Nadalites – Rafa Nadal Talk

[Puppet Master]

I wish you a warm welcome to the forum, fellow poster. I am a Fedal fan before you ask.

Now, I am thrilled that Nadal is officially numero uno, but his shockingly bad performances on anything else than the red stuff just pi$$ everyone off. Especially his fans. Look no further than this week's fiasco. He reverts to his good ol' clay court M.O. and gets bossed around and he never learns. At least go down fighting, MY GOD. I am frustrated as I write this.

Anyways, huge achievemnt at 31 years of age. Everyone knew that it would be between him and Fed this year for a long, long time, let's be honest. The legend lives to play clay court tennis another day

Quick edit:
The known Nadal fans are genuinely sick to their stomachs from the abuse of Fed fanboys (looking at you, Front and Dude ) so they usually just lurk the forums without posting as much as they did in their peaks.
I tell you, Fed and Nadal declined a long time ago, but their fans as well? Hahahaha... Unbelievable...
I myself have declined, and my rants have dropped quite significantly in the last few months, despite the success of my faves.

 

[Moxie]

Welcome, The Strokes! Good to have a Fellow Traveler on board!

 

[The Strokes]

Well that's a mixture of vinegar and honey--at least you admit endless abuse of Nadal by Fed fans, but taking a shot at his performance in MOntreal.
Fed has coasted through a no danger draw for quite awhile now. Finally paid the piper. I realized he was injured, but he would have paid anyway. AZ sucked in Halle.
Rafa did play a poor match in Halle. No doubt about it. But Shap was dangerous, and could have taken out anyone, no matter who great, who was having a bad day.

Don't count him out on HC. He made two HC finals on HC earlier in the year. Gave Fed a harder time at the AO than anyone has given him since. Well except Berd and Nick who both choked their potential victories against Fed in Miami.

On the last two sites I posted on, each about 100 times bigger than this one, the constant swipes at Rafa were highly obnoxious and made it so unpleasant to even discuss Nadal among ourselves. The Nadal fans hid on one Nadal thread. SOmetimes that thread was great, but more often it became the Nadal fart report, ruled by a stern headmistress (not me at all) who in the end was as annoying as the Federistas.


Then the braver among us--that would be me--stuck around to comment but got embroiled in repetitive idiotic GOAT debates--which I don't need at this point--so it's a lose/lose scenario.

So I'm looking around.

Honestly, I find all the forums seriously compromised both by a lack of real knowledge and mean spirit.

Just checking it out here, if I find one intelligent poster to share match impressions--who can avoid insulting Nadal and I will then in return lay off Fed (because I have motherlode on that subject, but keep it buried if others are respectful) then maybe it's worthwhile.

But you have explained the lack of response fromNadal fans, which I suspected.

And thanks for responding. I have had some great exchanges in the past with Fed fans who aren't constantly GOATing or insulting Nadal.

 

[Nekro]

The biggest Nadal fan who's been around for the longest time and who's still not burnt out mourning the smallest losses of Rafa and bitching about Roger and his fans is Mimi but she posts only in the Old School thread. Apart from her there are Moxie and Carol but they are very nice and don't say nasty things.... I'm a big Roger hater and i say the nastiest things about him from time to time but tbh i'm burnt out both fanboying Rafa and hating Rogi... but I still consider myself a Nadal fan.... Oh, and Betty is also a Nadal fan but she also loves Andy and she's rooting a lot for Rogi too so she's not really like the rest of us...

 

[The Strokes]

Actually 3 HC finals.

 

[Puppet Master]

Actually 3 HC finals.

I actually think he can have a very strong USO, just as you do. He played great tennis in Australia as well. Roger didn't quite "wipe the floor" with him.
I don't know whether it's the venue that motivates him even more, but apart from Australia, everything he has done, bar clay, isn't anything to write home about.
We have to wait.
No one knows if he can replicate the level he had in AO this year.

 

[Nekro]

Quick edit:
The known Nadal fans are genuinely sick to their stomachs from the abuse of Fed fanboys (looking at you, Front and Dude ) so they usually just lurk the forums without posting as much as they did in their peaks.

I guess you were joking there and since Strokes doesn't know the people here let me explain to her that those peeps, Front and Dude are very nice people and there is no real vitriolic crap throwing here like on mtf for example.....

If you're asking seriously, the bigger problem is that even on a small board like this the Rafa fans can't get on well with each other....

Like there was Clay Death and his Nadal thread, people didn't like it because it's too negative:

https://www.tennis-prose.com/tennisforum/threads/the-fall-of-rafael-nadal.290/page-60

So the girls made the Nadalities thread, this is the real Nadal thread and it's much cuter than Clay Death's one but it's kinda dead too...

https://www.tennis-prose.com/tennisforum/threads/nadalites-–-rafa-nadal-talk.259/page-13

And then there's our thread in the off-topic section.... Mimi is the biggest Nadal fan there, she's still posting on mtf too, fighting the Fedtards nonstop and socializing with the Nadal fans there.... TBH the Nadal fans on mtf are too noob and sucky for me but whatever..... Yeah, and on mtf even old Nadal fans like Clay Death turned into fednutsuckers.....

