Madrid Masters 2015 Final: Nadal-Murray

[Moxie]

Pardon me for diverting you psycho-babble on fandoms.

Do you know that so far only four different players have defeated Rafa in finals on clay.
This was posted by a commenter on tennis.com and I found it amusing.

Jonathan Liew (Sports Mixologist from The Telegraph): "To give Andy Murray's achievement some perspective: more living humans have walked on the moon (8) than beaten Nadal in a final on clay (4)."

A couple of those loses a little embarrassing like the final in Chile 2 years ago! I never heard of this guy and he knocked Nadal out of a 250 event during his rehabilitation tour after injury riddled 2012! Horacio Zeballos (Arg) def. (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 - 2013 VTR Open :cover uzzled :nono :angel:

By "a couple," I think you mean "one," and even the loss to Zeballos wasn't embarrassing. Rafa's first tournament back, and Zeballos totally stepped up to the plate. I'm sure you didn't watch it, but you should have. One of those guys who stepped out of the shadows, kept his nerve, and took Rafa when he was a little more there for the taking. Good on him. (And just because YOU had never heard of him, he wasn't exactly unknown to those that follow tennis.) The rest: Novak, Fed and Murray. Not shabby company, and not embarrassing.

 

[Fiero425]

Pardon me for diverting you psycho-babble on fandoms.

Do you know that so far only four different players have defeated Rafa in finals on clay.
This was posted by a commenter on tennis.com and I found it amusing.

Jonathan Liew (Sports Mixologist from The Telegraph): "To give Andy Murray's achievement some perspective: more living humans have walked on the moon (8) than beaten Nadal in a final on clay (4)."

A couple of those loses a little embarrassing like the final in Chile 2 years ago! I never heard of this guy and he knocked Nadal out of a 250 event during his rehabilitation tour after injury riddled 2012! Horacio Zeballos (Arg) def. (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 - 2013 VTR Open :cover uzzled :nono :angel:

By "a couple," I think you mean "one," and even the loss to Zeballos wasn't embarrassing. Rafa's first tournament back, and Zeballos totally stepped up to the plate. I'm sure you didn't watch it, but you should have. One of those guys who stepped out of the shadows, kept his nerve, and took Rafa when he was a little more there for the taking. Good on him. (And just because YOU had never heard of him, he wasn't exactly unknown to those that follow tennis.) The rest: Novak, Fed and Murray. Not shabby company, and not embarrassing.

You would be wrong; not only saw it, but taped it! Rafa was up in the 2nd and couldn't finish! Horacio was in the zone and hooked back some shots Rafa wasn't ready for; as if he didn't realize the guy was also a left-hander! That final game was worth the price of admission; actually got the crowd to "roar" at the same time due to fabulous "gets" by Zeballos! Another guy who's real claim to fame is beating Rafa on clay or in a major! I guess that's a tribute to him! :nono :ras: :angel:

 

[Moxie]

A couple of those loses a little embarrassing like the final in Chile 2 years ago! I never heard of this guy and he knocked Nadal out of a 250 event during his rehabilitation tour after injury riddled 2012! Horacio Zeballos (Arg) def. (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 - 2013 VTR Open :cover uzzled :nono :angel:

By "a couple," I think you mean "one," and even the loss to Zeballos wasn't embarrassing. Rafa's first tournament back, and Zeballos totally stepped up to the plate. I'm sure you didn't watch it, but you should have. One of those guys who stepped out of the shadows, kept his nerve, and took Rafa when he was a little more there for the taking. Good on him. (And just because YOU had never heard of him, he wasn't exactly unknown to those that follow tennis.) The rest: Novak, Fed and Murray. Not shabby company, and not embarrassing.

You would be wrong; not only saw it, taped it! Rafa was up in the 2nd and couldn't finish! Horacio was in the zone and hooked back some shots Rafa wasn't ready for; as if he didn't realize the guy was also a left-hander! That final game was worth the price of admission; actually got the crowd to "roar" at the same time due to fabulous "gets" by Zeballos! Another guy who's real claim to fame is beating Rafa on clay or in a major! I guess that's a tribute to him! :nono :ras: :angel:

His first tournament back. Of course you would gloat over it, since did see it, and Nadal lost, but I still maintain that it wasn't embarrassing for Rafa. And the others surely aren't. Try to focus on the actual point you were making. Why would even that loss seem so bad for Nadal? He was just back from a 7-month lay-off. He made the final, and he kick-started a great year. Not embarrassing, just a way of getting along the road to better results, right? Zeballos was an anomaly, as you can see.

