re: Unofficial 2017 Australian Open Thread.

quote:

---

See, I'm not so sure about this, and that's not to be a slight towards Federer's talent, because he is the greatest of all time... But a healthy Nadal is more talented than him and had his health not failed him, Nadal would've been the goat.

That's what makes this discussion so fun. Fed is the undisputed greatest tennis player in history, but Nadal had his number.

---

Have you read Rafa's book? Uncle Toni frequently reminded him that Federer was more talented than him.

I do see your point, though, and my response is that they aren't talented in the exact same kind of ways, and so who you think is more talented depends on how you weight their physical gifts.

I think Rafa might be the best raw athlete to ever play the game of tennis. This is a guy who was the best striker in Spain for his age, and then quit soccer to play tennis. He's off the charts athletic.

He lacks the shotmaking ease of Federer, though, and he also isn't a natural server, which is important. If I'm doing the calculus on this, I think I'd say Federer is the more talented, but, again, that conclusion is more than a smidgeon semantical and a discussion on the topic is more constructive after drilling down to their individual physical gifts.

But anybody who think Rafa is just some talentless hack who relied on tenacity and grit to win 14 majors is a goddamn fool. Rafael Nadal is hyper-talented by any definition. He won a goddamn national under 12 tennis tournament when he was 8. When he was 8!

quote:

---

Really the only way you can say this is on the baseline. Federer is more talented than Nadal in every other aspect of the game including serve, return of serve, short balls, at the net, actually everything other than grinding your opponent into the ground.

---

I don't know that Federer is a better volleyer than Rafa. And I definitely don't know that Federer has a better return of serve.

Federer has a clearly superior serve and the best forehand I've ever seen. Rafa has a better backhand by a comfortable margin.

Rafa's adherence to ground and pound is more psychological than physical. I've advocated for Rafa to switch over to a full-blown serve and volley game. He'd be great at it. But he'll never do that. During a given point, Rafa is thinking "stay in the point". That's his approach to the game. Switching over to a mindset of "finish the point quickly" isn't trivial for a guy who is clearly a creature of habit.

quote:

---

This is crazy. The Westgate currently has Grigor at +280, while 5Dimes has Rafa at -255. Depending on each book's limits, there's free money to be had. It's not worth the effort for a small-timer like me.

---

Yup, that's what pro gamblers live for.

Where did you get the westgate odds from?

I'm rolling with Koenig on the Watch ESPN broadcast again.

Someone actually called a time violation on Rafa.

That game

This set

Damn, I wanted a tiebreak.

Buckle in for the ride now, hello early morning hours.

Nice break

Looking good