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ATP-Level Qualifier
Posts: 768
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He's only 23, has already 6 GS under his belt, not to mention the Olympic Gold. But let's not talk about the numbers alone. Why do you think he deserves all these accolades?
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Challenger Qualifier
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Because he's mentally and physically tough, he has a never say die attitude, he plays with passion, he plays to win every point, he's an intelligent player, he works hard to improve his game on all surfaces, he is humble when he wins and classy when he loses, and he is an overall great tennis player.
I'm not a fan of his (because he owns Federer), but you HAVE to respect his game. The guy is unbelievable!
Edited by bill f 9/12/2009 11:39 AM
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Grand Slam Champion
Posts: 3666
Location: A yard inside the baseline...
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Well, let's see if we can have a thread of appreciation without it getting nasty.
I think he's the toughest son of ***** I ever heard of, or seen, on a tennis court, and that includes, Borg and Sampras. Jimmy Connors recently said that Rafa plays as if he's poor, and that's a generous compliment from a man who many feel embodies the battling spirit. To me, Borg was tougher than Jimbo and Pete was a junkyard dawg, but Rafa takes these thing to a new level.
It rarely gets personal or emotional with him. It's simply an objective: leave it all out there.
He has a limited game, compared to the others in the top 4, yet his effort is greater to get the most out of his abilities, and guess what? Now he has an all-round game for virtually every surface, despite being a natural right-hander whose game was built for clay.
He's humble, and electrifying on court.
He matches Borg for charisma and Sampras for aggression and those alpha male characeristics which make it seem like his opponent is a bit-part player in his own drama. Physically, he dominates the court, taking his time, marking his lines like a territorial animal.
He hasn't had it easy, but he never complains.
He's faster than a speeding bullet and his game looks difficult and DANGEROUS on court, which only increases the excitement.
Eh....if I think of anything else to say, I'll get back to ya! Suffice to say, there's never been a guy like Rafa...
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Futures Main Draw
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I beleive that his early success owes a great deal to his perpetually tanned body, his boyish charm and the size of his hands and feet, not to mention his flowing tresses.
Edited by Coase 9/12/2009 11:33 AM
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ATP-Level Main Draw
Posts: 1425
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bill f - 9/12/2009 11:16 AM
Because he's mentally and physically tough, he has a never say die attitude, he plays with passion, he plays to win every point, he's an intelligent player, he works hard to improve his game on all surfaces, he is humble when he wins and classy when he loses, and he is an overall great tennis player.
I'm not a fan of his (because he owns Federer), but you HAVE to respect his game. The guy is unbelievable!
Very well said. It is hard to encapsulate it all here, but his movement and ability to stay in the moment until the end is very impressive.
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Challenger Main Draw
Posts: 324
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Coase - 9/12/2009 11:28 AM
I beleive that his early success owes a great deal to his perpetually tanned body, his boyish charm and the size of his hands and feet, not to mention his flowing tresses.
 His muscled arms helped too!
Seriously, he's got a gift for movement and a ton of focused energy, both mentally and physically. And being a lefty is nice.
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Challenger Qualifier
Posts: 140
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I really think it boils down to mental toughness. Nadal isn't the first real athlete to play tennis, we've had and still have plenty of those on tour, but few if any had his mental strength and tenacity. This guy's will is just uncanny, very little gets to him. I liked what McEnroe said a few days ago, saying that if he had to pick one player to play for his life, it would be Rafa. Mary Corillo laughed and said "over federer" or something like that, and J-mac said he would b/c rafa would leave blood on the court.
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Posts: 9151
Location: central Pennsylvania
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Because he's a fighter. He gives 110%. He's gracious in victory and defeat. He's always committed to improving. He never quits.
He makes the most amazing shots look normal and you don't realize how incredible they are until he's been injured and not around to watch for a few weeks. 
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ATP-Level Qualifier
Posts: 768
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nehmeth - 9/12/2009 1:03 PM
Because he's a fighter. He gives 110%. He's gracious in victory and defeat. He's always committed to improving. He never quits.
He makes the most amazing shots look normal and you don't realize how incredible they are until he's been injured and not around to watch for a few weeks. :(
He gives 110% because he treats each point as a match point for him or against him.
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Challenger Qualifier
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bill f - 9/12/2009 11:16 AM
Because he's mentally and physically tough, he has a never say die attitude, he plays with passion, he plays to win every point, he's an intelligent player, he works hard to improve his game on all surfaces, he is humble when he wins and classy when he loses, and he is an overall great tennis player.
I'm not a fan of his (because he owns Federer), but you HAVE to respect his game. The guy is unbelievable! Praise from a Federer fan is high recommendation indeed!
