Nadal is not 100% sure to finish year at number 1.

Nadal: "I could be number one again if I continue at that level and if I'm not injured. But this is not 100 percent sure."

Good. At least he announces his goal clearly this time.

The whole story there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nadal-eyes-rankings-pinnacle-post-paris-dip-090817380.html

I personally find annoying to read those posters coming here saying "I told you so". Yes Nadal made a very strong and swift comeback and yes he surprised me. But he was also very close to lose versus Djoko...despite a pretty poor performance from Djoko completely absent of that 3rd set. Djoko played poorly, could not move and yet Nadal needed teh best conditions (hot and slippery) to just about beat an ailing Djoko. Nadal's luck gave him a conditions he disliked for final ....except those where ideal conditions against Ferrer who we know coudl not hit through such sluggish conditions. Quite funny to see that Nadal did not ask for interrupting the match despite being very similar than last year. Actually that's not quite 100% true he did glance at the referee questioning the conds in that 3rd set.....when Ferrer was threatening to come back.

The first 6 months of the year are indeed very slow courts bar Dubai but of course we did not see him there. The remaining 6 month will tell us a bit more about his skills...as we know his fitness is still the best out there.

Tenez wrote: I personally find annoying to read those posters coming here saying "I told you so". Yes Nadal made a very strong and swift comeback and yes he surprised me. But he was also very close to lose versus Djoko...despite a pretty poor performance from Djoko completely absent of that 3rd set. Djoko played poorly, could not move and yet Nadal needed teh best conditions (hot and slippery) to just about beat an ailing Djoko. Nadal's luck gave him a conditions he disliked for final ....except those where ideal conditions against Ferrer who we know coudl not hit through such sluggish conditions. Quite funny to see that Nadal did not ask for interrupting the match despite being very similar than last year. Actually that's not quite 100% true he did glance at the referee questioning the conds in that 3rd set.....when Ferrer was threatening to come back.
The first 6 months of the year are indeed very slow courts bar Dubai but of course we did not see him there. The remaining 6 month will tell us a bit more about his skills...as we know his fitness is still the best out there.

That thought went through my mind, as well.
For someone who, according to his fans, is so dominant and "best ever" on clay, he regularly shows cowardice and lack of gallantry toward his opponents: for all his one S. Edberg Award (and is it a coincidence he only won it once compared to Federer?), what has he got to show for it in terms of on-court manners: time-wasting, refusing courts to be watered and enable safer play for Novak in the SF, or refusing to stop play in the final when the conditions were against his hugely underdog, trailing two sets opponent - Ferrer.
I have zero respect for his tennis and every title he has won.

Regarding the number one chase, I would be surprised to see him win anything till the end of the year. Definitely not WTF.
I shall make sure I watch a few of those matches there, Round Robin stage only, of course

I would not be surprised by a few tournament withdrawals due to "knee injury" either, esp. if he gets blown off the court by one of the growing number of tall big-hitters.

For me, the interesting thing now is going to be his seeding as he is currently back to number 5:

1. N. Djokovic(SRB) 11,830
2 A. Murray(GBR) 8,310
3. R. Federer(SUI) 7,640
4 D. Ferrer(ESP) 7,220
5. R. Nadal(ESP) 6,895
6 T. Berdych(CZE) 4,515
7. J. Tsonga(FRA) 4,155
8 J. Del Potro(ARG) 3,960
9. R. Gasquet(FRA) 3,090
10 S. Wawrinka(SUI) 2,810
11. T. Haas(GER) 2,585
12 M. Cilic(CRO) 2,570
13. K. Nishikori(JPN) 2,495
14 J. Tipsarevic(SRB) 2,390
15. M. Raonic(CAN) 2,225
16 N. Almagro(ESP) 2,195
17. G. Simon(FRA) 1,985
18 P. Kohlschreiber(GER) 1,885
19. S. Querrey(USA) 1,810
20 J. Monaco(ARG) 1, 740


Top ten looks better with Wawrinka in and Tipsarevic out of it. Just can't work out how Cilic seems to be hanging around there (above for eg. Simon) all the time not winning much.

Watering the courts woudl have had 2 major effects.

1 - Allowing Djoko to move better

2 - More importantly lower the bounce

No wonder he was not to keen for it.

Yes, the bounce was pretty bad on Friday, Nole did well to hang with it for so long. Even yesterday in the damp conditions, Ferrer was struggling seriously with it. Had the conditions been reversed in the SF/F I'd certainly be a happier NITB right now .

The more time passes, the more I am annoyed at how Nole managed to lose that match, even on that dry clay...particularly that running into the net overhead....

