Nadal might be too slow to win slams now

octobrina10 said:
I wonder what is Djoko angry about? :unsure:

When asked about Djoko’s situation, Rafa replied to journalists:" But I can’t have a clear opinion on everything because I don’t have all of the details, honestly."
"...The only clear thing for me is if you are vaccinated, you can play in the Australian Open and everywhere..."

Asked if he felt sorry for Djoko, Rafa responded: “I don’t have an opinion on that. I think that if he wanted, he would be playing here in Australia without a problem. He made his own decisions, and everyone is free to make their own decision, but then there are some consequences."

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You need to take off the Nadal Fan Sunglasses for a minute and look at things from a neutral angle.
Novak was granted a medical exemption according to TA rules and he has been coming to Australia for 17 years, all of a sudden he filled the wrong paperwork for the VISA? Seriously?

There is a political situation and Mr Nadal should have refrained from giving his silly unwanted comments, if Nadal was caught in this situation and Novak had opened his mouth in this way then you would have understood the anger.

Anyway, Nadal will face Novak's wrath the next time they meet, he will smite Nadal down with furious Shakespearean rage, wait and watch !
 
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Adam Copeland said:
You need to take off the Nadal Fan Sunglasses for a minute and look at things from a neutral angle.
Novak was granted a medical exemption according to TA rules and he has been coming to Australia for 17 years, all of a sudden he filled the wrong paperwork for the VISA? Seriously?

There is a political situation and Mr Nadal should have refrained form giving his silly unwanted comments, if Nadal was caught in this situation and Novak had opened his mouth in this way then you would have understood the anger.

Anyway, Nadal will be face Novak's wrath the next time they meet, he will smite Nadal down with furious Shakespearean rage, wait and watch !
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Rafa gave journalists good answers.
 
I keep thinking his slam says are sadly over too, but then remember Thiem's USO level...so is still possible for him to win, no?
 
Adam Copeland said:
Yes, from the second half of 09 onwards I too noticed a huge slow in speed.
The Nadal of 2010 was also not the same, considerably slower but a much improved player.
He was easily the fastest of this century.
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not just his overall speed around the court. Nadal stopped doing endurance and sprint training post Roland garros 2009 because of of his knees. Nadal does not have the endurance to compete against younger post 2009. He’s compensated that by playing more aggressive.
 
Incognito said:
not just his overall speed around the court. Nadal stopped doing endurance and sprint training post Roland garros 2009 because of of his knees. Nadal does not have the endurance to compete against younger post 2009. He’s compensated that by playing more aggressive.
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That's interesting. How do you know this? Do you have a source?
 
A 36 yo shouldn't win FO in first place. But I don't think anyone other than Novak stands a chance against Ned on clay in Bo5 match..
 
Kralingen said:
Obviously very close, but it’s ‘10 for me because he had that serve, and because I generally think he’s more comfortable at the USO with the livelier court.

Hell, ‘09 Nadal almost lost to a Fed who served like complete and utter garbage. ‘10dal had more power and that bazooka serve.
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Agree USO 10 was his best hardcourt form probably of his career. Serve and the DTL shots were firing
 
it depends on how he shapes his game from now on. if he improves his serve and hit more agressively, given the non-stable performance of others in BO5 matches, he still have chances to win GS. of course, he will never be dominant as before and he had never played so on HC ever.
 
ADuck said:
I could be wrong, but Rafa looked a fair bit faster at AO this year than he has for maybe the last 2 years. That, and a bit of luck with the next gen level, is what led to his win I think.
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Yes he did. It could of course be as a result of a successful operation on his foot. In August of last year he said he had been suffering more than he should for a year. The operation isn't a fix, there isn't one, but it did allow him to play pain free at this years AO. I hope it lasts. It is only management of the condition so longevity of the effect of the surgery is an unknown quantity.
 
ADuck said:
I could be wrong, but Rafa looked a fair bit faster at AO this year than he has for maybe the last 2 years. That, and a bit of luck with the next gen level, is what led to his win I think.
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Big thanks to that heat stroke which drained 4kg of sweat out of his body lol
 
ADuck said:
I could be wrong, but Rafa looked a fair bit faster at AO this year than he has for maybe the last 2 years. That, and a bit of luck with the next gen level, is what led to his win I think.
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Agree. When you can run pain-free, it makes a big difference. He was getting to most drop shots without much trouble.
 
