Rune - A worthy player to take down an Olddal at RG?

ADuck

ADuck

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I'm interested to see how Rune performs in the clay season next year, I think he is a more natural clay-courter than Alcaraz, as he knows how to construct points and play defensively when needed. Alcaraz's strategy on clay is to bash away like he's playing on a hard court and when he's in form it works, but when not he can be exposed as he ends up losing court position in rallies as the ball comes back faster than he can handle (how can you almost lose to De Minaur on clay for example?). So seeing how well Rune has played even on indoor hards makes me excited that somehow he can play even better next season on clay. If Rune can bring the same kind of youthful speed/energy/power next year at RG, I'm excited to see how far he can go. I would rather someone like Rune who is a natural clay-courter beat Nadal in a RG final than Alcaraz.
 
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NeutralFan said:
Naah just pointing out absurd corelation.
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It's not about a simple win/loss at Paris Masters, it's about the form he showed there, in combination with the style of tennis Rune plays which I believe makes him better suited to clay courts. I'm just super surprised how well Rune played, I've never seen him play that well, even on clay. Maybe he can level up even further then on clay?
 
ADuck said:
Rune showed amazing moving against Djokovic and great reaction time as well. Stamina however is a question, but I don't see any reason why Rune can't gain the required stamina for B05 clay.
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Rune's movement and recovery when stretched greatly on the sides, has been pretty vulnerable. Remember, he was hitting a lot of slices from those positions, and hitting slices against Rafa at RG means suicide.
 
Rafa4LifeEver said:
Rune's movement and recovery when stretched greatly on the sides, has been pretty vulnerable. Remember, he was hitting a lot of slices from those positions, and hitting slices against Rafa at RG means suicide.
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If Rune's movement was vulnerable, there's no chance he could have beaten Djokovic yesterday. The slice was a great defensive strategy to slow down the point and recover, something Alcaraz could learn from more.
 
NeutralFan said:
It's absurd in a sense that winning an indoor masters that too Paris indoor make someone favourite for RG lol.
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I believe the thread title was "A worthy player to take down Oldal", not "Who is the favorite for RG"...no?

Rafa will have to play some matches before the Final, no?

The point is that Rune showed he wasn't scared of Djok on a surface that favors Djok...if he takes it right to Rafa on clay, he may have a similar result. Let's also remember clay is his favorite surface...
 
Yeah I give him a better chance than most

Kid can actually feel the ball well, he has innate ballstriking ability extending beyond the massive topspin bashing of a Sinner Zverev Tsitsipas etc, plus the ability to return aggressively and he will be able to outmove Nadal

But he isn’t ready for the moment yet imo. Serve isn’t there and neither is his stamina in Bo5.
 
Rafa4LifeEver said:
Slice works well against Djokovic for sure, but definitely not against Rafa.
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I think taking a strategy that worked well against Djokovic on indoor hard and using that as a way to argue that he can't beat Nadal on clay is an invalid argument. Even though it's unlikely he will beat Nadal on clay at RG, players are certainly capable of adjusting their game depending on the surface and opponent.
 
Rosstour said:
I believe the thread title was "A worthy player to take down Oldal", not "Who is the favorite for RG"...no?

Rafa will have to play some matches before the Final, no?

The point is that Rune showed he wasn't scared of Djok on a surface that favors Djok...if he takes it right to Rafa on clay, he may have a similar result. Let's also remember clay is his favorite surface...
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And hey I'm a Nadal fan, there's no way I want Rune to win, but I am excited about the potential clay-court tennis we might see if the two go head to head.
 
Kralingen said:
Yeah I give him a better chance than most

Kid can actually feel the ball well, he has innate ballstriking ability extending beyond the massive topspin bashing of a Sinner Zverev Tsitsipas etc, plus the ability to return aggressively and he will be able to outmove Nadal

But he isn’t ready for the moment yet imo. Serve isn’t there and neither is his stamina in Bo5.
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The serve was great last night?
 
I doubt it. Nadal would moonball those wings/corners of his like no tomorrow.. It aint indoors and alot of the sting will be taken off his shots. I give Sinner/Tstsi/Djoker a better shot against Nadal really
 
Sampras-Bruguera 1993 said:
I doubt it. Nadal would moonball those wings/corners of his like no tomorrow.. It aint indoors and alot of the sting will be taken off his shots. I give Sinner/Tstsi/Djoker a better shot against Nadal really
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Bro...did you not see how hard he was hitting? Especially the serve?

