2022 Roland Garros Men's Final: Rafael Nadal vs. Casper Ruud

[MargaretMcAleer]

There was a time when this was considered a "Federer board." I understand why it's not fun for them right now, as he's not playing. Appreciate that @Front242 is always willing to come back for a gab and a spar. (Even though I torture him...don't let it bother you, Front. You know I love you!) The mystery is where are the Djokovic people? Aside from @don_fabio, and maybe wherever Fiero fits, it seems to me we are in the Nadovic Wars, and where are they? I don't love being in an echo chamber. Where is the fight?

Don Fabio game on the board earlier and congratulated Rafa, he has always been a grounded Novak fan,
Fiero425 you would not expect him to come on now Rafa has won would you lol!

 

[Moxie]

Don Fabio game on the board earlier and congratulated Rafa, he has always been a grounded Novak fan,
Fiero425 you would not expect him to come on now Rafa has won would you lol!

Don Fabio is a good man, and a stalwart around here. Fiero came around to say that he couldn't be arsed even to skim past the match. To each his own style.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Don Fabio is a good man, and a stalwart around here. Fiero came around to say that he couldn't be arsed even to skim past the match. To each his own style.

I know you and Don have a special relationship, moving on,
Fiero will appear again when the Cow, I mean Grass season starts

 

[Moxie]

The reason I chose FT or 3PT as an analogy because a good shooter can shot a higher percentage at free-throw line or three point line than a great shooter because the good shooter took less shot attempts than the great shooter.

Sorry, if the basketball analogy is not good analogy.

I think a better analogy will be break point conversion vs. break point attempts.

All in all, I get what you are saying about Nadal won more than Djokovic in fewer attempts. But the win percentage is close due to Djokovic creating more opportunities for himself.

I don't want to get too far into this one, or get contentious about it. I THINK I get where you're going, but I'm not sure I agree. The win pct. we're talking about has only to do with showing up, not with how deep they went. Djokovic and Federer, for that matter, surely got close in the ones they didn't win, but that's not the point of the overall win pct. at Majors. Are we totally misunderstanding each other? Sorry if I am being obtuse as to your point.

 

[Moxie]

I know you and Don have a special relationship, moving on,
Fiero will appear again when the Cow, I mean Grass season starts

Fiero is here, and has been today. Credit to him, he never goes away.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Fiero is here, and has been today. Credit to him, he never goes away.

I must of missed him, it has been a long day

 

[rafanoy1992]

I don't want to get too far into this one, or get contentious about it. I THINK I get where you're going, but I'm not sure I agree. The win pct. we're talking about has only to do with showing up, not with how deep they went. Djokovic and Federer, for that matter, surely got close in the ones they didn't win, but that's not the point of the overall win pct. at Majors. Are we totally misunderstanding each other? Sorry if I am being obtuse as to your point.

My point is based on win percentage when entered is still close between Nadal and Djokovic meaning Nadal is 305-41 (88.1%) and Djokovic 327-47 (87.4%). In my opinion, that it is close.

Now, if we are the talking about win percentage in terms of titles won when entered, then you are right that Nadal percentage looks a lot bigger than Djokovic if you look at it in a more detailed view.

Overall, I just look at wins-losses record at Slam events for now.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Rafa more than happy today as he pointed out apart from his 14 RG titles his team Real Madrid has also 14 Champion League trophies!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Nadal was the last man to win his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garos and he is 8-1 against players vying for their first Grand Slam title.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Nadal was the last man to win his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garos and he is 8-1 against players vying for their first Grand Slam title.

Rafa had a winning percentage stat vs the top ten during 2005-2015 that was absolutely amazing. He had a winning percentage over every one until Novak finally overtook their h2h a few years ago.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Finally the curse of Johnny Favorite is Over. Rafa has his "soul back " by defeating his nemesis Djokovic at RG. I think that winning that match was nearly important as "CATORCE" at RG. IMO

 

[Jelenafan]

It has to be said, this French Open was the greatest PR/marketing pitch for the Rafa Nadal Tennis academy. Not only was the womens champ a product of the Academy, ( and the biggest Rafa booster of all time) but the way Casper said both the Academy and Rafa personally took him and his family under their wing. Plus it doesn’t hurt that both Iga and Casper seemed to be consummate professional, non -diva dish and well mannered ( other than Ruud bullying a defenseless Danish teenager) and great ambassadors for the sport, just like their mentor Rafa.

