2013 French Open SF: Nadal vs. Djokovic

[the AntiPusher]

Props to Rafa. This was his Wimbledon 08 and he passed where Roger failed miserably. fair play to him!

Darth, Let it go guy, Rafa is a very special player. He has a more than 8 win plus advantage over the 3 best players of his generation and two of which (djoker and Fed) will be in the top 10 players of all time including himself when it all said and done, IMO.

 

[Moxie]

Props to Rafa. This was his Wimbledon 08 and he passed where Roger failed miserably. fair play to him!

Darth, Let it go guy, Rafa is a very special player. He has a more than 8 win plus advantage over the 3 best players of his generation and two of which (djoker and Fed) will be in the top 10 players of all time including himself when it all said and done, IMO.

A-P: I don't know why it was important to make this point at Darth's expense. Darth made a generous point, and I appreciate it. The rest of what you said is a non-sequitor to what Darth offered.

 

[tennisville]

Props to Rafa. This was his Wimbledon 08 and he passed where Roger failed miserably. fair play to him!

to be honest I was thinking something similar to Borg at 1980 . He had tons of chances in the 4th but failed to close it out . And won the match in a marathon of the fifth set

 

[Cosmo]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

 

[the AntiPusher]

Props to Rafa. This was his Wimbledon 08 and he passed where Roger failed miserably. fair play to him!

Darth, Let it go guy, Rafa is a very special player. He has a more than 8 win plus advantage over the 3 best players of his generation and two of which (djoker and Fed) will be in the top 10 players of all time including himself when it all said and done, IMO.

A-P: I don't know why it was important to make this point at Darth's expense. Darth made a generous point, and I appreciate it. The rest of what you said is a non-sequitor to what Darth offered.

Darth Fed knows I respect him as a poster and my intent wasn't as you say.. However ,I will respond to Darth Fed via PM..

Darth Fed, I meant no harm in my reply to your post. Fed is the greatest player of our time by far.. Rafa was fortunate that day in 2008 but not in 2007.. I was just saying that its one match.. I think to say that one player failed is a bit harsh because after seeing that match just like AO 12 when Djoker beat Rafa.. Are there really any failures...No in my opinion.. It is just the era these great players are in and during any encounter at a GS, either 3 (Djoker, Fed and Rafa) can pull off a victory

 

[Moxie]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

Hi, Cosmo! Good to see you around.

I let it go when Darth said it, out of graciousness, but you can't both rewrite history. Federer "failed miserably" at RG in 08, but at Wimbledon that year he fought really hard. Doesn't it behoove you, as fans to appreciate that? Does coming back from a 2-sets deficit and losing 7-9 in the 5th constitute "failing miserably?" If so, you people are a tough crowd.

 

[brokenshoelace]

There was nothing "miserable" about Federer's performance in the 2008 Wimbledon final. The 2009 Australian Open final on the other hand...

 

[Cosmo]

Hi Moxie! I know you were happy yesterday!

I wouldn't have ever used those words - I know that Roger fought hard. I was more (trying) to make kinda the same point as you - that people can't have it both ways - either it was the greatest, or Roger failed miserably. I can't remember if DarthFed ever called it the greatest or not, but I know that a lot of people do. If you remember, my view was that people called it the greatest only because Nadal won, so if people now say that Roger failed, I'm like, aha! I knew you were looking only at RN when you called it the greatest.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that DarthFed said that. But I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if I heard, say, JMAC say it.

Anyway, old news, haha! I hope you won't mind if I pull against your boy tomorrow - gotta support Roger's fellow geriatrics, you know!

 

[huntingyou]

most Federer fans perspective when it comes to Nadal it's skewed and has very little merit.

Darth it's one of the good one though, I know it must pain him to see Rafa succeed where Roger failed so that little SW19 2008 remark actually was kind and thoughtful coming from him.

 

[Didi]

Does anyone know where I can find videos of the post-match press conferences, or at least, the transcriptions?

I only found this:

http://www.nadalnews.com/2013/06/08/rg-semifinal-presser-transcript/?fb_source=pubv1#.UbNIl5xW9Uo

Hope it helps. It will take some time till it's posted on the main RG site.

Meanwhile Nadal announced on his facebook page that he withdraws from Halle. Wise decision I guess as he'll need as much rest as possible in order to have a deep run at SW19.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Does anyone know where I can find videos of the post-match press conferences, or at least, the transcriptions?