Anyway, you're a fanatic like Carol. I don't know why I'm arguing with you.

 

[Fiero425]

By "a couple," I think you mean "one," and even the loss to Zeballos wasn't embarrassing. Rafa's first tournament back, and Zeballos totally stepped up to the plate. I'm sure you didn't watch it, but you should have. One of those guys who stepped out of the shadows, kept his nerve, and took Rafa when he was a little more there for the taking. Good on him. (And just because YOU had never heard of him, he wasn't exactly unknown to those that follow tennis.) The rest: Novak, Fed and Murray. Not shabby company, and not embarrassing.

You would be wrong; not only saw it, taped it! Rafa was up in the 2nd and couldn't finish! Horacio was in the zone and hooked back some shots Rafa wasn't ready for; as if he didn't realize the guy was also a left-hander! That final game was worth the price of admission; actually got the crowd to "roar" at the same time due to fabulous "gets" by Zeballos! Another guy who's real claim to fame is beating Rafa on clay or in a major! I guess that's a tribute to him! :nono :ras: :angel:

His first tournament back. Of course you would gloat over it, since did see it, and Nadal lost, but I still maintain that it wasn't embarrassing for Rafa. And the others surely aren't. Try to focus on the actual point you were making. Why would even that loss seem so bad for Nadal? He was just back from a 7-month lay-off. He made the final, and he kick-started a great year. Not embarrassing, just a way of getting along the road to better results, right? Zeballos was an anomaly, as you can see.

I would hope so! The guy's been around for over 10 years and only has that 1 title upsetting Rafa! It's hard to forget; must be the devil in me! :devil :dodgy: :ras:

 

[Moxie]

You would be wrong; not only saw it, taped it! Rafa was up in the 2nd and couldn't finish! Horacio was in the zone and hooked back some shots Rafa wasn't ready for; as if he didn't realize the guy was also a left-hander! That final game was worth the price of admission; actually got the crowd to "roar" at the same time due to fabulous "gets" by Zeballos! Another guy who's real claim to fame is beating Rafa on clay or in a major! I guess that's a tribute to him! :nono :ras: :angel:

His first tournament back. Of course you would gloat over it, since did see it, and Nadal lost, but I still maintain that it wasn't embarrassing for Rafa. And the others surely aren't. Try to focus on the actual point you were making. Why would even that loss seem so bad for Nadal? He was just back from a 7-month lay-off. He made the final, and he kick-started a great year. Not embarrassing, just a way of getting along the road to better results, right? Zeballos was an anomaly, as you can see.

I would hope so! The guy's been around for over 10 years and only has that 1 title upsetting Rafa! It's hard to forget; must be the devil in me! :devil :dodgy: :ras:

No amount of emoticons erases the fact that you have ignored my counter to your point. None of those losses in finals qualifies as embarrassing. You just make outrageous statements and don't back them up. And if you think that Zeballos beating Rafa was merely an embarrassment to Rafa, then you deny your own assertion that undercard players should step up when they have a chance, which is exactly what Zeballos did, when Rafa was just back from a lay-off.

 

[Fiero425]

His first tournament back. Of course you would gloat over it, since did see it, and Nadal lost, but I still maintain that it wasn't embarrassing for Rafa. And the others surely aren't. Try to focus on the actual point you were making. Why would even that loss seem so bad for Nadal? He was just back from a 7-month lay-off. He made the final, and he kick-started a great year. Not embarrassing, just a way of getting along the road to better results, right? Zeballos was an anomaly, as you can see.

I would hope so! The guy's been around for over 10 years and only has that 1 title upsetting Rafa! It's hard to forget; must be the devil in me! :devil :dodgy: :ras:

No amount of emoticons erases the fact that you have ignored my counter to your point. None of those losses in finals qualifies as embarrassing. You just make outrageous statements and don't back them up. And if you think that Zeballos beating Rafa was merely an embarrassment to Rafa, then you deny your own assertion that undercard players should step up when they have a chance, which is exactly what Zeballos did, when Rafa was just back from a lay-off.

