2019 Men's US Open Final: Rafael Nadal vs. Daniil Medvedev

Who wins?

  • Nadal in three sets

    Votes: 5 55.6%
  • Nadal in four sets

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Nadal in five sets

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Medvedev in three sets

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Medvedev in four sets

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Medvedev in five sets

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

Nadalfan2013

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
2,768
Reactions
1,426
Points
113
Congrats, MOX and MARGERET and to all the Nadal fans. That was one helluva win. Am starting to watch these games now and yesterday (as per my Fox box digital IQ 2 oldie but a goodie). Nadal looked passive at times in his quarterfinal. Is that how he was in the final when leading two sets to 0 ?

What happened is that Nadal let Medvedev back in the match just in order to troll the Fed/Nole fans... he gave them hope, they started to brag and celebrate, and then he ripped their hearts out... :lol6::finger:
 

Vince Evert

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
3,900
Reactions
1,867
Points
113
What happened is that Nadal let Medvedev back in the match just in order to troll the Fed/Nole fans... he gave them hope, they started to brag and celebrate, and then he ripped their hearts out... :lol6::finger:


He cut it real fine, if the scores and stats are of any indication.
 

monfed

Major Winner
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
2,112
Reactions
506
Points
113
Ever since the Wimbledon final, you Fed fans have been: :banghead:

And ever since the US Open final, you Fed fans have been: :cry:

Grow up! :cuckoo: :rolleyes:

When are you coming back to MTF? The quality of Nadaltards has gone down over there, I think those mod clowns should reenable you. Or just create a dupe account with a proxy.

I'm one infraction away from a one year ban. :lulz1:
 

Nadalfan2013

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
2,768
Reactions
1,426
Points
113
When are you coming back to MTF? The quality of Nadaltards has gone down over there, I think those mod clowns should reenable you. Or just create a dupe account with a proxy.

I'm one infraction away from a one year ban. :lulz1:

I'm done with MTF and TTW. The last time I had to use a cover as a Zverev fan on TTW. :lol6:

But I always get banned again simply because of the reason "previously banned member". I never did anything wrong in the past. I was just pro-Nadal mostly defending him but I guess it annoyed the Fed moderators because I gave great arguments. :rolleyes:

But I think the best would be for all of us to PM members on these 2 sites to come and join us here. This is a nice forum and all we need is for more people to join the fun.
:ptennis:::sw1::
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tented and monfed

monfed

Major Winner
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
2,112
Reactions
506
Points
113
I'm done with MTF and TTW. The last time I had to use a cover as a Zverev fan on TTW. :lol6:

But I always get banned again simply because of the reason "previously banned member". I never did anything wrong in the past. I was just pro-Nadal mostly defending him but I guess it annoyed the Fed moderators because I gave great arguments. :rolleyes:

But I think the best would be for all of us to PM members on these 2 sites to come and join us here. This is a nice forum and all we need is for more people to join the fun.
:ptennis:::sw1::


Banning should only be for personal abuse and the usual stuff that all websites have. Banning for "player bashing", "baiting" is so childish. :facepalm: How are we supposed to have fun?

But yes I agree with you this place is way better than those sites, I wish all those banned members can join here and desert those sites. LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nadalfan2013

brokenshoelace

Grand Slam Champion
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
9,380
Reactions
1,334
Points
113
You don't get it. I responded to that bitch from up North plenty of times over the years..he/she doesn't mess with me.. anyone who wants to call me name can send me a PM, I will let them know when I will be at the next tennis tournament and will be more than happy to provide them a personal forum to address their concerns..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG.

Nothing funnier than someone getting owned in every argument so bad that he stops responding to a poster, accuse said poster of being a bitch (when in truth you're too much of a pussy to actually engage in a debate) and then to compensate, go on the whole "meet me in real life" tough guy act. Yes Mr amateur tennis player, we're all shaking in our boots. Those lectures you gave as Mr Bill Gates listened attentively just shake me to my very chore.

Eat shit.
 

imjimmy

Pro Tour Player
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
230
Reactions
171
Points
43
I think this was the far greater match. I don't think the 2013 final was particularly great. Nadal played well, on the whole, and had one service hold for the ages (perhaps the most important of his career) but Djokovic's performance left a lot to be desired and he's too great of a player for that to be unnoticed.

Obviously Rafa didn't play great on Sunday per se...but Medvedev did for 3 sets. And the storyline of the young up and comer showing up and almost turning the match around, only for the legend to pull it off makes it just a far more compelling one.

I've got to agree with Moxie on this. I think Nadal played FAR better in 2013 UsOpen compared to the 2019. He was obviously 6 years younger - but stiill the difference in level is stark.

