Is Nadal Now The Wimbledon Favorite?

First topic message reminder :

Last year Nadal felt unable to compete at Wimbledon but this year he's feeling a little better

"I want to try to play well again in Wimbledon," he said. "I'm healthy. That's the most important thing."

"I hope my knee will have the positive feeling on grass, because I feel my knee is better than last year on the rest of the surfaces,"

"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.

"Let's see how my feelings are there this year, but it's a very important tournament."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/27757048

Is Nadal now the favorite to add to his Wimbledon trophy collection? Nadal always has to win Wimbledon the tricky way as part of a channel slam but despite this I reckon he is now the favorite  

How is that dubious? It is just a photo for crying out loud. If he really wanted to make a song and dance about it he would make reference to the injury at every opportunity which he hasn't. In fact he could wait a year after being defeated and make reference to it like a certain someone does.

^ Don't you get it? If you keep talking about an injury you get accused of whining (the exact thing Roddick famously mocked Djokovic for with a never-ending list of health issues). Djokovic (and nobody else) has forgotten what Roddick said. So you do something that can't be quoted. You post a photo of the injury. And once again let me point out- he never wore a bandage at Roland Garros but made a point of wearing the bandage during his chess photo shoot.

Yes, we all know Djoko is a faker and attention-seeker, but Nadal is no better.

Maybe you know better as you kneel in front of him?   

Take the Rosol match. I could accept that Nadal was carrying an injury given the length of absence after the match that he experienced. However, I don't buy it for the Darcis defeat. You don't go on a winning streak like he did afterwards if you were somewhat physically hampered.
 
Djokovic didn't wear the bandage for the match. So what. He may well have worn it as precaution during practice. I don't think there is anything dubious in that at all.

Nadal has always been able to win matches on clay while carrying injury, because he's the greatest clay player ever, and can therefore afford to be 60%. Whereas on other surfaces he needs to be 100% (or 80%) to win. So its pretty obvious that if he's injured he's going to still win Roland Garros and then lose on grass (a surface which requires extra low knee-bend) in particular. And Nadal said he took pain-killers in 2013. The odds are those pain-killers weren't enough at Wimbledon because like I said it requires extra low knee-bend (in week one especially). American hardcourts, very different obviously.

@KbN... were you also recuperating during Wimbledon, Great Britain; 25.06.2012 and Vina del Mar, Chile; 04.02.2013 with Hoffitis?

I missed such discussions before KbN showed up on 23 Jun.

Wonderful GOAT debate in another guise.

^ Be very careful when accusing others of being another poster. Because I know for a fact you are 100% wrong. So think very carefully before you accuse me of being whoever it is you think I am. I had never seen this site in my life before I registered a couple of days ago. 100% wrong if you say otherwise.

kneel_before_nadal wrote:^ Be very careful when accusing others of being another poster. Because I know for a fact you are 100% wrong. So think very carefully before you accuse me of being whoever it is you think I am. I had never seen this site in my life before I registered a couple of days ago. 100% wrong if you say otherwise.

laverfan wrote:You remind me a lot of Amritia/IMBL/Red/...

What part of this sentence requires an English (or perhaps a different language) explanation? Serbian, Latin, Swahili?

kneel_before_nadal wrote:Nadal has always been able to win matches on clay while carrying injury, because he's the greatest clay player ever, and can therefore afford to be 60%. Whereas on other surfaces he needs to be 100% (or 80%) to win. So its pretty obvious that if he's injured he's going to still win Roland Garros and then lose on grass (a surface which requires extra low knee-bend) in particular. And Nadal said he took pain-killers in 2013. The odds are those pain-killers weren't enough at Wimbledon because like I said it requires extra low knee-bend (in week one especially). American hardcourts, very different obviously.

Ah but we are not discussing Clay.

