Rafael Nadal, the next #1

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:14 am

Whoever missed the French Open finals today, missed a great game. Rafael Nadal is only 19 and he'll be around for a long time in the tennis world. To see him scramble and reach impossible balls was amaizing. He got heart, speed and charisma. Watch out Federer. The next tennis game can sign this guy and make millions.....

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:37 am

Except the Capri pants will hold him back. Any dude that wears capri pants, especially on the tennis court, is destined to flop.

Atxj · Post by **Atxj** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:38 am

I caught alot of Sportscenter coverage over the last week on the French Open and you are definately spot on with your assumption. Nadal is "THE" future of tennis, plain and simple.

dbdynsty25 wrote:Except the Capri pants will hold him back. Any dude that wears capri pants, especially on the tennis court, is destined to flop.

, I would agree. He definately needs to re-think his attire. Something a little less feminine will do just fine.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:45 am

AtXj wrote:I caught alot of Sportscenter coverage over the last week on the French Open and you are definately spot on with your assumption. Nadal is "THE" future of tennis, plain and simple.

dbdynsty25 wrote:Except the Capri pants will hold him back. Any dude that wears capri pants, especially on the tennis court, is destined to flop.
, I would agree. He definately needs to re-think his attire. Something a little less feminine will do just fine.

Yeah, but come on guys. That's how Agassi started, remember the pink shorts, the long hair and image is everything. I think NIKE just tells him what to wear.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:53 am

Agassi didn't have full on Pink shorts...just black shorts with pink writing. These are freakin' Capri pants...dudes don't wear those. Some guys can pull off the pink attire (not you Airdog)...Agassi, is one of them. But capri pants...holy crap!

maddoc1979 · Post by **maddoc1979** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:00 am

Capri pants aside, I'm not sure how he'll do on other surfaces. Watching him, he's a natural on clay, but grass is too slick for his style. Hardcourts can go either way...and yeah, he beat Federer, but it's kind of funny watching how easy is comes to Federer.

Doc

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:30 am

My thoughts exactly. Remember Kuerten? Did he win any other majors besides the French? Unless Nadal is able to win on some other surface, then he will never be Number 1. And honestly, although I was impressed with Nadal's game and hustle, Puerta blew that match. He was up so many games with two or three break points and couldn't close the deal. I thought the announcers went a little overboard with their Nadal praise.

Besides Federer is playing some of the best tennis ever, so it is unlikely he will lose his hold on #1 to a clay court specialist (until proven otherwise.) And Federer does this at the ripe old age of 23. So he'll be around for a while.

All that said, I would love to see some great new rivalries to move tennis back up my viewing priority list.

Joe

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:24 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Some guys can pull off the pink attire (not you Airdog)...

Haha. The ladies' reactions speak for themselves.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:48 am

Brad Gilbert was going on about how Nadal is the future of tennis and how he would give the game a shot in the arm.

And he's suppose to have these big guns so he probably hits the ball harder than anyone before.

Yet Federer is all of 23 years old and has absolutely dominated, didn't squander his potential at all compared to other previous phenoms with potential.

Is men's tennis not as popular because some low-key Swiss guy is #1?

Or is the problem that Americans aren't as into it at the moment because Roddick or some other American haven't reached the top?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:05 am

wco81 wrote:Or is the problem that Americans aren't as into it at the moment because Roddick or some other American haven't reached the top?

Ding-ding! We have a winner. You're spot-on.

Americans are provincial as hell when it comes to sports outside of the "big three" stick-and-ball sports, football, basketball and baseball.

If Ernie Els is leading the British Open by seven shots, will the final day get as many viewers as if Tiger was up by seven? No.

When Lance Armstrong retires, will half as many Americans watch the Tour de France? No.

Did Americans watch the World Cup much at all before the U.S. magical run in 2002 in Korea/Japan? No.

Would more Americans have watched the French Open finals if it was Andy Roddick against Federer or Agassi against Roddick? Absolutely.

Provincialism isn't the exclusive domain of American sports fans, but we suffer from it worse than many nations. Those two big lakes on either side of the continent cause us Yanks to forget that there's a really big sporting world out there outside of the Lower 48.

Take care,
PK

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:05 pm

Airdog wrote:
dbdynsty25 wrote:Some guys can pull off the pink attire (not you Airdog)...
Haha. The ladies' reactions speak for themselves.

Yeah, I'd say vomitting pretty much speaks for itself. LOL...just kidding bro!

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:16 pm

Federer is the #1, without a doubt, he's proven and last year he was unbeatable. When I first saw Nadal live (Miami 2004), you could sense a different player, this guy is pumped all the time. But he's only 19, he's got a world ahead of him still. Federer at his age was seen as the next Sampras. Nadal is next. With Agassi bowing out slowly, capri or no capri pants, the sport will take on a new dimension with the likes of Nadal, Roddick, Coria , Safin hopefully a new rivalry will start between them just like Connors-McEnroe, Agassi-Sampras.

maddoc1979 · Post by **maddoc1979** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 3:06 pm

I hope Roddick can get it together. With the exception of the US Open a couple of years ago, he hasn't done anything. All the promise he showed 2 years ago is all but gone. His entire game is predicated on his first serve, which we've seen just isn't enough. If it were, Phillippousis should have won a few grand slams. If you watch Federer play, his serve isn't overwhelming, but EVERYTHING else is. He's just an amazing player and several have said he has the potential and the young age to be the best ever. Nadal, while entertaining to watch, can surely energize the crowd like Roddick did at Flushing Meadows, but he's going to have to win over here to gain a following.

