Cincy...

[Moralspain]

Key thing for Rafa's success is that, in my opinion, Nadal has improved every single aspect of his game since he became a pro, most players don't improve, they play same way all their careers.
He has been able to serve better when he plays on hard courts, and also has been able to adapt his BH hitting flat shots, when he's on clay he doesn't give a shit about his serve, just don't need it.
Agassi also improved his serve a lot, and more aspects of his game.
All that said, he needs to play perfect matches to beat specialists on hard courts like Fed and others, he could well lose in QF of US Open this year against...Tsonga? for example, anyone with great serve and powerful strokes can beat Rafa if he doesn't have a great day, not enough with having a good day on hard court to beat specialists.

[Florian]

Well certainly not this year that Tsonga will beat Nadal at the USO since he won't play there, but if he could lose all the extra weight he's gained since 2009, he'd be regularly a tough cookie for Rafa on hard court.

That's my opinion i'm pretty sure not many would share it ^^

[Rob ITST]

Does Rafa have a losing record (at least 3 games) against anyone?

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=D402

Had to go WAY back for this one:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=H377

And if you count players he played less than 3 times, there's still not many:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=C344

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=G621

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=J194

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Hea ... 9&oId=M640

I went all the way back to 2004, checking the record against every player he's lost to.... impressive results.

[djarvik]

Someone from ATPworldtour site is reading this broad, I swear!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... ecord.aspx

I have seen quite a few things picked up from here into there, like my "Dog" nickname for Dolgopolov a few years ago...

WTF?!!! Show yourself!

[Uchiha Muss]

Someone from ATPworldtour site is reading this broad, I swear!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... ecord.aspx

I have seen quite a few things picked up from here into there, like my "Dog" nickname for Dolgopolov a few years ago...

WTF?!!! Show yourself!

Exactly the same passed through my mind.

[Florian]

That's a nice compliment !

[Murderface84]

SHOW YOURSELF you plagiarizing, lurking, probably non-existent bastard

[Murderface84]

SHOW YOURSELF you plagiarizing, lurking, probably non-existent bastard

[emate007]

I suspect ITST is the go to place for a large percentage of sports reporters who need a burst of inspiration or a hot fashion tip.

[djarvik]

EXACTLY!

[Corbon]

Davidenko immediately comes to mind, who is also the only player with a winning record based on 5 matches or more.

And no one knows why

[Corbon]

Even Wawrinka can't do anything. I thought taller guys like Raonic Delpo Isner would handle Rafa's fh better but they just can't...

Which makes Nadal's loss to Darcis (5'10, one handed backhand) even more puzzling. Based on his playing style, he would be the perfect opponent for Nadal...

As for tall DHBH's, most of them are or used to be headcases, especially Murray, or are simply not good enough at the baseline. On the other hand there's that one loss at RG vs Söderling, Delpo's 6-2 6-2 6-2 at the USO '09 which remains the most lopsided defeats of Rafa in a Slam.

[Ali-Iqb93]

Tsonga AO 2008

[Murderface84]

I remember that match well, he was spamming drop
volleys all over the place.

[Florian]

Tsonga AO 2008

That was such a beauty, that Tsonga had everything, great footwork to run around his fh as soon as Rafa hit shorter, amazing netplay, not a moment he felt it was too big of a dream to be true...God i miss that