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No1e won Dubai beating one of the best players currently ranked #6 Tsitstsipas while Nadal won Acapulco beating #35 ranked Fritz.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective opponents, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Then you look at each of the two rivals' opposition during the 500 level tournaments they played last week. Novak played 2 top 10 players in Dubai (Monfils & Tsitsipas) & also #17 Khachanov. The highest ranked player Nadal played in Acapulco was #22 ranked Dimitrov, so he played no top 20 players.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective oppositions, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Then you compare their opposition this year. Novak played 7 top 10 players in 3 tournaments, Nadal played only 2. Of three tournaments they played this year, both played ATP Cup, AO & a 500 level tournament, so there is no difference in number of tournaments they played or their levels. They both got to late stages of each of those tournaments and that is when you are supposed to play better players. So it is not that Nadal lost early and then missed to play higher ranked players because of that. Nadal simply gets easier draws.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective oppositions, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Does it? Let's compare their entire careers.
No1e played 1098 matches of which 309 were against top tenners.
Nadal played 1190 matches. Now, in a brief comparison to Novak's record, you'd first notice that Nadal played 92 matches more and because No1e played almost 30% of his matches against top tenners, you'd guess that Nadal played around 26 more top 10 matches than Novak did if they played about the same percentage of top 10 matches.
However, Nadal played only 263 matches against top tenners. Not only that is not about predicted 26 more than Novak, it is 46 top 10 matches less than Novak played and that is a huge difference in their respective oppositions in last 15 years or so since they both started playing against top players.
No matter how you explain the discrepancy, you may think Nadal simply had much more luck in 15 years or that he had some help in his draws or there was a combination of the two, the imbalance is huge and has to be taken into account when comparing their achievements.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective opponents, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Then you look at each of the two rivals' opposition during the 500 level tournaments they played last week. Novak played 2 top 10 players in Dubai (Monfils & Tsitsipas) & also #17 Khachanov. The highest ranked player Nadal played in Acapulco was #22 ranked Dimitrov, so he played no top 20 players.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective oppositions, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Then you compare their opposition this year. Novak played 7 top 10 players in 3 tournaments, Nadal played only 2. Of three tournaments they played this year, both played ATP Cup, AO & a 500 level tournament, so there is no difference in number of tournaments they played or their levels. They both got to late stages of each of those tournaments and that is when you are supposed to play better players. So it is not that Nadal lost early and then missed to play higher ranked players because of that. Nadal simply gets easier draws.
Ok, you may say, there is an imbalance in their respective oppositions, but they don't chose it, it just happens.
Does it? Let's compare their entire careers.
No1e played 1098 matches of which 309 were against top tenners.
Nadal played 1190 matches. Now, in a brief comparison to Novak's record, you'd first notice that Nadal played 92 matches more and because No1e played almost 30% of his matches against top tenners, you'd guess that Nadal played around 26 more top 10 matches than Novak did if they played about the same percentage of top 10 matches.
However, Nadal played only 263 matches against top tenners. Not only that is not about predicted 26 more than Novak, it is 46 top 10 matches less than Novak played and that is a huge difference in their respective oppositions in last 15 years or so since they both started playing against top players.
No matter how you explain the discrepancy, you may think Nadal simply had much more luck in 15 years or that he had some help in his draws or there was a combination of the two, the imbalance is huge and has to be taken into account when comparing their achievements.
