(1)Some comments on Chris Chase's critique of Nadal at Yahoo Sports (source):
Simply put, I disagree with the writer's tone and accusations leveled at Nadal, as if he (Nadal) is lying to us about his prospects and confidence. That's just not the case. Nadal is probably the most unusual champion in the history of men's tennis: he likes to play the part of the underdog.
He genuinely does believe he needs to work very hard to beat his opponents. And he really does defer to Federer as a great champion. I mean for crying out loud, his uncle supposedly ranked Federer as the third best clay court player in the history of the game! It's a family mentality. (2)
And don't even get me started on the quotes. The writer provides no context. The first three quotes were after the first two matches, when he was pretty bad and the quotes are good assessment. The next two quotes are after the fourth matches when he was playing better than the first two.
And the hugging Federer at AO gesture! How is that self serving? That was the loveliest thing the sport had since since well...Nadal jumping over the court to hug his team and Federer's father clapping without a shred of antipathy at Wimby '08.
And that quote the writer provides about Nadal's false modesty
Nadal can now look back on 2008 and realize how great he was. At the time, he wouldn't admit it
by showing him saying 2008 was great but then showing the quote about how Federer didn't play in FO '08:
"If I am playing my best tennis ever, [I'm] never going to win 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 against Roger Federer, no. For sure, it's impossible. He didn't play very well. Everybody knows that because [of] the result."
For Christ's sake he made this comment after FO '08 but his recent assessment was for the entire '08.
I'm not sold.
This is not false modesty, he's not selling anything, this is what he is and how he wins.
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sources:
(1) Image from flickr user 'Yann Caradec'. Image source (link) used under CC BY-SA 2.0.
(2) Tandon, "Weighing Rafa's dominance on dirt". (link)