The Big 3 and the slams where they are cursed.

[UnderratedSlam]

Each Big 3 player has slams where things run smoothly and those where they struggle and have bad luck.

For example, Rafa has squeezed out the most out of FO. Maybe he could have won one more without injuries, but 12-0 in finales kinda speaks for itself.

Ditto Novak and AO. 7-0 in finales. Or Wimby, 5-1. A lot less lucky with USO or especially FO.

Nadal at the AO, total opposite of FO. 1-4 in finales, plenty of injuries and bad luck in some 5-set finales. To me, it's the ultimate cursed slam for any of the three.

Which of these slams is the biggest curse for the Big 3?

 

[Pantera]

Each Big 3 player has slams where things run smoothly and those where they struggle and have bad luck.

For example, Rafa has squeezed out the most out of FO. Maybe he could have won one more without injuries, but 12-0 in finales kinda speaks for itself.

Ditto Novak and AO. 7-0 in finales. Or Wimby, 4-1. A lot less lucky with USO or especially FO.

Nadal at the AO, total opposite of FO. 1-4 in finales, plenty of injuries and bad luck in some 5-set finales. To me, it's the ultimate cursed slam for any of the three.

Which of these slams is the biggest curse for the Big 3?

Agree to an extent about Rafa at AO but i think Federer at Wimbledon is the biggest curse. I genuinely believe that W2019 defeat to Djokovic will haunt Federer alot more than AO does Rafa. Not just 40-15 but 0-3 v Djokovic in finals at his best event will really irk Federer...and he seems to dislike Novak which makes it worse.

Nadal at AO was unlucky in 2014. His other 3 losses he lost to the better player on the day. Ao 2017 he lost before the final due to not seeing off dimitrov quicker.

Not sure he will.lose sleep over AO. Federer i think will have nightmares about Wimbledon for years to come.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Agree to an extent about Rafa at AO but i think Federer at Wimbledon is the biggest curse. I genuinely believe that W2019 defeat to Djokovic will haunt Federer alot more than AO does Rafa. Not just 40-15 but 0-3 v Djokovic in finals at his best event will really irk Federer...and he seems to dislike Novak which makes it worse.

Nadal at AO was unlucky in 2014. His other 3 losses he lost to the better player on the day. Ao 2017 he lost before the final due to not seeing off dimitrov quicker.

Not sure he will.lose sleep over AO. Federer i think will have nightmares about Wimbledon for years to come.

He won EIGHT slams there. What curse are you talking about?

He also won a lucky finale in 2007, and another one in 2009.

To win his 2003 first title, he had to play ZERO slam champs.

If RF is cursed at Wimby then please let's all be cursed. I wanna win 8 Wimbledons too.

 

[Breakpointerer]

Federer at Wimbledon is the biggest curse.

Nah.
He's had painful losses there for sure, but at the end of the day, he's Wimbly GOAT. Can't call that cursed.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Nah.
He's had painful losses there for sure, but at the end of the day, he's Wimbly GOAT. Can't call that cursed.

A man plays Wimby 20 years, obviously he'll have some bad defeats there. Being cursed does not mean having an imperfect record.

 

[MeatTornado]

None of the above

 

[Breakpointerer]

A man plays Wimby 20 years, obviously he'll have some bad defeats there. Being cursed does not mean having an imperfect record.

Yep.

 

[StrongRule]

Nadal in AO, no doubt.

 

[Phoenix1983]

Nadal’s AO curse for sure.

But this is balanced out by his good luck at the USO over the years.

 

[Deleted member 766172]

.

 

[Steve0904]

None of them are "cursed" as such because they all have the career slam, but if I was going to pick one it's probably USO for Federer at this point. Only because after 2008 nobody dreamed that would probably be Fed's last USO. As opposed to all the others where you can probably say that it isn't necessarily surprising that they haven't won more because it isn't on their preferred surface. Nadal at the AO is surprising maybe, but it's still not Nadal's favourite surface like HC is one of Federer's favourite. Bears pointing out that the surface at the USO has changed a lot since Fed last won it in 2008 though, but he's had chances to win since, no doubt.

