In a column for El Pais, Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni admitted that facing Dominic Thiem was better than facing Novak Djokovic in the French Open final. The Austrian defeated the Serb 7-5 in the fifth set on Saturday. Nadal' coach Francis Roig also admitted that facing Thiem was better.
"Let's not fool ourselves. The Novak Djokovic's loss in this year's French Open to Dominic Thiem made us a bit happy", wrote Toni. "And not because the Austrian's tennis gives less fear than the Serb's, but because a loss to Novak would have been more painful for Rafael.
I think the reasons are clear. Novak makes Rafa struggle. On the other side, it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him.
Rafa defeated Djokovic 60 46 61 at Rome.
Djokovic was physically worn-out more at Roland Garros, so Rafa would have beaten Djokovic 60 64 60 if they met in the Roland Garros Final.
But I agree with Toni, a loss to Novak would have been more painful for Rafa.
Rafa defeated Djokovic 60 46 61 at Rome.
Djokovic was physically worn-out more at Roland Garros, so Rafa would have beaten Djokovic 60 64 60 if they met in the Roland Garros Final.
But I agree with Toni, a loss to Novak would have been more painful for Rafa.
And I must say, nothing can be gained from beating Djokovic at Roland Garros, as we've done it 6 times before.
Whereas everything can be gained by beating Thiem in the Roland Garros Final, because after Rafa retires and Thiem becomes the regular Roland Garros champion, there will always be a footnote saying "Before becoming the new King Of Clay, Thiem lost to Nadal at Roland Garros for 5 years in a row from 2017 to 2021 (and also 2014)."
And I must say, nothing can be gained from beating Djokovic at Roland Garros, as we've done it 6 times before.
Whereas everything can be gained by beating Thiem in the Roland Garros Final, because after Rafa retires and Thiem becomes the regular Roland Garros champion, there will always be a footnote saying "Before becoming the new King Of Clay, Thiem lost to Nadal at Roland Garros for 5 years in a row from 2017 to 2021 (and also 2014)."
Also Rome is a lot harder for Rafa to win than Roland Garros, because its best-of-3-sets, and players are not as intimidated by Rafa in best-of-3-sets.
Djokovic already found Rafa too much at Rome and it led to the first ever bagel of their rivalry, so Roland Garros would have been even more lopsided.
Djokovic was doing silly net-charging in the Thiem match, because either Djokovic was too tired to play rallies or Djokovic wanted to lose to avoid facing Rafa.
You can't net-charge vs. Thiem unless you have Thiem on the run as Rafa did.
You should be happy that Nadal has gone as far as he has, that he faced a tired Thiem who lacked belief and that Novak was not there to crush Nadal's mind.
Let's not fool ourselves. The Novak Djokovic's loss in this year's French Open to Dominic Thiem made us a bit happy... a loss to Novak would have been more painful for Rafael.
This turned out better for Djokovic too. When he faces Nadal again (likely some time this year), hopefully he'll be well-rested and ready to rock 'n' roll.
Djokovic defeated Rafa more times than any other player, so, logically, Rafa's chances against Djokovic will be less than against any other player. It does not mean Rafa cannot defeat Djokovic at Roland Garros or at any other tournament. The best of Rafa can beat Djokovic or Federer or any other player, anywhere.
Would you work harder to win a title or would you prefer to work less hard to win the same title? Given the choice, would you prefer to work harder or work less hard to get paid the same amount of $100?
Rafa has said the same thing before what Uncle Toni is saying here. There isn't anything to see here.
Rafael Nadal: I prefer to face another player rather than Novak Djokovic
Being honest, it's better to not play him. He's one of the best players of history, no doubt about it, no.
I am not this kind of stupid guys that says, No, I want to play. No, no.
When I have to play, I play and I gonna try my best to win as I did all my career. But, of course, you prefer easier opponents than a great player like Novak.
