Rafa - Do you accept his game?

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Murray fans like Nadal fans in all honesty do what they don't do so much on the court and that is go on the attack if any criticism is levied at their favourite player.

Brings me to Nadal.

Nadull, time wasting server, moonballer. I think I have seen it all. Rafa turned pro in 2001 at the tender age of 14 and whether you like him or not, that is something that is quite remarkable. At 14 I was at school still. I would imagine Roger and Novak were too. He achieved a lot in his career. Golden Career Slam and positive H2H against his rivals in the top 4.

For me the game will never see another like him. Like Federer, Nadal is unique. A tennis machine. I accept parts of his game are not 'enthralling' but in all honest Novak, Andy, Roger don't play stunning shots every rally. Nadal yes can take nearly an hour to win a set 6-2, but he can really floor it and take a set in under 40 minutes. Nadal for me is clever. He plays the game to his strengths. That is the genius of him. Others have done it. Wilander, Lendl, Sampras. Played to their strengths. To win a Slam at 18 again is stunning.

Take the Nadal of now. Yes he has a quite the thorn in his side that is Djokovic. Federer had it with Nadal and Murray has it with all 3!!

There are some that just won't be a fan of the brand of tennis. Nadal's main strength is to blunt the weapons of his opponent. He seldomly finds himself in a position where he has to go for his shots, like he does with Djokovic now.

Nadal deserves some form of credit. Whether you like him or not. No-one wins titles alone with lungs.

hawkeye wrote:Ha ha! Someone should get Tenez Rafa's book. It would make a lovely christmas present! The thing is I have a sneaky suspicion he may have read it already...

I don't even know the title. "Vamos"? ...I guess (Yawn!).

The only tennis bio I read was McEnroe's...and I did not like it much.

legendkillar wrote:In terms of the book I thought it was too soon for him to release one. Take this period of time where he finds himself in a period of transition. It requires change and if he is to remain successful in Slams, it will be interesting to see the mindset he has and how he has managed to accustom change given the signs of OCD he has on court. Creatures of habit find change extremely difficult to accept change.

I honestly thought there was the risk with his losses that his fans might quickly forget him. He wanted to cash in while Nadal was the big buzz word in tennis. $$ rules.

Tenez wrote:

hawkeye wrote:Ha ha! Someone should get Tenez Rafa's book. It would make a lovely christmas present! The thing is I have a sneaky suspicion he may have read it already...

I don't even know the title. "Vamos"? ...I guess (Yawn!).

The only tennis bio I read was McEnroe's...and I did not like it much.

Tenez. That would have been a great name. Next time Rafa writes a book he should ask you for some advice.

hawkeye wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

socal1976 wrote:Nitb, I don't get your Nadal dislike. Now honestly not one of my top 5 players to watch. But he does do jaw dropping things on a tennis court quite often. And he is such a tough fighter. I think it is interesting that those that champion variety so much have such a low tolerance of the different unique style that Nadal brings.

Nadal does pull a couple of brilliant "gets" and shots per match but all that is massively drowned by the tedium of grunting moonballs, scowling, backside-picking, toweling, zooming from one end of the base line to the other, belting the life out of the ball. It's the bludgeoning brutality and nothing nice or easy on the eye when he's on the court, bar his speed/movement which is outstanding.
I don't like the element of physicality he brought to tennis and took it to unhealthy levels.

That style encourages scrambling, chasing down balls, which are a pain for me even when Nole plays them. That is not his game, but he plays it as an efficient game to beat Nadal and I'm glad if it means he's going to stop the rot and end the trend.

That is why I think he's death of tennis. His style kills the beauty of tennis, it's quite savageing by nature and I hate watching it.

Of all the slam matches he plays against Novak, I saw maybe 10% of all the play. Tennis should be played within the court, not chasing the ball in the stands and doing acrobatics. I don't mind a small amount, but it's gone way over the top and is living a life of its own.

In addition, I don't find Nadal either physically attractive, humble, cute or anything that a lot of his fans seem to draw their support for him from, so there's my answer for you.

But but... What about Rafa's legs? I know you are a legs woman and you must be in total denial if you can't admit that Rafa has the cutest legs.

I haven't regiestered them at all, to be honest. They are all yours

noleisthebest wrote:Nadal does pull a couple of brilliant "gets" and shots per match but all that is massively drowned by the tedium of grunting moonballs, scowling, backside-picking, toweling, zooming from one end of the base line to the other, belting the life out of the ball. It's the bludgeoning brutality and nothing nice or easy on the eye when he's on the court, bar his speed/movement which is outstanding.
I don't like the element of physicality he brought to tennis and took it to unhealthy levels.

That style encourages scrambling, chasing down balls, which are a pain for me even when Nole plays them. That is not his game, but he plays it as an efficient game to beat Nadal and I'm glad if it means he's going to stop the rot and end the trend.

That is why I think he's death of tennis. His style kills the beauty of tennis, it's quite savageing by nature and I hate watching it.

