Has Any Athlete Dominated an Event Like Nadal at the French Open?

[TomR13]

Short answer to this resurrected thread.. NO
I just dont think anyone has dominated at the level he did, against the level of competition that he did.  Playing against the top 128 men in the world?  I mean look at some of these finals score lines...  Against the BEST in the world.

[ChiTown]

On 6/10/2021 at 5:28 PM, nevets88 said:

I mean, come on, look at graphic below... Borg won 6. OK, he retired early, but tennis, like golf, is much more competitive now than it was in the 70s and 80s. Like Woods with a 54 hole lead, he's never lost a FO final. Tomorrow's semifinal I hope will be epic. The Joker is a great player, but I'll be rooting for Rafa.

 

If you only look at the French Open then you’d say Nadal. But if you look at Slams, ATP Masters and World Finals, and ATP rankings the data would say Djokovic over Nadal 

But want to talk about an athlete dominating a sport?  Michael Jordan.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by ChiTown

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, ChiTown said:

But want to talk about an athlete dominating a sport?  Michael Jordan.

Your Chicago bias is showing.

No.

[ChiTown]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

Your Chicago bias is showing.

No.

Who, in your opinion, would you say dominated a sport like Nadal at the French Open?

[saevel25]

57 minutes ago, ChiTown said:

If you only look at the French Open then you’d say Nadal. But if you look at Slams, ATP Masters and World Finals, and ATP rankings the data would say Djokovic over Nadal 

But want to talk about an athlete dominating a sport?  Michael Jordan.

Umm, the title of the thread is has any athlete dominated an event like Nadal did at the French Open. We are not talking about dominating a sport. That is off topic. 

Nadal is one of the best of all time, but he is not the greatest at tennis. He is the greatest tennis player on clay. 

This would be like if like Phil won the same tournament, at this specific course, at like an 90% win rate. That includes having the other best golfers show up. Phil is not the greatest golfer of all time. 

[ChiTown]

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Umm, the title of the thread is has any athlete dominated an event like Nadal did at the French Open. We are not talking about dominating a sport. That is off topic. 

Nadal is one of the best of all time, but he is not the greatest at tennis. He is the greatest tennis player on clay. 

This would be like if like Phil won the same tournament, at this specific course, at like an 90% win rate. That includes having the other best golfers show up. Phil is not the greatest golfer of all time. 

Okay. Then I’ll go with Michael Jordan during the NBA Championships. Hahahaaha. 

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, ChiTown said:

Okay. Then I’ll go with Michael Jordan during the NBA Championships. Hahahaaha. 

Still no.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Win Shares | Basketball-Reference.com

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Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more on Basketball-Reference.com

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Win Shares Per 48 Minutes | Basketball-Reference.com

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Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more on Basketball-Reference.com

Tops but not dominant by any stretch.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Points Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com

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Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more on Basketball-Reference.com

Ditto.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Assists Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com

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Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more on Basketball-Reference.com

Nowhere near the top.

[ChiTown]

34 minutes ago, iacas said:

Still no.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Win Shares | Basketball-Reference.com

---

Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more...

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Win Shares Per 48 Minutes | Basketball-Reference.com

---

Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more...

Tops but not dominant by any stretch.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Points Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com

---

Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more...

Ditto.

NBA & ABA Career Playoff Leaders and Records for Assists Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com

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Checkout the complete list of NBA & ABACareer Leaders and Records for Playoff and more...

Nowhere near the top.

Wow Erik. You guys are really tough on me. Really must not like Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Chicago, or me. I’ll stick with my opinion. Have a nice day 

[saevel25]

33 minutes ago, ChiTown said:

Wow Erik. You guys are really tough on me. Really must not like Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Chicago, or me. I’ll stick with my opinion. Have a nice day 

I grew up a Bulls fan in the 90's. I loved watching him play. I think he's in the argument for greatest of all time. Probably the greatest non-center player of all time, at least top 3. 

You have it right, it's an opinion. We have our opinions on it. How about you grow some thicker skin and not get upset with someone not saying, "Yes, you are right." 

