When will Nadal win his next title off clay?

Poll.

I'm going to plump for this Wimbledon. I thought Rafa was even more of a favourite than usual at the French this year and I reckon he'll take his confidence and winning streak into SW19.
Last year at Wimbledon Rafa had to cope with the Djoko mental block. Yes, I know he's only beaten Djoko ON CLAY this year, but he seems to be over the mind games he put himself through in 2011 against the Serb.
Another reason to go with Nadal is that the other big three are having some mixed results. Fed has had a good year, all told, but struggled a bit at the French, while Nole is off his 2011 best and Murray has been far from convincing.
As for outsiders, in the last two years Berdych and JWT have upset the "big four" semi routine at SW19 and can't be discounted. But it would be a surprise if either made the final this time.
Don't know if anyone has anything to say about how the Wimby courts will play if it stays chilly and rainy. A low bounce would probably not help Rafa much but I seem to remember he did fairly well in 07 and 08 which were poor-weather Wimbledons, so he should be all right.
And if Rafa does not win it? I'd put Djoko second favourite.

I voted Nadal will not win a title off clay in 2012

You said he wouldn´t win a title on clay in 2012.
I think you need some windscreen wipers for your crystal ball jersey it must be all that rain

I'm picking him for the Olympics and hopefully i'll have jinxed him *looks up to the skies*

No good looking up their JM... aint nobody up there gonna stop him

Just noticed that Ferrer has a title on hc and a title on grass this year. While Nadal has zero titles on hc and grass this year. Interesting.

Maybe had Rafa entered the tournaments that Daveeed had he may have won both : even more intereting

Ferrer entered the Unicef Open and just won a title on grass.

Nadal entered Halle and lost on grass.

Says it all.

No it says nothing... Federer lost Halle when it had been his for years... Frankly it means Bu@@ar all. Hewitt won it last year what has he done since ??? Cilic has one Queens but Ill put money he goes nowhere at Wimbledon. Lets see how far Haas goes at Wimbledon.

Spot on, H-n, the grass warm-ups tell us absolutely zilch.

(it was actually 2010 that Hewitt won Halle, but you're right he's done nothing since, not even a sniff of an SF anywhere in the past couple of years. He's been sidelined much of the time of course but I suspect not long before he calls time on his career anyway ....)

Nadal went to Halle for the $1.2m fee straight after winning FO. Played a little grass tennis, didnt push himself then went home to chill and fish.

Come Monday morning the real Nadal will show up on grass and Ferrer will as usual win a couple of rounds then get beat. His best showing at SW19 is 4th round. Now daltond...that says it all.

Yes and I think little Daveed would take on the world and his wife on an ice rink at the moment... he is building up his ranking points he would love to break into the top 4 before he gets too old bless him.... move over Andy ?????

Don't really see that happening Haddie but I don't fault his ambition!

As far as Ferrer getting into the top 4. In the race he is already there. His win this weekend will secure his position further with an extra 250 points. He has now got 3570 points. Still quite a bit behind Federer with 5105 pts points but now clear of Berdych (2665 pts), Murray (2610 pts) and Del Potro (2555 pts).

http://live-tennis.eu/race

Of course there are a lot of points to be played for in the coming weeks so things can change quickly. Admittedly Ferrer has never done well at Wimbledon but he has reached the US Open semi's and the final of the Masters Cup. He is the sort of player who is capable of mopping up points in the end of year tournaments were those that have done well during the summer often run out of steam.

lydian wrote:Don't really see that happening Haddie but I don't fault his ambition!

No may be your right lydian.. but poor Andy has such a grim draw this Wimbers anything can happen.

Last year he only won titles on clay. Three of them.

This year he has won 4 titles on clay.

If he does not win any grass or hc titles this year it would be 2 years in a row without any titles on hc and grass.

Even when he was 19(Montreal, China, Madrid), 20(Dubai) and 21(Indian Wells) he was winning at least a title off clay every year.

