Sneaky bloke this Nadal, isnt he?

I must admit, he had me fooled. Complaining about the 25-second rule claiming it would hinder him from playing his best tennis.
Lo and behold: his record for the season is 15-1, with two titles, a final and a MS S/F.
He must obviously be a perfectionist. So pained at losing one solitary match that he wants the best possible conditions to ensure that never happens again.

Admit it, he got you too...

I'm gonna wait until we see him on faster surfaces against Murray or Novak in a Slam!!

But it's good to see him back, kingraf

Grief don't let Dave see this!

Yep, Bo3 is very different to Bo5 also.
Clearly he can play within the time limit...and he even came out before his opponent from the locker room last night too, so another routine broken.

Either way, he's not doing bad for 7 months out is he. But we always knew the true tests are against the top 3 players...we'll find out more this weekend (if he passes Berdy).

True, but I dont actually see either Nadal or Djokovic being as affected by this as people, or even they think. Nadal has always gone over the limit, but I think that had more to do with his mild OCD than it did with any underlying stamina issues.
I think this rule actually favours Nadal and Djokovic, Imagine JMDP trying to serve in the fifth set after a 30-shot rally.

Anybody with a half decent serve can beat the Federer that turned up yesterday and vs Stan, let's remember he nearly 'and should have' been beaten by Gulbis of all people.

kingraf wrote:True, but I dont actually see either Nadal or Djokovic being as affected by this as people, or even they think. Nadal has always gone over the limit, but I think that had more to do with his mild OCD than it did with any underlying stamina issues.
I think this rule actually favours Nadal and Djokovic, Imagine JMDP trying to serve in the fifth set after a 30-shot rally.

This 15-1 start by Nadal makes the "time between points" theorists who claimed that Nadal won because of taking too much time between points in order to grind his opponents down in lengthy exchanges look rather silly in their arguments but well we all knew that. This view that Nadal is a lung merchant lacking in ball striking skill that wins by wearing his opponents down physically simply ignores the fact that he has one the highest win percentages of first sets in the history of the tour and beats 90 percent of his opponents to a pulp from the first bell.

Given that Nadal would complain about anything that doesn't quite suit him whether he's winning or losing, I don't think anyone really looks silly.

It's just part of what Nadal does really.

socal1976 wrote:This 15-1 start by Nadal makes the "time between points" theorists who claimed that Nadal won because of taking too much time between points in order to grind his opponents down in lengthy exchanges look rather silly in their arguments but well we all knew that.

So what you are saying is that the 2013 15-1 start is unrelated to 2004-2012 items? Can I do the same for 2003-2007 Wee Keira v 2008-2012 'Golden' era theorists and theories?

socal1976 wrote:This view that Nadal is a lung merchant lacking in ball striking skill that wins by wearing his opponents down physically simply ignores the fact that he has one the highest win percentages of first sets in the history of the tour and beats 90 percent of his opponents to a pulp from the first bell.

HE's article clearly is a self-admission that a 30-40 shot rally requires more than 25 in ATP or 20 in Slams/ITF, correct?

PS: Reference - https://www.606v2.com/t40589-nadal-says-the-25-second-rule-will-harm-the-fans

djlovesyou wrote:Given that Nadal would complain about anything that doesn't quite suit him whether he's winning or losing, I don't think anyone really looks silly.

It's just part of what Nadal does really.

Thats just a part of what the Spanish do really !!!!!!

The interesting thing is that since the rule ammendment, I havent heard too many "That game was awesome, and it only took an hour 30", or "Wow the speed of play was awesome"...
Instead this thread is filled with comments to the effect of "X would have won, but he tired out" Interestingly, "X" is yet to be replaced with the name "Nadal" or "Djokovic"

kingraf wrote:I must admit, he had me fooled. Complaining about the 25-second rule claiming it would hinder him from playing his best tennis.
Lo and behold: his record for the season is 15-1, with two titles, a final and a MS S/F.

I do not think 25s rule will make that much of a difference in results, but if anything, I would expect it to work against him. People just do not cheat to reduce their chances of winning.

The particular argument you are using does not work so well I think. As others mentioned, the true tests are yet to come. I had expected him to be 16-0 by now, so 15-1 does not strike me as shockingly good.