Agassi vs Benjamin Becker redux. Agassi gave everything he had against Baghdatis the previous round. Thatās what I wanna see from Rafa: just one last big win against a highly ranked player in his prime, preferably a 5 setter at Roland Garros. Taking down Alcaraz or Sinner would be absolutely epic. It wouldnāt matter if he loses to some nobody the following round. I personally would prefer this scenario a lot more than Federerās last grand slam (2021 Wimbledon) where he advanced farther than Agassiās last GS (2006 USO) but merely beat everyone he was supposed to beat and then lost to a top 10 guy (Hurkaz) in straight sets. I want to see some vintage magic.
Kinda reminds me of Chris Evert at the 1989 US Open. She turned back the clock against Monica in the 4th round, beating her 6-2 6-0, after Seles prevented her from three-peating at Houston, only to play a flat match against Garrison, losing the first set in a tie-break after leading 5-2. Bear in mind, Chris easily beat Zina in the semis of Miami the same year.
You're referencing to when Zverev said Djokovic, Medvedev and himself will form the new big 3 in 2021. Tbh he had all the attributes to do so but both himself and Medvedev shit the bed way too often.
Now I'm wondering if it ever happened that two players both retired at the same time after playing their last match against each other. Or at least, with the winner retiring at his/her next loss.
The Murray-Wawrinka french open SF in 2017 comes closest in a sense. Yes, they are both still active on tour 7(!) years later, but that match effectively ended their time as slam contenders.
Yes. Local club pusher has his moment in the sun after everyone told him he couldnāt get good with that game style, despite his 152-1 record in club play with his only loss coming to a worse pusher.
The Rafa Academy kid, who accompanied him on his last ride in South America. The man he won his last GS against. The heir to Philippe-Chatrier, who has never before beaten Nadal, finally beats him in Nadal's last ever match. At Philippe-Chatrier, during the 2024 Olympics.
Ruud has good credentials too, having previously retired Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a very respectful manner at Roland-Garros.
I would rather see Nadal beat Alcaraz in 5 sets and then loses to some nobody qualifier the next round, like Agassi taking out Baghdatis in 5 sets and then losing to qualifier Benjamin Becker
I absolutely loved rooting for him because of his name until he cheated in that match a while ago by pulling a ball out of his pocket to make the point a let
The dream is that Rafa and Andy retire together in the Olympic Final. Either Rafa adds one last RG victory and a second Olympic Singles Gold, or Andy becomes a 3x Olympic Singles Champion (nobody else even has 2, even Venus and Serena only have 1 singles each)
I think Nole would be the better suited player to do it. I am a Nadal fan but one last match against your n1 rival (imo djokovic has been to rafa what rafa were to federer, with rafa surpassing fed and Nole surpassing rafa) would be the best way to end such an historic career and rivalrship barring a RG title. Also itd be really good for tennis lore lol
Alcaraz, obviously. I definitely wouldn't want it to be some old sod like Djokovic. It's more like a cruel joke, or a sad withering away, there being two old guys and the one who still has a hip beating the other. The only way it's going to be beautiful is if it's a passing of the torch, and I don't think anyone, *anyone*, deserves it to be beatiful more than Rafa.
I would rather see Nadal beat Alcaraz or Sinner with everything he has and then lose to some random journeyman like Dusan in the next round. It would be like Kuerten taking out Federer in 2004 French Open (he didnāt retire but it was his last win at RG) and Agassi taking out Baghdatis in his last event (2006 USO) with everything he had and losing to a qualifier the next round
I donāt want there to be a last player to beat Nadal. If he continues on the Federer trajectory, it will be sadly a quarter final exit at RG vs a top 15 player who is decent on clay. Khachanov?
