2014 Aussie Open Final: Nadal vs. Wawrinka

[zalvar]

If Nadal wins this match, he would extend his own streak of consecutive years of at least winning one major to 10 straight years.

By the way, Nadal has only lost one set in Grand Slam finals against players not named Federer or Djokovic. In fact, ever since he lost the first set against Puerta in his first Grand Slam final, he has won 12 straight sets against players not named Federer and Djokovic.

So, Stan would have a huge task just to take a set from him.

And Puerta was on drugs that time lol

 

[Moxie]

Nadal v Wawrinka - The Last Stand

His only chance is to play OutStanding.

Nadal v Wawrinka - The Last Stand

His only chance is to play OutStanding.

The Bull vs. Stanimal!

I approve of this thread turning into a pun contest...or Puntest. Ha.

Nadal has to blister his way through in order to beat the Stanimal! :snigger

"Nada" will Stan in the way of Rafa winning his #14 on Sunday.

"Nada" will Stan in the way of Rafa winning his #14 on Sunday.

Stan the Man has to play phenomenadal in order to beat Rafa on Sunday!

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpT4CXVqAys[/video]

Somehow, I think we have a winner!

 

[the AntiPusher]

Haven't seen him here for ages actually. Maybe gone fishing with NADAL2005RG.

BS, did you run these Rafa chaps off the board.. there aint too many of us left uzzled

There's still a ton of Nadal fans. And trust me, Nadal2005 is not anyone you wanted for to stay around.

 

[Ricardo]

I want to believe in Stan, but while I feel that he'll fare better than Roger, he'll still lose in 4 sets.

said by a tennis authority.

 

[Moxie]

Good chance Stan finally gets a set off of Rafa. He'll come out gang-busters, or he should. We'll see if the moment weighs heavy on Nadal's legs. I'd like to take a nap before the final, but we'll see if that happens. I'm a bit nervous, but likely have nothing on Stan the Man.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I vote for Rafa in four and Root for Stan in five.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

I am not picking this one, it's obvious!
I quit!!!

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Rafa leads the series 12-0

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=N409&oId=W367

They met 4 times last year, twice on HC and twice on clay. Stan has never taken a set against Nadal. Can his new found confidence win him a set or the match?

Who ya got: The Matador or the Man?

vs.

It will be nice if the underdog.....

 

[Moxie]

Rafa leads the series 12-0

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=N409&oId=W367

They met 4 times last year, twice on HC and twice on clay. Stan has never taken a set against Nadal. Can his new found confidence win him a set or the match?

Who ya got: The Matador or the Man?

vs.

It will be nice if the underdog.....

It would certainly shake things up in men's tennis! But snowballs, holding little Swiss flags, are quivering as they stand at the Gates of Hell.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Did any one notice this stat? This is the 19th GS final appearance for Nadal
and it is his 37th GS appearance.

This means Rafa has more than 50% chance of reaching final in any GS
that he enters. That is an amazing percentage. While I have not checked the
similar stat for other folks, I have a strong feeling that Rafa will be ahead
of everybody else (both active and retired players, both Open era and
Pre open era) players on this.

Of the 18 finals played so far, he has won 13 (little more than 2/3rd).

Now, what does it all mean. If Rafa continues at this rate for 5 more
years (He is now 27 and it is reasonable to expect that he will have his
mojo for some time), he will be playing in 20 majors. Based on the above
rate, this would mean he would be in finals of 10 of them. Again, based
on his current performance, a conservative estimate would be that he
will win 6 more slams.

That puts him at 13 + 6 = 19 > 17.

I don't think anybody else gave an estimate of his slam count from
this simple, fairly straightforward and scientific perspective.

Of course, one small caveat is that with increasing age, the
success rate may not remain the same as the current rate.

 

[brokenshoelace]

This is Nadal's 11th final in his last 14 Grand Slam appearances. That's pretty remarkable, and again, is kind of the point I've tried to make in the other thread re: Nadal vs. the field. Even since he peaked, he's been beyond consistent.

 

[Moxie]

Ah, if only it were that simple. But thanks for crunching those numbers, GSM.

 

[rahulpawar]

I always give this argument to my 'federer' friends. The question remains how many will he be able to play next 5 years. During the last 5 years he played 17 and the 5 years before that also he played 17. With age and injuries he is definitely going to play less but the conversion factor would be around 1/3.

 

[kskate2]

Rafa in 4. Stan breaks through and wins a set tonight. Maybe that will springboard his confidence for future matches against the Matador.

 

[Moxie]

Its showtime, folks!

 

[tented]

^Makes me think of the film "All That Jazz"

 

[Moxie]

 

[Moxie]

Hey, tented.

 

[tented]

Hi, Moxie. So, Rafa in straights?

 

[zalvar]

I hope so o.o