tented
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You could do just the top 5 best ones. I’m trying to psych myself up by remembering the victories, but they have to be contrasted with the defeats. It’s yin-yang, as I see it.Really, tented? The day before the final too...
Nadalites – Rafa Nadal Talk
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MargaretMcAleer
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Tented I agree with your best choices for Rafa though can I stretch it 2 more
Rafa v Roger Rome Final 2006
Rafa v Verdasco AO s/final 2009 I put in the s.final which was a epic 5 set match,before he played the final which also was a epic 5 sets match against Federer becoming the first Spainard to win the AO in 2009.
Rafa v Roger Rome Final 2006
Rafa v Verdasco AO s/final 2009 I put in the s.final which was a epic 5 set match,before he played the final which also was a epic 5 sets match against Federer becoming the first Spainard to win the AO in 2009.
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Okay, @tented here's my updated Top 5 Nadal GS wins:
1. 2008 Wimbledon Final
2. 2022 Australian Open Final
3. 2019 US Open Final
4. 2008 French Open Final
5. 2010 US Open Final
1. 2008 Wimbledon Final
2. 2022 Australian Open Final
3. 2019 US Open Final
4. 2008 French Open Final
5. 2010 US Open Final
tented
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the AntiPusher
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I would put RG 2020 because he broke the curse of Novak and kick Nole’s penis into the red clay dirt at RG.
shawnbm
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I’d put this right near the top because of everything riding on it and his lack of play beforehand
shawnbm
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Frankly, it’s reminiscent of Roger five years ago—-out of practice, no matches, out on disability for months and then, BAM!
So Nadal’s 90th tournament title, ( trailing 3rd place Lendl who has 94) and within the Open Era the longest time span in the ATP between Majors won, May 2005 to Jan 2022
Moxie
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I didn't see this until after today's match, and I was too befuddled (sleep-deprived AND stunned) to respond, but now at least I had a nap. I'll give it a go. Like rafanoy, the one today (today??) jumps right up onto the list. I'm going with the criterion of personal feeling, not necessarily most significant to his "carrera." (Remember when he used to say that?)
BEST:
1. 08 Wimbledon F
2. 22 AO F (new!)
3. 13 USO F
4. 13 RG SF
5. 11 RG F
WORST:
1. 09 RG 4th R (my greatest shock watching Rafa; it seems wrong to say, but I felt like someone had died)
2. 17 AO F
3. 12 AO F
4. 21 RG SF
5. 11 Wimbledon F
I always dreamed that someday this will happen, and I am still shocked that it actually happened! Enjoy it gals/guys! Special moment!
Moxie
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This is an article from the NYT 2005, again Christopher Clarey, from the day after Rafa won his first RG. This is PURE fandom, but I thought you might all enjoy the prescience of it. And he's a good writer. I will copy it in it's entirety, as some of you may not be able to get behind the pay wall. It's long, but I bolded a couple of things that are particularly interesting. A lot of this you already know, because Clarey was introducing Nadal to his readers, essentially, in 2005.
He has played it better than anyone for the past two months: better than the world's No. 1 player, Roger Federer, the smooth Swiss whom Nadal defeated in the French Open semifinals, and better than Mariano Puerta, the unseeded Argentine whom Nadal beat in four dramatic sets in Sunday's final.
The last time a teenager won a men's Grand Slam singles title was in 1990, when Pete Sampras served his way to victory at the United States Open at age 19.
Nadal is, for the moment, at his best on slower surfaces like clay, but there is no question that he is tennis's next big thing. Spain has produced several French Open champions in the last 15 years: Sergi Bruguera, Carlos Moya, Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero. But until Nadal, it had yet to produce a true tennis star.
A native of the Mediterranean island of Majorca, the left-handed Nadal has more than heavy topspin, strong legs and remarkable nerve.
He has charisma: a swashbuckling way of covering ground on court, an expressive manner of showing his delight or disappointment, along with a gentlemanly streak that has not always been the hallmark of teenage prodigies before him like John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and, most recently, Lleyton Hewitt.
