peak form rafa still cant beat davydenko.

i think its time to get rid of toni nadal, the guy is never around his box supporting rafa these days. neither is carlos costa.

i personally think rafa should a skip the hard court tournaments except the aussie and us opens. because he is just not good enough.

rafa has gone back to being just a clay court specialist.

i hope he can win the aussie open because he MUST win these slams while in peak form and before he ages too much.
because with his serve he will be done and dusted by age 25 or 26.

what a choke by nadal, u just saw it coming, i just knew he would find a way to lose from the jaws of victory.

everytime nadal is a favourite he ends up losing, so i guess its a blessing in disguise no one expects him to win the aussie.

the aussie commentators over here will have a great time saying how crap nadal is because they hate nadal. they think spanish guys should only be allowed to win on clay. guys like fred stolle, mark woodforde and wally masur are nadal haters whether he wins or loses.

so if rafa wants to shut his critics up and stop being humiliated everytime and being made fun of, its time to win some slams this year. im talking a bunch of slams, atleast 2 slams maybe even 3. he needs to have a jesusfed type season.

"Nikolay Davydenko, the only man besides David Nalbandian to beat both Roger Federer and Nadal at the same event."

Have we forgotten the US Open already?

good call by piratesswoop, I am going to edit it

has anyone else done it?

as for Nadal's comments, it's pretty easy to see what his mentality is.

the last quote was from a few days ago. in the past. his comments at the start of the article are the present ones. So i don't see how Nadal "can't decide."

nadal seems to be lost, he doesnt know where his game is at, one minute he is lacking confidence, the other he is in peak form.

he needs to make up his mind.
nadal is currently lacking confidence, calm, courage, heart and brains.

Rafa doesn't seem conflicted to me: his slightly earlier comments about "I've had a lot of problems in the head, I've had under-confidence " are reflected in the fact that, even though he was in position to win, he couldn't find the necessary calm.

It's not like he's suddenly uber confident now that he's going to defend AO. I guess, he feels in "a very, very good way" now that he's seen that his tennis can indeed mix it with the very best once again (as opposed to all those beatdowns). To me, he's thinking that, at some point, his calm will return, and he'll be able to take the next step.

"I've had" is much different than "I had."

this is not hard to figure out

agree GBG! the more difficult part is done, i.e playing good tennis again. now he needs to get his calm back which he will get when he wins some close matches.

ATR: "every time nadal is a favourite he ends up losing". It sure is a good thing he managed to be such a dark horse 4 times running at RG, no?

I thing Wally actually likes Rafa quite a bit. At the USO, while talking about Rafa supporting Reeshie, he said that Rafa was more than just a champion, he was a champion bloke. And, after Rafa's 1/4 presser he said he'd never met a more impressive athlete; that it was so awesome that he'd managed to remain so down to earth; and that he'd love to see him win the USO. It's almost like he gets disappointed when Rafa plays defensively.

LOL, could I sound more obsessive? Has been tough times for a KAD though, so hanging onto the compliments:)

@ricky

i dont think rafa has the slightest clue on the difference between ''ive had'' an ''i had''.

if ur depending of raffy's spanglish for clarity, then ummmmm u know..........

well he hasnt won jack for like nearly a year.

how long was his title drought during late 2007 until monte carlo 2008?

actually nadal's greatest strength is his calm and his super performances in clutch situations.
he has completely lost that, that is why he cant beat top 5 players anymore, because when ur playing against the top 5, there is only a few crucial points seperating whether u win or lose.

and nadal hasnt brought his best at clutch moments to get these tight wins.

@GBG

actually during those french opens, federer was the favourite each time even though nadal was defending champ, only in 2009 was nadal the red hot favourite at the french, and what do u know, true to form rafa does his trademark choke.

he just has gone backwards in his development as a player.
i really dont see too much difference, he still plays way behind the baseline and the match is always on the opponents racket. if the opponent plays well, he wins, if he makes mistakes he loses.

even after all those beatings and video analysis he still cannot figure out that in order to win on hard courts regularly against the best, u have to take the ball early and be on the attack from the word go.
even on return he stands way back, esp for 2nd serves. and players constantly use the tactic of serving wide to take him off court and get the easy put away.

he still hasnt sorted out that many players go fast and flat to nadal's forehand as he always keeps that side wide open.

his coach unle toni just isnt good enough to take rafa to the next level of development.

and his serve is still so poor.

@GBG

yes wally masur is the better of the 3 i named. but stolle and woodforde are just pathetic to listen to. they have a deep hatred of spanish players doing well, they still think tennis is an elitist sport and only english speaking nations should be allowed to win. there is a deep hidden rascism in tennis that is quite disgusting.

ATR: I think it's a stretch that Fed was an overwhelming fav for all of those RG, no? Maybe in 07 when there was excitement about him ending the streak/beating Rafa on clay for the first time (and even then I don't know that it was overwhelming). And Rafa won Wimby 08, when many considered him to be the fav.

More than that, for years before he could beat Fed in slams on other surfaces, he entered the clay season with overwhelming pressure to defend all his points and did.

4 players beat fed and nad consecutively in a single tourney...davy , del potro , nalby , muzza ..

The only one of the 4 that I found impressive was JMDP cos he thrashed nad in straights and then managed to take a GS away from the FedExpress in the 5th !!

C'MON !!

Djokovic in Montreal 2007: 3.Roddick, 2. Nadal, 1.Federer

that sure closes the argument of weak era,last time i checked Davy been there with Federe most of his career.
but it took someone like Federer in his prime to make him forgetable for the most of it,when he loosen up anybody can win as if thier happeniss is in his hands!

Davy is a late bloomer. That's why initially, Fed and the young guns like Nadal, Nole and Murray are still able to beat him, but now that the improved version of Davy has appeared, he starts beating anyone (on the hard court). I'm sure that players like Roddick/Gonzo and others would still be beaten by the young guns now, even if Fed is not there to beat them. So, its not anybody can win but only the top few - Nadal/Nole/Murray/Delpo/Davy.

IMHO Rafa had it in the bag but due to some crucial poor shot choices literally played into Davy's hands...Rafa gave it away...Next time I hope he chooses not to do that....VAMOS RAFA for the AO.

I think Nadal will come back strong at the Aussie. He usually does well after setbacks. Last year he lost to Monfils, of all people, in the quarters in Doha and went on to win the AO. He's still the favourite along with Federer, Del Po and Djokovic.

Looking at all these comments above, it seems like majority of people find it hard to coming to terms with the latest result of Nadal's hard court performance. I think, this is no surprise, this was sure to happen and it was by sheer luck that he got away with last years AO & Wimbledon in 2008 when he was still very young. Back then, Fed mentally faltered and there weren't too many threats from anyone else in top order unlike today in the GS. But that's it, things might go even worse in hard and grass courts for Nadal in the coming days. And now that folks like Del Potro and Soderling are fast comming up, it's highly likely that Nadal might turn into another Gaston Gaudio, the French Open winner! Usually that is what happens to most French Open winners and clay court specialists. But, surely he is going to hold on to his supremacy in clay courts , which is the surface of his type of game.

Now it's time to celebrate with the new Champion! What a hard fought win he had, specially after he had managed to defeat legendary Federer twice and then Del Potro in little over one month's time, he convinced everyone that on his day he can defeat the big guns on any surface. But, Nadal taking a set away from him at love, is certainly a great achievement indeed. And as he rightly mentioned, he should bank on it and look for better results in the AO. Davy is really creating huge hopes of winning his first GS this year ahead of Fed, Del Po or even Murray !

Isn't Davydenko the only one to have beaten Roger and Rafa at the same event twice, along with Nalbandian who did at madrid and Paris in 2007?

Er solitudine, I'm not sure that Davydenko beats the top guys on any surface. It's only on hard courts - indoor and outdoor. He has never beaten Fed/Rafa on clay and grass. I do not know on what basis you think Rafa was lucky that he beats Fed to win the Wim 08 and AO 09. I'm not sure which match you saw, but from what I've seen, Fed was the more lucky one at the Wim 08 that the rain interfered with proceedings and Fed lost in a not so embarrassed way. If no rain intervention, he might even lost in straight sets to Rafa. You can't deny how well Rafa played on that day. At the AO 09, Rafa was certainly not lucky to have met a Verdasco on hot streak. It was because of how well he played in both the SF & the Final that he emerge the champion, no luck involved. I don't think Fed was able to beat Verdasco on that day if Fed was to meet him in the SF. Rafa has won 5 masters shields on hard courts, more than anybody else that are active in the tours, save only a few of them - Fed and Roddick/Hewitt (if I'm not wrong). Nole has 4, Murray has 4 and Davy has 3. I don't think he is bad on hard court, he is easily top ten or even top 5 material on hard court, don't be distracted by his recent results, as he is clearly having confidence issue at the moment.

I can?t understand how anyone can see Soderling as FAST COMING UP?! Sod is an average tennis player and he will remain to be that. DelPo is a rising star who failed to make any good results after the US Open and who was just lucky at the WTF. It was easy for him to play 40% of Nadal at USO (he did not even get tired!) and then win over Fed who was already fed up with GSs and needed a time off. It takes Fed and Nadal to be less than perfect for these guys to win. I do not expect that to happen in AO. Too much is at stake there. DelPo easily gets exhausted if playing a five-set match. If that happens two times in a row he is finished. And I expect Davy to be wiped out in early rounds. Davy is too fragile at heats: he will hardly be able to move and his game will melt under the Australian sun. Nole is a real rising star, but, again, it all depends on the schedule of play for him. If he is to play too many matches outside on the heat, he is likely to lose due to his health problems. And that would just be unfortunate because I consider him to be one the favorites to win AO. What is this telling us: the real favorites will again be: Fed Express, Rafa and Murray. Show must go on!

