[Nadalgoat 2]

first No draws are easy these are all pro players at the end of the day people need to stop dismissing top 200 players in the world they are all at least Ok players. [RD 1- Lajovic career high rank 23#, masters final 2019] [RD2- T.Daniel career high rank 64# beats Djokovic 2018 season] [RD3- L. Mayer career high rank 21#, two 500 series titles has match points vs. Federer 2014] [RD-4 A.Dolgopolov career high rank 13# QTR finals AO 11, 4th RD USO two wins over Nadal] [QTR final- Rublev ranking right now 8# 3 major QTR finals, win over Federer 5 titles in a single season] [semi final- del potro career high 3# us open champion 09, 22 titles lots of wins against 3 ] [final- K.Anderson career high rank 5# two grand slam finals]. its clear trying make this out to be a easy draw just on average rank is a bit silly honestly that do you guys think.

 

[yellow grass]

Let's just say that Nadal knows how to take advantage of weak draws at the USO. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I wish Federer could consistently do that.

 

[Ilkae]

A 'career achievements' argument is (mostly) unconvincing, as is listing peak achievements on different surfaces/circumstances. You need to more so consider a player's abilities and form at that time and on that kind of surface. With career achievements, in some cases you can have a point if you e.g. have a player who seems to be (and what is confirmed in hindsight) trending upwards. Then there may have been hidden potential there, yet unseen in previous results. But e.g. Rublev at that point... he was no real threat; too rough and early in his development. Anderson was also on an upward trajectory and proved himself with another GS F appearance (and career best year) next year. I think he was ok (not extraordinary). Many top names were missing. Nadal's path here overall remains on the weaker side. Like @yellow grass, I don't however hold it against him (or any other player in a similar spot). You need to seize the opportunities that present themselves. But the latter half of 2017 and first half of 2018 still remains a period where several top players were injured/recuperating. Sock's MS1000 W encapsulates that period (all credit to him as well though).

 

[Juno Reactor]

2017 draw was definitely weak, extremely weak for a slam title, no if and but however I disagree with those saying 2010 (Simon,Lopez, Verdasco, Youzhny, Djokovic) and 2019 (Cilic, Schwartzman, Berrettini, Medvedev) were weak, IMO they were not the strongest draws ever but they were solid draws.

 

[DinnerWarrior]

That's not how it works, silly OP. None of Nadal's opponents played appreciably well except del Potro for one set, which he won. Nadal probably played well enough for the rest of the del Potro match to validate his title anyway, but tough to say since Delpo was still slow and all other opponents since 4R just sucked balls.

 

[Snowwy]

I'm not going to look at the draw even, but this thread is a good reason to not judge a draw of previous results the minute the slam finishes. If you want to judge it on level of play like DinnerWarrior is suggestiing, then sure. But to say a draw was easy because players had previously not accomplished much really just says that the draw had young players usually.

 

[Marcos555]

You now say there's no weak draw, but weren't you also saying that Fed won his Slams in a weak era ? You need to pick a narative and stick to it dear.
Sometimes, you just need to take advantage of a weak draw in order to win a Slam, something Djokovic himself failed to do multiple times at USO.

 

[Bella&Mirka]

Nadal tards quite triggered by this accusation, not surprising really. A clay courter lucking out in the US Open could only happen in a weak era to be fair.

 

[BodyServe]

On this draw i would say only Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi is pretty tough. Kevin Anderson, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Andrey Rublev (who was very very green) were probably just happy to be there.

First 3 rounds were not the biggest cakewalk, i would say just tough enough to get up to speed for the rest of the tournament. Overall, i am sure there has been far easier draws but this was fairly easy.

 

[Martin12]

I'm not going to look at the draw even, but this thread is a good reason to not judge a draw of previous results the minute the slam finishes. If you want to judge it on level of play like DinnerWarrior is suggestiing, then sure. But to say a draw was easy because players had previously not accomplished much really just says that the draw had young players usually.

There was only one single young player in Nadal's draw. That was Rublev, and while he has strongly improved since then, at that point he had exactly one single top 10 win in his bag and he did not get another one until two years later. That can hardly be qualified as a strong opponent for a slam QF.

 

[Martin12]

On this draw i would say only Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi is pretty tough. Kevin Anderson, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Andrey Rublev (who was very very green) were probably just happy to be there.

First 3 rounds were not the biggest cakewalk, i would say just tough enough to get up to speed for the rest of the tournament. Overall, i am sure there has been far easier draws but this was fairly easy.

For example? You might find some similarly easy ones, but far easier?

