I was not ready to compete last year at Wimbledon

"Grass always was a little bit harder for me after the injury. Last year I tried, but I was not ready to compete at Wimbledon."

Sorry but if you "weren't ready to compete" wouldn't you have lost say, 6-1 6-0 6-2?

Actually he lost to Darcis by 7-6 7-6 6-4, that is pretty competitive no?

I'm sure he'll get a weaponless few no marks in the first 2 rounds to ease him in. If he does lose early again, he will say the same thing a year on that he wasn't ready or had an injury.

Top player who always brings up excuses i'm afraid.

More likely he means compete for the title than in any given match, I assume that's what he was aiming for

Yeah, he meant 'compete for the title'. Although his knees appear in better shape, still think the grass will hamper him. He's also got a back issue this year, so the excuses might be coming JM.

If its consolation to you given recent results not going as you predicted he's probably not ready this year either I'm not sure he can do the double anymore

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Sorry but if you "weren't ready to compete" wouldn't you have lost say, 6-1 6-0 6-2?

Actually he lost to Darcis by 7-6 7-6 6-4, that is pretty competitive no?

I'm sure he'll get a weaponless few no marks in the first 2 rounds to ease him in. If he does lose early again, he will say the same thing a year on that he wasn't ready or had an injury.

Top player who always brings up excuses i'm afraid.

Wow. A tad bitter, no?? You'd think Nadal had denied your personal quest for a title, instead of Djokovic. 

Let us see if Nadal does play at Halle. The Halle website still has no updates vis-a-vis Nadal.
It should help him get ready, JM.

Is he due to play tomorrow or Wednesday?

Wednesday.

Interesting

I really hope nadal can make second week
wimbledon is a great atmosphere and last two years nadal hasnt been part of it

for nadal losing in first or second round is not being competitive, no matter how one competed in those matches

naxroy wrote:I really hope nadal can make second week
wimbledon is a great atmosphere and last two years nadal hasnt been part of it

for nadal losing in first or second round is not being competitive, no matter how one competed in those matches

Thats only for Nadal fans and not in general in my Direct View.

Nadal losing in 1st or 2nd round means somebody has played out of skin to send him out early, which is actually a good news that a challenger rose to the task, I would rather be worried and bored of Wimbledon if Nadal gets a paper draw like in French Open and makes the final to win it.

In French Open it doesn't matter whether Nadal get paper draw or a tough draw coz he is most likely to win [title] anyways but the same can't be said in Wimbledon, Andy would be a complete different player in QF if he gets him, you can count Federer in, you can count Djoko to make more impact against Rafa in grass eventhough he himself is not a great grass courter, outside the three there are other big hitters like Gulbis, Raonic, Tsonga, Berdych and many dark horses.

@ The thread

Nadal's team never felt he is defeatable when he is 100% fit, it never has happened and never will happen according to them.

Which ever version of Nadal would have turned on 2012, the Lucus Rosol of that day would have beaten him, if not for Rosol's mid game panic and experience it should have been a straight set affair, but Nadal's team then declared he wasn't at the best of his shape. Saying all these I won't be surprised if Nadal went on to win the Wimbledon either. I would still have him as 2nd favorite to win the title after Murray and an equal favorite with Djoko and given a spineless draw like French Open we could easily see him doing a double.

I dont think I understood a word of all that

Basically Nadal pretended to be injured for months and skipped an Olympics and 2 slams in order to give credence to why he lost to Rosol

naxroy wrote:I dont think I understood a word of all that

If you haven't even understood a word then nothing can be done really.   

ChequeredJersey wrote:Basically Nadal pretended to be injured for months and skipped an Olympics and 2 slams in order to give credence to why he lost to Rosol

So an excuse.

Too many words to say it though  

W 2006 v Kendrick,
W 2007 v Soderling and Youzhny,
W 2008 v Gulbis,
W 2010 v Haase, Petzschner, Soderling
W 2011 v Del Potro, Fish, Murray

Most of the years, the first week is always tough for Nadal.

But all players give excuses. Same in all sports.

The ones who say that i was completely outplayed today get my admiration.

Didn't Nadal actually say that Rosol would have beaten him no matter how he played? At least at first, before the injury revelation? I seem to recall him (or his team) being criticised for bringing up the injury later and not straight away.


No such excuses vs Darcis either I think

ChequeredJersey wrote:Didn't Nadal actually say that Rosol would have beaten him no matter how he played? At least at first, before the injury revelation? I seem to recall him (or his team) being criticised for bringing up the injury later and not straight away.


No such excuses vs Darcis either I think

If so, why play?

And then detract from others.

You arrive here, and a little bit of everything. You play against an inspired opponent and I am out. That's all. Is not a tragedy. Is only a tennis match.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/interviews/2012-06-28/201206291340967370196.html

If I recall, Federer was beaten by Stakhovsky in the next round. Hewitt lost to Karlovic. Serena lost to Razzano. Federer also lost to Ancic. Becker lost to Doohan 1987 W R 64.