That's a matter of opinion if you ask the Nadal clan and his fanatics! True enough I've asked the rest of the tour to step up, but for so long they didn't! Even when there was an isolated loss or 3 by Rafa to some nobody like Dodig, it was always explained away by injury, exhaustion, or whatever Uncle Phony decided to leak to the press! Nadal's become a victim of his own success; like Borg it's a real event if he loses to anyone, but especially telling if it's to someone outside the top 50! :eyepop :nono :angel:

 

[brokenshoelace]

I wonder what will happen to Nadal fans if he loses at the French Open. Maybe TTF should open up a 24-hour counseling hotline. :snicker

Can't speak for his fans, but Nadal will likely shine his 9 French Open trophies, count his money, bang his pretty girlfriend, then get ready for Wimbledon. What do you think will happen to him, hair loss aside?

 

[brokenshoelace]

With over 14 million followers on facebook alone, it's pretty comical when someone invokes the "hater" card.

And we don't like the term "hater" around here. But what does happen, here, is that there are two camps that are anti-Rafa, and for good enough reason. I have thought that is a back-handed compliment to him. We know why the Roger people don't like him, and the Nole people have reason enough also to root against him. Now, some are more blatant in their dislike, (as well as factional in their Rafa-fannishness,) but let's not pretend that there are not two groups who look for reasons to root against Rafa, and sing a certain amount of "Ding-Dong-the-Witch-is-Dead" whenever he seems to be on the back foot. That's not "hating," it's reasonable factionalism, but it IS factionalism. We are a small board, and not the millions of fans for any of those players. The camps make their preferences heard.

Then there are individuals (from different camps) who have that uncanny ability to make even neutral folk crave to see a certain player lose just to get the fan to "shut-up", so to speak.

My sentiments on Srdan and Dijana in a nutshell.

 

[tented]

I would say if he would lose the FO maybe TTF should open up a 24hour for the comments of his haters :snicker :lolz: :ras:

Everybody has their faves; and a handful of players they can't stand! Heaven knows I can tell you exactly why I "hate" on some! I should set up a thread so people can purge their souls! :angel: "Please absolve me of 'hating' on Connors, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi, Nadal, & Chang!" Each of these players rubbed me the wrong way from the start! With Agassi, it was "image is everything" before winning a tourney of any significance! :cover :nono

Yes there is difference in criticizing or disliking a player and being a hater. God knows, Rafa has enough fans to defend him, so there is no need to invoke him as a victim of dislike.

Just because he has a lot of fans doesn't mean he isn't also hated. There are a few members here who can barely contain it; some barely try anymore. The same can be said of many famous people, namely politicians, but it also includes athletes.

Do you think Serena doesn't have haters? Remember several years ago when Federer was approaching Sampras' records? A number of his fans were prepared to hang, draw, and quarter Roger. The Tennis.com message board became unbearable, with the amount of bile spewed. It's naive to think just because Nadal, Federer, Serena, etc. have millions of Facebook friends there also aren't haters out there.

 

[Kieran]

There's been a lot of vultures waiting a lot of years to feed on Rafa's scraps. If anything, at least now we can dispel the stupid myth that Rafa always comes back strong from injury, with an immediate rise to the top of the rankings. In fact, this is only a punchline to a cruel joke. He never came back swiftly and hit top form immediately, and he still hasn't.

But somewhere, he will, and it could be soon, and I'll still be here and I hope the rest of you's are, too...

 

[nehmeth]

Anyway, you're a fanatic like Carol. I don't know why I'm arguing with you.

:exclamation:

:woohoos

 

[Federberg]

Everybody has their faves; and a handful of players they can't stand! Heaven knows I can tell you exactly why I "hate" on some! I should set up a thread so people can purge their souls! :angel: "Please absolve me of 'hating' on Connors, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi, Nadal, & Chang!" Each of these players rubbed me the wrong way from the start! With Agassi, it was "image is everything" before winning a tourney of any significance! :cover :nono

Yes there is difference in criticizing or disliking a player and being a hater. God knows, Rafa has enough fans to defend him, so there is no need to invoke him as a victim of dislike.

Just because he has a lot of fans doesn't mean he isn't also hated. There are a few members here who can barely contain it; some barely try anymore. The same can be said of many famous people, namely politicians, but it also includes athletes.

