Will Nadal win RG in 2010?

[Halba]

After his 2009 major shocker, will he win RG in 2010.

Now he has multiple threats-

-injuries to himself(knee, stomach who knows what else)
-Federer is good now on clay (well he won RG now) - average in other tourney
-Del potro has matured and has nadal's number(2,2,2)
-Djoker has pushed nadal in the past
-FO organisers 'conspiring' making it more like a hard court than a clay court. Only real 'clay' court tourney is monte carlo, barcelona and rome. RG and madrid were hard courts in 2009.
-other threats like Soderling etc

If nadal is healthy and in decent enough form prior, and well rested, he should win RG, as no one else is better on clay. But i feel the organisers have made it into a hard court and Nadal's chances are less than in 2005-2008 when it was playing like a slow clay court.

 

[flying24]

Your comment of Federer being good now on clay is a laughable phrasing. Federer was much better on clay from 2005-2007 than he is now. The one thing Federer has going in his favor now vs before if he plays Nadal at the French is nowhere near as much pressure on him. Yes between a pressure free Federer, Djokovic, and Del Potro, I think what appears to be a possibly now diminished Nadal will have his hands full on clay next year.

 

[mandy01]

I think whatever happens Nadal will always be the best on clay so he definitely will have the best chance out of anyone else to take the French Open next year.

 

[Carsomyr]

Despite a slightly humbling 2009 clay court season, I still think Rafa is the best clay court player today and one of, if not the, greatest of all time. I wouldn't say an absolute lock, but it's probably closer to a sure thing than Federer winning Wimbledon again.

 

[ArrowSmith]

He's just one of the favorites in 2010, not THE favorite anymore.

 

[namelessone]

IMO it depends mostly on 2 things: Nadal's health and the way the RG organizers decide to handle the clay issue. This year the ball was just flying through the court and quite a few players said it almost played like HC but with sliding. They need to wet the grounds more in order to keep the top layer from being blown away by the wind.

Want to see real clay? See MC or Rome. I was looking at some of the matches there and the clay layer was pretty thick and this was seen especially when the players took off on runs,lots of clay would kick up after their first step. Wilander's analysis on the RG 09' clay was very good and it is true that the faster conditions favored the big hitters,3 out of 4 semifinalists were big hitters,soderling,delpo and gonzales with fed being the odd one out of that bunch.

Rafa is still the favourite but I give him a higher chance if he comes here well rested. Obviously he will still have trouble with big hitters but if he uses this surface like I know he can he can come through. Rafa only needs 2 more RG's to become CGOAT IMO and I think he can get them. With good scheduling Nadal can last a few more years and even with these new youngsters around(I can't believe I'm talking about Rafa as if he is 100 years old) Nadal is still the best on clay for now and I have a feeling that won't change to soon.
RG 2010 will be a very important tournament for Rafael.

 

[Stinkdyr]

Will Nada ever win another Major?

 

[jwbarrientos]

So far I'd go wi this 1. Roger, 2. Delpo, 3. Rafa

 

[AAAA]

I don't find this era boring at all. If inform Soderling and Del Potro were in Nadal's half on the FO draw, one in each quarter so Nadal potentially had to get through both of them QF and SF the conspiracy theorists would be out in force.

 

[All-rounder]

Del potro will win it

 

[Agassifan]

A fully fit Rafa is still the best claycourter around, but the gap is very small. He can get beat on an off day against a big hitter.

 

[norbac]

All depends on how he manages his schedule before RG....

 

[bigjimbofan]

Nadals game is perfectly suited for clay.If healthy (and that's a big if considering how hard he plays and kills his body in the process) he should win the French Open easily IMO.

 

[IvanAndreevich]

I think he should be the heavy favorite if healthy.

 

[Fedace]

Delpo has no chance. Rafa Never loses to a man 2 times in a row in the slams..

 

[bolo]

Yes, he will be the heavy favorite again!

 

[bolo]

Delpo has no chance. Rafa Never loses to a man 2 times in a row in the slams..

exactly, in fact that's always been one of nadal's mottos growing up.

 

[The-Champ]

Rafa should just play Monte Carlo and Rome and then save all of it for the FO.


The guy loses once and all of a sudden he is yesterday's news? What the hell is wrong with you people. If Rafa is well rested and has no nagging injury, I would love to see another söderling match.

 

[bolo]

Rafa should just play Monte Carlo and Rome and then save all of it for the FO.


The guy loses once and all of a sudden he is yesterday's news? What the hell is wrong with you people. If Rafa is well rested and has no nagging injury, I would love to see another söderling match.