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Challenger Qualifier
Posts: 191
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Rafa simply has the X-factor. His presence on court is electric and he seems totally unaware of his charisma. He is also willing to admit to himself where he needs to improve, he has respect for all his opponents no matter whether they are wildcards or qualifiers, he plays everyone with the same commitment as if they were top ten players. I believe Murray lost to Cilic because he thought he was no match for him, big mistake.
I hope he sticks around for a long time. Both Rafa and Federer give tennis a kind of elegance that would be lacking without them.
Edited by carrie 9/12/2009 1:57 PM
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Challenger Main Draw
Posts: 254
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More than anything else, it is Rafael Nadal's determination to improve every time he steps on the tennis court that makes him great. With his talent, athleticism, and fight alone, he's still probably the best clay court tennis player who ever lived and noone would have blamed him for being satisfied with that. But he has worked hard on his serve, and flattening out his shots to vastly improve his game on other surfaces.
He evolved from merely my favorite tennis player to my favorite athlete of all at Wimbledon 2006, when he faced Andre Agassi in the third round. Many picked Agassi as the favorite to win this, as Rafa was merely eliminated the round before against little known Robert Kendrick, barely advancing in 5 sets. But against Agassi he displayed a different type of tennis, playing with perfectly controlled agression and dictating the point, and cruised through in straights.
I think Rafa's mentality, as well as his humility, is something every athlete, and well, anyone really, can look up to and learn from.
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Get healthy!
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Futures Qualifier
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You do know that Andre was almost 36 years old at the time? I bring this up because as great as Nadal is, all that fight and determination and style of play is hard on his body. I fear his career will not be as long as most players. I hope I'm wrong, I look forward to his matches more than any.
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Grand Slam Champion
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Because he's already considered the greatest clay courter of all time by many. And you can't spell "greatest" without "great".
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Challenger Qualifier
Posts: 161
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Because he improved from a one dimensional clay court player to become an all surface player which no one expected.
And most importantly, because he beat the putative GOAT (Federer) en-route to every one of his single slam wins. Do you know anyone else who's had to work so much for his slams?
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Grand Slam Champion
Posts: 3269
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imjimmy - 9/13/2009 12:16 AM
Because he improved from a one dimensional clay court player to become an all surface player which no one expected.
And most importantly, because he beat the putative GOAT (Federer) en-route to every one of his single slam wins. Do you know anyone else who's had to work so much for his slams?
That about sums it up.
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ATP-Level Qualifier
Posts: 574
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No surprise that this particular thread starter feels the need to shine a light on Rafa again whenever there's attention on someone else... it's every couple of weeks now. 
Nonetheless, Rafa is great for many reasons, and not just for the obvious ones. We know he's talented, he's fit, he works hard, he doesn't take a game off on the court, and his style is complicated for many opponents.
There's another thing that makes him great: his intensity. His intensity does far more for the sport than it does for his individual matches. It is charismatic, contagious, and good for the spectators. Anyone who can become a beacon of attraction to a sport automatically earns the title "great".
Furthermore, he didn't settle for just being competitive on clay. While he will always find a certain comfort level there that he won't find on hard surfaces, his name is in the hat. He can never be ruled out.
Edited by Doogansquest 9/12/2009 5:31 PM
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Posts: 9151
Location: central Pennsylvania
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swanpm20 - 9/12/2009 2:59 PM
He evolved from merely my favorite tennis player to my favorite athlete of all at Wimbledon 2006, when he faced Andre Agassi in the third round. Many picked Agassi as the favorite to win this, as Rafa was merely eliminated the round before against little known Robert Kendrick, barely advancing in 5 sets. But against Agassi he displayed a different type of tennis, playing with perfectly controlled agression and dictating the point, and cruised through in straights.
Great match! And after winning, he stepped away from the limelight to give room for the crowd to applaud and say goodbye to a favorite and retiring champion. That was when my admiration for the guy went up another level.
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Futures Main Draw
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swanpm20 - 9/12/2009 2:59 PM
More than anything else, it is Rafael Nadal's determination to improve every time he steps on the tennis court that makes him great. With his talent, athleticism, and fight alone, he's still probably the best clay court tennis player who ever lived and noone would have blamed him for being satisfied with that. But he has worked hard on his serve, and flattening out his shots to vastly improve his game on other surfaces.
He evolved from merely my favorite tennis player to my favorite athlete of all at Wimbledon 2006, when he faced Andre Agassi in the third round. Many picked Agassi as the favorite to win this, as Rafa was merely eliminated the round before against little known Robert Kendrick, barely advancing in 5 sets. But against Agassi he displayed a different type of tennis, playing with perfectly controlled agression and dictating the point, and cruised through in straights.
