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When did these players begin their decline in your opinon

3K views 56 replies 28 participants last post by  emotion 
#1 ·
Nadal
Roddick
Federer
Nalbandian
Sampras
Agassi
Davydenko
Safin
Hewitt
 
#2 ·
Some players decline a little and get back, it gets difficult when the curve is not your typical one peak and straight/curved line down.

Federer started to decline in 2007 but stopped in 2009 his decline and hasnt declined much since then.

Nadal had 2 peaks in 2008 and 2010, started to decline in 2011, surprisingly the line hasnt gone straight down but he seems to still be declining at a slow pace.

Sampras started decline in 96 but still had a good 97 because of 2 very easy slam draws that year, definitive decline started in 98 and the line was straight down (unlike Federer)

Agassi had his best year 94-95, declined for reasons outside tennis and came back to dominate a weak era in 99, continued his natural decline in 00 forward but at a slow pace.
 
#3 ·
Safin clearly had a roller coaster career from 00 to 05 and then finally declined at a very fast pace, didnt fight hard enought to stay good at an old age.

Nalbandian probably had his best years 05-07, seems to appear out of nowhere to go on winning streaks against top players at certain periods, he started to decline in 08.

Roddick in my opinion was at his absolute best in 03-04 and never found his game since he started to experiment with a whole new approach to challenge Federer in 05 forward. He was still good in 06, definetly was declining at a fast rate in 07.

Hewitt was very good between 01-04 with one bad year in between, started to decline slowly in 05 but was still very good (like Federer 07) but in 06 he was no longer a top player.


Davydenko reminds me of Nalbandian suddenly having short periods where he plays great tennis and disappears for long periods of time, he appeared from nowhere in 06 and became a top player very fast and produced some great results every year from 06-09 even if every year he seemed to be gone during a big part of the year. Definetly declined in 2010 after finding his absolute peak in late 09 and early 10, after his choke against Federer in AO the old Davydenko was never to be seen again on court.
 
#4 ·
Federer started declining in 2007, fell quite a bit in 2008, but regained his form in 2009 and then started declining slowly since then. He's probably got the slowest decline I've ever seen :lol: It's incredibly hard to see the difference between 2010 Federer and 2012 Federer :lol:
 
#5 ·
Nadal in his prime
Roddick 2007
Federer 2007
Nalbandian injuries screwed him over- he never regained his 2005 form- but in 2007 he showed glimpses
Sampras 1997
Agassi 2003
Davydenko maybe 2010- maybe
Safin he ddint decline he just stopped giving a fuck
Hewitt 2005
 
#6 ·
federers slow decline is the stuff of legends

really must piss of the haters that rog can still play at such a high level

.... truth is that the era is so shit right now- fed is allowed to stay high because of how incredibly weak the overall top 50 is

its probably the worst tennis era in recorded history- even when rolland garros was french ametuer only- it was 100 times stronger than today

tennis offically died in 2008- and untill we see surface variance it wont be coming back
 
#7 ·
Nadal isn't really in decline in my opinion. He was in 2011 in 3 slam finals and in many finals of ATP 1000 master tournaments. The problem wasthat he lost to Nole every time. If Djokovic hadn't play so well in 2011, Nadal would probably have won 3 slams last year and still be number 1. Probably Nadals game in 2010 was better, but 2011 wasn't that bad.
 
#8 ·
Nadal isn't really in decline in my opinion. He was in 2011 in 3 slam finals and in many finals of ATP 1000 master tournaments. The problem wasthat he lost to Nole every time. If Djokovic hadn't play so well in 2011, Nadal would probably have won 3 slams last year. Probably Nadals game in 2010 was better, but 2011 wasn't that bad.
If Nadal wasnt declining in 2011 then should I say Federer was declining in 2007 when he won 8 titles and 3 slams?

Nadal's 2011 actually reminds me more of Fed 2008, Nadal had 3 titles and Fed 4, Nadal 3 slam finals and Fed 3 slam finals, Fed dominated by Nadal and Nadal dominated by Djokovic and so on.
 
