NADAL at the 2003 U.S. Open

[Vince Evert]

MOX and Margaret will like this one Found this interesting video.

It's either italian or spanish television and represents Nadal first ever U.S. Open campaign.

Good to see how he played and adapts his game, or tried to, on a cement surface, nearly two years prior to winning the french. His service motion looked different too.

Enjoy folks...

 

[Vince Evert]

what is it from? italian or spanish SKY TV? I find it hard to tell the difference

 

[Moxie]

Thanks, Vince! @MargaretMcAleer will love this one, too. The commentary in Italian. I just watched the first set, and maybe life is too short to watch more, but it was very interesting. Right early on, they've already said that, while clay is his best surface, that they find Nadal a pretty complete player...they even mentioned grass. And they're talking about Nadal and Gasquet as the two really promising players coming up. That Gasquet was the top junior coming up, but that Nadal had had more impact on ATP, thus far. They mentioned him beating Albert Costa in MC.

They note that he has soft hands, and creativity. Also interesting to note that Nadal comes into the net several times, and wins the points. Commies have been acting for years like this came later in his career. Interesting to note that Nadal was returning even first serves from inside the baseline. Of course, his serve has changed over the years. The careful organization of the bottles was already there.

Boy, one thing I will say: I thought the US commentators talk a lot. These Italians barely stop and talk a LOT of nonsense about other things than the match.

 

[Vince Evert]

Thanks, Vince! @MargaretMcAleer will love this one, too. The commentary in Italian. I just watched the first set, and maybe life is to short to watch more, but it was very interesting. Right early on, they've already said that, while clay is his best surface, that they find Nadal a pretty complete player...they even mentioned grass. And they're talking about Nadal and Gasquet as the two really promising players coming up. That Gasquet was the top junior coming up, but that Nadal had had more impact on ATP, thus far. They mentioned him beating Albert Costa in MC.

They note that he has soft hands, and creativity. Also interesting to note that Nadal comes into the net several times, and wins the points. Commies have been acting for years like this came later in his career. Interesting to note that Nadal was returning even first serves from inside the baseline. Of course, his serve has changed over the years. The careful organization of the bottles was already there.

Boy, one thing I will say: I thought the US commentators talk a lot. These Italians barely stop and talk a LOT of nonsense about other things than the match.

Thanks, MOX.

in retrospettiva, è bello vedere un campione sviluppare il suo gioco su una superficie straniera e in un paese straniero e atmosfera.

 

[Vince Evert]

OK Mox, i shall try to download it and then edit it - lets say as a 6 minutes mp4 file - and then put up on my 11 year old YT channel.

whilst i am not a Nadal fan, i do respect his achievements and longevity.

in retrospect its good to see the young Nadal adapting his game or trying to, on hardcourts as well as the crowds atmosphere, etc all would have been a new and challenging experience to the then 16 year old, i'm sure.

 

[Moxie]

Thanks, MOX.

in retrospettiva, è bello vedere un campione sviluppare il suo gioco su una superficie straniera e in un paese straniero e atmosfera.

Ma anche tu parli italiano, Vince? Come mai che non hai saputo che il commentario originale fu in italiano?

 

[Vince Evert]

Ma anche tu parli italiano, Vince? Come mai che non hai saputo che il commentario originale fu in italiano?

yes i know little bit Mox. I do have a drop of italian blood. My late parents were from that country but i never really learnt to speak the language apparently there is a contrast (dialect) in some parts of italy. But Spain and Italy are very close is my understanding.

 

[Moxie]

OK Mox, i shall try to download it and then edit it - lets say as a 6 minutes mp4 file - and then put up on my 11 year old YT channel.

whilst i am not a Nadal fan, i do respect his achievements and longevity.

in retrospect its good to see the young Nadal adapting his game or trying to, on hardcourts as well as the crowds atmosphere, etc all would have been a new and challenging experience to the then 16 year old, i'm sure.

An edit would be great, because, let's face it: I'm about as big a Nadal fan as they come, and even I can't face 2:30 of a match v. El Ayanoui. But there are some things in there that tell us a lot about the budding champ.

At the risk of being painful: these are the kinds of videos that give lie to those who would insist that Nadal doped in his early career. He would have been 17 in this match, not 16, btw. But he was already showing lots of the signs of the player he would be, and the patterns that would be successful for him. He'd gone down a break early in the set, but got the set to a TB. His serve was far from great, though he served 2 aces in the set I watched, and he was up on El Ananoui 5-3 in the TB, though he eventually lost it, and the match, in straights. It was quite the calling card, for a "dirt-baller." El Ayanoui was ranked #29 at the time, per the commentators. This was the 2nd round of the USO, I think. And he was just 7 or 8 months away from beating #1 Roger Federer in Miami. "Il Bambino" ("the baby") as the commentators kept calling him, would have had no reason to change what he was doing. It was working quite well.

 

[Moxie]

yes i know little bit Mox. I do have a drop of italian blood. My late parents were from that country but i never really learnt to speak the language apparently there is a contrast (dialect) in some parts of italy. But Spain and Italy are very close is my understanding.

There are lots of dialects in Italian. And in Spanish, though fewer. The languages are very close, though, as are the dialects within. If you know one, you can manage your way through, in the short-term.

 

[Vince Evert]

An edit would be great, because, let's face it: I'm about as big a Nadal fan as they come, and even I can't face 2:30 of a match v. El Ayanoui. But there are some things in there that tell us a lot about the budding champ.

At the risk of being painful: these are the kinds of videos that give lie to those who would insist that Nadal doped in his early career. He would have been 17 in this match, not 16, btw. But he was already showing lots of the signs of the player he would be, and the patterns that would be successful for him. He'd gone down a break early in the set, but got the set to a TB. His serve was far from great, though he served 2 aces in the set I watched, and he was up on El Ananoui 5-3 in the TB, though he eventually lost it, and the match, in straights. It was quite the calling card, for a "dirt-baller." El Ayanoui was ranked #29 at the time, per the commentators. This was the 2nd round of the USO, I think. And he was just 7 or 8 months away from beating #1 Roger Federer in Miami. "Il Bambino" ("the baby") as the commentators kept calling him, would have had no reason to change what he was doing. It was working quite well.

no i don't believe he did either. Anyways Mox it won't happen on my YT channel (ie tenniscollector) where we have the power to remove comments and plain ban the trolls from our channel who are out to stir trouble.

Yes that's correct - a second round match. Am watching it now. Final score El Ayanoui wins 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 but young man from Spain gave him a strong challenge which is impressive to see 16 years later (for the reasons that you and i stated in our earlier posts) !