Rafael Nadal: "My most dangerous rival, without a doubt, is Novak Djokovic"
- Thread starter pj80
- Start date
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Sorry, but only 2 wins in 12 years outside clay disagree with you.
Born_to_slice
Legend
Yeah, right behind medical tyranny and rigged draws.
JeMar
Legend
EXCUSE ME FORMER PRO TALK PLEASE /s
The_Order
G.O.A.T.
Since Moya took over, Nadal has won 3 hc majors to Novak's 4... name one player anywhere near close to that...
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
So was Nadal. Hilarious to see the Fed haters coming out of the woodwork when he's not in the discussion.
The Blond Blur
Legend
So, their careers are only 12 years long?
The fact of the matter is the H2H is 29-30, basically a 50-50 split. RAFA has the most wins against Joker and Joker has the most wins against RAFA.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Djokovic thinks the same of Nadal, and has for a long time.
Rafael Nadal: "My most dangerous rival, without a doubt, is Novak Djokovic"
A rivalry that is over 16 years old might soon see another chapter written as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic gear up for the 2022 ATP Finals in Turin, to be played from November 13 to 20.www.sportskeeda.com
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Djokovic faced Nadal 7 times in 2015-2016. Nadal only faced Djokovic 1 time in 2017.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Nadal took few months break almost every year during 2011,12,13,14,16 era when Djokovic was almost present in the semis and finals of every tournaments lol
If Djokovic avoided Nadal during 2017 due to injury issues or whatever then Nadal avoided Djokovic so many times in so many seasons due to his injury breaks .
So much so that one can't even count that many injury breaks . Lol
DSH
G.O.A.T.
The guy doesn't have the slightest idea what RIVALRY means in the broad sense of the word.So, their careers are only 12 years long?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Yes. Davydenko is a much better player than Djokovic.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Why are yall still behind us after a decade of cocky talk?
We are ahead at Masters , WTF , Year end Championships , Weeks at No.1 , Total Big Titles . We are behind only at Slam and Olympics lol .
At one point We had 1 slam and you have 10 slams . Now it is 21-22 . Lol
And , Peak Cocky talk was during Visagate to Wimbledon Semis by Nadal Camp .
Everything came back to earth when Novak was waiting in the Finals of Wimbledon . Lol
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
We are ahead at Masters , WTF , Year end Championships , Weeks at No.1 , Total Big Titles . We are behind only at Slam and Olympics lol .
At one point We had 1 slam and you have 10 slams . Now it is 21-22 . Lol
And , Peak Cocky talk was during Visagate to Wimbledon Semis by Nadal Camp .
Everything came back to earth when Novak was waiting in the Finals of Wimbledon . Lol
Yall never talk about Wimbledon, just what Nadal is doing bc he has what you ACTUALLY need. Stay in the background till then, maybe you’ll finally get to stand beside us soon (doubtful after all this time though)
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Yall never talk about Wimbledon, just what Nadal is doing bc he has what you ACTUALLY need. Stay in the background till then, maybe you’ll finally get to stand beside us soon (doubtful after all this time though)
He has nothing tbh lol .
Nadal won't face Djokovic again in Hardcourt and Grass slams . You guys know it very well .
Banning of Djokovic from Australian Open and US Open kept Nadal ahead just by 1 slam lol .
We are already standing way above when it comes to Year end No.1 and weeks at Number one hehe .
Tshooter
G.O.A.T.
He wasn’t banned from the USO. He not only wasn’t banned from the AO, TA went out of its way to get him in. In each case, the choice was his as far as vaccination and playing, as it was for the rest of the tour.
The facts are so clearly established that at this point I must assume you’re a dimwit. Or a troll. Possibly both.
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Same to you .
Sorry_to_tell_you_mate
Professional
Most dangerous as in covid carrier.
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
Healthy Rafa cannot have any rivals because healthy Rafa doesn't exist. Remember how his own uncle describes him?