Nadal will be very dan gerous at the Oz open...wait and watch . my favorites for the Oz are
1.Santoto =p
2.Federer
3.Nadal
4.Delp/novak
5.muzza/davy

Had nadal been able to beat davy he mite have been the favorite for me. and Ataccking RAFA WAS NOT THE FAVORITE going into the match ,it was davy ,rafa was just short of one pnt but look what one month of hard work has earned him,played abt 25% of the pnts inside the b.line as opposed to a mere 10% in WTF,average speed of groundies more than 120kmh as opposed to 111kmh at the WTF and serve is sharper too,so remember last year too he came to doha after long periods of injury and lost to murray and monfils and we labelled him no.4 favorite.He destroyed the entire field, the plexicushion wil work more in favor of rafa (REMEMBER THIS!!) so it may give him the added edge and allow him to be more agressive. Plus not everyone can play at their best in the soaring temperatures in melbourne (DAVY ADMITTED THIS YESTERDAY)

My Fav is:- (based on current form)

1) Nadal
2) Davy
3) Delpo
4) Fed/Djoker/Muzza

what abt santoro torres??? lolz ...dude we aer yet to see djokovic and delp in action dont know abt them bt i read novkaisi working in the melbourne heat regularly to acclimate to the tough conditions bt they are world class players and will be very tough. Come on torres current form is one factor but there are also other ones..so i think federer shud be pushed up ur list to atleast no. 2! :)

In my opinion the Australian Open 2010 will be maybe the most interesting Grand Slam of the past 5 years. Not only there is a story behind each of the 6 contenders ( i have added in the top 4 contenders the winners of this week titles Roddick and Davydenko) about their current and past form, records, head to head between them but also a lot of speculation about their perfomance in grueling heat and 5 sets. It will be breathtaking. If i had to pick one i'd go with Federer.

"Nikolay Davydenko, the only man besides David Nalbandian to beat both Roger Federer and Nadal at the same event."

Have we forgotten the US Open already?
piratesswoop, 1/10/10 4:52 AM

good call by piratesswoop, I am going to edit it

has anyone else done it?

RickyDimon, 1/10/10 5:21 AM

Ricky although your edit is now technically correct, this is how the original edit should've read:

"Nikolay Davydenko, the only man besides David Nalbandian to beat both Roger Federer and Nadal at the same event TWICE."

Carry on.

Does anyone know of a link that shows the recording of this match please, free or payed is fine?

Nadal has won so many matches in the past because of his mental toughness and the fact that he has been able to psyche out his opponents. If he has lost his mental toughness he's going to be in trouble because he can't win by leaning primarily on his talent. This Doha good form probably won't last either just like the 6-0 start did not even lead to a title. His hopes hinge now on his fitness since he has also won many best of five matches due to his superior fitness and ability to last longer in extreme heat. He'll probably need to play a Spaniard or two just to get to a SF. All that said, I still won't count him out just yet.

Looks like Fed canceled Kyoong. There is one open spot.

Very harsh words here for Nadal from some. I am a little concerned though for his mental state, but hey remember Wimby 2008? he lost match points there in a tie=break and still recovered difference being it was the Wimby final(he said so himself), this was just a 250 tourney so maybe he decided he wasn't going to kill himseld to do it! Nadal, despite being his worse surface has one a slam on h.c, reached the semis twice at his most difficult slam, won 5 masters on hard as well as smaller tourneys, so credit to him for this, how many other players with the exception of the Great Federer can you say this for? Nadal is already a legend what ever happens, I don't think other players afrter what he has been through would be able to do the same, give the guy a break he is a great champion and has given us so many drama filled matches, the best of all time have had Nadal at one side of the court! Vamos Rafa always

i'm hoping that this loss will do him more good than harm. he has plenty of positives to take away from it. he bageled the most in form player on tour in the first set. ok, he let it slip away, but it could be the kick up the bum he needs just in time for ao. he's had more painful losses than this before. wimby 07? and he came back and won it the next year

chr18,

You are starting to sound endlessly repetitive. Wishful thinking on your part. Rafa's form will only get better. He's not going anywhere. Don't count on a lack of mental toughness from Rafa to give his opponents the win. Rafa has a way of confounding the prognosticators, which is one of many reasons why he is my favorite.

But it's so wonderfully generous of you not to count him out just yet. I am sure he would sleep better at night knowing you feel that way.

I like Rafa's chances going into the 2010 AO. I wonder how many here would have ever expected him to be in the kind of form he is now, given the way he played in the closing months of last year. He has played beyond my expectations so far. Rafa never gives up, never gives in and that mental toughness will be there when he needs it.

NNY, I'm sure Rafa can sleep well knowing u r his favourite..

I really dont think that this loss will do him a lot of harm. If Rafa's game continues to be at this level, the mental toughness will be back. I personally feel that a match like this against a top player was needed before the AO given that he was really facing no resistance from the lower ranked players. Come AO and I believe that he will do well in close matches against top players given that he now has invaluable match practice

torres,

While it's always nice to hear one of your witty replies, my comment was directed at chr18, who is more than capable of replying.

simple message to nadal:

win the aussie open or just get lost.

I agree with NNY's comments about Rafa.

The fact that when he played that aggressively he is able to bagel Davy may be something positive that Rafa can take from the match. What he needs to do is to learn to sustain that kind of play and not fall back to defensive play. In other words, don't allow his opponent to dictate play. This is something Fed at his best always do - dictate play - and that's why in the past he always has success against Davy. Against many others, Fed can afford to allow them to play their game, fiigure out their game after just a few games into the match, and then beat them at their own game. Against a dangerous player like Davy. he never allow him to play his game. Rafa has to learn to do so as I think that is the most effective way to play against Davy. Against big hitters like Delpo, Cilic & Soderling, who are all tall guys, Rafa would have to use different approach, like working the angles, mixing things up and keep his opponents guessing, like the way he played against Tsonga in Paris, and like the way Davy played against Delpo at the WTF final. I guess the approach to each match will be dependent on the opponent one has to face on the day. I think players of Fed and Rafa's caliber, when in top form, are able to weather all storms, as proven by their achievements in slams.

Solitudine "it was by sheer luck that he got away with last years AO & Wimbledon in 2008 when he was still very young" Hmmm did we watch the same matches??? We're talking about Rafa, one of the greatest fighter of all time there.

attackingtennisrulez, we passed on your simple message to Nadal, would you now get lost pls?

very good point luckystar if you look back to TMC where davy won the only one whome he didnt beat in the group was Djokovic and why is that: becuase Djoko style is 100% offensive tennis and 0% defensive that is why Roger was able to beat him so many times (roger less ofensive more defensive)
anyhow it is not going to be about Davy anymore,but, ofcourse if Nadal wants to survive in the world of tennis for long time as Sampras and Federer did he should attack more,but, can he do that from 3-0 to 6-0 in the first set he played amazing offensive tennis it was an amazing hard court show,the first ball of the 2nd set he came bak to the defensive tennis, changing the approach is not easy his style of tennis has been slowly changing over years improved but didnt changed, When Federer was asked about the backhand he said if i concentrated on the back hand the forhand will loosen up that what happened in the first quarter of 09 the forehand was gone, so changing the style is hard technical problem.
No doghbuts he will amaze us again in a week,he is after all Nadal.
the champoin i hate!

I agree with you tennislover about the fact that its not easy for Rafa to change his style of play. After all he is not an outright attacking type of player like Nole, Fed and Davy. What Rafa needs to do is to incorporate the aggressive style of play into his game and play that style only when faced with players like Davy, Nole. Its difficult to do as its not his usual style of play, that's why Rafa has to be determined and consciously make an effort to do it when he has to. We see from that final match that he can play that way but could not sustain it for the whole match. He has to keep trying and improve and tell himself to keep playing like that in order to go the distance. If anyone can make that effort, it is Rafa. One positive thing about Rafa's game is that he has been doing the defense/offense game very successfully all along and hence he has the tools to do it.

As a side note, I noticed that Murray has also tried to be more offensive in his play, during his Hopman Cup matches. I think that is a good sign for him and a positive start for the new year.

y hate rafa?? TENNISLOVER?

tennislover i agree with you but when u say djokovic is 0% defence u are highly mistaken.djokovic's defence over the pas years has made him such a formidable opponent to deal with.his acrobatic lunges and stretches and that squashed forehand particularly has allowed him to stay in long rallies.His defence is extrememly sharp on both wings, the only deficieny is that unlike roger he cant use the sliced bakhand alot to get bak into the point ,he tries his best to hit an ordinary backhand.If u dont believe me then here is some evidence,before their us open 08 semi espn commentators were discussing the strengths and weaknesses of both in relative terms. like serve, they said federer, forehand=federer ,bakhand=djokovic,net play=slight edge to roger,defence=djokovic !! so they rated nole's defence better than roger's!i think one was gilbert dont remember the other one. Djo's strength is OFFENCE but u can never excel alot in slams if u donot have a great defence!

djoker switches between defence and offence quite magnificently.......thats wat has made him a good clay court player.....troubling rafa a lot last year..