Nadal was absolutely on FIRE that whole NA hardcourt swing in 2013. He won the Montreal Cincy double. And I recall how he just dominated Novak in set 1 in the UsOpen final. Djokovic, while not at his imperious best, was not playing bad at all. And then Djokovic really raised his level in set 2 and set 3 to a ceiling that even Nadal cannot match. Nadal's hold from 0-40 down in the 3rd set (where he uncharacteristically fell down flat on his bottom) and then the stunning DTL forehand (forcing a Novak error) getting him the break + set 3 in the next game - was one of the greatest houdini acts in Nadal's career. He won the pivotal 3rd set with the other player playing better than him. And that won him the final.

2019 UsOpen was far different. Nadal should have won in straight sets in the final. He choked close to the finish line in set 3. Let Medvedev back, and more importantly, gave the Russian a lot of belief. Subsequently Medvedev changed his strategy became more aggressive and Nadal resorted to becoming more error prone. Nadal converted 6 out of 21 breakpoints in the final of the UsOpen. That is POOR by any standard. He should have wrapped up the match in straight sets.. Medvedev was mentally preparing for his finalist speech in set 3. It is not Medvedev who won, but Nadal who lost sets 3 and 4. This after Nadal was the FRESHEST he could ever be in a UsOpen Final. (He had 1 walkover and no 5 setter). Same issue against Berrittini in the SF where Nadal was unable to convert break point opportunities and was benefited by the Italian choking in the TB in set 1. Nadal was very shaky against Diego in the QF, losing a 2 break lead --- TWICE in two sets. How often does that happen?

I mean the 2019 Final was dramatic obviously, but it was a sub-par tournament from Nadal overall. He's played better in slams that he has LOST. In the end, he was helped by the fact that Fed and Novak were out and ultimately Nadal just had enough experience and will to somehow wrap it up in the end. Nadal's performances after QF left a lot to be desired. In his prime, Rafa would have won all matches with considerable ease and the final in straights (as Fed and Novak do with a greenhorn like Medvedev).

There is no way to compare 2019 UsOpen with 2013 UsOpen - the latter was one of the best harcourt performances of Nadal's career.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tented and Moxie

Front242

The GOAT
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
22,949
Reactions
3,896
Points
113
Obviously he was even younger again in 2010 but he played even better in that final imo though Djokovic, it must be said, was poor back then. Best tournament he has ever served too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Moxie

imjimmy

Pro Tour Player
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
230
Reactions
171
Points
43
Obviously he was even younger again in 2010 but he played even better in that final imo though Djokovic, it must be said, was poor back then. Best tournament he has ever served too.

I agree that Nadal's serve was better in 2010. However, in 2013, his ground game and aggressiveness was definitely better. His shots had more avg mph and more depth compared to 2010. Any explosiveness and speed he lost (in 3 yrs) was compensated by these.
 

brokenshoelace

Grand Slam Champion
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
9,380
Reactions
1,334
Points
113
I've got to agree with Moxie on this. I think Nadal played FAR better in 2013 UsOpen compared to the 2019. He was obviously 6 years younger - but stiill the difference in level is stark.

Nadal was absolutely on FIRE that whole NA hardcourt swing in 2013. He won the Montreal Cincy double. And I recall how he just dominated Novak in set 1 in the UsOpen final. Djokovic, while not at his imperious best, was not playing bad at all. And then Djokovic really raised his level in set 2 and set 3 to a ceiling that even Nadal cannot match. Nadal's hold from 0-40 down in the 3rd set (where he uncharacteristically fell down flat on his bottom) and then the stunning DTL forehand (forcing a Novak error) getting him the break + set 3 in the next game - was one of the greatest houdini acts in Nadal's career. He won the pivotal 3rd set with the other player playing better than him. And that won him the final.

2019 UsOpen was far different. Nadal should have won in straight sets in the final. He choked close to the finish line in set 3. Let Medvedev back, and more importantly, gave the Russian a lot of belief. Subsequently Medvedev changed his strategy became more aggressive and Nadal resorted to becoming more error prone. Nadal converted 6 out of 21 breakpoints in the final of the UsOpen. That is POOR by any standard. He should have wrapped up the match in straight sets.. Medvedev was mentally preparing for his finalist speech in set 3. It is not Medvedev who won, but Nadal who lost sets 3 and 4. This after Nadal was the FRESHEST he could ever be in a UsOpen Final. (He had 1 walkover and no 5 setter). Same issue against Berrittini in the SF where Nadal was unable to convert break point opportunities and was benefited by the Italian choking in the TB in set 1. Nadal was very shaky against Diego in the QF, losing a 2 break lead --- TWICE in two sets. How often does that happen?