But Nadal is also difficult to ignore because of his appearance. He has long, dark hair and high cheekbones, and then there are his tennis clothes: a jarring blend of past and present, with his long white pants evoking the golden age of the game and his bright sleeveless shirts evoking nothing but the 21st century. The outfit, new this season, was the idea of his clothing sponsor, but Nadal makes no apologies. "I'm very happy with it," he said, insisting that the below-the-knee pants have had no adverse effect on his movement.
They certainly have not affected his ascent in the rankings. He has won 4 tournaments and 24 matches in a row. After starting the year at No. 46, he will rise to No. 3, behind Federer and Hewitt and ahead of Andy Roddick, the big server Nadal beat on the first day of the Davis Cup finals in Spain last December on clay. Nadal became the youngest man in the 104-year history of tennis's premier team competition to be part of a winning team.
"I imagine Andy feels a bit better about losing that match now that he's seen what Rafael is capable of this year," said Jordi Arrese, one of Spain's Davis Cup co-captains.
"I think people in Spain were expecting this victory at the French Open. And I think it will be good for tennis, because Rafa represents good values. He's a well-mannered, respectful person, and I think that sends out a good message, especially to the young."
Nadal was born into a close-knit extended family and still lives in Manacor, the second-largest city on Majorca, where some of Nadal's ancestors arrived in the 14th century. The family is prosperous. Rafael's father, Sebastian, runs a large window company. His uncle Miguel Angel was a star soccer defender who played for Barcelona and Real Mallorca and was also a member of three World Cup teams for Spain. Another uncle, Toni, was the one who introduced Rafael to tennis at age 3 and has remained his coach. "Sure, it's been complicated at times and it still can be, but it is also a big advantage," Rafael said of his working relationship with Toni.
Though Nadal has already earned well over $1 million in prize money, he continues to share an apartment building in one of Manacor's principal squares with his family. His grandparents live on the ground floor. Toni, his wife and three daughters live on the first floor. Sebastian and Nadal's mother, Ana Maria, live on the second floor, and Rafael and his younger sister, Maria Isabel, share the third floor.
Many top tennis players have been obliged to leave their homes and families in their teenage years to hone their games in academies or training centers. Among those to do so were Agassi, Federer, Marat Safin and Moya, who also comes from Majorca and has become one of Nadal's mentors.
Nadal was offered financial assistance by the Spanish tennis federation if he moved to the national training center near Barcelona. But the Nadals decided that Rafael should remain in Manacor, train with Toni and go to a regular secondary school. "I always have thought, and I continue to think, that if one works hard, one can work well in many places," Toni said. "The advantage of staying with his family was big for Rafael. It was a plus, both in terms of tranquility and in terms of organization."
Toni said he began to believe that his nephew could win a Grand Slam event when he won the under-12 title of Majorca when he was 8. "He had a very good mentality, and so I thought it was possible, not probable, but possible," Toni said.
But it was not until Nadal was 12 that he made the decision to pursue tennis as a career instead of soccer, still far and away the most popular sport in Spain. His speed, aggressive instincts and athleticism made him a talented striker, but after winning the European under-12 tennis title, he knew which sport to choose. One of the first prominent players to suffer for it was the former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who visited Majorca for an exhibition match with Boris Becker in May 2001. Becker withdrew with an injury, and Cash agreed to play the 14-year-old Nadal, who beat the 36-year-old Cash. The next year, Nadal turned professional and won his first match on the Tour.
In 2003, after missing the French Open with a right elbow injury, he became the youngest player to win two rounds at Wimbledon since Becker. But a more serious injury last year, a stress fracture in his left ankle, forced him to miss nearly all of the clay-court season, including the French Open. "I think if he had not been hurt last year, he would have made his big leap in the rankings then," Arrese said.
When asked how he could remain so composed under pressure, Nadal said, "The only way of finding a solution is to fight back, to move, to run, and to control that pressure."
