Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
I think all this has to do with his partnership with the Saudis.
Nadal is planning his return to clay at MC
- Thread starter Hitman
- Start date
Crocodile
G.O.A.T.
Well only those close to Rafael’s team knows what the situation is and what he plans to do.
Originally this year was meant to be his last year.
Judging by many of the comments here on this forum, I get the feeling that many of you are becoming frustrated that things are not panning out as you would like and if he doesn’t play the French this year then you have moved on and so has the tour.
I kind of get the feeling that many fans are starting to switch to the young guys like Jannick and Carlos.
Originally this year was meant to be his last year.
Judging by many of the comments here on this forum, I get the feeling that many of you are becoming frustrated that things are not panning out as you would like and if he doesn’t play the French this year then you have moved on and so has the tour.
I kind of get the feeling that many fans are starting to switch to the young guys like Jannick and Carlos.
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
You being clueless doesn't make me an arbiter lol
Vincent-C
Legend
I am unfamiliar with this dialect, but will keep you around for comedic value- for now.
D
Deleted member 806402
Guest
He sure loves his theatrics.
Vincent-C
Legend
ol' Raffers will be a footnote in tennis history soon enough. Nothing like The Great Man..
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
There is a lot you are unfamiliar with, like the proper use of the term "copium" for starters. I do invite you to put me on ignore to avoid further embarrassment lol
Passingshot78
Rookie
He never said he was injured just he is not on his best level
So he didnt lied. Just didnt wanted to lose early.
Vincent-C
Legend
You have clearly not written "lol" enough.
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
You're so easily provoked into further replies. It's like walking a puppy lol
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
He hasn't announced anything. None of the links in the OP were from Nadal himself. They're just reporting that he's on the entry list for MC.
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
from one casino to another... 
(what's next after las vegas and monte-carlo?)
(what's next after las vegas and monte-carlo?)
#CasinoAndOil #BullWorldTour
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TheGoldenEra1990’s
Hall of Fame
Nadal wins RG and Wimbledon. Djoker will then be tied for GOAT again looking punch drunk not knowing what hit him. You think it’s crazy but with Djokers form this year Nadal may actually have a better shot of winning if his body holds up. The question mark with Nadal is will his body hold up. As his pure base of his game is actually better than Djokers. Djoker needs things to be going well to win slams. First his serve needs to be firing on all cylinder. Nadal has won 22 slams without a serve basically LOL (outside of 2010)
Nadal can make this year exciting still if he everything goes right physically for him. Big “if” though
Nadal can make this year exciting still if he everything goes right physically for him. Big “if” though
SeeItHitIt
Professional
Won’t the clay season interrupt Rafa’s golf game?
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
If he's on the court for a clay-court tournament, there are only a handful of players for whom beating him is a remote possibility, and none for whom it is likely, so the bolded part to me means "as long as he withdraws after winning a couple of matches."
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
In 2022 he lost to Alcaraz and Shapovalov on clay
In 2021 he lost to Rublev, Zverev and Djokovic
In 2020 he lost to Schwartzman
In 2019 he lost to Fognini, Thiem and Tsitsipas
Presumably he'll be weaker than ever in 2024. I'm sure he can lose to plenty of guys in the draw now. This isn't the Rafa from 10+ years ago where Djokovic was the only one with a prayer at stopping him.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
Those players are pretty good players! Here are their rankings at the time they beat Nadal:
Alcaraz: 9; Shapovalov: 16; Zverev: 6; Rublev: 8; Djokovic: 1; Schwartzman: 15; Tsitsipas: 9; Thiem: 5; Fognini: 18.
So, they are all top 20 players, and of the three outside the top 10, two of them are best on clay and would probably have been ranked higher than they were with a clay-specific ranking. Sure, I was exaggerating in my previous post, but even with a weaker than ever Nadal, I think he can lose to quite a few players but is likely to win against most. Not being seeded will mean he can face tough players early, true.
At Roland Garros, he did win three of those four years and his only loss was to Djokovic. So, at least in Bo5, it's still an open question whether anyone bar Djokovic can stop him, and Djokovic himself is struggling lately and had a 1-2 record against Nadal at RG in the years in question.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
Still being the favorite against most players on clay is one thing. But if your definition of a handful is anyone in the top 20, he's in big trouble.
And right now in Bo5 the question isn't if anyone besides Djokovic can stop him. The question is whether his body can even last long enough to reach the 2nd week in Bo5. The guy has only played like half a dozen matches in the last 14 months, and keeps re-aggravating his body every time he starts again.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
On the first paragraph: as I said, my OP was exaggerating, but I still make him (slight) favorite against almost anyone if he can last the match.
On the second paragraph: agreed, with the caveat that I was saying “if he is on court,” so my thought was “if his body can hold up, it’s still an open question who can stop him, at least in Bo5.”
jimmy0slams
Semi-Pro
Training videos incoming ...
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
SURPRISE!Looks like the bull is starting off his clay campaign nice and early. This should be very interesting.
