2015 French Open QF: Djokovic v. Nadal

[Puppet Master]

As opposed to your post yesterday, which was balanced and informed by ancient tennis wisdom...

Deservedly so, but dissing the 2008 version of him. Wow.
We may never know, since that match will never happen but Nadal would have beaten him handily, and in this I am sure. His forehand, at the time, would have been too much to handle even for Djokovic I am afraid, and he would have held up nicely in the backhand exchanges.

:laydownlaughing

Oh, what do I know about tennis, I am just a deluded fan, right? I won't argue, nor do I care about it.

 

[Kieran]

Yeah, this is straight up disrespecting the guy.

As opposed to your post yesterday, which was balanced and informed by ancient tennis wisdom...

Deservedly so, but dissing the 2008 version of him. Wow.
We may never know, since that match will never happen but Nadal would have beaten him handily, and in this I am sure. His forehand, at the time, would have been too much to handle even for Djokovic I am afraid, and he would have held up nicely in the backhand exchanges.

Not deservedly so.

Nadal did nothing yesterday that's "disgusting" and even if he isn't the man he was, he's working his guts off to get back there. There's nothing shameful in that.

The hysteria you showed yesterday had nothing to do with tennis. Nadal has won many matches like yesterday, and against Nole, Roger and Andy, and not once were they "disgusting." They're a tough group of individuals and the cruel aspect of this sport is, if you're not on, you can get creamed. Humiliated, even. I've seen it happen to Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. Not bad company for Rafa to be keeping...

 

[brokenshoelace]

As opposed to your post yesterday, which was balanced and informed by ancient tennis wisdom...

Deservedly so, but dissing the 2008 version of him. Wow.
We may never know, since that match will never happen but Nadal would have beaten him handily, and in this I am sure. His forehand, at the time, would have been too much to handle even for Djokovic I am afraid, and he would have held up nicely in the backhand exchanges.

:laydownlaughing

Oh dear lord. You're seriously laughing at the notion that the Rafael Nadal who dropped a grand total of 41 games at the 2008 French Open, zero sets, including destructions over Djokovic and Federer would probably have beaten this Djokovic?

Yeah that's ludicrous indeed. I mean, there's no way DJokovic, when he's having the year he's currently having, could lose to that. THAT would never happen. We all saw how in 2011, when he was in even better form, he won the tournament handily... Oh wait, he lost to grandpa Fed you say? Never mind.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Revisionist history continues:

Nadal stinks up the joint all year so bad that even the usual "in denial" clan has to admit he's past his prime. He predictably loses to the current best player in the world, and suddenly, it's laughable that his 22 year old, best ever self would have won.

Newsflash, the Novak that Nadal destroyed at the 2008 FO is closer to this Novak than the Rafa that Novak destroyed yesterday is closer to prime Rafa. I'll remind everyone Novak entered RG as the AO champion, the Indian Wells champion, and the Rome champion that year.

 

[Kieran]

I dunno who the "in denial" clan are, because nobody's been talking Rafa up in donks, but that's true. Novak was within a single set in Hamburg that year of displacing Rafa as world #2. I think everyone gets giddy when something seismic happens in the sport - and despite his form, it's still momentous that Rafa lost - but this doesn't mean we lose the head completely and start rewriting everything going backwards.

You know, I mentioned it a few weeks back, that if Novak beat this worst of all versions of Rafa in Paris, there would be people who'd say "it proves he's been better there all along, the matches were always on his racket, Nole lost them - Rafa didn't win them etc."

It's known at The Cali Manoeuvre...

 

[brokenshoelace]

I dunno who the "in denial" clan are, because nobody's been talking Rafa up in donks, but that's true. Novak was within a single set in Hamburg that year of displacing Rafa as world #2. I think everyone gets giddy when something seismic happens in the sport - and despite his form, it's still momentous that Rafa lost - but this doesn't mean we lose the head completely and start rewriting everything going backwards.

You know, I mentioned it a few weeks back, that if Novak beat this worst of all versions of Rafa in Paris, there would be people who'd say "it proves he's been better there all along, the matches were always on his racket, Nole lost them - Rafa didn't win them etc."

It's known at The Cali Manoeuvre...

The in denial clan is anyone who's been denying that Nadal has lost a step for the past two years so that they can yell "excuses!" any time a Nadal fan brings it up. Unfortunately, Rafa has been so poor this year that even they have had to acknowledge the decline. Do I really need to name names?

 

[Kieran]

I dunno who the "in denial" clan are, because nobody's been talking Rafa up in donks, but that's true. Novak was within a single set in Hamburg that year of displacing Rafa as world #2. I think everyone gets giddy when something seismic happens in the sport - and despite his form, it's still momentous that Rafa lost - but this doesn't mean we lose the head completely and start rewriting everything going backwards.

