Innocent or Guilty?

noleisthebest wrote:Sorry to ask a potentially very stupid question, but what was the point of the debate regarding that Miami 2004 match?

(I know I missed just about 99% of the debate, but still...what was the gist )

Well yes, you missed a very interesting point I have been making for 5 years!!!! My point was that Nadal started to get into a routine when he realised at the Miami 05 that he could simply run out of breath, losing the last 6 games of the 5th set v Federer. If you check Miami05 you see Nadal play most of his points within the 25sec rule, and I will add, many served within 20s even. Lydian came up arguing that Nadal played slowly even before Miami05 and chose Miami04 to demo his point. The problem is, as you can see, Nadal plays very fast in Miami04 too.

I forgot to add that right after Miami05, on clay a few weeks later, Nadal starts a routine to make sure he takes 30s plus (and therefore more O2 in his blood) so that he doesn't end up running out of steam. A good lesson learnt by Toni!!!!

Thanks, Tenez!

Interesting that masters got cut to best of 3, too.
Nobody can and should deny that Nadal plays slow, that is plain silly, really. I mean how can anybody endure those rallies,(doped or not) without a decent breather in the meantime! It's aerobically impossible however fit you are.
And really, much more than Nadal the ones to really blame are umpires and ATP allowing him to take advantage like that.

It's not doing anybody any good, but then again. I didn't realise there are still people who can't see it. I thought you were discussing something totally different.
Something's got to be done about it because players are burning out physically and getting injured more than they should.

Miami or no Miami, it's plain to see in every match.

noleisthebest wrote:Nobody can and should deny that Nadal plays slow, that is plain silly, really. I mean how can anybody endure those rallies,(doped or not) without a decent breather in the meantime! It's aerobically impossible however fit you are.

Are you reading my answers? No one is denying he is taking time NOW. The fact is that he was really serving in a fast(er) rhytm up to Miami05. Some say he was slow back then when clearly he wasn't.

And really, much more than Nadal the ones to really blame are umpires and ATP allowing him to take advantage like that.

Not umpire, maybe teh ATP is to blame partly...but we are also respnsible for accepting teh rules to be bent in front of us to allow our champion to reach the business end of the tournament.

If you ask Amri for instance, he woudl like to see Nadal play within the time rule, but if he had to choose between Nadal playing within the rule with only 2 slams on his record, or Nadal breaking the rule like he does but with 11 slams, he'd choose the latter.

It's not doing anybody any good, but then again.

Ut does Nadal's fans like Amri lots of good.

Just saw the clip. Really refreshing and interesting to see Nadal relatively normal: no ticks, grunts and excessive moon-balling.
Definitely shorter service perparation, no hair fiddling and pants whatever...

That is quite a difference compared to how he carries on now. A disturbing difference, in fact.

I would really love to know who made all the changes and decided the slow-down trend. There must've been a meeting of some kind somewhere.

Tennis genetical engineering at its worst.

noleisthebest wrote:I would really love to know who made all the changes and decided the slow-down trend. There must've been a meeting of some kind somewhere.

Tennis genetical engineering at its worst.

Well easy it happened most likely suddenly after the Miami05 defeat. Toni saw rafa breathless and out of energy losing the last 6 games of the 5th set and decided to slow things down to prevent similar outcome.