Rafa Nadal

[sniper]

+1

also, Andynonomous' claims that Rafa never is affected by his injuries is B.S. perhaps "seems" is a better word because if you watch him closely, you can see him moving somewhat gingerly after an injury (sorry if it wasn't obvious enough for you).

in the French Open with the bloody sock (blisters, i presume) he was very careful in how he was placing his foot... you have to watch closely to catch this as his play is so aggressive.

and how come no one mentioned that Del Porto called an injury time-out of his own?

action-reaction.
who started it?

 

[richtea]

I can't believe you are even debating it. Nadal is notorious for taking tactical MTOs - remember when he was on the ropes against Petzchner last year? This is gamesmanship, not cheating - it's just part of the game. Federer does exactly the same with Hawkeye challenges at key moments - his % success rate is very low for a reason. If their opponents are too weak willed to deal with it then its their problem, in my opinion.

 

[richtea]

His fist-raising is now the norm. but he introduced it. and before that, it was considered quite inpolite to do such blatant fist-raising in your opponent's face.

Lol - this is completely wrong. Hewitt? People used to laugh at Henman because his fist-raising wasn't aggressive enough!

 

[sniper]

I can't believe you are even debating it. Nadal is notorious for taking tactical MTOs - remember when he was on the ropes against Petzchner last year? This is gamesmanship, not cheating - it's just part of the game. Federer does exactly the same with Hawkeye challenges at key moments - his % success rate is very low for a reason. If their opponents are too weak willed to deal with it then its their problem, in my opinion.

again, who started it?
indeed...

Federer was extremely annoyed by Nadal's way of taking Hawkeye challenges (first asking the umpire, then taking a few seconds to think it through, then a look at his coach, and then deciding whether to challenge).

Federer doesn't do any of that. Yes he challenges, but it was not his choice for hawkeye to be introduced in the first place.

EDIT: I agree that Hewitt started the fistraising. But Nadal turned it into the norm.

 

[richtea]

Nadull didn't start anything my friend. This sort of stuff has been going on throughout the history of the game from McEnroe and Connors onwards. The top players are unfazed when it happens to them, that's why they're the best.

 

[sniper]

Nadull didn't start anything my friend. This sort of stuff has been going on throughout the history of the game from McEnroe and Connors onwards. The top players are unfazed when it happens to them, that's why they're the best.

you got stuck in that era, didn't you?

I wouldn't say Federer is or has been unfazed by Nadal's behavior. He's been quite annoyed by it at times.
Still I consider Federer to be the better tennisplayer.

 

[Paco_P]

I can't believe you are even debating it. Nadal is notorious for taking tactical MTOs - remember when he was on the ropes against Petzchner last year? This is gamesmanship, not cheating - it's just part of the game. Federer does exactly the same with Hawkeye challenges at key moments - his % success rate is very low for a reason. If their opponents are too weak willed to deal with it then its their problem, in my opinion.

You're confused about the premises. Gamesmanship is what an Englishman does. Spaniards are cheaters.

Let's put it in football terms:
Gamesmanship: hard tackle leaving opposing player in pain, standing over him shouting at him for diving
Cheating: tackled hard by opposing player, lying on the ground writhing in non-existent pain.

As far as I can see what Nadal does on the court is within the rules. He takes advantage of the rules to calm himself, or his opponent, when he finds it helpful to do so. That's just smart.

 

[richtea]

I'm no Nadal fan, and to be honest I can't stand either of them. Federer with his vanity, comedy trash talk before matches, and inability to lose gracefully, while Nadal has blessed the game with insipid anti-tennis from day one. But on the gamesmanship front, its nothing new, and they all do it to some degree - Nadal shouldn't be singled out because he is far from being the only one.

 

[sniper]

I'm no Nadal fan, and to be honest I can't stand either of them. Federer with his vanity, comedy trash talk before matches, and inability to lose gracefully, while Nadal has blessed the game with insipid anti-tennis from day one. But on the gamesmanship front, its nothing new, and they all do it to some degree - Nadal shouldn't be singled out because he is far from being the only one.

thanks for hinting at it.
Gamesmanship is matter of degree. And however you put it, Nadal is at the very bottom of the scale.

 

[richtea]

As far as I can see what Nadal does on the court is within the rules. He takes advantage of the rules to calm himself, or his opponent, when he finds it helpful to do so. That's just smart.

This is exactly my point, he is doing what he needs to to win. Though you could argue he (along with many others) pushes the 30 second rule to its limit (and contravenes it sometimes).