A bit unfair to beat Nadal, injury or not.

The whole "Nadal never loses without an exuse" crap is pathetic. When he was on a humiliating 7-match losing streak against Nole, I didn't see him talking about injuries. Perhaps he talks about injuries a fair bit cos he might just be injured and injury prone. It's strange some of the same people who thought Nadal would suffer an early retirement with such a physically tasking, intense style of play act so surprised when the same guy actually talks about having the same physical problems that doom mongers predicted.

He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

If he loses like he did in the AO where he was physcally hampered, some moaned he didn't give Stan the respect he deserved for the victory and that it was a pantomine. Like players throw away Slams deliberately!

It wouldn't be suprising if him and Djokovic are carrying some physical hangover into Wimbledon which in my opinion opens it up to everyone.

mthierry wrote:The whole "Nadal never loses without an exuse" crap is pathetic.

Thats not an excuse its the fact, Nadal never loses when he is fully fit , at the least that what I have been told so in many forums.  

He must be completely knackered at Halle then, Brown is mocking him.

It's gonna be an interesting Wimbledon;-

The current best grass court player (yes Andy Murray you fools!!) hasn't won owt in a year and throws in his worst ever performance about every six matches

The dominator from 2011 has forgotten what a slam looks like (well to hold a slam, as recently he's seen plenty of them in other peoples hands!!) and as the distraction of a wedding and impending fatherhood. Oh! And Becker as a coach

The current No.1 now plays on grass in the manner that all his detractors expected him to from the off

So the it could be that the best ever grass court player has a fabulous swansong

I have a growing feeling that we could have a new slam winner at Wimbledon this year. Roger Federer lacks the high-end consistency to win another slam (in my opinion), Rafael Nadal is hit and miss just now and grass has been his weakest surface in recent years, Andy Murray's inconsistency this year has yet to be addressed and consistency is a must if you want to win a slam and Novak will need to reverse a losing trend in slam finals to win plus grass is not his strongest surface.

Who this new winner could be I am not sure. Perhaps Dimitrov, Nishikori or Gulbis?

Any of those 3 mentioned, I would be happy, thought another W for Fed would be crazy, but thats tough these days.

Hope a new face takes it.

This is what Nadal had to say in his interview after he lost to Brown:

"I don’t count 2012 like a loss,” the left-hander said. “I was totally injured from my knee. I didn’t play anything for seven months. Last year I tried. I was not well enough. And this year, talking about my knee, I’m much better than last year. I lost today because my rival was playing better than me.”

A loss is a loss. In that case, throughout 2013 when Federer's back was giving him problems he did not 'lose'. If he was that badly injured in 2012 he should not have played. He had just won his 7th French Open and he appeared to be ready to begin his assualt on the grass courts. The way Rosol played that night, I doubt any of the top 4 would have got the win. Remember, it was not a straigh sets affair it was a long 5 sets. Again, it was dominated by Rosol's bullets he was serving just like Brown's serving which didn't allow Nadal to get many balls in play.

I think it is hard for someone like Nadal, who is so accustomed to winning, to lose a match like this. Federer too used to find it a hard pill to swallow but his constant losses now have humbled him.

How do we know that Federer's back was playing up during 2013. Oh yes because he told us in October after his losses.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/9854439/roger-federer-regrets-playing-injured-march-july

Now if that had been Nadal guess what reception it would have got on here.  

Calder106 wrote:How do we know that Federer's back was playing up during 2013. Oh yes because he told us in October after his losses.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/9854439/roger-federer-regrets-playing-injured-march-july

Now if that had been Nadal guess what reception it would have got on here.  

I agree with you there, he told the media. However, he did not do so immediately after each loss. It was clear from the start of the year, in fact from the end of 2012, that he was not playing his best. His performances were woeful. His situation was different that of Nadal's as Nadal was the best player of 2013 and in his run up to Wimbledon last year saw him reach the final of every tournament he played in, winning 5 of 7 finals including the FO. Not really supporting evidence he was 'not ready' at Wimbledon.

Take Murray for example. Just read his comments and as he says, he has only himself to blame for blowing all those first set points.

Gulbis/Raonic/Dimitrov the ones to watch at Wimb...
In recent years Nadal is putting so much of himself into winning RG that he has nothing left for grass which insanely always follows immediately afterwards. I don't expect much at WImb, QF maybe...a lot depends on his first 2 matches and the weather.
If its cool/damp then Federer will go far...if its hot and sunny then we could see some very unusual results. For me, RG and Wimb are the ones most affected by the weather.

Rafa will make semis at least or won't make the second week IMO. One match on grass in which he was outplayed isn't a great warm up so I'd say out in the first few rounds

As for Wimbledon this year, I think Berd-brain or Gulbis stand a chance

Nadal beat Robredo in straight sets in the exhibition match on Friday.

Whether Nadal gives Darcis 100% credit or not, let's not forget Darcis is an adult and should not be upset by this. We are living in a very soft world if Nadal isn't even allowed to tell the truth about is own physical or mental state regarding a tennis match.