Who would win on clay- Nadal vs Guga?

noeledmonds

Professional
Absolutely -- capable of pushing good players on all surfaces. Then again Borg used to face match points in early rounds at Wimbledon in his prime. Some great players are like Nadal and maintain a very high level of play in each round of a tournament, others are vulnerable early on.

This is not at all true. Borg never faced a match point against him in any grand slam that he won. Here are the male players who have saved at least one match point on the way to winning grand slam tournaments:

Gerald Patterson 1927 Australia Final John Hawkes
Dinny Pails 1947 Australia Final John Bromwich
Rod Laver 1960 Australia Final Neale Fraser
John Newcombe 1975 Australia SF Tony Roche
Johan Kriek 1982 Australia SF Paul McNamee
Stefan Edberg 1985 Australia R16 Wally Masur
Marat Safin 2005 Australia SF Roger Federer
Rene Lacoste 1927 Roland Garros Final Bill Tilden
Gottfried von Cramm 1934 Roland Garros Final Jack Crawford
Rod Laver 1962 Roland Garros QF Marty Mulligan
Adriano Panatta 1976 Roland Garros R128 Pavel Hutka
Gustavo Kuerten 2001 Roland Garros R16 Michael Russell
Gaston Gaudio 2004 Roland Garros Final Guillermo Coria
Henri Cochet 1927 Wimbledon Final Jean Borotra
Bob Falkenburg 1948 Wimbledon Final John Bromwich
Ted Schroeder 1949 Wimbledon QF Frank Sedgman
Neale Fraser 1960 Wimbledon QF Butch Buchholz
Fred Perry 1936 United States Final Don Budge
Manuel Orantes 1975 United States SF Guillermo Vilas
Boris Becker 1989 United States R64 Derrick Rostagno
Pete Sampras 1996 United States QF Alex Corretja
Andy Roddick 2003 United States SF David Nalbandian
 

Andres

G.O.A.T.
:lol: That was embarassing.

I wanted to ask when they both played.
5 times. Nadal won 4, Coria won 1.

2003 MS Monte Carlo, Coria won 7-6 6-2
2005 MS Monte Carlo, Nadal won 6-3 6-1 0-6 :shock: 7-5
2005 MS Rome, Nadal won 6-4 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(6). They got to 6-6 in the fifth set TB.
2005 Beijing (Hard), Nadal won 5-7 6-1 6-2

2006 featured the crappy Coria, which Nadal absolutely ate for breakfast.

2006 MS Monte Carlo, Nadal won 6-2 6-1
 

HyperHorse

Banned
Guga VS Rafa...
Well, that would be a battle for the ages..
Realistically it could go either way, right down to the wire..
I'd have to give Guga a slight edge as he as more power and variety in his game, much bigger serve and reach.
2 sets all, 5-5 in the final set and Rafa serving at 30-30...
The two warriors with salt crusted sweat on their faces..
The crowd in total suspense..
Mmmmm....
 

maverick66

Hall of Fame
i would love to say to guga as he was just great with the way he played but nadal is another level on the dirt. ive seen guys play out of there mind agains t nadal only to fail and lose badly. it would be an intresting matcup as it would be a guy with great flair vs a great physical player. but in the end the physical play of nadal seems to win on clay.
 

35ft6

Legend
Those who have said it would be blowout for Nadal have probably never seen Guga play in hes prime, and base their judgements on a injury plagued guga who has barely been mobile in the last yr or two.
I've seen Guga in his prime. He was one of my favorites. And I remember even when he was winning the French he'd have to play a lot of 5 set matches. He wasn't exactly steam rolling people. He was the king of clay at the time but his domination was nowhere near Nadal's. I really thought Ferrero choked in one of the semifinals. Guga was slicing forehands and doing everything to just stay in points and Ferrero cracked IMO.
 