Nadal certainly made the most of his first opportunity in Paris. The last player to win the French Open on his first attempt was Mats Wilander in 1982. Wilander was one of the people Nadal invited to his celebratory dinner Sunday night at the Cafe de l'Homme, the restaurant with the fine view of the Eiffel Tower.
Barely 19, He's Got Game, Looks and Remarkably Good Manners
By Christopher Clarey- June 6, 2005
He has played it better than anyone for the past two months: better than the world's No. 1 player, Roger Federer, the smooth Swiss whom Nadal defeated in the French Open semifinals, and better than Mariano Puerta, the unseeded Argentine whom Nadal beat in four dramatic sets in Sunday's final.
The last time a teenager won a men's Grand Slam singles title was in 1990, when Pete Sampras served his way to victory at the United States Open at age 19.
Nadal is, for the moment, at his best on slower surfaces like clay, but there is no question that he is tennis's next big thing. Spain has produced several French Open champions in the last 15 years: Sergi Bruguera, Carlos Moya, Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero. But until Nadal, it had yet to produce a true tennis star.
A native of the Mediterranean island of Majorca, the left-handed Nadal has more than heavy topspin, strong legs and remarkable nerve.
He has charisma: a swashbuckling way of covering ground on court, an expressive manner of showing his delight or disappointment, along with a gentlemanly streak that has not always been the hallmark of teenage prodigies before him like John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and, most recently, Lleyton Hewitt.
But Nadal is also difficult to ignore because of his appearance. He has long, dark hair and high cheekbones, and then there are his tennis clothes: a jarring blend of past and present, with his long white pants evoking the golden age of the game and his bright sleeveless shirts evoking nothing but the 21st century. The outfit, new this season, was the idea of his clothing sponsor, but Nadal makes no apologies. "I'm very happy with it," he said, insisting that the below-the-knee pants have had no adverse effect on his movement.
They certainly have not affected his ascent in the rankings. He has won 4 tournaments and 24 matches in a row. After starting the year at No. 46, he will rise to No. 3, behind Federer and Hewitt and ahead of Andy Roddick, the big server Nadal beat on the first day of the Davis Cup finals in Spain last December on clay. Nadal became the youngest man in the 104-year history of tennis's premier team competition to be part of a winning team.
"I imagine Andy feels a bit better about losing that match now that he's seen what Rafael is capable of this year," said Jordi Arrese, one of Spain's Davis Cup co-captains.
"I think people in Spain were expecting this victory at the French Open. And I think it will be good for tennis, because Rafa represents good values. He's a well-mannered, respectful person, and I think that sends out a good message, especially to the young."
Nadal was born into a close-knit extended family and still lives in Manacor, the second-largest city on Majorca, where some of Nadal's ancestors arrived in the 14th century. The family is prosperous. Rafael's father, Sebastian, runs a large window company. His uncle Miguel Angel was a star soccer defender who played for Barcelona and Real Mallorca and was also a member of three World Cup teams for Spain. Another uncle, Toni, was the one who introduced Rafael to tennis at age 3 and has remained his coach. "Sure, it's been complicated at times and it still can be, but it is also a big advantage," Rafael said of his working relationship with Toni.
Though Nadal has already earned well over $1 million in prize money, he continues to share an apartment building in one of Manacor's principal squares with his family. His grandparents live on the ground floor. Toni, his wife and three daughters live on the first floor. Sebastian and Nadal's mother, Ana Maria, live on the second floor, and Rafael and his younger sister, Maria Isabel, share the third floor.
Many top tennis players have been obliged to leave their homes and families in their teenage years to hone their games in academies or training centers. Among those to do so were Agassi, Federer, Marat Safin and Moya, who also comes from Majorca and has become one of Nadal's mentors.
Nadal was offered financial assistance by the Spanish tennis federation if he moved to the national training center near Barcelona. But the Nadals decided that Rafael should remain in Manacor, train with Toni and go to a regular secondary school. "I always have thought, and I continue to think, that if one works hard, one can work well in many places," Toni said. "The advantage of staying with his family was big for Rafael. It was a plus, both in terms of tranquility and in terms of organization."