Nadal and Federer understand what it takes physically and mentally to go through two weeks of Best of 5 matches. Nadal will have the advantage of being extremely fit; even Davydenko admitted after he won London his only chance to win a Major now would be if they changed the format to Best of 3 Sets. Davydenko, and his best, is a Counter Puncher who relies on taking the ball on the rise and redirecting with precision. In fact you could say Murray is the newest version of Davydenko. Neither one of them has that Killer Shot Forehand, each has a terrific backhand that's as steady as the sunrise, and their First Serves are much better than their 2nd Serves. When they have to win that 3rd Set against someone who has that Killer Shot Forehand (Federer, Nadal, Del Potro), Counter Punchers have to wait for guys like that to lose a Best of 5 to them; by definition Counter Punchers "counter" the effects of the bigger shots of other players because they lack such a shot of their own. And when you go through the roster of those who've won Majors, especially winners of more than one, the vast majority of them are men who had that Killer Shot, be it a Forehand, a Serve or a supreme Volley.

^^^

Or, they were named Andre Agassi.

When one closely follows Rafa?s career it becomes more than obvious that during his clay court season last year he was not at his best, he was probably 70-80% of his best. And he still was able to achieve so much and to beat Nole in numerous finals and semifinals. He became Nole?s worst nightmare. And this year, with the kind of form he was showing during the tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha he promises more than successful clay court season. His top spins and improved serve, his movements, his easy switch from defensive to offensive and vise versa are all remarkable and more than sufficient for him to storm on the clay. Right now, it only takes one match, victory over top 5 and he will soon be on the run where nobody will be able to stop him. And this is strictly mental, it in his head. He is certainly on the rise and in form physically and he only needs that one last push...AO is a perfect place to touch the sky again! If great champions are to make a real comeback, something to be memorable, the right place is GS not some 250 tournament...

I think ATR's question is worth considering: Is Toni Nadal at this point good for Rafa? Is he really a world-class coach or has he simply been riding on Rafa's talent all this time? Rafa himself keeps saying that he needs to "play more aggressive". He was doing that in the first set of this final, then he started pulling back, as though that bagel wasn't evidence enough? Better to fight and lose, Rafa, than to give it away! He needs a new person behind him. He has never had the benefit of working with a world-class coach, and he needs that opportunity.

You don't think Toni Nadal is a world class coach?

i could coach toni nadal a thing or 2 about tennis, especially about attacking tennis. the way tennis is supposed to be played.

toni nadal is clueless, the guy still cant sort out rafitos serve and tell him to play aggressive ALL THE TIME!

This was a good article (from a while ago)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1870373-1,00.html

"I must be happy that I played against one of the players with the best performance on the tour and I was playing better than him during a lot of the match".

"Sure, it's better to win, especially when you have the chance. But, that's tennis and probably this match I needed a little bit more calm. But playing at this level I am sure I'm going to win a title".

How does what Rafa said above mean that he can't decide on the state of his game?
People are just looking to depricate him.

Vamossssssssssssss!

It's strange how we did not get all this down in the mouth stuff about Federer, like this blog, when he was beaten in straight sets by Davy just the day before. Rafa actually bageled Davy in the first set and had three match points, two in the second set which would have made it a straight sets victory, and the last two sets were very close; but we have to read all the put downs about Rafa's form, with Federer being put up the sky.

Vamosssssssssssss!

attachingtennisrulez, i was browsing for articles and i came across your comments about toni nadal and decided to log in just to respond to you. you impress me as a no-nothing so-called tennis fan struggling with low self-esteem who in some kind of sick way idolizes rafa nadal. in my opinion, rafa nadal is everything a person like you would like to be. he is strong and confident, you are weak-minded, with a negative self-image. i can always tell when a person has low self-esteem, he/she has a need to degrade someone that they envy.

although, it's clear that you are seeking attention and from what i read posters are quick to respond to your garbage, don't know why? but apparently, they think you have something worth addressing. whatever suits their fancy!

anyway, while we are discussing how rafa needs to get rid of toni nadal, why don't you lend us your expertise knowledge and recommend what needs to done about the mental state of roger federer and how his game is falling apart. does he need a coach? does he need to skip the hardcourt tournaments? is he being humiliated and laughed at? what do you think? he lost in abu dhabi to sodlering, a near-lost to ernest gulbis in doha, and lost in straights to davydenko, but i didn't read your recommendation for him. i think he needs it much more than rafa nadal. in fact, rafa nadal is playing amazing. this time last year, he lost to murray in the final of abu dhabi and to monfils in the quarters of doha, logical reasoning tells me that coming back a year later, winning abu dhabi and getting to the final of doha, with t he match on his racquet is pretty sweet, for those who actually know something about tennis. but experts won't tell you that because they are using nadal to divert attention away from how poor federer is actually playing.

a friendly word of advise just for you and those who support your slimy comments. you only crawl from under your rock when rafa nadal plays anyway, so that you can sling some mud. that gives you a few minutes of attention and self-worth. believe me, the person you need to worry about is roger federer, rafa nadal is doing just fine!

memi - dont waste your time

attacker wont be around much longer

smr (or perhaps Ricky),
Who else has Toni Nadal coached? Just curious because I don't know of anybody else. I personally think he must be a pretty good coach because he managed to get his nephew to the top but a lousy uncle because he ran him into the ground and burnt him out in the process.

has never coached anyone else. He was in the Nadal family business until Sebastien said he wanted THIS (coaching Nadal) to be Toni's part of the business.

Does he need to coach someone else to be considered a good coach?

memi... you're amazing :D

All those who think Rafa is finished these are the match fact of 2010, there is no Federer on this list. Rafa has won 91% of his service games over 5 matches, I'd say he has performed very well this year.

MatchFacts

sponsored By:
Service Games Won In 2010

Pos. Player % Matches

1 Ball, Carsten 95 2
2 Karlovic, Ivo 94 3
3 Roddick, Andy 93 5
4 DeHeart, Ryler 92 1
5 Nadal, Rafael 91 5
6 Gicquel, Marc 91 2
6 Levy, Harel 91 2
8 Berrer, Michael 90 3

I have tried my best to ignore attackingtennisrulez. But every time this person posts, it gets in the way of what is usually a lively, interesting discussion about the sport of tennis, which I happen to love.

I know that it's a waste of time to responde, but I commend memi for some honesty, common sense and rational thought and logic. I have found myself coming here less and not posting nearly as often, because I dislike the idea of being subjected to the endless mindless ravings of someone who seems determined to hold this site hostage and disrupt our great discussions.

This pathetic need for attention at the expense of others, is unfortunate. There are people here who have a wealth of knowledge and appreciation for tennis and it's much more appealing to read their thoughts.

Native - I find it painfully easy to just ignore any comment that has attacker's name attached it.

Plus most of his comments (any comment that qualifies has spam) are now being deleted.

That's really reaching at straws carrie. According to your list, Ryler DeHeart is having a good year. Oh wait, who is he? Other than ATR, who is a staunch Nadal fanatic, I don't think anybody said Nadal was finished. He has played a grand total of one official tournament this year so it's too early to say what type of year he's having, or anybody else for that matter. This is really a useless statistic and shows that you know little about tennis and even less about constructing a valid argument. Good grief!

"This pathetic need for attention at the expense of others, is unfortunate."

Native, you just called out half the posters on this site... Or at least, that's the way I remember it. It doesn't seem to have gotten any better, though.

-Arvis

I dont think nadal is finished. Saw the highlights and he is definitely found his deadly inside out forehand. But still it was a lil bit extreme the way he plays becoz of all the running.

I am not damning or anything but Rafa is gonna possibly be more injury-prone if he plays too much tournaments.

Arvis,

Let me make this perfectly clear - I did NOT call out half the posters on this site, far from it! The majority of the people here are respectful and interested in having a great discussion about tennis. That's why I came here in the first place. Please do not presume to think for me.

There are too many great people with whom I enjoy chatting, for me to let your comment go without a reply. It was directed at ONE person and ONE person only.

Ricky,

Well, let me say that I agree about the "painful" part. I am doing my best and focusing on all those who have something worthwhile to say about tennis.

i know torres for a very long time now and i know that he has some relevant knowledge abt tennis...he follows the game properly and is updated too.He made a good couple of pnts...rafa shhud srsly reduce the tournies to increase longevity adn definitely he is farrrrr from finished..infact he will hover around that 2008 level veryyy soon or may be higher..inshallah

Rafa has already confirmed that he will not play Dubai open. I think its a step in the right direction. He will get 3 weeks off after Rotterdam to rest. He is a smart guy and both him and Toni Nadal will learn from thier mistakes made last year. Hope he continues to make smart decisions and has a injury free 2010.

attacker - if you want to contact me directly send me an email

if you want to discuss tennis (unlikely) post a comment here

if you want to spam, do it elsewhere please. Thanks.

not that i agree w/ everything attackingtennisrulez writes, i just think it's much more interesting to read a talk site without everyone gushing over the same player; go to a rafa specific fansite if you can't abide a critical opinion.

as far as federer goes, hey, it doesn't take a half a brain to figure out that he has more than tennis on his mind, no matter what he says to the press. he's the greatest of his era, no others come close to his dominance and sheer genius. but he's relatively 'old', has a nagging back and likely other aching body parts, not to mention the problem of how the heck does the guy still get 'up' to the task, or motivated enough to put the hours in to sustain the level of fitness necessary?

we'll see. i am a federer worshipper forever for what he has done, how he has played my fave sport, and let's admit it, the way he looks in a suit :-)

he's had a glorious career. but...time and tennis marches on....as in, go delpo!