You know, I mentioned it a few weeks back, that if Novak beat this worst of all versions of Rafa in Paris, there would be people who'd say "it proves he's been better there all along, the matches were always on his racket, Nole lost them - Rafa didn't win them etc."

It's known at The Cali Manoeuvre...

The in denial clan is anyone who's been denying that Nadal has lost a step for the past two years so that they can yell "excuses!" any time a Nadal fan brings it up. Unfortunately, Rafa has been so poor this year that even they have had to acknowledge the decline. Do I really need to name names?

Ah I get ya now. But you know, that really sounds like an excuse to me... :snicker

 

[brokenshoelace]

I dunno who the "in denial" clan are, because nobody's been talking Rafa up in donks, but that's true. Novak was within a single set in Hamburg that year of displacing Rafa as world #2. I think everyone gets giddy when something seismic happens in the sport - and despite his form, it's still momentous that Rafa lost - but this doesn't mean we lose the head completely and start rewriting everything going backwards.

You know, I mentioned it a few weeks back, that if Novak beat this worst of all versions of Rafa in Paris, there would be people who'd say "it proves he's been better there all along, the matches were always on his racket, Nole lost them - Rafa didn't win them etc."

It's known at The Cali Manoeuvre...

The in denial clan is anyone who's been denying that Nadal has lost a step for the past two years so that they can yell "excuses!" any time a Nadal fan brings it up. Unfortunately, Rafa has been so poor this year that even they have had to acknowledge the decline. Do I really need to name names?

Ah I get ya now. But you know, that really sounds like an excuse to me... :snicker

I know you're kidding but no excuses are needed. Prime Nadal at RG was the closest thing to unbeatable as there ever was in any sport ever. He virtually was unbeatable, almost literally (don't want to revisit the Soderling debacle).

But, there's no excuse when you lose to a vastly superior player (which Novak is at this point) who outplays you without even having to play out of his own mind. It is what it is.

 

[nehmeth]

^Wow! You can just imagine what Nike directors are thinking right now then. One of those guys is going to get a huuuuge offer. Probably Novak

I seriously doubt Novak would take it. He is huge in Asia and Uniqlo has done right by him every step of the way. Murray inked a pretty serious deal with UA (just last year?). Jo might get an offer, but he's getting older.

Stan? uzzled Stan?? I don't think the Nike sherbet colors are his cup of tea. He seems to really enjoy playing in his underpants. :cover

 

[Carol]

Not dubts about Novak is having an exceptional year, he is playing well but also having all the help with the mediocrity of the game of the other players like Federer who is far of his best (age) Nadal is also very far of his best ((lack of confidence and maybe no so much enthusiasm like he always had?) Ferru getting worse (age) Berdych, Wawrinka, Tsonga, Monfils etc are doing the same, very inconsistent game, today playing well, tomorrow losing against anyone ( they are far to be Champions) and the youngers like Raonic (injured) Dimitrov, Nishi and other still are in the Limbo
I don't take anything of Novak, he is trying everything he can and he is doing really well, he knows that this is his best opportunity and he doesn't waste his time, maybe his dream to win the RG is close or maybe not but right now he is playing better than anyone else though in my opinion there is someone else playing so well like him named Murray even that he didn't start the year so well due to his back surgery and the recovery and playing well again takes time

 

[Federberg]

Deservedly so, but dissing the 2008 version of him. Wow.
We may never know, since that match will never happen but Nadal would have beaten him handily, and in this I am sure. His forehand, at the time, would have been too much to handle even for Djokovic I am afraid, and he would have held up nicely in the backhand exchanges.

:laydownlaughing

Oh dear lord. You're seriously laughing at the notion that the Rafael Nadal who dropped a grand total of 41 games at the 2008 French Open, zero sets, including destructions over Djokovic and Federer would probably have beaten this Djokovic?

Yeah that's ludicrous indeed. I mean, there's no way DJokovic, when he's having the year he's currently having, could lose to that. THAT would never happen. We all saw how in 2011, when he was in even better form, he won the tournament handily... Oh wait, he lost to grandpa Fed you say? Never mind.

You can read right? Develop a sense of humour mate. Puppet makes a statement "We may never know" and then in the very same sentence contradicts himself. It was funny. Jeeeeeez..

 

[isabelle]

Thankyou Nole, you're a champ

 

[brokenshoelace]

:laydownlaughing

Oh dear lord. You're seriously laughing at the notion that the Rafael Nadal who dropped a grand total of 41 games at the 2008 French Open, zero sets, including destructions over Djokovic and Federer would probably have beaten this Djokovic?