I actually haven't seen the third set or much of it and on Sunday a friend told me Nole was carrying on strangely in it.
I am definitely not going to watch the replay to see what he did and what went on in that 3rd set, but can only conclude two things: the pressure was getting to him as well as the slippery court not allowing him to move quicker esp along the base-line in order to rally longer and better.
That was particularly obvious (but much, much worse than in RG on Friday) during last year's Madrid when it was played on blue clay.

I do hope he has learned now once and for all to wait for the ball to bounce before hitting the overhead. Another proof how essential and crucial focus is at all times, but again, you can only replay those moments in hindsight. When it was actually happening in real time, all he was seeing was the ball and that he had it on his racquet....

One thing's for sure, after that refusal from Nadal to have the court watered (isn't there a rule for it after 6 all in the 5th set, just like there is for watering between the sets?), there will be zero love lost between the two from now on. Just in case there was any doubt before; can't wait to see their next match.

Anyway, I am drinking my last coffee out of the RG mug I bought there and saying goodbye to it for now till next year.
Also bravely refusing to turn the heating on. What is going on with summer this year?

I think there is a strong possibility Nadal will get back to number one.

noleisthebest
Regarding the number one chase, I would be surprised to see him win anything till the end of the year

.



I will take that bet with you.

BlueClay wrote:I think there is a strong possibility Nadal will get back to number one.

Another thought without arguments to back it up? So let's me do the job for you.

Is it because you expect Djoko to be injured the rest of the season?

Is it because Nadal beat Djoko so easily on his best surface clay that he will also beat him on his least favourite surfaces?

Do you expect Djoko to keep missing his easy smashes at virtual MPs for the rest of the season?

Tenez wrote:

BlueClay wrote:I think there is a strong possibility Nadal will get back to number one.

Another thought without arguments to back it up? So let's me do the job for you.

Is it because you expect Djoko to be injured the rest of the season?

Is it because Nadal beat Djoko so easily on his best surface clay that he will also beat him on his least favourite surfaces?

Do you expect Djoko to keep missing his easy smashes at virtual MPs for the rest of the season?

This is not a court of law, I don't have to have arguments to back anything up. It is my opinion that it is possible that Nadal could become number one, it is certainly not out of the question as you seem to think it is. But I will throw a bone out at you: Djokovic has been very inconsistent in his results in all tournaments this year since the AO(except for MC.) Djokovic did not even do that well on his best surface at IW and Miami so unless Djokovic is able to step it up to his 2011 form it is not a given that he will win everything. This should be obvious to even a poor tennis analyst such as yourself.

You were wrong about Nadal losing to Djokovic at the FO weren't you? So why is it so inconceivable that you may be wrong again? Hmmm?

'Great analyser' Tenez gets basically everything wrong

I think Djokovic should finish the year number one though- the strongest part of his season is yet to come.

The Prince wrote:'Great analyser' Tenez gets basically everything wrong

I think Djokovic should finish the year number one though- the strongest part of his season is yet to come.

Amri, Prince, Julia, Larry...(and that's just on THIS forum!) don't you get tired of all these ID cross-dressing?

Your tennis knowledge is non-existant and you are persona non-grata on just about every forum you go. Nobody wants to know what you have to say, if they did you would not have to change your IDs all the time and play all the silly little PM games that EVERYONE can see through.

Take this as a friendly, honest opinion: stop making a fool of yourself.

Tenez is a very sharp tennis observer and you'd do well just to learn from him, not be envious and continually come here to vent your frustrations.

The sooner you realise Nadal is the death of tennis, the better. He is a symbol of everything that's wrong with it at the moment.

This is my first account on this forum, the forum admin can check my Internet Protocol Code or location or whatever.

You really do come across as totally bananas

Hello one and all tennis fans! I hope you are all well.

The subject matter at hand, it does actually fill me with sadness to think Nadal could make number 1 without playing a full season in 2 years. Makes a slight mockery of the tennis rankings and season.

I have to say being filled with the "Greatest comeback in tennis" over his RG success was frustrating. The fact he didn't plummet down the rankings more or less meant he would never fall lower than number 5.

I think Djokovic or Murray are most likely to prevent him reaching number 1. Now the dirt season is over, we shall see how the 'new' Nadal copes.

Hi LK - Welcome back. Yes Nadal won but it was a pretty close encounter on Friday v Djoko, wasn't it? This is the problem I have faced with Nadal. I know he can and should be beaten but for some reasons Djoko simply stopped playing in that 3rd set for whatever reason, and then he missed that virtual MP with the easiest smash.

