Nadal is world no.2 on hardcourts

Z

Zaragoza

Banned
After Nadal´s defeat in QF I was expecting to read again those typical childish comments from Nadal haters: he´s just good on clay, not good on hardcourts, and if he wins it´s because he had a lucky draw. Once again Nadal haters didn´t disappoint me.
My point of view is not fanatic defending or hating Nadal, just realistic.
Since 2005 (when he became a real contender on the tour) nobody but Federer had better results than him on hardcourts in overall:

WINNER Masters Series Canada beating USO finalist Agassi.
WINNER Masters Series Madrid beating Ljubicic in indoors.
WINNER Beijing beating Coria.
WINNER Dubai beating Federer.
FINALIST Masters Series Miami losing to Federer in 5 sets.
FINALIST in Wimbledon doesn´t count as hardcourt but it´s not "green clay" right?

So tell me who else won 2 Masters Series on hardcourts in the last 2 years.
Safin won a Grand Slam but his results were poor after that. Only if Roddick wins the USO I will think he´s the world no.2 on hardcourts. So until it happens Nadal results on hardcourts have been the 2nd best in the last 2 years.
 
Zaragoza said:
After Nadal´s defeat in QF I was expecting to read again those typical childish comments from Nadal haters: he´s just good on clay, not good on hardcourts, and if he wins it´s because he had a lucky draw. Once again Nadal haters didn´t disappoint me.
My point of view is not fanatic defending or hating Nadal, just realistic.
Since 2005 (when he became a real contender on the tour) nobody but Federer had better results than him on hardcourts in overall:

WINNER Masters Series Canada beating USO finalist Agassi.
WINNER Masters Series Madrid beating Ljubicic in indoors.
WINNER Beijing beating Coria.
WINNER Dubai beating Federer.
FINALIST Masters Series Miami losing to Federer in 5 sets.
FINALIST in Wimbledon doesn´t count as hardcourt but it´s not "green clay" right?

So tell me who else won 2 Masters Series on hardcourts in the last 2 years.
Safin won a Grand Slam but his results were poor after that. Only if Roddick wins the USO I will think he´s the world no.2 on hardcourts. So until it happens Nadal results on hardcourts have been the 2nd best in the last 2 years.
Click to expand...

Nadal played 3 hard court tournaments this summer and he got to 0 semifinals. He only beat 1 decent hard court player this summer. Tommy Haas. Everyone one else he beat on hard court this summer was a nobody.

This is Nadal's current hard court level. What happened last year of even this spring is not his current level.
 
As a Fed-fan, I have to say "fair enough"...

Unless someone other than Roger Federer wins the US Open this year. Slams are worth more than Masters events, and all of the hard-court Masters finals wins in the world don't add up to 1 hard-court grand slam. Although Baghdatis was knocked out of the USO, he did get to, and play very well in, the Aussie Open final. That makes an argument for him being No. 2 on hard-courts (again, on the argument that Slams >>>> Masters). But, that said, I could still accept the argument that Nadal's the world No. 2 on hard-courts, because he's won a number of masters events (hard-courts are different than grass, so I won't lump them together, and won't deal with Nadal's standing on grass).

That said, I would have a very hard time accepting the argument that Nadal is the world No. 2 on hard-courts if someone other than Federer won at the USO, especially if that someone is Andy Roddick (who has always been good on hard-courts), or James Blake. Again, Slams are the most important events.

Then again, I don't think it very likely that Blake will beat Federer in the QF, or that Roddick will beat him in the finals. Although both are playing great, and I expect them to play great against Federer, Federer is just better, even assuming both of them are on the absolute top of their game.
 
Zaragoza said:
My point of view is not fanatic defending or hating Nadal, just realistic.
.
.
.
FINALIST in Wimbledon doesn´t count as hardcourt but it´s not "green clay" right?
So tell me who else won 2 Masters Series on hardcourts in the last 2 years.
Safin won a Grand Slam but his results were poor after that. Only if Roddick wins the USO I will think he´s the world no.2 on hardcourts. So until it happens Nadal results on hardcourts have been the 2nd best in the last 2 years.
Click to expand...

Well, you were doing OK until you hit Wimbledon.

For the record, Wimbledon doesn't count as a hardcourt or a claycourt.