[mdl]

39 minutes ago, ChiTown said:

Wow Erik. You guys are really tough on me. Really must not like Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Chicago, or me. I’ll stick with my opinion. Have a nice day 

Erik can be gruff but look at that Nadal-French Open table! Jordan would have to have like double win shares per finals game (filtered to folks with at least, say, 3 finals in their career) than 2nd place to even be able to start a conversation about whether it stacks up versus Nadal! I was growing up when Jordan was dominating and he was incredible but it was never like why bother watching the NBA playoffs because we already know the outcome like it has been with the French open for almost two decades!

[klineka]

1 hour ago, ChiTown said:

Wow Erik. You guys are really tough on me. Really must not like Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Chicago, or me. I’ll stick with my opinion. Have a nice day 

25 minutes ago, mdl said:

Erik can be gruff 

How is someone pointing out facts to disprove your position "really tough" or "gruff" ?

@ChiTown You made the claim, now back it up with facts.

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, ChiTown said:

Wow Erik. You guys are really tough on me. Really must not like Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Chicago, or me. I’ll stick with my opinion. Have a nice day 

I linked to a few things and disagree with your stance on a very, very narrow topic.

It has nothing to do with liking you, the Bulls, or Michael Jordan. Truth is, I don't really care about basketball, but if I was a fan of a team in the 90s, it was Jordan and the Bulls. I've watched the movie "Air" three times. Etc.

Grow a thicker skin man — nothing was done to you. I simply don't agree with your opinion here, and don't think you can make a case. I think your Chicago bias is showing, as I said initially.

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

I grew up a Bulls fan in the 90's. I loved watching him play. I think he's in the argument for greatest of all time. Probably the greatest non-center player of all time, at least top 3.

I'm on board with that too.

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

You have it right, it's an opinion. We have our opinions on it. How about you grow some thicker skin and not get upset with someone not saying, "Yes, you are right." 

👍🏼

Seriously, @ChiTown, it has nothing to do with you as a person. Jeez.

1 hour ago, mdl said:

Erik can be gruff

Sure, but this isn't that.

1 hour ago, mdl said:

Jordan would have to have like double win shares per finals game (filtered to folks with at least, say, 3 finals in their career) than 2nd place to even be able to start a conversation about whether it stacks up versus Nadal! I was growing up when Jordan was dominating and he was incredible but it was never like why bother watching the NBA playoffs because we already know the outcome like it has been with the French open for almost two decades!

Indeed. Nadal French Open >>> Jordan playoffs.

[ChetlovesMer]

Okay, Michael Phelps had a pretty good 12 year run in the Olympics. If you look at the 200 meter individual medley he won that in the Olympics or World Championships like every year from 2002 until 2016. 

I'm pretty sure Bonnie Blair had a similar run winning World Championships and Olympics in the 500 and 1000 meters speed skating from like 1988 to 1995.

 

Michael Jordan did dominate shoe sales and endorsements from 1985 to 1998

[iacas]

54 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Michael Jordan did dominate shoe sales and endorsements from 1985 to 1998

Yep. Not an event, though. 😉 

[Ty_Webb]

How about Phil "The Power" Taylor? 

Phil Taylor (darts player) - Wikipedia

His world championship's record is pretty similar to Nadal's in the French Open. He won more, but lost a few finals that Nadal never did. 

Also something something time at peak something something. (Nadal's longevity in a game like tennis is pretty incredible)

[dennyjones]

I like the Michael Jordan argument but agree it's not the same.   I like the Michael Phelps argument but it's not the same.   Katie Ledecky would be a closer comparison to Nadal.  

[StKildaSenators]

This is getting into "what is an isn't a sport" territory, but Raymond Ceulemans absolutely dominated 3 cushion carom billiards. 

He won 21 world championships, 19 of them coming between 1963 and 1985. On top of that he also won 3 silver and 4 bronze. His first gold came in 1963, and his last in 2001.