Toni said he began to believe that his nephew could win a Grand Slam event when he won the under-12 title of Majorca when he was 8. "He had a very good mentality, and so I thought it was possible, not probable, but possible," Toni said.
But it was not until Nadal was 12 that he made the decision to pursue tennis as a career instead of soccer, still far and away the most popular sport in Spain. His speed, aggressive instincts and athleticism made him a talented striker, but after winning the European under-12 tennis title, he knew which sport to choose. One of the first prominent players to suffer for it was the former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who visited Majorca for an exhibition match with Boris Becker in May 2001. Becker withdrew with an injury, and Cash agreed to play the 14-year-old Nadal, who beat the 36-year-old Cash. The next year, Nadal turned professional and won his first match on the Tour.
In 2003, after missing the French Open with a right elbow injury, he became the youngest player to win two rounds at Wimbledon since Becker. But a more serious injury last year, a stress fracture in his left ankle, forced him to miss nearly all of the clay-court season, including the French Open. "I think if he had not been hurt last year, he would have made his big leap in the rankings then," Arrese said.
When asked how he could remain so composed under pressure, Nadal said, "The only way of finding a solution is to fight back, to move, to run, and to control that pressure."
Nadal certainly made the most of his first opportunity in Paris. The last player to win the French Open on his first attempt was Mats Wilander in 1982. Wilander was one of the people Nadal invited to his celebratory dinner Sunday night at the Cafe de l'Homme, the restaurant with the fine view of the Eiffel Tower.
MargaretMcAleer
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Rafa has said he can't play less than he did in the last 2 years.His schedule depends on results and health.Rafa said he would like to play at Indian Wells this year,depending on how his body evolves he and his team will decided whether to go to Acapulco.
tented
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I hope he is able to compete at Indian Wells because he I want to see him in person especially now that he is a 21-time Slam champion!
Rafa:"I can't play less than I did in last 2 yrs. My schedule depends on results&health. From there we'll take decisions. Here we've achieved something special & I'd like to be in IW, depending on how my body evolves we'll decide whether to go to Acapulco"
So hope that we may see him in Cali this year at Indian Wells !
So hope that we may see him in Cali this year at Indian Wells !
MargaretMcAleer
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It is usually one of his favorite tournaments to attend,apart being best friends with the owner,the area has great golf courses.
MargaretMcAleer
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I finally found a quote from Toni on Rafa's match,
"Nowdays, people tend to surrender to frustration and complain,too much.Rafa,though,being down 2 sets to zero with no bad face,nothing.He knew all the time,how to overcome difficulty,which I think is the most outstanding thing from yesterday's match".
"Nowdays, people tend to surrender to frustration and complain,too much.Rafa,though,being down 2 sets to zero with no bad face,nothing.He knew all the time,how to overcome difficulty,which I think is the most outstanding thing from yesterday's match".
the AntiPusher
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Question: When he captures RG from Novak, Do you think that he will finally go into Wimbledon with the attitude that he is playing with house money. Will he open up the shoulders and hit the ball like he does in practice? We have seen glimpse of this type of tennis from him vs Dominic Thiem at the USO and AO is the ones that comes to mind. I feel on grass this could give me the free points that he needs on that surface. The guys in this era hit so hard with the current racket and string technology. Novak's game is better suited to absorb pace and he moves just a bit better than Nadal the past few years. Any thoughts or maybe I may need another cup of java today.. cheers ladies and gents
To answer your question, AP, I think he will only truly open up when he is down or when he knows the match is fully on his own racket.
As for Wimbledon, I think the main key for Nadal is his return of serve. Of course, he needs to serve well too, but if he is not returning well, then he loses confidence. That's what happened to him against Federer in Wimbledon 2019. He even admitted that he lost confidence on his BH because he could not make the returns he needed to win the match.