35ft6

Legend
Also, Guga was a total natural on the dirt, he looked like a fish in water, but Nadal, even more so. Nadal's point construction on clay, his understanding of the court geometry, the way he uses the width AND depth of the court to keep his opponent off balance, is the most impressive I've ever seen. Except for the serve, I think their power off the ground is equal, and I might even give the edge to Rafa. In terms of touch, Nadal all the way. The guy's volleys are underrated and I rarely see him miss a drop shot. Maybe he rarely misses because he has so much margin for error seeing as how he can push a guy back 20 feet behind the baseline but still. Nadal is really underrated.
 

crosscourt

Professional
This is not at all true. Borg never faced a match point against him in any grand slam that he won. Here are the male players who have saved at least one match point on the way to winning grand slam tournaments:

Gerald Patterson 1927 Australia Final John Hawkes
Dinny Pails 1947 Australia Final John Bromwich
Rod Laver 1960 Australia Final Neale Fraser
John Newcombe 1975 Australia SF Tony Roche
Johan Kriek 1982 Australia SF Paul McNamee
Stefan Edberg 1985 Australia R16 Wally Masur
Marat Safin 2005 Australia SF Roger Federer
Rene Lacoste 1927 Roland Garros Final Bill Tilden
Gottfried von Cramm 1934 Roland Garros Final Jack Crawford
Rod Laver 1962 Roland Garros QF Marty Mulligan
Adriano Panatta 1976 Roland Garros R128 Pavel Hutka
Gustavo Kuerten 2001 Roland Garros R16 Michael Russell
Gaston Gaudio 2004 Roland Garros Final Guillermo Coria
Henri Cochet 1927 Wimbledon Final Jean Borotra
Bob Falkenburg 1948 Wimbledon Final John Bromwich
Ted Schroeder 1949 Wimbledon QF Frank Sedgman
Neale Fraser 1960 Wimbledon QF Butch Buchholz
Fred Perry 1936 United States Final Don Budge
Manuel Orantes 1975 United States SF Guillermo Vilas
Boris Becker 1989 United States R64 Derrick Rostagno
Pete Sampras 1996 United States QF Alex Corretja
Andy Roddick 2003 United States SF David Nalbandian

Is that right? What about the Borg v Armritraj match. I don't remember the year.

cc
 

CyBorg

Legend
Nadal, no question. Nadal is the best player on clay. . . .ever. 103 wins in 104 matches on clay? That's insane. Nobody's ever been that dominant. And I almost don't count his loss at Hamburg, as Nadal almost pulled out of that tournament before it started, due to exhaustion.

That's crafty.

From 1977 to 1980 inclusive Borg had two losses on red dirt. One of them was when he retired up 4-1 in Hamburg and another was a meaningless match in World Team Cup against Vilas.

I'm just going to not count those either.:???:
 

Andres

G.O.A.T.
That's crafty.

From 1977 to 1980 inclusive Borg had two losses on red dirt. One of them was when he retired up 4-1 in Hamburg and another was a meaningless match in World Team Cup against Vilas.

I'm just going to not count those either.:???:
Muster was 111-5 during '95 and '96. He lost to Costa in Kitzbuhel, and a walkover in Amsterdam. Since we don't count Walkovers, and Kitzbuhel's clay is rather fast, he didn't lose at all in 1995.

He lost in Kitzbuhel '96 to Benfele Alvarez, but again, Kitzbuhel is too fast, so we can't count it.
He lost to Michael Stich at Roland Garros, but Stich was wearing an orange shirt, so Muster couldn't see him move. We shouldn't count that one either, he was hindered!
He had a WO to Gaudenzi at St. Polten. Walkovers don't count, just like Amsterdam '95
He lost to Moya in Munich. Germans don't like Austrians, so he felt threatened and couldn't concentrate. Let's rule that one out as well.

So, if my math is correct, he was 116-0 those years. IMMMMPRESSSSSIVE!
 

CyBorg

Legend
Muster was 111-5 during '95 and '96. He lost to Costa in Kitzbuhel, and a walkover in Amsterdam. Since we don't count Walkovers, and Kitzbuhel's clay is rather fast, he didn't lose at all in 1995.

He lost in Kitzbuhel '96 to Benfele Alvarez, but again, Kitzbuhel is too fast, so we can't count it.
He lost to Michael Stich at Roland Garros, but Stich was wearing an orange shirt, so Muster couldn't see him move. We shouldn't count that one either, he was hindered!
He had a WO to Gaudenzi at St. Polten. Walkovers don't count, just like Amsterdam '95
He lost to Moya in Munich. Germans don't like Austrians, so he felt threatened and couldn't concentrate. Let's rule that one out as well.

So, if my math is correct, he was 116-0 those years. IMMMMPRESSSSSIVE!

roflgg9.gif
 

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
Rafa would win now, Kuerten 10 years ago.

Rafa will be remembered as a claycourt wonder for much longer than Gustavo though.
 

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Guga would definitely win a few and Nadal would also win a few. It's a toss up, strongly dependent on how Guga serves.
 
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