Grand Slam French Open 2020

[Great8]

Absolute clinic from the King

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Rafa in this form is unbeatable on clay

Early night for us

 

[Cats_R_Cool_4_Ever]

I’m pretty confident they won’t let us down. Expecting at least 4 or 5 sets.

maybe I underestimated how good Rafa is on Clay with this prediction..Thought Djokovic would push him to 4 or 5 though.

 

[Visions]

Only turned on now. Has Djokovic taken a fake medical time out yet? Or is it due soon?

 

[Great8]

Only turned on now. Has Djokovic taken a fake medical time out yet? Or is it due soon?

Only a matter of time.
I was wondering which would come first, the fake injury or the dummy spit

 

[Visions]

a 45 min bagel!!!!

That is something.

They’re getting on in years so it won’t most likely ever happen in the future, but these two could easily play a match on this surface that would dwarf their 5 hour 58 minute AusOpen final and push 7 hours.

 

[juice t]

Nole would be one of the few people alive who you'd give a minuscule chance of coming back from 2 sets down against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros

 

[Visions]

Only a matter of time.
I was wondering which would come first, the fake injury or the dummy spit

I’ll go with doesn’t appear at the post match presser.

Nole would be one of the few people alive who you'd give a minuscule chance of coming back from 2 sets down against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros

Maybe, but 2 sets and a break down is a bridge too far now.

 

[FreoRicci]

Equal best of all time coming up. 20 - 20. Yes please

 

[juice t]

Holy moly what a way to get broken

 

[xenxen]

Congrats to Nadal! Was a good match.

 

[matt_897]

One of the most impressive performances of all time. I don't think I am going to far with that one.

 

[juice t]

Both singles wins this fortnight were outstanding

 

[Cats_R_Cool_4_Ever]

Congratulations Rafa, you are a true Champion of this sport and GOAT, #13RG and #20GS overall to finish 2020.

 

[Flameboy]

Almagro was right, Nadal will still be winning RG when he’s into his 60’s.

What an utterly dominant, ruthless display from the

 

[Drummond]

One of the most impressive performances of all time. I don't think I am going to far with that one.

Guess this answers the question I was going to ask. How was Djokovic though, as bad as the score suggested? Was he awful? Or was he ‘okay’ but just caught Rafa on a ridiculous day?

I like Rafa a lot but am pretty gutted at the result.

 

[pepsi]

Massive congratulations to rafa and his fans on here. As a djokovic fan this one hurts a lot.

But what rafa has achieved on clay in Paris is one of the greatest accomplishments in professional sport. 13 titles. 100-2

 

[JackNah_8]

Nadal is just too good on clay, unbeatable.

Well deserved.

 

[matt_897]

Guess this answers the question I was going to ask. How was Djokovic though, as bad as the score suggested? Was he awful? Or was he ‘okay’ but just caught Rafa on a ridiculous day?

I like Rafa a lot but am pretty gutted at the result.

As always, it's a combo of the two but Rafa played such a smart match tactically that the credit has to go all to him. He is mixing up the backhand really well which sets up the forehand which he was striking as well as ever.

Novak was flat, didn't play tactically well (those contiunal drop shots just didn't work) and tried to fire himself up way too late. He wasn't good that's for sure.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Guess this answers the question I was going to ask. How was Djokovic though, as bad as the score suggested? Was he awful? Or was he ‘okay’ but just caught Rafa on a ridiculous day?

I like Rafa a lot but am pretty gutted at the result.

Conditions helped Rafa. I always worry when Novak is drop shotting so much in previous rounds, he like a lot of players struggled to hit through players due to it being even heavier than usual. That suits Nadal who is just a wall at the best of times let alone in these conditions.

Don't think Novak was bad actually, in fact in that 6-0 set he had 4 games that went to deuce both on his and Rafa's serve.

 

[PhatBoy]

Conditions helped Rafa. I always worry when Novak is drop shotting so much in previous rounds, he like a lot of players struggled to hit through players due to it being even heavier than usual. That suits Nadal who is just a wall at the best of times let alone in these conditions.

Don't think Novak was bad actually, in fact in that 6-0 set he had 4 games that went to deuce both on his and Rafa's serve.

Actually the general consensus was the conditions should have suited Djokovic better.

His drop shots were one of the few things that were working for a while - I started watching when he was down 2-0 in the first, and from there he won the first four points he attempted a drop shot in.

When he finally held serve he had to save two break points to do it and it was just an indicator of how good Nadal was more than any flaw on Djokovic’s part. It was like ‘THATS what I have to do to win a game on serve? Holy hell.’

That was a masterclass. He could win another 4-5 French opens easily if he set his mind on it.

What a superstar.

Nadal cops a lot from various people that so many of his slams are on clay.

What is worth remembering is that if you remove the French, the guy has as many slams on the other surfaces as Agassi did if you exclude his French as well. And Agassi basically only had Sampras as his lone genuinely elite rival for most of his career. Nadal has won 7 with the two best fast-court players in history, plus Murray who would have won 8-9 slams in any other era. It is mind boggling.

