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Roger Federer sort of expects Rafael Nadal to pass him

12K views 156 replies 62 participants last post by  NADALalot 
#1 ·
#99 ·
Why not?
I think he can win French opens at 32+. Of course he wont be as unbeatable as in the prime of his career, But he will still be difficult to beat.
Of coruse a lot will depend on his injuries. What is difficult to predict. But a 80% Nadal can beat (outside Djokovic) still almost anyone on red clay in sunshine and high temperature.
 
#6 ·
I remember after the Wimbledon 2007 final when he said that he had to hurry before that guy won everything.

In his mind, Nadal has been at least his equal since then, only a difference in age and generation, but yes, he's expected him to do at least nearly as well as him and very possibly better

he also said that Djokovic has a possibility, but even if Fed has respected Djokovic a lot for long, he's never considered him on the same level as Nadal
 
#9 ·
Disagree. Fed's been ahead of Nadal age wise for a couple years now.
 
#13 ·
Yes, Federer had 16 slams after AO 2010, Nadal 14 after AO 2015. Nadal is a few months older in this comparison.

However, Federer stopped winning slams quite suddenly at this point, winning only 1 of 20 slams afterwards. We'll have to wait and see what Nadal can do. I also doubt that Nadal can win 4+ more, but 2-3 isn't that unlikely.

I do think that Nadal can still win outside the FO, even though Federer implicitly suggests otherwise.
 
#10 ·
Fraud probably ignorant about the fact that Rafa has already surpassed him with his 14 majors in strong era.
 
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#58 ·
Yeah I mean that author implied that Fed thinks he "can flip a switch" and just win a GS. BS. I think the tweet makes him sound more realistic. He's out there because he still plays well and enjoys the attention, the fight, the money, etc., but I think he must have strong doubts that he realistically can win another Slam. He's in with a chance, but it's been almost 3 years. Meanwhile, he knows Rafa wins almost every FO and if that doesn't stop in next 3 years they'll be equal at 17.
 
#16 ·
Kinda feel embarrassed for the author because, after all, the article seems to tell a lot more about him than it does about Federer...

One could certainly also read Federer's "if he wins French Open few more times" as "after all he's the best claycourter of all time, so why should he not always have a chance at another RG"

or "...I don't win anymore then clearly he can catch me very quickly'" as "I feel like I have to add another slam because I don't think Nadal's done, at all"

IMHO, the quote is rather "delightful, classy Federer" than the suggested "delightfully classic Federer"
 
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#20 ·
Yes, Federer had 16 slams after AO 2010, Nadal 14 after AO 2015. Nadal is a few months older in this comparison.

However, Federer stopped winning slams quite suddenly at this point, winning only 1 of 20 slams afterwards. We'll have to wait and see what Nadal can do. I also doubt that Nadal can win 4+ more, but 2-3 isn't that unlikely.

I do think that Nadal can still win outside the FO, even though Federer implicitly suggests otherwise
His last slam final off clay was AO14. Fed's had a non-clay slam final more recently than Nadal. His last off clay title was Doha, also last year.

Since 2010, Nadal has just 4 off-clay titles. USO 2013, Doha 2014, Canada Masters 2013, Indian Wells 2013.

He's averaging about an off clay title a year, and, since 2010, an off clay slam title just once.

Odds are low he wins another. He's not been a threat off clay since 2010, and has matched Federer in non clay slam titles over that period.

This is not a recipe for surpassing Fed.
 
#34 ·
He will win a couple more RG, he's a machine there. It will all depend if he can win outside RG. He's been awful in Wimbledon for some time, so mainly the hard court slams. If he hadn't gotten injured in the AO final he would have won TWO HC slams in a row, and that wasn't that long ago, so maybe he can still be competitive if he gets back to his best physical shape.
 
#37 ·
This machine could get broken. Fed and Nadal will get retired together. Media tries everything to bring interest to the game . Once Fed retires and Nadal with him then who will be next GOAT? How they is going to keep this GOAT? How many rivals the game will have to keep fans interested as Fed/Nadal or Fed/Djokovic? There will be huge void and no one is going to fill it.
 
#38 ·
Nadal's only hope to pass Roger is to continue dominating RG because he's not winning titles at any of the other slams.
 
#39 ·
And what was he supposed to say? He has noc chances? Oh, please...
I am fed up with all those overrections, when some player says something. When Federer says his matches with Nadal are on his racquet, he is marked as arrogant. When he gives a compliment to Nadal, he is playing mindgames. When Nadal says something good about his opponents, he is fake humble, when he criticizes somebody, he is arogant Dull. Novak on the other hand is a "PR machine" or "faker"...
Nobody knows those men personally and therefore all our impressions are skewed by our subjective personal judgement and our taste - what we like and what we don't. Nadal haters won't change their minds even if he donated 20 millions to a charity and so on. Moreover, most of these press statements are just out of context, cutted, or many times changed by translation...and the result is, that most of the threads based on some players' statements are only for bashing and insulting...Nothing to see here

TO the point:
I personally don't expect Rafa to pass Roger in terms of Slam count. As for now. Things could have been different if he had defeated Stan at AO2014. Now he could be on 15 and moreover, the whole last season could have been different - in terms of his confidence and momentum. Considering his current form, I would be more than happy if he would win even 1 Slam, no matter which one. A huge question here is, whether Rafa will find his previous form...
 