....if rafa has a goal of winning all slams in his career, obviously he's gonna have to switch some priorities so he can get on a roll late in the season. lotsa luck with that, team rafa.....teeheehee!

Actually the body aching and the age catching up also applies to those lower ranking players too! If you admire Fed for keep going on in tennis for that, then I must say I'll admire the likes of Kiefer, Haas and many others even more, for they are older than Fed, much less successful than Fed, have worst injury problems than Fed, and they are still getting on with playing tennis. Its much easier for them to give up tennis and call it a day, when comparatively they are earning much less than Fed - Fed with all the prize and endorsement money (he has the responsibilty of fulfilling his obligations to his sponsors).

Regarding attackingtennis, I must say he seems only interested in attacking Rafa, so is only natural that fans of Rafa respond to his posts, even non Rafa fans come out to defend Rafa! I'm sure if there are attacking posts against Fed/Nole or Murray, their fans will do the same too. This is not a Rafa fan site of course, as I see fans of Nole/ Fed /Delpo posting about their players too. It's just that this thread is about Nadal/Davy that's why all the postings about Rafa (and Davy too).

RAFAEL NADAL---"I'm happy with the way I performed. I played unbelievable tennis in the first set. That just shows I'm back to my best, maybe, like how I played in 2008. It's a huge morale booster"

WAY TO GO MAN!!! thts the mentality

VAMOS!!!!!!!!!

morale booster my butt, what choking in a final is now a morale booster is it?

the guy is done and dusted.
he will never again win another grand slam.


im moving onto supporting real tennis players like roger, come on roger heal well and take ur aussie open crown back and make it sweet number 16. all 4 grand slams are urs for the taking.
i cant wait until roger shows everyone how real tennis, attacking tennis is played.

the beautiful artistry of king roger is gonna be amazing to witness once again. floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. i want to see roger win the aussie without losing a set. then the french open should be easy to win if he can get past his main threat on clay which is djokovic now.

wimbledon is already in the bag.

US open is in the bag as well, last year roger was busy with the twins so he was not prepared. but this year a champion like roger wont make the same mistake again.

i hope roger breaks the most weeks at number 1 record this year aswell.



this is going to be a great year witnessing the beautiful attacking tennis of the mighty roger federer who is the greatest sportsperson in sports history.

go roger

"rofl".........wimbledon is already in the bag........lmao ;)

Wow ATR now Federer die hard fan!
varael :Nadal is the great wheels i hate because i cant have it! you know when there is something that is so good but you cant have, the fighting spirit the killing istinct (that one is like wood's) playing tell the last ball that kind passion of sucess is what i admire the most, but am federer fan and you are either federer fan or Nadal fan and am federer's but i appreciate champions and trust me there is nothing in the bag,not anymore anyway,Federer had no reason for losing USO and TMC but he did,maybe the oponent played good but not better the 5th set of USO was unbelievable disaster so trust me even if he made it to the finals it will only be over at game, set, match!
ATR i dont think you can be a Federer fan without "admiring" Nadal because he is a member of his club!so dont attack Nadal by mentioning Federer that is an insult of Federer fans it means they cant appreciate good player when they watch one.
he is a multiple grand slam winner now on tour we only have 3 him,Federer and the DP thing!
Zoey : dont harsh on Federer give him the benefit of doubt!he is not that old!

i forgate Roddick and Djoko
the one slam wonders!

chr18, if you say that list doesn't count because it's too early in the year, then why is Rafa beeing written off because he lost a final to Davy so early in the year?

By the way chr18, those statistics come from the ATP website who know what's what about tennis, much more than you do. You obviously are living in cloud cuckoo land thinking that your knowledge of tennis is superior to the rest of us. Good grief!

so these are the players nadal is competing with huh?

1 Ball, Carsten 95 2
2 Karlovic, Ivo 94 3
3 Roddick, Andy 93 5
4 DeHeart, Ryler 92 1
5 Nadal, Rafael 91 5
6 Gicquel, Marc 91 2
6 Levy, Harel 91 2
8 Berrer, Michael 90 3


lol pathetic.

any stat that doesnt have the tennis god federer in it is irrelevant.

Every time I watch Fed plays now, it's like he's taking it too easy.

It seems that he is able to accept defeat now more than before. Those days he wouldnt let a good-streak player like Srichapan or Gasquet or Davydenko win against him.

It seems like he lacks a 30% will to win now. I guess he can find bliss in other things in life now. Family life. Dedicated fans. GOAT status (more people than not think he is, for sure, everyone at my place thinks so).

Dats why I think he wont win AO. He needs some pain or motivation. Maybe if he loses early and people pressure him, he'll find a reason to shut them up again. Or he can just be content and just accept that people will always find faults in him.

So, OzOpen is between Nadal, Delpo, Djoker, Murray.

Fed probably will be in the SF and get beaten there.

ah tennislover, you know i'm the kind of tennis fan that will always be in awe of federer, such a innately talented, graceful, inventive athlete, seemingly born with a tennis racquet in his gifted hands! He happens to be the most incredible tennis player i have ever seen. but i wasn't paying much attention when agassi and sampras ruled.

i'm not saying that RF is "over." but in my imagination, not the most reliable reality, but the way i like to write my version of the story, i have federer (almost) but not quite winning any GS's in 2010. and his ranking will fall. in 2011 tho, our man will sneak back in, like the cat he is. and he will really be a force by 2012, redeeming himself with a shocking gold medal performance! how's that sound? whoop!

any stat that doesnt have the tennis god federer in it is irrelevant.

attackingtennisrulez , 1/12/10 11:40 AM


Federer % is obviously below 90 that's why he did not make the lsit.

carrie,
First of all nobody said Fed was on fire early on so it was a low cheap shot at him.
Second, those stats are just holding serve. There is more to tennis like breaking serve and tiebreaks for example. Also, those stats don't give any indication of your level of competition faced and as I've stated earlier, it's way too early to look at stats. Besides how many guys on that list are going to be a serious threat going into AO? If you think that you made a valid point with that list, why don't we ask the tennis writers here what they think?...(that means you Ricky and Cheryl):-)

Carrie
may i step in Statistics is a science that is based on two things : Frequency and repetition so mainly it depends on number of trials sure the ATP knows better than anyone else regarding tennis but not about statistics it self.
Meaning if you go back to 2009 you will find Federer's and Murray's stats are very close because Murray won many masters matches Federer had great run in the slams so the times of repetition are close, it is simple he played 5 matches he lost 2 Nadal played 7 lost 2 so it is small numbers any small difference will cause huge difference because in both cases the repetition of times is still small because simply it is still the beginning of the year .
Statistics now are pointless and not important just as the magnitude of Davy won against Nadal in Doha in the science of stats: best fist line : is the line that connects the homogeneous results that leads for predictions that result doesn?t lie on the best fit line, simply because in GS line Davy's results are negligible data!

I tot the stat was too ridiculous to even be posted here and I ignored it but u guys are discussing it so here's my opinion about it.

It is a very negligible stat not because it's early in the year but it doesnt show us too much about a player.

I could put here the Aces list and I almost never see Rafa in top 5 of that list.

I think the best stat is the ATP Ranking stat :)

nadal has the worst serve for a former world number 1 ever.

any stat with de heart, ball, karlovic and nadal in it is obviously a useless stat.

stats dont win tournaments, tennis s about taking ur chances and using ur brain.
that is why king roger always wins.

hello carrie, a word of advice to nadal fans, move on and stop wasting your time responding to trash. what nadal is able to do speaks for itself. his record is there to see! if this person is allowed to assassinate nadal and uncle's characters, so be it! if this person (attachingtennisrulez) was commenting on federer this way, he would have been banned from this site long ago.

my advise is, don't get caught up in this kind of crap. if fedfans want to respond that's their perrogative. after all, you have to realize that nadal has no pressure, only the pressure he puts on himself. what the media say and writes, do not put pressure on nadal, he doesn't allow it too! nadal is not the one said to be immortal, federer is! roger is the one that has to live up to being perfect, and as you can see it is becoming unbearable for him! i suggest you guys move on, this is quite stale now!

another point about stats, which ya'll statisticians and analysts know is that tho, they can be "objective" hard data, stats are easily cherry-picked and manipulated according to the bias of whom is doing the analyzing and what is attempting to be shown as "fact". it's comes down to the matter of checking the sources. somehow, without making some stat lists, roger federer has come out on top for more consecutive weeks than anyone and in general broken more records in his era, as we all know. no disrespect intended, but stats can deceive or in this case be used to placate a disgruntled fan, and are no more solid as the person(s) arranging them.

i like rafa tho, who can't? he's great for tennis and fun to watch. i think he will win AO...or nolee will. depends on who is in the best shape. and as much as i love davy, he has next to no chance.

