Mind Games of Team Nadal

Here we go again....

It's the beginning of clay season and team Nadal are again letting us know that The Humble Bull is NOT the favourite.

This time, not only Toni & Kim, but Rafa himself is convonced that his decline at the age of 28 is such that all he wants to do is "compete".

Winning is a bonus.

"I don’t have pressure this year.   I’m not the favourite for anything.   I have been playing worse than the rest of the rivals of mine. The pressure is not for me… I am arriving here with the motivation to do something better than what I am doing.
The most important thing for me is to feel well on court again, feel confident, feel I am improving, Iwas improving every week before Miami, and in Miami I played bad… If I’m able to find the confidence, to find the tennis here on clay, then it makes everything a little less difficult.
I am working to be playing well as soon as possible, and if I didn't believe that I could, I would not be here... If I am here it’s because I have the motivation, the passion, the emotion to keep playing tennis."



We are of course, used to it, we have been hearing the same story year after year. We are just shrugging our shoulders and giving a knowing wink

But Patrick Mouratglou (a WTA coach) can't take it any more. He has had enough:

"There are two ways to approach a problem: deny it, or recognize it, which is what he did. But this time he went over, and he did it publicly, and it's something that I had never seen before.
Serena would never have done that. Nadal's team said over the years that Rafa is not good, and does not play well, his opponents are 10 times stronger, so for me what is happening is the continuation of this process. It could be a strategy, or a way to exorcise the pressure, but I could be wrong and maybe it's just a part of their personality to be so transparent.

Rafael Nadal is one of the mentally stronger players, and to say that now he is weak in that aspect, it is surprising. I do not mean that the problem isn't there, but for some years there wasn't a player who thought he could beat him on clay. They all went on the court already defeated. Now things are sure to change."

Rafa, the "mental fortress" is actually a coward and can't handle the pressure of being a favourite.

What true champions like Federer and Djokovic thrive on - simply being the best - Nadal can't cope with.

He is so humble, he can't cope with losing.

http://www.puntodebreak.com/2015/04/13/patrick-mouratoglou-partir-ahora-rivales-nadal-creerselo

I don;t even want bother reading it all. Same stuff I guess as in the past.

I have never seen a "goat" being so scared of pressure. I woudl not be surprised if his mental strength was not doped either. In fact I am pressure it did too.

Tenez wrote:I don;t even want bother reading it all. Same stuff I guess as in the past.

I have never seen a "goat" being so scared of pressure. I woudl not be surprised if his mental strength was not doped either. In fact I am pressure it did too.

We have a duty to shout from the rooftops

Superb accurate analysis from Rafito and Uncle Toni as usual.

Kim Jong-Un wrote:Superb accurate analysis from Rafito and Uncle Toni as usual.

Indeed.

"Rafael has won more titles than Novak Djokovic, but speaking merely about tennis and about the game, Rafa has to be considered slightly lower than Djokovic. The Serb is such a good player that he is as close as you can get to Roger Federer.

With all the titles he has won, there is no doubt that Federer is the greatest".

That must have been before a big tournaments, with Toni justifying why Nadal wasn't the favourite.

Vamos Toni

Many men lose confidence as they go bald.  It takes quite a toll on the mind to look in the mirror and see that beautiful hair falling away.

truffin1 wrote:Many men lose confidence as they go bald.  It takes quite a toll on the mind to look in the mirror and see that beautiful hair falling away.

Truffin, if you or a friend is dealing with these issues I pledge my support and sympathies, but perhaps it can go on the 'Everything Else' section of this forum.

truffin1 wrote:Many men lose confidence as they go bald.  It takes quite a toll on the mind to look in the mirror and see that beautiful hair falling away.

Also something we have not thought about but having less time between points means Nadal is often forced to play with his pants stuck between his bum and socks down his ankles....That must be so annoying!

Declining can be down to such trivial things nowadays.

Kim Jong-Un wrote:

truffin1 wrote:Many men lose confidence as they go bald.  It takes quite a toll on the mind to look in the mirror and see that beautiful hair falling away.

Truffin, if you or a friend is dealing with these issues I pledge my support and sympathies, but perhaps it can go on the 'Everything Else' section of this forum.

Oh I dealt with it many years ago... I'm in a good place now :-).. thanks for the support though!!

Always here to help

I just saw comment of the century on v2 about Nadal.
It's from "belovedluckyboy" .
That must be either Lydian or another one of Kimmy's many pseudos.


He's capable of more aggressive play; in fact he's an aggressive baseliner since young and was already not afraid to approach the net when he was young. It's just that with the slowing down of the courts, approaching the net risk being passed and so players prefer to stay at the baseline.

Yep....and Karlovic on the other hand is a natural baseliner.

This is one of the reasons Nadal gets his monicker Nadull for, saying the same crap year after year that he is NEVER the favourite for his best most dominant surface. Just to comfort himself if he loses "I was underdog, no?". Repulsive man