Do you think Serena doesn't have haters? Remember several years ago when Federer was approaching Sampras' records? A number of his fans were prepared to hang, draw, and quarter Roger. The Tennis.com message board became unbearable, with the amount of bile spewed. It's naive to think just because Nadal, Federer, Serena, etc. have millions of Facebook friends there also aren't haters out there.

Lol! I almost miss those old days on the old forum with nutters like MikeOne

 

[Federberg]

And we don't like the term "hater" around here. But what does happen, here, is that there are two camps that are anti-Rafa, and for good enough reason. I have thought that is a back-handed compliment to him. We know why the Roger people don't like him, and the Nole people have reason enough also to root against him. Now, some are more blatant in their dislike, (as well as factional in their Rafa-fannishness,) but let's not pretend that there are not two groups who look for reasons to root against Rafa, and sing a certain amount of "Ding-Dong-the-Witch-is-Dead" whenever he seems to be on the back foot. That's not "hating," it's reasonable factionalism, but it IS factionalism. We are a small board, and not the millions of fans for any of those players. The camps make their preferences heard.

Then there are individuals (from different camps) who have that uncanny ability to make even neutral folk crave to see a certain player lose just to get the fan to "shut-up", so to speak.

My sentiments on Srdan and Dijana in a nutshell.

Yes! If it wasn't for them I suspect I would have liked Novak from the start. It was only after they moved away from the spot light that I started to warm up to him. What's not to like, personable, great to watch, great sportsman. But they were the ultimate stadium trolls

 

[mrzz]

C'mon boys and girls, let's all stick to the facts:

You ALL failed to predict the final and the outcome. Shame on you.

 

[Kieran]

C'mon boys and girls, let's all stick to the facts:

You ALL failed to predict the final and the outcome. Shame on you.

Kee-rection! Six of fourteen voted for Andy, with Aung Aung and TennisFanatic7 claiming the bragging rights (which they have classily deferred)...

 

[Federberg]

I've never bothered with making predictions on here. If I'm going to expend the effort I go straight to my betting accounts. No value in impressing forum members as far as I'm concerned. I'll quietly take my money (more likely my losses!)

There wasn't any shame in losing to Murray per se. Rafa has lost to other members of the top 4 without this level of hysteria. Still I must say... he'll have to come up with a dramatic improvement. At the moment he doesn't look like he's capable of taking even a set off Novak on current form. I can't wait for the RG draw to see where Rafa ends up. I would laugh my head off if he ends up in Novak's quarter! But knowing my luck he'll end up in the old man's side of the draw. Still... even old man Rog should fancy his chances at the moment... assuming he even has serious intentions in Paris :nono

Rafa is not done yet. Sadly everyone wants to be the first to call time on these great champions. Why not just enjoy it while they're still here. We'll be sorry when they're gone

 

[Kirijax]

I wonder what will happen to Nadal fans if he loses at the French Open. Maybe TTF should open up a 24-hour counseling hotline. :snicker

Can't speak for his fans, but Nadal will likely shine his 9 French Open trophies, count his money, bang his pretty girlfriend, then get ready for Wimbledon. What do you think will happen to him, hair loss aside?

Oh, I don't know. Probably complain about something the tour does or doesn't do to accommodate clay court specialists. :snicker

 

[Puppet Master]

I wonder what will happen to Nadal fans if he loses at the French Open. Maybe TTF should open up a 24-hour counseling hotline. :snicker

Can't speak for his fans, but Nadal will likely shine his 9 French Open trophies, count his money, bang his pretty girlfriend, then get ready for Wimbledon. What do you think will happen to him, hair loss aside?

Which is exactly the problem. The final revealed something that I never thought I would see from Rafa. He was smiling ironically at the end of the match, but later on, he didn't even look nervous at all. If I didn't know the current state of affairs I would have thought that he is a 40 year old player who just won so much that no one could ever parallel the career he has had and wants to give the rest to the youngsters. If you ask me, it's his life and he is free to do whatever he wishes to, but winning tournaments doesn't seem to be on his to do list this year.

 

[Federberg]

^A bit harsh. But frankly even if that were the case, he's done a serious amount of winning. If it wasn't for Federer we would all be saying he had already done more than enough!

 

[Kieran]

^^ :laydownlaughing

Come on, gimme a well deserved break. He lost, and actually it was a much worse performance and a worse result than the MC semi, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves in questioning the man's effort or commitment, just yet...