 

[TripleATeam]

You can't call anyone at RG a curse. Nadal is a phenom and a genius on clay. People that play him aren't cursed, they are just stopped by Rafa.

Nadal could be said to be cursed at Wimbledon given his great performance up until 2011, then his sudden drop off until 2018. I wouldn't call his Aussie performances cursed. He ran into Stanimal once, barely lost to an in-form Novak and Federer once, and got destroyed by Novak just this year. Wimbledon maybe.

Federer's USO? He's been pretty good at making the 2nd week since 2009: 2 F, 3 SF, 3 QF, 2 R4. That's pretty much like a coin flip at every stage of the 2nd week. Truly, Federer could have done better, but that isn't a curse, really. He was stopped by the new generation (Delpo, Novak, Berdych, Cilic) then was old.

Nadal's Wimbledon is the curse. Random terrible form for a half-dozen years, then back to consecutive semifinals.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

None of them are "cursed" as such because they all have the career slam, but if I was going to pick one it's probably USO for Federer at this point. Only because after 2008 nobody dreamed that would probably be Fed's last USO. As opposed to all the others where you can probably say that it isn't necessarily surprising that they haven't won more because it isn't on their preferred surface. Nadal at the AO is surprising maybe, but it's still not Nadal's favourite surface like HC is one of Federer's favourite. Bears pointing out that the surface at the USO has changed a lot since Fed last won it in 2008 though, but he's had chances to win since, no doubt.

Rafa's unlucky AO finales speak for themselves. Twice in close 5-setters, once injured in the finale, pulling out several times in the QFs, and several times couldn't play it due to injury.

To say that it's not his favourite surface is not relevant since he reached five finales there.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

You can't call anyone at RG a curse. Nadal is a phenom and a genius on clay. People that play him aren't cursed, they are just stopped by Rafa.

Nadal could be said to be cursed at Wimbledon given his great performance up until 2011, then his sudden drop off until 2018. I wouldn't call his Aussie performances cursed. He ran into Stanimal once, barely lost to an in-form Novak and Federer once, and got destroyed by Novak just this year. Wimbledon maybe.

Federer's USO? He's been pretty good at making the 2nd week since 2009: 2 F, 3 SF, 3 QF, 2 R4. That's pretty much like a coin flip at every stage of the 2nd week. Truly, Federer could have done better, but that isn't a curse, really. He was stopped by the new generation (Delpo, Novak, Berdych, Cilic) then was old.

Nadal's Wimbledon is the curse. Random terrible form for a half-dozen years, then back to consecutive semifinals.

You need to re-visit your tennis history. The 2014 finale, Rafa lost to an injury not Wawrinka who'd been his pigeon until then.

 

[Krish0608]

Agree to an extent about Rafa at AO but i think Federer at Wimbledon is the biggest curse. I genuinely believe that W2019 defeat to Djokovic will haunt Federer alot more than AO does Rafa. Not just 40-15 but 0-3 v Djokovic in finals at his best event will really irk Federer...and he seems to dislike Novak which makes it worse.

Nadal at AO was unlucky in 2014. His other 3 losses he lost to the better player on the day. Ao 2017 he lost before the final due to not seeing off dimitrov quicker.

Not sure he will.lose sleep over AO. Federer i think will have nightmares about Wimbledon for years to come.

8 Wimbledons and he calls it a "curse". Why is Pantrolla still not banned?

 

[TripleATeam]

You need to re-visit your tennis history. The 2014 finale, Rafa lost to an injury not Wawrinka who'd been his pigeon until then.

