Prime Nadal vs Prime Roddick at the French Open - Only Roddick Serves - Who Wins?

Who wins? (only Roddick serves)

  • Total voters
    52
Kralingen

Kralingen

Bionic Poster
A theoretical matchup between Prime Nadal and Prime Roddick at Roland Garros, but Roddick serves every game and Nadal never serves.

As a Federer and Nadal fan, I think these two have gone a level beyond the Roddick league, but to be fair we could have seen that years ago when Federer played Roddick at the US Open and beat him, Federer was very weak then but still beat Roddick, US Open champion, then.

So we can take most versions of Nadal on clay here, but 2008 was probably the best form because he is the only player in history who beat prime Federer at Wimbledon. Federer didn't lose a set till the final of Wimbledon 2008, and in the run up to the French Open final he only lost I think a couple of sets on the way to the final.

Yet in the final he beat Federer the greatest player of all time, in his prime, 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0.

So Roddick serving every game to Nadal, well considering Roddick never even made it to the final, and the baseline game was a lot weaker compared to now. And Nadal would target the Roddick backhand non stop, and it would be far far more exposed than Federer's so it would constantly land short for Nadal to win the point. Also considering the surface would nullify the Roddick serve.

And considering Nadal dismantled Federer in a love set, I think Nadal wins this 6-2 6-2 6-0.

But that might be generous because it's difficult to see how Roddick could take four games off Prime Nadal even on his serve on all games, Roddick would not win points from the baseline, and would get passed by Nadal at the net (who is probably greatest of all time in the passing shots)
 
BothObeseKillifish-size_restricted.gif
 
You gotta go Roddick obviously, but I think it's interesting still. What if Roddick gets tired of serving and Nadal starts reading his serve well? Nadal might win.
 
In matches on slow courts these days, I often think Nadal would do even better if he didn't need to serve at all.

He sometimes goes into energy-rationing mode in later sets to have enough for his serves. Without that preoccupation, he can go all out in each game.
 
Having not massively followed Roddicks every match at RG, could someone tell me how his serve actually fared versus most other opponents?

Im puzzled as to why some people think Roddick wins just because of his serve.

I mean, if it was that good on clay, surely he wouldve made at least 1 quarter final in his career?

( Im presuming his serve wasnt unstoppable on clay, and that he couldnt be broken obv ) .
 
If Roddick couldn't get past the first round of the French in 2003, arguably his best year...you really think he is gonna beat Nadal there at any time ever even if he only serves? He was fed a Breadstick during that 1st round loss in 2003 to boot. He would probably get some games in, but eventually Nadal would figure it out and wear him down. After the serve every other possible advantage on dirt really lays with Rafa, he moves better, reads the bounce better, places his shots better...etc etc. Roddick might get 10 games total across three sets if he got lucky.
 
Roddick won 8/13 service games (and created 7 BPs on Nadal's serve) vs. peak Nadal on clay in 2008 Davis Cup. Food for thought.
 
boredone3456 said:
If Roddick couldn't get past the first round of the French in 2003, arguably his best year...you really think he is gonna beat Nadal there at any time ever even if he only serves? He was fed a Breadstick during that 1st round loss in 2003 to boot. He would probably get some games in, but eventually Nadal would figure it out and wear him down. After the serve every other possible advantage on dirt really lays with Rafa, he moves better, reads the bounce better, places his shots better...etc etc. Roddick might get 10 games total across three sets if he got lucky.
Click to expand...

Come on, not you too.
Nadal Roddick actually played on clay in 2008 - in Davis Cup at Madrid.
Score was 6-4,6-0,6-4.
Nadal broke Roddick 5 times in 13 service games (38.46%)

Nadal would need to be well above 50% to even have a chance of winning this hypothetical.

Roddick has 69% service games won vs top 10 on clay.
 
abmk said:
Score was 6-4,6-0,6-4.
Nadal broke Roddick 5 times in 13 service games (38.46%)

Nadal would need to be well above 50% to even have a chance of winning this hypothetical.
Click to expand...

So the only way Nadal wins this hypothetical is by winning over 50% return games in a particular real match even though he has no incentive to do that? :unsure:

Hypotheticals make me dizzy.
 
abmk said:
Come on, not you too.
Nadal Roddick actually played on clay in 2008 - in Davis Cup at Madrid.
Score was 6-4,6-0,6-4.
Nadal broke Roddick 5 times in 13 service games (38.46%)

Nadal would need to be well above 50% to even have a chance of winning this hypothetical.