#9 ·
Nadal (still at or near his peak, IMO)
Roddick (2006 or 2011, depending on your prejorative. Declined very slowly)
Federer (2008)
Nalbandian (2006, though it's hard to say what his 'peak' was)
Sampras (2000)
Agassi (2006)
Davydenko (2010)
Safin (2005)
Hewitt (2006)
 
#15 ·
Nadal hasn't declined, he just was barely stopped at Australia and can beat practically every player on tour. if he has declined then that would mean the tour was so horrible right now and that Nadal's best is way better than any other current players, which isn't exactly true.

absurd to assume Nadal has declined. he does everything as well as before. give it a year and if he has failed to win some titles and even seems hindered on clay then we will all have to agree. currently no signs point to any decline. the fact that Nadal is mentioned by the OP in this makes me not even want to address the other decline points
 
#21 ·
Federer is as good now as he was in 2006 and certainly better than 2007. He is playing incredible tennis at the moment. You can't always measure a player's form by the number of slams they win in a given year. 2005 Federer was superior to 2007 Federer, despite being less successful.
 
#26 ·
Oh no you didn't. Not after that vitriol about 99% of MTF having long term memory problems :haha:
He is playing as well now as he ever has. That is not the same as me saying that his level didn't dip at any point. His level has picked up again in the past 6 months. How can you possibly look at his current form and argue that he is inferior to 2006 Fed? He is playing incredible tennis. He has barely lost a match since last summer.
 
#36 ·
He is playing as well now as he ever has. That is not the same as me saying that his level didn't dip at any point. His level has picked up again in the past 6 months. How can you possibly look at his current form and argue that he is inferior to 2006 Fed? He is playing incredible tennis. He has barely lost a match since last summer.
Are you telling us his movement & footwork (the pillars of his greatness) are even better at 30 than say at 25/26 ? Ignoring context much ? Winning no name tournaments in the last six months does not make this Roger EQUAL or BETTER than 2006/2007 Roger. Go back and watch the old vids and see what Roger could do on court because quite clearly you have forgotten.
 
#20 ·
Federer and Nadal are not in decline. Players simply have ups and downs. Look at Federer's form over the past 5-6 months. He's playing as well as he ever has. And Nadal has often gone through patches like this.

This is the usual MTF shit we're used to. 99% of the forum have no long term memory. It's as if everything before the current tournament never happened. If Nadal wins Miami, we'll hear about him dominating the clay court stretch again. If Djokovic wins Miami, we'll hear about him being a cert for the Golden Slam. If Federer wins Miami, he'll be on his way to world number 1 again this year. If Murray wins Miami, we'll have threads about him winning his first slam very soon. It's the same shit over and over. This forum is simply populated by idiots who can't recall what happened as recently as 2 weeks ago.

Half of that is not related to the subject of this thread, but posting it here is as good a place as any.
 
#22 ·
based on purely level of play which is the real definition of peak:

Nadal - peaked in 2008, yet to decline.....

Roddick - peaked in wimbledon 2009 and declined after the final in the same tournament.....

Federer - peaked in 2007, yet to decline.....

Nalbandian - peaked in 2003, dug a deep well after 2006 and is resting inside ever since.....climbed out for a brief span in 2007 and went back in.....

Sampras - peaked in 1992, declined in 2000.....

Agassi - peaked in 1992, declined in 2001....

Davydenko - indefinite

Safin - indefinite

Hewitt - indefinite
 
#49 · (Edited)
Federer - peaked in 2007, yet to decline.....
I think Federer peaked in the end of 2003 (TMC) and stayed at the peak form until, let's say 2007 Dubai. From then on there were signs of decline, but the best way to describe it would be to say he continuously adapted his game to his age. Fed was a late bloomer.

Nadal is yet inside his peak period, which started in 2008 when he was able to start adapting his game to all surfaces (and the surfaces were changing in a way that suited his playing style). His clay peak started in 2005, basically one and a half year later after turning pro. He was a prodigy. From 2008 on, he continuously and successfully adapted his game in order to alleviate the mileage problem that was becoming an issue too soon in his career.
 
