The acid test for Nadal is the French Open (Don't hammer those nails in just yet)

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JRAJ1988

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Nadal is not Finnish, or finished.....yet

The main acid test for him is the French Open, if he can't win the French Open this year then I'd consider to stick the fork in so to speak.

There's something wrong with Nadal potentially terminal in a tennis sense, he loses his focus, he cramps, he questions himself, his movement is off, so many errors from all sides of his game, he double faults so many times. If this is a decline, I've never seen a decline like this one as since the US Open 2013/Australian Open 2014 he's a shell of a player of what he used to be...yet still wins the 2014 French Open!!! :shock: He deserves credit for that.

He's had injuries but he wins slams so those injuries are non-applicable to me and Nadal's odd form was going on before his wrist/appendix trouble. So I'm putting this "decline" to his Mental side, I think the toll of all those matches are catching up to him, rapidly and if your mind is not in the game your body will crumble.

I hope whatever his issue is subsides as I don't take pleasure from other sportspeoples misfortune...
 
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More important is whether he has another 'injury' this year so he can skip some of the Masters 1000 events.
 
The horrendous losses have increased exponentially since AO 2014.

What they do is give opponents the confidence that an upset is there for the taking.

Especially the "mugs".
 
I agree, this is where I'll tell if Nadal is capable of catching Fed, a RG loss would hint at the beginning-of-the-end. I watched the match last night, and he's, so far, not the same Nadal.
 
FO will be crucial no doubt. Potential loss could see dropping him outside of Top 5 or 8 which will make winning off clay tournament even tougher. Not to mention, he badly needs FO to keep him in race for most GS wins possibly overtaking Federer.
 
Gulbis can beat the guy in RG.

His body has broken down. You guys forget how early he started the tour. He is as old as Fed in tennis age. He has been playing while sustaining injuries.

Nadal will never win another major.
 
Smasher08 said:
The horrendous losses have increased exponentially since AO 2014.

What they do is give opponents the confidence that an upset is there for the taking.

Especially the "mugs".
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That is the big thing for me - anyone in the top 100 fancies their chances now against Nadal.

There is zero fear after so many losses.
 
He's gonna hit 29. Things do not get easier at that stage and Rafa has a huge tennis mileage as well. I don't think people realize how difficult it is to dominate a surface like clay for so long.
Rafa's decline on clay started last year imo. It is not gonna be fun to witness but otoh it was inevitable that it would happen at some point. Now he still won RG and Madrid last year. Obviously RG will be the toughest one to hang on to. A tall order but if someone can do it, of course it's Rafa. It is not after 1 event on clay this season that anybody can make that call anyway.
People here always tend to jump to conclusions too soon.
 
OddJack said:
Gulbis can beat the guy in RG.

His body has broken down. You guys forget how early he started the tour. He is as old as Fed in tennis age. He has been playing while sustaining injuries.

Nadal will never win another major.
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I give Wawr, Cillic zoning perfectly more chance than Gulbis. Nadal genuinely struggles against power hitters and we've two on tour as GS champions now.
 
Can we just consolidate all the Rafa is Done threads into one big clusterfook for everyone to troll. Would be glorious.
 
I haven't seen anything to suggest that Nadal won't win the French Open for a long time to come.

His recent clay loss was to be expected given his long injury lay-off.

He will gather up some huge momentum with the following clay tournaments, and that will snowball into an easy 10th French Open.
 
51v5DgcOJDL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

#PTL #JC4Ever

AngieB​
 
Nadal will be in much better form by the time Paris comes around. I still expect him to win the title again.
 
Hitman said:
Nadal will be in much better form by the time Paris comes around. I still expect him to win the title again.
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It's not so much his form..it's the fact that he physically doesn't seem to be holding up. He could barely run after the ball at the AO against Berdych. Cramping in Rio. Looks a step slower.

Granted conditions were brutal
.but this is the same dude that ran for six hours in a bit muggy stadium in Australia 3 years ago.
 
SLD76 said:
It's not so much his form..it's the fact that he physically doesn't seem to be holding up. He could barely run after the ball at the AO against Berdych. Cramping in Rio. Looks a step slower.

Granted conditions were brutal
.but this is the same dude that ran for six hours in a bit muggy stadium in Australia 3 years ago.
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Yes, I understand your point. But how much of it is lack of conditioning. I agree he has declined, but I think we are seeing all that rust, lack of match play, lack of fitness, in addition to him losing a step...It has kind of made it look more dramatic than what I think it really is.

If this is the form he is in when we are at Rome, then I would fully agree, because by then, he will have had the time, and cannot use being rusty or lack of fitness as an excuse, but right now, I think several things are hindering him.
 
Hitman said:
Yes, I understand your point. But how much of it is lack of conditioning. I agree he has declined, but I think we are seeing all that rust, lack of match play, lack of fitness, in addition to him losing a step...It has kind of made it look more dramatic than what I think it really is.

If this is the form he is in when we are at Rome, then I would fully agree, because by then, he will have had the time, and cannot use being rusty or lack of fitness as an excuse, but right now, I think several things are hindering him.
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I don't buy that at all. He had a much longer layoff in 2012. Didn't play from wimbledon til Rio 2013. He was rusty tennis wise but he wasn't physically a shambles. And then he went on a tear. This has a different flavor from 2013.

