The Joker’s dilemma until Monday

[golfaddict1]

… You sure were and a month later you earned an epic 5 set comeback victory and are now the grand slam leader in men’s tennis.  Vamos!  

[ThunderRam]

1 hour ago, golfaddict1 said:

… You sure were and a month later you earned an epic 5 set comeback victory and are now the grand slam leader in men’s tennis.  Vamos!  

 

What a phenomenal, gutsy performance! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! What a match! I already knew Medvedev was legit, but wow.

Rafa became the 1st men’s player to overcome a 2 set deficit in the Aussie Open Final in the Open era.

What makes Rafa’s 21 slams so impressive is not only has he been fighting a degenerative foot disease since he was 19, but he’s played in less GS tournaments than both Joker and Fed. 

Rafa has won 20 slams in 63 appearances. Joker has won 20 in 66 and Fed has won 20 in 81.

I keep hearing how Novak and Roger weren’t in this tournament so Rafa had a clear path. Well, Novak had the clear path the previous two tournaments and both he and Roger have played numerous slams w/o Rafa involved. It goes both ways.

Lastly, while the naysayers always point out Rafa dominating clay with 13 of his 21 slams, they neglect to recognize and acknowledge that 12 of Joker’s slams are also on one surface — hard court. And 11 of Roger’s 20 are also on hard court.

Imagine what the disparity would be if 2 slams were on clay every year instead of 2 on hard court!

The fact that Rafa has won more slams despite only one slam on his best surface AND the fact that he’s participated in less slams overall than both his rivals really speaks volumes.

 

[Troll]

On 1/17/2022 at 11:31 PM, Atticus Finch said:

Regardless, it's totally within their rights to deny access to their country.

and every other anti-vax moron refuses to accept the consequences of their decisions.

Why you talking about unvaxed illegal immigrants that way ??? 🤔

This post belongs in all yer border wall threads 👍

💩

[golfaddict1]

23 hours ago, ThunderRam said:

What a phenomenal, gutsy performance! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! What a match! I already knew Medvedev was legit, but wow.

Rafa became the 1st men’s player to overcome a 2 set deficit in the Aussie Open Final in the Open era.

What makes Rafa’s 21 slams so impressive is not only has he been fighting a degenerative foot disease since he was 19, but he’s played in less GS tournaments than both Joker and Fed. 

Rafa has won 20 slams in 63 appearances. Joker has won 20 in 66 and Fed has won 20 in 81.

I keep hearing how Novak and Roger weren’t in this tournament so Rafa had a clear path. Well, Novak had the clear path the previous two tournaments and both he and Roger have played numerous slams w/o Rafa involved. It goes both ways.

Lastly, while the naysayers always point out Rafa dominating clay with 13 of his 21 slams, they neglect to recognize and acknowledge that 12 of Joker’s slams are also on one surface — hard court. And 11 of Roger’s 20 are also on hard court.

Imagine what the disparity would be if 2 slams were on clay every year instead of 2 on hard court!

The fact that Rafa has won more slams despite only one slam on his best surface AND the fact that he’s participated in less slams overall than both his rivals really speaks volumes.

 

Once again dummy replies via cell and loses it.  
 

Summary:  Nadal is a stud.  He’s Connors/Borg/Agassi in one.  
 

Connors grit and determination, Borg’s precision/chess mind on clay and Agassi’s energy and to finish off a point with style and pace.  
 

The Terminator of tennis 

The energizer bunny of tennis.  

He’s relentless.  

[ThunderRam]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:11 AM, golfaddict1 said:

Once again dummy replies via cell and loses it.  
 

Summary:  Nadal is a stud.  He’s Connors/Borg/Agassi in one.  
 

Connors grit and determination, Borg’s precision/chess mind on clay and Agassi’s energy and to finish off a point with style and pace.  
 

The Terminator of tennis 

The energizer bunny of tennis.  

He’s relentless.  

Also, especially during his prime, you’d be hard pressed to name a better defensive player. The kid returned almost everything and out-grinded his opponents. And I’m not sure any player has been able to hit winners from defensive positions the way he does.

Joker’s defensive skills also developed into elite, legendary status, but I don’t think he was ever able to grind and cover to the same degree Rafa once did.

[ThunderRam]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:11 AM, golfaddict1 said:

Summary:  Nadal is a stud.  He’s Connors/Borg/Agassi in one.  
 

One more thought/point.

There are still a lot of folks that view Roger Federer as the best all-around player ever. He is probably, at worst, still regarded as the greatest grass court player ever, if not Pete Sampas. (Grass conditions drastically changed circa 2003/04 negating serve and volley’ers)

To those people I’d offer up the following.

RF’s greatest and most dominant years occurred in between 2003 and 2010, as he won 16 of his 20 Slams during those 8 years.

He won 3 of the 4 slams in 2004, 2006, and 2007.

From 2003 to 2009 he won Wimbledon 6 out of 7 times, including winning 5 consecutive. His only loss was in the Finals against Rafa in a match some consider the greatest ever played.

Point is, the 2 Wimbledon Finals, 5-set matches Rafa played against Fed in 2007 and 2008 (one loss, one win) might be the best indicator of Nadal’s greatness. 

As dominant as Fed was at that time, especially on grass, I’m not sure any other player in modern history could have competed and pushed Roger to the same degree Rafa did during those two years.

I don’t believe prime Novak from 2011 to now could have competed the same, let alone beaten RF during that time. 

The only other player I can fathom having a chance was Pete Sampras, but not on the newer grass surface that largely negated his serve and volley game.

Lastly, with exception of 2009 when Rafa’s family experienced turmoil, nobody was able to compete and push Rafa at Roland Garros (during his best prime years) anywhere near the same degree that Rafa competed against RF at Wimbledon in 2007 and 2008.

Not bad for a “one-trick pony, clay court specialist” that experts predicted wouldn’t have a long career.

 

[golfaddict1]

11 minutes ago, ThunderRam said:

One more thought/point.

There are still a lot of folks that view Roger Federer as the best all-around player ever. He is probably, at worst, still regarded as the greatest grass court player ever, if not Pete Sampas. (Grass conditions drastically changed circa 2003/04 negating serve and volley’ers)

To those people I’d offer up the following.

RF’s greatest and most dominant years occurred in between 2003 and 2010, as he won 16 of his 20 Slams during those 8 years.

He won 3 of the 4 slams in 2004, 2006, and 2007.

From 2003 to 2009 he won Wimbledon 6 out of 7 times, including winning 5 consecutive. His only loss was in the Finals against Rafa in a match some consider the greatest ever played.

Point is, the 2 Wimbledon Finals, 5-set matches Rafa played against Fed in 2007 and 2008 (one loss, one win) might be the best indicator of Nadal’s greatness. 

As dominant as Fed was at that time, especially on grass, I’m not sure any other player in modern history could have competed and pushed Roger to the same degree Rafa did during those two years.

I don’t believe prime Novak from 2011 to now could have competed the same, let alone beaten RF during that time. 

The only other player I can fathom having a chance was Pete Sampras, but not on the newer grass surface that largely negated his serve and volley game.

Lastly, with exception of 2009 when Rafa’s family experienced turmoil, nobody was able to compete and push Rafa at Roland Garros (during his best prime years) anywhere near the same degree that Rafa competed against RF at Wimbledon in 2007 and 2008.

Not bad for a “one-trick pony, clay court specialist” that experts predicted wouldn’t have a long career.

 

Great post.  🙌🏼