[TBkeeper]

Originally Posted by philosophicalarf

Well, first meeting Nadal was 16, so not exactly surprising. The next two wins Nadal was 18, and the latter one Nadal actually bagelled him first set before falling apart.

Two months later they met in the Monte Carlo qfs: Nadal 6/3 6/0.


2006 year end rankings:

1 Fed
2 Nadal
3 Davydenko
4 Blake
5 Ljubicic
6 Roddick
7 Robredo


Not exactly impressive competition for the top 2.

It's impressive just ask Ferrer who was bitched today :P

[BauerAlmeida]

Originally Posted by heya

Safin would only dream of a Slam final in the 2003-2005 era if Nadal, Djoker & Murray were ages 22-25. .

Yeah. He beat Federer and Sampras to win slams, but he wouldn't beat Murray, lol. He also routined Novak at Wimbledon in 2008 and he would have beat Nadal at any of the HC slams easily.

[Corey Feldman]

Even by Heya's usual high standards, that was one of the most idiotic statements yet.

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by BauerAlmeida

Yeah. He beat Federer and Sampras to win slams, but he wouldn't beat Murray, lol. He also routined Novak at Wimbledon in 2008 and he would have beat Nadal at any of the HC slams easily.

H2H Nadal - Safin 2-0, both on hardcourts: 6-3 6-1 and 7-6 6-0.... yeah, he would've eaaasily beaten Rafa. Just so you know, there's no 'easily' beating Rafa at slams.

[rocketassist]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

H2H Nadal - Safin 2-0, both on hardcourts: 6-3 6-1 and 7-6 6-0.... yeah, he would've eaaasily beaten Rafa. Just so you know, there's no 'easily' beating Rafa at slams.

when he was way past it?

[Mark Lenders]

Yeah, Safin was way past it in those meetings. His last few years on tour were rather meh, his knee injury in 2005 pretty much ended him as a really competitive force.

Would have been interesting to see him play Nadal with both in their prime years. Nadal would lead the H2H if they faced often by sheer virtue of his consistency, but Safin would be maybe the toughest matchup for him when playing well I think - he has arguably the best two hander of all-time and would love to unleash on Rafa's top spin balls.

[Corey Feldman]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

Just so you know, there's no 'easily' beating Rafa at slams.

Roddick, Youzhny, Gonzo, Ferrer, Tsonga, Murray and Del Potro disagree

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by rocketassist

when he was way past it?

07 and 09, not as if Nadal was playing at a high level during that time. It's all we have to judge this match up on, and Nadal is just way too mentally strong for Safin and would frustrate the Russian by getting everything back, especially in a best of 5 match.

[Saberq]

Originally Posted by Mark Lenders

Yeah, Safin was way past it in those meetings. His last few years on tour were rather meh, his knee injury in 2005 pretty much ended him as a really competitive force.

Would have been interesting to see him play Nadal with both in their prime years. Nadal would lead the H2H if they faced often by sheer virtue of his consistency, but Safin would be maybe the toughest matchup for him when playing well I think - he has arguably the best two hander of all-time and would love to unleash on Rafa's top spin balls.

Safin is overrated........comparing a GOAT level player like Nadal to a 2 time Slam winner is a joke

[Mark Lenders]

Originally Posted by Saberq

Safin is overrated........comparing a GOAT level player like Nadal to a 2 time Slam winner is a joke

Tsonga, Del Potro, Gonzalez... have one Slam combined yet all beat Nadal in straights at a hardcourt Slam. Davydenko has 0 Slams and has a positive H2H vs Nadal.

Bottom line: no one is debating who is the greater player, there's no discussion there: it's Nadal by miles. The only discussion is whether Safin could beat Nadal at the hardcourt Slams - he doesn't need to own 10+ Slams, or even one for that matter, for that to be a legitimate question.

[Nole fan]

Originally Posted by Saberq

Safin is overrated........comparing a GOAT level player like Nadal to a 2 time Slam winner is a joke

This. Safin is so overhyped.

[rocketassist]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

07 and 09, not as if Nadal was playing at a high level during that time. It's all we have to judge this match up on, and Nadal is just way too mentally strong for Safin and would frustrate the Russian by getting everything back, especially in a best of 5 match.

Nadal had just won RG for a third time and was a point away from probably defeating Federer at Wimbledon, so suggesting 07 was a low level Nadal is a little silly if you ask me.

Where Safin has a great weapon against Nadal is the two hander crosscourt. We've seen Djokovic, Murray and Nalbandian hurt him with that shot, either the ball shanking off his racket or he's too far out of position to get to the next ball.

[BauerAlmeida]

Originally Posted by Saberq

Safin is overrated........comparing a GOAT level player like Nadal to a 2 time Slam winner is a joke

Since he was (Safin) the only one to beat Peakerer in a HC slam I would say he would probably beat Nadal at a HC slam. No one compared them and Safin is not over-rated at all.

[rocketassist]

The New Balls generation are disrespected a lot on here by people who are tards of current top players or by people who simply never watched them play at their peaks.

They still lead the current generation 23-18 in slam titles. Have a bit more respect people.

[Saberq]

Originally Posted by BauerAlmeida

Since he was (Safin) the only one to beat Peakerer in a HC slam I would say he would probably beat Nadal at a HC slam. No one compared them and Safin is not over-rated at all.

Fed was not playing that good even...........Jesus stop with the hype..........Safin was good but that's all

Originally Posted by rocketassist

The New Balls generation are disrespected a lot on here by people who are tards of current top players or by people who simply never watched them play at their peaks.

They still lead the current generation 23-18 in slam titles. Have a bit more respect people.

LOL..............17 of those Slams were won by 1 player that spent more time playing with this new generation......Djokovic>everyone except Fed from that gen,Nadal also and hell even Murray is better than 70% of those guys