Rafa is vulnerable to huge hitters, and Rune is one. Who also moves well and has youth on his side (unlike Soderling)
 
ADuck said:
And hey I'm a Nadal fan, there's no way I want Rune to win, but I am excited about the potential clay-court tennis we might see if the two go head to head.
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Your OP makes me wonder why you call yourself 'a Nadal fan', if you are incabable of supporting him. :unsure:
 
octobrina10 said:
Your OP makes me wonder why you call yourself 'a Nadal fan', if you are incabable of supporting him. :unsure:
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There is nothing to wonder. I am Nadal fan and I will root for him over any other people until the day he retires, however a day might come where he does lose at RG (when unimpeded) due to a decline from age (if he doesn't retire first due to recurring injuries and losing the motivation to continue). If that day comes, I rather he lose it to a worthy player. I am also excited to see what kind of tennis Rune can deliver on clay.
 
ADuck said:
The serve was great last night?
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It’s nothing that can blow Nadal off the court tho like a Zverev or FAA’s for example. And of course not even that works against him on clay. The other issue is his firepower on the FH wing, I found his BH was the stronger wing all match and he didn’t have the killer FH that he needs. Again there’s a great toolkit there but I’m not going to say he’s taking down Rafa on PC yet.
 
Rosstour said:
Bro...did you not see how hard he was hitting? Especially the serve?

Rafa is vulnerable to huge hitters, and Rune is one. Who also moves well and has youth on his side (unlike Soderling)
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Rune has the weapons to trouble Nadal for sure. The bh is fire when on. If they play in humid conditions like the Zed sf this year he'd def have his chances unless of course, Nadal just turns back the clock... if he can do that it's curtains for Rune.
 
ADuck said:
There is nothing to wonder. I am Nadal fan and I will root for him over any other people until the day he retires, however a day might come where he does lose at RG (when unimpeded) due to a decline from age (if he doesn't retire first due to recurring injuries and losing the motivation to continue). If that day comes, I rather he lose it to a worthy player. I am also excited to see what kind of tennis Rune can deliver on clay.
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Alcaraz is a bigger threat, imo.
 
Kralingen said:
It’s nothing that can blow Nadal off the court tho like a Zverev or FAA’s for example. And of course not even that works against him on clay. The other issue is his firepower on the FH wing, I found his BH was the stronger wing all match and he didn’t have the killer FH that he needs. Again there’s a great toolkit there but I’m not going to say he’s taking down Rafa on PC yet.
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Obviously it's too soon to say if he can beat Nadal, but I think he potentially has the ingredients to play really well on clay. Better than anyone for some time.
 
Rosstour said:
I believe the thread title was "A worthy player to take down Oldal", not "Who is the favorite for RG"...no?

Rafa will have to play some matches before the Final, no?

The point is that Rune showed he wasn't scared of Djok on a surface that favors Djok...if he takes it right to Rafa on clay, he may have a similar result. Let's also remember clay is his favorite surface...
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If Rune catches Nadal early (before the final) at RG and if he's fresh, then he can give Rafa a run for his money.
 
ADuck said:
Obviously it's too soon to say if he can beat Nadal, but I think he potentially has the ingredients to play really well on clay. Better than anyone for some time.
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I hate to give StrongRule his props but I actually think a night match at the “DO” would be the perfect conditions for Rune to do it, especially if it was a rainy/humid week
 
Kralingen said:
I hate to give StrongRule his props but I actually think a night match at the “DO” would be the perfect conditions for Rune to do it, especially if it was a rainy/humid week
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Nadal seems weakest in those conditions so you're probably right. I don't like how people insult Nadal's performance in the FO SF vs Zverev this year, but what happened came down to the fact that the conditions were so horribly dead and slow that Nadal was struggling to hit through Zverev. There was something like 8 breaks in a row in the second set because of that, and I don't think either player was actually playing bad like people say, it was just that the tennis looked ugly due the conditions it was played in. The quality of tennis was actually really high given the conditions, but it was ugly to watch.
 
Rafa4LifeEver said:
No.
Movement is key.
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Then Rafa is ****ed. He's still a solid mover but compared to even a few years ago he looks like he's pulling a plow. Luckily he has the best FH ever which could carry him through but he doesn't hold a candle to the best movers nowadays. Alcaraz can run circles around him physically at this point.
 
The Guru said:
Then Rafa is ****ed. He's still a solid mover but compared to even a few years ago he looks like he's pulling a plow. Luckily he has the best FH ever which could carry him through but he doesn't hold a candle to the best movers nowadays. Alcaraz can run circles around him physically at this point.
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Son, Nadal moved quiet well this year at RG .
 
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I don't think Rune has the gas tank to take down RAFA at RG yet. He looked absolutely gassed out there at times today. And that was just a BO3 match vs a pretty meh Joker.
 