I am eager to see him play soderling at the FO again as well. Could be a triple bagel, soderman might not win a point!

 

[Bud]

as long as he never plays Madrid again, Nadal will win the next 4 or 5 French Opens

and he will do so with ease

Agreed.

Definitely skip that crappy clay court tourny until they get it right. There were divots all over the surface throughout the tournament and it didn't play like true clay.

 

[lambielspins]

I wouldnt be surprised if Del Potro won next years French.

 

[ceberus]

Yes ofcoarse, mind you Nadal grinded Federer at AO 09, on hard court, so it doesn't really matter to him now. He's constantly performing on all surfaces. Nadal will take back RG in 2010 for sure, unless he's injured etc.

 

[Carsomyr]

Delpo has no chance. Rafa Never loses to a man 2 times in a row in the slams..

Which is why I imagined Wimbledon 2006-2007.

 

[big bang]

Rafa will win FO for sure

 

[namelessone]

Which is why I imagined Wimbledon 2006-2007.

I think he meant to say he neve loses to the same man two times in a row in Slams meetings chronologically. He got beat by Fed in WB 06' and their next slam meeting was in RG 07' where he beat Fed and only then did he get beat in WB 07'.

 

[batz]

If he's fit he'll be red hot favourite - and rightly so.

 

[namelessone]

Regarding the RG 2010 I still think Rafa has a great shot but he needs to adjust his strokes so that he hits deeper. In the first part of the first set he troubled the big guy(delpo) when he hit a deeper forehands and mind you we are talking about a spinny FH which doesn't really work on HC but it will bounce up on clay.

Nadal can hit short against most guys in the atp because most guys are about his height and the topspin makes sure that the ball arrives high to the opponent. Hitting short against a tall opponent makes Nadal very vulnerable,this was shown in RG and against DelPo in USO,because,as FYB in come right into their wheelhouse and they can just pound those balls all day long. But when the tall guys have to hit tougher shots,like deep ones tend to be,they don't have time to wind up the power forehand like on a short ball. Once Nadal stopped slicing low and reverted to his short ball routine he got pulverized by delpo because he made it easy for him. Until Fed's brain went away in the final this was exactly what stomped DelPo,fed slicing a lot and hitting the ball deep,and mind you,fed's FH has a lot more pace on it than Rafa's.

Nadal loses control of a point against a tall opponent once he hits short because then that tall guy can hit hard in corners and run Rafa around so that he produces more short balls which get pounded again and so on. But if Nadal keeps the ball deep he can at least keep the rally neutral,if not in his favor.

Next year will be very interesting.

 

[grafselesfan]

I am a big Rafa but if he and Del Potro played tommorow on clay Del Potro would win even on clay. In Federers current form and if Djokovic can get past to his spring form of this year, the Nadal of today could also lose to either of those on clay. So basically what I am saying is Rafa clearly needs to regain health and form which is significantly higher than what he currently has to be the red hot favorite again, even on clay. Yes I am fully aware we are now on his weakest type of surfaces- fast hard courts, and even at his best it wouldnt be easy to win on these courts, and they are light years away translated evenly to what he would be on clay at the same time. However even with that I still dont believe he would be the one to beat even on clay in his current form and health.

 

[stanfordtennis alum]

all depends if he's healthy or not.. he is def a contender

 

[trix123]

Ass long as Nadal is fit and fresh I fully expect him to win

 

[Baikalic]

With better scheduling, Nadal I believe is still the favorite to win. It's really a shame he felt he needed to play in Madrid, what would things have looked like otherwise? Definitely not a lock though.

 

[mzzmuaa]

He's just one of the favorites in 2010, not THE favorite anymore.

No, he is THE favorite.
And nice to see you're finally banned.

 

[Baikalic]

No, he is THE favorite.
And nice to see you're finally banned.

what was up with ArrowSmith? what did he get banned for.

 

[veroniquem]

After his 2009 major shocker, will he win RG in 2010.

Now he has multiple threats-

-injuries to himself(knee, stomach who knows what else)
-Federer is good now on clay (well he won RG now) - average in other tourney
-Del potro has matured and has nadal's number(2,2,2)
-Djoker has pushed nadal in the past
-FO organisers 'conspiring' making it more like a hard court than a clay court. Only real 'clay' court tourney is monte carlo, barcelona and rome. RG and madrid were hard courts in 2009.
-other threats like Soderling etc

If nadal is healthy and in decent enough form prior, and well rested, he should win RG, as no one else is better on clay. But i feel the organisers have made it into a hard court and Nadal's chances are less than in 2005-2008 when it was playing like a slow clay court.

