Oh my God miss MM..you almost jinxed Rafa with that he never lost back to back matches on clay .. whew
I've been talking about this for years! Rafa has allowed players never heard of before, taking him to the limit to win early round matches! HOW IS HE THE GOAT? It's always been like this, not just these last few years! He's taken years off his life more than likely due to playing so passively & defensive! Nothing new which is why he'll be limping out o the game instead of retiring w/ full honors IMO! His legacy will be inflated due to his clay retrieval skills!
Wait for a second.. playing passively vs lesser players do not disqualifies a person as the GOAT.. that's like saying Jordan couldn't overcome the Pistons or the Celtics for years although he was a better player than they had on their teams..I've been talking about this for years! Rafa has allowed players never heard of before, taking him to the limit to win early round matches! HOW IS HE THE GOAT? It's always been like this, not just these last few years! He's taken years off his life more than likely due to playing so passively & defensive! Nothing new which is why he'll be limping out o the game instead of retiring w/ full honors IMO! His legacy will be inflated due to his clay retrieval skills!
I get that you don’t cotton to his style of play, which, hey, personal preferences and all. Though a Novak fan complaining about a “retrieving” game seems a bit ironic to me.I've been talking about this for years! Rafa has allowed players never heard of before, taking him to the limit to win early round matches! HOW IS HE THE GOAT? It's always been like this, not just these last few years! He's taken years off his life more than likely due to playing so passively & defensive! Nothing new which is why he'll be limping out o the game instead of retiring w/ full honors IMO! His legacy will be inflated due to his clay retrieval skills!
www.theguardian.com
Draper is rarely fit for more than 1 match so this could turn out to be a hopscotch battle of Oleg Mac No Leg.
Sorry to point out facts but 6 year age gap most definitely has an impact. Also have a look at peak 2004-2007 Federer. As good as he was in 2017 (backhand was class), his forehand wasn't deadly for a very long time. 2004-2007 if he got a look on a forehand the point was as good as over.OCO! I told you I'm not a fan of Novak as much as I appreciate him coming along to knock down the MYTHOS & pedestal Fedal resided on for so long! The Tennis Intelligentsia still believes tennis begins and ends w/ Roger & Rafa, but Novak will overcome it all w/ a record that won't be touched anytime soon! Novak isn't just a retriever, getting up on that baseline and running his opponent to death! He's eating up the record book, eliminating Roger in catagory after catagory! I was the original fan of Roger thinking him great, but after a while his glow dimmed w/ 2 players who came along to "own" him! A GOAT can't have 2 players beating him like a drum time and time again! Age had little to no impact as Roger resurrected himself back to #1 while Novak on the shelf in 2017! I've said many times his legacy would have been preserved if he had left in a timely fashion instead of limping off the tour in '21! I suggested he retire after 2012 Wimbledon win even though he strived to win an OGM but for Murray! He had another chance after winning Wimbledon again in 2017! He blew it coming back, retaining a good level, but he couldn't get past Novak or even a NG'r like Hurkacz on grass!
I loved playing hop scotch as a youngster
Meddy has had a few days off and has gone back to training, lets see
Well if Rafa wants to go further in Roma he has to take it up a notch in his match against Hubi, his serve is still a worry to me and he was playing at times too short on the court, he found a way to win against the Q Bergs today, he wont get away with that type of play against Hubi
Yeah fingers crossed cos he's actually not injured often and bad timing before a slam.I loved playing hop scotch as a youngster
To be honest, you should be worried. I'd probably give Rafa a 50-50 chance against Hurkacz. But it is also a good thing, in that it is Rafa's first test a bonafide top 10er with real weapons. "Demon" is a good player, but he's sort of fringe top 10 (or 10-20 guy) like Gasquet or Bautista Agut. So I suppose what I'm getting is that while Rafa losing to Hurkacz isn't "game over," it will tell us a lot more about how much he's capable of. Even if he loses, if he makes it a hard fought match, it should be viewed as a positive.
Others have given you the shit that this post deserves, so I won't reiterate all of it, but a) Rafa IS the clay GOAT; b) at 37, how do you call this a shortened career? C: If Nadal's skills on clay were about retrieving the ball, he'd have had Ferrer's career. Don't try to tell us that you're such a tennis expert if you don't understand the difference.
We all know that he has Rafa " living rent free in his head"
quite frankly he is making himself look foolish, with such a post Moving On!
