RE: Rafael Nadal : What Makes Him Great
Moxie629 said:
calitennis127 said:
He definitely has high-level skills, but those alone don't even come close to explaining the DEGREE of success he has had at Slams and at Masters Events. His skills and his talent always dictate that he'll be in the mix, but they don't even come close to accounting for the DEGREE/EXTENT of his success.
The EXTENT of his success (i.e. Slams and MS wins), which is quite distorted if you simply look at his game and his shotmaking, is accounted for by this peculiar profile: terrific physical stamina (both within matches and when coming back from them), persistence, mental constancy, mental stability, consistency, and a great capacity for self-improvement: he is always looking for little things he can do to fine-tune his game against specific opponents, i.e. he does his homework and really thinks hard about how to beat certain players.
Cali, I believe this is the first time you've admitted that "talent" could be involved with Nadal's game. A red-letter day!
You are still in the minority, though, with those who find it hard to explain the extent of his success. You list many attributes, and you also mention that he works hard on his strategy to beat specific players. The difference between your list, and you feeling flummoxed, IMO, is that you think there's not enough good shot-making in Nadal's game. I don't know how you think you can still argue that. If Nadal had no more chops that what you put up, he'd have a solid journeyman career, not a Hall-of-Fame career. Stamina, constancy, mental fortitude: these things don't make up the difference between a Ferrer-like career, and 12-Slams, and a winning record against all of the other top 4.
Moxie, once again you show little understanding of the compliments I give Nadal's mindset and physicality. You always interpret these remarks as pejoratives, or at least near-pejoratives, when I quite often don't intend them as such. You also don't quite understand what I mean, which is indicated quite clearly by your Ferrer comparison.
First of all, the problem with bringing Ferrer into these conversations is that he is woefully undersized. He is 40 pounds+ lighter than most guys in the Top 10. He simply does not have their weight of shot. Nadal hits the ball very hard, significantly harder than Ferrer. Ferrer's force of shot doesn't measure up to anyone in the Top 10 really.
Now, let's look at Nadal just in the past two weeks: did he beat Janowicz, Djokovic, Federer, and Berdych because of superior shotmaking?
Clearly not.
Did he beat Raonic, Isner, and the others because of superior shotmaking?
Yes.
Thus, my characterization of his success: his skills and natural talent put him IN THE MIX with the Top 10 and Top 5 players. He is, generally, in their league of talent (I say "generally" because I think Djokovic, Murray, and Federer each at their best have a higher peak level). But what puts his results at such a high level above everyone is the fact that he has mental constancy, mental stability, persistence, consistency, and stamina that virtually no one else has.
"Fortitude" is much more your word and other people's word than mine. Please don't attribute that to me. I think all players have fortitude. I don't really use it much in Nadal's case because I don't think that mere "fortitude" is what separates him. I use the other words for a reason.
And finally, when we are talking about Nadal's stamina, in particular, we are talking about something that is just completely on another level from what most players possess, both within matches and when recovering from them on a quick turnaround. This isn't simply a matter of running on the treadmill for a couple hours either.
Also, I should stress that when I refer to his "mental constancy" and "mental stability" and "persistence" and "consistency", I am talking about qualities that Nadal possesses to an EXTREME degree, far beyond the usual cliche compliments players routinely get.
