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[Deleted member 231381]

Nadal missed several months last year and he's #8 in the race. He won't drop that low.

In terms of YE, I'd be surprised if he dropped anywhere below #11 at the lowest. He already has a 1300 point lead on the current #11 in the race, Monfils. The real challenge for Nadal now is to make the WTF, just to stop others getting the points - same way Murray absolutely destroyed himself to make it last year and ended up in terrible form for the actual event itself. It's still worth it to protect a #8 ranking before the AO by stopping your rival getting potential points. That said, assuming Raonic isn't back for Wimbledon and there isn't a shock slam winner from outside the current top ten, I think he'll make it. The other players who'd be on the cusp of the top 8 just aren't consistent enough.

 

[PedroPanache]

If Nadal's ranking dropped outside of the top 20 next year do you think he would retire? Federer keeps going because he loves everything about the game. Doesn't hurt that at 33 he's also good enough to be No 2 in the world.

Not saying I think he will drop outside the top 20 just putting a 'what if' out there.

Federer, even at 33, is still a contender at every slam, outside of the French perhaps. It's just that he's now extremely vulnerable to either a really bad day or a player who plays above his usual level and just blows him off court; usually it's a combination of the two. With a bit of luck, he could win another slam. I think that's what drives Federer on. I just can't imagine him continuing if he was getting knocked out in the first week year after year.

Nadal would have to pick up another injury for him to drop out of the top 20. He's too good to drop out based on him having a bad year. The one thing that would lead to early retirement is the injuries. If he drops out of the top 20 because of injuries, then yeah, I could see him retiring. That said, I'm hoping for a Ferrer like renaissance at some point, as he, even with his limited talent, can grind all day and night and he's 33. There's hope for Nadal yet. However, that's me being extremely optimistic. I think the injuries will lead to him retiring earlier than the others.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Also, Nadal won't fall much further if at all in the rankings (not race) after Wimbledon; because after Wimbledon he's only defending a single tournament, Shanghai, where he made the 2R. After Wimbledon, he defends 150 points. That's it. You're all getting a little hasty in forgetting he missed half a year. Reminds me of all those people speculating Murray would never be back after he missed half a year and did poorly for a few months after coming back and almost dropped out of the top ten too. Now he's second in the race. Nadal finishing only as #11 would still require Dimitrov to perform very well at Wimbledon, which is unlikely, and Monfils to have a consistent year, which is unlikely, and Raonic to come back and play well immediately, which is unlikely.

The real player on the "falling out of the top 20"-watch is Cilic, who defends 60% of his points in one tournament and would be ranked 24th without it.

 

[FortuneFaded]

Also, Nadal won't fall much further if at all in the rankings (not race) after Wimbledon; because after Wimbledon he's only defending a single tournament, Shanghai, where he made the 2R. After Wimbledon, he defends 150 points. That's it. You're all getting a little hasty in forgetting he missed half a year. Reminds me of all those people speculating Murray would never be back after he missed half a year and did poorly for a few months after coming back and almost dropped out of the top ten too. Now he's second in the race. Nadal finishing only as #11 would still require Dimitrov to perform very well at Wimbledon, which is unlikely, and Monfils to have a consistent year, which is unlikely, and Raonic to come back and play well immediately, which is unlikely.

I don't see Nadal getting far into Wimbledon. He got to the fourth round last time losing the first set in every match.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I don't see Nadal getting far into Wimbledon. He got to the fourth round last time losing the first set in every match.

Yeah, that's why I think he'll be at his lowest immediately after Wimbledon. From there on, it only gets better. I think he'll shuffle through the rest of this year with poor but steadily improving results, have a full off season without need for medical recovery, something he hasn't had in almost 3(?) years now, and then come back for 2016 in good form. A mirror of what Murray did, basically.

 

[szaromir]

Also, Nadal won't fall much further if at all in the rankings (not race) after Wimbledon; because after Wimbledon he's only defending a single tournament, Shanghai, where he made the 2R.

Incorrect. He reached quarters in Beijing and Basel (insignificant amount of points, but still)

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Incorrect. He reached quarters in Beijing and Basel (insignificant amount of points, but still)

Whoops. I only searched for Masters and Slams. :x Still, you get my point, the chance he goes lower than what his ranking is immediately after Wimbledon is very, very low. The recovery will begin soon.

