Tennis: French Open 2022

[MsMeow]

I had to avoid all social media because I was working till around 11. What a performance by Rafa, what can you say? He is on another planet when it comes to clay. I just read that his foot has been numb for almost the entire tournament and that he needs to find a solution, so who knows, if that's going to cause problems for the rest of his life, maybe that was the last match.

Props to Ruud for making it to his first final. I really like him and hope he continues to improve. Now let's see what happens at Wimbledon.

 

[Troubadour]

I remember when people were claiming that Sampras' record of 14 GS titles would never be bettered in our lifetime. Now Rafa has that many in one tournament.

Rafa has as many RG titles as Sampras does GS titles. Let that sink in.

Ironically, Rafa now has as many majors from that one grand slam Sampras never won as Pistol Pete has from all combined. But that's not even the most amazing stat about the man.

The one overlooked stat is that he has been going on his seventeenth straight year in top ten. He still hadn't celebrated his nineteenth birthday by the time he cracked the top ten in 2005 which means if he can stay in for another two years, he will have spent a half of his life in top ten! That's just... dumb.

Another masterclass.

Nadal on clay is the most dominant version of any athlete in any sport ever. Incredible what he just achieved despite his injury.

I will nitpick a bit, but I would suggest the RG Nadal is the most dominant version of any athlete in any sport ever. His overall clay winning pct. is between 91 and 92, which, while outstanding, may still come short of making him the undisputed most dominant jock ever when measured against all the greats across all the sports. With the exception of his 05 -- 07 unbeaten run, he was always somewhat beatable, although it usually required a hell of an effort even for the best of the best.

It's his 97 winning pct. at Roland Garros that seals the deal. He still remains unbeaten in the final of perhaps the most mentally and physically challenging tennis tournament -- after all those years. It's incredible. If he somehow snatches the one played in 2024 (or later), he will be twice as old winning the last one as he was getting the first one. Even remaining in competition for something like that is ridiculous.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Another interesting stat : Nadal has now won more than a third of the Grand Slams he’s ever played (34%). That’s just crazy.

For comparisons, Djokovic is at 30% and Federer is at 25%.

 

[kihei]

Looking at the statistics from the match, four results really stand out:

1) Dominant first service: Nadal first served at 64% and won a whopping 82% of those points.
2) Excellent net play: Rafa was 17/23 at the net, winning 77% of his net points.
3) For the first time this tournament: Rudd made more unforced errors (23) than did his opponent (21)
3) Rafa's backhand really showed up: 20 of Rafa's 37 winners came on the backhand side as opposed to 4 for Ruud out of 16.

 

[Maestro84]

There were some pretty strong suggestions from Rafa's camp that he would skip Wimbledon this year. Now I wonder how he can resist.

He'd be crazy not to play Wimbledon. There's no one in the field this year and his game might actually suit grass better these days with the shorter points. He's also halfway to the CYGS which is something he's never been in before

 

[Maestro84]

Zverev himself said it's pretty serious.

Yeah based on the way he described it it's gonna be tough to predict when he comes back. If he makes it back for the US Open it will be quite a recovery from him, I truly wish him the best this is awful awful news

 

[Foppberg]

Rafa in his press conference said that he had injections into the nerve of his foot in order to play. The way that he keeps stressing the need for a long term solution tells me unless he finds something, he won't be playing for much longer.

 

[kihei]

Players our or potentially out of Wimbledon:

Medvedev
Nadal
Zverev
Rublev
Berrettini

That's five of the top ten players, if it falls that way.

One last French Open stat:

Points 4 shots and under

Nadal 28
Ruud: 27

Points 5 shots and longer:

Nadal: 58
Ruud: 28

 

[John Price]

 

[DangeRouss]

Nadal is the armstrong of tennis

 

[MsMeow]

This was a fabulous interview

 

[kihei]

This was a fabulous interview

What made that "a fabulous interview"?

 

[MsMeow]

His honesty and humility. I've rarely seen him speak in a non-tennis setting, maybe never. He's such a nice person.

 

[Foppberg]

Spoiler: NSFW Zverev injury

Worst angle I've seen of it, yikes.