Nadal: "Kyrgios can win "Grand Slam"

L

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
"[He is] a player who has an unbelievable potential. He has focus on himself, and can become world No. 1 and win a Grand Slam." -- Rafael Nadal

Really? Nick Kyrgios? The man who doesn't even like tennis is going to be only the third male tennis player in history, and the first male player in 47 years, to with the Grand Slam? I suppose the same could have been said about Marat Safin. :rolleyes:

http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/...nick-kyrgios-win-grand-slam-become-world-no-1
 
SinjinCooper said:
Nadal can barely speak English. He's certainly not bound by the rules of archaic tennis pedantry. He clearly means one title.
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I am wondering, if this thread is having a backhanded go at Nole's Grand Slam by meaning to dust-off the old dispute what is a "true" Grand Slam or Limpinhitter is entering a new phase in his life (he has been unusually active in GPPD lately).

Probably both.

:cool:
 
Nadal said in 2008 that Nishikori, after playing him in his opener at Queens, that Nishikori will definitely be a top 5 player in the future. He predicted that correctly, so who knows. :D
 
He can win "a" grand slam definitely. But you just never know with the kid. I won't believe he'll win won until I actually see him holding the trophy.
 
Nick Kyrgios has the most talent of the new generation but he needs the mental discipline to be able to win a grandslam. He suffers from accute mental PMS.
 
SinjinCooper said:
Nadal can barely speak English. He's certainly not bound by the rules of archaic tennis pedantry. He clearly means one title.
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Barely speak English? Think he speaks better English than the vast majority of English speakers speak any other language.

Hardly anyone speaks about a grand slam as the all four in one year things, native English speaker or not.

As for whether Nick Krygios will win one, well he bloody well should. But you never know with him. I expect he'll get it together enough to win at least one. Probably a few.
 
reaper said:
I suspect he means a Grand slam tournament, not the Grand Slam.
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The Grand Slam is winning all 4 major titles in the same calendar year. If he meant that Kyrgios would win a single major tournament, he could have said that. He also said that Kyrgious could be #1 which goes a bit further than predicting that he'd win a single major title.
 
Tennis_Hands said:
I am wondering, if this thread is having a backhanded go at Nole's Grand Slam by meaning to dust-off the old dispute what is a "true" Grand Slam or Limpinhitter is entering a new phase in his life (he has been unusually active in GPPD lately).

Probably both.

:cool:
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There is no genuine dispute about what "Grand Slam," means. But, I do confess that the FPP and Tips/Instruction sections have been a bit slow lately.
 
Limpinhitter said:
The definition of "Grand Slam" doesn't change with the use of articles "a" or "the," or any other preface.
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You're using the term Grand Slam to refer winning a four majors (which is accurate) but the colloquial use of Grand Slam, for the general tennis playing public, is a single major title. When in fact, the AO, FO, W, USO are the four majors.

That being said, I think Nadal (like all the other players on tour) use the two terms interchangeably. But it's pretty much known and accepted that "a" Grand Slam refers to a single major title and "the" Grand Slam refers to holding all four major titles at some point in one's career.
 
He should win a few. He's got some very underrated qualities and I think he only needs a few changes to be able to reach the very pointy end of slams.
 
Kyrgios is the quintessential sleeper in every major.

ap_us_open_tennis_755372741.jpg
 
Limpinhitter said:
The definition of "Grand Slam" doesn't change with the use of articles "a" or "the," or any other preface.
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Retired players working as commentators on tennis channel and during round table discussions often refer to majors as "slams" and use language such as "winning a slam", "he/she does well at the slams", etc. Get over yourself.
 
The Green Mile said:
In modern terms, players and fans alike use Grand Slam as a term for a Major.

Rafa obviously meant a single Major.
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I hope that's not what Nadal meant.

In my view, conflating the terms major with slam or Grand Slam devalues the rare, monumental achievement of winning a Grand Slam, and disrespects those few great champions who have actually won the Grand Slam.
 
Don't see the drama here. Rafa is saying what anyone who follows tennis already knows and pretty much agree's with. Kyrgios has a lot of talent and tremendous upside if he were to get serious about his career. The sad thing is that his attitude will probably prevent him from achieving his full potential. I don't get why people are picking on Rafa's English which has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. Give the guy a break geez...
 
Limpinhitter said:
I hope that's not what Nadal meant.

In my view, conflating the terms major with slam or Grand Slam devalues the rare, monumental achievement of winning a Grand Slam, and disrespects those few great champions who have actually won the Grand Slam.
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Don't understand why you're getting all edgy about Nadal's comment. Sure everyone knows a Grand Slam is a winner of 4 slams in a year, but like other posters have stated, a Grand Slam today is often use as a single slam winner. The term is use interchangeably even by tennis experts, but they don't considered that a disrespectful to Laver or Graf except you. Nadal is no difference, and I'm pretty sure he meant Kyrgios can win a slam event(using the term Grand Slam).
 
Roddick85 said:
Don't see the drama here. Rafa is saying what anyone who follows tennis already knows and pretty much agree's with. Kyrgios has a lot of talent and tremendous upside if he were to get serious about his career. The sad thing is that his attitude will probably prevent him from achieving his full potential. I don't get why people are picking on Rafa's English which has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. Give the guy a break geez...
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If you are referring to me, I wasn't picking on his English at all. I was just surprised that Nadal would pick Nick Kyrgios as a talent that could accomplish what no other male player has in 47 years.
 
Limpinhitter said:
If you are referring to me, I wasn't picking on his English at all. I was just surprised that Nadal would pick Nick Kyrgios as a talent that could accomplish what no other male player has in 47 years.
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A lot of people, Nadal included, refer to "Majors" as "Grand Slams" nowadays, it's that simple - these people believe that the terms are effectively interchangeable. Nadal believes Kyrgios can win at least 1 Major.
 
Krish872007 said:
A lot of people, Nadal included, refer to "Majors" as "Grand Slams" nowadays, it's that simple - these people believe that the terms are effectively interchangeable. Nadal believes Kyrgios can win at least 1 Major.
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That's not clear from the article. In any event, I think it's a bad idea to conflate majors with slams or Grand Slam, for reasons already explained.
 
Gemini said:
You're using the term Grand Slam to refer winning a four majors (which is accurate) but the colloquial use of Grand Slam, for the general tennis playing public, is a single major title. When in fact, the AO, FO, W, USO are the four majors.

That being said, I think Nadal (like all the other players on tour) use the two terms interchangeably. But it's pretty much known and accepted that "a" Grand Slam refers to a single major title and "the" Grand Slam refers to holding all four major titles at some point in one's career.
Click to expand...
Good for you, words mean things and life would be a lot easier if people would take a moment to consider what was said or at least intended to be said versus how can I interpret the statement to be the most inflammatory or rude as possible.
 
90's Clay said:
Yawn... 2007 Macau 7-6, 6-4. 36 year old Pete 5 years retired, beats Fed at his peak
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You do know that if Federer tried his best Sampras would be lucky to win anything above 6 games? His serve was still good and they gave him a very fast surface to make it more even but he still wouldn't challenge Federer in any way if Fed tried.
 
TheNatural said:
Nadal tends to give generous encouragement/ compliments to any half decent up and comer.
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the guy in your picture even more so...most do that...Fed is probably the most notable exception in encouraging caution (although if you take that very specifically to really passing by the Big 4/5, can't say he's ever been wrong)
 
There's not much holding Nick back skill wise, it's all just attitude and from what I saw at the IPTL even that might be coming around. I'd say one major for sure, maybe more.
 
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