 

[Anti Antitennis]

The tournament was horribly weak overall, so it's not really as much about the draw as it is about how his opponents played and the fact that it is Nadal who capitalized on it as well as in 2019. I remember thinking the Dolgopolov match might be a cracker but it ended up being a massive letdown on Dolgopolov's part. Mayer gave him a good match in R3, had chances to do more there but didn't take them. Rublev was also poor but that was totally expected - see WTF 2020, there too he had no shot due to the limitations in his game which were far more pronounced in 2017 than today. Del Potro didn't have the energy to hang with Nadal for the whole match, while Anderson didn't play that poorly in the final but was just mentally far too weak to do anything - unlike Wimbledon 2018 where he was just toast but did great before that mentally as well.

 

[BodyServe]

For example? You might find some similarly easy ones, but far easier?

I thought i was going to find more but there is Roger Federer AO 2018 and 2006 looks easier, Novak Djokovic USO 2018 looks somewhat similar. Rafael Nadal FO 2010 was pretty weak considering it was the underperforming Robin Soderling in a slam final.

I found quite a few very weak draws like Rafael Nadal AO 2019 where up to the final it was a walk in the park.

 

[Martin12]

I thought i was going to find more but there is Roger Federer AO 2018 and 2006 looks easier, Novak Djokovic USO 2018 looks somewhat similar. Rafael Nadal FO 2010 was pretty weak considering it was the underperforming Robin Soderling in a slam final.

I found quite a few very weak draws like Rafael Nadal AO 2019 where up to the final it was a walk in the park.

I don't think any of the draws you mentioned were far weaker than Nadal's at USO 2017.
AO06: Tommy Haas was in great form early 2006. He was 20-5 in Jan-Apr with 3 of the 5 losses against Federer. We don't need to discuss about Davydenko at all. Kiefer was a strong player as well. I'd give you that Baghdatis was a comparably weak final opponent, but not more so than Anderson. He had a great 2006 season rising from 55 in Jan to 8 in August.
RG10: Mina-Zeballos-Hewitt-Bellucci-Almagro-Melzer-Söderling. I don't think that's even up to discussion. Probably not even Nadal's weakest RG draw.
AO18 and USO18, I agree were similarly weak, but definitly not by far weaker.

 

[Gugavenus]

Nadal tards quite triggered by this accusation, not surprising really. A clay courter lucking out in the US Open could only happen in a weak era to be fair.

Yes, it is so weak an era that Federer hasn't won there in ten years.

 

[BodyServe]

I don't think any of the draws you mentioned were far weaker than Nadal's at USO 2017.
AO06: Tommy Haas was in great form early 2006. He was 20-5 in Jan-Apr with 3 of the 5 losses against Federer. We don't need to discuss about Davydenko at all. Kiefer was a strong player as well. I'd give you that Baghdatis was a comparably weak final opponent, but not more so than Anderson. He had a great 2006 season rising from 55 in Jan to 8 in August.
RG10: Mina-Zeballos-Hewitt-Bellucci-Almagro-Melzer-Söderling. I don't think that's even up to discussion. Probably not even Nadal's weakest RG draw.
AO18 and USO18, I agree were similarly weak, but definitly not by far weaker.

I think at AO 2006, Roger Federer was far from his best, still recovering from his ankle from last season. I think that tell us about his draw and how his opponents performed. Really, i think this tournament was David Nalbandian best opportunity to grab a slam but he messed it up royally in the semi-final.. In the end i agree that was not necessarily weaker than USO 2017.

 

[Idemo]

Novak behind Nadal in USO titles can only be explained by Nadal’s easy draws, no matter how u twist it. Period.

 

[Lukasgigler]

Yes, it is so weak an era that Federer hasn't won there in ten years.

The loss to millman in 2018 was the most inexcusable defeat of his career. At least stakhovsky had weapons and a really good serving day Also federer was out of form and also carrying a back injury. But Millman? Losing to this talentless weaponless shitty mug of a player, who hasnt done anything of note before or since? That was just horrible. If I were federer I’d have called it a career in the post match Pc

 

[Nadalgoat 2]

You now say there's no weak draw, but weren't you also saying that Fed won his Slams in a weak era ? You need to pick a narative and stick to it dear.
Sometimes, you just need to take advantage of a weak draw in order to win a Slam, something Djokovic himself failed to do multiple times at USO.

No I said W-Era the W could mean anything Also same draws are harder than others but none 100% weak there's a difference.

 

[Gugavenus]

Novak behind Nadal in USO titles can only be explained by Nadal’s easy draws, no matter how u twist it. Period.

Or, I don't know, Nadal leading him 2-1 in US Open finals.