 

[will10]

This is exactly my point, he is doing what he needs to to win. Though you could argue he (along with many others) pushes the 30 second rule to its limit (and contravenes it sometimes).

As he did against Del Potro a couple days ago, the Argentinian was going crazy at the umpire, Nadal sits there pulling at his shorts and lining up his water bottles thinking "job done"

 

[Stingray34]

Couldn't resist:

 

[Andynonomous]

Poor Rafa !

What happens when you take a low-skill tennis player on Peds, and put him up against a high-skill tennis player on Peds ?

The high-skill player wins.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/match_reports/2011-07-03/201107031309701764972.html


Nadal has now forced other players to play "catch-up". And "catch-up" Djokovic has.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Count me in as one who is happy Djokovic won, regardless of who's doped to what degree.

I grew so very tired of Federer's narcissistic self-love, it was like watching Fabio play tennis. Plus the way he sold his soul to Nike, with swooshes plastered all over his body.

Now, we have Nadal, with his antics of the absurd, and equal soul selling to the almighty swoosh.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Good post, Alpe.

 

[sniper]

What happens when you take a low-skill tennis player on Peds, and put him up against a high-skill tennis player on Peds ?

The high-skill player wins.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/match_reports/2011-07-03/201107031309701764972.html


Nadal has now forced other players to play "catch-up". And "catch-up" Djokovic has.

I don't think there is much between Djokovic and Nadal in terms of skills.
Both are low-skilled, I would say, in terms of ball-touch.

You have an upper class of skilled players: Federer, Gasquet, and a couple of others.
You had Cedric Pioline, back in the days. Great example of an incredibly skilled player, who could have won a lot more if he'd been better 'prepared'.
Also Gasquet could do a lot better with some HGH instead of coke.

 

[hfer07]

so...... Now that nadal is no longer the numero 1, who's going to start the thread on novak djokovic?????

 

[danjo007]

LMFAO - great post hfer .

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

so...... Now that nadal is no longer the numero 1, who's going to start the thread on novak djokovic?????

I think you may just have...

 

[doublestandard]

Let me know when one of you tough guys can play the last week of a major on a broken foot.

http://twitpic.com/5ksb43/full

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I don't think anyone is questioning his toughness, or even that he's good, it's aspects of his character and personality a lot of dislike.

 

[Andynonomous]

It wasn't broken.

Let me know when one of you tough guys can play the last week of a major on a broken foot.

http://twitpic.com/5ksb43/full

It wasn't broken.

He has done this before many times. EVERY TIME he loses, he mentions an injury afterwards.

He played 4 matches after "breaking his foot". His movement was never affected.

He claimed that he had a broken foot, then changed the story to "no injury", then changed the story again to "inflamed tendon", then changed the story again to "hairline fracture".

You know how police know when you are lying ? When your story keeps changing. Nadal is full of BS

 

[yourwelcome]

I don't think there is much between Djokovic and Nadal in terms of skills.
Both are low-skilled, I would say, in terms of ball-touch.

You have an upper class of skilled players: Federer, Gasquet, and a couple of others.
You had Cedric Pioline, back in the days. Great example of an incredibly skilled player, who could have won a lot more if he'd been better 'prepared'.
Also Gasquet could do a lot better with some HGH instead of coke.

With your incredible level of knowledge, you ought to be in high demand as top level tennis coach. You could teach Djokovic and Nadal how to properly control a ball and Federer how to prepare. Why are you wasting your time on a cycling forum?

 

[Paco_P]

I don't think anyone is questioning his toughness, or even that he's good, it's aspects of his character and personality a lot of dislike.

Some of this may be due to bad translation. At least in Spain, in Spanish or Mallorquin (his family language) he comes across as genuinely down to earth and humble, like a big kid who wants to win badly, but loses well. Obviously some of that is a public persona he and his entourage have crafted carefully, but of all the top tier Spanish sports figures, he's probably the most widely respected and liked in Spain, and it's precisely because of his character and personality. Maybe there's a dark side in private, but it hasn't been shown publicly yet.

Anyone that's questioning whether one of the two best all round tennis player of his era (who dominated the other in 1-1 matches) is 'even' good clearly knows nothing about tennis. What some folks don't like is his way of managing time in matches.

 

[Parrulo]

What some folks don't like is his way of managing time in matches.

no what people on this forum don't like is that tennis players are allowed to go around doped to gills and nothing happens while cycling in general is seen as a dirty sport with no hope to ever become clean and cyclists are mostly seen as doped scumbags that have no talented and all they can do is due to doping.