[Clay Death]

this is just horrible. i dont see how a player of his caliber can allow himself to drop in the 3 most important areas:

1. serve
2. return of serve
3. movement

these 3 areas constitute the whole damn game. the last one is the most alarming of them all since his game is all based on his wheels.

i am not surprised at the results here. the only reason the first set was close was because of roddick`s incompetence. nadal just looks lost out there. he was twice the player on hard courts in 2005.

this is just tragic if you are a Clay Monster fan. there is just no way he can make any headway in indian wells and in miami. the game has suffered heavy casualties and the price is being paid. i think its pretty much academic now that he will drop to #3 this year and probably out of top 5 next year. he will win the French Open but this dropped level of play in these 3 key areas is going to cost him a little on clay as well. for instance, he could lose in Monte Carlo and Barcelona before he makes his last stand in Rome and at Roland Garros.

believe it folks. the guy is falling apart before our very eyes.

 

[adee-gee]

Agreed.

You can add in forehand which isn't a patch on 2005/6 and backhand which has gone horribly wrong since the middle of 2007 after an initial improvement.

 

[rofe]

The most noticeable problem (to me anyway) is his movement. Like Fed, he relies a lot on movement to set up his shots and he has been a tad slower lately.

 

[Fee]

this needed a new thread? you couldn't just bump this one and add it on? http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=118845

 

[elessar]

This is ridiculous look at Nadal's serve speed in 2005, the guy barely served faster than 110 mph... As for his return of serve, it may not improve much but it certainly wasn't better 2 years ago

As for the part about the clay season... as long as he's not injured he's gonna dominate it again

 

[Clay Death]

Agreed.

You can add in forehand which isn't a patch on 2005/6 and backhand which has gone horribly wrong since the middle of 2007 after an initial improvement.

that is just a function of those 3 factors. if you are always on the defensive and under pressure, you wont be very consistent.

this is just flat tragic. i thought it was impossible for somebody that young to not improve. look at djokovic or just about any damn body for that matter.

 

[Byrd]

Nadal's return of serve being one of the best in the world is a myth, its always been shit against the big servers, his majority of high retrieving percentages come from the clay season which is obvious for so many reasons.

 

[elessar]

this needed a new thread? you couldn't just bump this one and add it on? http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=118845

I bumped half a dozen of threads, two days ago, that dealt with the exact same topic that Clay Death had been using to spam GM.
Perhaps it would be a good idead to give him a few weeks ban so he can learn to use the search function

 

[Clay Death]

Nadal's return of serve being one of the best in the world is a myth, its always been shit against the big servers, his majority of high retrieving percentages come from the clay season which is obvious for so many reasons.

that return of serve is also heavily based on his wheels which are less than optimal for him these days.

i just done see how some of this does not translate into some problems on clay.

what is killing him the most is his declined fitness and his less than optimal movement. usually he can just fight tooth and nail to get through many of his matches. i dont see that fight anymore.

 

[maxxo]

his return of serve is hillarious

 

[Skyward]

he will win the French Open

That should be enough to make his fans happy.

 

[Jaap]

No coincidence that his decline in form has come since Dr Fuentes was put out of his action. His arms for example look smaller than they did last year.

 

[scoobs]

He's becoming a bit of a paper tiger, is Rafa.

grunting loudly when you hit the ball is no substitute for making the return land beyond the service line, and the occasional Vamos is no substitute for accuracy and speed that seems to have gradually dissipated away over the last couple of years. Fight, determination, and the unwillingness to lose can take you pretty far but in the end, and increasingly, they are no substitute for a game that works.

 

[adee-gee]

He's becoming a bit of a paper tiger, is Rafa.

grunting loudly when you hit the ball is no substitute for making the return land beyond the service line, and the occasional Vamos is no substitute for accuracy and speed that seems to have gradually dissipated away over the last couple of years. Fight, determination, and the unwillingness to lose can take you pretty far but in the end, and increasingly, they are no substitute for a game that works.

He doesn't even grunt properly anymore certainly not as convincingly as he did in his prime

 

[Roland9]

he will win the French Open

I think the points you laid out contradict this.

 

[Clay Death]

That should be enough to make his fans happy.

right. there will be some casualties on clay as well because of this overall decline in his game but he will die before he gives up his turf at Roland Garros.

i just dont see him running the tables on clay circuit as he has done in the past. the biggest problem he is facing is dropped fitness and movement.

 

[morningglory]

Well, well... maybe Fed can win RG this year... (or someone Gaudio-ish would take it)

 

[Clay Death]

Well, well... maybe Fed can win RG this year... (or someone Gaudio-ish would take it)

i think nadal is good for a slam and will win at roland garros but he will dominate the clay circuit like he has for the last 3 years.

 

[scarecrows]

he wont dominate clay again like the past years, he'll win RG and a Masters but not more

 

[CyBorg]

Nadal is a better player now than he was in 2005. There is a number of factors which are confusing people. First of all, Nadal isn't playing as many smaller events, which is why he goes through long stretches without winning anything. If he was in South Africa now everyone would be praising him as a deity.

Another factor is the competitiveness of hardcourt tennis. Quite simply, the opponents Rafa is facing on hard are better.

That famed 2005 Montreal victory had these wins for Nadal:

- Mello
- Grosjean
- Puerta
- Mathieu
- Agassi

So, a bunch of question marks and an aging Agassi. Today Nadal fell to Roddick, who frankly played awesome tennis.

You want to look at Madrid? Okay here we go:

- Hanescu
- Robredo
- Stepanek
- Ginepri
- Ljubicic

That's right. No one at the level of Federer or Djokovic or Roddick or even Davydenko or Ferrer here.

Let's face it Nadal did great in 2005 partly because he faced highly winnable draws on hardcourts and played the South American tour.