Roddick has 69% service games won vs top 10 on clay.
Click to expand...

Not even slightly relevant vs Nadal at RG...

Peak Nadal was capable of beating prime Fed at RG without serving... so he could do it to Roddick...

See the RG08 final for proof because I decided I like to start cherry picking matches to prove my hypothetical points too...
 
aman92 said:
Reprising one of the greatest TTW threads.. Well done @Kralingen
Click to expand...

Yep, great nod to an epically clownish thread but it's still sad to see how many TTW members are clueless about tennis and think Nadal would stand a chance. Like I genuinely wonder if those saying Nadal would win ever played tennis in their life.
 
Kralingen said:
A theoretical matchup between Prime Nadal and Prime Roddick at Roland Garros, but Roddick serves every game and Nadal never serves.

As a Federer and Nadal fan, I think these two have gone a level beyond the Roddick league, but to be fair we could have seen that years ago when Federer played Roddick at the US Open and beat him, Federer was very weak then but still beat Roddick, US Open champion, then.

So we can take most versions of Nadal on clay here, but 2008 was probably the best form because he is the only player in history who beat prime Federer at Wimbledon. Federer didn't lose a set till the final of Wimbledon 2008, and in the run up to the French Open final he only lost I think a couple of sets on the way to the final.

Yet in the final he beat Federer the greatest player of all time, in his prime, 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0.

So Roddick serving every game to Nadal, well considering Roddick never even made it to the final, and the baseline game was a lot weaker compared to now. And Nadal would target the Roddick backhand non stop, and it would be far far more exposed than Federer's so it would constantly land short for Nadal to win the point. Also considering the surface would nullify the Roddick serve.

And considering Nadal dismantled Federer in a love set, I think Nadal wins this 6-2 6-2 6-0.

But that might be generous because it's difficult to see how Roddick could take four games off Prime Nadal even on his serve on all games, Roddick would not win points from the baseline, and would get passed by Nadal at the net (who is probably greatest of all time in the passing shots)
Click to expand...
I thought this was an asinine tread, but the poll is beyond ridiculous. Nadal at his peak won 50% of his return games against the field on clay. He wasn't winning 50% against elite servers.
 
Roddick would probably win 7 or 8 out of 10. His serve is too big an advantage. Andy gets way underestimated, he was an elite top 5 player for many years, won a slam beating Nalbandian/Ferrero, reached several slam finals and at least for a few years had a bomb of a forehand. I still remember how he destroyed Nadal at the US Open. It was a very young Nadal, but was still an awesome display of big hitting.
 
Last edited:
Based on the Isner/Nadal match from RG2011, I'd say Roddick wins. Even on clay, he struggles against big servers. I don't think Nadal can win more than 50% of return games against an ace machine like PRIME Roddick (who, btw, was a much better baseline player than Isner). Roddick would win at least 2/3.

2008 was prime Nadal vs not prime Roddick. Nadal won a Davis Cup match 6-4 6-0 6-4 on clay. That means he broke 5 times in 13 return games. Roddick won 8 of his 13 serves. So prime Roddick would do even better... jmo
 
Roddick will win but Nadal will make it competitive. He can break serves more than 50% of the time. He is that good on clay and clay is a boring surface where servers are at least advantage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

REKX
  • Poll Poll
Prime Nadal vs Prime Sampras at the French Open - Only Sampras Serves - Who Wins?
10 11 12
Replies
588
Views
44K
aman92
aman92
aman92
  • Poll Poll
Prime Roddick vs Prime Serena on grass - Only Serena Serves
Replies
28
Views
1K
Sudacafan
Sudacafan
TMF
Who wins more Wimbledon in the CIE(2016-present), prime Roddick or old Djokovic ?
2
Replies
57
Views
3K
Sampras-Bruguera 1993
S
AnOctorokForDinner
  • Poll Poll
Tougher competition: prime Federer at Wimbledon or prime Djokovic at the AO?
Replies
30
Views
3K
DSH
DSH
REKX
  • Poll Poll
Prime Nadal on Clay vs Prime Sampras on "fast" Grass
Replies
47
Views
5K
zep
Z
Back
Top