So i guess this is still be best place for Nadal fans.....

 

[The Strokes]

The biggest Nadal fan who's been around for the longest time and who's still not burnt out mourning the smallest losses of Rafa and bitching about Roger and his fans is Mimi but she posts only in the Old School thread. Apart from her there are Moxie and Carol but they are very nice and don't say nasty things.... I'm a big Roger hater and i say the nastiest things about him from time to time but tbh i'm burnt out both fanboying Rafa and hating Rogi... but I still consider myself a Nadal fan.... Oh, and Betty is also a Nadal fan but she also loves Andy and she's rooting a lot for Rogi too so she's not really like the rest of us...

LOL! Great post! I know how you feel re burnout--though I would be happy to do war with the Federistas if there were just a few more of us, though really, it gets old, but it's not a bad outlet for sublimated rage and a rapier's wit, failing a better outlet. I would be happy to share some Roger bashing in private with you--why get the wasp nest buzzing again ... but I have much to say on that topic, I am kind of the Shakespeare on that topic. I think they have private conversations here? Will ring you soon.

Betty? I wonder if this is Betty Scott (or something like) from tennis.com who also had that profile of also liking Andy and Roger. If so, I want to connect.
I see Mimi on MTF, I am logged in on the women's side, but have forgot my password and can't get in on the men's.
Over the years I met gobs of female Rafa fans--more than not they have Andy as their 2nd, and most like Roger. Mistake! I am different in that my 2nd fav of the Big 4 is definitely Djok; he got me through some tough years when Rafa was injured or not playing well in between lay-offs, He handled Federer very nicely, and it's mainly due to his slump.absence that Roger is collecting titles.

OK more later, maybe we can revive Rafa fandom on this site, he is #1 now as you know in live rankings. What a world where the #1 player's fans can't talk about him on a tennis site for fear of harrassment!

 

[Nekro]

Betty? I wonder if this is Betty Scott (or something like) from tennis.com who also had that profile of also liking Andy and Roger. If so, I want to connect.

No, she's Betty the Tennis Tipping legend with 100K+ posts on mtf..... She's not posting there anymore though, unlike Mimi....


Anyway, imo we could use some help here, El Dude is an admin on Tenniswarehouse from here or who?

Could you tell us why Strokes was banned? and If it's possible to get her unbanned.....

I mean i partly understand why they banned CD (Deathmaster there), with him spamming conspiracy theories about troll infestations and other bullshit like every thread but Strokes seems like an over-enthusiastic tennis nerd, nothing more...

Anybody knows anything? In the past i would have asked ard in pms there but i'm sick of the multiboarding bs so i just ask here..... any help would be appreciated.....

 

[The Strokes]

Don't worry about why I was banned there.
But I can assure you, my posts the night of getting banned were very mild compared to about 50 I see every day on that site.
I wrote "Sh*T--as spelled here, and called another poster a coward, actually a Nadal dominatrix.
Maybe she was a mod?
I had 1,000 likes in two months and lots of posters who talked to me.
I was basically way too good for the place. We'll see what happens here.

 

[The Strokes]

I actually think he can have a very strong USO, just as you do. He played great tennis in Australia as well. Roger didn't quite "wipe the floor" with him.
I don't know whether it's the venue that motivates him even more, but apart from Australia, everything he has done, bar clay, isn't anything to write home about.
We have to wait.
No one knows if he can replicate the level he had in AO this year.

Actually I thought he could play better than he did AO--though his HC went down from there.
Let's remember that's now the fastest HC of them all, so theoretically he should have done better IW, etc.
As you may remember Rafa was leading 3/1 5th set, then shanked 2 FHs and Roger broke back, then served like a monster to the finish line.
The entire match turned on 2 FHs. Rafa's still has issues with nerves on big points. Mueller, Shap. He outplayed both these guys on all stats except BP conversions.
His level dropped off the clay off course, Rafa is supreme on that surface, but also Moya hasn't been around since the FO.
I'm not sure whether to attribute Rafa's drop of level to surface or MOya's absence, probably it's both.
Moya will be back USO.
Maybe they'll through some dirt on the court?

 

[britbox]

 

[brokenshoelace]

Nadal returned to #1? I legit didn't know...

 

[El Dude]

A question for Nadal fans. Obviously he's had a great year - his best since 2014, possibly 2013 (if he doesn't win anything else, his year will be similar to 2014, although in more playing time). But one worrying thing is that while he was great on clay, he's only been very good everywhere else. Compare:

CLAY: 24-1 (96%), 4 titles (including 1 Slam and two Masters)
HARD/GRASS: 25-8 (76%), no titles but a Slam final and Masters final

Now of course this is par for the course during his career, but on a cursory scan of his record, the main difference between his best years (2008, 2010, 2013, but really 2008-13), is that he upped his non-clay game to true elite levels, not just "very good."

So my question: Is this at all concerning to you? Is he now a clay specialist? Or do you think he'll be able to up his game and win another non-clay Slam, or at least a Masters or two?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think if all other top 10 players miss a non-clay slam due to injuries and Rafa does not encounter any big server, he for sure will win a non-clay slam provided he does not stand 15 feet behind the baseline for returning.

