When Djokovic plays his best tennis, that’s probably the highest level I’ve seen. I’ve seen him live playing in 2015/16 - crazy level. Even he can’t reach that level again
I saw him at US Open up close in 2011. Was that the year he won 40+ matches in a row? It was awesome. I want to see him play again like that. It was a great year, but then 2016 was awesome too. And las year, OMG, after getting mistreated like that. I saw a boring Nadal Fognini match in Miami. It was a shame because I love FF but he was a dud in that match. He sometimes has attitude . Would have liked to see him agains better competition
Amy, You said exactly what I've been thinking. The extra muscle for Novak is definitely because of Alcaraz and Rune. Novak planned on hitting the ball this hard on the forehand and serve regardless of his hamstring injury. The only way for him to take time away from Alcaraz and Rune in the head to head matchup is to hit the ball consistently harder while taking the ball early. Some of the big matches that Novak has lost over the years were against players with power that were able to basically take the racquet out of Djokovic's hands and Djokovic was dependent on them missing. Examples: Losses to Wawrinka and Thiem come to mind. Alcaraz and Rune can definitely take the racquet out of his hands as well and I think Djokovic doesn't want to be so dependent on them not being in the zone and hoping his defense will win out against their offense. And this is a way to be able to take matters into his own hands at least more often during the match. It definitely felt like that more in the Alcaraz match that he lost than the Rune match. Alcaraz really took control with his forehand at times and Novak was powerless to stop him.
Joel - LOVE the Monopoly, Doris Day & Einstein references! So perfect. The GS's race is up for grabs. Rafa's hip & Nole's leg - they seem to have different body types or maybe Novak's just not a normal body for a 35-36 year old. Also love the Joel take on so many pieces in a row from Jan-22 to Jan-23. Start/Stop for Rafa & agree with Gill on the NON-win/win pieces for Nadal's confidence & time off. R1 & R2 for Rafa did not look good. Agree with Amy on Nadal, HE WILL BE BACK. Agree with the lack of depth, power & serve w/poor movement for Rafa. Novak is a match-by-match piece with that leg - we'll see what happens. R3 should be good for Novak - BUT - R4+ with cool conditions & a heavy ball may be a tougher challenge with leg issues. Nole's tennis looks pretty solid. The serve, tactics, execution & toughness are at that high level. Thanks guys - Amy, Joel & Gill. Great stuff as always. Best, Milan
I requested Amy just few hours ago on twitter for this talk and here it is. Thanks very much :) Rafa will be back. He will not retire. He understands what Roger is missing. He will not miss. Will be a loss to Novak too to win against non-Rogers and non-Rafas, if Rafa retires. It will not happen Rafa actually looks more leaner than before
We hope he will be back but he's not winning matches and is losing 10 out of his last 12 matches. Only 1 player in open era has ever won a major over 37. That's Ken Rosewell Australian open 1972!!!
@@MrBjorn6 Very very honestly. I actually don't care who wins the grand slams. I am desperate for quality matches. I saw very low quality in AO23 until now. Novak match is an exception. Andy's performance is an exception (but is of poor quality if seen from Berrettini's perspective) I'm clearly seeing the loss of quality due to Roger missing. When there is quality, like AO12, AO17, Wim19, etc -- the eventually champ doesn't matter -- to me. I used to love watching Serena, Osaka, Halep -- all provide different types of quality. Serena : sudden thunders. Halep: Doesn't give up at all, excellent defense. Osaka: Attacking style, like Roger. But these also aren't there. Kvitova isn't like before. Iga is doing gr8. We might get gr8 quality from her and Ons (excellent playing style) in upcoming matches, when the opponent becomes tougher Rafa class is there, as we know. He will make up for poor performances once his body becomes good. Body is the main hurdle. Unfortunate
@@madhukiranattivilli2321 Its only natural that any player loses their physicality at ripe age of 36+ after literally abusing it for over 25+ yrs. He should have made changes to his game style like novak to reduce the impact on his body. But Rafa's gamestyle is very unique. Its not easy to make amendments to that defensive style that easy. no? Natural cycle of life. But dont worry, he should be back on RG. In fact its not his body actually, its the low bouncing ball - faster courts - cloudy weather - indoor conditions that have undone him in the past few months. Once on clay and in sunny weather, you will again see Rafa, who will appear MIRACULOUS suddenly.
@@guruk Yes low bounce high speed courts are likeable to Roger and Novak more than Rafa But he definitely got injured. And this injury can happen any where At the end of everything... it's utter disappointment to have lost the chance of a Novak Rafa finals Now, Novak too is limping. Lost set2 in R2
Unfortunately, we have to expect a death throw game for Djokovic vs Dimitrov. Can't see Nole going through vs Rune with 1 leg if he manage to go past Grigor.
