[jjgold]

I think Fed can win 2 more majors tops, he definitely has lost a little but still a threat to win majors. Raffy is going to win at least 6-8 French Opens, 3-5 Wimbeldons, 2-4 Aussies, 3-5 USA Opens


Of Course barring injuires

[CrazyL]

Pretty accurate post.

[jjgold]

I have never seen a guy in Nadal with so much power, speed and finesse.

Johnny Mac thinks this guy has all the tools to be the best ever.

[EaglesPhan36]

If he wins the Aussie or US Open, then I think he does. Also will be interesting next year to see how he responds at Wimbledon after the big break through.

[HeeeHAWWWW]

The big risk with Nadal is burnout. Most of the clay court runner-bunnies achieve most in their early 20s, and disappear by 25. It even happened to Borg.

Also, he's shown nothing to suggest he can win hard court slams yet. His best effort at the US is one quarter final, and last time he went out in the 4th round. His one semi final at the Aussie Open this year, he got murdered by Tsonga. The new Australian court type makes it even more difficult - 2007 was a court speed more suited to him, yet he still got soundly beaten by Gonzalez.

Of course, plenty time to improve, but winning Wimbledon means nothing wrt hard court slams. So few players out there can move properly on grass - Nadal is a total natural. At the hard court slams, you have ten times the number of players competent on the surface, and thus so many that can beat him from the back of the court. On clay and now grass, no-one can.

[WileOut]

Nadal is not good on hard courts. Thats 2 majors a year he will never win. Johny Mac has said a billion times that Federer is the best ever and he is right. Fed is the best player of all time. He can play on all courts. Nadal cannot play on hard courts and unfortunately for him half the tournaments are played on hard courts.

I think Nadal is on some kind of performance enhancer. The shots he hit today are physically impossible. The soft clay and grass courts are forgiving on his neanderthal body. He is already starting to show the large brow. He wont blow out a knee on them but he will if he tries it on hard courts. He still almost lost even though he was probably cheating. Its a shame really, Fed should be the record holder for 6 straight Wimbledons.

[hoopster42]

jj, dude, i love rafa and have propped him up many times on this very board, but slow down bro, you're getting way too ahead of yourself,

rafa has done NOTHING at the US Open and NOTHING at the Aussie except one semifinal (2008) where Tsonga destroyed him

rafa's game does not translate well to hard court, plus Djokovic is the best hardcourt player in the game right now,

rafa's game is so physical and his knees so bad, that he'll only play at a high level for about 5 more yrs, give or take, i give him 4 more french's and 1 more wimbledon, and that's it

10 GRAND SLAMS for RAFA in his entire career, write that down and we'll talk about it in 5 yrs

btw, i absolutely love rafa's gm, and he's a great kid also, but this talk about him taking over tennis when he's done nothing at 2 of the slams is ludicrous

UNLESS THE AUSSIE AND US OPENS SWITCH TO CLAY OR GRASS, RAFA WILL CONTINUE STRUGGLING THERE, YOU'LL SEE IN LATE AUGUST and again in JANUARY, he struggles on hard courts and it will not change until Federer, Tsonga, Djokovic and the other big hitters are all gone, and guess what:

Djokovic and Tsonga are not going anywhere. shit, even andy murray can beat rafa on a hard court

come on JJ, you're better than this

[hoopster42]

Originally Posted by WileOut

Nadal is not good on hard courts. Thats 2 majors a year he will never win. Johny Mac has said a billion times that Federer is the best ever and he is right. Fed is the best player of all time. He can play on all courts. Nadal cannot play on hard courts and unfortunately for him half the tournaments are played on hard courts.

I think Nadal is on some kind of performance enhancer. The shots he hit today are physically impossible. The soft clay and grass courts are forgiving on his neanderthal body. He is already starting to show the large brow. He wont blow out a knee on them but he will if he tries it on hard courts. He still almost lost even though he was probably cheating. Its a shame really, Fed should be the record holder for 6 straight Wimbledons.

you, Sir, understand tennis. GREAT POST,

[BuddyBear]

No. It seems weird to say this but Nadal may be better than Federer (12-6 hh) but Federer will go down as a better player than Nadal when all is said and done.

Nadal will eventually burn out. Clay is a very difficult surface to play on and takes its toll on a players feets and knees. Even though Nadal has been largely injury free in his career, he has begun to show signs of injuries popping up here and there. He might experience the same fate as Gustavo Kuerten did. Great clay court player but had all sort of injuries. Even so, Nadal will go down as the greatest clay court player in tennis history.

[hoopster42]

Originally Posted by HeeeHAWWWW

The big risk with Nadal is burnout. Most of the clay court runner-bunnies achieve most in their early 20s, and disappear by 25. It even happened to Borg.

Also, he's shown nothing to suggest he can win hard court slams yet. His best effort at the US is one quarter final, and last time he went out in the 4th round. His one semi final at the Aussie Open this year, he got murdered by Tsonga. The new Australian court type makes it even more difficult - 2007 was a court speed more suited to him, yet he still got soundly beaten by Gonzalez.

Of course, plenty time to improve, but winning Wimbledon means nothing wrt hard court slams. So few players out there can move properly on grass - Nadal is a total natural. At the hard court slams, you have ten times the number of players competent on the surface, and thus so many that can beat him from the back of the court. On clay and now grass, no-one can.

i didn't read this earlier, another GREAT POST just like wile's

[hoopster42]

Originally Posted by BuddyBear

No. It seems weird to say this but Nadal may be better than Federer (12-6 hh) but Federer will go down as a better player than Nadal when all is said and done.

Nadal will eventually burn out. Clay is a very difficult surface to play on and takes its toll on a players feets and knees. Even though Nadal has been largely injury free in his career, he has begun to show signs of injuries popping up here and there. He might experience the same fate as Gustavo Kuerten did. Great clay court player but had all sort of injuries. Even so, Nadal will go down as the greatest clay court player in tennis history.

buddy, is your 12-6 number the slams totals?

if it is, its actually federer 12, nadal 5 (4 french's + wimbledon)

[hoopster42]

oh sorry, it's 12-6 head to head, got it.

[hoopster42]

rafa is 115-2 in his last 117 on clay, plus he had the record 81 match winning streak on clay, so yeah, you've gotta say he's either the best clay courter ever, or tied with borg for the best ever right now, hopefully to surpass borg in the next yr or 2

[mathdotcom]

like hoopster said

Nadal is way behind on hard courts

[BuddyBear]

Originally Posted by hoopster42

buddy, is your 12-6 number the slams totals?

if it is, its actually federer 12, nadal 5 (4 french's + wimbledon)

Yes, FED has 12 grand slams and Nadal has 5 grand slams.

But the oddity lies in the fact that when Federer and Nadal have played against one another, Nadal has won 12 of the 18 matches. Hence the 12-6 head to head lead for Nadal.

Nadal is one of just a handful of tennis players who has a winning record vs. Federer and certainly the most wins than any other player.

[jjgold]

We shall see

No one thought Nadal could ever win a set off Fed on grass and now he has his number. He almost beat him last year and wins this year.