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Timely reprieve for Rafa. Hopefully, he can get his bearings back and pull through with a win.
Fed was very impressive today. He is playing his best tennis right now maybe of the year, in the last few matches. He wants this really bad, hopefully he gets it done. He'll beat Murray i think for sure if he can close out Nadal.
Timely reprieve for Rafa. Hopefully, he can get his bearings back and pull through with a win.
Rafa has finally come down to earth.
Yeah too bad. Murray was on fire again. I can't believe how well Murray is playing now. He looks like Djokovic now.
I'm happy for Murray though. He's come a long way from the scrawny kid I saw three years ago in Wimbledon. His growth this year has been pretty awesome to watch. I hope he gives Roger a good challenge.
Yeah I would love to see Murray beat Federer. Tough mission to beat Nadal and Fed though. Djokovic was the last person to do it in the same tournament.
Wow, I'm shocked. I thought with the timely break, Rafa could have for sure came in and won the match. I was looking forward to another Rafa and Fed finals rematch, would have been great to see Federer redeem himself a little.
I actually think Murray has a great chance today, he's been playing as well as anyone.
Nadal looked tired as at the end of that match. You could tell he was physically drained against Murray. He needs to recharge his batteries A.S.A.P!
Never underestimate the heart of a champion
Fed claims 5th straight US Open and 13th overall Grand Slam le. Rumors of the great Roger's demise have been greatly exagerated.
Welcome back Mr. Federer....we've missed you
Although, the win would have been about 10 times sweeter if it had come against NadalOh well, can't have everything! Hopefully this propels him into next year.
Who here thinks 2009 is the year Federer finally breaks Sampras's record of 14 grand slams? Federer is now at 13. So he'd have to win at least 2 grand slams next year. I say when his career is all said and done, Federer will have about 16-17 grand slams.
I expect Roger to have a huge year next year. He started the year with MONO and it messed him up for quite some time. He finally got himself together for the Open and really looked like himself at the end of tournament. I look for him to win the Aussie Open and tie Pete and at the very least get back his Wimbledon crown.Welcome back Mr. Federer....we've missed you
Although, the win would have been about 10 times sweeter if it had come against Nadal
Who here thinks 2009 is the year Federer finally breaks Sampras's record of 14 grand slams? Federer is now at 13. So he'd have to win at least 2 grand slams next year. I say when his career is all said and done, Federer will have about 16-17 grand slams.
I think Rafa repeats at Wimbledon. Remember that Fed didn't lose a set at Wimbledon until he played Nadal and the year before Nadal had his chances to beat Fed. The Australian Open is between Fed and Djokovic I think.
One injury to Nadal, Djokovic, Murry or Roger and all this gets thrown up in the air.
It's a toss up really. I like Roger because of his experience on grass but they are both the best grass court players on the planet. 2 epic 5 set matches played the last 2 years. It is not like Nadal is going to get much better, between now and Wimbledon. This is about as well as he can play from what he has physically. Nadal is not a big server and he never will be. He is a great shotmaker, who is fast as and hits with a load of spin. He can play at the net but he really doesn't like too. He is a banger from the baseline. Ferd's serve is still getting better. He is starting to go for more and getting more cheap points off it. Fed's net game is still improving as well. I just think Roger will dominate again next year. The French he may never get it but i would not count him out of another 3 slam season.
I think you're underestimating Rafa here. The guy is constantly talking about improving his game. I believe he knows exactly where his weaknesses lie on grass and hardcourt. When he improves on those, it'll be scary,
His weakness lies in his serve and that has not improved all that much in the last few years. He is only about 6'0, and he doesn't have the natural power of a guy like Sampras or the feel of Federer. He is a great baseline player and shotmaker. Fed is the better more well rounded player, whom the game comes easier too. Nadal may have a short career, the way he gets beat up out there every season. His shotmaking gives Roger problems, it is a tough matchup for him but you notice how Fed dessimates opponents Nadal has trouble with. I like Nadal but when it is all said and done Roger will be the best of all time. Nadal maybe will be top 5.
You gotta be kidding me. Nadal was averaging 10-15 mph faster this year at Wimbledon on his serve. Way better than last year. His serve did weaken at the US Open but I think that has to do with fatigue.
Nadal's percentage drops when he goes for more on his serve. At the Open he was just spinning them all in to start the point. He has the least amount of aces and unreturnables of all the top 10 players on the men's side. He ranked 33rd this year in aces, Fed ranked 3rd. 1st service pts won, 31st, Roger ranked 4th Nadal Ranks 1st in 2nd service pts won becaue he is such a great shot-maker. In a rally he is deadly but he has yet to make that 1st serve a weapon and i don't believe he ever will. Part of the wear and tear on Nadal is that he can't get easy games off his serve. He has to work his ass off for everything.
http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/matchfacts/
And yet Nadal only got broken 5 times in all of Wimbledon. He might not be getting aces but he is definitely getting some weak replies there.
He serves 10mph higher at Wimbledon than anytime in the year. Last year suddenly he was hitting 120+mph serves and keeping an extremely high first serve pct. at Wimbledon.. and the commentators were raving how his serve has improved through hard work. BUT it was a sudden improvement that came out of nowhere.
Then later last year, his serve went back down 10mph to normal levels by US Open. He continued to serve like this until Wimbledon this year, and boom, his serve speed shot up 10mph again and still maintained high percentage. He was hitting 130mph serves too. Not only were they fast they were heavy in spin.
After Wimbledon, his serve dropped back down to the 100-110mph range. It will stay there for many more months until somet time next year where he'll suddenly amp up his speed and all the commentators will rave how he's improved his serve through hard work....
I've seen Nadal serve big on hardcourts. It just didn't happen at the US Open. I assume Nadal peaks at the French Open and Wimbledon and is always tired by the time the hardcourt season comes. It is not a fun surface for him to play on.
Nadal's service game has gotten A LOT better this year, and is a big reason why his overall game improved so much.
That being said, I think the rough schedule, especially with the Olympics this year, took its toll on Federer. He himself admitted, he hasn't been able to practice as much between Grand Slams and that the scheduling this year has been horrible (Nadal and every other player agreed to this as well). I think next season, when he's fully healthy, can get more rest, Federer will be able to win at least 2 grand slams, if not more.
LOL, Right that is why he is ranked 31st in 1st service pts won, because players are just getting so many weak ass hacks on it out there
He is not getting to many unreturnable's either. Sometimes stats don't lie and this is one of those occasions. He is wore down physically by the end of every year because he has to work so damn hard for everything out there. A dominant first serve like Sampras had would eliminate that problem. Nadal simply doesn't have it.
Last edited by dbreiden83080; 09-10-2008 at 11:24 AM.
Yes he serves big sometimes on hardcourt, but never BIG.
He served at the US Open about 15mph slower than he did at Wimbledon this year.
That's a huge difference. He doesn't serve anywhere near as hard he does at Wimbledon at other tournaments.
And he also looks way thicker(more muscular) at Wimbledon than anywhere else (and seems to have abundant energy that nevers goes down even if he plays 6 days in a row).
at what you're implying.
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