 

[The Strokes]

A question for Nadal fans. Obviously he's had a great year - his best since 2014, possibly 2013 (if he doesn't win anything else, his year will be similar to 2014, although in more playing time). But one worrying thing is that while he was great on clay, he's only been very good everywhere else. Compare:

CLAY: 24-1 (96%), 4 titles (including 1 Slam and two Masters)
HARD/GRASS: 25-8 (76%), no titles but a Slam final and Masters final

Now of course this is par for the course during his career, but on a cursory scan of his record, the main difference between his best years (2008, 2010, 2013, but really 2008-13), is that he upped his non-clay game to true elite levels, not just "very good."

So my question: Is this at all concerning to you? Is he now a clay specialist? Or do you think he'll be able to up his game and win another non-clay Slam, or at least a Masters or two?

2017 was his best RG ever. I heard AZ say Nadal is better than ever on clay. I think this is accurate, I heard a variety of other pundits, commies etc. say it as well. He was unplayable on clay this year.

As for turning into a clay specialist, that still remains to be seen. I wasn't too disappointed in his Wimb--Mueller was very tough though Rafa should have won--he outplayed Mueller in every stat but BP conversions. This is his problem now--he still has nerves issues. Against Kyrgios it was something else--he played like crap throughout (or mainly), maybe it was mega nerves? But it was his problem against Shap, the BP rate.

Anyway, I am disappointed in his N American HC level, to be sure. He looks like an entirely different player than on clay--at least against tough competition. But I'm not drawing permanent conclusions yet.
People draw permanent conclusions way too soon in tennis--last year they said Djok would rule for a million years etc. There' still time for Rafa on HC. Let's see what the USO brings. MOya will be back with him, I think that's going to help, and I think 5 setters will help too. It's not physical, in the sense of injury or age.

The game has changed since his peak years, 2008, 2010, 2013. Way more aggressive, and suddenly there are some very threatening youngsters--Az, Nick, Thiem. There weren't in earlier years. That changes a lot. But this is not going to be a peak year like the previous ones, though so much better than the last two years.
It's never really all about the one player--it's about who else is out there zoning and what kind of matchup they are.

 

[Front242]

I can't stand Nadal but no way is he better than ever on clay this year. That's wrong on so many levels. His athleticism is clearly not like it was in his prime and his serving is weak. His best clay performance of all time imo was the 2010 Monte Carlo final against Verdasco. Obviously 2008 he was great too. He doesn't hit his forehand down the line anywhere near as well and the banana shots are much more scarce. Only thing I'd say has improved is his backhand. Also the short balls have been a problem on every surface since around 2009. It started around the time of the Soderling loss. If he plays anyone half way decent they'll gobble those up and smack them back with interest.

 

[The Strokes]

Here's a nice tribute to Nadal, who officially went to #1 today--haha on a rare solar eclipse (perfect)--but has been #1 for over a week now in live rankings.

He's piling up his own list of records that is different from Fed's or Djok's. Some of them are here. There is another very extensive list of Nadal's records that most fans would be unaware of. I will go looking on a dark ops wensite for it, and paste it in when I find it.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2017/08/rafael-nadal-return-no-1-atp-ranking-tennis-channel/68652/

 

[TennisFan101]

The biggest Nadal fan who's been around for the longest time and who's still not burnt out mourning the smallest losses of Rafa and bitching about Roger and his fans is Mimi but she posts only in the Old School thread. Apart from her there are Moxie and Carol but they are very nice and don't say nasty things.... I'm a big Roger hater and i say the nastiest things about him from time to time but tbh i'm burnt out both fanboying Rafa and hating Rogi... but I still consider myself a Nadal fan.... Oh, and Betty is also a Nadal fan but she also loves Andy and she's rooting a lot for Rogi too so she's not really like the rest of us...

I am a Rafan. I don't bash other players. I know very little, if anything, about the game of tennis. I know a lot about Rafa. The first time I visited TP I did not register but read a lot of comments that were really outré and just plain nasty. I don't know what area I was in.

Glad I came back and registered as I've read a lot of respectful comments, so there is hope. LOL Plus the admins are very nice.

 

[The Strokes]

I am a Rafan. I don't bash other players. I know very little, if anything, about the game of tennis. I know a lot about Rafa. The first time I visited TP I did not register but read a lot of comments that were really outré and just plain nasty. I don't know what area I was in.

Glad I came back and registered as I've read a lot of respectful comments, so there is hope. LOL Plus the admins are very nice.

It will probably get nasty again. I already got my first nasty reply on the Cincy thread today, and wrote virtually nothing about Nadal, nothing even vaguely contentious, was trying to be nice to another poster saying nicer things about Nick than i really felt in order to be nice (this was not the poster who took a shot at me) so this belligerent character taking a shot because there was a Nadal fan to take a shot at.
The admins are nice here and it's generally a more welcoming atmosphere than the other forums.
I think how nasty sites are have a lot to do with whether Nadal is doing well, if Federer is playing etc.