 

[Peru]

Clijsters and Navratilova on court as a doubles team... with Nastya on the other side! What a sight.

ed. Nastya outplaying Clijsters, yes

 

[Kotetsu534]

Hard as it is to believe there are Men's Doubles records the Bryan brothers haven't yet broken, there are a couple on the line in Saturday's final:

- They can become the two Men's Doubles individual players to have won the most Grand Slams in the Open Era, at 17, instead of sharing with Todd Woodbridge at 16. They would then share John Newcombe's individual all-time record of 17 titles.
- They can become the pairing to have won the French Open the most times in the Open Era with a third title, though two players will have won it more times individually (Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor at 4 each). Currently Mirnyi/Nestor, Bryan/Bryan, Kafelnikov/Vacek, Bjorkman/Mirnyi all share the Open Era FO Men's Doubles record at 2 titles each.
- They would tie Cochet/Brugnon's all-time record of 3 Men's Doubles FO titles (won in 1927, 1930 and 1932).

The Bryans have already won the US Open and AO Men's Doubles titles more times than any other team in the Open Era, but it's unlikely they'll overtake Woodbridge/Woodforde's Wimbledon record of 6 titles (they're currently at 3).

 

[Ricker]

Cheering for Ivanovic and the underdog Timea to go the final...

 

[Peru]

I have a feeling Ana will demolish Serena today. Quote me on this in a couple of hours.

 

[Ricker]

I have a feeling Ana will demolish Serena today. Quote me on this in a couple of hours.

OK.... Ana is playing Lucie

 

[Peru]

Oops I mean saturday

I'm not sure if Timea's got the stuff to do damage but I think Serena's beatable right now.

 

[ultraspank]

Ivanisevic/Chang vs Moya/Ferrero right now.

Ivanisevic's serve still blowing my mind. FFS, he's 43 !

 

[scarlet]

Reading on twitter that Serena's cough is getting worse, oh well..

 

[Ricker]

Oops I mean saturday

I'm not sure if Timea's got the stuff to do damage but I think Serena's beatable right now.

If she nails her backhands down the line like she did against Kvitova ,Serena will have a hard time,especially with the rumours of her cough getting worst...who knows lol...

 

[Peru]

I for one do not recognise this Ivanovic. Where are her mad mid-game slumps.

 

[scarlet]

2007-2008's Ivanovic is back?

Edit: lol Peru I'm with you

 

[Ricker]

This might be the quickest first set in history lol...

 

[Milchmann]

I for one do not recognise this Ivanovic. Where are her mad mid-game slumps.

The Schweinsteiger effect.

 

[scarlet]

The Schweinsteiger effect.

The power of wiener

 

[MIMIC]

I think if, by some miracle, Djokovic hadn't made the QFs, Nadal would have succumbed to Murray or Wawrinka. They would have just bullied him off court. He's well, well short of confidence and fitness. I think there was 4 or 5 guys that would have stopped Nadal this year at Roland Garros. Form is king and his form during the clay court season has been poor.

I don't see it. ESPECIALLY regarding Murray. This isn't the first time Nadal came into RG with suspect form. Murray pushed Nadal in Rome last and and was absolutely obliterated when he played Nadal a few weeks later at the French.

 

[Milchmann]

Safarova winning three games and Ivanovic's serve is gone.

Edit: Not only the serve.

 

[MIMIC]

Ana xD

She was up 5-1?

 

[EarlyEarly]

I for one do not recognise this Ivanovic. Where are her mad mid-game slumps.

Whoop there it is

 

[John Dunbar]

Ana xD

She was up 5-1?

she was up 5-2 at one point. did have 2 break points to get to 5-1, though.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Ana.

 

[Niraj]

Yikes.

 

[scarlet]

Whoop there it is

She never left

 

[John Dunbar]

I don't see it. ESPECIALLY regarding Murray. This isn't the first time Nadal came into RG with suspect form. Murray pushed Nadal in Rome last and and was absolutely obliterated when he played Nadal a few weeks later at the French.

you don't see it because you don't want to see it.

 

[MIMIC]

If Nadal's ranking dropped outside of the top 20 next year do you think he would retire? Federer keeps going because he loves everything about the game. Doesn't hurt that at 33 he's also good enough to be No 2 in the world.

