Sorry to crash the party, but Nadal is also the best on clay (winning both Queens and Wimbledon).
Nadal is currently the best player on fast grass(Queens) and medium grass(Wimby) in the world.
as far as i know first Roland Gambledon was held in 2002Ehhh... Grass has been "grass." since 01-02.
as far as i know first Roland Gambledon was held in 2002
also its possible to notice that looking at finalists
2000 sampras and rafter
2001 ivanišević and rafter
_________________________________ real grasscourters
2002 hewitt vs nalbandian :shock::?
and you are his fan?
pretty, isnt it?
Exactly Cenc. Before it was a surface where mostly Serve and Volleyeres Acceled. Becker, Goran, Pete, etc. With the occasional Great returner like Andre Now we have baseliner, grinders making it deep runs. Thats your proof in the pudding right there. Whoever had made the committment to slowing down all courts are doing a great job. There is little diversity at this point among the courts. Even the fast indoor carpet is becoming OBSOLETE and will be totally gone at the end of this year
Ehhh... Grass hasnt been "grass." since 01-02. In fact, they start slowing it down after 2000 Wimbeldon. But in 2001 it rained quite a bit which made it a bit faster and slippery
very true both are baseline playersas far as i know first Roland Gambledon was held in 2002
also its possible to notice that looking at finalists
2000 sampras and rafter
2001 ivanišević and rafter
_________________________________ real grasscourters
2002 hewitt vs nalbandian :shock::?
Please define medium grass because i doubt nadal would be a threat on fast grass back in the 90's gameNadal is currently the best player on fast grass(Queens) and medium grass(Wimby) in the world.
Roger Federer was asked this year,what he thought about the speed of the grass at Wimbledon. This was his reply:-
ROGER FEDERER: "Well, I don't think it's that much of a difference since I played Pete here in 2001 really. "
As for the guys not being interested in playing on clay. IMO the only guys not interested are those who come from the USA.
as far as i know first Roland Gambledon was held in 2002
also its possible to notice that looking at finalists
2000 sampras and rafter
2001 ivanišević and rafter
_________________________________ real grasscourters
2002 hewitt vs nalbandian :shock::?
as far as i know first Roland Gambledon was held in 2002
also its possible to notice that looking at finalists
2000 sampras and rafter
2001 ivanišević and rafter
_________________________________ real grasscourters
2002 hewitt vs nalbandian :shock::?
Please, I'm not in the mood for *******s and *******s at the moment, even though I have been a bit of a ******* in the past with outrageous predictions but seriously, I believe this to be a legitimate conversation, especially on the current state of clay court tennis and why only one player excels on it nowadays given the amount of clay courts in europe.
Roger Federer was asked this year,what he thought about the speed of the grass at Wimbledon. This was his reply:-
ROGER FEDERER: "Well, I don't think it's that much of a difference since I played Pete here in 2001 really. "
As for the guys not being interested in playing on clay. IMO the only guys not interested are those who come from the USA.
2001 is arguably when they made the surface change.
According to the information given on the Wimbledon site, no changes have been made.
The Grass
# The grass plant itself has to survive in this dry soil. Expert research has again shown that a cut height of 8mm is the optimum for present day play and survival.
# The height of cut has been at 8mm for the past 13 years.
Speed of Courts
# There has been no intention either this year or in previous years to produce slower courts or ones suited for a particular type of game.
Bounce
# The amount a ball bounces is largely determined by the soil, not the grass. The soil must be hard and dry to allow 13 days of play without damage to the court sub-surface.
# To achieve the required surface of even consistency and hardness, the courts are rolled and covered to keep them dry and firm. Regular measurements are taken to monitor this.
# If the court is too soft, when the players run, jump and slide, the pimples on their shoes will damage the surface and increase the chance of an irregular bounce.
Clay slows down the ball while produces higher bounces. This makes it easier for him to compete with big serves like Federer has.
Clay also hides the spin of the ball, making it hard to predict what to expect when hitting back or counter spin. Nadal then being a huge top spinner is rewarded more on clay courts.