Well said Amy, Rafa should not be playing exos for the next year or so - this is legacy time for Rafa and Novak and there’s very little time left to maximise any opportunities left to build on the slam count. It looks like FO is his only realistic option for adding to slam count, and who knows maybe he can seriously challenger there the next 2 or 3 years. If he wins say 2 more FO over the next 18 months (doesn’t seem impossible?) then he’s at 24 slams and Novak needs to win 4 to surpass him, won’t be easy as Novak is 36 soon and slowing down markedly. I just hope they don’t finish tied, would like to see a clear winner at the top no matter who it is : )
He said in his Spanish presser that Doha and Dubai are on his schedule. But he said that it will depend on the results of the MRI and the doctor’s recommendations.
nole had not confirmed his attendance into the tourney back then. Last week nole confirmed his presence, so rafa... dont xpect him to be there now 😂.. irrespective of his MRI results.
Analyze Novak's post match winning gesture. Hands up to the sky, down through his body & onto the crowds. What does it mean? He is the most spiritually aware athlete on the planet. Orthodox faith. Analyze the gesture & think about it. The divine creative spirit manifested through the vessel of Djokovics body & expressed into reality. He is giving thanks for the manifestation of his creative spirit. He talks a lot about being in the present moment, & transforming negative energy into positive outcomes.
I thought Draper would beat Nadal but McDonald did. Is that all for Nadal?. He literally can’t beat someone like Alkaraz, Zverev or Rublev who can crush the balls. Djokovic is at a whole different level. This is the beginning of the end.
@@dushandvr5765 its the conditions that have undone Rafa. His gamestyle is not suited for indoor and low bouncy courts. Give him clay high bouncy courts and u will see him bounce back again. DOnt worry... he has 1 more RG GS in him.
@@guruk That we will see, everything is open. And btw that same Nadal won AO last year, so it's not the same, he declined, how much I don't know, look how many matches he lost after RG last year.
Novak's hamstring looks bad... Like he's crushing those FH, yeah, great serve, but as you said: the balls make these court so slow especially in the night sessions, so he needs his movement to be able to compete against very best. It's not like in 2021, when the court were like really fast, and he just kept blasting every ball. He can't move well, he can't stretch esp. on his BH & return. Better players will take advantage of it. Hearing the way Novak speaks about it is even more concerning. He sounds defeated. Just coz he once won despite caring a bad injury doesn’t mean he can do it again, especially considering how old he is. Damnn, it sucks so much, cuz he is really hitting the ball well, it’s his favourite slam, the draw is good, but I just can’t be optimistic about his chances vs. let’s say Rune cuz the kid will make him hit shots from uncomfortable positions time after time
I'm confused with the analysis. Isn't this a new injury (in comparison to last year)! Last year it was predominantly the abdomen. Isn't this the case of bad luck that Rafa is hit with this new injury inspite of taking good care of his body? My point is... why should he skip every thing until Monte Carlo? How will he get match practice? Don't u think it can be boring and demotivating to stay in practice sessions for so many months and not have the real matches? Sorry for writing so many points... but my main feeling is... any injury Rafa gets, he will overcome, because he succeeded (as per him) in overcoming the chronic foot problem that has been frustrating him since 2 decades. We know he announced that they found a doctor who cud take care of it!
No.. its not bad luck. Its his physical style of play taking its toll on his 36 yr+ body. Its only natural. Infact commentators were writing him off during his late 20s but he manged it well. He shud have adjusted his physical grinding game style but he stuck to it and is paying its price. Nevertheless, who wud complain when he has 22 GS. He is an overachiever already.😇
My suggestion would be to go for clay court season and to do that he should play 250 clay court events 500 anything on clay till Montecarlo starts that should give him wins and confidence
You’re right that he should rest and rehab until clay season. He could win a few more on that surface. He should talk to Becker. He has half his life to live in that body.
Unless he's trying to deceive his opponents, I can't see Djokovic going the distance with his worsening hamstring injury. Given the fact he currently only has three chances to win a major this year, there's added pressure to win the slams in which he's allowed to compete. And given his vastly better chances of winning the AO than the FO, I can understand him wanting to push his body past the point at which it's wise to do so, but I worry he'll make his injury worse, an outcome that could force the soon-to-be 36-year-old to miss the clay court and grass court seasons as he recovers. He will miss, obviously, most of the North American swing. This would affect his ranking, which would affect his qualification for the ATP Finals. A real domino effect could occur as a result of Djokovic's injury and what he decides to do about it if it worsens. May governing wisdom and improving health be Djokovic's in abundance. Prudence, Nole. Prudence.