Not saying I think he will drop outside the top 20 just putting a 'what if' out there.

Bold prediction: I think that if Nadal fails to win the French next year, he will retire.

you don't see it because you don't want to see it.

You are such a hypocrite.

Anyway, why don't you speak to what I just wrote instead of going "nah uh" all the time.

 

[tycoonheart]

Ana wtf are you doing

 

[Silkworm]

That ball toss by Ana.... :-\ I know that feeling all too well :-(

 

[MIMIC]

Serena is gonna absolutely breeze to her triple Career Slam.

 

[John Dunbar]

You are such a hypocrite.

Anyway, why don't you speak to what I just wrote instead of going "nah uh" all the time.

that's funny, considering you didn't even reply to my last two posts to you, including me flat out asking you what your point was when you claimed i missed it.

you djokovic fans just need to accept what us federer fans have accepted long time ago: your guy couldn't beat nadal in decent form at the french. when djokovic claimed he could beat nadal 7 years ago nobody thought he was talking about a nadal who gets regularly routined by fognini. last year was the absolute last chance to prove he could do it, and he failed. that's just how it goes.

and to address what you wrote: you have been going on and on how djokovic would have beaten nadal in 2011 because he was owning him all year, but now that the entire tour has been owning him, even on clay, somehow that doesn't count. because apparently in this case nadal at the french is a different proposition because it fits your argument.

 

[MIMIC]

you djokovic fans just need to accept what us federer fans have accepted long time ago: your guy couldn't beat nadal in decent form at the french. when djokovic claimed he could beat nadal 7 years ago nobody thought he was talking about a nadal getting regularly routined by fognini. last year was the absolute last chance to prove he could do it, and he failed. that's just how it goes.

I knew Djokovic beating Nadal at the French was going to rile up Fed nation. xD Nadal could be in a wheelchair with both hands tied behind his back and would still beat Federer at the French. He couldn't even beat Nadal as a teenager at the French.

It's pretty incredible (not to mention a little delusional) to think that anyone was just going to beat Nadal at RG. It's no coincidence that the person with the most recorded clay wins (and overall victories) on Nadal was the guy to beat him.

and to address what you wrote: you have been going on and on how djokovic would have beaten nadal in 2011 because he was owning him all year, but now that the entire tour has been owning him, even on clay, somehow that doesn't count. because apparently in this case nadal at the french is a different proposition because it fits your argument.

LIKE LAST YEAR?

 

[scarlet]

This match is really bad.

 

[Peru]

I jinxed Ana.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Whichever one of these makes the final is going to get roasted playing like this. :x What happened to Tuesday's Safarova? She was on fire.

 

[Peru]

Yeah now I'm getting salty about how this turned out. Understandable first final looming nerves from safa but still.

 

[scarlet]

He couldn't even beat Nadal as a teenager at the French.

And Djokovic can?

 

[Niraj]

I think Lucie will be playing for the doubles final as well. Pretty impressive.

Ana just gifted that one

 

[cackhyena]

I hate Djokovic. He's a little bitch as soon as the wind blows a different direction than he pleases...but he's undeniably great. Nadal v Joker on clay and both in their prime? I could see it going either way.

 

[John Dunbar]

LIKE LAST YEAR?

that is pretty much exactly in line with what i said: last year nadal was clearly in decline and still got it done at the french. this year, however, is not decline. it's straight up crash. the fact that you equate nadal's 2014 season to this one is enough to reveal just how desperate you are for some bizarre validation. dude, beating clay beast nadal is not a requirement to win the french open. your guy is still going to win the french*, but his quarter-final opponent will still have been a balding cripple.

*i don't want to upset you any more than i already have, so i will not rub in clayray's inevitable victory.

 

[scarlet]

This is one of those matches where you win cuz your opponents play worse.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Yeah now I'm getting salty about how this turned out. Understandable first final looming nerves from safa but still.

I hope she works those nerves out because genuinely, if she plays like she did against Muguruza she can beat Serena, especially on clay. If this version turns up, though...

 

[Niraj]

What an ugly game

 

[Deleted member 231381]

How on earth did she miss that?

 

[scarlet]

LOL I give up, just going to sleep.

 

[Smellycat]

omg

5-5