#25 ·
Nadal - 2015 (Ridiculous having a 25 year old on this list :rolleyes: )
Roddick - 2004 (Why did he change his game)
Federer - 2008 (If you blinked you'd have missed the subtle signs)
Nalbandian - 2004 (only because he started getting rounder around the waist)
Safin - 2006 (Was at his peak at THAT 2005 AO)
Hewitt - 2005 (Well the game passed him by really the AO final notwithstanding)
 
#30 ·
even after that choke at the Australian Davy was still playing well at events after that. But then he got injured and he's never been the same since

He has shown recently he's kind of coming back to where he was but injuries and illness are starting to affect him more often
 
#33 ·
It would be lovely to have him and Nalbandian around in great form late this season teaching some things to the younger generation about beeing aggressive returners, creating angles and how to play indoor tennis (and how to beat Nadal).

Federer really needs some rivals indoors, the younger generation just cant play on those conditions so his old pals better get back to business and give him a challenge at the end of this year.
 
#32 ·
I must agree Federer is currently playing the best tennis since he started to decline.
Can you picture Roger 2008-2010 beating Nadal at Indian Wells? Because I can't.

I believe Fed is enjoying a sort of short-term Renaissance of 2004-2007 form.
 
#34 ·
I must agree Federer is currently playing the best tennis since he started to decline.
Can you picture Roger 2008-2010 beating Nadal at Indian Wells? Because I can
Part of it is because Federer learned how to play Nadal in 2009 and has been adjusting his tactics against Nadal bit for bit ever since, but he is not good enought anymore to constantly challenge the peaking NAdal. I belive he is 4-5 against Nadal since 2009 and has only played a really bad match in Miami since then. Federer's backhand is alot better since 2009 against Nadal but not so much against everybody else.
 
#39 ·
federer hasn't been quite the same since his peak years in 2005, 2006 and early 2007.

however, i'd say that in the past 6 months he's been playing the best tennis i've seen of him since 2008. lots of ups and downs have passed since that year, though. i recall federer played almost as well as in his peak years in AO 2010, for example, and then played at his muggiest in the next months.

as for the reasons of roger's slow decline, the speed is the most notorious factor. fed's game depended (and still does) big time on his footwork and that's not quite the same as before. nowadays he makes less adjustment small steps and that in turn makes him more prone to errors and shanks. still, on a good day the differences are only minor...
 
#50 ·
lets face it chaps

federer is a one off- we all knew it when he beat sampras

federer (like laver, borg) can hit the special level where he is unplayable

it doesn't matter where and when- when fed gets hot he cant be touched

even though nadal is the worst matchup possible- he still beats him at 75% of the surfaces- that stat alone tells how mentally strong roger his- how amazing his game is

federer stands alone- and although he isnt the same man he once was- he is still good
 
#52 ·
I wonder if Federer somewhere in the future finds Nadal's curve decling ahead of his own?

I must say Nadal is just fighting ahead better than I thought he would for his age, he still has incredible legs and incredible spirit to improve his game, anyway this is the curves up to end of 2012 according to rankings:



Federer should have gone up a little at the same level he has been since end of 2008 and might now be climbing his top since 2008 the coming month or so, Nadal on the other hand might decline alot the coming months, it will be a very interesting season to follow.
 
#54 ·
ok guys you know me i don't like Nadal at all but i think he isn't declining right now ..... even if he is the decline is slower than Federers .....
and i wonder why you began to describe only Nadal and Federers decline ?
 
#56 ·
Roger's BH was more of a weapon against players outside of Nadal in his heyday. It was more crisp and less vulnerable to attack. He hit the DTL BH more consistently and effectively. His BH is more of a set-up shot now, but that's beginning to change of late as Roger's gaining confidence in his game. He's using the BH as a weapon more often, which has greatly helped his overall game.
 
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