What do you mean the RG organizers turned the tournament into a hard court one? How did they do that
I believe Delpo will win RG in the future but I certainly hope Rafa is not done there either. Rafa has been plagued by injury this year. I believe once he's healthy again (knees and stomach) he will be the heavy favorite for all clay tournaments.

 

[Lendl and Federer Fan]

2010 RG for Nadal is a sure bet! :wink:

 

[veroniquem]

2010 RG for Nadal is a sure bet! :wink:

Are you trying to jinx him?

 

[Lendl and Federer Fan]

Are you trying to jinx him?

No, I just try to help Nadal here. Nadal must feel pretty low now.

 

[veroniquem]

Regarding the RG 2010 I still think Rafa has a great shot but he needs to adjust his strokes so that he hits deeper. In the first part of the first set he troubled the big guy(delpo) when he hit a deeper forehands and mind you we are talking about a spinny FH which doesn't really work on HC but it will bounce up on clay.

Nadal can hit short against most guys in the atp because most guys are about his height and the topspin makes sure that the ball arrives high to the opponent. Hitting short against a tall opponent makes Nadal very vulnerable,this was shown in RG and against DelPo in USO,because,as FYB in come right into their wheelhouse and they can just pound those balls all day long. But when the tall guys have to hit tougher shots,like deep ones tend to be,they don't have time to wind up the power forehand like on a short ball. Once Nadal stopped slicing low and reverted to his short ball routine he got pulverized by delpo because he made it easy for him. Until Fed's brain went away in the final this was exactly what stomped DelPo,fed slicing a lot and hitting the ball deep,and mind you,fed's FH has a lot more pace on it than Rafa's.

Nadal loses control of a point against a tall opponent once he hits short because then that tall guy can hit hard in corners and run Rafa around so that he produces more short balls which get pounded again and so on. But if Nadal keeps the ball deep he can at least keep the rally neutral,if not in his favor.

Next year will be very interesting.

You're talking as if Nadal had never beaten Delpo! Nadal has beaten him 4 times on all surfaces (twice on hard) and once on hard this year. Nadal mostly needs to be healthy again, recover a more powerful serve and more power in his strokes in general which his stomach tear clearly affected.
This being said it's true that Delpo has acquired more confidence and Rafa tends to play too short on hard.
It's good for him to have that new challenge to figure out. It's gonna force him to adjust his game in a positive way and it's interesting for us to see if he'll be up to the task. But he has to be fine physically, that's the main condition. He can't expect to do zip vs the top players if parts of his body are hurting or restraining his play. No chance.

 

[veroniquem]

No, I just try to help Nadal here. Nadal must feel pretty low now.

I don't think so. I think reaching the semis of the USO (matching his best result there so far) with a stomach tear and after recently coming back from a long injury time out is a fantastic result (I was expecting much worse to tell you the truth, so it was quite a good surprise for me).
Judging from his interviews, he's happy with it. + he got back his #2 ranking, another thing to be very satisfied about. He also made the semis in Cincy I think. Very nice results IMO. Of course the stomach problem is a b.... but it shouldn't take too long to fix.
He must have felt super low after RG and during W but now I think he's fine.

 

[Cyan]

Ass long

Ass long? Do you mean like long ass or big ass or something? :lol:

If he is fit he is the favorite.

 

[Augustus]

If he's fully recovered, Nadal will win the French comfortably.
Del Potro will be his biggest threat, unless Djokovic really steps it up next year...

 

[T. H. Park]

Nadal is pretty much the favorite for sure. Not as dominant as before 2009 but still ... we will see in 2010. 2010 will be an indicator where his head (and tennis ) is.

 

[NamRanger]

IMO it depends mostly on 2 things: Nadal's health and the way the RG organizers decide to handle the clay issue. This year the ball was just flying through the court and quite a few players said it almost played like HC but with sliding. They need to wet the grounds more in order to keep the top layer from being blown away by the wind.

Want to see real clay? See MC or Rome. I was looking at some of the matches there and the clay layer was pretty thick and this was seen especially when the players took off on runs,lots of clay would kick up after their first step. Wilander's analysis on the RG 09' clay was very good and it is true that the faster conditions favored the big hitters,3 out of 4 semifinalists were big hitters,soderling,delpo and gonzales with fed being the odd one out of that bunch.