Cause everyone else is SO BAD. THe 2nd best player is Federer on clay?? Are u kidding me? Fed was getting whooped on by a passed his prime Kuerten before Nadal. Guys dont care about the claycourt season anymore. They have even mentioned this.. There are no more specialists who accell on clay when RG tme comes around. Name a great claycourt player outside of Nadal.. Name a very good one at least outside of Federer?.. And thats why every year its been the same schtick. Players DO NOT ENJOY clay season so there is no incentive to get better. That is why we have seen Nadal-Fed for 200 years in a row. You cant tell me that after 4-5 years, there would no other contender on clay if someone really WANTED IT so to speak. Fed is certainly not unbeatable on clay. Like I said.. A passed his prime Guga beat him at RG
Cause everyone else is SO BAD. THe 2nd best player is Federer on clay?? Are u kidding me? Fed was getting whooped on by a passed his prime Kuerten before Nadal. Guys dont care about the claycourt season anymore. They have even mentioned this.. There are no more specialists who accell on clay when RG tme comes around. Name a great claycourt player outside of Nadal.. Name a very good one at least outside of Federer?.. And thats why every year its been the same schtick. Players DO NOT ENJOY clay season so there is no incentive to get better. That is why we have seen Nadal-Fed for 200 years in a row. You cant tell me that after 4-5 years, there would no other contender on clay if someone really WANTED IT so to speak. Fed is certainly not unbeatable on clay. Like I said.. A passed his prime Guga beat him at RG
Not true. Nadal makes them look bad. If Nadal wasn´t around everyone would say what a great clay courter Federer is. Nadal is better on clay than any player from the 90´s (a really overrated era) where the competition was deeper according to some people. I´m sure Federer would have won several RG in the ´90s-early´00s. Let me remind you Andres Gomez, Kafelnikov and Moya won it. Magnus Norman, Verkerk, Medvedev and Stich reached the final. Even Dewulf and Henman reached the semifinal. Is it what you consider deeper competition? Thanks but no. The competition on clay was much deeper in the 70´s and the 80´s than in the 90´s. And Federer didn´t peak on clay until 2005. The Federer of 2005-2007 was definitely a better clay court player than the Federer of 2004.
It´s completely ridiculous to say that players don´t care about clay anymore. Did you mean american players? There are many players who play their best on clay or are as good on clay as on hardcourts. Not a few, many. And many top 20 players play clay tournaments that aren´t even Masters Series.
A better question would be if players care about grass anymore. They only play 2 tournaments a year on grass, some of them only one. Even a few of them skip Wimbledon because they don´t care.
Im not saying that they dont care. THEY SAID that they dont have a particular interest in the claycourt season.. Nadal is most likely the greatest clay court player bar none.. But its still up in the air about how many truly good clay court players there are today. Its still just Fed and Nadal and the other guys are light years behind and to be honest, Fed is not that great of a dirtballer, I dont care how many people want to spin it a certain way.. Hes had some serious Cakewalks to the finals of RG over the years . Thats a fact. I would expect during the last 3 or 4 years there would have been at least 1 or 2 breakout stars at RG other than Nadal and Fed. But the proof is there, no one has any incentive of getting better. Its odd to because of the current crop of guys are nothing but baseline bashers.. Some should really accel on this surface and give Fed AND Nadal some more problems then they have had. Nadal and Fed can almost sleepwalk through RG. I dont see many players outside of Fed and Nadal that are TRULY threats as there were in prior decades on clay. There are no players outside of Fed and Nadal in this era on the level of a Wilander, Muster, Guga, Courier, Borg, Burguera etc. If there are I would really like somone to name them. Look at the CAKEWALKS Nadal and Fed have had to the finals at RG.
