TSR Tennis Society III

Original post by ubi1

Hardcourt Specialist like Nole, Murray and Federer have never done Montreal and Cincinnati ("the real slam") double. Thank you Rafa for giving your fans another rare feat and tying Djokovic's 2011 Masters record completely. If Rafa wins another masters or gets into another masters final then it will be an unprecedented record. Vamos!!!!!

You do realise that if he doesn't win the US Open, this double won't mean anything.

And Federer is more of a grass court specialist than he is a hard court one.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7622

Rafa will do down the rankings next year. He won't be able to defend anything off clay like always.

Reply 7623

Prendah

1

Original post by Roger1

Rafa will do down the rankings next year. He won't be able to defend anything off clay like always.

Not putting down his achievement, but he has been lucky Andy and Novak haven't had a great year at the masters. Although he did beat Novak in Canada.

Reply 7624

Original post by Prendah

Not putting down his achievement, but he has been lucky Andy and Novak haven't had a great year at the masters. Although he did beat Novak in Canada.

Nadal or Andy or Federer neither of them had a great year at the masters when Djokovic won 5 in 2011... :angry:

Reply 7625

Original post by ubi1

Nadal or Andy or Federer neither of them had a great year at the masters when Djokovic won 5 in 2011... :angry:

Nadal was very good in 2011, but he did not play Djokovic with the right tactics. He has learnt from his mistakes now and is attacking the Djokovic backhand more often

Reply 7626

Original post by Krish4791

Nadal was very good in 2011, but he did not play Djokovic with the right tactics. He has learnt from his mistakes now and is attacking the Djokovic backhand more often

You mean attacking the forehand more often.

Reply 7627

Rakas21

21

Being fair as well in none of his wins has he had to go through two of the other big 3 (if we can still include Fed),

...

Just looking at the calender and my hate for it is reaffirmed but assuming i preferred hard over clay this is what i would play...

Jan..

Brisbane
Ausi Open

Feb..

Rotterdam
Dubai

March..

Indian Wells

April..

Casablanca
Monte-Carlo
Munich

May..

Madrid
Nice
FO

June..

Queens
Eastbourne
Wimbledon

July..

Newport
Washington

August..

Montreal
Winston-Salem
US Open

September..

Bejing

October..

Shanghai
Valencia
Paris

Reply 7628

Alkain1607

11

I can see Rafa tying Sampras before the end of his career, if his knees miraculously hold up then I could see him tying/surpassing Federer for Grand slam achievement. It's always funny that people don't rate Rafa on other surfaces, yet he's probably as good as Murray on the hard courts and better than Fed on the outdoor ones. It's such a pity that Djokovic, Murray and Nadal didn't peak at the same time as Fed. I'd be willing to state that Fed wouldn't have anywhere near as many GS as he has now if the competition had been the level it is now.

Reply 7629

Original post by Alkain1607

I can see Rafa tying Sampras before the end of his career, if his knees miraculously hold up then I could see him tying/surpassing Federer for Grand slam achievement. It's always funny that people don't rate Rafa on other surfaces, yet he's probably as good as Murray on the hard courts and better than Fed on the outdoor ones. It's such a pity that Djokovic, Murray and Nadal didn't peak at the same time as Fed. I'd be willing to state that Fed wouldn't have anywhere near as many GS as he has now if the competition had been the level it is now.

Obviously. :wink:

Reply 7630

Original post by Alkain1607

I can see Rafa tying Sampras before the end of his career, if his knees miraculously hold up then I could see him tying/surpassing Federer for Grand slam achievement. It's always funny that people don't rate Rafa on other surfaces, yet he's probably as good as Murray on the hard courts and better than Fed on the outdoor ones. It's such a pity that Djokovic, Murray and Nadal didn't peak at the same time as Fed. I'd be willing to state that Fed wouldn't have anywhere near as many GS as he has now if the competition had been the level it is now.

Yeah and it's a pity that Federer is too old and way past his peak to compete with Murray, Andy and Nadal anymore. If he was, then these guys would have had less GS and other accomplishments.

And Federer is better than Nadal on outdoor HCs. It's just a pity that Nadal only mostly met Federer on slower HCs in Fed's prime and met him on a faster one, when Federer was possibly in the worst form of his career.

Reply 7631

Original post by Prendah

Not putting down his achievement, but he has been lucky Andy and Novak haven't had a great year at the masters. Although he did beat Novak in Canada.

Well, he beat Rafa in 4 of those masters, so Rafa obviously was good in masters that season. He just got beaten by a better HC player.

Reply 7632

Original post by ubi1

You mean attacking the forehand more often.

