Rafa at Australian Open vs Rafa at Wimbledon?

Rafa at Australian Open vs Rafa at Wimbledon?

  • Total voters
    36
Entername

Entername

Professional
Rafa at AO:

- 2 titles
- 4 runner-ups
- 76 match wins
- 84% win percentage

Rafa at WI:

- 2 titles
- 3 runner-ups
- 53 match wins
- 82% win percentage

Rafa technically has another RU at Wimbledon because 2018 vs Novak was essentially the de-facto finals. He's had some historic moments at both as well as some tough losses and is one of not many players in history to win 2+ titles at both events.

At his peak, he was better at Wimbledon (5 straight finals, 20 match-win streak, and dethroned Fed), but his consistency at AO is quite impressive as in the last 15 years, he's only missed the event once, only lost before QF once, and makes it to the finals every 2-3 years on average, picking off two titles in epic fashion.
 
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Kralingen

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
Even at the Nadal nadir he was never as abjectly awful at the AO as he was at Wimbledon. I think that he is a bit better on grass than HC at peakest peak level but the more familiar surface along with the scheduling means he was able to play consistently better at the AO.
 
Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
Peak higher at Wimbledon, but that meme 2012-2017 period pretty much tips the overall debate in favor of the AO. Now granted, he wasn’t terrible in some of those matches (2012 and 2017 weren’t altogether crapola performances) but it’s still a very distracting black mark.
 
Entername

Entername

Professional
Third Serve said:
Peak higher at Wimbledon, but that meme 2012-2017 period pretty much tips the overall debate in favor of the AO. Now granted, he wasn’t terrible in some of those matches (2012 and 2017 weren’t altogether crapola performances) but it’s still a very distracting black mark.
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2014 wasn't bad either, Kyrgios was young and fearless at the time and his serve was unbreakable that day. It's a shame we never really saw that version of NK ever again as he's since fallen off the rails mentally and physically (especially mentally)....

2013 was complete crapola though, how tf do you lose to Steve Darcis (who even is that), it's a good thing he made up for it on HCs later that summer - 2015 wasn't a surprise though Rafa got bullied everywhere he played
 
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Nadal's decline on grass in 2012-2017 has to be the weirdest and most sudden decline on a surface you'll see.
 
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Entername said:
2014 wasn't bad either, Kyrgios was young and fearless at the time and his serve was unbreakable. It's a shame we never really saw that version of NK ever again as he's since fallen off the rails mentally and physically (especially mentally)....
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We actually did see that version again at the Sunshine Double in 2017.
 
Entername

Entername

Professional
mike danny said:
Nadal's decline on grass in 2012-2017 has to be the weirdest and most sudden decline on a surface you'll see.
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This is just my theory, but the older he got, the more CC season would take a toll on his body. As we all know, it's so hard to win RG-WI consecutively because they're not only polar opposite surfaces but also due to the quick turnaround.

So when the going would get tough for him at Wimbledon, he wouldn't be able to pull through those matches like he used to. Rafa always got tested early at Wimbledon but in the past he could weather the storm and find a way into the finals

- In 2006, he was down 2 sets to 0 against Kendrick but came back to win and make the finals
- In 2007, he was down 2 sets to 0 against Youzhny and taken to 5 by Soderling before making the finals
- In 2008, he had to fight through a difficult test from Lord Gulbis in an earlier round before winning the title
- In 2010, he was taken to five by Haase and Petzschner in early rounds before pulling through to go on winning the title again

So it wasn't uncommon for him to get tested in WI first week but he got worse at weathering the storm after 2012 as his body was likely still recovering from CC season. He did have two great showings in 2018 and 2019 though so I don't think we've seen the last of Rafa on grass just yet.

In contrast, he has been very good at the USO (last slam of the year) later in his career because usually his body would be fully recovered by the time NA HC season came around, and if it wasn't, he'd just skip it to rest the remainder of the year (i.e. 2012, 2014 and 2021)
 
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mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Entername said:
True. I mean he's certainly had his flashes of brilliance but still nowhere near as consistently good to be the player everyone thought he'd be after that win in 2014.
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Kyrgios's talent may be overrated, but I don't think he's worse than the Next Gen in that department. From that point of view' he's certainly underachieved.
 
Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
mike danny said:
In fairness, he's not worse than the Next Gen talent wise. His attitude though is off-putting. Makes Kanye West seem humble.
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I think he’s worse than most of the top next gen players talent-wise but maybe not all of them. His serve is world-class, obviously, but the rest of his game comes perilously close to servebot-level. Decent forehand and backhand though the former is often even loopier than Roddick’s post-2004 FH and his backhand is just standard fare two-hander. And his return is abysmal. But sure, he can smack a 100mph forehand or hit a tweener every now and then. So can Monfils though.
 
M

Milanez82

Hall of Fame
Rafa has for years been in danger of losing early in Wimbledon depending on getting a tricky unseeded player.
At AO, its just unfathomable to happen.
 
Entername

Entername

Professional
TheNachoMan said:
He can hit the ball between his legs, and sometimes it works. That’s talent.
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Or when he says "he's not even trying" so that when he plays well people can say "woah look at him, he isn't even trying imagine how good he is if he does try" so that it can fool most people into thinking that if he tries he'll never lose and if he loses, that means he is not trying. This type of mindset is toxic asf tbh
 
Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
Entername said:
Or when he says "he's not even trying" so that when he plays well people can say "woah look at him, he isn't even trying imagine how good he is if he does try" so that it can fool most people into thinking that if he tries he'll never lose and if he loses, that means he is not trying. This type of mindset is toxic asf tbh
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EXACTLY!!!
 
