2020 Australian Open QF: Rafael Nadal vs. Dominic Thiem

Who wins?

  • Nadal in three sets

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Nadal in four sets

    Votes: 6 46.2%
  • Nadal in five sets

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • Thiem in three sets

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Thiem in four sets

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • Thiem in five sets

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .

calitennis127

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Yes, been on it since 2008 before you ever join the forums, and anyone here can attest.....No, I'm not acting like a genius for saying it, I'm saying your analysis left out an important part.

Well your narrative is leaving out an important part, namely that when Federer was routinely losing to Nadal on clay, you repeatedly defended the idea that there was nothing Federer could do because of the match-up. In those discussions you were strangely silent about the down-the-line forehand or even the inside-out forehand that Federer could have been utilizing.

Why was that?

This is all fine but it's amazing and ironic that you call me out for acting like Einstein then proceed to literally, word for word, say what most of us have been saying on here for years. And again, everyone can attest to that.

I joined this board roughly in late 2008/early 2009. I know that in the countless debates that were had over Federer and Nadal during the height of their rivalry almost all Nadal fans - including you - talked as though there was nothing Federer could do to be more effective against Nadal, especially on clay. So no, what I am saying is not "literally, word for word, what most of us have been saying on here for years."

I'd love to know where all these debates and discussions were that you talked about things Federer could be doing better against Nadal strategically. If you go and take a look at the Fed-Nadal debates (assuming they are archived somewhere), you will see that you were almost always insisting that Federer is doing everything humanly possible against Nadal but Nadal is simply too good on clay and the match-up is too difficult for Federer. Of course, when Federer unexpectedly turned things around to generate that 5-match winning streak, I'm sure you were the first to talk as though you understood exactly what Federer was doing and that he was actually employing your strategy, even though you had insisted for years that Federer was doing everything in his power against Nadal but simply had no other options than what he had tried.
 
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brokenshoelace

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I'd love to know where all these debates and discussions were that you talked about things Federer could be doing better against Nadal strategically. If you go and take a look at the Fed-Nadal debates (assuming they are archived somewhere), you will see that you were almost always insisting that Federer is doing everything humanly possible against Nadal but Nadal is simply too good on clay and the match-up is too difficult for Federer. Of course, when Federer unexpectedly turned things around to generate that 5-match winning streak, I'm sure you were the first to talk as though you understood exactly what Federer was doing and that he was actually employing your strategy, even though you had insisted for years that Federer was doing everything in his power against Nadal but simply had no other options than what he had tried.

Ignoring that most of the above is literally fabricated (I dare one poster here to back you up that I always said there was nothing Federer could do to beat Nadal) I'd just like to demonstrate how easy it is to shoot down your argument:

The paragraph above is exhibit A of Cali logic: You specifically bring up clay, and how most acted like Nadal was too good...then you bring up the 5 match winning streak to show that they were wrong and you were right....except the 5 match winning streak happened off clay and the one time they did play om clay, last year at Roland Garros, Nadal absolutely massacred him.
 

Front242

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Ignoring that most of the above is literally fabricated (I dare one poster here to back you up that I always said there was nothing Federer could do to beat Nadal) I'd just like to demonstrate how easy it is to shoot down your argument:

The paragraph above is exhibit A of Cali logic: You specifically bring up clay, and how most acted like Nadal was too good...then you bring up the 5 match winning streak to show that they were wrong and you were right....except the 5 match winning streak happened off clay and the one time they did play om clay, last year at Roland Garros, Nadal absolutely massacred him.

Kudos to Nadal, his game is more suited to windy conditions as he plays with much safer margins with his spin. Last year at RG it was 4-4 40-0 to Federer in set 2 and he dropped serve like a clown. That was what lost the match for him. I'd like to see them both fully fit on a calm and wind free day. Not saying Federer would win but he isn't able to play his game properly with crap weather like that. Impossible to serve well and hit winners with the wind changing the trajectory of the ball all the time.

Once again, they both had to play in this crap weather but Nadal's game is much more suited to this than Federer's. Roger had no chance of winning in those conditions.
 

brokenshoelace

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Kudos to Nadal, his game is more suited to windy conditions as he plays with much safer margins with his spin. Last year at RG it was 4-4 40-0 to Federer in set 2 and he dropped serve like a clown. That was what lost the match for him. I'd like to see them both fully fit on a calm and wind free day. Not saying Federer would win but he isn't able to play his game properly with crap weather like that. Impossible to serve well and hit winners with the wind changing the trajectory of the ball all the time.

Once again, they both had to play in this crap weather but Nadal's game is much more suited to this than Federer's. Roger had no chance of winning in those conditions.

Federer is one of the best windy conditions players in history. When they played in similar conditions at Indian Wells in 2012, Roger absolutely smashed him. Both are probably the two best players in the wind that I've ever seen in addition to maybe Agassi.
 

Front242

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Federer is one of the best windy conditions players in history. When they played in similar conditions at Indian Wells in 2012, Roger absolutely smashed him. Both are probably the two best players in the wind that I've ever seen in addition to maybe Agassi.

Totally agree they are but on clay I'd say it affects Federer's game a ton more. It's already a slow surface and the inability to serve precisely and hit winners as he would on a calm day definitely hurt his chances.