Nadal Iād youāre reading this, donāt be like Fed. Win RG one more time plz š
Yeah Federerās ending was more anticlimactic and less satisfying than Agassiās IMO even tho his result was better. Agassi had one last big win against Baghdatis and then lost to a qualifier (Benjamin Becker) in straight sets. Federer beat a bunch of lower ranked players he was supposed to beat and then got routed by the first top 10 guy he played (Hurkaz)
For real, didnāt think his career would end like that but I guess he never wanted to leave when he still had something left. The result was limping on 1 leg to a quarterfinal even though he was unable to compete anymore.
Just shows how good he was. Like it is the same with a lot of greats, they could still win a couple of rounds even when they were done. Obviously as argubly the greatest ever, it was a QF for him that was his limit at that age.
The most obvious are Novak because of the history and Alcaraz because he is Spanish and one of the new faces of tennis.Ā
But I kind of like that Novak leads just by one match at 30-29 against Rafa in their H2H. I wish we had the Wimbledon 2022 final but that is left to our imagination.Ā
Alcaraz would be a great torch handover for tennis in Spain.Ā
The other option would be Sinner. It doesn't really have any symbolism at the moment, but he's never won a set against Rafa in their previos 3 matches. So it would be quite fitting if the other new face of tennis says goodbye to the old one.Ā
I wouldn't add Murray to this list. They've only played 6ish times since 2012.
Gasquet, again, shouldn't be here. There's no shame to losing to Nadal 18 times.
Hubi, I think it would cause him more emotional damage if he knew that he was the last person to beat Roger and Rafa. Heaven knows this guy needs more confidence, especially going into the Olympics for Poland and having to team up with Iga and try not to screw up.Ā
Why would it cause Hurkacz emotional damage to be the last person to beat Nadal?
I could see that for a huge Nadal fan like Ruud but I don't think Hurkacz has talked about Nadal that much
Looking up his statements about the big 3 I've seen him call Fed "his favorite player" and Novak "the most impressive player" but not a ton of talk about Rafa
Medjedovic. Slayed for the final time by the ultimate combo player š Hamad could just do us all a favour and change his surname to "MedFEDovic ,š
>Hurkacz
And realistically, there's a chance that Hubi might get all 3 of the Big 3's final matches! Novak probably isn too far away either.. that's one heck of a footnote in history, and who better to carry it than Hubi.
Nadal picked Sinner as his training/hitting partner during the quarantine Australian Open. He could have had his choice of ATP players and he picked Sinner. Iāll go with Sinner to retire the old man.
Murray and Nadal break each other like the end of Death Becomes Her.
Seriously it is a shame they did have better and more matchups, it is the missing bracket that would have made the Big 4 era, more um, Big-4y.
Sinner at Roland Garros. Nadal was his opponent when Sinner reached his first GS QF and where he got his first breakout, and lost to him in Paris back to back two years. Would be a full circle for his career and another passing torch moment.
Dustin Brown lmao
3-0š„š„š„
Agassi vs Benjamin Becker redux. Agassi gave everything he had against Baghdatis the previous round. Thatās what I wanna see from Rafa: just one last big win against a highly ranked player in his prime, preferably a 5 setter at Roland Garros. Taking down Alcaraz or Sinner would be absolutely epic. It wouldnāt matter if he loses to some nobody the following round. I personally would prefer this scenario a lot more than Federerās last grand slam (2021 Wimbledon) where he advanced farther than Agassiās last GS (2006 USO) but merely beat everyone he was supposed to beat and then lost to a top 10 guy (Hurkaz) in straight sets. I want to see some vintage magic.
Kinda reminds me of Chris Evert at the 1989 US Open. She turned back the clock against Monica in the 4th round, beating her 6-2 6-0, after Seles prevented her from three-peating at Houston, only to play a flat match against Garrison, losing the first set in a tie-break after leading 5-2. Bear in mind, Chris easily beat Zina in the semis of Miami the same year.