As long as he wins Wimbledon, he'll still qualify for the WTFs if he stays in the top 20 by the end of the year. Hopefully not going to US in the spring will be enough time to recover for clay season.
These guys like mainstream media beat round the bush a lot. Gill superficially covered a lil but the bottomline is, Rafa aint an all court player... period. And with him now a step slower, his weakness is amplified that's it. Non clay surface, cloudy weather (with ball not bouncing high), roof closed due to rain and an in form player with good serving day and redlining made things worse for Rafa. Rafa from past few years, needs so many things aligned perfectly in his favor to win on non clay surface. Come clay season, particularly on RG - phillippe chatrier, everything will be perfect for him. CLAYDAL MIRACULOUSLY entices his fans and his ATP bosses. 😇😉
"CLAYDAL" MIRACULOUSLY has the fourth most wins OF ALL TIME on hard courts with 513 wins, 6 grand slams and has won more tour-level matches on hard courts than on any other surface. "CLAYDAL" has MIRACULOUSLY reached 5 Wimbledon finals, winning twice and beating the best grass player of all time in one of those with a win percentage of 79.2% on grass is comparable to Andy Murray's 81.8% (and that is statistically Murray's best surface) Stats don't lie and they don't back up goobers like you who are in every Nadal video comment section typing CLADAL in caps. Nadal: 25 tournaments wins on hard, 63 on clay, 4 on grass (83.1% win percentage) Djokovic: 66 on hard, 18 clay, 8 grass. (83.5%) You're an all court player if you've won on all courts. That's it. Period.
Seeing the dip in form of Nadal I see it very hard for him to come back to the highest level. Yes he has done it before but it never looked as bad as it did today and given his age I wouldn't be surprised if he never won a gs from now on. On the other hand novak seems primed to win AO, FO and wimbledon this year. The level of tennis he has shown after wimbledon and even this year shown no stopping and given Nadal was one of the few players who could have stopped him, I don't see a young alcaraz and rune coming in his way. Daniil is virtually invisible after the hc season until it comes back. We can maybe see a novak domination this and the next year with the way things are going irrespective of his age. Keep in mind Nadal was the same age Novak is now when he won the GS tournaments but the only difference I see is that Novak has been quite injury free compared to Nadal.
I agree that Rafa will not retire just yet, but since this show was made it has been confirmed that Rafa has injured the main muscle of his hip flexor & is out for 8 weeks. That guarantees that Rafa cannot return until the claycourt season & his ranking will dip outside the top 10 almost certainly for the first time in 18 years. The other issue is that Rafa's loss of confidence is linked to the physical issues as it was in 2015. Then there was a path back through persistence & it took him two years to get back to a high level again as he adjusted & tweaked his game with Carlos Moya's help. Rafa doesn't have that luxury this time at 36 nearly 37 & unless the hip is magically healed & Rafa starts moving like he did at Roland Garros in 2022 he cannot be competitive & win that title for a 15th time. It is now a situation of diminishing returns unless the body feels good after rehab & he starts winning matches on clay & perhaps one of the Masters series events in Monte Carlo, Madrid or Rome. Perhaps a semi final showing in one of these tournaments or in Barcelona would allow Rafa to build confidence to peak & win Roland Garros once again. Frankly it is his only hope. What happened last year was a miracle in Melbourne helped by his body feeling good, or good enough, & the wins just kept coming. The numbing of the foot allowed Rafa to move well & win Roland Garros despite the setback in Rome which followed the rib problem at Indian Wells. This time the path will be even more precipitous. We are so used to seeing Rafa pull off the near impossible that we kind of expect him to find a way. 36 to 37 is when natural decline begins to accelerate which some freakish athletes can delay just that little bit longer but only when they are uninjured. For Rafa to do it this time would trump all of his other incredible comebacks.
Re Djoker, I am not convinced that whacking on weight will help his game especially if it was 10-15 pounds. Now whether Djoker can win 5 more best of 5 set matches with a hamstring problem remains to be seen. Djoker wants it badly, but we have to be careful in assuming that he will get through & win again. Perhaps Dimitrov can push him, or DeMinaur, or Daniel Medvedev. Maybe the Djoker will succumb to this injury, but frankly I will believe it when I see it. I still expect the Djoker to win this title for the 10th time unless his hamstring tears badly. Let's see what happens.
is djokovic still vegan? a while ago there was an article published saying he went almost vegan after discovering his gluten allergy, and that he was still eating chicken and salmon at the time. then I read that he had cut the chicken and salmon out and was completely vegan. consider how lean he was, I believed it, but now I'm wondering how he gained a bunch of muscle without meat. I'm not into lifting and gains and stuff, but I always though that was tough without meat.
here’s the thing Nole won AO in very convincing fashion and moving forward no top player wants to have him on hos side of the draw while Nadal since wimbledon has been going fro bad to worse losing to all kind of average players and moving forward more players are starting to like thier chances against Nadal and and beat him in early rounds
Wimbledon ??? No chance.. I mean I would love it..but no chance.. His last chance was Wimbledon 2018 where he was so close on defeating Novak..so close but so far..