Even losing half a step Rafa’s court sense and coverage make him a contender. It’s not like suddenly he’s the Spanish version of John Isner.

This thread is part of the same tired argument that younger Rafa “only” won because he ran like a gazelle and had incredible stamina. His serve, BH and overhead are better than when he was younger, as is his net game and shot selection. These make up for the fact that, yes, he’s not as quick as he used to be and doesn’t posses the same endurance and stamina.

As goes his return of serve will determine more how much damage he can still inflict on grass/HC.
 
smash hit said:
Yes he did. It could of course be as a result of a successful operation on his foot. In August of last year he said he had been suffering more than he should for a year. The operation isn't a fix, there isn't one, but it did allow him to play pain free at this years AO. I hope it lasts. It is only management of the condition so longevity of the effect of the surgery is an unknown quantity.
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I don't think having a surgery makes you run faster... From how athletes view surgery, I think in terms of their form (not injury), it probably does more bad than good.
Maybe it's just an illusion that he's running faster because he played so good in general, if he loses at the next tournament he'll look slower again.

I must say this idea that surgery makes someone run faster is unheard of for me.
 
Bhagi Katbamna said:
Not chasing every ball when down 40-love or 40-15 receiving helped preserve his speed for the times it mattered.
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Is this a thing that Nadal did every match since returning ? Or people just saw him tank a few return points in the 5th set in the Final and are now saying as if he's been doing it the whole month in every game.
 
Silverbullet96 said:
I don't think having a surgery makes you run faster... From how athletes view surgery, I think in terms of their form (not injury), it probably does more bad than good.
Maybe it's just an illusion that he's running faster because he played so good in general, if he loses at the next tournament he'll look slower again.

I must say this idea that surgery makes someone run faster is unheard of for me.
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Well if you are previously running with a lot pain, that could slow you down, no? So running with much less pain doesn’t make you faster absolutely , just relatively faster compared to your previous impaired state.
 
Silverbullet96 said:
I don't think having a surgery makes you run faster... From how athletes view surgery, I think in terms of their form (not injury), it probably does more bad than good.
Maybe it's just an illusion that he's running faster because he played so good in general, if he loses at the next tournament he'll look slower again.

I must say this idea that surgery makes someone run faster is unheard of for me.
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It's the end result of the surgery that makes the difference. Pain limited his movement prior to the surgery. If the reason for the limitation is removed it has to make a difference.

"Q. In terms of the foot, how painful is it? How painful was it over the latter stages of that match?

RAFAEL NADAL: Tonight was no pain at all. I was able to, as you can see, run without limitations. I don't know what can happen tomorrow, but I feel lucky that I was able to play, to feel free to just play tennis, no? That's an amazing feeling.

I know things can change because, as I explained the other day, my injury is difficult to fix, impossible really. But I was able to play for one monthu"

ASAP Sports Transcripts - Tennis - 2022 - AUSTRALIAN OPEN - January 30 - Rafael Nadal

ASAPSports FastScripts, a system using state-of-the-art technology created to produce verbatim FastScripts of press conferences and player/team interviews at sporting events around the globe.
www.asapsports.com
 
Patriots said:
Even losing half a step Rafa’s court sense and coverage make him a contender. It’s not like suddenly he’s the Spanish version of John Isner.

This thread is part of the same tired argument that younger Rafa “only” won because he ran like a gazelle and had incredible stamina. His serve, BH and overhead are better than when he was younger, as is his net game and shot selection. These make up for the fact that, yes, he’s not as quick as he used to be and doesn’t posses the same endurance and stamina.

As goes his return of serve will determine more how much damage he can still inflict on grass/HC.
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Yeah because Rafa was so incredibly quick and had such great court coverage in his prime, that even losing half a step just means that now he has less advantage over his opponents. He still moves better than all younger players IMO. Djokovic is slightly better at this department, but not by much. And on clay, Rafa is still the best mover.
 
vanioMan said:
He still moves better than all younger players IMO. Djokovic is slightly better at this department, but not by much. And on clay, Rafa is still the best mover.
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I agree that Rafa still moves better than many of the youngsters. I can't agree that Djokovic has better movement. He is often unbalanced and looks clumsy. His flexibility is the one area where he is better than Nadal, but Rafa's footwork is superior to ND's in every other way.
 
smash hit said:
I agree that Rafa still moves better than many of the youngsters. I can't agree that Djokovic has better movement. He is often unbalanced and looks clumsy. His flexibility is the one area where he is better than Nadal, but Rafa's footwork is superior to ND's in every other way.
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Djokovic has not lost his speed that's why he seems to have better movement than Nadal. He is almost as fast as 2016.
 