I am pretty sure the slightly faster courts are going to put the pressure back onto Nadal. He stands already ridiculously far for clay so I can imagine on HC and grass he is going to face a huge challenge.

His refusal to play Halle is in a way an admission that he has little chance for WImbledon. His interview about his chances did not sound very convincing. And again as he admits again the tougher part will be the first week. Once grass turns into dirt he is in with a big chance as the ball in Wimbledon are usually bigger than in teh FO.

It was a very close encounter. What is evident is that Nadal is not comfortable playing Djokovic because there are no freebies and even all out aggression plays into Djokovic's hands given how superb he is in defence. Djokovic just kept switiching off in that match and a better mindset would've seen him over the line.

Players will target the Nadal BH more so given that knee strapping is a bullseye. Even though Nadal will look more and more to run around his FH will take even more out of him. You look at Ferrer and have to say that he is far too limited for a top 10er. A more technically gifted player would've worked Nadal around the court much more.

If Halle is playing like Queens with the slippery surfaces, he may think a slip might put him out on the side again. If conditions are like this week at Wimbledon dry, cold and cloudy I think not just Nadal but other baseline movers might find themselves at the mercy of the aggressive players.

Ferrer was again unlucky at that FO cause the wet conds would favour anyone in the top 10 versus Nadal...except Ferrer. We saw in Madrid and Rome (fast dry), Ferrer was very close to Nadal and again lost essentially for lack of composure. Whereas in those wet conditions he did not have the power to hit through it while it gave Nadal plenty of time to become finally an aggressor after 2 weeks of retrieving.

I don;t know how Nadal is going to do for the rest of the season but I expect early losses with the knee excuse coming up again. It;s so good to stay sharp psychology if you attribute all your losses to a physical reason (not to use excuse). It keeps your mind strong knowing one can only be defeated if not 120%.

After 9 years of watching Nadal I am not sure whether he has ever admitted to a clear and fair defeat....bar maybe v Ferrer in that AO10 when he pulled a groin muscle but went a long way not to talk about it.

Tenez wrote: After 9 years of watching Nadal I am not sure whether he has ever admitted to a clear and fair defeat....bar maybe v Ferrer in that AO10 when he pulled a groin muscle but went a long way not to talk about it.

One of his best ever defeats was when he resigned from the players' council because failed to push through the 2 year ranking.
He still managed to prevent Ljubicic from getting the position he applied for in the ATP, though.

Tenez wrote:
His refusal to play Halle is in a way an admission that he has little chance for WImbledon. His interview about his chances did not sound very convincing. And again as he admits again the tougher part will be the first week. Once grass turns into dirt he is in with a big chance as the ball in Wimbledon are usually bigger than in teh FO.

LOL, it is no such thing! He is just minimizing his chances at W as he does about every tournament he enters. He was interviewed at Disneyland in Paris and he says he is only thinking about Wimbledon now.

Why should he enter a meaningless tune-up like Halle? Do you think the winner of Halle has a better shot at winning W?

BlueClay wrote:Why should he enter a meaningless tune-up like Halle? Do you think the winner of Halle has a better shot at winning W?

Have you checked who won Halle and Queens the last 30 years? You are really talking more and more non sense now. Wimbledon is a unique surface where every single match on grass is an added bonus.

I am sure tenez that there are people who have not won halle and won wimby tenez.
Feds didnt enter it in 2009, djoko in 2011 and I bet there are quite a few others (I assume you mean not entering either halle or queens right?).

I think feds shouldn't have entered halle in 2010 as I thought he looked jaded and apaz he had a back problem.
Could nadal tiring himself more at halle be detrimental to his wimby chances? possibly.

also tenez, halle only started apparently in 1993 and since then only feds has gone onto win wimbledon.

Now with queens its probs a different story with nadal, hewitt, sampras, mcenroe, connors etc winning the queens wimby double.

luvsports! wrote:I am sure tenez that there are people who have not won halle and won wimby tenez.
Feds didnt enter it in 2009, djoko in 2011 and I bet there are quite a few others (I assume you mean not entering either halle or queens right?).

I think feds shouldn't have entered halle in 2010 as I thought he looked jaded and apaz he had a back problem.
Could nadal tiring himself more at halle be detrimental to his wimby chances? possibly.

Yes...but my point is that most of the queens and Halle winners have been Wimby winners too....what is it? 85% and those won Halle and Queens have usually done very well in Wimby as clearly it helps.

Secondly, not everybody is Federer...a natural talent who has won 7 slams on grass.

My point is simple. Nadal has always doen very well on grass when he got a few matches on Queens...Last year he did go out in first or second round and wen out of it in Wimbledon very quick too. Had he tried harder in Halle...he may have looked a bit more at ease v Rosol.