@@Abhi_upstate_ny Play well for 3 months, be shit/injured for 9 months that’s how he rolls these days and manages to stay in top 10 As a nadal fan, it is truly a Rollercoaster to watch him
Nadal Wimbledon. Are u joking. Its a fast surface with low bounce. The balls skid on grass court. grass is nadal’s worst surface. There is no way Nadal will win Wimbledon. Wimbledon surface is complete opposite of French open.
Nadal is going to have an inverse of last year..bad 1st half and then have a great second half of 2023.. Never count Rafa out..will end year with 24 grandslams
For sure Novak is trying to develop tools in his toolbox to end points earlier. He has to. Once upon a time, he could outlast everyone on shot tolerance. Now, the likes of Medvedev, Zverev, Alcaraz, Sinner and many more young guns are doing the same and will do that better. A passive Novak will not outlast Medvedev and Zverev (the old Zverev). I remember watching Novak's 2022 Wimbledon match with Sinner. Novak ran out of gas after a few high-intensity points and took a set to recover!
I don't think Rafa can continue playing the very physical game he always plays as his body physically ages. He'll need to completely change his style if he wants to play more years. I predict him winning 1-2 more slams and then retiring.
Just a short while ago you all agreed that Nadal was the Player of the Year 2022. That should have given him tons of confidence for January 2023 Well, it didn't work. Hmmm.
Amy is so right, rafa should take a long break, and heal his body, and get ready for CLAY season, unfortunately, rafa will not listen, and all people people in his team just listen to nadal. nadal is NOT being smart at all
Friends... you .. he is not injured... the last 8 matches... he won 2 and the last victory was in the first round of the AU because the opponent (Draper) was injured. The fact is that he is not ready and can only play on clay in the future. No harm...that's the truth.He played better in the 3rd set when he was injured than in the first two when he was not injured.
R u implying he is faking? If that's what u mean, what will he get by faking instead of giving his best even if he ends up losing? One can go only a limited distance with dishonest means. NO?
@@madhukiranattivilli2321 1. he is writing "if not injured he wud have over 30 GS" legacy and the narrative of invincibility which are propogated well by the western media and his fans with full pomp 🤷♂🤷♂🤷♂ 2. What a fighter, he lost not bcoz of his opponent. Rafa lost only because he was injured narrative. 3. He is an excellent all court player. He is injured on non clay surfaces only bcoz hard is hard on his knees narrative. That's what he will get by faking. No?
I agree he played better in the third but that doesn’t mean he was faking. I think he played a different match because he wanted to shorten the points and it was working.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
When Djokovic plays his best tennis, that’s probably the highest level I’ve seen. I’ve seen him live playing in 2015/16 - crazy level. Even he can’t reach that level again
I saw him at US Open up close in 2011. Was that the year he won 40+ matches in a row? It was awesome. I want to see him play again like that. It was a great year, but then 2016 was awesome too. And las year, OMG, after getting mistreated like that. I saw a boring Nadal Fognini match in Miami. It was a shame because I love FF but he was a dud in that match. He sometimes has attitude . Would have liked to see him agains better competition
@@MBB9394 43 matches yes
Amy,
You said exactly what I've been thinking. The extra muscle for Novak is definitely because of Alcaraz and Rune. Novak planned on hitting the ball this hard on the forehand and serve regardless of his hamstring injury. The only way for him to take time away from Alcaraz and Rune in the head to head matchup is to hit the ball consistently harder while taking the ball early. Some of the big matches that Novak has lost over the years were against players with power that were able to basically take the racquet out of Djokovic's hands and Djokovic was dependent on them missing. Examples: Losses to Wawrinka and Thiem come to mind. Alcaraz and Rune can definitely take the racquet out of his hands as well and I think Djokovic doesn't want to be so dependent on them not being in the zone and hoping his defense will win out against their offense. And this is a way to be able to take matters into his own hands at least more often during the match. It definitely felt like that more in the Alcaraz match that he lost than the Rune match. Alcaraz really took control with his forehand at times and Novak was powerless to stop him.