I find it strange that Nadal is claiming an injury niggle for his defeat to Darcis, when before it was to do with little preparation he had on Grass going into the event. If you choose to follow the injury niggle and agree Nadal is playing at 80% in the American Hard Court swing I don't buy he would win 2 titles which one he had never won previously or even the made the final of or won the other which he hadn't won in 5 years! That is what I would call dubious.

laverfan wrote:

kneel_before_nadal wrote:^ Be very careful when accusing others of being another poster. Because I know for a fact you are 100% wrong. So think very carefully before you accuse me of being whoever it is you think I am. I had never seen this site in my life before I registered a couple of days ago. 100% wrong if you say otherwise.

laverfan wrote:You remind me a lot of Amritia/IMBL/Red/...

What part of this sentence requires an English (or perhaps a different language) explanation? Serbian, Latin, Swahili?

You said "Wonderful GOAT debate in another guise."
That means you are accusing me of being another poster. And that is very disappointing, because if you convince others that I am another poster then their opinions became connected to my legacy, which is very annoying to me. For example, you used the term "GOAT debate".....and I never use the term "GOAT" ever, because I don't believe its possible to deduce a GOAT, and if you anoint a GOAT you are disrespecting the other greats. So if you are going to mistake me for another poster, don't attach GOAT to me.

kbn, drop this crap man. Your every post is how great Nadal is blla blla bllaaaaaaaaa.

You seem to know some tennis, so give us some tennis analysis and different angels.

We know who Nadal is and how good or bad he is, no need from you to push it on every post.

We were not born yesterday.

Change your nick too, as Nadals GF is getting jelous   

JHM, easy on your trigger now...   

Jahu wrote:kbn, drop this crap man. Your every post is how great Nadal is blla blla bllaaaaaaaaa.

You seem to know some tennis, so give us some tennis analysis and different angels.

We know who Nadal is and how good or bad he is, no need from you to push it on every post.

We were not born yesterday.

Change your nick too, as Nadals GF is getting jelous   

Whatever troll......

Gents. Do remember that these blokes aren't crippled. People can still DO things while injured or recovering they don't need be in hospital with a drip for it to be legit. The djoko photo looks a bit if a wind up. A play on all the talk. Novak likes a joke here and there. The jetfoil photo is not comparable unless nadal specifically asked for it to be taken. And we need evidence if that cos as a rags fan even u haven't heard of it

Ok gents knives away please. You're starting to wind each other up the mods especially should know better than this. You all claim that your adults soo keep the conversation adult

I'm out, before LF gets back from her coffee break

I don't buy the Djokovic making the wrist injury thing as an excuse. It is common knowledge he had wrist trouble and it is common treatment for such injuries to be treated with crepe bandages to be applied to prevent movement. Along come photographers to interview and do a piece on Novak and that is all there is to it. I cannot recall Novak mentioning a wrist injury in any post-French Open interviews anyway.

@KbN... Let Nadal play and win, he does not require a defence, does he? Neither does he require approval from any of us. Please try and find what "under a guise" means.

A direct accusation would be... - "You are XYZ..."
An indirect accusation would be... - "You are not XYZ, are you?"
An observation would be... - "You remind me of XYZ..."

We can take it off-line via PM, if you prefer it than such a public platform.

@Falzy... As Agassi said, there should be some "needle", or as SB says, there should be some "spice". I am glad to avoid some debates, because they just end up in trench-warfare. I find the 100%/80% discussion fascinating, but a tad repetitive, come every slam.

@Jahu... Will let JHM know.

PS: @CC... I recall Djokovic wearing leg and shoulder bands during Australia. Roddick and Federer have made comments which have stuck to him. They get brought up and interpreted subjectively without any context. I thought Nadal wore knee bandages during Del Potro W match?

falzy21 wrote:Ok gents knives away please. You're starting to wind each other up the mods especially should know better than this. You all claim that your adults soo keep the conversation adult

Exactly.

I think I'm right in saying that even a couple of Djoko fans here have acknowledged that the infamous presser in which Roddick gave his own unique 'perspective' on Djokovic's injury/health issues was pretty entertaining.

I won't link to it, but it's worth a look and not difficult to find for anyone who hasn't seen it.