Not true. Nadal makes them look bad. If Nadal wasn´t around everyone would say what a great clay courter Federer is. Nadal is better on clay than any player from the 90´s (a really overrated era) where the competition was deeper according to some people. I´m sure Federer would have won several RG in the ´90s-early´00s. Let me remind you Andres Gomez, Kafelnikov and Moya won it. Magnus Norman, Verkerk, Medvedev and Stich reached the final. Even Dewulf and Henman reached the semifinal. Is it what you consider deeper competition? Thanks but no. The competition on clay was much deeper in the 70´s and the 80´s than in the 90´s. And Federer didn´t peak on clay until 2005. The Federer of 2005-2007 was definitely a better clay court player than the Federer of 2004.
It´s completely ridiculous to say that players don´t care about clay anymore. Did you mean american players? There are many players who play their best on clay or are as good on clay as on hardcourts. Not a few, many. And many top 20 players play clay tournaments that aren´t even Masters Series.
A better question would be if players care about grass anymore. They only play 2 tournaments a year on grass, some of them only one. Even a few of them skip Wimbledon because they don´t care.
You say it's so slow that Nadal can chase down everyones balls. So why can't everyone chase down Nadal's balls?
Can it be that Nadal moves better on dirt than anyone else?
Exactly Cenc. Before it was a surface where mostly Serve and Volleyers Acceled. Becker, Goran, Pete, etc. With the occasional Great returner like Andre Now we have baseliner, grinders making deep runs. Thats your proof in the pudding right there. Whoever had made the committment to slowing down all courts are doing a great job. There is little diversity at this point among the courts. Even the fast indoor carpet is becoming OBSOLETE and will be totally gone at the end of this year. Even Henman made a comment saying he cant believe how much the surface has slowed
Delusional. It's pretty hard to argue against facts. And you're his indigent conditioned stalker? Ugly world isn't ?![]()
Roger Federer was asked this year,what he thought about the speed of the grass at Wimbledon. This was his reply:-
ROGER FEDERER: "Well, I don't think it's that much of a difference since I played Pete here in 2001 really. "
As for the guys not being interested in playing on clay. IMO the only guys not interested are those who come from the USA.
Interesting considering Hewitt is very average on slow surfaces and Nalbandian is arguably better on a faster court.
Hewitt actually grew up playing on grass so it's not that big a surprise that he won a Wimbledon title as well as four Queens Club titles.
Say's the man who said Sampras would beat Nadal at Roland Garros in 1 of 4 matches!!!
Kuerten was a good player on clay but he wasn't Nadal. Did you know that Federer beat Guga in Hamburg 60 16 62, two years before that Roland Garros encounter? You make it sound like Kuerten owned Federer.
Stop you're just embarassing yourself. Let me remind you, Henman (SF 2004), Verkerk (F 2003), Puerta(F 2005), Gaudio(champ 2004). Medvedev beat Guga and Sampras eb route to the final and only won 4 masters on clay. Add to the fact the players he lost to at RG ('92-'95, '97 and '99) went on to win the title. That's 6 of 8 champs if you're counting.
As far as Federer winning "several RG's in the 90's"... are you out of of your everloving mind??? Up til 1994 he does nothing. See losses (02 Arazi, 03 Horna, and 04 Guga after athroscopic hip surgery). 2005, see any of Muster, Kafelinkov, Chang or Bruguerawho were in the final 4. And Agassi in QF. 2006 he was down 6-3,3-0 to Nalbandian before David got hurt, so exactly how does that translate into a win over Kafelnikov. 1997 Kuerten won it. And he did so by beating Medvedev, Kafelnikov, Muster and Bruguera. Good luck to Roger with that field. 1998 he struggled with Monfils and then won all of 4 games in the final. Corretja, Rios and the champ Moa would not have eaten Nadal, but faired better.
Outside of Nadal, the clacourt prowess of today isn't much to speak about.
I thought the question was "Why is Nadal so good on clay?", and we get all these bullcrap on how weak the competition is on clay. That is not a reason for "why Nadal is good on clay", period. If you think Nadal is not good on clay, state it. Or else, what point are you trying to prove in this thread.
cos he;s born in spain/