Sampras Makes an Encouraging Statement about Nadal.

First topic message reminder :

Pete Sampras has echoed much of what has been debated on this forum re Rafa´s return . I am sure that Nadal fans will find this article encouraging. For those of you who are not Im sure you will find it debateable at the very least

http://www.10sballs.com/2012/12/07/pete-sampras-knows-rafael-nadal-will-pass-his-record/

Now you won't replay and as usual go into shelters .

Hey guys forget about Rosol - What's Rafas chances now he is going to Abu Dhabi and will probably meet Novak & or Andy who will for sure give him a good workout.

If he comes through this one and by some chance wins it (he has done so last two years) - surely that then would make the AO a realistic start.

Personally, I've already pencilled in Rafa for the AO.

He wouldn't enter Abu Dhabi if he hadn't taken part successfully in some intense training. If he wasn't ready he wouldn't be there. Barring a reoccurrence, I see Rafa in Melbourne for sure. What Abu Dhabi may give us a clue about is how competetive he'll be in Melbourne.

invisiblecoolers wrote:
1]Do Rosol deserve full credit for the win over Nadal ? [Full means 100%, other wise in English we call it partial] [ Y/N]

YES, he does.
In-fact I've said so many times during this thread.
My posts at:
10:02 pm (yesterday)
6:11 pm
7:11 pm
7:30 pm
these times, all show I've said this. Thats 4 times. At no point do I say Rosol deserves partial credit.
Pay attention to these posts.

invisiblecoolers wrote:
2]Do you think Rosol has no chance to win over Nadal when they meet next time around [no chance means Rafa to win 100%] ? [Y/N]

NO. Nothing in sport is a certainty.
In-fact I have even categorically explained this while talking to Lags earlier about why I don't bet on sports. Look at my post @ 6:52 pm I make this exact point. I'm surprised you missed that.

invisiblecoolers wrote:
3]Do you agree in the past underdog has beaten champs when no odds were given and repeated it again to prove they can actually do it? [Y/N]

Yes.
This happened with Nadal against Federer, he was an underdog in Miami 2004.
However, despite this in mind, I'd still say I'd see Nadal as strong favourite if he plays Rosol again.

The funny thing is, I actually agree with quite a lot of what you've said. I'm getting annoyed because for some reason you can't recognise that we agree on this and then start randomly labelling me.

sportslover wrote:Hey guys forget about Rosol - What's Rafas chances now he is going to Abu Dhabi and will probably meet Novak & or Andy who will for sure give him a good workout.

If he comes through this one and by some chance wins it (he has done so last two years) - surely that then would make the AO a realistic start.

Nadal will get battered at Abu Dhabi; absolutely hammered.

It Must Be Love wrote:

sportslover wrote:Hey guys forget about Rosol - What's Rafas chances now he is going to Abu Dhabi and will probably meet Novak & or Andy who will for sure give him a good workout.

If he comes through this one and by some chance wins it (he has done so last two years) - surely that then would make the AO a realistic start.

Nadal will get battered at Abu Dhabi; absolutely hammered.

I think you may be surprised IMBL. Had he come back mid season, I'd have agreed. But coming back now makes it different. He started his pre-season training at the same time as everyone else (a little earlier than some actually) so I don't believe he'll be that far behind.

@ IMBL , good, I see you acknowledge Rosol's win, lets not bring in Rafa's injury debate in this win and decredit his win , he won fair and sqaure.

Regarding Rafa's comeback in 2013, my personal view he will have a good clay outing as usual but not sure before that, he would be physically fit but won't be mental monster and hence won't have psychological advantage and I won't be surprised if somebody does a Rosol in AO.

If I would be in Rafa's camp I would skip AO and start my comeback from clay season, if he does that I won't be surprised if he has a great 2013.


In 2007 he came so close to winning Fed but failed and came back and won everything in site in 2008, and 2009 ended up close to disaster and followed it up with incredible 2010 and again 2011 was a disaster considering the level of achivements we expect from him, so 2012 I expected to be a strong year from Rafa which started that way but some how didn't end that way, so 2013 is a mystery to me.

Danny_1982 wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:

sportslover wrote:Hey guys forget about Rosol - What's Rafas chances now he is going to Abu Dhabi and will probably meet Novak & or Andy who will for sure give him a good workout.

If he comes through this one and by some chance wins it (he has done so last two years) - surely that then would make the AO a realistic start.

Nadal will get battered at Abu Dhabi; absolutely hammered.