I mean the 2019 Final was dramatic obviously, but it was a sub-par tournament from Nadal overall. He's played better in slams that he has LOST. In the end, he was helped by the fact that Fed and Novak were out and ultimately Nadal just had enough experience and will to somehow wrap it up in the end. Nadal's performances after QF left a lot to be desired. In his prime, Rafa would have won all matches with considerable ease and the final in straights (as Fed and Novak do with a greenhorn like Medvedev).

There is no way to compare 2019 UsOpen with 2013 UsOpen - the latter was one of the best harcourt performances of Nadal's career.

Nadal playing better in 2013 just means it was a better performance, not a better match. As good as Nadal played, Novak was MIA in 2 out of the 4 sets, which for a player of his caliber, is unacceptable. I don't see how Nadal's level throughout the 2019 US Open has any bearing on which one was a great match. One was a 5 set nail biter with a lot of drama, and one was more or less a dominating performance. It's clear which one is the greater match... Nadal also played much better vs. Federer at the 2008 FO final than he did at the 2008 Wimbledon final. I don't think you'll find anyone arguing the former was a better match.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rafanoy1992

imjimmy

Pro Tour Player
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
230
Reactions
171
Points
43
Nadal playing better in 2013 just means it was a better performance, not a better match. As good as Nadal played, Novak was MIA in 2 out of the 4 sets, which for a player of his caliber, is unacceptable. I don't see how Nadal's level throughout the 2019 US Open has any bearing on which one was a great match. One was a 5 set nail biter with a lot of drama, and one was more or less a dominating performance. It's clear which one is the greater match... Nadal also played much better vs. Federer at the 2008 FO final than he did at the 2008 Wimbledon final. I don't think you'll find anyone arguing the former was a better match.

I don't disagree in the entirety but disagree with several specific points. To me a GREAT match is defined by BOTH players playing well.
Drama is great, but it's not a necessary ingredient. You could have a match in which both players keep choking, the match becomes very close, and ultimately one wins. That match has plenty of drama but the level of tennis is bad. Take for example the UsOpen 2011 Final 3rd set. It was one of the highest levels of tennis you would see, as both players were playing at the top of their game.

The UsOpen 2019 Final was not a great match because neither Nadal nor Medvedev played well. A "normal" Nadal would have won the match in straights. Then the 5th set was also sub-par. Medvedev choked and promptly got broken twice. Nadal choked, got broken once and nearly got broken twice. He even double faulted on break points. His forehand UFEs were throughout the roof. Nadal made more UFEs in one set than he sometimes makes in entire matches. How is this a great match, when none of the players were playing their A game? Since Nadal is a superior player to Medvedev, it logically follows that if Nadal was at his A game, the match would not have been close.

You are comparing the UsOpen 2019 final to UsOpen 2013 - when the latter tennis level was far superior. In the UsOpen 2013 Final - Nadal won 45% of return points - the MOST he's ever had against Novak. When Novak is a far superior server than Medvedev. You say Novak was not playing well, but you forget how good Nadal was during that month in Montreal/Cincy/UsOpen - easily his best hardcourt level ever. 20% of the UsOpen 2013 final had rallies of more than 10 strokes and the longest rally was 54 or 55 shots.. How is that possible if Novak was NOT playing well? He may not be at his peak, but even a B game Novak is better than Medvedev.

Anyway IMO Nadal's 2019 UsOpen Final victory was dramatic, but it's nowhere close to being a great match and not even in the top 5 slam finals that Nadal has played. Rafa didn't play well in UsOpen 2019 and made the matches (QF, SF and Final) closer than they should have been. He barely pulled it out in the end. Most tennis experts (WIlander, Corretja, JMac etc) said that Nadal looked exhausted and his tennis had dipped dramatically. Had Medvedev been more experienced he would have likely won given Nadal's level in the Final.
 

Nadalfan2013

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
2,768
Reactions
1,426
Points
113
Stop fighting! 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019 are all special USO tournaments and Rafa played beautifully in all of them. He is the most successful USO player of the decade with 4 titles, and that's despite missing 2012, 2014 and having to withdraw during 2018. Unbelievable. He also is obviously the most successful RG player of the decade. He owned both the USO and RG this decade. :clap:
 

imjimmy

Pro Tour Player
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
230
Reactions
171
Points
43
Stop fighting! 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019 are all special USO tournaments and Rafa played beautifully in all of them. He is the most successful USO player of the decade with 4 titles, and that's despite missing 2012, 2014 and having to withdraw during 2018. Unbelievable. He also is obviously the most successful RG player of the decade. He owned both the USO and RG this decade. :clap:

There is no fighting here. Nadal's titles are all remarkable obviously. And he's done far better at the UsOpen than most of us would have thought in say 2008/2009 - when several people thought he may win at most 1 UsOpen.