Doc

vanburen · Post by **vanburen** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 3:48 pm

nadal's serve is rubbish, and his scrambing won't be as useful at wimbledon. he's for sure a top 10 player now on all services, but federer is a much much better player right now.

this is just one major, and the french is famous for one-and-doners.

quick, who won last year?

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:52 pm

Well, that didn't last long. Nadal got bounced in the second round of a Wimbledon tune up. I'll cut him some slack because he must be exhausted from the French, and the immediate switch to grass must take some getting used to.

I just think how he plays on grass and the hard courts will determine whether he is another great clay court player or a great tennis player.

Joe

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:31 pm

vanburen wrote:nadal's serve is rubbish

quick, who won last year?

The answer is G. Gaudio. Nadal lost today in his first grass match in Germany. Still give him credit for trying. For those tennis players out there that understands the game, the transfer from Clay to Grass is not that easy, never mind changing surface withing a few days of winning a major Grand Slam. He's only 19 people, he'll be there challenging Federer next year or two.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:31 pm

Ahh...Jim Courier syndrome.

Wasn't that guy god on Clay and then sucked on virtually everything else...or maybe I'm getting him confused with someone else. I think it was him though.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:00 pm

Are there any hard courts in Spain?

Or are all Spainiards "clay court specialists?"

Is it possible to have a grass court in Spain?

vanburen · Post by **vanburen** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:53 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Ahh...Jim Courier syndrome.

Wasn't that guy god on Clay and then sucked on virtually everything else...or maybe I'm getting him confused with someone else. I think it was him though.

courier was a great all around player. he won 2 french opens, then on his third try in 93, lost in 5 in the final. he followed that up by losing in the wimbledon final to sampras.

he won 2 aussies and went to the finals of all 4 majors in about a 3 year span. That's pretty good. One could make a case that he doesn't get enough credit.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 2:29 pm

I agree, Courier was a good player, he was just shadowed with his excellent peer buddies like Sampras, Agassi, and for a bit M. Chang. But he was a fighter, never die attitude.

vanburen · Post by **vanburen** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 6:15 pm

10spro wrote:I agree, Courier was a good player, he was just shadowed with his excellent peer buddies like Sampras, Agassi, and for a bit M. Chang. But he was a fighter, never die attitude.

chang has no more business being in this group than todd martin. chang won that shock french, then just hung around, kept his ranking up b/c he was tough to upset, but he was never truly a top10 player when facing a fellow top10 player.

courier's game had little margin for error, with precise groundstrokes, so when he got off just a little, it was a huge difference, compared to sampras' game which was more steady over a 10 year period.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:20 pm

Nadal had been promoted to the top seeding after No. 1-ranked Roger Federer withdrew from his home tournament this month with a torn ligament in his right foot. Although its just a technical move in way that the ATP rewards players with high winning percentage (I still think Federer is a better athlete), Nadal has won an ATP-best 79 matches this year, two more than Federer and the most by a teenager since Mats Wilander won 82 in 1983.

The young kid just won in Madrid and had to pull out of this week's Swiss event due to knee problems.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:52 pm

He's good but if he can't beat Blake on hardcourts, he's not going to be a #1 for very long...especially with Federer still on tour. When he comes back from injury he will just retake the top spot and go down as the best ever.

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:24 am

I just checked the rankings in the race for the ATP title and Federer is still No.1 by a mile. Check out

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/rankings

Are you saying Nadal is the No.1 seed in a tourney that Federer is skipping due to injury?

I also think Federer has a better winning percentage on the tour this year. I was watching the Madrid tourney and they said Nadal has lost 10 or 11 times this year. I think Federer has only lost 4 or 5 times. So if Nadal has two more wins, Federer would have a higher winning percentage. I could be wrong. Too lazy to look it up right now.

tsunami · Post by **tsunami** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:47 am

Federer is the clear cut #1. End of story. He assured himself of ending the year at #1 around the US Open...that's how far ahead he is.

Nadal is a great player, but he is not in Federer's class. Right now, he is a one dimensional player who dominates on clay. Going back in history there are players like Guga and Tomas Muster who dominated on clay the way Nadal is now, and even ascended to #1 in the world for brief periods. However, they also showed signs of success on other surfaces. And, as impressive as Nadal has been this year, take a look at Tomas Muster's record in the mid 90's (especially on clay) and I think he is actually on par or ahead of Nadal.

But dominating on one surface and having a limited game is not going to last long. Realistically, Nadal is a defensive player and counter-puncher in the mold of Michael Chang or Lleyton Hewitt and he won't be able to this for too long. That kind of game can give you success in the short term if you are willing to outhustle and outwork your opponents. But, you can't do that forever...it will catch up to you. See Chang and Hewitt's careers as proof.

He will have to add more to his game and become a more offensive minded player to be truly successful, especially on other surfaces like grass, indoors, and hardcourts. He has a mediocre serve and relies mostly on quickness and heavy looping groundstrokes. Now, what he has done is impressive, but I don't think he will be a major force for that long. He will be an annual favorite for the French, and even that will be tough since there are so many clay court specialists to deal with. But, I don't see him having a rivalry with Federer.