Nalbandian vs. Rios: Who Was More Talented?

[Fiero425]

With that formula I can’t see you ever losing a match

Connors was the 1st pro in my generation that relentlessly hit the ball flat and hard for the most part! That's why you not only had to use that formula, you had to be playing well to get to the point of breaking down Connors' FH which could be shaky at times! He put a lot of pressure on you and attacked the net more than usual baseliners!:whistle:

 

[britbox]

Connors was the 1st pro in generation that relentlessly hit the ball flat and hard for the most part! That's why you not only had to use that formula, you had to be playing well to get to the point of breaking down Connors' FH which could be shaky at times! He put a lot of pressure on you and attacked the net more than usual baseliners!:whistle:

I had a good radio interview with Arthur Ashe on file at some point - will try and dig it out...on how he shocked the world and beat Jimbo at Wimbledon,

 

[Federberg]

he had no ankle's injury, he said in presser that he was healthy, moreover Nalby beat him 8 times, don't me he was injured the 8 times !!!

sigh.. this doesn't have to be this difficult. Roger had been out for weeks with an ankle injury. There were a spate of injuries before the tournament, and the ATP was in panic mode. Roger declares that he'll be able to make it (rumour was they put a bit of pressure to get him to do this). He plays. Mows down everyone, got to the final and lost to Nalbandian. He's not going to say that the ankle was a factor, whether it was or not

 

[Fiero425]

I had a good radio interview with Arthur Ashe on file at some point - will try and dig it out...on how he shocked the world and beat Jimbo at Wimbledon,

It shocked me! Since it was tape delayed, a neighbor called to let me know Ashe had won! My jaw hit the floor since I believed Ashe was about done! His major wins had been in '68 at the USO & @ AO in '70! :whistle:

 

[isabelle]

sigh.. this doesn't have to be this difficult. Roger had been out for weeks with an ankle injury. There were a spate of injuries before the tournament, and the ATP was in panic mode. Roger declares that he'll be able to make it (rumour was they put a bit of pressure to get him to do this). He plays. Mows down everyone, got to the final and lost to Nalbandian. He's not going to say that the ankle was a factor, whether it was or not

he was back after an injury pause, that's absolutely true but he said before the tourney "If I hadn't been totally healthy, I wouldn't be there" so I guess he was fine, he trashed Gaudio 6/0 6/0 in semi and didn't seem to feel pain, maybe a 5 setters was a bit too long for him, he cramped in 5th set it didn't help him for sure

 

[I.Haychew]

Please remind me.....were those matches that Nalbandian won over Federer at the Australian Open and the US Open played on indoor courts with no one watching?

No. But what does Federer have to do with this?

 

[Ronnie]

Ah...Mecir. I loved watching the Big Cat.

I'm going to take Rios in this hypothetical matchup with Nalbandian. He was mercurial as hell with zero effs to give. His don't GAFF attitude is what Nick Kyrgios tries to exude but doesn't quite succeed at. The problem with voting for Rios though is they'd have to play on a day he was in the mood to try...

Yeah agree Rios was on another level.

 

[Jelenafan]

sigh.. this doesn't have to be this difficult. Roger had been out for weeks with an ankle injury. There were a spate of injuries before the tournament, and the ATP was in panic mode. Roger declares that he'll be able to make it (rumour was they put a bit of pressure to get him to do this). He plays. Mows down everyone, got to the final and lost to Nalbandian. He's not going to say that the ankle was a factor, whether it was or not

Oh for Goodness sake, if Federer didn’t anticipate a 5 set battle in the final and the ankle *could* have been one factor, that’s on him. It’s not as if Nalbandian at the time didn’t have an edge head2head with Federer regardless. IIRC Nalbandian ended up besting Federer on indoor Hardcourt 3 times AFTER Federer was #1.

Rod Laver once famously said “ you step on the court no excuses”.

Federer lost because he was pushed beyond what he expected with Nalbandian . It happens.