The difference in opinion is between the ranking of great matches and great tournaments. In that respect UsOpen 2013 and UsOpen 2010 are far superior than UsOpen 2019. Even UsOpen 2017 was superior. Nadal's level in the UsOpen 2017 SF for example was far higher than anything he produced in UsOpen 2019. Nadal was nervous and scrappy for most of UsOpen 2019 once Novak/Fed went out. He knew that this is the best opportunity ever, and anything less than a title would be a resounding failure. That reflected in his game and his chokes (forehand UFEs, double faults, inability to convert 10000000x break points etc).
 

Nadalfan2013

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
2,768
Reactions
1,426
Points
113
There is no fighting here. Nadal's titles are all remarkable obviously. And he's done far better at the UsOpen than most of us would have thought in say 2008/2009 - when several people thought he may win at most 1 UsOpen.

The difference in opinion is between the ranking of great matches and great tournaments. In that respect UsOpen 2013 and UsOpen 2010 are far superior than UsOpen 2019. Even UsOpen 2017 was superior. Nadal's level in the UsOpen 2017 SF for example was far higher than anything he produced in UsOpen 2019. Nadal was nervous and scrappy for most of UsOpen 2019 once Novak/Fed went out. He knew that this is the best opportunity ever, and anything less than a title would be a resounding failure. That reflected in his game and his chokes (forehand UFEs, double faults, inability to convert 10000000x break points etc).

I disagree. Nadal was very solid in the 2019 tournament. I watched the extended highlights of the final just a few days ago and it definitely is one of the greatest slam finals ever. And it had nothing to do with the "drama". The actual level was insane and both Nadal and Medvedev fought and played extremely well. Medvedev was THE player of the summer so it was expected that he would give a huge fight, it had nothing to do with Nadal being scrappy or choking. At the end of the 3rd set Medvedev didn't miss anything and was painting the lines, that's what it took to turn the match around. Some of the winners and points from both sides were insane throughout the match. Also Nadal played unbelievable to stop hot players like Cilic, Schwartzman and Berretini.
 

imjimmy

Pro Tour Player
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
230
Reactions
171
Points
43
I disagree. Nadal was very solid in the 2019 tournament. I watched the extended highlights of the final just a few days ago and it definitely is one of the greatest slam finals ever. Some of the winners and points from both sides were insane throughout the match. Also Nadal played unbelievable to stop hot players like Cilic, Schwartzman and Berretini.

I completely disagree with that. I have rewatched the final and have Nadal's previous matches on DVR too. If you think Nadal was playing "unbelievable" - I don't know what to tell you. Cillic was outplaying Nadal for a while in their match, until the 2nd half. Schwartzman broke Nadal twice in 2 sets repeatedly from 2-5 down. Have you ever heard of that for a top player? Then Berretini - whose backhand sucks - had tons of opportunities in set 1. He choked in the TB to hand Nadal the match after he lost set 1. Against Medvedev, Nadal was headed for a straight set win until he missed a sitter overhead and then got broken again in the pressure game of set 4 without Medvedev doing anything brilliant.

Have you actually looked at the stats for Nadal's matches in UsOpen 2019? God forbid, if Nadal played at this level in his previous slams, he would NOT even have made double digit slams (forget about 19 slams).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fiero425 and Moxie

Ricardo

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Apr 15, 2013
Messages
2,674
Reactions
646
Points
113
Nadal also played much better vs. Federer at the 2008 FO final
to this day Nadal hasn't played a better match at FO, nobody has ever been capable of smashing Federer like that. it was easily the catalyst that start a series of Nadal beating down Federer in his own backyard. Federer took a long time, actually until he took the longest break in his life in 2016 to show that he finally got over the Nadal effect in his head and totally turned the table around.
 

Ricardo

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Apr 15, 2013
Messages
2,674
Reactions
646
Points
113
He may not be at his peak, but even a B game Novak is better than Medvedev.
That is just wrong, typical of fans who think the big 3 are actually that much better. The margin between top players and also rans is much slimmer than that. A lot of players on their day are capable of beating Novak playing average.
 

Nadalfan2013

Multiple Major Winner
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
2,768
Reactions
1,426
Points
113
Guys, please stop talking about no.2 Novak... This is a thread about a match featuring the no.1 player in the world Rafael Nadal so let's stay on topic! :good:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andy22

brokenshoelace

Grand Slam Champion
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
9,380
Reactions
1,334
Points
113
Normally, I would agree that Novak's B game is good enough against most players on hards but I'm in agreement that the big 3 can no longer auto-pilot their way through some matches. Medvedev's game isn't intimidating and he rarely looks unplayable, but he's an extremely solid player with a good mentality who's really smart on the court. I wouldn't be so sure to claim that any of the big 3's B games makes for a straightforward win over him. And while Nadal's performance in the final wasn't his A game by any means, that's a very particular set of circumstances whereby it's a GS final where the result hinged more than on just the quality of tennis produced.