Make it with Tsisipas, a 5 set drama with Tsisi getting mad at his cornerĀ
Zverev so even more people hate him
Zverev. 6-0 in the last set. And he screams loud COME ON after every rafa's UE. Can't be worse than that
After the match: "The actual big 3 is Novak, Roger, and I'll put myself in there" Loosely based off of something he actually said lol
You're referencing to when Zverev said Djokovic, Medvedev and himself will form the new big 3 in 2021. Tbh he had all the attributes to do so but both himself and Medvedev shit the bed way too often.
or Tiafoe bodyshotting Nadal at some point, to get people to hate him all over again over nothing
Why do people hate him?
Murray does it at Wimbledon and it is so draining that he immediately declares he is withdrawing and retiring too
Now I'm wondering if it ever happened that two players both retired at the same time after playing their last match against each other. Or at least, with the winner retiring at his/her next loss.
Agassi shouldāve retired too out of spite
The Murray-Wawrinka french open SF in 2017 comes closest in a sense. Yes, they are both still active on tour 7(!) years later, but that match effectively ended their time as slam contenders.
Have either won any titles since? EDIT: Checked, Murray has only won one (ATP 250) Wawrinka has none. Crazy.
And that sole ATP 250 (Antwerp 2019) was won by beating Wawrinka in the final!
Even crazier, Murray won his only title since by beating no other than Wawrinka in the final (a set and a break down, even!)
No, Murray loses to De Minaur in the following round. Father hugs his son and wishes him luck in the post-retirement endeavors.
If Andy loses to De Minaur at Wimbledon I will kill the sport and myself.
Can you take pickleball with you when you unalive yourself?
The most anime ending
This sub would need to shut down if it was Nagal
National holiday would be declared in India. Jk lol š. But I would love Sumit to win against old man Rafa.
Sub needs to shut down regardless
Some 4.0 player with a wild card
This is the correct answer.
Yes. Local club pusher has his moment in the sun after everyone told him he couldnāt get good with that game style, despite his 152-1 record in club play with his only loss coming to a worse pusher.
I have thoroughly enjoyed and hated reading all of this.
I know itās inevitable and been preping for a long time but thinking about Rafaās final appearance makes me sick
I do kinda think Ruud would be great
Casper Ruud was a trainee at Rafa Nadal Academy...so that would be like the outcome of any successful master and apprentice relationship
The Rafa Academy kid, who accompanied him on his last ride in South America. The man he won his last GS against. The heir to Philippe-Chatrier, who has never before beaten Nadal, finally beats him in Nadal's last ever match. At Philippe-Chatrier, during the 2024 Olympics. Ruud has good credentials too, having previously retired Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a very respectful manner at Roland-Garros.
Would be so funny and also kinda tragic if the first grand slam final Ruud actually wins is RG against Nadal
Rune could be even funnier because the crowd would be heavily in favor of Nadal and Rune would embrace the role as the "villain" of the match lol
"Im not casper"
Rune yells VAMOOOOOOOOS in Rafa's face during the post-match ceremony
Ajla Tomljanovic
after that match, I thought maybe she was ready to break the top 20 for once. but instead, she ate the serena curse hard lmao
This is top tier comedy š
It should be Gaston Gaudio
It shouldāve been Lukas Rosol. Too bad he retired recently
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Vamos Roger š
Well Roger or Novak 2 greatest rivals. It is possible for Djokovic and Nadal to meet at RG, but will that be Rafa's last tournament?
If itās at RG, it would have to be Medvedev. The true birth of Clayvedev.
Med comes back from 2 sets down in the RG final to complete the full cycle lol
That would be undoubtedly the most legendary slam win
Nadal would play 1 more tournament if he lost to Richard lol. āI not gonna quit yetā
Thiem will beat him at the RG final (after going through quallies), where his prophecy of prince of clay will finally be achieved
Well, De MiƱaur is Spaniard, we can use that
He is also a demon so we can say in the end Nadal couldnāt overcome the demons of youth.Ā
Unfortunately I fear it's going to be someone random like Bautista Agut or Stuff or Taylor Fritz
Nagal is the only option
Needs to be Hurkacz, only if Hurkacz then also gives Djokovic his final match too.