Halle or Queens.....it's the same thing. It's experience on grass.

I get your point but I think you are being too critical.
Nadal made the q's of queens in 2010 and won wimby and the q's of halle in 2012.

And as i say djoko didnt play either queens or halle in '11 and won wimby. I don't think it is that big of a deal, certainly for someone like rafa who has a very good record at wimby.

luvsports! wrote:I get your point but I think you are being too critical.
Nadal made the q's of queens in 2010 and won wimby and the q's of halle in 2012.

And as i say djoko didnt play either queens or halle in '11 and won wimby. I don't think it is that big of a deal, certainly for someone like rafa who has a very good record at wimby.

Of course it's a big deal, Nole plays Boodles. They all do play matches on grass before coming to Wimbledon, every match is worth tons to them when switching from clay to grass. Nadal did even in 2009 before he decided to pull out a day or two before it started.
Federer said in his Halle interview, that he wants to win it as it would mean a lot to him in terms of confidence since he hasn't won much recently.
http://www.theboodles.com/players/index.html

luvsports! wrote:I get your point but I think you are being too critical.

I am not saying it's a sine qua non condition to win Wimby. I am saying not entering it certainly is not the best preparation.

I remember Federer being very exhausted after FO finals of 2006 2007 yet making the effort to go to Halle and battling it out to prepare for Wimby. SWO the one too critical is the one saying it's irrelevant to play matches on grass.

It woudl be any other surface I'd kind of agree cause Nadal doesn;t use much finess and tuning in his game generally. But on grass the element still requires some tuning....especially if you play a powerful player.

But you said

His refusal to play Halle is in a way an admission that he has little chance for WImbledon

Isn't that different from what you just said:

I am saying not entering it certainly is not the best preparation.

For me nadal is always vulnerable in the first week of wimby as its faster and lower bounce (i think).
His improvement imo is accelerated with the deteriorating conditions of the wimby courts. I think this would be slower if for instance they stayed the same the whole way through (if you get my point).

So basically I agree you need grass court preparation but we differ on how important that preparation is to your wimby chances.

LV wrote:So basically I agree you need grass court preparation but we differ on how important that preparation is to your wimby chances.

 So who is too critical then? The ones who says preparing for grass is good (to a degree for some) or the one who thinks it's laughable to think playing on grass (or Halle) should increase chances of winning Wimby?

It's so evident that playing on grass (Halle or Queen) is key to prepare for Wimbledon. I also understand that those who reach the finals of teh FO might think it's better to rest. There are so few matches and opportunities to play on it that grass like clay can really turn against you if you don't have the confident footing on it and if you read Nadal's interview he really sounds like someone who will give it his best without much belief...though I also agree it's his way to get the pressure off...Yet in teh past he made it very clear he wanted to win it.

And teh funny thing is that Nadal and the journalist of the OP agree with me there:

Nadal heads to Wimbledon in search of a third title, but having decided to skip this year's Halle tournament, his preparation for the grasscourt grand slam will be far from ideal.
"I will check all my body and I hope to be ready for Wimbledon," said Nadal.
"I don't play a tournament before Wimbledon so that's not the ideal situation before a grand slam like Wimbledon, which is on grass and with conditions that are very different.
"But if you can make it a few rounds, then the situation changes."

Unlike his nephew, the Uncle doesn't beat about the bush:

"We (!!!) are in a position to play for the top. Rafa has a considerable advantage, but everything can changes in one tournament. Whomever wins Wimbledon will take a big step.”

Tenez, I don't care who has won Queens or Halle in the last 30 years, at the end of the day it is a warm-up tournament only. In Fed's prime winning Halle may have been a predictor of whether or not he would win Wimbledon, but at this stage of his career it means squat imo. He has no major competition at Halle whereas at W he will be facing a broad field many of which can give him trouble. I am not feeling confident about Federer and his W chances this year based on his dismal form.

But BC it has nothing to do with what you and I care about. And playing Halle means nothing, well not much 250 atp points and a title but that's never been the point here. It's about preparing yourself to play on grass. It;s an important experience when coming from clay. I am surprised you cannot understand this simple fact.

What you feel or not about Federer is another matter. I am pretty sure you did not expect much from him last year and  I am not expecting much myself. In fact I was expecting much less last year and he won it so I am just watching and seeing how it goes...and the reason is that there are 2 Federers the one still able to play superbly and the stiff one. We can have both versions in one single match. We had those 2 versions in Wimbledon 12 as well. The one struggling versus Malisse, Beneteau and the one creaming Djoko and Murray.

I think the "not expecting anything" mode is a good place to be right now.