NeutralFan said:
Son, Nadal moved quiet well this year at RG .
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Idk man did you watch the Zed match. He definitely had his moments and is by no means a bad mover but also had periods in the 4R-SF where he looked slow. Like not just slow for Nadal but actually slow. He's still an above average mover but he's not elite anymore imo. That would be unfathomable even just two or three years ago. I think Nadal's movement has officially gone from the slow decline stage to fast decline. It's a really noticeable difference now to even like AO 2020.
 
The Guru said:
Idk man did you watch the Zed match. He definitely had his moments and is by no means a bad mover but also had periods in the 4R-SF where he looked slow. Like not just slow for Nadal but actually slow. He's still an above average mover but he's not elite anymore imo. That would be unfathomable even just two or three years ago. I think Nadal's movement has officially gone from the slow decline stage to fast decline. It's a really noticeable difference now to even like AO 2020.
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You're bringing Z match where it was slippery and conditions were horrible? seriously. Did you watch Djokovic match?Nadal moved better at this RG than i have ever seen him move in recent years. At this USo his movement looked horrible though but at RG? Lol


Have a look
 
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NeutralFan said:
You're bringing Z match where it was slippery and conditions were horrible? seriously. Did you watch Djokovic match?Nadal moved better at this RG than i have ever seen him move in recent years. At this USo his movement looked horrible though but at RG? Lol


Have a look
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Eh agree to disagree. They looked old and slow after the second set to me. Way lower intensity than a usual Djokodal slam match. Sure some of that was Djoko's match fitness but Nadal not exactly looking fleet of foot either.
 
The Guru said:
Eh agree to disagree. They looked old and slow after the second set to me. Way lower intensity than a usual Djokodal slam match. Sure some of that was Djoko's match fitness but Nadal not exactly looking fleet of foot either.
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You're deluded if you think Nadal looked very slow at RG 2021. You brought up Z match seriously. If anything Nadal looked faster than 2021 and his results in first half clearly show that. Nadal's movement and speed in 2022 was better than 2021. Nadal at RG is still a great mover.
 
Rune is smart, like Papael; uses the crowd noise to recover and doesn't start his serve preps until it's quiet (when it serves him).
 
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NeutralFan said:
You're deluded if you think Nadal looked very slow at RG 2021. You brought up Z match seriously. If anything Nadal looked faster than 2021 and his results in first half clearly show that. Nadal's movement and speed in 2022 was better than 2021. Nadal at RG is still a great mover.
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I just think this is obviously wrong. I don't even see how this is debatable to be honest.
 
You need to learn a lot about Nadal at Roland Garros before you have a chance of beating him there.
Thiem has played Nadal 4 times at Roland Garros, and has won just ONE set.
So Rune is still a few years away.
If Rune meets Nadal this year, expect a similar result to Ruud vs. Nadal.
 
thepaint19 said:
You need to learn a lot about Nadal at Roland Garros before you have a chance of beating him there.
Thiem has played Nadal 4 times at Roland Garros, and has won just ONE set.
So Rune is still a few years away.
If Rune meets Nadal this year, expect a similar result to Ruud vs. Nadal.
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Rune has surpassed Ruud in my eyes, 19 years and already won a M1000, beating 5 top 10's in a row shows alot. Im sure he can take at least a set
 
dking68 said:
Rune has surpassed Ruud in my eyes, 19 years and already won a M1000, beating 5 top 10's in a row shows alot. Im sure he can take at least a set
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Rune has more heart, sure. But Ruud hits a ball that is really heavy on clay. Rune's game is tougher to execute on clay; taking the ball early means lots of errors because of the bounce. Alcaraz and Ruud are more natural clay players.
 
dking68 said:
Rune has surpassed Ruud in my eyes, 19 years and already won a M1000, beating 5 top 10's in a row shows alot. Im sure he can take at least a set
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Except he's never played Nadal, let alone at Roland Garros.
It takes many years of experience before you can figure Nadal out, regardless of how good you are.
 
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The Guru said:
Idk man did you watch the Zed match. He definitely had his moments and is by no means a bad mover but also had periods in the 4R-SF where he looked slow. Like not just slow for Nadal but actually slow. He's still an above average mover but he's not elite anymore imo. That would be unfathomable even just two or three years ago. I think Nadal's movement has officially gone from the slow decline stage to fast decline. It's a really noticeable difference now to even like AO 2020.
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Zverev match were some of the worst conditions ever. He moved brilliantly against Djokovic and Ruud and 5th set vs. Auger Alliasime. Look at the highlights of that set.
 
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