[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

Remember Clay season of 2010? When everyone said Soderling exposed his weakness to 'big hitters', figured out Rafa on clay and broke through the unbeatable aura? Refresh my memory, did Nadal lose a match on clay that year?

That was 3 years ago

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by Time Violation

That was 3 years ago

So? Did Nadal forget how to play tennis in three years? Forget three years, 8 months ago when he butchered everyone on clay?

All he needs to do is get healthy (maybe he already is) and start finding his rhythm and he'll be fine.

[Jverweij]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

So? Did Nadal forget how to play tennis in three years? Forget three years, 8 months ago when he butchered everyone on clay?

All he needs to do is get healthy (maybe he already is) and start finding his rhythm and he'll be fine.

Ofc not, but he is getting older, and he is very injury-prone. This will only get worse with time, you know that as well as I do. I don't expect him to lose many matches on clay, and still see him as the favourite for RG, but this was an unexpected loss.

I agree with you about him seeming to move cautiously and it looking abit awkward though. Either he will relax more and it will disappear, or he's hurting seriously again, and he is in trouble. Hope it's the former.

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by Jverweij

Ofc not, but he is getting older, and he is very injury-prone. This will only get worse with time, you know that as well as I do. I don't expect him to lose many matches on clay, and still see him as the favourite for RG, but this was an unexpected loss.

I agree with you about him seeming to move cautiously and it looking abit awkward though. Either he will relax more and it will disappear, or he's hurting seriously again, and he is in trouble. Hope it's the former.

"The knee is still bothering me, but you have to face adversity with the best possible face and look forward to keep working and enjoy what I like the most, to play tennis."

So it still bothers him, let's hope it'll go away with time

[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

So? Did Nadal forget how to play tennis in three years? Forget three years, 8 months ago when he butchered everyone on clay?

All he needs to do is get healthy (maybe he already is) and start finding his rhythm and he'll be fine.

Time between RG final and Wimbledon R1 was even shorter. Anyway, every season is a new season, we'll see how this one unfolds.

[EddieNero]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

So? Did Nadal forget how to play tennis in three years? Forget three years, 8 months ago when he butchered everyone on clay?

All he needs to do is get healthy (maybe he already is) and start finding his rhythm and he'll be fine.

I still keep wondering are you just plain stupid or blind? 3 years is a massive amount of time for professional athletes, something like 1/3 or 1/4 of their whole career.

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by Time Violation

Time between RG final and Wimbledon R2 was even shorter. Anyway, every season is a new season, we'll see how this one unfolds.

That's why I said if he's healthy. Add to that that Wimbledon isn't clay.

[shadows]

Rafa just strategically tanked the final so the top players think he's not going to walk all over them during the clay season.

Then it'll hurt extra bad when he does.

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by EddieNero

I still keep wondering are you just plain stupid or blind? 3 years is a massive amount of time for professional athletes, something like 1/3 or 1/4 of their whole career.

3 years shouldn't matter much when you're 23-24 at the start. You don't experience much physical drop off due to age in that time. If the knee is healthy, his physical condition should be fine, and he won't have lost his tennis skills.

And when I see the beatdown he put on everyone just last season, I don't worry too much.

[Sri]

Originally Posted by evilmindbulgaria

So one can't be critical without getting labelled a 'hater' ?

You must not like free speech. :-/

[GSMnadal]

To get back on 'players now believing they can beat Rafa on clay'. I don't see it that way. Yes, Zeballos just beat him. What does that tell you? That Zeballos can beat Nadal on clay, not whether you'll be able to do it.

I think you don't get that confidence from another man's loss, but from yourself playing great (Zeballos had a great run leading up to this match). When Almagro plays Rafa next time, what do you think he'll be thinking about? The 8 times Nadal owned him or that one time Nadal lost to Zeballos? You don't get confidence from what others are able to achieve, but from what you do yourself.

Look at Nadal in 2011, Federer beat Djokovic at RG, did that give Nadal back his confidence in matches against Novak? No, he went on to lose Wimbledon, US Open and the Australian Open before snapping that streak himself in Monte Carlo, which then gave him the belief in Rome and RG.

[fran70]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

I think the reason his movement looks awkward is because Rafa is cautious and isn't comfortable putting weight on that knee yet. It doesn't necessarily mean he's still injured (could be of course, we don't know how it feels), but it does indicate he's been out for 7-8 months with a severe knee injury and isn't in prime condition yet.

I agree with you. He didn´t look that self-confident on his movements. Probably was precaution or needs to feel confidence with that knee again. That is going to be the key of his comeback. His tennis is not 100% there yet but I think is only a matter of time. As long as he can feel that his knee is ok he will find his confidence back.

This is still early to see how he will perform on hard courts but I´m not sure if that will be a good idea for him to play in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne. Probably he might need to find his confidence back on clay events until Roland Garros and as things may get better return back to hard court events in the spring of US/Canada MS.

Will see how things develop.

[uxyzapenje]

In Novak's mind he would be beatable even if be beat Zeballos. Also in few other players' minds. But for most of the tour he still won't be, especially for Monaco, Almagro & co.

[GSMnadal]

Originally Posted by uxyzapenje

In Novak's mind he would be beatable even if be beat Zeballos. Also in few other players' minds. But for most of the tour he still won't be, especially for Monaco, Almagro & co.

Novak believed Nadal was beatable at RG 2008 right after he got his ass handed to him

That just showed again that it doesn't really matter if you believe you can beat him, if he reaches his level it's over. Belief comes into play when Nadal is paying like crap.

[uxyzapenje]

Originally Posted by GSMnadal

Novak believed Nadal was beatable at RG 2008 right after he got his ass handed to him

That just showed again that it doesn't really matter if you believe you can beat him, if he reaches his level it's over. Belief comes into play when Nadal is paying like crap.

Well, sure. If Rafa finds his top clay form, he'll be unstoppable. But the belief come into play when the match gets tight (regardless of if it's due to Nadal playing worse or opponent playing lights out). Novak will beat him if given the chance, but most of the tour will choke and crumble, even if they are playing better than him on that given day. But, tbf, I think a few more players (like headcases and bashers and such) will believe that they can beat him now (maybe even Pics ), when he's back from injury, than like 2-3 years ago. 2-3 years ago only Novak believed he can beat him Still, that 'few' are really few, 95% of the tour still doesn't believe (or if they do now, when they face him, they'll start questioning themselves, especially if it's in a big match).