Nadal's Best Season?

Which is Nadal's Best Season?

  • Total voters
    52
  • Poll closed .
B

baselinevolley

New User
Which one do you think qualifies as Rafa's best season? Obvious contenders are

2008: First Wimbledon title, 2 majors, Olympic Gold. Won arguably the greatest tennis match of all times by defeating the greatest grass court player ever.

2010: Unparalleled dominance. Three majors. Clean sweep of the cost season, his only ever clean sweep.

2013: This gets my vote. Two majors, both won by defeating Djokovic who was GOATING in those years. Clean sweep of the North American hard court season, something which is rarely done (not even by Federer or Djokovic). Won five masters, his personal best in any year.

2017: Let's say he wins one more masters and WTF. Can this season qualify as his personal best? Two majors and another final. Finally solving the WTF puzzle. Best ever serving performance throughout the year (with the exception of uso 2010). Can be classified as the shared greatest comeback along with Federer.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
K-H said:
Dw I'll fill you in:
RG 10
WIM 10
USO 10
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Tell me about Nadal's domination on hard courts in 2010, please. And please tell me about his grass court domination in that season while you're at it when he got straight setted by Lopez in Queen's (should've lost in the previous round to Istomin too) and was 2 sets to 1 down against monsters like Petzschner and Haase while also dodging a bullet against Soderling in the QF of Wimbledon.
 
U

User123

Hall of Fame
In my opinion all 4 seasons are uniformly good. At least if we take in note his abilities at every stage of his career. Of course in 2008 he played much better, but we can't expect him to play the same tennis when he is aged 31. Each of the seasons is impressive in its own way.
 
Jon Snow

Jon Snow

Semi-Pro
2013

Coming back from his biggest injury, winning 5 sets at RG 2013 in an epic match (should've been the final but muh rankings) then sweeping the American HC season was a great year. It also came against Djokovic who was the dominant factor at the time.
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
2013 so far. Was a great comeback year this year, but not as dominant as 2013. Maybe 2018 will be the next...
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
tennis_pro said:
Tell me about Nadal's domination on hard courts in 2010, please. And please tell me about his grass court domination in that season while you're at it when he got straight setted by Lopez in Queen's (should've lost in the previous round to Istomin too) and was 2 sets to 1 down against monsters like Petzschner and Haase while also dodging a bullet against Soderling in the QF of Wimbledon.
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So you're telling us none of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever dominated a season? You should think about changing the yardstick you're using if that's the case, although I'm under the impression it is different depending on the player we're talking about. Three GS on three different surfaces IS dominant, whether you like it or no. Nobody gives a horsecrap he lost in Queen's to Feli. At least no one objective.

[...]

It's got to be 2010, though funny enough, I don't think that was peak Nadal on any surface. Peak Grassdal and Claydal both happened in 2008, and his best hardcourt showdown was most definitely in 2013, but overall his 2010 season is the best he's ever had. Prior to 2010 he wasn't good enough a HC player, and post 2011 he hasn't been good enough on grass. 2010 gets my vote.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Hawaiian grip said:
So you're telling us none of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever dominated a season? You should think about changing the yardstick you're using if that's the case, although I'm under the impression it is different depending on the player we're talking about. Three GS on three different surfaces IS dominant, whether you like it or no. Nobody gives a horsecrap he lost in Queen's to Feli. At least no one objective.
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Wat.

I'm saying that just because you win the biggest tournament on a given surface doesn't mean you dominated that surface in a season. I mean Nadal wasn't even the best hard court player of 2010 - Federer was and by some margin (better results in the Slams, epic WTF where he beat all the top 5 players at the time, way better results in the MS and 250/500 tournaments).

2006, 2011, 2015 - that's the definition of dominating a season.

And yes just because you won Wimbledon doesn't mean you dominated the grass season. Being on the brink of defeat to Istomin and actually getting straight setted to Lopez in Queen's is one thing but being a set away from losing to guys like Petzschner and Haase already disqualifies Nadal from dominating grass that year. Going with your logic - did Ivanisevic dominate the grass court season in 2001?

I could ignore all of this if only 2010 was a very strong year but think about this - Nadal only had 11 top 10 wins that year, that's less than 1 top 10 win per tournament and like 1 top 10 win per 2 tournaments if you exclude the WTF where you obviously only face top 10 players. I mean Federer had 16 top 10 wins in 2010 and he went completely awol after the AO until Canada, basically.