Im sure he wont sleep tonight daltond... last year was last year... even a week can be a long time in tennis

Look at his titles off clay

2005 Montreal, China, Madrid
2006 Dubai
2007 Indian Wells
2008 Queen's Wimbledon Toronto Olympics
2009 AO Indian Wells
2010 Wimbledon USO Tokyo
2011 nothing off clay
2012 so far nothing off clay

So big deal what do you want me to say.. .. 2011 was a bad year for Rafa everyone knows that we also know thatHC is not his favourite surface.. but its not like ha hasn´t won 2 HC GS and the Olympics won Queens and been a finalist at Wimbledon 3 times and won Wimbledon twice.. Come back and sound your alarm bells after Wimbledon and the Olympics...OK. In the meantime Im still enjoying his 7th GS at RG... ok ??? Vamos Rafa

Well the majority of tennis experts on 606v2 who have voted in the poll think that Nadal will win his next title off clay in 15 days...

Yes HE as long as he does not get "the curse of the kinees" then I think he will

Wimbledon is definitely Rafa's best chance. It represents not only his best slam away from RG but also represents his best win % at any tournament off clay. It does go to show how much effort he put in to winning it in the first place.

If it isn't Wimbledon, probably the Olympics, but realistically, after that, it's tough to see winning any other titles this year. He'll put in a strong challenge @ the USO, but winning it might be tough given he may have to contend with Djokovic. I am interested to see if he defends the Olympics title successfully, because I have stated that off clay, Nadal's record of defending titles is woeful as well his record post Wimbledon. However, I don't want to focus on that, because he can't be faulted for focusing on the season upto Wimbledon: it's the most important part.

I agree with regard to USO Lman never been a good time of year for Rafa and he did poorly there after winning the Olympics on the last occasion. If Im honest I think that GS will be the least obtainable for Rafa again.. but hey we are talking Nadal.. I do have hopes for him at Wimbledon but I think there will be more than a strog challenge for the Olympic Gold.. however Rafa notably performs well when he is playing for his country so I wouldn´t rule him out of that either

Haddie-nuff wrote:I agree with regard to USO Lman never been a good time of year for Rafa and he did poorly there after winning the Olympics on the last occasion. If Im honest I think that GS will be the least obtainable for Rafa again.. but hey we are talking Nadal.. I do have hopes for him at Wimbledon but I think there will be more than a strog challenge for the Olympic Gold.. however Rafa notably performs well when he is playing for his country so I wouldn´t rule him out of that either

Interesting Haddie. Do you think the format of BO3 makes things tricky for Rafa?

Last time when he won the Olympics he was coming off an enormous high of beating his biggest rival at the time which probably helped him more.

Do you (or anyone) know if the final will be BO3 or BO5?

Sorry cant help you there lman
Your right he did come from an enormous high and I think the jet lag as well as physical and emotional tiredness wiped him out.. But yes the format does I believe make it tricky for him and I
believe that the USO is the hardest of all for Rafa.. Im glad he won it and made his career GS but I think Nole has the best chance of that one again this year... saying that I think also we may well see Raonic live up to some of this hype that he is getting at the moment. That may well be his venue to show us what he is made of me thinks .. unless Delpo wants another stab

The correct answer is never again.

daltond wrote:Look at his titles off clay

2005 Montreal, China, Madrid
2006 Dubai
2007 Indian Wells
2008 Queen's Wimbledon Toronto Olympics
2009 AO Indian Wells
2010 Wimbledon USO Tokyo
2011 nothing off clay
2012 so far nothing off clay

How many players in history would have given their eye teeth for career resume like that without any wins on clay?

Doesn't seem in 2012.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:I'm picking him for the Olympics and hopefully i'll have jinxed him *looks up to the skies*

I dont mind him winning USO but certainly not Olympics, this year Olympics is for Federer, he deserves one and gonna get it this year.

Well it is now a very pertinent question if i am not mistaken his last tournament off of the clay was 2010 US open. Nadal has had a lengthy slump off of the clay now. In the last 12 or 18 months nadal has been the third best player on faster surfaces.