Joel - LOVE the Monopoly, Doris Day & Einstein references! So perfect. The GS's race is up for grabs. Rafa's hip & Nole's leg - they seem to have different body types or maybe Novak's just not a normal body for a 35-36 year old. Also love the Joel take on so many pieces in a row from Jan-22 to Jan-23. Start/Stop for Rafa & agree with Gill on the NON-win/win pieces for Nadal's confidence & time off. R1 & R2 for Rafa did not look good. Agree with Amy on Nadal, HE WILL BE BACK. Agree with the lack of depth, power & serve w/poor movement for Rafa. Novak is a match-by-match piece with that leg - we'll see what happens. R3 should be good for Novak - BUT - R4+ with cool conditions & a heavy ball may be a tougher challenge with leg issues. Nole's tennis looks pretty solid. The serve, tactics, execution & toughness are at that high level. Thanks guys - Amy, Joel & Gill. Great stuff as always. Best, Milan
Thanks Milan!
@@amylundy8664 ☺
Thanks for another great show!
Joel, I really got a kick out of "Death row tennis" 😂
I requested Amy just few hours ago on twitter for this talk and here it is. Thanks very much :)
Rafa will be back. He will not retire. He understands what Roger is missing. He will not miss.
Will be a loss to Novak too to win against non-Rogers and non-Rafas, if Rafa retires. It will not happen
Rafa actually looks more leaner than before
We hope he will be back but he's not winning matches and is losing 10 out of his last 12 matches. Only 1 player in open era has ever won a major over 37. That's Ken Rosewell Australian open 1972!!!
@@MrBjorn6 Very very honestly. I actually don't care who wins the grand slams. I am desperate for quality matches. I saw very low quality in AO23 until now. Novak match is an exception. Andy's performance is an exception (but is of poor quality if seen from Berrettini's perspective)
I'm clearly seeing the loss of quality due to Roger missing.
When there is quality, like AO12, AO17, Wim19, etc -- the eventually champ doesn't matter -- to me.
I used to love watching Serena, Osaka, Halep -- all provide different types of quality. Serena : sudden thunders. Halep: Doesn't give up at all, excellent defense. Osaka: Attacking style, like Roger. But these also aren't there. Kvitova isn't like before.
Iga is doing gr8. We might get gr8 quality from her and Ons (excellent playing style) in upcoming matches, when the opponent becomes tougher
Rafa class is there, as we know. He will make up for poor performances once his body becomes good. Body is the main hurdle. Unfortunate
@@madhukiranattivilli2321 Its only natural that any player loses their physicality at ripe age of 36+ after literally abusing it for over 25+ yrs. He should have made changes to his game style like novak to reduce the impact on his body. But Rafa's gamestyle is very unique. Its not easy to make amendments to that defensive style that easy. no?
Natural cycle of life.
But dont worry, he should be back on RG. In fact its not his body actually, its the low bouncing ball - faster courts - cloudy weather - indoor conditions that have undone him in the past few months. Once on clay and in sunny weather, you will again see Rafa, who will appear MIRACULOUS suddenly.
The copium is real
@@guruk Yes low bounce high speed courts are likeable to Roger and Novak more than Rafa
But he definitely got injured. And this injury can happen any where
At the end of everything... it's utter disappointment to have lost the chance of a Novak Rafa finals
Now, Novak too is limping. Lost set2 in R2
Very grateful for your work, dear three. Thank you again.
Thanks Beth 🙏🏻
@@amylundy8664 Amy how old are you
You look so young and vibrant
Unfortunately, we have to expect a death throw game for Djokovic vs Dimitrov. Can't see Nole going through vs Rune with 1 leg if he manage to go past Grigor.
Lol
Well said Amy, Rafa should not be playing exos for the next year or so - this is legacy time for Rafa and Novak and there’s very little time left to maximise any opportunities left to build on the slam count. It looks like FO is his only realistic option for adding to slam count, and who knows maybe he can seriously challenger there the next 2 or 3 years. If he wins say 2 more FO over the next 18 months (doesn’t seem impossible?) then he’s at 24 slams and Novak needs to win 4 to surpass him, won’t be easy as Novak is 36 soon and slowing down markedly. I just hope they don’t finish tied, would like to see a clear winner at the top no matter who it is : )
Greetings for you from Belgrade .🙂
He said in his Spanish presser that Doha and Dubai are on his schedule. But he said that it will depend on the results of the MRI and the doctor’s recommendations.
nole had not confirmed his attendance into the tourney back then. Last week nole confirmed his presence, so rafa... dont xpect him to be there now 😂.. irrespective of his MRI results.
