Roland Garros - 2020

bogbrush wrote:It was interesting to see Djokovic’s tragic net game exposed. How many times did he blow decent positions because he dare not go there’s except to put a simple one away.

And the smash! 

I will always prefer Nole's game to Rafa's, and I also think that overall Nole is probably a better player, so it will be a bit of shame if - as it looks now - he remains behind Rafa in the slam count.

But I will admit this:  Even though Rafa's game is not the most versatile out there, he is nowhere near as 1-dimensional as Nole.  Nole really only has one thing - metronomic baseline bashing.  He is phenomenally good at it - so good that he may yet overtake Fed and Rafa in most of the important stats - but that is the only thing he can do well.

Watched a replay just now

@bogbrush was accurate with his analysis about Nadal's depth. He knew that without the sunny conditions the ball bounce wouldn't trouble Djokovic, so he had to make up for it by pushing Djokovic back.
Shot selection and tactics wise, probably his best ever performance against Djokovic. Maybe one of his best ever performances full stop.

Djokovic didn't look fatigued or injured at all, and was decent in set 3. Perhaps he was nervous throughout? Early on, he looked a bit shellshocked at the level Nadal was producing, and basically admitted as much in the post match conference. So was I to be honest...

We can make lots of analysis, but in the end it is very simple:


13 finals won in 13 finals reached. 102 matches played and 100 victories.

Clay is his Kingdom and nobody will ever top his achievement.

naxroy wrote:Clay is his Kingdom and nobody will ever top his achievement, ever.

'ever' is too big a call, we might see it broken in our lifetimes. But Nadal is absolutely head shoulders and whole body above any clay courter in History of Clay tennis. He is nearly unbeatable, even after 15 years. Astounding!!

GOAT? He is definitely among the greatest ever, but his achievements are too clay sided when we look for overall tennis.

https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/roland-garros/2020/french-open-2020-novak-djokovic-s-injury-a-big-worry-ahead-of-semi-final-mats-wilander_sto7938521/story.shtml

To me Nadal is actually the luckiest player ever. He is certainly a very solid clay courter but his career his full of lucky events.

I'll spell them in another post.

Are you going to claim Djokovic was injured for the semi or the final? 

That was just speculation from Mats after Djokovic had injury issues for one set vs Busta. He had tape on his neck for the first couple of sets, but when he felt better he took the tape off. 
And then he didn’t have his tape on for semi and final, and said specifically that the injury was no longer affecting him for the semi and final. 

Also, he looked very calm in the 5th set vs Tsitsi, and said he was calm because he was confident his fitness was superior for the 5th set. 
If he did have an injury, by definition they can be exacerbated by more tennis, so he’d be delusional to be calm about his fitness heading into a 5th set. And presumably he’s not deluded.

I think this is just an attempt to try and use a minor pain which affected him for one set during the QF, as an excuse for his defeat in the final. Using a pundits speculation as cover doesn’t change that. (and btw Mats himself said after the semi that Djokovic looked 100% health wise) 

Perhaps because you predicted that Djokovic would crush Nadal, and don’t have the humility to admit you got it wrong?

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

naxroy wrote:Clay is his Kingdom and nobody will ever top his achievement, ever.

'ever' is too big a call, we might see it broken in our lifetimes. But Nadal is absolutely head shoulders and whole body above any clay courter in History of Clay tennis. He is nearly unbeatable, even after 15 years. Astounding!!

GOAT? He is definitely among the greatest ever, but his achievements are too clay sided when we look for overall tennis.

Never said he was goat, he is not for me. He is the best claycourter ever without a doubt

And I think nobody will ever win 13 roland garros. Unless they start playing the tournament twice a year

its been said by everyody (Nadal and Djokovic included) that conditions favoured Novak. (I also thought so)

Seeing the match, I have my doubts about this.

Court was slower than usual, and ball didnt bounce as high

It is true that high bounce of the heavy spin by Nadal is a huge problem for most players, but it was not for Novak anymore... so this wasnt really a factor and a lot of importance was given to it.

But being slower, Novak´s service for example was less harming for Nadal (also in the final Novak´s service was gone)
and also it was easier for Rafa to defend when Novak had the chance to move him.

In general, Novak was not patient enough, and the slow court played its roll in this frustration.


I think Novak did really believe conditions suited him better, and suddenly in the first set he understood it was the other way around.
Then he was quite slow in changing mindset and aproach, and when he found a way, it was too late.


Novak didnt have a bad day for physiscal reasons, he had a bad day because he was taken by surprise and wasnt able to find an answer.