If Nadal failed to win the 2010 US Open he'd actually have a very poor HC season. I mean if he dominated that surface I don't think switching the result of one tournament would take him from "domination" to "poor".

The fact is - Nadal only dominated the clay season (I'm ignoring the fact that he faced 2 top 10 players in the entire clay season) and won the biggest tournament on both grass and HC. That's the best way to assess this.
 
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ibbi

ibbi

G.O.A.T.
I like 2008. That win streak, 2 titles on clay, 2 titles on grass, 2 on hard, including multiple victories over both fellow members of the big 3, an Olympic gold medal, a couple of 1000s, a couple of slams. It is a glorious thing, and were it not an Olympic year, who knows what might have happened in New York. 2013 is definitely fairly close behind, and 2010's 3 slams very impressive obviously, but to go undefeated in such fashion across all 3 surfaces? Literally nothing like it since Borg, and even he only played one tournament on hard.
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
tennis_pro said:
Wat.

I'm saying that just because you win the biggest tournament on a given surface doesn't mean you dominated that surface in a season. I mean Nadal wasn't even the best hard court player of 2010 - Federer was and by some margin.
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You're the only one talking about dominating a surface. This is about dominating a season.

2006, 2011, 2015 - that's the definition of dominating a season.
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How can those be dominant seasons if those players failed to win one of the four most important tournaments on tour?

Your yardstick, not mine. As I said, you've got a different one for your faves,

And yes just because you won Wimbledon doesn't mean you dominated the grass season. Being on the brink of defeat to Istomin and actually getting straight setted to Lopez in Queen's is one thing but being a set away from losing to guys like Petzschner and Haase already disqualifies Nadal from dominating grass that year. Going with your logic - did Ivanisevic dominate the grass court season in 2001?
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Already replied to this.

I could ignore all of this if only 2010 was a very strong year but think about this - Nadal only had 11 top 10 wins that year, that's less than 1 top 10 win per tournament and like 1 top 10 win per 2 tournaments if you exclude the WTF where you obviously only face top 10 players. I mean Federer had 16 top 10 wins in 2010 and he went completely awol after the AO until Canada, basically.
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Oh, the good old 'weak draw' drivel.

How about we say top players didn't make enough to make it far while others did?

Again, dominant season. You don't need to dominate every tourney on every surface for a dominant season, but if you've won three GS on three different surfaces in a single season, hey, you were goddamn dominant that season, as you eon three of the four most important tournaments of that season, with a F at the fifth to boot. End of story.
 
BlueClayGOAT

BlueClayGOAT

Semi-Pro
Sport said:
2010: Only men in tennis history able to win Grand Slams on each surface (grass, hard and clay) the same calendar year.
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Winning slams on each surface within a calendar year is easier for Rafa than for Fed or Nole because Rafa gets 2 chances a year on HC, while Fed and Nole get only one chance a year on clay.
Either way, both Nole and Fed have held major titles on all 3 surfaces simultaneously, so they're up there as well.
 
Goosehead

Goosehead

Legend
2008. wins fo/wimb/olympicgold over 3 surfaces in less than 3months.

also won 3 masters (2clay 1 hc), and also queens club right inbetween fo-wimby.
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
I agree 2008 is very much underrated. That was the best Nadal we've seen on clay and grass. If the tour wasn't so hardcourt dominated many people would put it above his 2013 season and on par with his 2010 season.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Hawaiian grip said:
How can those be dominant seasons if those players failed to win one of the four most important tournaments on tour?
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1) DId Nadal do it in 2010?
2) You don't have to win everything to have a dominant season. If you wanna compare 2006/2011/2015 to Nadal's 2010 it's gonna be ugly.
Hawaiian grip said:
Oh, the good old 'weak draw' drivel.

How about we say top players didn't make enough to make it far while others did?
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And why didn't they make it to Nadal? Because they were injured (Federer) or out of form (Djokovic).

Hawaiian grip said:
Again, dominant season. You don't need to dominate every tourney on every surface for a dominant season, but if you've won three GS on three different surfaces in a single season, hey, you were goddamn dominant that season. End of story.
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So if Nadal won the FO, Wimbledon and US Open and lost in the 1st round everywhere else would he still be considered dominant in your eyes?