Rafa is 2 years older and closer to 30. He has been allegedly having issues with the back and cramping for a while now even before the surgery and his form has shaky since the FO last year. And he struggled last year on clay, people forget that because he won the FO.

But now he is a year older and worse physicslly.
 
Give the guy a chance folks! Nadal's opinion is the best barometer as to what's happening and he thinks he is on the right path. Maybe a little extra gluten for more energy, or better yet, a Fedal match to really get his juices flowing.
 
SLD76 said:
I don't buy that at all. He had a much longer layoff in 2012. Didn't play from wimbledon til Rio 2013. He was rusty tennis wise but he wasn't physically a shambles. And then he went on a tear. This has a different flavor from 2013.

Rafa is 2 years older and closer to 30. He has been allegedly having issues with the back and cramping for a while now even before the surgery and his form has shaky since the FO last year. And he struggled last year on clay, people forget that because he won the FO.

But now he is a year older and worse physicslly.
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I am not comparing it to 2013. I don't expect him to go on a tear like he did back then. I am specifically talking about him steadily getting his game and body together for the French...because ultimately that is what his year revolves around. Yes, he is two years old, yes, he is naturally going to slowdown, but I still think it is exaggerated here a little bit too much. I expect to see him close to what he will be capable of playing by RG.
 
Hitman said:
I am not comparing it to 2013. I don't expect him to go on a tear like he did back then. I am specifically talking about him steadily getting his game and body together for the French...because ultimately that is what his year revolves around. Yes, he is two years old, yes, he is naturally going to slowdown, but I still think it is exaggerated here a little bit too much. I expect to see him close to what he will be capable of playing by RG.
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Not sure if typo or..... :twisted: Made me laugh a little bit.
 
I agree, hold all thoughts until the FO. I'm not sure how any one can write off or doubt Nadal at this point. We have seen this before and he has always come out on top.
 
I think the biggest problem for Rafa right now is confidence. Hie confidence must have hit rock bottom after consecutive losses to the players he has dominated all his career(Berdych and Fognini). Even on clay. The most important thing for him is to gain the confidence back. I still believe he can do it but it won't be easy, especially now that his decline is obvious.
 
OddJack said:
Gulbis can beat the guy in RG.

His body has broken down. You guys forget how early he started the tour. He is as old as Fed in tennis age. He has been playing while sustaining injuries.

Nadal will never win another major.
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Pretty much agree, it's all coming together in a perfect storm: the accelerated aging, more and more losses to former pigeons(Stan, Tomas, Almugro, now Foghat)the gradual loss of the sense of inevitable defeat by more and more opponents, even the possibility that the umps are going to be less and less tolerant of his antics-I can't imagine that his disgraceful threats against an ump who had the temerity to, you know, actually enforce the rules, is gonna win him any fans in the officiating community. Can't wait to see him go down, and that definitely includes his "Last Stand," the French Open.
 
If Nadal loses to Djokovic in the QF, SF or F at Roland Garros and wins at least 1 M1000 clay tournament maybe not finished yet.

But if Nadal loses before the SF to players like Dimitrov, Gulbis, Berd etc and doesnt win a single M1000, he's probably finished or at least very close to it.
 
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SLD76 said:
It's not so much his form..it's the fact that he physically doesn't seem to be holding up. He could barely run after the ball at the AO against Berdych. Cramping in Rio. Looks a step slower.

Granted conditions were brutal
.but this is the same dude that ran for six hours in a bit muggy stadium in Australia 3 years ago.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with both views. I think it is too early to write him off based on his past, but I also sense that something might be different this time around. I, however, believe it could be mental. I wonder if Nadal just isn't up for the grind from a mental standpoint. As he ages, he will have to work harder and harder to maintain his previous level and at some point, especially with his physical ailments, that has to take a toll to the point that you question whether it is worth it.

He has absolutely nothing to prove at this point and there are only a handful of achievements to motivate him:

1. To win a 10th Roland Garros. Obviously no one has ever won 8, but getting to 10 at one event would be pretty neat.

2. Catching/surpassing Federer's slam count. Possible, but unlikely, in my view. It would take a Herculean effort for him to nab 3-4 more majors from this point forward.

3. A WTF - probably the most unlikely, and I question whether he even considers this one any longer. He was simply never good enough indoors and his best chances to win one are behind him. I think 2013 was his last real push to win the WTF and he was clearly overmatched against Djokovic in that setting.

Similar to Federer, Nadal is slowly but surely losing the aura of invincibility on clay. I think it was slipping last year, but he regained some of it by winning Roland Garros for the 9th time. Ridiculous. I expect him to struggle again, by his standards...and, if he is toppled at RG, the mystique is largely gone. And, like Federer, Nadal will have to deal with opponents who not only covet a victory over someone of his caliber, but opponents who believe they can win and no longer see him as unbeatable. It is an endless cycle that all greats have to endure, unless they retire a la Borg.
 
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