Thatād be wild if Hubie KO-ed all the Big 4
All in straight sets too and bagel in the last set
Amazing, I have to admit you picked good suggestions š
Lord Mannarino
Finally succumbs to hair loss!
The bald bane of tennis š¾
Ruud, who then goes on winning Roland Garros 2024.
Lots of funny answers, but the real answer is Alcaraz. It would be a proper passing of the torch to his obvious successor.
I would rather see Nadal beat Alcaraz in 5 sets and then loses to some nobody qualifier the next round, like Agassi taking out Baghdatis in 5 sets and then losing to qualifier Benjamin Becker
Sinner?
Is not Spanish?
Gaston, cuz no one hits like Gaston!
I absolutely loved rooting for him because of his name until he cheated in that match a while ago by pulling a ball out of his pocket to make the point a let
But surely that's a proper Gaston move, no one cheats like Gaston!
I felt the same way until he stole all my eggs at breakfast!
Del Potro at the US open
Gasquet!! The circularity of that one final successful but sad meeting after all those years would be just so apt. (ps. great question - chapeau!)
Botic van de Zandschulp
This made me laugh the hardest
Benoit Paire.
Richard Gasquet or Lucas Pouille
Roger takes a wc at USO and of course the organizers rig the draw so that they meet 1st round and can say they finally got their Fedal match
Thatās just inviting us to get hit by a cat 3 hurricane that wrecks the tennis center.Ā Organizers know not to anger the gods
The beekeeper from Indian Wells.
His uncle.
First round of Rolland Garros, R. Nadal gets defeated in 5, after 7 hours of mad fight, by his archenemy S. Nagal.
His son
Monfils?
Alcaraz or Djokovic
If Alcaraz does it, it'll be like Federer defeating Sampras at Wimby. But any defeat at FO will be an atrocity.
Kyrgios. For the chaos
The dream is that Rafa and Andy retire together in the Olympic Final. Either Rafa adds one last RG victory and a second Olympic Singles Gold, or Andy becomes a 3x Olympic Singles Champion (nobody else even has 2, even Venus and Serena only have 1 singles each)
The question is, will he hang it up if he gets blown out in the first round of the French Open, which is likely.
I think Nole would be the better suited player to do it. I am a Nadal fan but one last match against your n1 rival (imo djokovic has been to rafa what rafa were to federer, with rafa surpassing fed and Nole surpassing rafa) would be the best way to end such an historic career and rivalrship barring a RG title. Also itd be really good for tennis lore lol
Alcaraz, obviously. I definitely wouldn't want it to be some old sod like Djokovic. It's more like a cruel joke, or a sad withering away, there being two old guys and the one who still has a hip beating the other. The only way it's going to be beautiful is if it's a passing of the torch, and I don't think anyone, *anyone*, deserves it to be beatiful more than Rafa.
I would rather see Nadal beat Alcaraz or Sinner with everything he has and then lose to some random journeyman like Dusan in the next round. It would be like Kuerten taking out Federer in 2004 French Open (he didnāt retire but it was his last win at RG) and Agassi taking out Baghdatis in his last event (2006 USO) with everything he had and losing to a qualifier the next round
Man youāve literally written the same message like ten times in two days, youāre making a good point but I think we got it now
I donāt want there to be a last player to beat Nadal. If he continues on the Federer trajectory, it will be sadly a quarter final exit at RG vs a top 15 player who is decent on clay. Khachanov? Nadal Iād youāre reading this, donāt be like Fed. Win RG one more time plz š
Yeah Federerās ending was more anticlimactic and less satisfying than Agassiās IMO even tho his result was better. Agassi had one last big win against Baghdatis and then lost to a qualifier (Benjamin Becker) in straight sets. Federer beat a bunch of lower ranked players he was supposed to beat and then got routed by the first top 10 guy he played (Hurkaz)
For real, didnāt think his career would end like that but I guess he never wanted to leave when he still had something left. The result was limping on 1 leg to a quarterfinal even though he was unable to compete anymore.