In retrospect though lags its not funny because we now know that after he beat roddick he was considering beating him up which is extremely poor

Nothing wrong with that. He didn't act on his impulse and in fairness if I had an opponent who was messing around on court like Novak was I would've gone the whole 10 yards and probably decked him on court!

No way. A proper adult doesn't think about doing that. A jock would do that. You wind someone up and then they boast when they thrash you? The response is not I'm gonna beat him up

The response is I should shut my mouth before going up against a player much better than me

The irony of that situation was that when they next played each other, Djokovic retired from the match.

Until you are in that situation you can't really gauge what your reaction will be. I have played some rather unsavoury players on the tennis court and sometimes a reaction is a difficult thing to avoid.

Also I don't think the Scot's who use this forum would be impressed with the 'A Jock would do that' comment.

My apologies I was referring to the old word for American high school bullies. Might have the wrong word I've been wound too but in the end that whole saga had fault on both dudes. Djoko acting up but roddick also winding people up too

Roddick wasn't the most likeable guy granted, though given Djokovic's past behaviours I can see why he was a little un-impressed. I think if you have deep respect about the game it can manefest itself on court and maybe off it. Look at Nadal for example when he bumped Rosol. That was over Rosol's actions when he was receiving serve. Connors once chased McEnroe round the court because of his behaviour. Some players can get pushed too far.

With Monfils and Gasquet out the way, Nadal's path just became a tad easier. You still have Nishikori and Raonic in the draw, but by the time they come round, Nadal you would think would come through unscathed against Kukushkin and Vesely/Kyrgios will be full of confidence and conditions will certainly turn in his favour, unless the rain gods show up next week on CC with Raonic.

Nadal's chances have increased greatly today.

It was always about getting through the early rounds for Rafa. Once he beds in he generally goes far anyway regardless of draw.

Come on Bouchard!

Nadal beat Rosol in 4 sets, despite Rosol repeatedly talking while Nadal was serving.

Wrong thread methinks laverfan !

Back on topic, I now see Rafa as an even stronger favourite for the title than I did before the tourney got under way.

All things considered, he could not have wished for a better early round challenge than the one provided by Rosol today (even though I'm sure that was not exactly Nadal's first thought on seeing the draw .....)

Having turned things around so well after being pummelled in the opener, and then going down a break in set two, his confidence will now be sky-high. The objective was clearly to not just win, but in doing so to banish the demons of 2012. Mission accomplished.

Plus .....he was pushed into raising his game to a much higher level than he would normally need to do in week one. He is in true battle-hardened form and will take some stopping ......

But congrats also to Rosol for a very creditable second album   

Meanwhile .......do please stick to the rules Rafa.

lags72 wrote:

Meanwhile .......do please stick to the rules Rafa.

Meanwhile Rosol repeatedly talked out loud while Nadal was serving (similar to 2012 when Rosol tapped his racquet on the ground when Nadal was serving).

But, not cheating if the umpire doesn't say anything.

Rafa certainly is a big favorite, HE was plain right with it and I could see him as the only Rafa fan who said the truth direcly.

Rafa a favorite , for me No, coz he looks like a big favorite and running of with it, the only person who can stop him is Nole and I don't see how this Nole will get past this Murray at grass.

I don't see how Djokovic can win a slam final vs. Nadal. Its like man vs. mouse. They are polar opposites mentally in slam finals. Nadal will probably be praying for Djokovic to make the final. Nadal would be going for his 5th straight slam win over Djokovic, and a chance to take their slam h2h to 10-3.

He is now the favourite. He always blooming is these days!

Murray is the only player with a reasonable chance of beating him but I don't think it's a match up that suits Andy, even on grass.

If Rafa wins Wimbledon, I may have to take a hiatus from watching tennis. It will have become too predictable. That's OK if you like the tennis of the guy winning but I don't like Nadal's tennis at all.

HM Murdoch wrote:He is now the favourite. He always blooming is these days!

Murray is the only player with a reasonable chance of beating him but I don't think it's a match up that suits Andy, even on grass.

It becomes mud the second week.

HM Murdoch wrote:If Rafa wins Wimbledon, I may have to take a hiatus from watching tennis. It will have become too predictable. That's OK if you like the tennis of the guy winning but I don't like Nadal's tennis at all.