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
They still have won a lot of matches overall against each other though.
Otacon
Hall of Fame
He even managed to lose in straight sets in every match they played on hard courts for I don't know how many years.
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Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
An injured guy who plays tennis?
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
Injured person who plays tennis.
THUNDERVOLLEY
G.O.A.T.
Quite true, but posting a quote from Nadal on this board where he recognizes Djokovic--again on this board--as his most dangerous rival only boils the blood of those who placed a tin crown on the head of another player, and believe (for no justifiable reason) that the other player must be a "standard" for all things in tennis, including rivalries.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
Good question.Why are yall still behind us after a decade of cocky talk?
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
And their h2h is still 30-29.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
But not outside of clay from Nadal. Nadal is his most dangerous rival on clay, but we knew that already.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Doesn't change what I said.
Nadal also faced Federer a lot in 2013-early 2014, Fed's worst period, but Nadal didn't return the favor. Yet people were singing 23-10 all the time back then and didn't care about this.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
No, but it does say something about how dangerous Nadal has been against the new Djokovic.So, their careers are only 12 years long?
mike danny
Bionic Poster
We're talking about 3/4 of a season and 2/3 of the tennis surfaces. Nowhere near minor.Just a minor detail!!
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Why are yall still behind us after a decade of cocky talk?
We? You all? Guys this is getting ridiculous!We are ahead at Masters , WTF , Year end Championships , Weeks at No.1 , Total Big Titles . We are behind only at Slam and Olympics lol .
At one point We had 1 slam and you have 10 slams . Now it is 21-22 . Lol
And , Peak Cocky talk was during Visagate to Wimbledon Semis by Nadal Camp .
Everything came back to earth when Novak was waiting in the Finals of Wimbledon . Lol
‘we’ and ‘you all’ have done zilch lol
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
OK, fair enough. It is Medvevdev who is his biggest rival on HC, closely followed by Zverev at the moment.
The Blond Blur
Legend
Again, he was clearly talking about over the course of their entire careers. The H2H is as close as it gets in a 59 match series. You’re basically penalizing RAFA for making it to Joker over and over again in his career worst form, while Joker was in his career best form. Since they both exited their primes in 2016 they play like 1-2x a year max. And they’ve only played 2x on HC since 2016 with one of those matches being the dollar store version of Davis Cup. The fact of the matter is Joker wasn’t good enough to make it to RAFA (or Ol’ Rog for that matter) when we was in his own slump. Crapovic would have been would have been lit up just as bad if not worse than Crapdal was in 2015-2016.
Also a huge reason they haven’t played much outside of clay in the last few years is because of the pandemic. Many major HC events have either been canceled or moved around preventing many possible meetings. That doesn’t even take into consideration Joker’s idiotic choices this year. You can’t blame RAFA for Joker’s vaccination status. The fact of the matter is since 2017 RAFA has won 3 HC schlems to Joker’s 4.
BauerAlmeida
Hall of Fame
Not really. In 2010 when it was peak Nadal vs slump Djokovic the former went 2-0 against him. He also won in 2006 when Djokovic was outside the top 20 and Nadal was 2. And he won their meetings in 2017/2018 before the Wimbledon match where he couldn't take advantage of the fact Djokovic was in a slump and lost the match.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Djokovic was not in a slump in 2006! He was steadily going up the rankings. Rafa matured early. If you agree with this you will have to agree that Rafa and Djokovic had very different career arcs. Maturing of both players is different. Rafa won his second grandslam in 2006. Djokovic waited another 5 years to win his second grandslam.