If the ATP thought those stats were worthless, they would not have published them, no?

chr18, I merely posted the stats., I did not analyse them to mean anything other than what they say, I was just trying to show that Rafa is not all washed up simply because he missed a few match points.

Hi memi, It's hard not to respond when people are misrepresenting what you are trying to say.

tennislover,
maybe rankings are worthless because they are based on statistics. You can't pick and choose good stats against bad?????

guys i request u all to ignore all posts frm Attacking..as long as they dont have sumthng useful..he just wants to get our attentions and he has been pretty succesfuL!

carrie,
First of all nobody said Fed was on fire early on so it was a low cheap shot at him.

chr18, I was responding to attacker, which on reflection I shouldn't hve done when he said:

any stat that doesnt have the tennis god federer in it is irrelevant.

attackingtennisrulez , 1/12/10 11:40 AM

it's not a useless stat but it doesnt tell the whole story.

Like when Fed lost to Ivo in 2008 he didnt lost his serve at all so he got 100% service games won there but still lost.

And Fed faced a much stiffer players in Doha than Nadal and lost to the guy who beat Nadal and he didnt even had to play Darcis so u get what i mean.

No torres, I don't get what you mean. These stats. were nothing to do with Federer's performance or prowess as a tennis player, they merely showed that to date this year these players have won over 90% of their servis games, that's all. It's not saying they are the best players in the world at the moment, or that they are better than the players who are not on the list.

Why does everything have to revolve around Federer?

Here is another statistic for you to moan about.

At the age of 23, Rafa competed in his 48th final in Doha last week!

zoey,

I don't think it's your job to presume to tell Rafa fans where we should or should not go, referencing your post 1/12/10 7:03 am. If atr was blasting Fed over and over again, you would be the first person to go to Fed's defense. So please don't tell Rafa fans where we should go.

I think I have made my position clear, but since there seems to be some confusion I will make one final clarification. I have no problem with anyone having an honest criticism of Rafa. I also have no problem with anyone having an honest criticism or opinion about any of the top players. That's what a tennis site is all about. But to come here and viciously and vindictively post personal attacks that have no basis whatsoever, is something else entirely.

Also, hypocrisy is not a quality that I find admirable. Don't go lecturing Rafa fans if you are thin-skinned about any attacks on Fed. Let's at least be real with each other.

Hey carrie, if u didnt put 'Federer didnt even make it to the list' then I would believe that it has nothing ot do with Fed. And since u wrote that line, then u're actually the one revolving things around Federer.

Atr is not a Fed fan so dont bash Fed when he bash Nadal. Atr is a Rafa fan so u guys fight among yourselves. I dont get why u and memi need to bring Fed into it when Atr is a Rafa fan.

Rafa has some good stats but If you go wikipedia and click on Fed's list of achievements, then u'll be moaning all year long.

@torres

to say im a nadal fan and i dont like federer is insulting and plain wrong.
i like anyone that plays attacking tennis with exceptions like davy and soderling and a few other ballbashers.

i love roger federer, he has made tennis enjoyable once again and showed how attacking tennis is rewarded.

i dont like defensive players, when they play defensive i hope they lose. simple.

i hope if anyone in the aussie open plays defensive, then they get thrashed.
that is why i cannot wait for it to start. because im confident, that i can continue to enjoy nadal being thrashed in the aussie open similar to how tsonga dismantled him in 2008.

and i hope all defensive greaseballers get destroyed.

attacking tennis must be rewarded, defensive tennis must be punished.

Absolutely Nadal is capable both... defensive and offensive. If not, he did not win Aussie last year and Wimbledon 08... guys, tell me again who he beat....

for any federer fan that doesnt think that federer isnt motivated to win the AO, you need to go see the recent photos of him practising at Melbourne.Federer will take the opportunity which presented to him and work just as hard,if not more,to win the AO.Yes, there are more obstacles that fans seem to be bring up: age;motivation;hunger;shot making;half a step slower, but what federer has done and is doing (talk in the present),is change his game accordingly, and keep repeating that he is more motivated than ever before because of the "love of the game". Am standing by federer (of course), and looking forward to an exciting and challenging AO.

i wish AO would start tommorow so ther would be something usefull to discuss here,instead of the nonesenses
Carrie: did what why said in any way said the stats is unusfull i only said the time is not propriate to make ones, you cant actualy refer to ranking!
stop being so offensive pick the parts that suit your case and put words out of context!

tennislover,
if Federer headed that list fedfans would be bragging about it. Anyway, there was no thought of Federer when I posted the list, I was only thinking of Rafa, to point out that he's had a good year so far, and it's not all doom and gloom.

Why does Federer have be brought into every post.

I can see that you are now verging on insults, so I am not going to engage with you anymore on this subject.

oh dear. federer and rafa fans fighting again. I wish you would all stop it. For once, let us all have a decent discussion without having a go at each other all the time.federer fans are just as bad as rafa fans and vice versa.As I am a federer fan, carrie, i will obviously stick up for roger, as you would for rafa, but you brag about rafa more than anyone else here (sorry to say).i thought you said you were going to be more "objective", that this was the "new carrie". I thought you and tennislover had sorted out your differences? You are right, it isnt all doom and gloom, but you bring federer into rafa posts because (thinking objectively here), they are comparable greats in their own right, so I can understand that - but - what's the point in this inane,boring post that I am writing? sorry everyone.Can we just look at the AO with different perspectives please and be nice - to each other? - for once? It's 2010, a new year, decade -

tennislover, i will always be in the federer camp, you know that, but once in a while, it's probably best to go back to writing enjoyable,excellent posts about federer,wouldnt you agree?

The funny thing is carrie whines why Federer is brought into the all the posts when she is the one bringing Fed in it.

And then she talks about Rafa in Fed's posts.

Funny woman..

why shouldnt federer be brought into any discussion?

he is the king of tennis, nadal is a clay court specialist that got lucky at wimbledon and aussie open.

federer has 15 slams and nadal has 6.

federer has been number for for 5 years, nadal fluked an year at number 1 due to federer's mono.


speaking of the aussie open and nadal, i hope he faces a young gun like bernad tomic or grigor dimitrov in the 1st round because i can guarantee that nadal will lose.
tomic just beat ginepri and stepanek.
and dimitrov should have beaten nadal in rotterdamn last year if he was a bit fitter because he got tired. the match was on dimitrov's racket, he was dominating nadal until he got tired and ran out of gas but that will be fixed with a bit of fitness training.

tomic and dimitrov will be big breakthrough players this year.

the great thing about these 2 guys are that they are attacking players, they go for their shots, u wana watch these exciting attacking players, unlike defensive moonballing from 10 meters behind the baseline.

cant wait till the aussie open starts, the excitement over tomic is getting big in aussie.
i wanna see tomic vs nadal 1st round, nadal will get blown off court like starace was last year at the aussie open by tomic.
tomic is a huge flat hitter, and he is only 17 years old.

maxi, give me one instance when I have bragged about Rafa in 2010. I'm waiting.

I don't brag about Rafa, I merely state the facts or my wishes which tend to rub Fedfans up the wrong way. I have never predicted the outcome of any Rafa matches, not like some Fedfans who forecast that he will win everything.

I'm not referring to you maxi by the way, but I think there is a problem on internet forums where things said are taken the wrong way because English is not the first language of everyone, and I understand that, but it causes us to argue at cross purposes because we are all misunderstanding each other.

Maxi if you go back to my posts you would know I wasn?t picking a "fight" with carrie or any fans of Nadal, because I know he is great tennis champion.
I was just analyzing the data she provided nothing else.
It doesn?t have to be always against someone if you are simply saying your opinion!

tomic lost the oz open wild card playoff to a lesser known lindahl so they gave him a discretionary one. is that who you talking about? tomic is getting big in aussie because of bad press - the no. of coaches who refuse to work with him because he wol't listen to them, his fued with hewitt and his big talking dad. tomic said at 13 that by the time he's 18 he'll have all for slams. now he's saying he'll be no. 1, just a matter of time. that's your big star player, another big arrogant talker who you like!! maybe you are thinking of julien bennetau who'll be the next big star.

Tomic beat Stepanek in Adelaide today. Laughable.

tomic beat ginepri and stepanek.
tomic destroyed starace last year at the aussie open.

tomic could beat alot of the top 20 players in the world.

tomic could beat nadal because tomic is all attack, there is no defensive retrieving.

tomic could blast alot of these top 20 guys.

the only problem for bernard is his over confidence, he said he has the talents and skills of sampras, agassi and federer combined all in his body. i agree with him to a certain extent but i dont think he has federer's skills YET, but on the other part i agree with him.

and one thing aussies have is fight and the never give up attitude. we can beat anyone.

ATP top 20 fears tomic.

attackingtennisrulez,

how about Carsten Ball, he looks like he has a great potential: monster serve, decent groundstrokes, moves pretty well?

yea ball is a good talent, havent seen much of him so cant comment too much. but he has always been behind behind tomic in terms of hype in the media and public.

i guess tomic is a bit more confident and cocky and the media likes him because he creates controversy.