 

[Kieran]

Well well well! Ain’t Ralph the one, eh? What an achievement, so unique in tennis, we can’t even find anything outside our great sport to compare it with. 14 French Opens - it’s difficult to imagine anyone ever coming close, but if they do, they’ll be equally exceptional and deserving.

Ruud was a “nice opponent” whereas you need to actually be rude to challenge in these matches. A lightweight in against a heavyweight, but I’m not complaining. My nerves were stretched thin the whole week by Felix, Novak (especially) and the semi with Zverev, which ended brutally.

Vamos Rafa!

 

[Kieran]

One more thing and probably MY favorite Rafael Nadal stat at RG:

Nadal has played 14 RG finals in his career, NONE of those 14 finals went to a 5th set! Just think of that, his opponents have not taken two sets off from Nadal in a RG final!

Great post, and even more incredible, is that there have only been seven sets dropped in the 14 finals - only seven 4 set matches. It’s fairly comprehensive: 42 sets won, against 7 lost, across 14 finals spread across 17 years and who knows how many generations of tennis, and how many other great players?

 

[the AntiPusher]

Well well well! Ain’t Ralph the one, eh? What an achievement, so unique in tennis, we can’t even find anything outside our great sport to compare it with. 14 French Opens - it’s difficult to imagine anyone ever coming close, but if they do, they’ll be equally exceptional and deserving.

Ruud was a “nice opponent” whereas you need to actually be rude to challenge in these matches. A lightweight in against a heavyweight, but I’m not complaining. My nerves were stretched thin the whole week by Felix, Novak (especially) and the semi with Zverev, which ended brutally.

Vamos Rafa!

Welcome back Brotha. well stated. I wasnt as fortunate as you.. I tried to extend my fortnight sabbatical but Keli and the ladies brought me back when I thought I was out. jajaja

 

[Kieran]

It was hard to resist, you be honest with you, and I still haven't waded into emails yet because I've become hyper superstitious (the Aus Open final page where I followed the score while the feed was a bit late is still on my phone and will stay there until Rafa retires now), but I was tempted to look for consoling voices when Novak made his charge to take the second set. What's so great about Novak is, he's never out of it. How many matches has he won in slams against Roger, from match point down? 3? And when Rafa went 6-1 up in the tiebreak I was feeling smug, with terror nicely placed alongside. When it became 6-4. my heart was beating like this:



Can never write him off. If the netchord shot falls back into Rafa's half, Novak is grinning like a young de Niro and I'm spaced out on the floor hearing sirens...

 

[kskate2]

Yep I would like to know where he has been as well

You know, he and Kelli do a lot to keep this site afloat, and I suspect they split duties. Maybe needed a break?

@the AntiPusher Right @Moxie . Trent is OOO. So you're stuck w/ me. Get used to it.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Well well well! Ain’t Ralph the one, eh? What an achievement, so unique in tennis, we can’t even find anything outside our great sport to compare it with. 14 French Opens - it’s difficult to imagine anyone ever coming close, but if they do, they’ll be equally exceptional and deserving.

Ruud was a “nice opponent” whereas you need to actually be rude to challenge in these matches. A lightweight in against a heavyweight, but I’m not complaining. My nerves were stretched thin the whole week by Felix, Novak (especially) and the semi with Zverev, which ended brutally.

Vamos Rafa!

Finally made an appearance only a day late to the party....better late than never no?

 

[the AntiPusher]

@the AntiPusher Right @Moxie . Trent is OOO. So you're stuck w/ me. Get used to it.

Well You aint no Rafa fan but you AIGHT!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

It has to be said, this French Open was the greatest PR/marketing pitch for the Rafa Nadal Tennis academy. Not only was the womens champ a product of the Academy, ( and the biggest Rafa booster of all time) but the way Casper said both the Academy and Rafa personally took him and his family under their wing. Plus it doesn’t hurt that both Iga and Casper seemed to be consummate professional, non -diva dish and well mannered ( other than Ruud bullying a defenseless Danish teenager) and great ambassadors for the sport, just like their mentor Rafa.

Iga only spent one week training at Rafa's academy, when she did not play Madrid Tournament, I would not classify her as a product of the Academy, a lot of players go on training blocks at Rafa's academy.Ruud has spent more time training at Rafa's academy.