I loved “Reinvesting in the factory.”
Interesting how little coverage you've given to Djoko changing all his team - again. But this time it's working, unlike the Pepe fiasco.
Djokovic 78-80 kg is his natural weight. He was about 75 kg for years now. 3 kg of active muscle in his case does wonders for his pace.
Analyze Novak's post match winning gesture. Hands up to the sky, down through his body & onto the crowds. What does it mean? He is the most spiritually aware athlete on the planet. Orthodox faith. Analyze the gesture & think about it. The divine creative spirit manifested through the vessel of Djokovics body & expressed into reality. He is giving thanks for the manifestation of his creative spirit. He talks a lot about being in the present moment, & transforming negative energy into positive outcomes.
I thought Draper would beat Nadal but McDonald did. Is that all for Nadal?. He literally can’t beat someone like Alkaraz, Zverev or Rublev who can crush the balls. Djokovic is at a whole different level. This is the beginning of the end.
I would wait until RG but if he loses there it is over
@@dushandvr5765 Djokovic can beat Rafa at RG 2023 with current form
@@dushandvr5765 its the conditions that have undone Rafa. His gamestyle is not suited for indoor and low bouncy courts. Give him clay high bouncy courts and u will see him bounce back again. DOnt worry... he has 1 more RG GS in him.
@@guruk I like your confidence in your idol but he is cooked! Watch and see what happens at RG!
@@guruk That we will see, everything is open. And btw that same Nadal won AO last year, so it's not the same, he declined, how much I don't know, look how many matches he lost after RG last year.
Novak's hamstring looks bad... Like he's crushing those FH, yeah, great serve, but as you said: the balls make these court so slow especially in the night sessions, so he needs his movement to be able to compete against very best. It's not like in 2021, when the court were like really fast, and he just kept blasting every ball. He can't move well, he can't stretch esp. on his BH & return. Better players will take advantage of it. Hearing the way Novak speaks about it is even more concerning. He sounds defeated. Just coz he once won despite caring a bad injury doesn’t mean he can do it again, especially considering how old he is. Damnn, it sucks so much, cuz he is really hitting the ball well, it’s his favourite slam, the draw is good, but I just can’t be optimistic about his chances vs. let’s say Rune cuz the kid will make him hit shots from uncomfortable positions time after time
I'm confused with the analysis. Isn't this a new injury (in comparison to last year)! Last year it was predominantly the abdomen. Isn't this the case of bad luck that Rafa is hit with this new injury inspite of taking good care of his body?
My point is... why should he skip every thing until Monte Carlo? How will he get match practice?
Don't u think it can be boring and demotivating to stay in practice sessions for so many months and not have the real matches?
Sorry for writing so many points... but my main feeling is... any injury Rafa gets, he will overcome, because he succeeded (as per him) in overcoming the chronic foot problem that has been frustrating him since 2 decades. We know he announced that they found a doctor who cud take care of it!
No.. its not bad luck. Its his physical style of play taking its toll on his 36 yr+ body. Its only natural. Infact commentators were writing him off during his late 20s but he manged it well. He shud have adjusted his physical grinding game style but he stuck to it and is paying its price. Nevertheless, who wud complain when he has 22 GS.
He is an overachiever already.😇
My suggestion would be to go for clay court season and to do that he should play 250 clay court events 500 anything on clay till Montecarlo starts that should give him wins and confidence
You’re right that he should rest and rehab until clay season. He could win a few more on that surface. He should talk to Becker. He has half his life to live in that body.
If I was Rafa I wouldn’t play til MC
Unless he's trying to deceive his opponents, I can't see Djokovic going the distance with his worsening hamstring injury. Given the fact he currently only has three chances to win a major this year, there's added pressure to win the slams in which he's allowed to compete. And given his vastly better chances of winning the AO than the FO, I can understand him wanting to push his body past the point at which it's wise to do so, but I worry he'll make his injury worse, an outcome that could force the soon-to-be 36-year-old to miss the clay court and grass court seasons as he recovers. He will miss, obviously, most of the North American swing. This would affect his ranking, which would affect his qualification for the ATP Finals. A real domino effect could occur as a result of Djokovic's injury and what he decides to do about it if it worsens. May governing wisdom and improving health be Djokovic's in abundance. Prudence, Nole. Prudence.
As long as he wins Wimbledon, he'll still qualify for the WTFs if he stays in the top 20 by the end of the year. Hopefully not going to US in the spring will be enough time to recover for clay season.
These guys like mainstream media beat round the bush a lot. Gill superficially covered a lil but the bottomline is, Rafa aint an all court player... period. And with him now a step slower, his weakness is amplified that's it.