You see, it's a grass court.

And, green clay doesn't count as a hardcourt either. You see it's a clay court.

If you're uncertain about the Wimbledon's surface, arguably the most prestigous of all the tournaments played in tennis, you're probably not a fanatic of the sport to begin with.
 
I agree with you, but I'm really disappointed with nadal's hardcourt season this year. He lost to Berdych, Ferrero and Youzhny, I really was not expecting that he could win Toronto, Cinci and US Open, but he could reach the finals, and win at least one ! I hope that Nadal can play better in Madri, Paris and Shanghai.
 
Well not sayin nadal is not a talented player on hard courts and his injuries played a part but despite roddicks poor year his hard court record is: 31-8... Nadals is 17-5... And roddick has a masters series title on the hard stuff...
 
Nadal was the #2 on hc LAST year. But in 2006 he didn't do very well. I think we could get a fairly accurate picture if the Race would be slammed down to include hc only. As we go deeper this calendar year his hc MS results from 2005 fade more and more away.
 
HC tournaments that mean ANYTHING since the start of 2005:

AO 2005 - result: 4th rd loss
US 2005 - result: 3rd rd loss
Masters 2005 - result: default

AO 2006 - result: default
Us 2005 - result: 4th rd loss

Yeah, he's awesome.
 
Nadal was much improved on fast hardcourts this year, and his fans should be happy for that. But #2 on this surface? I don't think that claim holds any water. (Top 5 I can agree with.)
 
Rabbit said:
Well, you were doing OK until you hit Wimbledon.

For the record, Wimbledon doesn't count as a hardcourt or a claycourt.

You see, it's a grass court.

And, green clay doesn't count as a hardcourt either. You see it's a clay court.

If you're uncertain about the Wimbledon's surface, arguably the most prestigous of all the tournaments played in tennis, you're probably not a fanatic of the sport to begin with.
Click to expand...

Well, I said Wimbledon is not hardcourt! But I hit Wimbledon to prove he can play well in a non-clay Grand Slam. I was being ironic when I said "green clay" as you can read some people saying Wimbledon has always been grass excepting this year that it was like clay when Nadal reached the final (that Bjorkman who made the semis must be awesome on clay then).
If Nadal doesn´t make the final next year I guess it will be "traditional grass" again. I´m pretty sure about Wimbledon surface, my opinion doesn´t change depending on who makes the final, so now I hope you get my point.
Of course I expected better results from him on american hardcourts but in this moment he´s still the 2nd best on hardcourts in the last 2 years.
Oh and no.1 and no.2 will usually get "easier" draws than no.10 or no.12, they simply deserved it.
 
Grimjack said:
HC tournaments that mean ANYTHING since the start of 2005:

AO 2005 - result: 4th rd loss
US 2005 - result: 3rd rd loss
Masters 2005 - result: default

AO 2006 - result: default
Us 2005 - result: 4th rd loss

Yeah, he's awesome.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, injuries don´t count as a bad result but it makes losing points in the rankings. Then you have a 3rd round loss, a 4th round and a QF which combined with his Masters Series Titles make him the 2nd best on hardcourts unless Roddick/Blake win the USO.
 
i thought youzhny was a w/o for nadal......if there was to be any consolation for hewitt losing to roddick for me which he did it would have been to face nadal....strange match up
 
There is no clear cut no.2 on hard courts. It seems to alternate time to time between Nadal, Blake, Roddick, and Hewitt throughout the year. right now it seems to be Roddick, who knows by indoor season or the AO.
 
not to be a dick . . . but what does it matter?? i'm sure even NADAL doesn't care if he is considered the #2 hard court player on the tour. all the man wants is the titles. that's all anyone wants.
 
I was never a Nadal fan, but I have to admit, I was impressed that he did as well as he did. He's fun to watch (his play is fun to watch, sans all the fist-pumping stuff), and he's got to be about the fastest guy on tour. For the type of game he plays, I think he's doing pretty well.
 
imo, players are starting to figure out nadals high kicking ball on the hard courts. just like roddicks 150 mph serve, it took them awhile to get used to it but now they know what its gonna do. all the people that beat him this year on hardcourts hit hard, flat balls into his forehand and he has trouble timing it out. its his turn to adjust now.


just my opion.:)
 
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