I think Rafa's mentality, as well as his humility, is something every athlete, and well, anyone really, can look up to and learn from.
This is true. But Andre wasn't exactly on his best...
Edited by Vintage Tennis Man 9/13/2009 10:32 AM
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Futures Main Draw
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imjimmy - 9/12/2009 6:16 PM
Because he improved from a one dimensional clay court player to become an all surface player which no one expected.
And most importantly, because he beat the putative GOAT (Federer) en-route to every one of his single slam wins. Do you know anyone else who's had to work so much for his slams?
Because Federer is a bad match up for Nadal, every player has a bad match up... Borg-Mac, Sampras-Agassi...
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Challenger Main Draw
Posts: 339
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In the past couple years, I have interacted with somewhat intelligent tennis fans who run the gamut from despising Nadal to literally worshipping him. Over on another tennis board, one poster argued that Nadal was the most overrated tennis player in 20 years, said that he was "pathetic" on hard courts, that he only stood 12 feet behind the baseline to play defense all match, that he would never win a non-clay slam (particularly Wimbledon), and that he could never become #1. On this board, I have encountered someone (Mikeone/spinmaster) who has said that Nadal is a perfect tennis player with no flaws or weaknesses and who comes up with infinite rationalizations for why Nadal has gotten spanked so many times on hard courts at the biggest stages.
The reality, of course, is somewhere in between, which is where I stand on Nadal and which is why I've gotten into so many tedious arguments with boneheads, both the haters and worshippers.
The honest way of assessing Nadal's hardcourt game is to first point out that he has repeatedly advanced far in the Masters and Grand Slams off of clay. That is indisputable and a sign that he is doing some things very well. What also cannot be denied is that he has been humiliated - badly, badly humilated - on hardcourts at the biggest events quite a few times. Nadal can beat anyone anywhere, but if a top-rated player with strong hard-court ability is hot, that guy can probably embarass Nadal severely. That is what happened today and on many other occassions in recent years.
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Grand Slam Champion
Posts: 3666
Location: A yard inside the baseline...
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Nadal is an all-time great - capable on all surfaces - and you'll see this some day at Flushing Meadows. He's still a work in progress, as all great players are - but you didn't see him at his best today, for a variety of reasons, del potro being just one of them.
The bandwagon will roll against Nadal, but as a fan of his, I have to say I'm quite happy with his progress, after the summer he's had (which a lot of folks will conveniently forget)...
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ATP-Level Qualifier
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Nadal and Fed are scores above the field. Their level of play might not ever been seen again for years to come.
This being said, they're going to lose sometimes. They're going to face match-up nightmares, and they're going to have injuries.
I expected Nadal to make the quarters on his worst surface, and he made the semis. He has been derailed due to injury and will be back.
For now, let all the bandwagon jumpers chose their ship. They'll be begging for a lifeline next year.
J
Edited by CanadaJ 9/13/2009 2:13 PM
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Challenger Main Draw
Posts: 339
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The list of Nadal's results supports my even-handed conclusion. First the positive in defense of Nadal. This resume is something that is impressive to anyone and a great achievement for anyone. It shows that Nadal is an elite hard-court player.
2005
Miami finalist
Montreal champion
Beijing (indoor hardcourt) champion
Madrid champion
2006
Dubai champion
IW semis
Toronto quarters
Cincinatti quarters
US Open quarters
Masters Cup semis
2007
Australian Open quarters
Indian Wells champion
Miami quarters
Montreal semis
Madrid quarters
Paris finalist
Masters Cup semis
2008
Australian Open semis
Indian Wells semis
Miami finalist
Toronto champion
Cincinatti semis
Olympics Gold Medal
US Open semis
Madrid semis
Paris quarters
2009
AO champion
Rotterdam finalist
Indian Wells champion
Miami quarters
Montreal quarters
Cincinatti semis
US Open semis
A VERY impressive, elite resume here.
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ATP-Level Qualifier
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CanadaJ - 9/13/2009 2:12 PM
Nadal and Fed are scores above the field. Their level of play might not ever been seen again for years to come.
This being said, they're going to lose sometimes. They're going to face match-up nightmares, and they're going to have injuries.
I expected Nadal to make the quarters on his worst surface, and he made the semis. He has been derailed due to injury and will be back.
For now, let all the bandwagon jumpers chose their ship. They'll be begging for a lifeline next year.
J
I am seeing it differently CanadaJ. The Fedal stronghold on this sport got loosened up a bit this year and it will continue on that path.
Some other guys will catch up on them, knock on the door and get into their living room. For now, a few are only in the kitchen 
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