Non clay surface, cloudy weather (with ball not bouncing high), roof closed due to rain and an in form player with good serving day and redlining made things worse for Rafa. Rafa from past few years, needs so many things aligned perfectly in his favor to win on non clay surface.
Come clay season, particularly on RG - phillippe chatrier, everything will be perfect for him. CLAYDAL MIRACULOUSLY entices his fans and his ATP bosses. 😇😉
"CLAYDAL" MIRACULOUSLY has the fourth most wins OF ALL TIME on hard courts with 513 wins, 6 grand slams and has won more tour-level matches on hard courts than on any other surface.
"CLAYDAL" has MIRACULOUSLY reached 5 Wimbledon finals, winning twice and beating the best grass player of all time in one of those with a win percentage of 79.2% on grass is comparable to Andy Murray's 81.8% (and that is statistically Murray's best surface) Stats don't lie and they don't back up goobers like you who are in every Nadal video comment section typing CLADAL in caps.
Nadal: 25 tournaments wins on hard, 63 on clay, 4 on grass (83.1% win percentage)
Djokovic: 66 on hard, 18 clay, 8 grass. (83.5%)
You're an all court player if you've won on all courts. That's it. Period.
@MrAvocado Not to mention Claydal defeated the best hard court player last year, Medvedev to win aus open 2022.
You become more laughable and embarrassing with your comments with each passing day! Congrats! There is help if you need it.
@@avijitjha1614 ...exactly.
Seeing the dip in form of Nadal I see it very hard for him to come back to the highest level. Yes he has done it before but it never looked as bad as it did today and given his age I wouldn't be surprised if he never won a gs from now on. On the other hand novak seems primed to win AO, FO and wimbledon this year. The level of tennis he has shown after wimbledon and even this year shown no stopping and given Nadal was one of the few players who could have stopped him, I don't see a young alcaraz and rune coming in his way. Daniil is virtually invisible after the hc season until it comes back. We can maybe see a novak domination this and the next year with the way things are going irrespective of his age. Keep in mind Nadal was the same age Novak is now when he won the GS tournaments but the only difference I see is that Novak has been quite injury free compared to Nadal.
it seems that one of your predictions became a reality 👍👍
@@ValentinG23 well just hope the Nadal one doesn't
I agree that Rafa will not retire just yet, but since this show was made it has been confirmed that Rafa has injured the main muscle of his hip flexor & is out for 8 weeks. That guarantees that Rafa cannot return until the claycourt season & his ranking will dip outside the top 10 almost certainly for the first time in 18 years. The other issue is that Rafa's loss of confidence is linked to the physical issues as it was in 2015. Then there was a path back through persistence & it took him two years to get back to a high level again as he adjusted & tweaked his game with Carlos Moya's help. Rafa doesn't have that luxury this time at 36 nearly 37 & unless the hip is magically healed & Rafa starts moving like he did at Roland Garros in 2022 he cannot be competitive & win that title for a 15th time. It is now a situation of diminishing returns unless the body feels good after rehab & he starts winning matches on clay & perhaps one of the Masters series events in Monte Carlo, Madrid or Rome. Perhaps a semi final showing in one of these tournaments or in Barcelona would allow Rafa to build confidence to peak & win Roland Garros once again. Frankly it is his only hope. What happened last year was a miracle in Melbourne helped by his body feeling good, or good enough, & the wins just kept coming. The numbing of the foot allowed Rafa to move well & win Roland Garros despite the setback in Rome which followed the rib problem at Indian Wells. This time the path will be even more precipitous. We are so used to seeing Rafa pull off the near impossible that we kind of expect him to find a way. 36 to 37 is when natural decline begins to accelerate which some freakish athletes can delay just that little bit longer but only when they are uninjured. For Rafa to do it this time would trump all of his other incredible comebacks.
100% with you
I feel for his wife and son. Amy you are so right about Vegas. Meri has been long suffering as a support to him - now it’s her turn ffs.
Re Djoker, I am not convinced that whacking on weight will help his game especially if it was 10-15 pounds. Now whether Djoker can win 5 more best of 5 set matches with a hamstring problem remains to be seen. Djoker wants it badly, but we have to be careful in assuming that he will get through & win again. Perhaps Dimitrov can push him, or DeMinaur, or Daniel Medvedev. Maybe the Djoker will succumb to this injury, but frankly I will believe it when I see it. I still expect the Djoker to win this title for the 10th time unless his hamstring tears badly. Let's see what happens.