As I said - Nadal lost in 10 tournaments out of 17 that he played and it's not like he was making finals in the ones he lost.

Everyone with a pair of eyes can see this - winning 3 Slams doesn't automatically make your season dominant because guess what - the season consists of more than 4 tournaments. I'm going with 2008 with 2013 a close second.
 
U

User123

Hall of Fame
Gotta feel sorry for haters. I guess they got a big, BIG blow. The first few weeks after Wimbledon were all about discussing the upcoming 20th slam. Many of them had no doubt it will happen. But somehow instead of that USO is won by the player they hate so much. The result is that for the second week in a row they can't get over it and calm down. Now we already find out that all Nadal's 16 slams were won in weak competition. :rolleyes:
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
tennis_pro said:
1) DId Nadal do it in 2010?

Under your criteria? No. Neither did pretty much anyone.

2) You don't have to win everything to have a dominant season. If you wanna compare 2006/2011/2015 to Nadal 2010 it's gonna be ugly.

You know what's ugly? Having a yardstick for one player and another for your faves. Unless you want to convince us Queen's is so freaking important, point remains that both Federer and Djokovic failed to win one of the four most important titles on tour, and hence they were NOT dominant.

You problem is that you can't admit that Nadal had a dominant season. Less dominant that those other seasons you mention? O.K. Open a new thread about that. This one isn't about that.

And why didn't they make it to Nadal? Because they were injured (Federer) or out of form (Djokovic).
It's funny everyone around here calls Nadal fans out on making excuses and here we've got a big, obvious one.

So if Nadal won the FO, Wimbledon and US Open and lost in the 1st round everywhere else would he still be considered dominant in your eyes?

Let's discuss reality here.
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Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
KingKyrgios said:
2011

He was fantastic but i guess Nole had the higher peak...
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US Open 2010 , French Open 2012, French Open 2013 and US Open 2013 suggests otherwise. Djokovic was already at his peak in the US Open 2010. He was 23 and defeated Federer in the SF. A year before, Federer beated him in 3 straight sets in the US Open 2009. So Djokovic clearly was at his peak, Nadal in 2010 was too much for him.
 
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tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Hawaiian grip said:
1) DId Nadal do it in 2010?
You know what's ugly? Having a yardstick for one player and another for your faves. Unless you want to convince us Queen's is so freaking important, point remains that both Federer and Djokovic failed to win one of the four most important titles on tour, and hence they were NOT dominant.
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No, I could ignore Queen's if Nadal won Wimbledon without so many struggles but Queen's only confirms what we already know - Nadal wasn't dominant on grass.
Hawaiian grip said:
You problem is that you can't admit that Nadal had a dominant season. Less dominant that those other seasons you mention? O.K. Open a new thread about that. This one isn't about that.
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Problem...LOL. I'm not calling Nadal's 2010 season dominant because it wasn't. Period.
Hawaiian grip said:
Let's discuss reality here.
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No, that's what you are saying, basically that if you win 3 Slams in a season it was dominant. So my question is - if Nadal won 3 Slams and did crap everywhere else would it still be considered a dominant season?

Check out the definition of "dominance" in the dictionary, please.

Because realiy check - 10 losses (from 17 tournaments), 1 hard court title above 500 level (easily the most important surface), struggles against nobodies in the most prestigious tournament in the world, 11-5 record against top 10 players (including 7-5 on hard courts). How the hell is that dominant?

Nadal was dominant on clay and won the biggest tournaments on grass and hard courts. Period.
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
In 2011 Nadal was anticlutch, served worse than in 2010 (had to go back to his old motion due to shoulder issues and reliability in early 2011) and couldn't dictate play with his forehand nowhere nearly as good. Field was eworse than in 2010 so he still managed to make a ton of finals, but he wasn't the best Nadal we've seen, on any surface.
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
tennis_pro said:
No, I could ignore Queen's if Nadal won Wimbledon without so many struggles but Queen's only confirms what we already know - Nadal wasn't dominant on grass.

So do Djokovic and Federer's struggles at one of the major. Sorry.

Problem...LOL. I'm not calling Nadal's 2010 season dominant because it wasn't. Period.

You aren't even clear on your own yardstick, but you dare say period.

No, that's what you are saying, basically that if you win 3 Slams in a season it was dominant. So my question is - if Nadal won 3 Slams and did crap everywhere else would it still be considered a dominant season?