Of all the slam matches he plays against Novak, I saw maybe 10% of all the play. Tennis should be played within the court, not chasing the ball in the stands and doing acrobatics. I don't mind a small amount, but it's gone way over the top and is living a life of its own.

In addition, I don't find Nadal either physically attractive, humble, cute or anything that a lot of his fans seem to draw their support for him from, so there's my answer for you.

SPot on!

legendkillar wrote:In terms of the book I thought it was too soon for him to release one. Take this period of time where he finds himself in a period of transition. It requires change and if he is to remain successful in Slams, it will be interesting to see the mindset he has and how he has managed to accustom change given the signs of OCD he has on court. Creatures of habit find change extremely difficult to accept change.

I wondered what the motive behind the book is,to release an autobiography at 25 is like premature ejaculation
He has barely lived half a life time let alone a full one,which is why I joked that its probably just pages of injury stories milking every drop of sympathy from his fans for all its worth
Perhaps its just the agency that represents him,saw an opportunity to market him via a book cause due to the language barrier he doesn't connect as easy with the public as Djokovic and Federer do.It would kinda explain the scandal of the book partially written in English.It seemed a little too good to be true that with his busy schedule and juggling a new injury every week he still managed to find time write a book in English
Sorry I don't buy the on court coaching as a bad habit that he is finding impossible to control
Some of those "extreme" Federer fans believe they figured out his and uncle Tonis sign language...well I don't know about that
But an easy solution to the problem would simply be to just prohibit the players coaches from watching the match

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Veejay wrote:

amritia3ee wrote:WTF are you on about.
The book isn't 'all about injuries' you clearly haven't read it.
I've read the book many times, and as far as I am aware most of it is about his life in general and his 2008 Wimby final experience. Maybe your friend can't read English, or he just read a few pages.

Theres a joke wasted on you..
So how did Nadal write the book in English if his English is pretty limited?
Wasn't there some kind of scandal about the book originally written in English and then translated into Spanish?
So if you've read the book so many times and its so wonderful why aren't you giving it a better review?

It was written with a bi-lingual (half-Scottish, half-Spanish) collaborator. I'm not aware of any scandal, unless I missed it.

I remember the story was big enough to make the news,cause that how I fist heard about the book.I think there were questions surrounding whether Nadal actually wrote the book himself,because it was originally written in English
I think Nadal had to put the rumours to rest by claiming he wrote the book himself

The book is in English Veejay.

Tenez wrote:
SPot on!

Said one nadal hatah to another.

amritia3ee wrote:The book is in English Veejay.

Most books today days are,so what exactly did you learn about Nadals personal life from his autobiography ( biography) which was partially written by someone else in a different language

I learnt many things.
Perhaps you should read it.

hawkeye wrote:I wasn't asking you to "bestow" greatness on Nadal or any other player. How could you do that... I was curious to know why in an article entitled "Rafa-Do you accept his game" you were not able to be a little more generous. For a player of his quality being called a "great player" rather than "very good" is what would usually be expected.

I am happy to call him with any nomenclature, 'great' being one of them.

hawkeye wrote:But I wasn't surprised that you didn't call Nadal "great" and so I wasn't questioning why you didn't because I expected you to do so. I have to confess I was (gently) teasing you as I'm not sure your as un-biased as you like to appear. So maybe I deserved the put down of being likened to one of your children...

I do not claim to be unbiased, but I do consider myself 'balanced'. BTW, I am not putting you down in any way. If that is how it came across, then my apologies.

hawkeye wrote:As for your children. I expect you are a real handful for them...

I can hear mutterings of the 'B' word at times when we talk. It is at least an honest opinion, even if it causes me a bit of consternation.

amritia3ee wrote:I learnt many things.
Perhaps you should read it.

Clearly not very interesting things or you'd be delighted to share it...bet the book is about as exciting as watching El Toro imitating a golden retriever

Rafa's book comes with the sort of recommendation that all authors dream of but only the select few can achieve. Its now on a list of 10 books recommended by Richard and Judy as part of world book day.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/richard-madeley-10-books-youll-748319

A nod and a wink from Richard and Judy will virtually guarantee a few extra sales. So all the Rafa fans here on 606v2 better be quick to get there orders in or they may be dissapointed...

Ahhh laverfan. I'm sure we are all biased but I do appreciate your balance. It sounds like your children help keep you on track. I would like to think they are all Rafa fans...

hawkeye wrote:Rafa's book comes with the sort of recommendation that all authors dream of but only the select few can achieve. Its now on a list of 10 books recommended by Richard and Judy as part of world book day.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/richard-madeley-10-books-youll-748319

A nod and a wink from Richard and Judy will virtually guarantee a few extra sales. So all the Rafa fans here on 606v2 better be quick to get there orders in or they may be dissapointed...

Richard and Judy??
Im literally rolling on the floor here..

Am I understanding you correctly?
Richard and Judy's recommendation and approval is coveted by all authors but only a select few are fortunate to get it?

If Richard and Judy are recommending the book then thats a clear sign that it won't be for me