El Dude said:
Congrats to Rafa. I think it is safe to say that the King of Clay is back. I imagine it is going to be very tempting to want to go for the clay sweep, and play both Madrid and Rome.
Considering he literally has no competition in the finals? It's not really all that surprising, is it? Let's see - #24 Ramos-Vinolas in Monte Carlo...and #8 Thiem in Barcelona. Neither player has won any major titles - no Slams, no 1000 events - and Thiem only has 1 500 event title and that was on hard courts in Acapulco against that idiot Bernie Tomic. I mean, really...if he hadn't won these 2 titles on clay against these 2 players he might as well go ahead and retire. All he has to do to have easy wins Rome and Madrid is wait for Andy and Novak to lose before the final. All the haters who have crapped on Federer's 3 big titles this year like to point out that he hasn't had to play Murray or Djokovic - well, neither has Nadal. Not that I'm saying it's his fault because you can only play whoever shows up on the other side of the net. But, you have to admit - Roger's 3 wins are more impressive because he had to beat Nadal and Wawrinka. Nadal's wins - on clay - against the world #24 and world #8 - a talented kid who hasn't quite put all the pieces together yet? Not nearly as impressive - or surprising.
..defeating Thiem and Goffin who are playing top ten tennis is a quality win..yes.. I would prefer these victories were over Roger, Novak , Stan or Andy..but it is what it is..it ain't easy what Nadal has accomplished..even on clay..if you ever played on clay you know how an unforgiving surface it is to play on
