Why is Nadal so good on clay?

Lotto

Professional
The title says it all. Why exactly is he so good on clay? Why can he defeat anybody on clay with apparent "ease"?
 

DoubleDeuce

Hall of Fame
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.
 

DoubleDeuce

Hall of Fame
I must add, specific to Nadal, clay also reward his game style grinder and fast mover he is. Easier on his knees, he can slide and skid on clay courts with more ease.
 

GameSampras

Banned
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
 
Last edited:

Turning Pro

Hall of Fame
Because no-one's groundstrokes or serve can hurt him like on hard courts. His topsin foreward and topspin bh are lengendary strokes for clay. His movement is intimidating and it's one of the easiest surfaces for his knees as you can slide. Ball is slower and since his defence game is so good, he'll rarely be passed. His supreme mentality and never say die attitude will allow him to outgrind nearly all players consistently down. His tactics and point constructing ability is second to none. People underestimate his attacking ability too.

Edit: Gamesampras, Nadal's already the second greatest clay courter of all time and if he win's his 5th in a row next year, he'll be at least as great a borg and imo the greatest with the most masters series shields and most consecutive wins on the surface after just turning 23.
 
Last edited:

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Sorry to crash the party, but Nadal is also the best on grass (winning both Queens and Wimbledon).
 

GameSampras

Banned
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
 

DoubleDeuce

Hall of Fame
Amusing, isn't it Lotto. Watch how an interesting conversation turns into blabs from a few who sit around and wait till someone starts a thread then these rubber clowns come alive and start shooting from the hip.
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
Ehhh... 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::?
 

Lotto

Professional
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.
 

GameSampras

Banned
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::?



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
 
Last edited:

Lotto

Professional
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



That's why tennis is becoming too "one-dimensional" nowadays. There's not enough variety.

Even looking at the juniors I play with nowadays, a junior is ranked 5 in Ireland in my club and it's all about baseline bashing. Counter-punching

What I think the ATP should do is:

Have the first bit of the year up until the clay court season starts on slow hard courts,

then have your clay season, then have your old low-bouncing, fast grass season, then fast hardcourts followed by medium pace, medium bounced indoor season.

So:

Jan1 - Mar 23 - Slow Hardcourts:

Includes all tournaments, so the bigger ones would be:

-Aussie Open
-Dubai
-Indian Wells
-Miami

and all the others

Apr. 13th - June 1st - Clay "proper clay"

Includes:

-French Open
-Madrid
-Monte Carlo
-Rome

Jun. 8th - July 6th - 90's grass courts

includes:

-Wimbledon
-Queen's
-Halle

etc.

Jul 27th- Sept. 14th - Fast Hardcourts

Includes:

-US Open
-Cincinnatti
-Rogers Cup etc.


Oct. 12th - Nov. 23rd - Medium Paced Indoor season:

Includes:

-Shanghai
-Paris
-Basel
-World Tour Finals etc.


It would be the most fairest schedule, and accounts for all different styles so it would be interesting.


Now, back to Nadal on clay. I know his deadly topspin and fitness would contribute to it but what of the way he constructs his points, how does he usually construct them?
 

GameSampras

Banned
Well maybe someone can finally take out Nadal this year and make history? LOL.. I dunno. Doubtful though considering Rafa is so far ahead of the pack. He dominates Clay like pete did grass or Roger has dominated the US OPEN.. Nadal could end up with another 3-5 RG's until he gets beat
 

feetofclay

Semi-Pro
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

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.
 

All-rounder

Legend
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::?
very true both are baseline players
 

380pistol

Banned
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.

According the USTA the orignal speed of the US Open at Flushing was 1978-2000. In 2000-2001 they slowed it down. Then according the USTA they sped it up after 2002 (faster than 2000-2001, but still slower than 1978-2000), and when a big server(Roddick) and a claycourt/counterpucher(Ferrero) made the final in 2003, they kept it that speed calling it "happy medium". Now all this according to the USTA.

Now Federer was the one who called the old US Open courts "unplayable" due to their speed. So is he the most reliable one to judge the speed???

Also the ITF and Wimbledon were trying to slow the courts at SW19 since Sampras/Ivanisevic which they said culminated in 2001.
 

380pistol

Banned
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::?

"Roland Gambledon". :lol: But it's true.
 

Breaker

Legend
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::?

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.
 
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.

No one is ever in the mood for fedboys, *********s, Djokoheads, etc etc. :)

Like people have mentioned before, Nadal's speed allows him to be almost a human backboard. He moves so aggressively on clay, which compliments his grinder style. And his topspin makes the ball bounce wildly.
 

RCizzle65

Hall of Fame
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.
 
