Posted on 06/09/2008 10:32:21 AM PDT by Jim W N
Spain's Rafael Nadal won his fourth French Open tennis championship on Sunday in Paris by demolishing rival Roger Federer in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
Rod Laver’s left arm was huge compared to his right. Many sportscasters used the term “popeye arm” during Laver’s heyday.
The more likely explanation is that Nadal and other professionals are dedicated to fitness. It is their job, what they do pretty much every day year round.
John McEnroe had a personal voice coach and went through three hours of insult drills per day. :-)
Do you really need steroid arms to play GOOD tennis? I’m going to start taking piano lessons soon, so I better get me some steroids too. /sarc
One of the most dominating performances I’ve seen. Nadal played the game flawlessly AND powerfully.
I don't know. All I know is that a former womens tennis star has talked about steroid/performance enhancer use in the womens circuit in the early 1980's when she quit (not because of that but because she said her heart was no longer in competitive tennis). Tennis champions all the way up to Federer don't have arms like that, and I think he looks "Barry Bonds" unnatural.
Nadal is a workout fanatic! He is the best on clay that is for sure. I was disappointed they focused more on Roger losing than on Nadal’s win. I am not a Fed fan. He is boring to watch and the whole Roger coat at Wimbledon kind of did it for me. The man purse he had the coat-the whole thing put me off. Nadal is so humble and was almost apologetic for beating Fed the other day. You had Safina stopping because a baby cried and wouldn’t play until they took the baby out of the stands-smon! They all grew up playing on courts where there are people-cars etc and now a baby cries and all play stops! Nadal wouldn’t have noticed he is so focused. One of our courts where we live is rgiht noext to train tracks and at one tournament the engineer on his announcing thing said “game set match”! It was very funny. None of the kids stopped because a rumbling train went by and no none of them are Safina but I think part of the reason watching tennis is not a ratings getter is this prima dona attitude. Nadal is just a guy who goes out there and kicks butt and is the same win or lose.
Thanks for the input. I’m glad to know Nadal is a nice guy. However, steroids are known to have invaded almost every pro sport including pro tennis. I know you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but given the state of things, do you think my suspicions are unfounded?
Arms look natural for anybody that has a regimental workout 5 times a week. No he doesn’t needs arms like that to be good at tennis, but there are plenty of guys that look like that and just sit around an office all day. I have a friend that looks like that and he is a forensic accountant. Lifts weights two days a week with cardio the other three. Been doing that for at least two years.
I would assume testing is done frequently so wouldn’t that be detected if he were using steroids?
There’s lots of drugs and processes designed out there to prevent detection. I hope I’m wrong but I’d like to see more about how pro tennis (unlike MLBaseball) is dedicated to stopping this stuff even if it means a drop in potential TV revenues.
I was so rooting today for Nadal, and I’m glad he finally overcame Roger at Wimbledon.
It’s truly now a rivalry for the ages, and I think now Nadal has the upper hand.
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