#45 ·
Well nothing new here, it's obvious at this point that Rafa's going to pass Fed's count. He has no opposition aside from Djokovic who lost their last 4 matches at slams. Youngsters are crap so he just needs to find a decent form level to get in another slam final and the title will be his.
 
#57 ·
That was Roger beeing Roger. What did you guys want him to say? No he doesn´t think so? That would add fuel to Nadal and probably give more incentive. Like he needed more.

So he sai that. But deep down he doesn´t want Nadal to tie or break. Like any other human beeing.
 
#59 ·
This would weaken Rafa if he wins 17 that way, 12 FOs and only 5 of the other 3 grand slams makes him way too heavy in one grand slam/on one surface. Honestly, it's true, the past few years he's done little off of clay winning titles wise. Let's see.... since the beginning of 2011 only 2013 Indian Wells, 2013 Canada, 2013 Cincinnati, 2013 U.S. Open, and 2014 Doha are his non-clay titles. The 5 of them in a 10 month span. He's a non-factor on grass now, he's somewhat of a factor on hard courts, but that's really lessening, and now even on his beloved best clay he's more vulnerable than ever.
 
#60 ·
Everyone knows that everything will end some days. So it will happen to Rafa as well. Roger was in every GS'F in 2009 and in F of AO2010 which he won it and then suddenly he stopped. Well Rafa was not in every GS'F as Fed was so it could happen to him even quicker. Rafa is almost a part time player for years and who knows maybe they both could retire next year.
 
#64 · (Edited)
what he thinks ?

just reasonable things, things that seemingly many people on MTF can't do, making all kinds of complicated theories :

what Federer thinks :

- I'm no prophet, I just think reasonably
- Nadal is only 3 slams away from me
- he's 29 years old, as I was in 2010, 5 years laters I'm still world number 2 and played 3 slam semifinals last year, I felt I could still win one or two, and when people said I was in complete decline, I looked at the bigger picture and always thought I could come back ... and proved it ... then why would it not be the same for Nadal as I have him in great esteem and know very well how great he's able to be ? (here I have a source : Fed's and Wawrinka's words in the off-season : they said they were sure Nadal would come back strong this year)
- Nadal has won 9 French Opens out of the last 10 ones, he's the greatest claycourter of all times and I have him in great esteem
- then why would he not be able to win at least 3 more French Opens ?
- that only quite reasonable prediction would be enough for him to get equal to me, and that's what I tell the journalist (but of course the journalist prefers stirring the mud and considering it as a backhanded compliment that I meant that "Nadal is only able to win on clay")
- Nadal can also win other slams than the French Open of course, he did it less than 2 years ago but it's less obvious to him than winning Roland-Garros
- I of course still hope I can win one or two more slams, I was still near last year and have defeated the world number 1 4 times out of our last 6 meetings
- I'm still very confident in Wimbledon
- it would of course make it harder for others including Nadal to catch me
- Djokovic also has a chance as he's been number 1 in 3 of the last 4 years and is still at a young age, I was still pretty good for many years after that age
- I of course hope that they don't catch me
- even if I know that no record is forever (he said it in the interview, and I remember his mother saying that they had been surprised a few years ago that Roger had reached Sampras' record, and then Nadal came so quickly ... and they realised that records are nothing forever and there to be broken)
but I would prefer it to last longer

All of this completely and simply reasonable ... but it seems that many MTFers are just unable to think reasonably

Federer is a very down-to-earth and reasonable person, it's obvious from everything he said.
He knows he's not a prophet as some MTFers think they are, he knows when he comes on a tennis court for a match that the result is not certain at all, as he said he used to underestimate his opponents when he was young but he stopped that and understood how all that was uncertain and unpredictable, and it was a great help for his mental to accept that uncertainty (I like how he relates his matches, he never speaks as if he felt he controlled everything, rather talks of many things as something uncontrolled including his rhythm).
 
#66 ·
if nadal does indeed pass him i want federer to take it like a champ and congratulate nadal, i however expect him to do so with a backhanded comment about nadal being a 1 surface dominant player haha. if nadal does beat federer ill accept it and congratulate nadal, it doesnt matter what slams you win as they are all equal which is a fact. i personally think the goat discussion its utter horse shit, instead we should discuss who is the most successful which is objective as its numbers and facts.
 
#69 ·
Okay some can say most of his GS' are on clay so he is King of clay for many years. How many weeks he has at #1? How often he got to SF' or QF' of other GS' ???? Did he has a competition at all on clay for ten years? Well Wimbeldon has many winners Rafa 2W,Djokovic 2W ,Murray 1W, Fed 7W. So you could see there is a lot of competition in all other GS'. But somehow FO looks like as monarchy than a sporting event with competition for last ten years. There is only one name Rafa Nadal but it is not only there but all clay events. It is the toughest GS and for someone who is always injured then how on earth he won so many clay tournaments for those years. How on earth did he plan his injuries to happen during other tournaments but never during clay season?????

That is a question for 1 million at least?!
 
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