T

ThugNasty

Guest
Nadal is successful because of amazing consistency of both wings,great placement and tremendous use of spin.
 

feetofclay

Semi-Pro
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.
 

matchmaker

Hall of Fame
Nadal's a phenomenon on clay. It is very difficult to win RG more than twice in a row. He already did it four times in a row and keeps on going.
What are the keys of his success?
His speed, his topspin, his point construction (many people say he is defensive but that is not true, he often has the other player on his back foot and is able to switch from defense to attack with one stroke), his never say die attitude and the fact he has been raised on clay, inside a sportloving family that provides him a lot of stability and a down-to-earth mentality.
 

rubberduckies

Professional
Nadal's forehand on clay is the most dominant groundstroke in modern tennis. The speed of the court allows him time to set it up, time allows him to drive it deep consistently, depth makes it impossible for his opponent to attack. The weakness of Nadal's forehand is that he does not consistently drive through it enough. This problem is evident on all surfaces but is amplified on faster ones. He produces lots of balls that clear the net with such a high topspin/drive ratio that they bounce before crossing the service line. These balls allow Nadal's opponents to come in and attack him. Clay usually denies them those opportunities. When he is really, really sharp, like at French Open final this year, almost all of his shots land within a few yards of the baseline. Federer was forced to try to attack and approach off these balls, but this proved almost impossible.
 

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
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.


Durability argument is total bull. The new grass mixture still hasn't increased durability at all. They changed the grass to appease claycourt players who were routinely skipping Wimbledon.
 

The-Champ

Legend
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.



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?
 

The-Champ

Legend
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

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.
 

Zaragoza

Banned
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.
 

GameSampras

Banned
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.
 
Last edited:

The-Champ

Legend
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.


LOL, you make it sound like all those guys played in the same era.
 

380pistol

Banned
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.

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.
 

Clay lover

Legend
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.
 

DoubleDeuce

Hall of Fame
You say it's so slow that Nadal can chase down everyones balls. So why can't everyone chase down Nadal's balls?

I was talking about the serves specifically.

Everyone else can chase down Nadal's balls also, and then follows the spin part, which I wrote about.


Can it be that Nadal moves better on dirt than anyone else?

If you look closer I mentioned this too.
 

GameSampras

Banned
Nadal MAY be the best clay court player of all time but its no secret that the clay court competition is much more inferior than in other eras. There were many great clay court specialists who acceled from clay court season. The ranks are very thin outside of Fed-Nadal.. There is denying this whatsoever. You have two players that are good the rest are very subpar.

If you accel on clay, you get to the finals today chances are u will not have had a tough road to get there. You were certainly not going to just cakewalk your way through before. As Fed and Nadal has done against very subpar clay court competition. I dont think Domination over one era of less than great clay court competition is the be all end all to an argument. Your success is ONLY as good as your current competition. It doesnt make u the GOAT without a shadow of a doubt.

I still say Nadal would have his troubles with tougher draws in the 90s and who knows how much he would have left to beat someone like Kuerten in the finals. We dont know how Kuerten and Nadal would match up. Kuerten was a bigger serve, had longer arms, maybe even a better returner and other faculties over Nadal which could have given him problems. Nadal has to worry about ONE player at RG and thats Roger. Who is good but isnt GREAT on clay
 
Last edited:

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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

no more carpet :(
in 3 seasons all the tournaments will be played on clay, just coloured differently
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
Delusional. It's pretty hard to argue against facts. And you're his indigent conditioned stalker? Ugly world isn't ? :)

which facts???
if you knew ANYTHING about tennis, you would know that with nadals style and top spins there is NO WAY he would win 3 consecutive matches on real grass, NO WAY because for your information REAL GRASS neutralizes the top spin wohooo
queens = fast grass? faster than what you call medium (wimbledon) but still slow
wimbledon = medium grass? what is slow grass then?
all you said are total bs's which you consider being facts
its funny man
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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.

do you have any source???
i know that fed told goran that he couldnt come to the net due to grass being too slow for that
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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.

ok hewitt isnt such a big deal (although actually he wouldnt go further than QF in any of 90s wimbledons)
but NALBANDIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nalba in wimbledon finals??? cmon guys...
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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.

fed beat guga when guga was in even worse condition (more injured) than in 2004
well sampras actually would beat nadal once in 4-5 matches on clay as well as he would beat anyone once in 4 matches
reason why fed doesnt do that is not in his game, its in his head
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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.


please before next person starts commenting medvedevs roland garros finals, go watch it. 1st 2 sets which medvedev won are arguably the greatest 2 sets ever played on clay
 

Cenc

Hall of Fame
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.

why nadal is so good >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> competition is so weak
theres a point, dont u think so?
well i agree that nadal is maybe the best claycourter ever but it would be much tougher to win slams if he had to play more than 1 serious opponent (and that one has mental problems... wow)
 
Top