Sorry, yes the forehand :tongue:

Reply 7633

Original post by Roger1

Yeah and it's a pity that Federer is too old and way past his peak to compete with Murray, Andy and Nadal anymore. If he was, then these guys would have had less GS and other accomplishments.

And Federer is better than Nadal on outdoor HCs. It's just a pity that Nadal only mostly met Federer on slower HCs in Fed's prime and met him on a faster one, when Federer was possibly in the worst form of his career.

Federer really should have won more of their earlier HC encounters as well if he had not been so stubborn and had actually implemented the tactics he used in Cincinnati and in 2012.
I think he can still compete with Djokovic though - his game style is suited to play Novak, and the Serb is in a bit of a rough patch himself. In the US Open, it would be good if Federer could draw Ferrer or Djokovic in his quarter, that would at least give him a chance of making the semis or finals.

Reply 7634

Original post by Krish4791

Federer really should have won more of their earlier HC encounters as well if he had not been so stubborn and had actually implemented the tactics he used in Cincinnati and in 2012.
I think he can still compete with Djokovic though - his game style is suited to play Novak, and the Serb is in a bit of a rough patch himself. In the US Open, it would be good if Federer could draw Ferrer or Djokovic in his quarter, that would at least give him a chance of making the semis or finals.

Federer's main problem against Nadal has always been mental and not so much the matchup issue, as many people like to talk about.

And it would be great if Fed draws Novak, considering that Novak is closing in on Federer's consecutive GS semi final streak.

Reply 7635

Original post by Alkain1607

I can see Rafa tying Sampras before the end of his career, if his knees miraculously hold up then I could see him tying/surpassing Federer for Grand slam achievement. It's always funny that people don't rate Rafa on other surfaces, yet he's probably as good as Murray on the hard courts and better than Fed on the outdoor ones. It's such a pity that Djokovic, Murray and Nadal didn't peak at the same time as Fed. I'd be willing to state that Fed wouldn't have anywhere near as many GS as he has now if the competition had been the level it is now.

The competition is actually not much better than it was 7-8 years ago. In fact, the best year was probably 2011/mid-2012 when everyone still had some magic left in them. Now, only Nadal is really playing well. In 2005 and even a little before, the tennis played was unbelievable in terms of quality, shot-making and winners. The 2005 Masters Cup Final was probably better than most GS Finals in terms of sheer talent and shot-making, and actually anyone from World No.2 was vulnerable to upsets - the World's best player was just so good across the board that it was very very difficult to beat him. Nowadays, the game has been altered and now favours the fitter, athletic players who are able to grind out points time and time again.
The last decade has been somewhat of a transitional period. Had Murray, Rafa and Djok been around from 2002 to 2008/09 ish, there would not have been much difference. Rafa may have had a couple of extra Slams but that's probably it.

Reply 7636

Chief Wiggum

20

Original post by Roger1

Federer's main problem against Nadal has always been mental and not so much the matchup issue, as many people like to talk about.

And it would be great if Fed draws Novak, considering that Novak is closing in on Federer's consecutive GS semi final streak.

I don't really think the main problem is mental, although I think that has played a role.

Nadal has been beating Federer from very early in the rivalry. I don't think there's much need to overcomplicate it: Nadal's heavy topspin forehand is very difficult for Federer's backhand to deal with.

Then when these defeats happen regularly, I think that lead to a mental problem against Nadal.

Reply 7637

Rakas21

21

Original post by Alkain1607

I can see Rafa tying Sampras before the end of his career, if his knees miraculously hold up then I could see him tying/surpassing Federer for Grand slam achievement. It's always funny that people don't rate Rafa on other surfaces, yet he's probably as good as Murray on the hard courts and better than Fed on the outdoor ones. It's such a pity that Djokovic, Murray and Nadal didn't peak at the same time as Fed. I'd be willing to state that Fed wouldn't have anywhere near as many GS as he has now if the competition had been the level it is now.

If they'd all been the same age when they peaked i bet that Federer would actually have more, until 2009 (28?) he was incredible.

Reply 7638

Original post by Krish4791

Federer really should have won more of their earlier HC encounters as well if he had not been so stubborn and had actually implemented the tactics he used in Cincinnati and in 2012.
I think he can still compete with Djokovic though - his game style is suited to play Novak, and the Serb is in a bit of a rough patch himself. In the US Open, it would be good if Federer could draw Ferrer or Djokovic in his quarter, that would at least give him a chance of making the semis or finals.

Nadal was also really stubborn against Djokovic in 2011 didn't change his tactics at all. But one thing with Rafa is that he can lose to Murray, Federer and Nole knowing he still has H2H advantage so he can live to fight another day.

Reply 7639