I was so hopeful Novak would win RG, but again, he didn't. And again, I don't think it's because Nadal is a better player because he isn't.

So I am just going to try and enjoy watching the players I like and hope for some good matches.

...and an early Nadal exit, of course 

[quote="Tenez"]But BC it has nothing to do with what you and I care about. And playing Halle means nothing, well not much 250 atp points and a title but that's never been the point here. It's about preparing yourself to play on grass. [b]It;s an important experience when coming from clay. I am surprised you cannot understand this simple fact.[/b]
[/quote]
 
And I disagree with you. Let's see who does the best at Wimbledon this year and see how much a warm-up really matters shall we?

BlueClay wrote:

Tenez wrote:But BC it has nothing to do with what you and I care about. And playing Halle means nothing, well not much 250 atp points and a title but that's never been the point here. It's about preparing yourself to play on grass. It;s an important experience when coming from clay. I am surprised you cannot understand this simple fact.

 
And I disagree with you. Let's see who does the best at Wimbledon this year and see how much a warm-up really matters shall we?

The more I read you posts leading to Wimbledon the more I understand why you did not post today.

Murray wrote:

So you see BC...even Murray thinks the main problem for Rafa was teh fact he had not played enough on grass.

He didn't have a warm-up event on grass after the French Open and he was playing against a guy who likes playing on grass - Darcis beat Tomas Berdych in the first round of the Olympics here last year, so he likes this surface.

Maybe BC  was too over confident  about his predictions about Nadal. He very narrowly got it right at RG, but was too boastful even to mocking others about Wimbledon.

He got it absolutely wrong this time, by far worse a margin than what he got it right about the clay.

And that maybe why we not see him again here.    

Tenez wrote:And that maybe why we not see him again here.    

well, but he is a good addition here. I like him for his differences as well. I hope he doesn't take this 'prediction' thing too seriously.

I think this title is a bit misleading.

I saw the video of this interview on Eurosport a few weeks ago I think, and the impression I got was that Nadal was saying he was not 100% of  continuing at that level, rather than not being 100% sure of finishing number 1.

McEnroe has really lost it....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0PAbl3HfLhc#at=136

This is what I have been saying for a while. McEnroe should comment on the WWE (Wrestling Enterntainment Channel)
http://www.wwe.com/videos/cm-punk-and-paul-heyman-embrace-raw-june-24-2013-26126257

Cup cakes for him as well!

That looks horrible

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:well, but he is a good addition here. I like him for his differences as well. I hope he doesn't take this 'prediction' thing too seriously.

I second that; BC is a good addition - quite outspoken but normally also appears to be able to handle banter well - including the jibes coming his way.  Of course, given the Wimby result he should expect some needling.  If he cannot handle that, then maybe not so much of a loss if he goes.  But I hope he can handle it and stays.

Tenez wrote:So you see BC...even Murray thinks the main problem for Rafa was teh fact he had not played enough on grass.

He didn't have a warm-up event on grass after the French Open and he was playing against a guy who likes playing on grass - Darcis beat Tomas Berdych in the first round of the Olympics here last year, so he likes this surface.

What exactly am I supposed to see Tenez? Your theory about warm-up tournaments is silly imo. Federer won Halle and that did not exactly help him get past the second round at W did it?  

The main problem with Nadal is that he puts too much energy into winning Mickey Mouse clay tournaments and not enough energy into winning off clay. The problem with Federer is a whole different matter in that he has simply declined and is a shadow of his former self. Whether these players play warm-up tournaments or not means little.

Oh I see...now you show up....You feel less embarassed.

The difference is that Fed lost versus a talented player who played the match of his life and it was dead close. Nadal lost rather convincingly.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Maybe BC  was too over confident  about his predictions about Nadal. He very narrowly got it right at RG, but was too boastful even to mocking others about Wimbledon.

He got it absolutely wrong this time, by far worse a margin than what he got it right about the clay.

Nope. I thought Nadal would go a lot deeper at Wimbledon but I also said Federer had no chance to win it so I was correct there. I think Nadal will come back and be fine but I can't say the same about Federer right now, can you?

Tenez wrote:Oh I see...now you show up....You feel less embarassed.

The difference is that Fed lost versus a talented player who played the match of his life and it was dead close. Nadal lost rather convincingly.

I have not shown up because I was out of town and did not have a chance to watch any tennis much less post on this forum.

Nadal will come back and be fine, Federer is losing the plot. Want to bet me on this one?  

I am happy to bet...despite Nadal being much younger. I think Nadal will struggle everywhere from now. I still maintain that he was partially lucky at the last FO, like he was at IW.