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BGonline.org Forums
OT Tennis
Posted By: Stick In Response To: OT Tennis (Joe Russell)
Date: Tuesday, 10 September 2013, at 2:55 p.m.
The first two and a half sets were amazing tennis. After that it was a rout not only because Nadal was playing well but because Djoko seemed to crumble losing confidence quickly.
For me, Nadal at this point would not be considered the best player ever if he won 20 Grand Slams. He will go down as the greatest clay court player with ease.
From 2004 - 2008 is what I would call Federer's peak or prime years. During these years they played head to head a total of 18 matches, 7 of them being Grand Slam events. Overall Nadal won 12-6 with the side count of 5-2 in Grand Slam matches. However, the Grand Slams were heavily titled in favor of the French since during that time frame Nadal played Roger 4x and obviously beat him all 4 times at the French. Other than that, their other 3 meetings were at Wimbledon where Roger is ahead 2-1.
Out of those 18 matches 10 of them were on clay and Federer only managed to win 1 meeting out of 10. So ignoring clay court matches Roger and Nadal only played 8 matches and Federer is leading that battle 5-3 during that time frame.
A couple of issues I have with ever referring to Nadal as the greatest is first, his built in advantage of not only being a lefty but being the lefty to first adopt this kind of game. It's genius, don't get me wrong. Nadal is right handed so the fact that early on the people in charge of Nadal realized what a built in advantage having him play as a lefty could potentially be and carried through with it takes moxie. On top of that, he created a new type of game plan with the heaviest top spiniest balls you've ever seen. Nobody had before had to face this type of game. His advantage was huge because other players not only never played against it but now that it existed how were they supposed to adapt? Practice for it? There's only one player who plays like that, Rafa, and he's not going to come to practice to help you!
Federer specifically had to re-work his backhand. That's where Nadal was able to dominate most with his heavy high bouncing top spin. A one handed backhand has a real wheelhouse and when you kick it outside this area it becomes tough to handle. Not a big deal since kicking it there is generally a hard thing to do but Nadal's game naturally does just that. (Some Federer Backhands I wouldn't call them his top 10 but I'm too lazy to look for something better)
Nadal is a fighter making you earn every point you get. In that respect, mad props. Players either aren't able to put away balls against him and eventually his defense turns to offense when they weren't expecting it or he wears you down by being in better mental and physical shape than you even if you can hang for a set. Let's not forget though there is almost a 5 year age gap between the two which is significant in tennis. Rafa has 13 Slams but 8 of them are the French. That's both impressive and not in the same breath. Clearly making him the best clay court player ever (and his run this year on hard courts is impressive) but you can't call someone the best player ever because they won the most Slams. You can, you're entitled to your opinion, but then I get to call you a donkey. It's a shaky comparison at best but that's like someone calling the person who has the most ABT points the best American backgammon player.
Why will Roger remain the best in my book almost regardless of what Nadal does to finish up his career? Other than the obvious which I have pointed out before, Federer has the complete game. Again, a player who can do anything on a tennis court with routine ease and consistently is most impressive to me. Whether it be his High Backhand Volleys which have to be one of the toughest regular shots in tennis or his tweeners. Those shots he makes look effortless. He seems to know where they're going, and he improvises in the middle of points to hit regular groundstrokes!? There's even one I remember him hitting a between the legs lob which was absolutely sick. I can't seem to find it right now on YT though.
He could sell white gloves to a woman eating a cherry popsicle. In the modern game the serve and volley is dead but if there's anyone who is still able to use it it's Roger. His volleys are a thing of beauty compared to the things I see the likes of other top players like Nadal and Djoko butcher to death. He has a feel they don't. There's more to say but no time today. Some of us have tennis to play.
Stick
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