injuries happen. you think lebron james could lose to nate robinson in a 1 on 1 if he had no legs? absolutely.
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injuries happen. you think lebron james could lose to nate robinson in a 1 on 1 if he had no legs? absolutely.
Nadal has had bad knees since 17.
[QUOTE=imdaman99]injuries happen. you think lebron james could lose to nate robinson in a 1 on 1 if he had no legs? absolutely.[/QUOTE]
Once injuries become frequent, they are no longer an excuse, they are part of a players identity. There have been questions for quite awhile now on whether or not Nadal's body could withstand his physical style of play.
Ha ha rafa, I'm loving it :cheers:
[QUOTE=bdreason]This is complete BS. There is a huge difference losing to a top 10 player in the semi's and getting swept in the 1st round by a no-name scrub.[/QUOTE]
Not when it comes to who the GOAT is.
GOAT goes almost hand in hand to who WINS the most.
Not who loses in a semi. Or loses in a 1st round.
Sampras lost in the 1st and 2nd round a bunch of times. Nobody cares....there was still a large debate of who the greater player was when Roger was nearing Sampras' record of grand slams....it was only until Roger surpassed and ultimately put distance between them that it has become a vast majority in favor of Fed.
At the end of the day when people judge Nadals career, it will be how many grand slams he has won. If it's too close to call, other things will be used, like H2H record, Davis' cups, Masters titles, gold medals....all of which Nadal holds a very tidy resume.
This first round loss hurts Rafa much much less than 2011 hurts Lebron's legacy.
In Tennis the minor details of how you win, how you lose, and H2H does not matter at all. At the end of the day, how great you are is determined by the amount of GS's you have.
:facepalm
[QUOTE=The_Yearning]In Tennis the minor details of how you win, how you lose, and H2H does not matter at all. At the end of the day, how great you are is determined by the amount of GS's you have.[/QUOTE]
If Nadal never wins another Major besides the French, he will never be considered the GOAT. I don't care if he wins 10 more French Open's. You can't just show up for clay court season, and be considered the GOAT. :no:
Also, acting like consistency doesn't matter is ridiculous. Sure, it's mostly about winning Majors, but both Sampras and Federer managed to hold the #1 ranking for YEARS. Federer held the #1 ranking for 237 [I]consecutive[/I] weeks (4 1/2 years). The longest Nadal has held the ranking was 56 [I]consecutive[/I] weeks, or just over 1 year. Even if you look at [I]total[/I] weeks ranked at #1, Federer has a 3 to 1 edge (302 to 102).
[QUOTE=bdreason]Also, acting like consistency doesn't matter is ridiculous. Sure, it's mostly about winning Majors, but both Sampras and Federer managed to hold the #1 ranking for YEARS. Federer held the #1 ranking for 237 [I]consecutive[/I] weeks (4 1/2 years). The longest Nadal has held the ranking was 56 [I]consecutive[/I] weeks, or just over 1 year. Even if you look at [I]total[/I] weeks ranked at #1, Federer has a 3 to 1 edge (302 to 102).[/QUOTE]
Nadal has lost his ranking because of injuries, not because of a lack of consistency.
[QUOTE]If Nadal never wins another Major besides the French, he will never be considered the GOAT. I don't care if he wins 10 more French Open's. You can't just show up for clay court season, and be considered the GOAT.[/QUOTE]
It's almost like you're suggesting Nadal sucks on the other courts.
Let's just refresh your memory here:
He has two Wimbledon titles, one of which he beat Roger in his prime.
He has won a title on the hard courts of AUS, beating Roger.
He has a US Open title, beating Novak.
Last I checked, that's a career grand slam - you don't do that unless you're really good on all surfaces.
Nadal is one of the greatest players to ever play the game... but we're not arguing that. We're arguing GOAT status, for which someone claimed that total number of GS's is all that matters. Let's assume that Nadal manages to reach 17 GS titles (and Fed never wins another one), but never wins another GS outside of France. His resume would consist of 13 French Open titles, and only 4 GS titles on the other surfaces. That means 76% of his GS victories came on clay. Conversely, Roger has 4 Aussie Open titles, 7 Wimbledon titles, 5 U.S. Open titles, and a French Open title... overall, a much more impressive diversity of GS titles.
A win, is a win, is a win.
I can promise you that regardless of how Nadal gets to 17, when/if it happens you will have a 50/50 split between who takes Fed and who takes Nadal.
You may not like it, or agree with it, but it's true.
[QUOTE=bdreason]If Nadal never wins another Major besides the French, he will never be considered the GOAT. I don't care if he wins 10 more French Open's. You can't just show up for clay court season, and be considered the GOAT. :no:[/QUOTE]
I agree with your stance and the reason we share this view is because we both come from the basketball world where we look not just at the context, but the enveloping details between the lines as well when determining Top 10/GOAT status.
The majority of the tennis world (critics, big names, etc.) over 70% of them will only look at the career # of majors won and that will dictate who is the GOAT.
Also, what if Roger Federer never won the French open? Not to mention he won the French Open by avoiding Nadal, but nobody remembers that do they? And Roger would still be considered the goat without a FO title.
[QUOTE=The_Yearning]I agree with your stance and the reason we share this view is because we both come from the basketball world where we look not just at the context, but the enveloping details between the lines as well when determining Top 10/GOAT status.
The majority of the tennis world (critics, big names, etc.) over 70% of them will only look at the career # of majors won and that will dictate who is the GOAT.
Also, what if Roger Federer never won the French open? Not to mention he won the French Open by avoiding Nadal, but nobody remembers that do they? And Roger would still be considered the goat without a FO title.[/QUOTE]
That's because the second best player by consensus doesn't have a FO title. Sampras never won on clay.