Yup, that's the Rafa of the last few years. Should have been 5-2 in the TB, throws in a double fault at 6-6 and now it's one set all. Nadal's become a worse closer of sets/matches/championships than any top player.
Tennis 2021
- Thread starter Sean_RedDevil
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It feels like he loses tiebreaks against every top 10 player these days
I honestly can't remember the last important tie break he won? He loses every single one to Novak, Federer, Thiem and now even Tsitsipas.
This is the 9th consecutive tie break that Nadal has lost against a Top 10 player. He was in comfortable positions in many of these. The last TB he won vs a Top 10 player was vs Medvedev at the ATP finals in 2019.
Lost 10 of his last 11 I read. I believe the one tiebreak win was against Schwartzman at RG last year.
Yeah and lost 9 of his last 10 TBs vs Top 10 players. Nadal's famed mental strength has disappeared, sadly.
Nadal's serve is really what has prevented him from closing this in two.
It's not just serve, it's his passive nature at a lot of crucial moments too. The match points, the tie break and then ofcourse the DF at 6-6. He only really starts to play aggressive and assertie tennis when he's facing BPs.
Nadal not quite at his best at times but it was a pretty entertaining match. Tsitsipas played really well and still looking in good form.
What an incredible match. Nadal wins despite being far far off his best. He got incredibly lucky with that net cord on MP.
Kudos to Isner for perfecting his serve, but, my word, it's exhausting to watch.
The first time Nadal faces anyone decent this week, he's back to being rubbish. 4-2 up vs Zverev and loses his serve, mind and game and drops 4 games in a row. Nadal on clay this year is probably the worst I have seen him play in 15 years.
Looks like a player finished at top level tbh.
His decline since RG20 has been immense.
He'll still be the man to beat at RG as he, like Novak, doesn't quite bring his best level at Masters anymore. However, Nadal's level this year has really been quite alarming. The bottle job vs Tsitsipas, the awful level at Monte Carlo and, despite winning, the poor level at Barcelona. He's still favorite at RG but yeah, he's probably going to show up this year playing the worst tennis of his life.
Zverev wins 6-4 6-4
Very disappointed with Rafa. Timid, meek and cowardly performance. I wanted an early loss at Madrid but some fight would have been nice.
Very disappointed with Rafa. Timid, meek and cowardly performance. I wanted an early loss at Madrid but some fight would have been nice.
Not so sure about that. It's been a weird, broken year and I'd be pretty surprised if he isn't a whole lot more with it closer to RG.
Nadal's awful season just gets worse. He's a set down on CLAY to Shapo. Honestly, if he maintains this level for the rest of the year, won't be surprised if he just retires. It's painful to watch him try play tennis right now.
Let me guess, you're being dramatic on Nadal. Some things never change
He just broke back. I don't even know what match it is but I know it's never as bad with Nadal as you make it out to be. Sadly!
This is hyperbole. He's not had the best years compared to his own standards but you're making it sound like he's been losing to irrelevant players every week.
To be fair, Nadal banks on winning RG. He's not winning it in this form. No chance.
So who is? Thiem has returned from injury and has not looked fantastic, Djokovic's form on the clay hasn't been great either. Zverev and Tsitsipas have probably been in the best form but I wouldn't back either them to win RG. Nadal hasn't been great but I've not seen anything to be massively concerned about (that goes to Djokovic and Thiem too). Even if none of them find top form in Rome, they all can build themselves up at RG provided the first few round aren't super tricky.
For Rafa, the likes of Rublev, Ivashka, Shapo are rather irrelevant on clay. Have you seen Rafa have a worse year on clay since he debuted? This is genuinely as bad if not worse than 2015 when he was injured. Rafa has often said that the minute he feels he can't compete anymore, he'll retire from the sport. Ofcourse, he may return to form at RG but I just feel if the form he's shown since the Tsitsipas match in Australia continues through this year, he might seriously start considering it.
Yeah, everyone's had a poor season. Thiem lost again last night and even Tsitsi doesn't look as good as he did at MC and Barcelona. In any other year, Rafa would have swept through the RG without dropping a set given the level everyone's showing but this year his own form is absolutely awful.
No chance? Really?
And just like that he walks past Zverev who just came off winning Madrid. People have been claiming Nadal to look his worst before RG for a decade now, he`s obviously not playing like 2008 anymore and maybe another 2015 will happen but he`ll rightfully again be big favorite for the French Open.
It’s the same story every single year 
Anyone watched Djoko vs Tsitsipas until it started raining ? How confortable was Djoko? Is it likely that he can win the game?
It's just wr8 being a drama queen on the topic as usual
This does not work, we need Next Next Gen.
If he plays with that poor of a serve, then I don't see him winning it.
If the serve gets back to how it was pre-back injury, he should be fine for a win.
Despite it being his biggest weakness, it is still a massive part of his game, and one other players tend to exploit.
Good win for Djokovic. Didn't catch all of it but it seems like another tough defeat for Tsitsipas as he was a break up in the 2nd and 3rd sets but lost them both 7-5. I'm also not sure why Tsitipas has taken a wildcard into Lyon this coming week, he's played a lot of tennis and his form is pretty good. I understand why Thiem has decided to do it but seems like an odd move from Tsitsipas imo.
Hand Nadal the title right now.
Only tuned to watch the final set but Djokovic is playing well here.
Should be a good final.
Should be a good final.
Hardly anyone takes Nadal to 5 sets at RG, that's the mental task facing everyone.
Last year considering it was played in Autumn and Nadal had hardly played in build up with the odd schedule post Covid...it should've been best chance in long time of someone taking the title. Nadal didn't lose even a set.
Since 2011 only Isner randomly in first round of RG that year and Djokovic in 2013 when he lost in five and then beating him in straight sets have won more than one set v him on the dirt so that's the massive task, players simply don't believe it can be done until one does do it and then others will follow suit.
Also depends on the draw a bit aswell...him having a run of say Ruud-Sinner-Zverev-Thiem/Tsispitas from 3rd round onwards would massively test him as at 35 he dosen't want to be drawn into couple of 4 hour slugfests before potential final.
Instead he'll probably avoid most of them (or they'll get knocked out early) and he'll get Medvedev's likely opponents as he's awful on clay compared to other surfaces.
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Nadal can put his retirement plans on hold
Credit to Rafa. He really picked up from the depths of that performance vs Shapo and earlier in the clay season. I think his confidence will be a lot higher going into RG now than it would have been a week ago. He still has moments where his game completely falls apart (phases vs Shapo, Zverev and the second set today) but he looks a lot better than he did for the vast majority of this season. The Rafa in the final 15 mins of the third set today was peak clay court Rafa.
I think he's dropped off since Barcelona tbh so it probably won't be the worst decision.
Goat with around 53,000 unforced errors in the first set against Andujar.
Few thousands errors later and it's game, set, match, Andujar.