I only found this:

http://www.nadalnews.com/2013/06/08/rg-semifinal-presser-transcript/?fb_source=pubv1#.UbNIl5xW9Uo

Hope it helps. It will take some time till it's posted on the main RG site.

Meanwhile Nadal announced on his facebook page that he withdraws from Halle. Wise decision I guess as he'll need as much rest as possible in order to have a deep run at SW19.

Thanks for the link.

It's definitely a wise decision scheduling wise, though ideally, he would have liked a few grass court matches to get his feet wet. The problem is in the first week at Wimbledon when the courts are still playing very quick, he might run across a hot opponent who's serving big and it could be trouble.

 

[Tennisguy]

Great match although I couldn't wake up early enough to catch the first two sets. I thought Novak's defense suffered noticeably from the middle of the fifth set to the end. There were about half a dozen shots that Nadal hit for winners that Novak didn't even try to get back. Most of those shots were deep, very well-struck and required a change of direction for Novak to get to, but considering Nadal seemed to be willing to chase down EVERY ball, I was surprised that Novak didn't go for those (he definitely would have been able to get a racquet on them). He probably would have had to pop the balls up and hope that it went deep. And Novak missing a few overheads shows how important getting every ball back can be.

I thought that it might have been his legs and that he was trying to save his energy, but after I saw his comments about how he thought it was slippery, I wonder if that entered into it.

 

[Cosmo]

most Federer fans perspective when it comes to Nadal it's skewed and has very little merit.

I can't imagine why you'd say that about us. :angel:
*sticking my RN voodoo doll close to the tv*

 

[DarthFed]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

Cosmo let's just say I am a competitive person. Some might say too competitive. In a one on one sport there are no B's, C's and D's, just A's and F's. Roger did a lot wrong in that final and was tough half the time and weak the other half. So that's where the "failure" part comes in. There are bound to be parallels drawn between that match and 2008 Wimbledon. Rafa stepped up and survived the challenge while Roger didn't. Simple as that.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

well, that one was entertaining, i must say. i think for my personal enjoyment it helped that i only saw bits until the fifth (tuned in at 0-2). wasn't the highest Quality, imo. of course, the wind might have had something to do with it. but it was just very very patchy for the biggest part.

one little Thing i found fascinating was regarding Rafa's confidence - he seemed pretty broken in the fifth... and hit some phenomenal, back to the wall backhands... yet seemed to do not much more than a pro forma "vamos", reverting to "hurt puppy" Looks right away as he lined up for the next Point. but when he worked great Forehands, he started building on it.

i think this was the first Nole-Rafa match i saw on swiss tv, which was fun as well. when Rafa was trailing, Heinz Günthardt was just sooo frustrated with the fact that Rafa's game base is a defensive one... marvelled at some of the bh shots that Rafa made when under pressure, and pointing out that these just show that if he did go for those a little more often, stepped up, taking more balls on the rise, he could actually do it - and doing it more often he'd get even better at it. while he was a bit over the top, i think he isn't 100% wrong; and i believe it's mostly due to above "confidence" factor... Rafa wants his fh to do it, and when his bh would, he doesn't seem to trust it enough.

also, i had to think of one discussion, a while ago on some incarnation on this board where some fellow posters denied that Novak has an overhead/Smash problem. yeah, there was the wind.. but these were some horrible fails.
(weird autocorrect on friend's Laptop is randomly capitalizing some words. interesting, but annoying.)

 

[brokenshoelace]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

Cosmo let's just say I am a competitive person. Some might say too competitive. In a one on one sport there are no B's, C's and D's, just A's and F's. Roger did a lot wrong in that final and was tough half the time and weak the other half. So that's where the "failure" part comes in. There are bound to be parallels drawn between that match and 2008 Wimbledon. Rafa stepped up and survived the challenge while Roger didn't. Simple as that.

The hell is up with your avatar? Did you lose a bet?

 

[DarthFed]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

Cosmo let's just say I am a competitive person. Some might say too competitive. In a one on one sport there are no B's, C's and D's, just A's and F's. Roger did a lot wrong in that final and was tough half the time and weak the other half. So that's where the "failure" part comes in. There are bound to be parallels drawn between that match and 2008 Wimbledon. Rafa stepped up and survived the challenge while Roger didn't. Simple as that.

The hell is up with your avatar? Did you lose a bet?