You need to have a tete-a-tete with KbN. He has just won R64, there are other matches to be played, correct?

Bouchard serving for the set.

Bouchard takes too long to serve. The Umpire is reluctant to call time violation.

I guess there is no Time Violation rule at W.

Bouchard up a set!

kneel_before_nadal wrote:

lags72 wrote:

Meanwhile .......do please stick to the rules Rafa.

Meanwhile Rosol repeatedly talked out loud while Nadal was serving (similar to 2012 when Rosol tapped his racquet on the ground when Nadal was serving).

But, not cheating if the umpire doesn't say anything.

Rafa does have a good deal of form (over many years) for time-wasting, MTO's etc etc

I can only imagine Rosol resorted to talking out loud mainly to help pass the time. If I heard correctly, he was saying something like "how much longer are you going to take between points ?"

You know kbn ...... you ARE allowed to criticise your hero as well as genuflecting in his presence. We promise not to tell him  

laverfan wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:
If Rafa wins Wimbledon, I may have to take a hiatus from watching tennis. It will have become too predictable. That's OK if you like the tennis of the guy winning but I don't like Nadal's tennis at all.

 He has just won R64, there are other matches to be played, correct?

True, but for me a slam that Rafa wins is like a romantic encounter that fails to conclude as I would hope. It's not that I don't like the early rounds but too many unhappy endings rather spoil the overall experience!   

Who knows HM Djokovic might just come to the party

lags72 wrote:

kneel_before_nadal wrote:

lags72 wrote:

Meanwhile .......do please stick to the rules Rafa.

Meanwhile Rosol repeatedly talked out loud while Nadal was serving (similar to 2012 when Rosol tapped his racquet on the ground when Nadal was serving).

But, not cheating if the umpire doesn't say anything.

Rafa does have a good deal of form (over many years) for time-wasting, MTO's etc etc

I can only imagine Rosol resorted to talking out loud mainly to help pass the time. If I heard correctly, he was saying something like "how much longer are you going to take between points ?"

You know kbn ...... you ARE allowed to criticise your hero as well as genuflecting in his presence. We promise not to tell him  

Just understand that when Nadal takes 25 seconds (his average time today) or 30 seconds or whatever, he is not breaking a rule.

The condition of the 20 second rule includes: "or the players have been ordered to play by the umpire"

If the umpire doesn't order the player to play faster, then no rule is being broken.

Eh?

The rule states both from the ITF and ATP that players should not take longer than 20/25 seconds between points respectively.

So yes a rule is being broken.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Who knows HM Djokovic might just come to the party

Djokovic is the partygoer who is fun at the start of the night but ends up getting emotional and making things a bit uncomfortable for everyone at the end!      

The ATP rule book says "or when the players have been ordered to play by the umpire". This means no rule has been broken if the umpire doesn't order him to play faster.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Eh?

The rule states both from the ITF and ATP that players should not take longer than 20/25 seconds between points respectively.

So yes a rule is being broken.

The person to blame then is the umpire for not enforcing it. It is akin to a player clearly handling the ball on the line but not giving the penalty - who gets the blame? The player or the ref? Always the ref for missing it in my opinion.

kneel_before_nadal wrote:Read the rule book. I did, and it says 20 seconds "or when the players have been ordered to play by the umpire". This means Nadal can take 25 seconds (or 200 seconds) and no rule has been broken if the umpire doesn't order him to play faster.

I did read it.

So you agree it says 20 seconds.

So on that basis how is no rule being broken?

You'll find that umpires order the players when at the net before play.

well. first two rounds passed, so he slowly becomes more and more dangerous.

lets see kukushkin

kneel_before_nadal wrote:Read the rule book. I did, and it says 20 seconds "or when the players have been ordered to play by the umpire". This means Nadal can take 25 seconds (or 200 seconds) and no rule has been broken if the umpire doesn't order him to play faster.

The ITF rule book says that? What section? Section 29, which covers continuous play does not say that at all.