NeutralFan said:
Djokovic has not lost his speed that's why he seems to have better movement than Nadal. He is almost as fast as 2016.
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I was referring to quality of footwork. Nadal is superior to Djokovic in every way but flexibility. He may not have lost speed but unlike Nadal he hasn't suffered any problem that would have caused loss of speed. Imo Nadal's speed had measurably improved during the recent AO and that must be related to him being pain free for the first time in almost two years. Hopefully it will last, but he and no-one else can forecast for how long this latest management proceedure will be effective.
 
prosperned said:
Nadal was getting to balls I haven’t seen in a very long while. Medvedev couldn’t hit any winners really.

First set issue was just he hit too many BH errors but after he dialled in his BH it was over
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Medvedev generally doesn't have many offensive weapons so of course he's not gonna hit many winners.
 
vanioMan said:
Yeah because Rafa was so incredibly quick and had such great court coverage in his prime, that even losing half a step just means that now he has less advantage over his opponents. He still moves better than all younger players IMO. Djokovic is slightly better at this department, but not by much. And on clay, Rafa is still the best mover.
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What Nadal has over everyone else is footwork, including over Djokovic. He's also basically the best out there at shotmaking at the end of his reach.
 
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ADuck said:
I think Nadal's loss of footspeed has finally caught up with him and he will no longer be able to seriously contend for slam titles anymore. Saw highlights of his match today and nothing looked that different from his game last year. It's just a slow degradation of his physicality over time which may finally prove to be too much to overcome now unless he suddenly improves other aspects of his game in miraculous ways. Will continue watching and supporting him, but not going to have any grand expectations for him any longer. Winning a slam on HC is definitely off the table now (and that's the first time I say that), and even on clay is going to be a challenge if last year is of any indication, as being able to defend and move around the court is extremely important on clay, ballbashing alone isn't going to get the job done. Wimbledon is also a long shot but less so than on a hard court I think as the competition there is still relatively weaker than on hard courts.
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he looks pretty fast pushing this cart. what ? why doesn't he have hired people doing this ? he's a billionare

 
Silverbullet96 said:
I don't think having a surgery makes you run faster... From how athletes view surgery, I think in terms of their form (not injury), it probably does more bad than good.
Maybe it's just an illusion that he's running faster because he played so good in general, if he loses at the next tournament he'll look slower again.

I must say this idea that surgery makes someone run faster is unheard of for me.
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Not related but you have a very cool profile picture. :cool:
 
pat200 said:
In his match today it was clear to see that his footspeed has decreased a lot. Need to see how his form improves by the time we reach the FO. This year's FO will be his last chance to win a GS.
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It was also visible in the AO'22 final match
Yet he got into the final, and he won it
 
BeatlesFan said:
When you've lost footspeed, your shot making is always degraded. In order to hit the perfect FH or BH, you have to arrive to the ball on time. Once Fed lost his explosive first step, his groundstrokes immediately deteriorated. The same thing has been happening to Rafa since 2017. There are some matches where he still looks to be playing with tremendous speed, but they are few and far between. Totally normal for a guy who will be 36 in June.
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Not necessarily
First your opponents need to be able to exploit the decrease in movement :)
 
octobrina10 said:
It's very funny that Rafa bashers can't stand info about him because this makes difficult for them to generate false stories about him. :D
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Rafa is a great champion, a humble one, and speaks who knows how many languages
How it is possible to bash such a gentleman?
 
I wonder if Djokovic will be able to beat Nadal on hardcourt, because Nadal added 10mph to his 2nd Serve this year.
He's serving at 105mph, the same as Berrettini (in the SF), and way faster than Medvedev.
 
deliberate23stranger said:
I wonder if Djokovic will be able to beat Nadal on hardcourt, because Nadal added 10mph to his 2nd Serve this year.
He's serving at 105mph, the same as Berrettini (in the SF), and way faster than Medvedev.
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LOL this is too much I think. Nadal also beefed up his serve in 2019 AO and we saw what happened there. Lets not get ahead of ourselves
 
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