But, of course, on the other hand, when you play some matches like I played against him in our career, you are happy to be part of that kind of matches and you appreciate it a lot.
Expected. The dark lord exactly knows what it was needed for Nadal to win the French Open. Which was not meeting Djokovic.
As we all know now, Nadal was in a mental down at the begin of the clay season, questioning the sense of it all. Is it really worth all the struggle to fight another injury?
Luckily for Tio Toni, Nadal is his tool since early on. He broke his will as a child, and created the perfect tennis monster who does what he pleases. So Toni just said to Nadal "all you have to do is to win Rome and the French Open, and everything is fine", and of course Nadal obeyed. It was no accident that Toni was present at the French Open. He will never let go of Nadal. He owns him 100 %.
Toni is the true evil mastermind behind it all. I've more and more got the feeling Nadal is tired of it all. But Toni will push him till he breaks, he wants Federers record badly. Such a sad story.
When he faced Nadal in those semis, except 2013 he was not the great player he's been since the fall of 2010.
That might sound like an excuse, but it isn't. It just has a history between the 2 players that Nadal is always getting the upper hand whenever Djokovic feels underwhelmed and it quite happened a few times at RG, in most opportune moments (getting outlasted both in 2012 and 2013 in certain phases of those finals).
Im my book Djokovic was better and played better all year long. But when it´s time for French Open and Nadal is there it just doesn´t matter.
And I really think it could have been just 50-50 this time around. Being fresher does not make any matchup advantage disappear, doesn't it?
Federer turning around a bit the H2H vs Nadal was a different story, switching to a bigger racket and improving his BH tremendously (compared to the trainwreck shot it became by 2013) played a huge part in it.
Nadal improved his BH too, compared to 2013/14, but the rivalry vs Novak triggers not just technical aspects; mainly mental and physical ones have played the lion's share in this story since 2014.[/QUOTE]
Yes Nadal is not the same. Players have to reinvent themselves over time.
But had Djokovic beat Thiem and lost to Nadal, the same arguments would be said. Those raindelays.
And while it+s true the outcome woudn´t have mattered.
Same apllies to Rome19.
You have your opinion and i respect that. But it´s all hearsay now.
The fact is Djokovic has had 6 times to beat Nadal and only did that time in which he wasn´t winning anything and loosing to lesser players.
I think it is a no-brainer that Toni and Rafa Nadal were happy to meet Thiem instead of the Djoker.
No player has crashed and crushed Nadal's dreams and ambitions so forcefully as the Djoker.
- Beating Nadal 7 times in a row
- Beating Nadal in 3 consecutive GS finals
- Beating Nadal 28 times
- Beating Nadal easily in straight sets on hard courts again and again in important finals
- Humiliating Nadal publicly recently in the AO final on the biggest stage with millions of tennis fans watching, basically totally outplaying Nadal
No wonder the Djoker is in the Nadal family's head and the want to avoid him at all cost.
Player would rather face opponent he has a good record against than opponent who dominates him in match-ups. Wow, shocker, who'd have thought? In other news, Federer would rather face Goffin in a slam final than Nadal, also shocking.
lmao did Uncle Toni just imply that Nadal wouldn't want to lose to Djokovic because the Serb and his families are bad people? Bloody brilliant from Toni :lol:
El Padrino has spoken and he's right as always. Obviously a loss to Djokovic at last RG would have been disastrous to Nadal (much worse than a loss to Thiem). This would have meant GS losses to his main rival on all surfaces in less than a year and Nadal would have found himself in Federer's post AO 2009 situation. Still, it's irrelevant now as Nadal won the RG pretty comfortably. Maybe it's another aspect of psy-war by Don Nadal.
Tio Toni is the master of actions behind the scenes but Pepe is a rare example of open secret in El Padrino's activity (probably an intentional information leakage).
Toni once again reminding everyone of his fear of Novadull. Nothing new here. Looking like a scared chicken to me. Not sure the always injured persen would approve his comments this time. :lol:
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