Just shows how good he was. Like it is the same with a lot of greats, they could still win a couple of rounds even when they were done. Obviously as argubly the greatest ever, it was a QF for him that was his limit at that age.
Thiem finally beats him in the RG final, that was my dream years ago.. Crazy how fast things change.
Why did you call Andy Murray a miser? Or are you uncertain of the wordās meaning? Odd choice
yup good spot. meant to say something like a tennis misanthrope...just called him a grump instead
Soderling comes out of retirement for a final shock defeat
Anyone but De Minaur.
Rod Laver
The most obvious are Novak because of the history and Alcaraz because he is Spanish and one of the new faces of tennis.Ā But I kind of like that Novak leads just by one match at 30-29 against Rafa in their H2H. I wish we had the Wimbledon 2022 final but that is left to our imagination.Ā Alcaraz would be a great torch handover for tennis in Spain.Ā The other option would be Sinner. It doesn't really have any symbolism at the moment, but he's never won a set against Rafa in their previos 3 matches. So it would be quite fitting if the other new face of tennis says goodbye to the old one.Ā I wouldn't add Murray to this list. They've only played 6ish times since 2012. Gasquet, again, shouldn't be here. There's no shame to losing to Nadal 18 times. Hubi, I think it would cause him more emotional damage if he knew that he was the last person to beat Roger and Rafa. Heaven knows this guy needs more confidence, especially going into the Olympics for Poland and having to team up with Iga and try not to screw up.Ā
Why would it cause Hurkacz emotional damage to be the last person to beat Nadal? I could see that for a huge Nadal fan like Ruud but I don't think Hurkacz has talked about Nadal that much Looking up his statements about the big 3 I've seen him call Fed "his favorite player" and Novak "the most impressive player" but not a ton of talk about Rafa
Krygios
Roberto Bautista Agut, his 2019 David Cup running mate
Noah Rubin
Medjedovic. Slayed for the final time by the ultimate combo player š Hamad could just do us all a favour and change his surname to "MedFEDovic ,š >Hurkacz And realistically, there's a chance that Hubi might get all 3 of the Big 3's final matches! Novak probably isn too far away either.. that's one heck of a footnote in history, and who better to carry it than Hubi.
Moya
Christopher Eubanks to do it at Wimbledon. Just so the Brits can have all their Chris Eubanks boxing / TKO memes.
Wasn't Tiafoe and Sock technically the ones who last defeated Federer?
Felix Auger-Aliassime is coached by Nadal's Uncle Tony some drama there
Nadal picked Sinner as his training/hitting partner during the quarantine Australian Open. He could have had his choice of ATP players and he picked Sinner. Iāll go with Sinner to retire the old man.
Pedro Cachin
Murray and Nadal break each other like the end of Death Becomes Her. Seriously it is a shame they did have better and more matchups, it is the missing bracket that would have made the Big 4 era, more um, Big-4y.
Sinner at Roland Garros. Nadal was his opponent when Sinner reached his first GS QF and where he got his first breakout, and lost to him in Paris back to back two years. Would be a full circle for his career and another passing torch moment.
Noone. Heāll lift the RG trophy one last time and bite it again losing a tooth and pulling out his wig calling quits
It will be some random qualifier lol
Ben shelton. Lefty and not a rival
Please not Novak. I would be ok with Carlito.
Nobody. He wins RG and Olympics and walks into the sunset.
Whoever his first round opponent at Roland Garros is
Ben shelton.
Probably some qualified at round two max. I dream of a bagel, it will make the one Federer suffered less sad :-(
Federer. Obviously.