I fully expect no sign of physical impairment from Nadal either and that's mostly why I'll stay away from betting on this one. He'll be on a serious cocktail of special sauce for this match as there's too much at stake. You can book it.
Why would getting injured before but not during matter, if you're calling out injury? And it wasn't all knee. I thought the Fed fans were saying he never should have played Canada in 2017, chasing the #1. And i thought the argument was that he DID hurt himself in the final v. Zverev, which in turn hampered his USO that year, which Nadal won, and secured him the YE#1. There was a lot of bitter complaining from the Federer fans over all of that, and I have a hard time picturing you not being amongst them. In the 2019 match v. Dimitrov, Roger lost the 4th set and went off the court to have some upper-groin type issue looked at. It was rather a lengthy MTO. He played the match out, and lost, and the Fed fans, including you, pointed to his injury. When I pointed out the notion that taking a long MTO at the end of the 4th could also be considered gamesmanship, esp. against an opponent who had never beaten you, Fed fans, without the slightest irony, said it's not gamesmanship if you're really injured. To which I just nodded my head and smiled.
Of course, only way to get over a AB injury is rest, he is not in that position.
Yes, that's exactly my point. He came straight from holiday/vacation whatever you want to call it to Montreal with zero match play in quite some time and injured himself like a clown and this was before the USO began and he had Nadal's number that year so it was a massive opportunity lost. Hence not blaming the loss on injury during the match when it was well known he entered the tournament already impaired. He should regret that forever more when he retires. Worst decision of his career to play Montreal with no warm up play before. Anyone who saw his movement against Dimitrov could tell he hadn't a hope of winning it. I've said many times MTOs are bs and should be banned. I hate them with a passion but it was plain as day obvious he wasn't faking any injury against Dimitrov. His movement was shite, barely ran to anything and let balls close to him just fly by. He played on and allowed his opponent the dignity of a proper win, same as Nadal v Wawrinka at the FO and kudos to Nadal that day also.
Ah, you watched the clips. Which likely left off Nadal bending over in pain after a first serve. I never said Fritz isn't a good player, and it was I who said he's more than a serve. I like Fritz. I root for him. But there really aren't that many players with a better IQ, or grass or otherwise than Rafa. I agree that Nick would have fared better today. And I already made my point about the other match. If Nick was prepared to self-destruct the night before, he was just as likely to self-destruct during it, so stop telling me who that parallel universe match would otherwise have gone.
Meds kicked in and he won 3 more sets. What's your point ? No MTO and no meds and he would likely have lost. That's why MTOs suck. There are plenty of players with good enough tennis IQ to know to hit to the weaker side in a match where the opponent has an impairment. I'd be perfectly fine with every player in history who ever took an MTO to have those wins stripped from them.
In reality, he could have taken meds in a changeover with no MTO. There goes your argument. Stop being so sour grapes. TBH, old friend, I'm really glad to have you here sparring over the old grievances and hate-watching Nadal. There hasn't been anyone holding up the Nadal-hating end for a long time, and it's kind of refreshing. Keeps us from just being in the echo chamber. (You might have noticed that the Djokovic fans have mostly abdicated.) I mean, Fiero hates Nadal, but such "general purposes" that it isn't really fun to discuss with him. With you, we can really battle over the old arguments. Feel like old times!
That's fair enough, painkillers and no MTO would be better I agree. Same as Nick and his shoulder against Nakashima. I've zero issue with players being given painkillers as it's a very physical game. Those take time to kick in and don't break any momentum unlike MTOs. I didn't barge into this thread starting with Nadal hating. It was the usual suspect here moaning about other players and accusing Djokovic of faking injury at the AO which needed to be called out (see below) 'cos he has a much less dubious history of MTOs and if Nadal can play a whole tournament pumped full of anaesthetics for his foot (this year's RG) then why is it so hard to believe Djokovic couldn't do the same?! The double standards are laughable and yet the posts get liked which makes things even worse.In reality, he could have taken meds in a changeover with no MTO. There goes your argument. Stop being so sour grapes. TBH, old friend, I'm really glad to have you here sparring over the old grievances and hate-watching Nadal. There hasn't been anyone holding up the Nadal-hating end for a long time, and it's kind of refreshing. Keeps us from just being in the echo chamber. (You might have noticed that the Djokovic fans have mostly abdicated.) I mean, Fiero hates Nadal, but such "general purposes" that it isn't really fun to discuss with him. With you, we can really battle over the old arguments. Feel like old times!
Look, you didn't "barge" into this thread. You have free-use. I know that that particular fan goes for the over-the-top, but there will always be those. It's on you if you want to engage, but you know we're not all that one. And when I say you come on here Rafa-hating, I say that with affection. You are a gold-star hater of Rafa, and come by it with the scars of many Fedal wars. Not some Johnny-come-lately to it. I know where it comes from, and I will still argue with you about it all, so go ahead and bring it. At least you're an actual tennis fan.
We may bore the rest of you, but we amuse ourselves. I like a good scrap. I've missed it.
I thought he would be too distracted to win today, but he won in straight sets in two hours, 13 minutes.
Nadal's foot didn't exactly affect him much at RG either so I see no difference whatsoever there! They all have access to the same top pain numbing treatments. For the record, cortisone shots are banned in competition and require TUE outside competition and I'd love to know what Nadal and others for that matter took to mask pain during tournaments but we'll never know 'cos the ATP cover everything up. They make too much money from these guys. Sharapova was exposed 'cos of the west's long time hate for Russia. They're hiding the dirt on the top guys though forever more it seems to me.
Same here, kudos for him for doing that, though I read earlier the former g/f has come out in the press, lets see if that may have an effect or not
If you believe that's why Novak went walkabout for 2 years, (and it was 2 years,) then you are welcome to it. I think it was primarily mental.
It was both I reckon but my point was injuries have affected him though clearly much less than Nadal and Federer.
I don't think injuries have affect him so much in his career us much as other things. And certainly not as much as Nadal, and to a lesser extent Roger. He has niggles, but he rarely misses big events, and besides the AO...when?