I agree with Amy on Nadal and spot on on Novak.
he wasn't gonna win anyway....................let's get real....... with the G O A T Nole playing, no way was he winning....
is djokovic still vegan? a while ago there was an article published saying he went almost vegan after discovering his gluten allergy, and that he was still eating chicken and salmon at the time. then I read that he had cut the chicken and salmon out and was completely vegan. consider how lean he was, I believed it, but now I'm wondering how he gained a bunch of muscle without meat. I'm not into lifting and gains and stuff, but I always though that was tough without meat.
Considering someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger is vegan, I'm sure Djokovic can put on muscle with a vegan diet, especially with supplements and all.
here’s the thing Nole won AO in very convincing fashion and moving forward no top player wants to have him on hos side of the draw while Nadal since wimbledon has been going fro bad to worse losing to all kind of average players and moving forward more players are starting to like thier chances against Nadal and and beat him in early rounds
Gaining weight and muscle means you have to stay within your bodies structure. To much will put undue stress on your muscles and cause injuries!!
Nadal is cooked!
His level is gonna keep decreasing.
You can’t bet on Claydal clay season. odds 1:1 he will be healthy as he was in the last 20 years he is injured only outside clay
Wouldn't be surprised if Nadal does a RG , Wimbledon double and then does another 6 months injured
Wimbledon ??? No chance..
I mean I would love it..but no chance..
His last chance was Wimbledon 2018 where he was so close on defeating Novak..so close but so far..
@@Abhi_upstate_ny Play well for 3 months, be shit/injured for 9 months that’s how he rolls these days and manages to stay in top 10
As a nadal fan, it is truly a Rollercoaster to watch him
@@SuhailKhan-vr6ik well I hope you are right. But honestly I cannot think anyone even touching Novak on grass, let alone defeating him..
Nadal Wimbledon. Are u joking. Its a fast surface with low bounce. The balls skid on grass court. grass is nadal’s worst surface. There is no way Nadal will win Wimbledon. Wimbledon surface is complete opposite of French open.
Wimbledon ya are crazy he hasn’t won Wimbledon since 2010 and hasn’t made a final since 2011
Nadal is going to have an inverse of last year..bad 1st half and then have a great second half of 2023..
Never count Rafa out..will end year with 24 grandslams
How much u wanna bet lol
For sure Novak is trying to develop tools in his toolbox to end points earlier. He has to. Once upon a time, he could outlast everyone on shot tolerance. Now, the likes of Medvedev, Zverev, Alcaraz, Sinner and many more young guns are doing the same and will do that better. A passive Novak will not outlast Medvedev and Zverev (the old Zverev). I remember watching Novak's 2022 Wimbledon match with Sinner. Novak ran out of gas after a few high-intensity points and took a set to recover!
Old age unfortunately. It's inevitable. So I think it's smart to start to develop new skills to adapt to his aging body.
Amy how old are you
You look so young and vibrant
I don't think Rafa can continue playing the very physical game he always plays as his body physically ages. He'll need to completely change his style if he wants to play more years. I predict him winning 1-2 more slams and then retiring.
Just a short while ago you all agreed that Nadal was the Player of the Year 2022. That should have given him tons of confidence for January 2023 Well, it didn't work. Hmmm.
As always nadal is injured when he loses nothing new
Nadal is out 6-8 weeks with a hip flexor.
AMY should be Rafa's manager, i totally agree rafa should do that, but thats not rafa, rafa is too honest and like to play
Amy is so right, rafa should take a long break, and heal his body, and get ready for CLAY season, unfortunately, rafa will not listen, and all people people in his team just listen to nadal. nadal is NOT being smart at all
Friends... you .. he is not injured... the last 8 matches... he won 2 and the last victory was in the first round of the AU because the opponent (Draper) was injured. The fact is that he is not ready and can only play on clay in the future. No harm...that's the truth.He played better in the 3rd set when he was injured than in the first two when he was not injured.
ONLY CLAY
R u implying he is faking?
If that's what u mean, what will he get by faking instead of giving his best even if he ends up losing?
One can go only a limited distance with dishonest means. NO?
@@madhukiranattivilli2321
1. he is writing "if not injured he wud have over 30 GS" legacy and the narrative of invincibility which are propogated well by the western media and his fans with full pomp 🤷♂🤷♂🤷♂
2. What a fighter, he lost not bcoz of his opponent. Rafa lost only because he was injured narrative.
3. He is an excellent all court player. He is injured on non clay surfaces only bcoz hard is hard on his knees narrative.
That's what he will get by faking. No?
I agree he played better in the third but that doesn’t mean he was faking. I think he played a different match because he wanted to shorten the points and it was working.
He should retire