Djokovic

[DaveF]

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He struggled to finish three sets, let alone five. Nowadays he'd still be going strong after 10 sets. There's something unnatural about it.

Anyone asking that question of Nadal when he played the 2012 final against Djokovic for almost 6hrs?

Or Mahut and Isner who played for 11hrs over 2 days?

[He's here!]

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Anyone asking that question of Nadal when he played the 2012 final against Djokovic for almost 6hrs?

Or Mahut and Isner who played for 11hrs over 2 days?

As McD has mentioned in an earlier post, it's not so much the fact he can seemingly play endlessly without any hint of fatigue that's remarkable, it's the transformation from one slam title between 2005 and 2011 and a reputation for toiling to complete matches to almost unbeatable automaton winning 3 in one season that raised questions. It's not the steady path towards success trodden by other champions.

[s.a.m]

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Anyone asking that question of Nadal when he played the 2012 final against Djokovic for almost 6hrs?

Or Mahut and Isner who played for 11hrs over 2 days?

If I can just get my 'No axe to grind here' disclaimer out of the way....:
Nadal very much has been dogged by suspicion and allegations for years about doping, and he successfully sued someone for pointing the finger at him.
He was also linked - wrongly, he says - with the Spanish doctor who was heavily involved in cycling doping scandals. The Spanish government destroyed the doctor's clinical samples that were seized as part of their investigation, with lots of athletes left with questions against their names, because his clients weren't named or their results known. As I remember, Nadal objected to the samples being disposed of because of the cloud of suspicion it left.