If by any chance a player ranked 291 could beat Rafa, than Rafa should just start playing golf or compete in fishing :)...don?t be funny, attackingetc! I can see your frustration and inner fear that Rafa will underperform in AO, but relax...give him a chance! Believe in him! It is the same Rafa who has brought so much joy and happiness and thanks to whom we enjoyed and will again enjoy greatest tennis ever! By the way, your Tomic seems like an interesting kid, a promising fellow, but let him earn your praise first...he?s got long way to go...

carrie,

i think it is probably best if i just stay out of he fights between you and tennislover.Like you say, things get misunderstood.

I like tennislovers posts when they are about federer. he/she writes well when they are most positive. (imo). You do too. You are normally interesting and although I dont post here as often, I do read what you say from time to time. I read about when you said this is the "new" carrie, so I took that to mean that you must have said harsh things or been too subjective before? I dont mean to argue with anyone. I have been told to "toughen up" on tennis.x, and I am trying, but seems when I want to respect players,a lot of you over here, dont. So I end up getting it wrong anyhow. :(.

tennislover, okay.my mistake. nothing intended.

I am not sure whether attackingtennisrulez is joking or whether he is serious? or she? seems to split the camp here.

Who cares! The AO starts in 5 days time! I am hoping that federer has the motivation (for the twins, more than anything if he wants them to see him still play at the highest level). I saw some recent photos of him training in melbourne, against two players! I think that's pretty cool.

Tomic has potential to be good in the future, but its outrageous how overrated he is right now. Almost lost to Starace on a HARD COURT last year, then pretty much disappeared.

Couldnt even beat his fellow Aussie youngsters at the wild card playoffs a few months ago. He has plenty of time, but he will be a pushover for someone in the first round next week.

maxi, what makes you think I am having a fight with tennislover. I posted some statistics which did not include Federer and Fedfans came down on me like a ton of bricks, now you have come to the conclusion that I am having a fight.

Are you saying that everything I post should be positive towards Federer or you are going to accuse me of all sorts of things? I really don't need this.

There was an aticle on this forum last year that goes like this:

Rafael Nadal and Aussie sensation Bernard Tomic teamed up for a practice in preparation for the Australian Open. Nadal will have to be ready for potential semifinal with Andy Murray.

Two of the most high-profile Australian Open participants--at least in the eyes of Australians--practiced together this week for Grand Slam preparation. 16-year-old Australian prospect Bernard Tomic got a chance to hit with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday in Melbourne.

Nadal, who owns four French Open titles and one Wimbledon crown, is seeking his first Aussie Open trophy. Tomic has been pegged for years as the next Aussie star, following Lleyton Hewitt.

Tournament director Craig Tiley was glad Tomic was able to enjoy such an opportunity. "Any of the Australian players can play with the best players in the world," Tiley said. "Bernard wants to be a player and he was always going to take the opportunity.... He was ecstatic."

Nadal opens with Christophe Rochus while Tomic meets Potito Starace. The bigger news, however, is that Nadal could meet in-form Andy Murray in the semifinals instead of the final. Novak Djokovic is a potential semifinal opponent for Roger Federer.

That was the LAST big story about him 'till now.
The percentage of votes then for Fed and Nadal was ALMOST the same NOW.

I wish the same story happens withe RESULTS of the AO '10!

carrie, please chill. your making me feel edgy.

I'm not referring to you maxi by the way, but I think there is a problem on internet forums where things said are taken the wrong way because English is not the first language of everyone, and I understand that, but it causes us to argue at cross purposes because we are all misunderstanding each other.
carrie , 1/13/10 1:39 PM

its all just debate. like you said. misunderstandings. can we move on please?

zoey - if you have a personal comment for NNY, send NNY an email

if you have tennis-related comment for all readers, post it here

by some reports here on foxsports.com.au during that practice hit out between nadal and young gun(future greatest player ever) bernard tomic, tomic was really taking it to nadal with huge flat forehands and had nadal really rattled.

i think this year tomic makes the breakthrough by defeating many top 20 players.
tomic's hype in oz is the same hype donald young or the harrison brothers get in the states.

calling tomic overrated or getting too much hype is a bit rich in my opinion.

if tomic is really on his game, he can beat a nadal, murray, del potro, tsonga, soderling davydenko or roddick on a US open or cincinatti type fast hard court. tomic is young and brash and he wont back down against these 2nd rate top players.

I think Nadal can defeat Davydenko soon. Just like Federer can beat Nadal back after several times lost. Only haters or sick persons consider Nadal is second rate top player... so funny... Nadal dethrowned Federer in a very convincing victories.... I am sure he will do it again...

hahahaha! tomic beating rafa nadal !! hahahahah! cant stpo laughing..nadal will trounc that kid ..he is promising but certainly not good enuf to even take a set of RAFAEL NADAL! attacking ..there are only two tennins players in the world who have a slight edge over rafa in terms of h2hd ! this shows how dominant he has been over the field

ricky i fully agree with you, tomic is too overhyped.
and "my ass" he destroyed starache, the italian probably felt the pressure, the match was close, went to tie breaks. tomic hasn't been able to beat most of the juniors in 09. he has a good game but he'd better be careful. his dad is far too arrogant and pig headed for his son's good and the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

native, ignore zoey, she has a nasty streak. she should buy a mirror.

all these h2h records of nadal are all because of playing them on clay, he loses early in the hard courts so they never get to face nadal. nadal can never beat an on form djokovic on hard, never.

even dimitrov took a set off nadal and was on his way to victory before cramp set in.
tomic has a bigger game than dimitrov.

and that new serbian kid has huge talent too. dont remember his name but nick bolleteri said he plays like agassi.

nadal trouncing tomic? no chance.
tomic is a big hitter, a huge hitter and everyone knows nadal cant handle huge hitters.
if tomic keeps his composure, he can shred nadal to bits.

tomic defeat nadal is not a prediction but a dream hahahaha.... just like predict santoro defeat federer.... tomic is more talented than nadal... wow even a stupid idiot analysist will not say so.... nadal is not clay player any longer... best clay player YESSSS!!! BUT HE IS ALL ROUND NOW... he can win wimbledon, he can win aussie.... even in an interview with CNN during wimbledon last year Federer said that he and andy and other players took advance on Nadal absence....

I think I have to say that no one is unbeatable including Nadal, Federer and other top players.... if they are not in their best they could be beaten by lower rank players absolutely...

Guys, there is no need to fuss about what attackingtennis has to say, after all it is his own opinion. He does not rule over the tennis world, so why bother with what he has to say? He may regard Tomic as more talented than the top 20 players, well that's also his choice. Whether that is true or not, only time will tell. So, there is no need to give him too much attention.

I have to add that Rafa did beat Nishikori and Dimitrov in three sets, but the last set of each match wasn't that closely contested, Rafa winning the last sets 6-3 & 6-2; so the talk of 'nearly lost' the match is definitely exaggerated. If one really want to be nasty and do a comparison, I remember in 2004, Fed lost to a certain 17 year old kid at Miami in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, when Fed was already the no.1 rank player in the world. Like what tettylds mentioned, players do have their off days.

Tomic is not gonna trouble Nadal as much as Rafa troubles Fed.

Rafa has always been a bad matchup for Fed. He just have a big advantage over Fed because of his defensive style that frustrates Fed's attacking play and also Fed just hates the bouncing ball to his backhand which is his weaker side.

But I think Fed did well winning 7 times against Nadal even with that disadvantage. And winning 2 times on clay against Rafa is as good as winning against Rafa 4 times on hardcourts

For me Rafa does not only trouble Fed.... but he defeated and dethroned him and he still can do it again and again... anyway their both are great...

attacking... what abt the olympics 08 semi final?? djokovic was at his best so was nadal...who won?? IT WAS THE METADOR!! rafael nadal! flat hitter..so what?? luk what nadal has started doing to flat hitters since his oz open loss to tsonga in 08...has defeated blake soo many times (all mtches on hard courts) berdych(all mtches on hard court) tsonga himself (3 mtches on hard courts) and gonzalez(demolitions of gonz in their past 2 slam meetings on hardc courts) so attacking do some research..tomic is nowhere as flat a hitter as gonzo and luk what rafa did to gonzo at his best.. nadal at his best can beat any player in the world on any SURFACE! and records suggest that...has beaten djokoer 14 times...9 on clay and 5 are which on fast courts too..so all u are talking abt is crap.

LUCKYSTAR...in 2004 a 17 yr old bot from mollarca mystified roger federer 6-3 6-3 not 6-4 6-4..it was a comprehensive win and that's what you call talent! at such an warly age without much experience beating the very best in the world with ease.at 14 the guy topped pat cash in an exhibition played on clay! lol ! at 14! ridiculous talent is this boy.

Kayoong reslults:
Veddasco beat Djokovic
DP and Soderling retired because of injury

Yes vamosrafa, I've forgotten the exact score, I do have the dvd of that match with me. I mentioned that match not to bash Fed, as I actually didn't mention the name of the kid, not to sound offensive, just to show that no matter how good a player is, there will be off days. Of course, that won't take anything away from how good those young players are, as they can rise to the challenge on that day.

Verdasco trounces Djokovic, Soderling hurt at Kooyong

4 hours, 45 minutes ago

*
Buzz up! 0
*
Print

(refiles adding Fernando Gonzalez in second last par)

MELBOURNE, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Spain?s Fernando Verdasco emerged up as a strong contender for next week?s Australian Open with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of world number three Novak Djokovic to book a place in the final of the Kooyong Classic on Thursday.