Oh damn, I'm sorry. I forgot about that injury that both Djokovic and Nadal coincidentally had against Stan! I mean, a 14 match win streak going into the '14 AO for Novak and a 12 match win streak for Nadal... clearly not just Stan showing up.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Oh damn, I'm sorry. I forgot about that injury that both Djokovic and Nadal coincidentally had against Stan! I mean, a 14 match win streak going into the '14 AO for Novak and a 12 match win streak for Nadal... clearly not just Stan showing up.

Stan is the luckiest Stanimal in the history of Stanislavia. 2014 and 2016 he gets Big 3 players far from being 100%, 2015 he gets a Novak so nervous about winning FO he can't bring his A game.

Stan, a true lottery winner champ.

 

[Pantera]

8 Wimbledons and he calls it a "curse". Why is Pantrolla still not banned?

God u r soft lol. Asking for bans is literally cowardice at its finest and proves ive won

 

[Pantera]

Nah.
He's had painful losses there for sure, but at the end of the day, he's Wimbly GOAT. Can't call that cursed.

Surely with 0-3 v djokovic he cannot be W GOAT?

 

[Breakpointerer]

Surely with 0-3 v djokovic he cannot be W GOAT?

3 more titles, but we aren't going to agree with each other anyway.

 

[Enceladus]

Each Big 3 player has slams where things run smoothly and those where they struggle and have bad luck.

For example, Rafa has squeezed out the most out of FO. Maybe he could have won one more without injuries, but 12-0 in finales kinda speaks for itself.

Ditto Novak and AO. 7-0 in finales. Or Wimby, 4-1. A lot less lucky with USO or especially FO.

Nadal at the AO, total opposite of FO. 1-4 in finales, plenty of injuries and bad luck in some 5-set finales. To me, it's the ultimate cursed slam for any of the three.

Which of these slams is the biggest curse for the Big 3?

5-1
Otherwise, on your question, I voted for Fed at USO after 2008. It is very strange that after a series of 5 consecutive titles from 2004-08, he could no longer add another title.

 

[Tshooter]

You forgot to add Rafa’s F.O. “curse.”

 

[DSH]

He won EIGHT slams there. What curse are you talking about?

He also won a lucky finale in 2007, and another one in 2009.

To win his 2003 first title, he had to play ZERO slam champs.

If RF is cursed at Wimby then please let's all be cursed. I wanna win 8 Wimbledons too.

And let's not forget, Benneteau was 2 points away from defeating him in 2012, a match he should have lost.

 

[StrongRule]

I wonder why Federer at USO is an option. He has 5 titles there.

 

[clout]

The big 3 seem to have their patterns with the four slams:

They all have their pet slam where they're the GOATs of - Djoker at the AO, Fed at Wimbledon and of course, Nadal at the French

Then, they have their second fav slam that's kind of become a buffer slam for them in a way where they've gotten a bit of luck along the way when they haven't always brought their A+ game but have still managed to win whenever they get deep. Fed who is 6-1 in AO finals, Novak who is 5-1 in Wimby finals and Nadal who is likely gonna be 4-1 in US Open finals by the end of today barring an insane turn of events.

Then comes their third fav tourneys where at one point it looked like they could dominate but never ended up doing so. Fed once won 5 straight US Open and made 6 straight finals just to be stifled there since 2008. Nadal once made 5 straight Wimbledon finals, winning 2 titles and had a win-streak there only topped by 3 other players in history but has been awol there since 2010, and Novak made an insane 11 straight semis or better at the USO but yielded "only" 3 titles.

Finally, it's their least successful slam where they're always consistent at but have trouble getting over the finish line. Novak and Roger have won just one RG title while Nadal has won just one AO title despite all those deep runs. Wawrinka also plays a factor as the one year the ultimate fav for the tourneys got eliminated, Stan ended up standing in the way (beat Nadal at the AO 2014 finals and Fed and Djoker at RG 2015).

 

[Eren]

I wonder why Federer at USO is an option. He has 5 titles there.

Add to that, that Federer is the Open Era Co-GOAT at the USO along with Sampras and Connors.

