Unbelievable. 11 times. Incredible champion is Rafa. Getting emotional in his old age
Poor Thiem, nothing he could do against the awesome Nadal.
Poor Thiem, nothing he could do against the awesome Nadal.
Tennis 2018
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Rafa and Fed have won the last 6 Grand Slams... In their 30s.
Wow
Wow
Did United's dominance under Sir Alex make the Premier League the least interesting of the major leagues in Europe?
Of course, unless you're a biased United fan.
It absolutely did for oppo fans in England, as evidenced by the whole Abu phenomenon. Fans of a sport generally prefer competitiveness over rampant domination by one player or club.
As much as I love Nadal winning these Slams in the last 18 months, it's got a lot to do with how poor the field is right now outside of Federer and Nadal. I mean the likes of Cilic and Zverev are in the Top 5
As @Bojan11 said, this was far more entertaining than the USO last year or the hugely predictable Wimbledon. We've had some great matches and it's upto the others to find a way to beat Rafa. Maybe the "GOAT" should turn up next year to try solve the riddle
Lets be honest, Nadal wasn't even close to his best this clay season since Madrid and he's still won it. It really is upto the opponents to find a way to solve the problem. Djoko is one person who would have troubled Rafa here.
As much as I love Nadal winning these Slams in the last 18 months, it's got a lot to do with how poor the field is right now outside of Federer and Nadal. I mean the likes of Cilic and Zverev are in the Top 5
As @Bojan11 said, this was far more entertaining than the USO last year or the hugely predictable Wimbledon. We've had some great matches and it's upto the others to find a way to beat Rafa. Maybe the "GOAT" should turn up next year to try solve the riddle
This wasn't remotely as entertaining as the US Open last year because we didn't know who would win it. Del Potro and Anderson were in better form at the time and you had players like Carreno Busta and others stepping up to add some entertainment value.
Let's hope Djokovic continues his return at Wimbledon. If he has a great tournament then things could get interesting.
I don't think the dominance of one team/player makes a sport or a competition boring. Maybe for a neutral who doesn't root for anyone in particular it 'might' reduce their interest but there is a lot more to watch than who wins it all at the end.
The Abu phenomenon IMO is more of envy by supporters of rival teams than actual disinterest in the league in itself. Bayern exercises a similar level of dominance in German football as United did under SAF, yet German football fans are among the most passionate in Europe. I don't think the domination of one team drives down support or match attendance (I don't have statistics to back my claim though, just my personal feeling).
I think the idea of loss in interest due to dominance is a claim mainly pushed by envious rival fans, yet they would still watch year in, year out, with the hope of someone toppling the dominant player/team.
USO might have had some unpredictability about the winner but in terms of quality, it wasn't really too great. Federer Del Po was one of the few high quality matches.
Djoko and Del Po are the only ones who can make Wimbledon remotely entertaining/competitive. Expecting nothing from Nadal, Stan, Thiem, Zverev and Cilic.
goat
Vamos! Came to Roland Garros two years ago and didn't see Rafa in the QFs or SFs as he withdrew because of injury.
Back for a final this time and he's won it. So happy!!
Back for a final this time and he's won it. So happy!!
Beating Nadal at Roland Garros - the most difficult challenge in sport? Has to be right up there.
It was probably the most intriguing slam between 2011-2015 - or at least the Nadal-Djokovic contests were. Roland Garros was the final stop to Djokovic clearing up everything.
85 wins and 2 losses in RG, Soderling and Nole, and he beat the Roger twice in Wimbledon finals, something Roger could never do to him in RG. just untouchable.
He only beat Federer once at Wimbledon, but they have only played 3 times there in total.
Beating Nadal at RG has got to be the toughest task in any sport. A fit Nadal is almost impossible to beat here unless you get really heavy, damp conditions and a big hitter absolutely thoroughly red lining it.
The USO last year was absolutely piss poor both from a quality and entertainment viewpoint. Players like PCB and Anderson had no business being in the semi/final and it is evidenced by how they have fallen back into mediocrity since. Mind, the same thing would apply to Cecchinato this Slam.
We knew how this FO would turn out but it had some high quality matches.
They've both actually become top 10 players since raising their respective games last year. Anderson is at 8 and PCB is just outside the top 10 after having been in it for a while. Both will continue to be relevant in for the rest of the year, especially at Wimbledon and the Open.
Given the current state of the men’s....
Anderson’s best result this year is SF at Madrid, and PCB’s SF at Miami. Aside from that, the best both of them managed at Slams is a R4 exit, which, you know, is in line with what they managed before the USO. There’s zero, zilch, nada proof that either of them have managed to raise their game to be a contender, as their USO result would suggest according to you. And if you look at the actual ranking, ATP race - Anderson would be where he is, but PCB dropped back to 15, and he was yo-yoing there or thereabouts prior to USO.
There are two geezers in their 30s sweeping every Slams in the past year and a half, freak results from the middling chasing pack are bound to happen.
Anyway Federer is back in action this week.
Kyrgios and Raonic are also back in the same tournament.
Kyrgios and Raonic are also back in the same tournament.
Is he back at #1 if he wins this week ? I know he and Rafa are very close on points.
If he reaches the final then he is number 1.
Nice. Hopefully that helps in the Wimbledon rankings
Isn't he guaranteed to be #1 seed regardless with the Halle and Wimby win last year?
Even if he were ranked 6, Wimbledon would give him the #1. They're a bit biased up there at Wimbledon
Won't be surprised to see Murray also get a decent enough seeding.