I think you may be surprised IMBL. Had he come back mid season, I'd have agreed. But coming back now makes it different. He started his pre-season training at the same time as everyone else (a little earlier than some actually) so I don't believe he'll be that far behind.

I hope so, lets see

Lucas Rosal got a win over Nadal in a slam. He will be able to dine out on it for the rest of his life. Great for him and it makes a good talking point. But he is 27 (I think?) had never done anything before and has never done anything since to suggest that he is able to play at a standard to beat a top player. It was reported that Nadal was unable to practice during Wimbledon and he hasn't played since. Credit to Rosol for making the best of an opportunity but looking at the facts it's obvious that Nadal was unable to play at anywhere near his usual form.

Of course nothing is 100% but If Nadal had been able to play with his usual form the result would have been different at Wimbledon. Just as it will be if Nadal is fully fit should they meet again. This takes nothing away from Rosol as a win is a win and he has it safely recorded in the history books. But to suggest that his win is in any way predictive of their future matches is ridiculous to say the least. And invisible coolers I'm sure your just trying to be provocative by likening it to Nadal's first meeting with Federer. Ha ha! Maybe I shouldn't take the bait...

Hawkeye, Nadal may not have been fully fit, but we should not take any credit away from Rosol- he was sensational and a win is a win.

InvisibleCoolers, I have even underlined the 'not' so you don't get annoyed

invisiblecoolers. I don't want you to get upset or annoyed so PLEASE LOOK AWAY NOW!

It Must Be Love

I think it is safe to be honest now. We know that Nadal wasn't fully fit so we can't give Rosol the credit for beating a fully fit Nadal as that would be dishonest. But we can give him credit for making the best of the opportunity and beating the Nadal that he faced on the day. It will probably be a high spot if not the high spot of his career. Winning second round matches at slams are not usually career defining so he has been well rewarded for his efforts.

hawkeye wrote:
Lucas Rosal got a win over Nadal in a slam. He w And invisible coolers I'm sure your just trying to be provocative by likening it to Nadal's first meeting with Federer. Ha ha! Maybe I shouldn't take the bait...

I never compared Nadal's first meeting with Federer to Rosol's first meeting with Rafa , Rosol is no Rafa and Rafa is no Federer , I did a different comparison, lemme see whether you can figure it out.

@ Nadal not being fully fit comment? was he fully fit in 2011 when he played those matches against Djoko?

Ive deliberately stayed away from my own thread to let this Rosol argument hopefully be thrashed out once and for all.

My word on the subject has nothing to do with Nadal as such but more to do with Rosol; if it is, as would appear from many posters, Rosol won fair and square beating a fit Rafa (and Im saying nothing to the contrary).. it is reasonable therefore to suppose that Nadal is not the only one in "danger" of losing to him ... if he can beat Rafa then it must be logical to suppose he can beat any of the top players... in fact who knows he could win the AO. So lets forget his chances about beating a fit Rafa ... what are his chances of beating a fit Djokovic, Federer or Murray. ???

I agree with HE, if I've read it right.

If you say Rafa wasn't fully fit, then you're inevitably taking credit away from Rosol.

Absolutely JM
Then we can only credit Rosol with beating a fully fit Rafa
So anything is now possible
Then beware Federer, Djokovic Andy and uncle tom cobbly and all.
Coz Rosol has his eye on ther AO Go for it lad

Haddie-nuff

If Murray, Djokovic or to a lesser extent Federer had lost in the second round at Wimbledon to Rosol everyone would have forgotten about it by now whether or not they were fully fit.

IMO certain posters are desperate for any indication that Nadal can't possibly be as good as he is. A loss to a player ranked 100 no matter what the circumstances is exciting to them as it can be used as evidence to diminish Nadal as a player. Because it is rare for Nadal to provide any evidence that can be used in this way it will be milked as much as possible. Better still to imply that Nadal was not injured and playing at his very best and Rosol was just having an average day but had discovered how easy it is to hit all Nadal's weak loopy returns for winners. If anyone tries to argue against them they can then use what they see as the the trump card and accuse people of being mean to Rosol. (or as one poster put it having a "weird hatred" of Rosol.)

JuliusHMarx wrote:I agree with HE, if I've read it right.

If you say Rafa wasn't fully fit, then you're inevitably taking credit away from Rosol.

So you don't think Rosol deserves full credit then?
He beat his opponent on the day, for him that's important.

