Rafael Nadal Parea - 21x Grand Slam Champion, Golden Slam Winner, 5x Davis Cup Winner 🐐

Sport
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As I said I didn’t get to see any of the the final yet, so can’t really comment on what happened this afternoon. I was fairly sure though that Nadal would win today for two reasons. Firstly, you simply don’t back against Nadal at Roland Garros and secondly I felt Djokovic has done so much fucking around last 6 months, his head wasn’t right and he wasn’t properly focused.

Djokovic has won all 10 of their meetings on surfaces other than clay since the 2013 US Open but as you said he doesn’t really have the game or the tools for Nadal on clay, even when his head is right and he’s properly focused.

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The only grand slam meetings outside of RG since the 2013 US Open were a 5 setter at Wimbledon and a whitewash at the Australian Open.

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Uncle Toni :clap:

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Nice words from Fed.

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Federer and Nadal are actually good friends and there’s huge mutual respect and admiration there. Nadal got Federer to Open his academy in Majorca a few years ago.

Both have a testy relationship with Djokovic.

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The dislike Djokovic and Federer have for eachother seems to be more transparent.

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It is but Nadal and Djokovic are not too fond of each other either.

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Probably but it does not seem to be as evident as that between Djokovic and Federer.

Djokovic and Nadal is more to do with a competitive rivalry, it’s a much more even rivalry, similar age and arrived on the scene at the same time, most meetings between two players in grand slams and on tour etc.

Djokovic and Federer seems to just be a genuine dislike of each other.

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This was sublime.

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Imagine if he wins 21 in Australia :sunglasses:

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September 2016 - Nadal loses to Lucas Pouille in the 4th round of the US Open. It completed a miserable two years for him. Over 2 years without a slam (he had won a slam every year for the past 10 years), failed to make it past the quarters in his last 8 slams, had to withdraw during the French Open and wasn’t able to complete at the US Open in 2014 and Wimbledon in 2016 with injuries. Rafa Nadal was 30 and by all intents and purposes, finished. Injuries had taken their toll, his body was no longer able for the type of gruelling, attritional game he played.

In came Carlos Moya, in came a new approach, it was adapt or die. A more aggressive Rafa was born, serving bigger and harder, looking to be more aggressive and shorten the points. Since then no player has won more slams than Nadal (6), nobody has made more finals (8), nobody has made more SFs (11), in the past 14 slams - Rafa stands out alone.

It’s a remarkable story and it’s why he is the GOAT. He has had to fight that adversity all through his career. Everyone said he’d never win outside of clay, he proved them wrong, he’s the youngest player to ever capture the grand slam at 24. Everyone said he was just a plugger and he’d be done by 30, nobody has won more slams in their 30s than Nadal.

It would be interesting to see what the stats would have been if Nadal had adapted his game in the years before. The only slam he has missed since 2016 is the US Open this year which was not injury related. He spends an awful lot less time on court these days - look at the slams he has won.

2017 - French Open - did not drop a set
2017 - US Open - dropped 3 sets in the tournament
2018 - French Open - dropped 1 set in the tournament
2019 - French Open - dropped 2 sets in the tournament
2019 - US Open - dropped 3 sets in the tournament
2020 - French Open - did not drop a set

Even the 2019 Australian Open where Rafa was beaten in the final, he made it there without dropping a set - compare and contrast that in his early years where he was going through marathon runs and it was taking a toll on his body at some point.

It’s always been stacked in adversity for Nadal and he always comes through it, like a champion would.

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Nadal has won more Roland Garros titles than he has dropped sets at Roland Garros.

Wow.

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:syringe:

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I don’t really get what all this adversity that Nadal has to cope with it that you keep referring to? If it’s injuries and health issues, pretty much all players have issues there.

Should you not also be mentioning that Djokovic is a celiac and had that chronic elbow injury in 2016 which effectively wiped out two of his prime years and nearly saw him retire.

Federer has had persistent back trouble for the guts of a decade and was also struck down by mononucleosis in 2008, a condition which commonly results in long term issues with fatigue.

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The ridiculous seeding system they use to favour federer at Wimbledon.

Look at how many times nadal has to play in the middle of day in Aussie open when it’s hottest compared to federer who always plays at night.

The cunts that run tennis have done everything possible to screw him.

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That’s just silly talk. There was a lot of grumbling done alright in 2019 at Wimbledon that Nadal was seeded 3 and Federer was seeded 2. They met in the semi final and Federer won decisively in 4 sets.

Fact of the matter is that Federer is a much better grass court player than Nadal. Nadal has had a lot of ignominious exits at Wimbledon since he last won it in 2010.

Nadal is a much better clay court player than Federer.

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Simple fact Is they fiddled with the seeding system to benefit federer.

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If Federer ended up with the soft semi final draw of Bautista Agut in the semi final at Wimbledon 2019, conspiracy theorists like yourself might have a bit more to work with. He didn’t. Djokovic did. You’re just making yourself look silly now.

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Two hard court slams and 1 grass court slam vs 1 clay court.

3/4 of the season is biased towards big servebots.

Nadal has battled chronic injuries throughout his career.

He has missed 8 slams with injuries, 8 slams in the peak of his powers. He was unable to defend his Wimbledon title in 2009 and unable to defend his US Open title in 2014.

Neither Federer or Djokovic had injury problems that remotely compare to Nadal.

Up until this year, Federer missed one slam in his career due to injury. Djokovic missed one slam in his career due to injury. They are not even close to the same ball park.

Unlike Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have had each other and Federer at their primes for the entirety of their career. Federer had hot streak when he was playing in a really weak era post Sampras and as soon as Nadal and Djokovic found their groove the slams wound up.

Djokovic has 50% of slams on his favourite surface and another slam on a very similar surface, Federer has 25% of slams on his favourite surface and 50% on a very similar surface. Nadal has 25% of slams on his fav surface and 75% on a very different surface.

For Nadal to go and win 5 hard court slams and 2 grass court slams, a number of 5 finals defeats on those surfaces too is absolutely remarkable.

Djokovic and Federer by contrast have only won one on their non-favoured surface and both have dreadful records against Nadal at RG.

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Yet Nadal was seeded 2 at RG in the past two tournaments. The Wimbledon system is the only one that disregards world rankings.

Grass courts suit big servebots, when he was beaten by Rosol, Kyrgios and Muller at Wimbledon. He was beaten by guys who served flawlessly and when that happens on grass you are in big bother. Wimbledon has had guys like Querrey, Raonic, Anderson, Isner, Cillic all in SFs and finals in the past 5/6 years.

When you are most vulnerable to these guys is the earlier rounds when the surface is softer and slippier and the ball doesn’t bounce and just skids away. Nadal generally gets better as Wimbledon goes on as the court firms up, the baseline in particular.

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