What Nadal and Djokovic lack that federer had

1

1477aces

Hall of Fame
Arrogance

You hear all this talk of the mental battles between Djokovic and Nadal; "Oh, if Djokovic loses the Australian Open, it will take away his confidence and he will suck", "if Djokovic beats Nadal at the French Open it will destroy Nadal". Or you hear about "Nadal lacks confidence on hard courts, if he loses to Djokovic it will hurt him", or "Nadal lost his confidence on hardcourt."

Prime federer never had those issues. Because of his arrogance, even if he lost to someone or didn't win a slam, he wasn't fazed at all. After missing two straight slam finals in 2005, he made the next 10 slam finals. After losing his streak of 10 straight slam finals at AO2008, winning only 4 games in the 2008FO final, and losing to nadal at the wimbledon, he went on to come within a set of winning the next 4 slams. Federer never had these confidence issues in his prime because of his supremer arrogance. Even if he lost, he believed that he was supposed to win. Perhaps this same arrogance prevented Federer from improving his game, but it certainly helped his consistency as he never had real confidence issues.
 
Murrayfan31

Murrayfan31

Hall of Fame
They lacked having an easy draw. Which Fed made the most of between 2004-2007. Nadal and Djokovic were too young during that time to be a constant threat. Especially Djokovic.
 
P

papertank

Hall of Fame
Nadal doesn't have arrogance because he was taught from a very young age to be extremely humble, especially on the tennis court. Rafa thrives on not being the favorite. He tends to do better when he's the underdog than when he's the the overwhelming favorite. Just look at his results since the US Open.
 
1

1477aces

Hall of Fame
Murrayfan31 said:
They lacked having an easy draw. Which Fed made the most of between 2004-2007. Nadal and Djokovic were too young during that time to be a constant threat. Especially Djokovic.
Click to expand...

It's not just that. Federer picked himself up after tough losses or stretches. Novak and nadal haven't done so to quite the same extent.
 
1

1477aces

Hall of Fame
papertank said:
Nadal doesn't have arrogance because he was taught from a very young age to be extremely humble, especially on the tennis court. Rafa thrives on not being the favorite. He tends to do better when he's the underdog than when he's the the overwhelming favorite. Just look at his results since the US Open.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. In fact, that lack of arrogance could very well be what's helped nadal change his game so many times to adapt to different opponents and surfaces.
 
M

Morj

Semi-Pro
Federer certainly held the belief that matches were always on his racket, and so as long as he executed his game he would win.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
Murrayfan31 said:
They lacked having an easy draw. Which Fed made the most of between 2004-2007. Nadal and Djokovic were too young during that time to be a constant threat. Especially Djokovic.
Click to expand...

That's a bunch of crap. Nadal has cakewalks all the time and hasn't ever come close to 10 straight or 18 of 19 finals.
 
1

1477aces

Hall of Fame
Cup8489 said:
That's a bunch of crap. Nadal has cakewalks all the time and hasn't ever come close to 10 straight or 18 of 19 finals.
Click to expand...

This thread isn't meant to provoke a troll war. It's meant to ask whether Federer's arrogance helped keep his confidence level high and thus improve his consistency in his prime, especially in relation to nadal and djokovic,
 
norbac

norbac

Legend
Djokovic has just won 23 straight matches after the USO final.

He also won Wimbledon after losing in the FO semis to Fed.
 
NatF

NatF

Bionic Poster
Murrayfan31 said:
Coming out even on Fed's preferred surface is a victory in itself. Imagine Sampras coming out even with Agassi on clay.
Click to expand...

Easy enough when most of those meetings on Federer's preferred surface have happened long after Federer's prime ended...
 
S

Say Chi Sin Lo

G.O.A.T.
papertank said:
Nadal doesn't have arrogance because he was taught from a very young age to be extremely humble, especially on the tennis court. Rafa thrives on not being the favorite. He tends to do better when he's the underdog than when he's the the overwhelming favorite. Just look at his results since the US Open.
Click to expand...

Was he taught the art of whining as well?
 
J

jg153040

G.O.A.T.
I think those guys are different on court and off court.

Yes, off court Fed seems to be the most arrogant of all three.
But in relative terms he is quite humble considering his results and hype.

But on court Rafa and Nole are way more arrogant. I mean they didn't follow the time violation rules. They act like it's their court.

Nole for whatever reasons is so arrogant on court vs Fed. When Fed hits a winner, Nole acts like it is luck and that it is his right to beat Fed. Like, he is surprised when Fed is winning.

Rafa too, his antics. He is intimidating enemies, looks like he wants to kill them. And using bad sportsmanship. For some reasons Rafa seems very mad at Fed on court.

Off court, yes they can act humble specially Rafa. But on court it's a different story.

But, is it really arrogance, if you can back it up? Or is it just a very strong self-belief?

I mean, they act like they are better tennis players than the rest, not better humans. And they are. So, is it really arrogance?
 
D

dominikk1985

Legend
they are all different mentally.

-djokovic is a bully. if he is on a streak he is unstoppable but if things don't go his way he can get frustrated

-federer will just asume that his game can beat anyone. if it does not he just rationalizes that the opponent was lucky because it wasn't his day

-nadal is more like a bulldog. he doesn't mind being outplayed or things going against him if he somehow manages to play through. however when he gets REALLY outplayed he sometimes loses motivation too but this is rare (sometimes he then makes an injury excuse)
 
TheTruth

TheTruth

G.O.A.T.
I think arrogance and confidence are two completely different animals.

Arrogance just says you think you can do something well, confidence is the inner belief that gets it done.

None of them lack anything, imo. They have different approaches, circumstances, and timing.

It is what it is.
 
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