The Blond Blur
Legend
Dude, 2 matches in no way shape or form compensates for 7 matches in 2015-2016. Besides, 2010 Joker was leagues better than post-2016 RG-post-2018 Joker. And the 06 match was literally a one off. You’re comparing a match here or there to an entire series of matches across multiple years. It’s an apples to watermelons comparison. Again, they played a whopping 2 matches when Joker was in his slump which came on clay no less. RAFA didn’t even need Joker to be out of form to win those matches. And Joker’s slump was over by the time the grass season started. 2018 was his best performance at Wimby since 2015. And that version of him easily beats his 2019, 2021, and 2022 versions.
clayqueen
Talk Tennis Guru
He was running scared of Nadal in Australia. It took Djokovic 6 hours to beat Nadal there in 2012 and in 2019, Nadal had very little time to prepare coming back from ankle surgery at the end of 2018.
2018 Paris R.
Rafael Nadal's ankle surgery should help him start next season in shape, according to his doctor. The 32-year-old underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a floating object in his ankle, and also announced his withdrawal from next week's ATP Tour Finals. "It was about 35 minutes on the right ankle," Dr.6 Nov 2018
BauerAlmeida
Hall of Fame
Those are six matches I mentioned across different periods. Not a one off. 2010 Djokovic didn't beat a single top 10 player before the US semis and there he needed to save 2 MPs.
And if you say his slump was over by the grass season then if his slump was shorter then they are logically playing fewer matches during his slump.
And yeah, those matches in 2017/2018 were on clay so maybe he would have won anyway, but tons of Djokodal matches in 2015/2016 were on HC. And Djokovic proved to be able to challenge more Nadal on clay than viceversa on HC in the past 11 years.
The Blond Blur
Legend
The point I was making was that 2015-2016 was by far RAFA’s worst form in his career and they played 7x in that period. But 2010 was not even close to Joker’s worst form in his career. During his worst they only played 2x and in that period it was on clay which RAFA in the form he was in was going to win regardless. And 2013 RAFA proves he could beat the “new” Joker in big HC matchups, and his 2010 USO form was even than his 2013 form.
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
I haven't started with " we and You all " .
But if someone starts it with me , i am not someone who will not retaliate . You know that !
I get your point though !
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
Out of the four matches in your opinion that they played on HC during this time, which one did Djokovic benefit from, regarding Nadal's poor form.
Beijing - Djokovic has won six titles here including straight setting Nadal 2013, so he took the best version of Nadal and straight set him.
WTF - Djokovic has won four straight titles at the WTF, and he again straight a Nadal 2013 version, so again the best version of Nadal could not beat him
Doha - The absolute GOD mode of Djokovic, who seriously thinks he was losing that day to anyone?
IW - He owns the IW record for most wins, has beaten peak Nadal twice there, including a straight set win when he dethroned him
Which one of these was truly helped by Nadal being in form poor in 2015/2016 in your opinion.
I mean, you say that Nadal was winning the matches in 2017/2018 regardless, well looking at the history of Djokovic and Nadal at those events, is it not fair to say Djokovic was winning those also?
And the new Joker part - No, the new Joker was one that came under Becker, had a much stronger mind set, a much better tactical game to beat Nadal by exposing the forehand side, inside of trying to beat Nadal with pure athletism.
Clay matches, sure, Djokovic got a few there, but tell me where Nadal really would have made a difference on HC in 2015-2016 if he was in better form.
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Hi CLAYqueen , the biggest joke is you saying Djokovic was running scared of CLAYdal on the Hardcourts of Australia .
Thanks for the laughs .
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Yeah - we shouldn’t take these things so seriously IMOI haven't started with " we and You all " .
But if someone starts it with me , i am not someone who will not retaliate . You know that !
I get your point though !
Hitman
Talk Tennis Guru
Hi CLAYqueen , the biggest joke is you saying Djokovic was running scared of CLAYdal on the Hardcourts of Australia .
Thanks for the laughs .
He was very scared of Nadal in Australia, despite straight setting him in the AO 2019 final and the ATP Cup 2020 final. The more you beat someone, the more scared you get.
maratha_warrior
Hall of Fame
Yeah - we shouldn’t take these things so seriously IMO
Big 3 fans take this more seriously than Big 3 themselves do . We can do nothing about it lol
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