The poll does clearly state post-2008 though. Seeing how Federer has been beaten by MUGS from 2012-present (bar 2015 Final), it's weird he's done so bad there.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

5-1
Otherwise, on your question, I voted for Fed at USO after 2008. It is very strange that after a series of 5 consecutive titles from 2004-08, he could no longer add another title.

5-1, of course!!!

I hate these dumb errors...

 

[UnderratedSlam]

And let's not forget, Benneteau was 2 points away from defeating him in 2012, a match he should have lost.

Benneteau. don't even get me started... The guy lost all 9 ATP finales.

 

[ibbi]

I don't think Roger or Novak have Roland Garros curses, there's just this guy they can't beat. Granted Novak has had other bad losses, but you lift Nadal out and he has a bunch of titles there almost without question.

The other three are all interesting. Nadal's Wimbledon one was obviously the worst in terms of how much he fell off there compared to his troubles in Australia where he genuinely does seem kinda cursed and Roger's New York one where certainly in those first two years following his 6 finals it really did seem like someone up there was messing with him. Still, most of that period has come with him being post-30, and is probably less curse, and more age.

I like the Nadal one in Australia, because unlike Wimbledon where he just couldn't play on grass it's all kinds of stuff over and over again. The injuries in 2010, 11, 14, and 18, being up a break in the fifth in both 2012 and 2017, getting the first straight sets slam final defeat of his career in 2019, and making Jo-Willy Tsonga look like god in 2008, etc.

 

[King No1e]

Nadal's post-2011 Wimbledon curse. 5 finals in a row, and then a never-ending series of train wrecks. Rosol, Darcis, Kyrgios, Brown, Muller, and 37-year-old Fed.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

I don't think Roger or Novak have Roland Garros curses, there's just this guy they can't beat. Granted Novak has had other bad losses, but you lift Nadal out and he has a bunch of titles there almost without question.

The other three are all interesting. Nadal's Wimbledon one was obviously the worst in terms of how much he fell off there compared to his troubles in Australia where he genuinely does seem kinda cursed and Roger's New York one where certainly in those first two years following his 6 finals it really did seem like someone up there was messing with him. Still, most of that period has come with him being post-30, and is probably less curse, and more age.

I like the Nadal one in Australia, because unlike Wimbledon where he just couldn't play on grass it's all kinds of stuff over and over again. The injuries in 2010, 11, 14, and 18, being up a break in the fifth in both 2012 and 2017, getting the first straight sets slam final defeat of his career in 2019, and making Jo-Willy Tsonga look like god in 2008, etc.

Sure...

Since "becoming ancient at the age of 27", since winning his 5th USO RF won:

FO 09
W 09
AO 10
W 12
AO 17
W 17
AO 18

So OBVIOUSLY it's the age at fault he can't win USO.

 

[ibbi]

Sure...

Since "becoming ancient at the age of 27", since winning his 5th USO RF won:

FO 09
W 09
AO 10
W 12
AO 17
W 17
AO 18

So OBVIOUSLY it's the age at fault he can't win USO.

I didn't say he became ancient at the age of 27, maybe if you highlighted the first half of the sentence instead of just the second half you'd realize the point I was making.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

I didn't say he became ancient at the age of 27, maybe if you highlighted the first half of the sentence instead of just the second half you'd realize the point I was making.

So we agree he wasn't nearly too old when he stopped winning USO?

 

[ibbi]

So we agree he wasn't nearly too old when he stopped winning USO?

No, not when he stopped winning it, but you're talking about an 11 year 'curse', a lot of which he has been old by a tennis players standards, especially when you consider how that surface has been slowed down, and become the dominion of guys most comfortable on a clay court as much as not. Essentially, as with the Nadal at Wimbledon issue, I think it's a pretty basic tennis problem as much as anything else. Save for the 10 and 11 semis I never got any impression there was some hex hanging over his head in New York where it was never meant to be.