Confusion in the Nadal Camp

Reports in the popular journal The Daily Schadenfreude are speaking of heated scenes in the Nadal camp following his defeat in the Monte Carlo final.

No official statement has been made but a pal said:

"Rafa was thrilled with how his return was going and was continuing to work hard and take one match at a time.

He was then shown some articles by the wise tennis analyst Hawkeye which made clear that by winning Indian Wells, Rafa had stolen all of Novak's momentum.

Hawkeye revealed that Novak had been looking on helplessly wondering how this had happened and was probably smashing his racquet in frustration.

Rafa was further heartened to hear from Hawkeye that, although Novak was #1, this was not a reflection of the present and that Rafa was in fact the best player.

So naturally we are all surprised by this loss. It really makes no sense. Everyone is wondering how Rafa can steal all the momentum, be the best player in the world, but lose just 5 matches later to the racquet-smashing player without momentum.

The only explanation we can think of is that perhaps the Hawkeye analysis wasn't entirely rational."

Very funny, the Daily Schadenfreude, is a most prestigious journal so if they are reporting it, then it must be true. By the way I think it was fair to say that coming in to this tournament that Nadal was the hottest player on tour for the last month or two. That being said, the idea that Djokovic with almost a two slam lead in rankings was in turmoil is lets just say not that rational. I think it is quite clear to any objective observer that Djoko is the best player in the world and is in a pretty comfortable position in his career and in the current rankings.

Socal, I just put a call in to the Daily Schadenfreude and spoke with the editor.

Apparently they, as a publication, like Rafa and rate him highly. They even thought he was favourite ahead of this match.

They only ran the article because their business model is based upon gloating and making little digs, and they felt Hawkeye was trying to steal their customers.

Before this thread I thought the Daily Schadenfreude was a kinky German smut magazine, I must brush up on my German it seems. Hawkeye is entitled to her little digs, certainly any momentum now in the clay court season belongs to djokovic.

Not everything you say is "clear to every objective observer" socal, but in this case your assertion that Djokovic is "the best player in the world and is in a pretty comfortable position in his career and in the current rankings" cannot be doubted.

This is illustrated by the impressive gap of over 4000 points between himself and the ageing player doggedly hanging around at the next place below. There have of course been many spells in past years where Federer held a similarly healthy lead over either Djokovic or Nadal but I'm not sure that the points difference was ever quite so wide as it is right now ........ ?

Lags, must you quibble with me even when you agree with my conclusions? Novak is in the lead in both the points race and the 52 weeks rankings and by a wide margin, so who could deny that he is the best player in the world. In fairness to Hawkeye Nadal has reached 5 straight finals and before this final was the hottest player on tour. But I think our esteemed Hawkeye got a bit carried away with claims of some sort of crisis or turmoil in Djokovic's camp or the imminent threat of Novak losing his number 1 ranking.

One thing in favor of Nadal is that he has no points to defend the second half of the year but the gap is huge and he never plays particularly well in the second half of the year anyway.

Really have no idea why you think I'm "quibbling with you" on this socal.

I agreed categorically with what you said at 9.53pm. That much is clear from my post, where I even heaped praise on Djokovic by referencing his current massive lead in the ranking points table.

If however you somehow feel aggrieved that I choose not to endorse everything you say on the forum, then so be it. Nothing much I can do about that I'm afraid.

lags72 wrote:Really have no idea why you think I'm "quibbling with you" on this socal.

I agreed categorically with what you said at 9.53pm. That much is clear from my post, where I even heaped praise on Djokovic by referencing his current massive lead in the ranking points table.

If however you somehow feel aggrieved that I choose not to endorse everything you say on the forum, then so be it. Nothing much I can do about that I'm afraid.

I don't feel aggrieved in anyway Lags, just noting your disclaimer you start your post out with in line one about my tendencies. You agree with what I am saying but feel like you have to throw out a disclaimer about my past claims. I don't care whose positions you do or do not endorse you are free to your opinion and I am not a stranger to defending controversial positions or being in the minority in my opinions. I just find it interesting that you have been subtly ribbing me all day today on this thread and others and that you would take offense to my accusation of quibbling. I can go back and quote your little subtle jabs but who cares it is all in good fun and I don't get that worked up by it.

socal1976 wrote:....your little subtle jabs but who cares it is all in good fun and I don't get that worked up by it.

I had a subtle little jab not long ago and everything was back in working order within a couple of weeks.

Save your subtle little jab for the ladies Julius!

Well you may well think I'm having another "subtle jab" here too socal if I say that you do sometimes seem to read far too much into things, an example being your presumption of "offense" where none was either intended, or - in this case - taken.

When I wrote that I had no idea why you thought I was quibbling, I meant no more than that, i.e. I was mystified - but that's very very different from being offended.

All that said, you go on to describe it as "all in good fun" so I'm glad to leave things on that happy note, especially at this (UK) time of night....

Yes it is all said with a smile on my face lags, have a good night.

socal1976 wrote:Save your subtle little jab for the ladies Julius!

That's what caused the problem in the first place!

JuliusHMarx wrote:

socal1976 wrote:Save your subtle little jab for the ladies Julius!

That's what caused the problem in the first place!

According to your probation officer that is.