Rafa is still the favourite but I give him a higher chance if he comes here well rested. Obviously he will still have trouble with big hitters but if he uses this surface like I know he can he can come through. Rafa only needs 2 more RG's to become CGOAT IMO and I think he can get them. With good scheduling Nadal can last a few more years and even with these new youngsters around(I can't believe I'm talking about Rafa as if he is 100 years old) Nadal is still the best on clay for now and I have a feeling that won't change to soon.
RG 2010 will be a very important tournament for Rafael.

I think Roland Garros should keep it the way it is or make it even faster unless AELTC decides to speed Wimbledon up. It is only fair.

 

[martini1]

The new factors are Soldering and Del Potro. Not that they are suddenly better but it shows the new tall and hard hitting players have a shot against Rafa.

It really depends on how the draws pan out. It will be easier for Rafa if both of them are on Fed's draw.

 

[T1000]

Rafa should just play Monte Carlo and Rome and then save all of it for the FO.


The guy loses once and all of a sudden he is yesterday's news? What the hell is wrong with you people. If Rafa is well rested and has no nagging injury, I would love to see another söderling match.

You already saw what happened when an in form Soderling plays an in form Nadal at the French. Don't play that injury crap either. He just destroyed Hewitt in straights the round before and played just as well in the next round. Only problem is Nadal sucks against people who step up and hit the ball. He becomes another whipping boy. See Tsonga AO 2008 and Del Potro USO 2009 for examples

 

[abmk]

He will be the fav .

But then, if he loses, many *********s will come up with another excuse of him being injured >>even if he has triple bagelled someone else the previous round

 

[zagor]

He will be the fav .

But then, if he loses, many *********s will come up with another excuse of him being injured >>even if he has triple bagelled someone else the previous round

Funny thing is Hewitt gave Nadal much more trouble before on clay than he did at this year's RG and Hewitt's having a solid year,making sort of a comeback(was close to reaching Wimbledon SF).

 

[namelessone]

You already saw what happened when an in form Soderling plays an in form Nadal at the French. Don't play that injury crap either. He just destroyed Hewitt in straights the round before and played just as well in the next round. Only problem is Nadal sucks against people who step up and hit the ball. He becomes another whipping boy. See Tsonga AO 2008 and Del Potro USO 2009 for examples

Nadal was not "in form". Beating hewitt doesn't mean squat,especially on clay. Nadal didn't arrive at his best in RG,both physically and game-wise. He overplayed in the clay season and messed up his knees,nearly got beat by djoker twice and got beat by Fed in Madrid. He also lost to nr.109 in the world in an exo before RG and could have easily lost sets against Daniel in the first round if the brazilian would have had some cojones. I didn't expect a RG 08' run this year but trust me,a "in form" Nadal doesn't play this crappy. Even with his Nadal playing mediocre tennis(for his clay court standards) and Soderling being red hot(nadal made it very easy for him because his balls lacked depth) 3 out of 4 sets were very tight. When Nadal's balls were going deep Soderling got beat 6-1,6-0 in Rome although to be fair,most of the games in that match were close. Somehow I doubt that Soderling got that much better in the space of a few weeks but Nadal did get worse,that's for sure,at least health-wise if not game-wise. About one month passed since their Rome match and although I believe in improving your game I doubt you can improve considerably in 3-4 weeks.

The fastest riser out there,DelPo went from being spanked in AO to making semi's in RG and winning USO but that took him a few months between each event. Soderling beat Nadal because Nadal didn't arrive at his best in RG and because the surface was much faster this year due to the dryer conditions and especially because the French didn't wet their surface. Nadal's mediocre game,coupled with a fast surface and a red hot player equaled Rafa's elimination.

 

[flyinghippos101]

Yes, I believe Nadal will return to the clay court season stronger than ever, he will for the first time win all three masters titles on clay and the french open, however that's the extent of Nadal's impact on the tour next year. He will not defend his AO nor any of his hard court wins, maybe make a few deep runs in some hard court masters and another grand slam final but no other masters titles besides the clay ones.

Federer aswell will make limited progress during the initial stages of the season but will make the biggest impact after winning Wimby again and the USO and winning a master or two during the US Open series, I don't see Fed being able to defend his french.

My breakdown

AO: Wildcard
French: Nadal
Wimbledon: Federer
US Open: Federer

 

[Fedace]

I am 100% sure that Nadal will win in 2010. Reason is this. Nadal owns Federer and on clay Rafa will just be too consistant for Delpo. Delpo can't rip winners as easily on Red clay so he will get frustrated and start making errors against Nadal....