How'd you guess. I bet Didi that Nadal would win the 4th set after winning the 3rd so easily. Djoker winning the 4th is why you don't see him with a Paris Hilton avatar.

 

[Moxie]

DarthFed, we must be on the same page about Wimbledon 08- if Roger failed miserably at Wimbledon 08, as you say, then it certainly cannot be the greatest match of all time, which wouldn't involve either player doing anything miserably. (Can you tell that it still annoys the heck out of me when people call it that?

Cosmo let's just say I am a competitive person. Some might say too competitive. In a one on one sport there are no B's, C's and D's, just A's and F's. Roger did a lot wrong in that final and was tough half the time and weak the other half. So that's where the "failure" part comes in. There are bound to be parallels drawn between that match and 2008 Wimbledon. Rafa stepped up and survived the challenge while Roger didn't. Simple as that.

The hell is up with your avatar? Did you lose a bet?

How'd you guess. I bet Didi that Nadal would win the 4th set after winning the 3rd so easily. Djoker winning the 4th is why you don't see him with a Paris Hilton avatar.

That's hilarious! How long do you have to endure this 'indignity'? And how'd you get yourself roped into betting FOR Nadal? I'd have liked Rafa to have won in 4, but now I'm really sorry we don't get the Paris Hilton avatar.

 

[Moxie]

Hi Moxie! I know you were happy yesterday!

I wouldn't have ever used those words - I know that Roger fought hard. I was more (trying) to make kinda the same point as you - that people can't have it both ways - either it was the greatest, or Roger failed miserably. I can't remember if DarthFed ever called it the greatest or not, but I know that a lot of people do. If you remember, my view was that people called it the greatest only because Nadal won, so if people now say that Roger failed, I'm like, aha! I knew you were looking only at RN when you called it the greatest.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that DarthFed said that. But I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if I heard, say, JMAC say it.

Anyway, old news, haha! I hope you won't mind if I pull against your boy tomorrow - gotta support Roger's fellow geriatrics, you know!

I was happy, honey, thanks! And I'm perfectly fine with Roger and Nole fans that root against Nadal...it's the nature of fandom. And in this case, it has you rooting for a guy I like a lot, Ferrer, so - all good!

I often do think of your question: If Nadal hadn't won Wimbledon 08, would it have been the Greatest Match of all Time? And I think it's a fair question, but I think the answer keeps coming back...yes. There are a few other matches in contention, but I watched that match live, meaning I didn't know who would win, and it was a thriller. I've rarely or never seen a match so full of fine shots, and drama.

But the ship has sailed on that one, too. The commentators love to call it the Greatest. And now they're liking to call this RG SF one of the greatest, too. We'll see how that really plays out.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Hi Moxie! I know you were happy yesterday!

I wouldn't have ever used those words - I know that Roger fought hard. I was more (trying) to make kinda the same point as you - that people can't have it both ways - either it was the greatest, or Roger failed miserably. I can't remember if DarthFed ever called it the greatest or not, but I know that a lot of people do. If you remember, my view was that people called it the greatest only because Nadal won, so if people now say that Roger failed, I'm like, aha! I knew you were looking only at RN when you called it the greatest.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that DarthFed said that. But I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if I heard, say, JMAC say it.

Anyway, old news, haha! I hope you won't mind if I pull against your boy tomorrow - gotta support Roger's fellow geriatrics, you know!

I was happy, honey, thanks! And I'm perfectly fine with Roger and Nole fans that root against Nadal...it's the nature of fandom. And in this case, it has you rooting for a guy I like a lot, Ferrer, so - all good!

I often do think of your question: If Nadal hadn't won Wimbledon 08, would it have been the Greatest Match of all Time? And I think it's a fair question, but I think the answer keeps coming back...yes. There are a few other matches in contention, but I watched that match live, meaning I didn't know who would win, and it was a thriller. I've rarely or never seen a match so full of fine shots, and drama.

But the ship has sailed on that one, too. The commentators love to call it the Greatest. And now they're liking to call this RG SF one of the greatest, too. We'll see how that really plays out.

Moxie, John McEnroe has pointed out that Nadal has arguably been in three of the Greatest matches in the Open Era. 2008 Wimbledon Final, 2012 Australian Open Final, and 2013 Roland Garros Semifinal. All we need now is to have Nadal play a fifth set tiebreaker in the US Open Final to complete the set!

By the way, Moxie how did you handle watching the Wimby final live? Man, that was nerve wrecking match for me!