TripleATeam

TripleATeam

G.O.A.T.
It always felt like Wimbledon to me after 2017. He had an amazing 5 year stint, then a terrible 5 year stint - whereas at AO he was always a fairly high level. Wimbledon felt like he achieved about what he should have. Until this year, AO always felt like Nadal deserved more.
 
Entername

Entername

Professional
Kralingen said:
an eloquent observation, my friend.

Can you explain why Kyrgios holds multiple wins over every single one of the top 5 (Djoko, Medvedev, Nadal, Zverev, Tsitsipas)?

:cool:
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He's a dangerous floater at this point. He's never made it to a SF at a slam, it's been over 7 years since he made a QF appearance at a slam, he's still never won a title above 500 level, never cracked the top 10 in rankings, and he's barely played at all in the last 2 years causing his rank to fall out the top 120 - he's one of those dudes that you don't want to see in your draw but consistently, he'll never be the top player many thought he could've been

Not to mention he's older than all the next gen guys
 
Kralingen

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
Entername said:
He's a dangerous floater at this point. He's never made it to a SF at a slam, it's been over 7 years since he made a QF appearance at a slam, he's still never won a title above 500 level, never cracked the top 10 in rankings, and he's barely played at all in the last 2 years causing his rank to fall out the top 120 - he's one of those dudes that you don't want to see in your draw but consistently, he'll never be the top player many thought he could've been

Not to mention he's older than all the next gen guys
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I don’t think Kyrgios is anywhere near as good as advertised either

but if another player had winning H2H against all of the current top 5 (except Nadal, who he is 3-5 against including a Slam win) we would certainly take notice.
 
D

Deleted member 762343

Guest
Already made that thread a few weeks ago, we totally needed a new one.
 
R

Ray Mercer

Hall of Fame
MichaelNadal said:
Ouch bestie!!



Which goes to show how amazing what Rafa has done on clay is. Come thru 8-B
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Haha just kidding, I like to test that 90’s era wrestling knowledge. You’ve been throwing up a lot of Hitman stuff lately which I greatly respect. I had you pegged as a Michaels guy given your love of Nadal.
 
MichaelNadal

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Ray Mercer said:
Haha just kidding, I like to test that 90’s era wrestling knowledge. You’ve been throwing up a lot of Hitman stuff lately which I greatly respect. I had you pegged as a Michaels guy given your love of Nadal.
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Both Bret and Shawn are epic and crispy :D Bret is really underrated imo
Barry is everything hilarious about 90s wrestling in a nutshell lol. They don’t make jobbers like that anymore
 
The_Mental_Giant

The_Mental_Giant

Hall of Fame
MichaelNadal said:
He was crispy AF.
He might yet surprise us ;)
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76348f87f706eb6b-600x338.jpg


@MichaelNadal WWF/WWE quiz begins, what is the name of that alliance ?(no help from google)
 
duaneeo

duaneeo

Legend
Entername said:
At his peak, he was better at Wimbledon (5 straight finals, 20 match-win streak, and dethroned Fed), but his consistency at AO is quite impressive as in the last 15 years, he's only missed the event once, only lost before QF once, and makes it to the finals every 2-3 years on average, picking off two titles in epic fashion.
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I think this is why Wimbledon is better. Nadal was more consistent at the AO, but with losses to 10 different players after 2009 (Murray, Ferrer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Berdych, Verdasco, Federer, Cilic, Thiem, and Tsitsipas), not much is impressive about it.
 
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
duaneeo said:
I think this is why Wimbledon is better. Nadal was more consistent at the AO, but with losses to 10 different players after 2009 (Murray, Ferrer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Berdych, Verdasco, Federer, Cilic, Thiem, and Tsitsipas), not much is impressive about it.
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But then again, he never had as bad of a streak at the AO as he did in 2012-2017 at Wimb.
 
Entername

Entername

Professional
duaneeo said:
I think this is why Wimbledon is better. Nadal was more consistent at the AO, but with losses to 10 different players after 2009 (Murray, Ferrer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Berdych, Verdasco, Federer, Cilic, Thiem, and Tsitsipas), not much is impressive about it.
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Those are all high quality opponents though. At Wimbledon he lost to players like Rosol, Brown, Darcis, and Muller...
 
Biotic

Biotic

Hall of Fame
Depends on what you value more: losing to Darcis in R1 or vulturing a title after a fascist regime threw out #1 for non sport related reasons...
 
alexio

alexio

G.O.A.T.
MichaelNadal said:
Never seen either movie, I feel they would bore me lol
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oh i'm a bit upset you didn't see it:D..now before sleeping will go to watch one political talk show with some local experts talking about really important event that happened today, (related to ukraine and russia too)..putin authorized the sovereignty of two republics in ukraine, nobody knows how it can be turned in the future, and what those fools in kiev can do in response, but at least people will live better for sure in those republics than it was in last several years, russian troops will probably be in there this night already to protect them from possible attack (and killing) from those federal authorities, sorry for a bit of offtopic, michael
 
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