However, world number eight Robin Soderling is in doubt for the Australian grand slam after retiring hurt with an elbow injury after losing the first set 6-4 against Croatian journeyman Ivan Ljubicic.
ADVERTISEMENT

World number nine Verdasco, who lost an epic semi-final battle against eventual winner Rafael Nadal in Melbourne last year, needed only 52 minutes to brush aside an out-of-sorts Djokovic, who collapsed in a hail of unforced errors.

?I was feeling good today, despite the conditions,? Verdasco told reporters, referring to the blustery winds swirling around the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

?Of course, the result was a surprise. You never go to the court, and even less, with one guy like Novak Djokovic, and you think that you are going to win 6-1 6-2.?

While Djokovic appeared at times unable to string two on-target shots together, the 26-year-old Verdasco was all control, breaking the Serbian in the first and third games to race to a 5-0 lead.

Djokovic began finding his range after losing a third break to trail 1-0 in the second set but Verdasco moved brilliantly to chase down potential winners and send back the Serbian?s baseline firepower with interest.

?Today I didn?t feel good on the court since I stepped in,? Djokovic said. ?He played well, but I made too many unforced errors and that?s it.?

GOOD PRACTICE

The Serbian played down the result as ?good practice? for the Australian Open, before adding that he had been practicing too hard.

?I played a lot of matches last year, almost a hundred matches so I, to be honest, I?m a bit fed up with the matches.

?I?ve been practicing very hard in the last two and half, three weeks, and I think maybe I was a little bit slower today and wasn?t moving that well, so that was one of the reasons.?

Soderling, playing a dead rubber against Ljubicic after losing to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday, spoke to a tournament physiotherapist after losing their first set and walked off the court.

The Swede, who was beaten by Roger Federer at the final of the French Open last year, said a tendonitis injury he had been troubled with since Wimbledon had flared up while playing.

?It was better yesterday, today I felt it a little bit more, so I figured I didn?t want to take any more risks,? Soderling told reporters.

?A lot of times, it got better in just a couple of days, so with some rest and some treatment I really hope I will feel good next week.?

Soderling said he would not play another match at Kooyong, however, and declined to talk about his chances of playing the Australian Open.

?100 percent I will try, you know, of course I will try. Hopefully it will work, but you never know this.?

In the other dead rubber match played on Thursday, Chilean world number 11 Fernando Gonzalez defeated 18th-ranked German Tommy Haas 6-2 6-4.

British world number five Andy Murray will play an exhibition match against 25th-ranked American Sam Querrey later on Thursday. (Editing by John O?Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

luckystar..i get ur point i know u always try to base ur points on rationalism ..thats good :D

hi, I read on the internet that Delpo is in doubt for the AO. is it true?

it's true. he withdrew with a wrist injury, now in doubt for ao.

he withdrew from Kooyong, but is NOT in doubt for the AO

homos where did you read that? I read the following:
the winner of the most-recent grand slam title, 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, and 2009 French Open finalist Robin Soderling withdrew from Kooyong's Classic yesterday with a wrist and elbow injury respectively, forcing organisers of the eight-man event to reshuffle remaining matches.

It was clear, however, that both Del Potro and Soderling were merely being cautious with their bodies and unless there was a further aggravation at the weekend, there seemed little chance that either would miss the Australian Open. Del Potro practised yesterday morning, withdrawing some hours later.

vamosrafa, why are you talking about 2004?

vamosrafa , 1/14/10 10:33 AM

that's 6 years ago now. what difference does that make? (I might be missing the point here - am just interested).

maxi the only reason i am talking abt 2004 match is that there was some trash talk goin on that rafa isnt talented enuf and tomic is more talened he can thrash rafa..bla bla who cares bt the above example shows whatg ridiculous talent rafa is..doing such thngs at such a young age...this is the only pnt underlined via giving a reference to 04 :)

Rafa's not the only one who has beaten Fed at a young age.

Gasquet, Muzza, Djoker all have beaten Fed at a young age too.

When you r young and have no fear that's what happens.

And Delpo beat Nadal 3 times at 19-20 y-old if I am not mistaken and also beaten Fed 2 times.

Even greater talent.. LOL.. This can go on and on.

torres..how many of the above players have brushed aside federer in straight sets at age 17 and 20 ,,i think 3 yrs is quite a long period or it isnt?????

rocky/cheryl/anyone else who has any control over this site:

is atr getting banned anytime soon? coz if s/he carries on like this throughout the ao then i'm going elsewhere. it's one thing to dislike rafa, but to blatantly lie like the above post is something else. it's taking the piss a bit now. actually, it's taking the piss a lot

i meant *ricky. obvs. sorry ricky :)

Attacking, how dare you? I had sympathy for you and it looked to me as you were a good person who simply likes to be the center of attention. But by reading your words and false accusations of Rafa being doped you really proved you have no shame, no integrity, no brains and you simply do not deserve to be here! I am very disappointed to have known about someone like you who are capable of saying stupid things in the pathetic attempt to discredit one of the most prestigious and most appreciated and loved tennis player ever! I watched many videos of Rafa training and given I know something about it I can assure you that he trains very hard! And face the fact: Spanish players are the best team at the moment; it is not their fault that you can?t handle the truth! You only pretended to know about tennis but you really have no clue! From now on whenever I come across your comments I will be more than glad to ignore it...and one more thing: I really feel sorry for you...you are a very sick fellow...

Rafa has been tested many many times but he's cleared always.... attacking is a Rafa hater, so just ignore him.... instead of predict who will win, he always predict Rafa will lose.... he is really paranoid of Rafa.... I hope he will soon be eliminated. Record shows that Rafa is the most talented player... Federer also... no one achieve better than these two guys yet....

I wonder HOW this sick manifestation of stinking intellectually challenged bad mouthed-creature can GET AWAY with all those posts for SUCH a long period of time now. After receiving numerous warnings, which he's been ignoring like he OWNS this site, lambasting (particulaly Rafa) seems to be the "NORM" in this forum whenever IT (attacker) is present. "IT" is making this forum very very CHEAP!

i agree with McQ. atr has been warned repeatedly, but nothing's happened. surely they've gone too far this time?

you cant see whats happening because when something happens, his comments are no longer there. So theres nothing to see.

i think even federer gave hints that nadal might be on something in 2006. this topic is like the big elephant in the room, ur almost vilified if u even mention it. i think drugs in tennis is very much alive, and it needs to be discussed.
what i want to know is how nadal gets those big muscles and he says he never went to the gym ever. how is that even possible, not to mention his super human fitness. these are valid questions im sure alot of atp players would like to know but they are scared if they bring up the topic.

my point is, when ur in the top of ur sport, and u get caught, the authorities keep their mouths shut because when one of the marquee players is caught taking drugs and its made public, it hurts the sport itself, brings the sport into disrepute. therefore the atp keeps quiet and lets it slide like they did with agassi. agassi was too big a name to lose and tennis would have been hurt so they kept it quiet.
i suspect that is what is happening with rafael nadal right now. and there could be many others we dont know about. ive always had suspicions of serena wiliams, her muscles seem to get bigger everytime i see her.

i dont think we shhould hide from it, agassi showed drugs are a problem even in tennis. for example petr korda was exposed as a drugs cheat shortly after his aussie open win in 1998.

so anyone that has some ''super'' human atheltic ability and such long endurance ability is questionable.

i can name alot of players that i have or had suspicions about. names inclue gaudio, canas, etc.

I believe Canas has been suspended for that. There's really no point speculating about Nadal because there is no proof. He is a phenomenal athlete though. The first time somebody asked me if I was on steroids I was actually flattered because it told me he saw a big difference in me. I worked hard in the weight room and I was clean. However, I wasn't a top pro athlete so it didn't affect me at all. For a pro like Nadal, it certainly could hurt him so if there's no proof, we should leave that alone. I really don't think somebody with that much to lose would be stupid enough to do that. Besides this isn't baseball.

ricky and maxi, i was just answering atul's question. according to the press delpo was in dout for ao. "I" don't personally think he is, i think he withdrew out of caution. who wouldn't?

attackingtennis, you are simply too much!!

First, who says Rafa didn't go to the gym? Rafa may say that he didn't do weight lifting, but he did other gymnastic workouts like working on the rings etc. If you have watched his training, there are lots of exercises to strengthen his muscles. To question his athletic abilities and stamina is also laughable. Fed and Rafa are two players who have the best stamina and best footwork, look how many times they played five set matches against each other and neither one of them ran out of steam. Why question one of them but not the other??

When Rafa was seventeen years old, his body is already well developed, though not his stamina, as he is still growing up. Watch his matches in Miami 2004, his muscles are already there. After he had beaten Fed, he went on to lose to Gonzo in the next round, he couldn't continue winning partly because he did not have the stamina to compete against the adults round after round. One question for doubters, who would let a seventeen year old boy be on steroids when he is still growing up? His family is wealthy enough not to push him to bring in the money to feed them? He is the only son of his parents, you think his parents and his uncle would do something to harm him? Who knows what are the side effects about steroids? One more point, you think the family want to be shamed if their son is found to be on drugs? There is no escape nowadays, and Rafa has been receiving honorary awards year after year, there is no where to hide now that he is so famous worldwide.

Why question Rafa's integrity? He has more to lose than gain if he were to be on drugs.