He was very good overall and he also won three GS. That's reality.

Check out the definition of "dominance" in the dictionary, please.

Get familiar with the concept of non-literal meaning, please. So ****ing disrespectful I shouldn't even be reolying to you.

Because realiy check - 10 losses (from 17 tournaments), 1 hard court title above 500 level (easily the most important surface), struggles against nobodies in the most prestigious tournament in the world, 11-5 record against top 10 players. How the hell is that dominant?

We can find faults in pretty much every season in history. Nadal's achievements in 2010 vastly outweigh them, making it a dominant season in which he was far and away the best player on tour.
Click to expand...

This discussion is over. Learn some manners if you want to discuss anything else in the future.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Hawaiian grip said:
In 2011 Nadal was anticlutch, served worse than in 2010 (had to go back to his old motion due to shoulder issues and reliability in early 2011) and couldn't dictate play with his forehand nowhere nearly as good. Field was eworse than in 2010 so he still managed to make a ton of finals, but he wasn't the best Nadal we've seen, on any surface.
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What rubbish. Djokovic was a billion times stronger, Federer overall was better and didn't go awol for 6 months in the middle of the season, Murray was more consistent, Ferrer had better results, Del Potro came back and just missed out on ending the year in the top 10, Tsonga was a lot better. In what way was 2010 stronger than 2011?
 
Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Nadal in 2010 was almost unstoppable. Peak Soderling in Roland Garros, peak Murray in Wimbledon and peak Djokovic in the US Open were not enough to stop him.


article-1291466-0A4D2D91000005DC-143_468x369.jpg


 
U

User123

Hall of Fame
Tennisanity said:
No Federer was 2006 when he reached the most consecutive finals on all surfaces. I believe for Rafa most finals on all surfaces was 2011 ;)
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No, 2015 clearly. He won Cincinnati, the real slam, without dropping his serve at all. In 2006 he lost to Murray there. :)
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Hawaiian grip said:
So do Djokovic and Federer's struggles at one of the major. Sorry.
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That they won.

And their struggles weren't against players like Petzschner or Haase btw.
Hawaiian grip said:
You aren't even clear on your own yardstick, but you dare say period.
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You're the one mixing up my agenda and then you have the nerve to tell me I'm not clear on what I want to say. The hypocrisy.
Hawaiian grip said:
He was very good overall and he also won three GS. That's reality.
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And I have no problem admitting that. It wasn't a dominant season, though.
Hawaiian grip said:
Get familiar with the concept of non-literal meaning, please. So ****ing disrespectful I shouldn't even be reolying to you.
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If it isn't literal then I say Nadal's 2010 wasn't a dominant season and prove me wrong now.
Hawaiian grip said:
We can find faults in pretty much every season in history. Nadal's achievements in 2010 vastly outweigh them, making it a dominant season in which he was far and away the best player on tour.
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That's completely different. The number of faults of Nadal's 2010 is tiers above Djokovic's 2011/2015 or Federer's 2006.
 
H

Hawaiian grip

Professional
As I told you, whenever you have learned some manners we'll discuss whatever the heck you want to discuss. I'm not interested in this kind of **** war.

Bye-bye.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
User123 said:
Of course not. But it is impressive too, given his results in 2014-2016.
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Both Nadal and Federer benefited from a severely depleted field. What's more impressive is that they still have the goods to take advantage of it rather than achieving what they did per se. Children's Day should be over by early 2018, althought I still expect Nadal to be the best clay court player in 2018 going by confidence alone.
 
U

User123

Hall of Fame
tennis_pro said:
Both Nadal and Federer benefited from a severely depleted field. What's more impressive is that they still have the goods to take advantage of it rather than achieving what they did per se.
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Their level still improved. Some complain about Nadal's USO draw. But 2015 Nadal wouldn't get past the third round even with this draw.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
User123 said:
Their level still improved. Some complain about Nadal's USO draw. But 2015 Nadal wouldn't get past the third round even with this draw.
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It's true but I don't think there's anyone who can argue Nadal was better on any surface this year compared to 2008/2010/2013. The competition was so much stronger back then, even in 2010 which I consider an average year competition wise.

Sets 2-4 against Del Potro were probably as good as Nadal's ever been on HC or close to it but then again - it's one match in an entire season.
 
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