Yeah that's ludicrous indeed. I mean, there's no way DJokovic, when he's having the year he's currently having, could lose to that. THAT would never happen. We all saw how in 2011, when he was in even better form, he won the tournament handily... Oh wait, he lost to grandpa Fed you say? Never mind.

You can read right? Develop a sense of humour mate. Puppet makes a statement "We may never know" and then in the very same sentence contradicts himself. It was funny. Jeeeeeez..

OK, this one is my bad.

 

[Riotbeard]

The in denial clan is anyone who's been denying that Nadal has lost a step for the past two years so that they can yell "excuses!" any time a Nadal fan brings it up. Unfortunately, Rafa has been so poor this year that even they have had to acknowledge the decline. Do I really need to name names?

Ah I get ya now. But you know, that really sounds like an excuse to me... :snicker

I know you're kidding but no excuses are needed. Prime Nadal at RG was the closest thing to unbeatable as there ever was in any sport ever. He virtually was unbeatable, almost literally (don't want to revisit the Soderling debacle).

But, there's no excuse when you lose to a vastly superior player (which Novak is at this point) who outplays you without even having to play out of his own mind. It is what it is.

Who thinks Rafa is playing his best for the last two years? I have been saying it for some time. I honestly can't think of anyone who does not think Rafa has lost anything (except for a handful of the more rigid nadal fans).

 

[Garro]

Deservedly so, but dissing the 2008 version of him. Wow.
We may never know, since that match will never happen but Nadal would have beaten him handily, and in this I am sure. His forehand, at the time, would have been too much to handle even for Djokovic I am afraid, and he would have held up nicely in the backhand exchanges.

I didn't diss any version of Rafa. I just think Novak could have beaten Rafa at RG earlier if he had played like he did yesterday. Peak Rafa on clay is still the closest thing I've seen to unbeatable in tennis.

 

[Puppet Master]

:laydownlaughing

Oh dear lord. You're seriously laughing at the notion that the Rafael Nadal who dropped a grand total of 41 games at the 2008 French Open, zero sets, including destructions over Djokovic and Federer would probably have beaten this Djokovic?

Yeah that's ludicrous indeed. I mean, there's no way DJokovic, when he's having the year he's currently having, could lose to that. THAT would never happen. We all saw how in 2011, when he was in even better form, he won the tournament handily... Oh wait, he lost to grandpa Fed you say? Never mind.

You can read right? Develop a sense of humour mate. Puppet makes a statement "We may never know" and then in the very same sentence contradicts himself. It was funny. Jeeeeeez..

Why does everyone persist on calling me Puppet, why not Master?
I meant it as we will never know for the outcome, but I just stated my opinion, no contradiction was made, at least the way I see it.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Well, they could not give Novak the trophy after his win yesterday.

To compensate, they gave him entry into WTF . First man to qualify this year. Probably the first man to qualify ever before the end of RG.:clap

 

[Fiero425]

Well, they could not give Novak the trophy after his win yesterday.

To compensate, they gave him entry into WTF . First man to qualify this year. Probably the first man to qualify ever before the end of RG.:clap

Why they go through this mambo dance every year I'll never understand! With Nole winning the AO, he's all but assured a spot even if he breaks a leg! From the points out there already, I had given credit to Nole and Andy making the YEC! Roger's not in yet even though ranked #2; should start dropping if he doesn't make Wimbledon final! He's legitimately #5 or #6 IMO, being artificially held up; sorta like Rafa, but it finally caught up with him dropping to #10! Both may be lucky to be in the top 8 much less the top 4 by years end! It all depends on if Milos comes back and Kei stay healthy I guess! Stan will have a lot to say as well after his showing here in Paris! I will be looking forward to both matches tomorrow; haven't said that in a while! People know my frustration with having the same 4, but we unloaded 2 of them thank goodness! Someone else has a real chance with the 9 X's defending champion OUT and just holding the trophy until Sunday where he'll pass it on; preferably to Nole! :angel::dodgy:

 

[Kieran]

we unloaded 2 of them thank goodness! Someone else has a real chance with the 9 X's defending champion OUT and just holding the trophy until Sunday where he'll pass it on; preferably to Nole! :angel::dodgy:

Come on, you're a blow-in, a bandwagon hopper. There's real Nole fans here who've put up with abuse and the tough losses, and been here during his early years when he was the third wheel. And they deserve to be happy and cheer and get their own back.

You got the good days with Federer and now you're blowing smoke in his face. You shifted his gear into the garage. The thrill is gone, baby - you're singing that to him, from up on your balcony... :nono

 

[Carol]

They know Nadal a lot more than all of us .......

http://ca.reuters.com/article/idCAKBN0OK1B920150604?rpc=401&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true