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Godal finally not being a PRbot :worship:
Nadal: I’m not a hypocrite, I would have definitely preferred if Thiem won the AO instead of Djokovic
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Godal finally not being a PRbot :worship:
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I would've been surprised if he didn’t want Thiem to win.
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You also know that if Rogie had beaten Djokovic in the 2020 AO SF, that both Rafa and Djokovic would be rooting for Thiem to beat Rogie!!
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That’s a surprisingly honest admission. Not just rooting against his rival, which we don’t here often from these PRbots, but also looking behind him when there’s still a guy ahead to catch up with. I like it, I wish Fed would say the same instead of his « love of the game » bs.
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Rafa has always been an honest professional and can only have the outmost respect from me. Both on and off the court. On the other hand Federer is the exact opposite, with his latest for example quote of being happy with both Rafa and Nole passing him in the GS count, really then why are you still playing?
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Of course. Of course. If Thiem had won AO, Rafa would have kept his No.1 ranking, extended his number of weeks at No.1., and maintained a 3-slam (instead of 2-slam, as it stands now) differential between himself and Djokovic.
How would he not have preferred Thiem to win AO?
The best course of action for Rafa would have been he himself finishing the job by beating (Thiem, Zverev, and) Djokovic, which would have given him a 4-slam differential along with retaining No.1 ranking and extending his number of weeks at No.1. Can't rely on others when you can finish the job by yourself.
How would he not have preferred Thiem to win AO?
The best course of action for Rafa would have been he himself finishing the job by beating (Thiem, Zverev, and) Djokovic, which would have given him a 4-slam differential along with retaining No.1 ranking and extending his number of weeks at No.1. Can't rely on others when you can finish the job by yourself.
But, Thiem won only 1 set (and lost 12 sets) in 4 matches played against Rafa at Roland Garros.
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Of course. Thiem is probably beating him in RG this year. To lose to Djokovic and being bigger threat on RG is bad news for Nadal.
As hinted by several posters, the surprising thing is not that Nadal would have preferred Thiem to win, but that he admits it openly. Maybe it is as simple and logical as it seems, Novak is a bigger rival when it comes to tennis history, and therefore Nadal supports any opponent he might have in a big final, with the possible exception of Roger, of course. Maybe some Spanish speaking MTF-member can check out the original article, to give some context to the quote?
I became too curious, so I checked out the original article using google translate. Here is the question that lead to the twitter message by Jose Morgado, and the answer from Rafa:
Journalist: As seen in Australia, the 'Next Gen' continues to challenge, but the 'Big 3' (the big three: the Swiss Roger Federer, the Serbian Novak Djokovic and him) resists. Do you identify with the idea of 'Big 3' or do you care, with tennis being an individual sport? Or would you have preferred a victory in Australia of (Austrian Dominik) Thiem, to keep the world number one?
Rafa: Obviously, yes (I would have preferred Thiem's victory). You don't have to be a hypocrite, right? It would have been better for me personally if Thiem won. But, to be honest, I slept exactly as well as the last two days. In that regard, it doesn't matter if Dominik had won or if Novak (Djokovic) won. It is part of our sport. This tournament is particularly good for Novak. And right now he is today, the best player in the world. This is what the numbers say. And the only thing that can be done is to congratulate him on another great success.
Thus we see that Rafa's reply was specifically motivated by the fight for the number one spot, but it is not hard to imagine that the slam race might be even more important.
Journalist: As seen in Australia, the 'Next Gen' continues to challenge, but the 'Big 3' (the big three: the Swiss Roger Federer, the Serbian Novak Djokovic and him) resists. Do you identify with the idea of 'Big 3' or do you care, with tennis being an individual sport? Or would you have preferred a victory in Australia of (Austrian Dominik) Thiem, to keep the world number one?
Rafa: Obviously, yes (I would have preferred Thiem's victory). You don't have to be a hypocrite, right? It would have been better for me personally if Thiem won. But, to be honest, I slept exactly as well as the last two days. In that regard, it doesn't matter if Dominik had won or if Novak (Djokovic) won. It is part of our sport. This tournament is particularly good for Novak. And right now he is today, the best player in the world. This is what the numbers say. And the only thing that can be done is to congratulate him on another great success.
Thus we see that Rafa's reply was specifically motivated by the fight for the number one spot, but it is not hard to imagine that the slam race might be even more important.
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Nadal speaks truth when tio Toni is not around.
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Thanks @Henrik for looking into this in more detail, that clarifies a lot.
So Rafa's response had as such nothing to do with him being better pals with Domi than with Nole or anything like that (in case anyone even had that in mind), he just clearly admitted that he would have, quite naturally, preferred to retain the #1 spot. No reference to the slam count was made either. Yet, of course we don't know what all went through Rafa's head when thinking about his reaction.
Had Rafa actually said anything else than what he did (after having being asked about it in that sort of a pretty detailed manner), his response would have sounded pretty strange, tbh.
So Rafa's response had as such nothing to do with him being better pals with Domi than with Nole or anything like that (in case anyone even had that in mind), he just clearly admitted that he would have, quite naturally, preferred to retain the #1 spot. No reference to the slam count was made either. Yet, of course we don't know what all went through Rafa's head when thinking about his reaction.
Had Rafa actually said anything else than what he did (after having being asked about it in that sort of a pretty detailed manner), his response would have sounded pretty strange, tbh.
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Just ask him why, and all will be explained. Even Dull is in ruins
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Ah I had completely forgotten about the #1 thing, obsessed as I am with the slam race!! Of course the admission is much less surprising in that context.
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Actually in the Spanish original I don't see the specific motivation, certainly not the n.1 spot. He only says "to me personally a Thiem victory would've suited more", no reasons whatsoever mentioned. Of course they're obvious.
Other things he says:
"Thiem isn't NextGen, he's 26."
"Im aware the time for me to have a 'normal' life again is coming closer. I will try to enjoy for as long as possible these wonderful experiences and moments tennis gives me."
"Olympics are the world's most important sport event. I hope to be there."
"This is gonna be a demanding season for me, I had almost no rest between 2019 and 2020. I'll have to be very careful planning my efforts, my calendar and in all the decisions I'll have to make."
Asked to highlight some career victories he says: "First Davis Cup in Seville vs. USA, First RG in 2005, my first slam. Then, for various reasons, W08 was a key point in my career . AO09 was a bit unexpected, I would say, because how it came, it was very exciting. USO13 was very special as I was back from a very serious knee injury that kept me seven months out in 2012."
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Of course he would. But since it's an unpopular opinion he won't admit it openly. I also bet Djokovic and Federer would trade too.
On a different note: do you guys think Nadal will play Rio or he'll withdraw? The 2020 calendar looks packed indeed.
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