Nadalites – Rafa Nadal Talk

[mrzz]

It's funny how MrZz says he doesn't like when my posts get personal

One last time: I wasn't saying that. We were chatting about disagreement in general. I said earlier that I sometimes disagree with you tennis wise, you commented that it is ok, I agreed and said that it is all good as long as it does not get personal. I was talking disagreement in general - one can always take it as an dropped hint but it wasn't.

English is not my first language, so if you say that anyone would understand that phrase as something addressed specifically to you, than, ok, it would be unfair if I singled you out in this fantastic exchange that this thread has now become (now saying in hindsight). Remember that I first got in to this calling attention to what I thought it was an unfair and personal response exactly to you.

One way or another, The Strokes already bailed out of this discussion, so there is practically no point in it.

 

[DarthFed]

That doesn't follow from her calling AP's post stupid at all..... Imo her prob with AP's post was that he tried to make Rafa's return game look more static than it really is..... AP's opinion about Rafa's ros is basically the generic "unbiased" Rafatard opinion... Then AP started talking about "worthy Rafa fan" and all kinds of weird bs when there was no need for that..... It wasn't Strokes who got personal but whatever.....

Nah, read her reply again which clearly comes off as rude and condescending. If I was AP I'd snap back too over that reply. Her problem clearly is that a poster had the nerve to question Nadal's ROS position.

And then laughably went on to say his return is clearly great due to leaderboard stats when the guy has still played over 40% of his matches on clay. And of course his baseline play also has a lot to do with % of return games won. I used to argue with Rafa fans back in the day who insisted his return was the best in the game because he often led the tour in % of return games won.

 

[mrzz]

^Yep, Darth has put an important distinction, one thing is your actual return of serve (which is just one shot) and other is your overall return games won. As I guess it was Haelfix who pointed out, Nadal's transition from defense to offense is so good that he could actually get away with whatever kind of serve return he gets.

BTW every time i see Darthfed's name/avatar on a Nadal fan thread I always blink...

 

[britbox]

Darth did say that for years though. I was thinking of it before he posted the reminder. AP, MikeOne and Broken used to come up with a lot of stuff on the Tennis.com boards years ago on Rafa's game, which often proved insightful. Haelfix and Momo always gave great analysis. Point being that if we just fall back on a default narrative that we can't even discuss what a player could possibly do better... then we ain't got a lot to talk about. Yeah, people post a lot of garbage on forums, but you also get some gems... either way you get discussion.

 

[Carol]

My question is if someone around here thinks that there is a perfect player in the Tour. Nope, there is not, they can be great, but all of them have weaknesses that they try to fix which sometime works but not always depending the confidence at that time and who is at the other side of the net. Of course the racket and the coach has to do a lot with the improvements

 

[mrzz]

then we ain't got a lot to talk about.

Well, we have shape of player noses, models of their shorts, and the baldness of their heads, to begin with, not to mention fantaaastic ones as their sexual preferences and family issues. At least in this case we would not lose much when going off topic to offend each other.

 

[Moxie]

This is really just for fans, so I'm putting it here. Tennis Channel chronicles "La Décima" at RG:

http://tennischannel.com/news/top-s...icles-rafas-journey-to-10th-french-open-title

 

[Carol]

http://www.marca.com/en/more-sports/2017/12/18/5a37c730e2704e3a148b45ac.html

 

[GameSetAndMath]

http://www.marca.com/en/more-sports/2017/12/18/5a37c730e2704e3a148b45ac.html

He may call it reducing. However, that is full schedule. ATP ranking is based on 18 tourneys + WTF and Rafa is playing full 18 Tourneys (All four GSs, All Nine Masters, 4 500s and Brisbane). In addition he is playing in Mudabala and also is likely to play in Laver Cup. Also, Davis cup is still a possibility. Most people would not call that a reduced schedule.

Generally, speaking top 10 players don't play in more tournaments than maximum that counts for ranking purposes. Low level players play more tournaments, to improve their rankings as they take the best six performances from non-mandatory tournaments.

 

[The_Grand_Slam]

He may call it reducing. However, that is full schedule. ATP ranking is based on 18 tourneys + WTF and Rafa is playing full 18 Tourneys (All four GSs, All Nine Masters, 4 500s and Brisbane). In addition he is playing in Mudabala and also is likely to play in Laver Cup. Also, Davis cup is still a possibility. Most people would not call that a reduced schedule.

I think he will skip a few tournaments if he goes deep in tournaments which are back to back

 

[Carol]

I think he will skip a few tournaments if he goes deep in tournaments which are back to back

Yep, he probably will

 

[Moxie]

This is a pretty interesting interview with Carlos Moyà.

 

[Moxie]

NYTimes article on Rafa's return of serve. Interesting read.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Interesting they mention Nadal deliberately lost weight. I remember how insane I found Clay Death's suggestions that Nadal should add muscle weight, which increases the stress on the knees and is almost always a bad idea when athletes get older.

 

[Moxie]

Interesting they mention Nadal deliberately lost weight. I remember how insane I found Clay Death's suggestions that Nadal should add muscle weight, which increases the stress on the knees and is almost always a bad idea when athletes get older.

I was struck by that, too. It's been speculated about on forums, but I've never seen it reported.

 

[Moxie]

Bodo on Nadal/Clay: http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/23091819/in-case-were-wondering-rafael-nadal-master-clay

 

[Carol]

Nadal's funniest moments.........:lulz2:

 

[Moxie]

Looking for a press conference after the Djokovic match, I found this. I'd never heard Rafa speak Italian so well. It has really improved! He still mixes in Spanish, but it seems clear he's worked on it. Bravissimo, Rafa!

 

[britbox]

16 year old Rafa on Trans World Sport.

 

[Horsa]

16 year old Rafa on Trans World Sport.

Wow! He was a looker as a teen. I looked like the pictures of Charlotte Bronte shown on books as a teen & had the whole world at my feet but didn't know it. There are many things I'd do if I could go back to those days. I wish I knew then what I know now. I blew so many chances & I'm not even 1/2 the person I used to be.