Perhaps its time Rafa puts the FO in the backseat and concentrate on winning more wimbledon titles?

Question

Rafa just dispatched Djoker in humiliating straight sets, making it the 4th consecutive time he'd made it to Roland Garros final. Provided he wins, isn't it time he concetrates on winning Wimbledon?(where he have had more success as compared to the hardcourts slams).

bcoz no matter what happens at this year's final, Rafa have nothing left to prove at the French Open.He'll go down as one of the clay legends and thats huge for someone whose only 22.

Answer 1

Tennis is the best talks rubbish. Rafa has improved tremendously on hardcourt surfaces and his won a few titles there, lets just not jump to any conclusions before hardcourt season comes upon us eh deary ? :) Rafa may just surprise you !!! Providing he is fully fit he can win any surface for sure.

He outplayed Novak today his tennis was on top form, end of story. Even Novaks ridiculous attempt to break Rafa`s rhythm backfired. Did anyone else hear he asked for a toilet break when Rafa was serving for the second set...how unbelievable is that ? Seriously....also his camp shouting ``break his rhythm, do anything`` Yes well Conrgats to Rafa for making his 4th final at RG.

Wimbldeon... He can WIN it !!! He doesnt need to concentrate anymore, luck was on rogers side last year that 5setter, rafa had break points but couldnt convert in the final set at wimby:( ! Anyway lets just concentrate on the French and see what happens at wimby. If anyone deserves a Wimbledon titles its Nadal considering he`s made the last to finals there ok so first final was 4 sets but the 2nd final 5, he`s closing in on roger at wimby for sure.

VAMOS IM SOOO HAPPY :) !

Here we go with tennis is the best mouthing off friggin statistics...haha get over it. You`ll see. Who knows how Rafa will perform this year on hardcourts you cant just assume from previous matches its soooo annoying for you to do so.  You must realise Roger Federer is the BEST then?

Answer 2

Wasn't he trying to do that the past 2 years? Didn't he make the finals? Or did he not win them because he didn't concentrate hard enough? To me he tried hard both times. First time fed outplayed him, 2nd time fed got very lucky in that 5th set (it was Rafa's wimby last year). I don't see anything more Rafa can do.

Humiliating straight sets?... looks to me as though Nole had the heart to come back from 2 breaks down and nearly take that 3rd set 7-5 (he had a set point), but just fell short.

The hardcourt season starts after wimby... Rafa will be at the receiving end there.

xRafaGirl18x, here's the rubbish I was referring to (this year):

Rafa vs:

Youzhny: bagel and breadstick

Tsonga: 2,3 and 2

Nole: 3 and 2

Davy also (yuck): 4 and 2

He did defeat Blake this year but that was barely. You don't defeat someone like Blake barely, you gotta own him. I don't see Rafa doing any better on hardcourt unless he changes his style of play drastically.

lol no, that doesn't change my position on federer. But, now that you brought it up it only worsens Rafa's losses further.. u know losing to no good players (barring Nole). It would only mean had he been playing the previous era he'd lose quite often in the early rounds (and quite badly too) at the hard courts.

Answer 3

I still have this feeling inside that Roger can win Rafa in the final on sunday. I have confidence in him. This is Roger's time. It's now or never. Allez Roger. Let's not jump to any conclusions in Wimbledon and the rest of the season, because Rafa may surprise us. I just know that this time, Roger will the win the french open. He's not going to let it slip from his hands time.

Answer 4

I don't think the final is the time to put FO in the backseat and concentrate on Wimbledon.  Clay courts are his, but he still shouldn't get too relaxed on them.  Although I agree that the way he's playing right now, I don't think anyone stands a chance of dethroning him.

Once grass season comes around, he should concentrate on grass, but during the other times, there's no reason for him to concentrate on just grass.  If anything, he needs to work more on his hard-court game to make himself better all-around.  And my guess is that's what he's been doing, hence the first semifinal at Australian this year.

Answer 5

Rafa's game here at RG this year has everyone catching flies with their mouths open; he hasn't dropped a single set so far. I think  he has reached the final winning in straight sets in every match. Is this correct? It is hard to imagine that even Federer can win this year. But the final isn't over till it's over so I'll keep my fingers crossed for Nadal.

People have forgotten just how much Rafa has improved both on grass and on hard. Just 2 or 3 years ago everybody was really trashing his game on both these surfaces and dismissing him as just another great Spanish clay court player.

His improvement at Wimbledon has been spectacular and his improvement on hard courts is there for anyone who wants to check the archives. It's slower and not as dramatic but this has a lot to do with when the hard court season is played - after RG and after WBLN. By then,Rafa has usually accumulated a lot of injuries and stress fatigue.

I tend to agree that Rafa next year should take it easy on clay(where he has nothing to prove) and rest more for the grass and hard courts.

I wonder when his Uncle Tony(coach) is going to start reading this Q&A and hire us all as his advisors??(ha,ha)

EDIT: to the person who mentioned this :

I did SEE (not hear) the Djoker asking the judge something (permission for a toilet break??) but I saw the judge shaking his head.

Maybe that was a diversion tactic bu,t really,maybe Djokovic needed to take a leak. If i were up against Nadal on a day when he plays like he did today,I'd want to pee too!! Wouldn't you?

Answer 6

Rafa's game is suited for clay

he's done really well on grass but thats partly because the courts are ALOT SLOWER

10 years ago nadal wouldn't have gone past the 3rd round at wimbledon which really makes Agassi's achievements that much greater

i think this years wimbeldon final will be novak/rog