This doping question on rafa has been there since people noticed his biceps... and NO ONE with all the tests and medical tech available ha EVER proven that he's into it.
@attacker- WHEN (specifics PLEASE) was it that Rafa or anyone from his team said that he's got his built WITHOUT HITTING the GYM?
Your posts are PURE LIES, SUSPICIONS and STUPID INNUENDOS!.....NEGATIVITY at it best!..... which tell EVERYTHING about you.

vamosrafa, doesnt matter if its str8 sets or not. Delp brushed aside Rafa in USO 626262 and the fact that he won against Fed 2 times already shows that he is an even bigger talent.

And Fed also beat one of the greatest players of all time, Sampras. So everyone did something when they were young. What separates players is their consistency and Fed is the most consistent of em all.

torres9, it all starts when attackingtennis mentioned that young guys like Nishikori and Dimitrov nearly beat Rafa, when Rafa was the no.2/no.1 player. I was the one who mentioned that top players have their off days and I quote Fed as an example when he was beaten by a certain 17 years old kid. I didn't mention the kid's name. This is not to bash Fed, but just to support my point. If you continue to mention more young players' names, it may put Fed in a bad light. So please don't blame vamosrafa and stop the topic. No one is questioning Fed's ability. Thanks.

I dont put Fed in a bad light. He loses to young players all the time.

All players do.

Sampras lost to Hewitt, Safin several times and they both have better h2h against Sampras but that doesnt mean Hewitt-Safin is a greater player than Sampras.

So it's a normal thing to lose to a younger player. So I dont think I put Fed in a bad light.

Rafa is not a great player just becoz he beat Fed. It's his record in FO and Masters Series that makes him a great player, not his h2h against Fed.

And yes, Nikishori and Tomic and Dimitrov got close to beating Rafa becoz Rafa has the same problem he had when Fed faced Nadal the first time. New players are always dangerous coz u never know their game.

So it's normal.

Monfils has great muscles...wow, is he doped?!! Also, I remember Murray Mania in London at Wimby 2008, when Rafa played Murray in quarterfinals media were in support of Murray saying that he worked a lot on building up his muscles and his strength in order to hit the ball harder. Was he doped as well? Davy worked hard on his own muscles and if you take a good look at him, even though he is not heavy and big, he has carefully built muscles. But how would you know that, attacking? If you went to the gym every day and train, you would have some idea! One doesn?t need to lift weights and take steroids to be able to build muscles...push-ups and other specific exercises with rings and wires (high pulley curl) can do just fine! Trust me on it! But if you are ignorant in that regard and all that you have lifted in your whole life is a cup of tea then you would talk rubbish like attacking does...

I know this was from days ago, and I know that the thread has moved on to other forms of Nadal-bashing/defense, but I had to weigh in on this one here:

"any stat that doesnt have the tennis god federer in it is irrelevant.

attackingtennisrulez , 1/12/10 11:40 AM"

How about this one: Tournaments won since August 2009.

U guys should watch Rafa training videos and u'll see how Rafa trains hard to get those biceps

here is a nadal article.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/exno-1-nadals-year-o f-living-dangerously-20100115-mcnd.html

attackingtennis - You may consider this your warning. This site is not here for you to speculate over which players dope. Kindly refrain from doing so, as it adds nothing constructive to the conversation.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/01/14/tennis.australia.open.nadal.serena /

@cheryl

so what exactly are u allowed to talk about on this site?
u cant talk this, u cant talk that.
seems like the only thing u can say here is ''i love nadal''.
censorship at its best.

attacker - you can talk about whatever you want.

however you CANNOT do the following:

1) accuse players of cheating or any other rule violation on a thread that has nothing to do with that
2) Spam the message board
3) attack people personally
4) use profanity
5) create an atmosphere in which people do not want to come to this website

you have done all 5 and now you have been warned. The next time you violate one of those 5 rules, you will be banned permanently.

Now that thats over with (AGAIN), lets get back to real Australian Open discussion. On behalf of attackingtennisrulez, I apologize to everyone else for the delay.

vamosrafa - thanks for replying.

Everyone, click on the link below - mentions all the top five: (with different perspectives).

http://www. theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/tight-at-the-top-for-mens-australian-o pen-contenders/story-e6frg7mf-1225820166050

torres mate i agree to a good xtent but u are wrong to say delp is way more talented.and nadal did it at 17...federer almost at his peak...roger was 19 and pete was aging that time..31..however was a superb display of talent. nadal is super talent in many ways...he is a a great champp..any one who can master grass( the trickiest surface in tennis) is a biggg talent ! nadal's age fellow rivals are yet to do it..rafa did it at age 20 :D

nadal's helicopter finish on the forehansd is a good enuf evidence to suggest why he has those biceps...i mean that kind of forehand puts alot of strain on biceps and wings

also a view at

http://tinyurl.com/ybc855c

thnx rfzr...bold predictions..i do think nadal will make a deep run and has good chances to win.and delp might nt reach the semis .who knws..but tsonga ver federer in semi doesnt seem plausible as yetif it goes like federer vs tso and nadal vs cilic...it shud be federer vs nadal (dream final)

Im not saying Delpo is WAYYY more talented. He has done some things that Rafa hasnt done and vice versa.

So he is in a way has done something's better. am just saying talent is very subjective whether it is measured by potential or achievement.

If we look at natural technical talent than I'd say Gasquet probably is more talented than anyone but his achievements are not up to his potential.

As in the mental department, I'd say Nadal is the most talented of them all. He is the best in that especially when the odds are agaunst him.

but nowadays, probably he lost his touch a lil bit. but he will surely be a monster in ao, no doubt abt it.

meanwhile delpo's talent lies in his raw power. i think anyone who can bully fed and nadal with sheer power is a special talent

good post buddy, i couldnot agree with you anymore

Torres, I agree with you that Rafa has the mental power to win GS's but I find that he's in many ways a one-dimentional player. I truly think that he's got to do the following:

- Replace his uncle as coach to get some fresh input
- Adjusting from a purely defensive-style game to a more aggressive and offensive approach
- Go to the net more often rather than battling long rallies to win one point, and expending so much energy in each match (you just can't have 5-set matches all the time)
- Improve his serve which doesn't have the punch like many top 10 players.

If he doesn't focus on these areas, I think his career will be short-lived and his confidence will deteriorate, if not already.

jngannex

Nadal is already working on all the aspects that u had just highlighted with his uncle Toni Nadal. have u not seen any of his matches in 2010? There is a deliberate attempt to be more aggresive

jngannex,

Did you happen to watch Rafa play at Doha? If you did, I am sure you would have seen that he is already doing what you suggested, except for replacing Uncle Toni as his coach. That he will never do. Frankly, I don't see the need for him to do it. If you were watching him at Abu Dabai and Doha, you would have noticed that he has been working on his game. He was coming to net more frequently than I remember, doing so intelligently, recognizing the opportunity and winning points. His serve also seems to be much better. Rafa will never have the big, booming serve that some of the top players have and it's not necessary. He has a number of weapons in his arsenal of shots that give him variety and different strategies for winning. Rafa was playing much more aggressive tennis.

You really don't know Rafa's game. This conception that Rafa is just a defensive player is quite erroneous. He has managed to combine both aggressive and defensive play to win matches.

This talk about Rafa being one-dimensional has gotten really old. With his powerful forehand, strong backhand, ability to come to net and hit volleys for winners, a serve that relies on spin and placement and that ferocious will to win, I don't think Rafa should ever be described as one-dimensional.

atul,

I didn't see your post before I wrote mine. I see that you also are in agreement as to Rafa's game.

Thanks!

Rafa didnt win WImby being defensive. He has the abbility to play offensive too and end points short. I think his defensive game is something he chooses to play because probably he prefers to play that way but the recent tournament in Doha his game has shifted to a more aggressive style.

np Native...agree with u every bit.

torres9: agree with you completely re talent not being enough and also being somewhat of a sujective topic. Look at Nalbandian, Safin and, as you say, Gasquet and that's just off the top of my head. The talent of Nalbandian plus the dedication of Rafa = 20 slams or more!!

I think those that keep saying that Nadal is one dimensional, only staying at the baseline, etc are clearly not Nadal fans and have not watched his matches these past two years. Rafa (Nadal) has successfully combined his offense/defense game so well, that's why he can win his FO 08 title without dropping a set, finishing off most opponents with breadsticks and bagels. He won Wim 08 by being aggressive, just looked at how he played against Murray & Fed. During the whole of AO 09, he didn't play defensive tennis; finishing off everyone in straight sets up till SF & Final stage. After his injury in 2009, he was trying to play aggressively during the USO, if not how was he going to reach the SF with an abdominal muscle tear? His game has improved and developed into an all court game during the past two years. Even when his confidence was down, he was able to play the way he did against Tsonga during the Paris Masters 09, mixing up his serves, coming to the net and volleying quite frequently during the match. Of course since the beginning of 2010, he has been playing much more aggressively, as evident at the Abu Dhabi exhibition and the Doha tournament. What he needs now is to get his confidence back, continue to play aggressively and improve his serve. I'm sure he'll do better in 2010 than he did in 2009.

luckstar..i was about to write a post based on similar facts and ideas! nadal can flatten out his backhand more than anybody else in the game,he raised his offensive skills that enabled him to win the olympic gold ! beat djokovic (who was at his best) and then blew away the flat-hitting gonzalez