Needs to win 3 matches in Stuttgart. After that though, he's got 2500 points to defend at Halle and Wimbledon.
Federer's comfortably ahead in the Wimbledon rankings I think, even if Rafa wins Queen's and Fed doesn't win a match in Halle he's still carrying over 2500 points from last year versus 180 for Rafa, and more points from 2016 for that matter. Be interesting to see what seed Murray ends up as if he plays.
I meant seed at Wimby. He's way ahead of anyone in the grass ranking.
Even if he were ranked 6, Wimbledon would give him the #1. They're a bit biased up there at Wimbledon
Won't be surprised to see Murray also get a decent enough seeding.
And this is just stupid, the criteria are very clear and haven't changed for years. If you want a good seeding there, don't suck on grass.
Will he even be seeded?
probably not, top 32 to begin with right?
I know we have this conversation after every slam but I really think Nadal will e waking up today feeling that he’s going to equal or overtake Federer on slams. Obviously, fitness permitting, which is always the big caveat with Nadal.
If, for example, he can get himself fit for RG for the next 4 years, you’d fancy him to take at least 2 of those (albeit I don’t think it’s beyond the realm that he might equal or overtake Federer with French titles alone). The gap there between he and everyone else is still absolutely enormous. That would leave him one short and for all that I think he’s not necessarily going to win one of the hard courts a year, he has plenty of time to focus on nicking one or two to go with a few RG.
I reckon Federer will need 22 or maybe even 23 to edge out Rafa. Though, you can just imagine that if Federer retired on an achievable number, then Nadal would just completely narrow the focus to slams.
None of which even mentions Djoko who, if he’s near his best, has the game to win on every surface and doesn’t have the slightly narrower chances that Nadal and Federer have.
If, for example, he can get himself fit for RG for the next 4 years, you’d fancy him to take at least 2 of those (albeit I don’t think it’s beyond the realm that he might equal or overtake Federer with French titles alone). The gap there between he and everyone else is still absolutely enormous. That would leave him one short and for all that I think he’s not necessarily going to win one of the hard courts a year, he has plenty of time to focus on nicking one or two to go with a few RG.
I reckon Federer will need 22 or maybe even 23 to edge out Rafa. Though, you can just imagine that if Federer retired on an achievable number, then Nadal would just completely narrow the focus to slams.
None of which even mentions Djoko who, if he’s near his best, has the game to win on every surface and doesn’t have the slightly narrower chances that Nadal and Federer have.
his dominance on clay is on pair with USA in basketball or Chong Li in Kumite. the scary thing is, he isn't even losing sets there so it wouldn't surprise me if he wins the next three RG's. but for me, he doesn't necessarily have to overtake Federer in number of slams to be considered a GOAT. if they're equal in number of grand slams won or he is just 1 behind for example, many would still consider him the best ever because of his record vs Fed. he has better record in GS finals overall, better record in AO and better record at RG and he also managed to beat Fed on his main surface. so if they are tied at the end of their careers, Nadal would be GOAT for me.
And played in a tougher era.
When one of the two happens to just win a slam a day or two ago, the GOAT sentiment rises and then dissipates just as quickly.
Federer is widely regarded as the best Tennis player of all time based not just on having won more grand slams but also having won Wimbledon - which is the crown jewel of men's Tennis - more than anyone. Here are a few more items that will be evaluated when comparing them.
- Most weeks at the number one player in the world - 309 (Nadal is 6th at 177)
- Most consecutive weeks at #1 - 237 (Nadal is 11th at 56)
- Most ATP singles titles ever: Here Federer is 2nd behind Connors. (Nadal is 4th)
- Most ATP singles finals: Roger is 2nd behind Connors, Rafa is 4th
- Most Slams 20 (Nadal 17)
- Most Slam Finals 30 (Nadal 24)
- Most Slam match wins 332 (Nadal is 3rd behind Djokovic at 237)
- All time match winning % on hard courts (Roger #1 - Rafa#11)
- All time match winning % on clay (Rafa #1 - Roger not in the top 10)
- All time match winning % on grass (Roger #2 - Rafa not in the top 10)
- Career match wins v top 10 opponents - Roger #1 at 214, Rafa #4 at 159
So all things said, in order to be widely considered the GOAT (as opposed to narrowly by his fan boys), Nadal will have to not only catch Federer on slams, but also catch him on at least two or more of the above stats where Roger is currently ahead quite comfortably. Even under the best of conditions, the likelihood that this will happen is extremely implausible.
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360 + 0.75*(2000) = 1860 so it basically comes down to how tight their agreement is with the ATP to only consider the top 32 to begin with. I think they'll find a way around it personally, if he's even fit that is which seems unlikely right now.
To be fair Federer has avoided playing Nadal on clay in the past two season. The head to head could have been more in Nadals favour.
With only Thiem and Zverev seen as the main threats to Nadal on clay. I’m sure Federer would have met Nadal a few times on clay in the past 2 seasons due to the lack of competition Nadal has on the surface.
I’m not sure what age has to do with it though. When both were at their peak the rivalry was massively in Nadals favour and even the most hardest of Fed fans would admit that.
You could argue with Djokovics head to head against Federer. Djokovic beat Federer a lot of times when Djokovic was at his peak and Fed was past his best. Whilst Federer was beating Djokovic early on in the rivalry when Djokovic was still clearly raw. So that rivalry head to head you can say isn’t really accurate as there was never really a time consistently when both met at their peaks.
Where as Nadal and Fed both met each other a lot of times at their best. The matches most of the time went in Nadals favour.
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