as wide open as it seems. Rafa will be fine.
NonP
Legend
This is not a grown-up's understanding of Schopenhauer.
No. Just saying people are too quick to count out the rest of the field.
We'll see. I told y'all not to be so confident about Bull's or even Novak's chances last year and neither seems to be doing better. I wouldn't mind my boy Nole defending his FO title... but I'm still pulling for Stef!
Aabye5
Talk Tennis Guru
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
Please spare me with your long essays, it fluctuates between pain and boredom
and i am trained in philosophy so please. I didn't even say what his work is for. I just started my opinion and adviced hin my favourite Authors book. Plus, i troll Strongrule and all pessimistic fanbois.
The_Order
G.O.A.T.
Shame on Nadal winning a 4 hour match against someone half his age who is #4 in the race and hit the fuzz off the ball all match
Yep. I mentioned this yesterday when some clown said FAA was going to be easy...
We can't live in the past and need to be realistic here, 36 yr old Nadal with limited preparation was always going to struggle... RG or not.
At least he didn't tank knowing what's waiting for him in the next round. Count on him to fight as hard as he can, regardless of what happens, couldn't be more proud of him.
Federev
G.O.A.T.
No offense @StrongRule but this post was GOATY
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
As long as it is only the final coffin and not the ‘final nail in the coffin’, Rafa is alive and well. Phew!
Rattie
G.O.A.T.
Endless negativity is very depressing.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
I think Stef will not go as far as last year, I’m afraid. I expect Rafa will play better next round.
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Biotic
Legend
My eye test tells me you're probably right, but I guess that Madrid + Rome + RG numbers thus far have Novak above that much needed 60%. MC + Belgrade mess lowers percentages big time.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
He's not top 3 on clay all time. He has two RG titles and anyone who has more than 2 is greater on clay than he is. All the Rome, MC or Madrid titles he's had mean nothing in terms of clay greatness.
All these guys are greater on clay than he is at this moment:
Borg 6 RG's
Lendl, Mats, Guga (all have three)
dapchai
Legend
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NonP
Legend
Same here. Still hoping for a miracle cuz I do expect Carlitos to earn his hype eventually. Our Twitter Philosopher must strike now!
He's indeed won a dominant 70.9% (73/103) so far on terre battue, but that was against a bunch of scrubs barring Diego who himself wasn't even a dark horse this CC season. It's clear Novak saves his best for last these days, but as I've noted even Bull can't up his GW% come Slam time that easily cuz everyone tries to peak for the majors.
Maybe he pulls another anti-Houdini a la the last one, but Bull seemed to find his bearing in the 5th vs. Felix and Carlitos has been playing with so much freedom getting past these 2 won't be easy. (Normally I'd say Alcaraz is a tad too quick with his trigger to go all the way, but this isn't a normal draw with an established dirtballer or two in their prime.) And even if he does he may be looking at last year's F redux, in which case Stef will be extra motivated to get his revenge.
All still quite manageable... for (early) '11 or '16 Novak. For him now at 35 years of age? Let's see if he takes care of his fellow geezer 1st.
The Guru
G.O.A.T.
Um excuse me what now?
Here we go again with some people writing Rafa off because he played sub par today.
He is still the best clay courter around and in my mind he is still favourite to beat Novak on Tuesday. I actually think the way he finished the match serving and hitting so aggressively will give him a lot of confidence.
Outside of clay i would take Novak to beat Rafa nearly every time but there is a reason why Rafa has won this thirteen times.
Don't get me wrong i think Felix showed that if you really take the game to Rafa and are playing well it is possible to give him a hard time even here.
I suspect Rafa will not start so slow against Novak as he knows he will have to be dialed in right from the start to the last point.
I hope i am wrong and Novak can pull off another upset here at RG and be first man to defeat Rafa at his favourite tournament three times but it is a tall order
He is still the best clay courter around and in my mind he is still favourite to beat Novak on Tuesday. I actually think the way he finished the match serving and hitting so aggressively will give him a lot of confidence.
Outside of clay i would take Novak to beat Rafa nearly every time but there is a reason why Rafa has won this thirteen times.
Don't get me wrong i think Felix showed that if you really take the game to Rafa and are playing well it is possible to give him a hard time even here.
I suspect Rafa will not start so slow against Novak as he knows he will have to be dialed in right from the start to the last point.
I hope i am wrong and Novak can pull off another upset here at RG and be first man to defeat Rafa at his favourite tournament three times but it is a tall order
Hitman
Bionic Poster
While this is all good....Felix had never won a match at RG before this year, and was also pushed to five sets in his first match here. He has gone from being unable to win a match here to going to within 3 games of beating Nadal, and that cannot just be because of the massive improvement in Felix's game.
S
Slicehand
Guest
Nadal would have a better chance against djoko if it were the final or even semi, but in an early round like this, and with the progression that both players have...djokovic has an edge, thats logical, then, we see what happens
GabeT
G.O.A.T.
Yeah, I keep reading in TTW that somehow FAA is a greater threat in clay than Schwartzman?
Hitman
Bionic Poster
Yeah, I keep reading in TTW that somehow FAA is a greater threat in clay than Schwartzman?
Interesting. How much of that was just Nadal?
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