And imagine if there were TWO slams that suited his game. Djokovic and Federer have 3 to contest. It blows my mind HOW much better Rafa is on clay to his nearest rivals. It’s Bradman esque

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Actually the general consensus was the conditions should have suited Djokovic better.

His drop shots were one of the few things that were working for a while - I started watching when he was down 2-0 in the first, and from there he won the first four points he attempted a drop shot in.

When he finally held serve he had to save two break points to do it and it was just an indicator of how good Nadal was more than any flaw on Djokovic’s part. It was like ‘THATS what I have to do to win a game on serve? Holy hell.’

That was a masterclass. He could win another 4-5 French opens easily if he set his mind on it.

What a superstar.

Nadal cops a lot from various people that so many of his slams are on clay.

What is worth remembering is that if you remove the French, the guy has as many slams on the other surfaces as Agassi did if you exclude his French as well. And Agassi basically only had Sampras as his lone genuinely elite rival for most of his career. Nadal has won 7 with the two best fast-court players in history, plus Murray who would have won 8-9 slams in any other era. It is mind boggling.

And imagine if there were TWO slams that suited his game. Djokovic and Federer have 3 to contest. It blows my mind HOW much better Rafa is on clay to his nearest rivals. It’s Bradman esque

His drop shots were not working at all. They were losing him games..they cost him the break in the first game. I've followed Novak so much and when he's using the shot so much there's alarm bells personally. Flopping 2 sets to Tsisipas should have told you how his "form" was. Said it after the semi, won't win playing like he did in the semi. Novak wasn't bad, Rafa was unbeatable in the first two sets.

Novak is going to rue not taking the easiest US Open in history though.

All 3 are superstars. Both Nadal and Novak will surpass Fed's total, Fed has no chance of winning another one. Who is the best one, who knows, personally it's Novak by literally a millimetre but it's splitting hairs.

 

[PhatBoy]

His drop shots were not working at all. They were losing him games..they cost him the break in the first game. I've followed Novak so much and when he's using the shot so much there's alarm bells personally. Flopping 2 sets to Tsisipas should have told you how his "form" was. Said it after the semi, won't win playing like he did in the semi. Novak wasn't bad, Rafa was unbeatable in the first two sets.

Novak is going to rue not taking the easiest US Open in history though.

All 3 are superstars. Both Nadal and Novak will surpass Fed's total, Fed has no chance of winning another one. Who is the best one, who knows, personally it's Novak by literally a millimetre but it's splitting hairs.

As i said, I missed the first two games but he won his next four points that I saw in which he attempted. Nadal actually reached all of them and kept three of them in play, but he lost all four points. From there he may have overused it I guess but it was achieving something for a while.

I think Djokovic has maintained the highest standard for the longest, but I think Nadal, simply for coming along when Federer was probably playing the best tennis anyone on the planet has ever played, and actually going past him, and also winning a whole string of slams when Djokovic had first reached that high standard that he's maintained for so long, has him ahead.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

As i said, I missed the first two games but he won his next four points that I saw in which he attempted. Nadal actually reached all of them and kept three of them in play, but he lost all four points. From there he may have overused it I guess but it was achieving something for a while.

I think Djokovic has maintained the highest standard for the longest, but I think Nadal, simply for coming along when Federer was probably playing the best tennis anyone on the planet has ever played, and actually going past him, and also winning a whole string of slams when Djokovic had first reached that high standard that he's maintained for so long, has him ahead.

It wasn't working. Personally I'd have rather him use the slice a bit more, it's something he does at Wimbledon effectively. Use the slice and open the court up. It seemed Novak wanted to hit it harder, when in fact maybe the best side is the other way. Slow it down use the slice ad the short shots in the court, what you need to do is give Nadal different looks. Novak was dead set playing the drop shot every second point, way over the top.

Novak has also beed relatively injury free bar the elbow surgery a few years back now. Luckily for Novak he should have 2 years after Nadal and Fed retire to get the ones he needs. I'm still livid at Novak flopping Slams to Murray of all people though.

 

[PhatBoy]

It wasn't working. Personally I'd have rather him use the slice a bit more, it's something he does at Wimbledon effectively. Use the slice and open the court up. It seemed Novak wanted to hit it harder, when in fact maybe the best side is the other way. Slow it down use the slice ad the short shots in the court, what you need to do is give Nadal different looks. Novak was dead set playing the drop shot every second point, way over the top.

Novak has also beed relatively injury free bar the elbow surgery a few years back now. Luckily for Novak he should have 2 years after Nadal and Fed retire to get the ones he needs. I'm still livid at Novak flopping Slams to Murray of all people though.

The risk he runs is that there are finally a handful of players emerging who COULD fill the breach to some extent. If Thiem ever gets it all together he will be lethal.