HE and IMBL why can you not understand what I am saying.
To agree (which is the best campaign on this forum) that Rosol BEAT A FULLY FIT RAFA ok ?????? entiendo.. Ok then he did alright?????????????Then he has all the abilities to beat a FULLY FIT Federer, Djokovic & Murray
If it is the case then we are most certainly in for an incredible 2013.
They wanted someone to crack the monopoly of the top four. IT appear we have found him. So can we give ROSOL alll the credit just for the sake of harmony.... and move on because I am not holding my breath and nor will William Hill

such a pleonastic thread right now, can we change it up?

i always wondered why some former greats are some what reluctant to heap praise on any of the current lot who have broken their records i.e. nadal and feds.
Still a bit of pride there no doubt.

LuvSports! wrote:such a pleonastic thread right now, can we change it up?

i always wondered why some former greats are some what reluctant to heap praise on any of the current lot who have broken their records i.e. nadal and feds.
Still a bit of pride there no doubt.

Well LS if the fans have this much pride and ego on their hero's stats just imagine how much pride the player himself would have? but I see most players are civilized and whether they like it or not at times for media sake they do heap praises.

One of the best example is Rod Laver, he heaped praises on Fed saying he is the greatest player he ever witnessed and suddenly when questioned by media on Wimbledon [during Sampras presence ] he said he is not sure whether Fed is the greatest grass court player or not and Sampras might edge it .

In reality the only barometer of comparison is stats, and who accumulates the best stats gets the top dog title, coz every other barometer is subjective.

Saying that the main barometer that should be used is stats is itself a subjective concept.
Eg the phrase: Federer is better than Sampras is a subjective opinion.

Stats, eh?

Step up, Roy Emerson.

Haddie-nuff wrote:HE and IMBL why can you not understand what I am saying.
To agree (which is the best campaign on this forum) that Rosol BEAT A FULLY FIT RAFA ok ?????? entiendo.. Ok then he did alright?????????????Then he has all the abilities to beat a FULLY FIT Federer, Djokovic & Murray
If it is the case then we are most certainly in for an incredible 2013.
They wanted someone to crack the monopoly of the top four. IT appear we have found him. So can we give ROSOL alll the credit just for the sake of harmony.... and move on because I am not holding my breath and nor will William Hill

Hey Haddie, I think that all these guys are capable of playing a brilliant match that can blow a top class opponent away - what separates them from the top players is that they find it much more difficult to tap into that winning form match after match. Even for the top guys, the audacious hitting the line, point after point into the corners was inspired, and freaky and while Fed and Djokovic will hit many winners like that over the course of the year, even they struggle to reproduce that kind of electric form all the way through a match.

The difference is that a guy like Rosol has an A* game that is capable of beating anyone, but his B game, which is the game that most players bring to the court 95% of the time, is just nowhere near the top players' B game - not even close.

You have to have an excellent B game to win a big tournament.

Having said that, Rosol probably did not beat a fully fit Rafa but......he did play a blinder and it might have been good enough even if Rafa had been at full strength.

time please wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:HE and IMBL why can you not understand what I am saying.
To agree (which is the best campaign on this forum) that Rosol BEAT A FULLY FIT RAFA ok ?????? entiendo.. Ok then he did alright?????????????Then he has all the abilities to beat a FULLY FIT Federer, Djokovic & Murray
If it is the case then we are most certainly in for an incredible 2013.
They wanted someone to crack the monopoly of the top four. IT appear we have found him. So can we give ROSOL alll the credit just for the sake of harmony.... and move on because I am not holding my breath and nor will William Hill

Hey Haddie, I think that all these guys are capable of playing a brilliant match that can blow a top class opponent away - what separates them from the top players is that they find it much more difficult to tap into that winning form match after match. Even for the top guys, the audacious hitting the line, point after point into the corners was inspired, and freaky and while Fed and Djokovic will hit many winners like that over the course of the year, even they struggle to reproduce that kind of electric form all the way through a match.

The difference is that a guy like Rosol has an A* game that is capable of beating anyone, but his B game, which is the game that most players bring to the court 95% of the time, is just nowhere near the top players' B game - not even close.

You have to have an excellent B game to win a big tournament.

Having said that, Rosol probably did not beat a fully fit Rafa but......he did play a blinder and it might have been good enough even if Rafa had been at full strength.

It it might have been good enough to beat Federer, Murray Djokovic uncle Tom Cobbly and all
Whacko Rosol