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Soderling and Nadal are playing amazing tennis. So if they both make it to the finals (which is very likely), then who will win? Nadal is great, but at this time I would pick Soderling to win that match. Maybe i'm crazy, but he dismantled Fed the other day and looked unbeatable.
Good question, but I would put my money on Nadal. Yes, Soderling beat him before at the French, but this will make Nadal even more determined to win, and no one is more passionate on the court than Nadal. It would make for an amazing final though.
There's no way I would bet against a healthy Nadal on clay. I think he's only lost like 16 matches on clay in his entire career, and that includes when his game was not as refined as it is now and the injuries.
Aiur is all over this one.
Clearly, Nadal has been struggling. Yet he has somehow now won all 18 sets he's played at RG this year. In the entire clay court season, only Almagro and Gulbis took a set from him. Almagro knocked the cover off the ball while Rafa looked confused, and he took Nadal to two tiebreakers in the quarters -- both of which Nadal won easily and very convincingly. Rafa had trouble closing out both Bellucci and Melzer. Of course, he did beat both in straight sets at the end of the day, but still, consider that...
Clearly, Soderling is at the pinnacle of his game. His win over Berdych in five sets, coming from 2 sets to 1 down, right after beating Federer, shows how much his mental game his changed -- very dramatically improved. Now he rises to the challenge, seizes the moment, plays like a champion when it matters most. Clearly, Soderling should be viewed as the favorite against Nadal. Right? Sure.
But it won't happen. Nadal has lost 4 sets at the French Open in the last 3 years -- and 3 of those were to Soderling last year. I think Brad Gilbert may have been right early on when he predicted that Nadal would lose one set in the tournament. Hasn't happened yet. Considering how well Soderling is playing, he might actually prove Brad right and win a set from the greatest clay court player of all time (with the possible exception of Bjorn Borg).
No matter how hard Soderling tries to invoke the ghost of Adriano Panatta, lightning is not gonna strike twice this Sunday. There is simply too much on the line for a champion like Nadal to be denied.
Last edited by DonDenman (Jun. 4, 2010 2:11pm)
I said last year Nadal could win 18 or more majors if he could find a way to stay healthy. He has too much talent and his game is just too ruthless.
Ruthless is a good word for Nadal's game. As good as any. Brutal. Inevitable. Overwhelming. Those are good ones, too.
If his knees hold up, Rafa will eventually supplant Federer as the greatest of all time. No doubt about it. He just turned 24 and he's ready to eclipse Roger as #1 again already. But for Rafa's knee problems, Roger would never have regained the #1 ranking and he knows it. Not a chance.
Can you imagine how many Grand Slams King Roger would have won if there had been no Rafa??? OMG!!! He would LONG since have been proclaimed by everyone on the planet the greatest champion in any sport ever, by far. Anyone who questioned that judgment would have been thought in need of either drugs or drug rehab, depending on who said it.
Federer had actually already eclipsed Borg as the greatest ever on grass -- and then Rafa beat him in the Wimbledon final (the last time they were both there), in what EVERYONE agreed was the greatest match of all time. Remember that one? Rafa won. Again.
You have to feel for Federer. Just when he owned the planet, along came Nadal. Damn space aliens! Now he's back from injury, scarier than ever. And he just turned 24.
I'm with Nadal on clay, but Soderling is definitely one to watch out for.
I think that soderling can take nadal to 4 sets, but i can tell that nadal wants revenge from last year, so he'lll probably win
Nadal wins in straights. I'll give Soderling the benefit of the doubt and say one goes to a breaker.
Nadal never ceases to amazes me with his defense. With the exception of the serve, Soderling is hitting the ball pretty much just like he did last year. Nadal's defense is just too good, making Soderling hit 3-4 extra shots just to win a point.
NADAL DID IT!!!!!! he won the french open baby! he's back i can tell you that
Excellent match! The first set was so amazing because soderling believed that he had a chance and played great. Then after he lost the first set Soderling seemed to lose focus and stopped playing as well. His server let him down, and too many unforced errors. But I'm very happy for Nadal - he deserved it!!! Not only is he a great player, but he seems like a nice person as well.
Yup. He's back! The real #1 player is back to #1 after recovering from knee tendonitis. Wimbledon should be interesting this year.
But before we get to that, this seems to me a good time to review what Rafa has done the past 6 years on clay, because it is beyond amazing. His overall record on clay during the period 2005-present is 177-6. Really. I kid you not.
In 2005, the year Nadal broke onto the scene and rose like a rocket through the men's rankings, Rafa went 50-2 on clay!!! Way too many matches no doubt -- but after all, even the Nadal camp didn't know he would be THAT successful that fast. His first loss came to Gaston Gaudio in the quarters of the first clay court event of the year, in early February in Buenos Aires. His other loss came to Igor Andreev in the quarters of the first European clay court tourney of the year, Valencia. Rafa then won Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, Roland Garros, Bastad and Stuttgart to end the clay season with 34 straight victories. Not bad. He turned 19 at RG that year.
Just like this year, in 2006 Rafa was undefeated on clay.
In 2007, Rafa lost only one match on clay -- ending the longest clay court winning streak of all time, during which Rafa won 13 consecutive tournaments, 81 consecutive matches -- to Federer in the Hamburg final. An exhausted Rafa frankly ran out of gas and was bageled by Roger in the third set. That will never happen again, I predict.
In 2008, Rafa again lost only one match, to Ferrero at Rome, when Rafa had awful blisters on his feet that very greatly limited his mobility.
Last year, he lost two clay court matches: his famous loss to Soderling in the Roland Garros R16, and to Federer in the Madrid final (just after his SF marathon with Djokovic). In both of those losses, Rafa's mobility was limited due to his knees -- though both players still had to play amazing tennis to beat him.
In 2008 and again this year, Rafa won Roland Garros without dropping a set. That had happened only three times before in the open era -- Borg in 1978 and 1980 and (nearly unbelievably) Nastase in 1973. I fearlessly predict that the 6th time that happens, it will again be Rafael Nadal who does it.
Now that his knees are back to OK and he's limiting his play, hopefully we will be able to enjoy many more years of unparalleled greatness from this young man who just turned 24 and has already established himself as -- unquestionably and by far -- one of the two greatest clay court players in the history of the game.
Six losses on clay in the last six years. Since the loss to Andreev in 2005, a clay court record of 161-4.
161-4??? You've got to be kidding me!!! Not even Borg has stats to match that.
Here's what's even more disconcerting for the other players: 3 of Rafa's 4 losses on clay in the last 5+ years (the only losses since 2007) were due to injury and the other was due to exhaustion!!! Compare Rafa's movement around the court this year to his movement when he lost to Federer and Soderling last year, and I think you'll agree that was the difference. If you've never seen photos of Rafa's feet at Rome in 2008, I hope you never do. It's hideous.
So you have to be a great player playing your best -- and get Rafa when he's not 100% -- to have any chance whatsoever to win, and even then you probably lose. That's so dominant, I'll go this far with it:
The extent and degree of Rafa Nadal's dominance on clay for the last 5+ years -- a time when the sport had FAR more excellent players than at any time in the past -- is utterly unparalleled by any athlete in ANY sport, ever.
Last edited by DonDenman (Jun. 7, 2010 2:03pm)
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