Nadal on Monte-Carlo entry list with protected ranking
The 37-year-old will hope to begin his clay-court season in Monte-Carlo as e builds towards Roland-Garroswww.tennismajors.com
Nadal on Monte-Carlo Entry List
Tennis Now's blog, covering everything from player rankings, to tennis player birthdays, to news, analysis, predictions, and coverage of off-court happenings. We will also include any tennis-related bits that we stumble upon from the internet. Tweets? Facebook status updates? Player blog...www.tennisnow.com
Rafael Nadal Provides Encouraging Health Update For Fans At The Right Time Ahead Of Monte Carlo Masters
Fans gain reassurance of Rafael Nadal's wellbeing as MRI report points explains Indian Wells exit as a precautious move.www.essentiallysports.com
octobrina10
Talk Tennis Guru
You are again trying to derail the thread, Fed devotee.
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Ross is team Rafa confirmed
I'm not a fan but I would rather a dignified end and not this
So I'm wrong to point this out? Tons of people are disappointed. And he was just playing a golf tournament right before IW, now training on clay right after.
"I cannot lie to myself"--ok, he just lied to all of his fans instead. Much better
nolefam_2024
Bionic Poster
I will
jackson vile
G.O.A.T.
Getting ready to see if my theory is correct
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
IF he even plays this will be the first time he’s played there in 3 years. No one who’s as decorated as he is “ducks” surfaces. The guy’s 1 of 2 players in the history of the game with a DCGS when there’s been 3 surfaces.
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The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
You mean this theory?
That was debunked at the beginning of the year when he played Brisbane
_phantom
Hall of Fame
My message was not clear enough. I nodded at MichaelNadal's comment and tried to say that the repulsive capability of the other team, also known as Djo-cult, has pushed you (and many others) more towards team Rafa.
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Ohhhhhh. I thought I was being called a mindless partisan again. Thanks for clarifying
big ted
Legend
jackson vile
G.O.A.T.
I won’t be surprised if he suddenly becomes a whole lot more durable for clay
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
he’ll play don’t worry its on clay
Many people like you guys were saying the same thing last year and he missed the entire CC season. And a year before that he missed the first month of the CC season. Recent history has outright disproven your narrativeI won’t be surprised if he suddenly becomes a whole lot more durable for clay
big ted
Legend
Many people like you guys were saying the same thing last year and he missed the entire CC season. And a year before that he missed the first month of the CC season. Recent history has outright disproven your narrative
last year he missed the clay season for the first time in his career and his ranking went from #10 to 136. what does that tell you where he gets his points from?
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
This is omitting the fact that outside of the United Cup (or whatever the heck the flavor of the month name it has now) and the AO (where he got knocked out in the 2R) he missed the entire year in 23. He went from winning the AO, Acapulco, making the IW F, winning RG, and making the Wimby SF in 2022 to losing virtually all of his points in 2023. No duh his ranking sunk like a stone after missing that much time.
Besides, less than half of his points even came from clay in that timeframe. And again, should he even play MC it’ll be the first time he’s done so in 3 years. Meaning that it tells me that in spite of all that you’re still pushing an agenda. If you keep saying that he’ll be healthy for the CC season you’ll eventually be “right”.
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
DSH
Talk Tennis Guru
Worse, Federer is a friend of Tiley and the Australian executive favored his mate in the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Australian Open.
big ted
Legend
his ranking sunk in 2 WEEKS. ranking was #15 on 5/22/23 and on 6/12/23 it was #136 . it wasnt from "missing 2023". if was from missing the clay court season.. if you cant put your rafa feelings aside
and put 2 and 2 together i dont know what to tell you
ive been right 18 out of 19 years and then you say ill "eventually be right"??
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
You can’t put your agenda aside for 2 seconds to see how wrong you are. Most of his points didn’t even come from the CC season. So the fact that you’re saying it was because he missed the 2023 CC season that his ranking fell as far as it did couldn’t be more wrong. He only played 12 events in 2022 where he finished #2 with 6020 points. So the fact that he dropped that far to #15 shows that he lost a ton of points prior to 5/22/2023. He won Melbourne, the AO, Acapulco, and made the IW F before the CC season even started. And even then he missed MC and Barca with early exits in Madrid and especially Rome. His CC season essentially boiled down to winning RG. And if you don’t even play a GS that you won then you just lost out on defending 2,000 right there. And in RAFA’s case he lost out on what amounted to almost 4,000 points between the early exit at the AO and missing RG entirely. He was already hemorrhaging points well before missing the 2023 CC season. I can put 2 and 2 together. You’re a salty Fed fan pushing an agenda, that’s all there is to it.his ranking sunk in 2 WEEKS. ranking was #15 on 5/22/23 and on 6/12/23 it was #136 . it wasnt from "missing 2023". if was from missing the clay court season.. if you cant put your rafa feelings aside
and put 2 and 2 together i dont know what to tell you
ive been right 18 out of 19 years and then you say ill "eventually be right"??
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big ted
Legend
im sorry but your the one with the agenda.
its black and white math but you see colors.
his ranking went from a respectable #15 to #136 DURING the clay court season so for you to say he doesn’t depend on clay for his success is just wrong.
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