Whassup with Federer?

[uspta146749877]

Before Wimbledon

I;m not sure the tennis world is giving Rafa his due. He is clearly one of the two best clay courters of all time and may actually be the best.

Borg's post match interview was very interesting. They asked him how he would play Nadal and he said he would be patient and wait for the right ball.

Borg might be the only guy in the history of tennis with the conditioning, speed, mental strength, and backhand to actually be able to play with Nadal for 4 or 5 hours.

Could Borg's two hander have handled the Rafa forehand?

There doesn't appear to be any one on the tour who will be able to challenge Rafa on clay for the next few years.

If Rafa can win a slam or two on other surfaces, then he will start to be included in connversations about all-time greats.

Say you are a Nadal's coach.
What kind of advice would you give him
in his prepation for Wimbledon and a possible match vs Federer?
julian

[John Yandell]

Too sad to think about! Rafa is a vicious killer and I mean that as the higest compliment. Just want Roger to win the French because I like him and want to see the monkeys off his back. (Monkey = Media Pundit)

[gsheiner]

I;m not sure the tennis world is giving Rafa his due. He is clearly one of the two best clay courters of all time and may actually be the best.

Borg's post match interview was very interesting. They asked him how he would play Nadal and he said he would be patient and wait for the right ball.

Borg might be the only guy in the history of tennis with the conditioning, speed, mental strength, and backhand to actually be able to play with Nadal for 4 or 5 hours.

Could Borg's two hander have handled the Rafa forehand?

There doesn't appear to be any one on the tour who will be able to challenge Rafa on clay for the next few years.

If Rafa can win a slam or two on other surfaces, then he will start to be included in connversations about all-time greats.

[ochi]

Same old sad story -- unforced errors

Throughout Roland Garros, Federer seemed to have gotten over his strange, 14-month tendency to hit dozens of unforced errors, mainly forehands -- until the final, when he hit 35 to Nadal's seven. They included many forehands and a bunch at net. Go ahead, blame it on Rafa, blame it on the importance of the match to Federer's place in tennis history, but why should any of us buy it? Yet, what else is there to blame it on? He said he felt good, that he was ready to go. Now, I would not be surprised to see Rafa win Wimbledon. Like Sampras, I think he wants it more.

[lukman41985]

What I ate during Sunday brunch...

...a GIGANTIC serving of crow. Congratulations to Rafa.

I can't wait to see these two at Wimbledon--Djokovic obliging, of course.

I wonder how Roger will prepare for Wimbledon? Last year's crushing loss at Roland Garros kept Federer from playing the Gerry Weber Open--I think he knows that Rafa is looking better than ever to take the Wimbledon and as a result, he must play a warm-up to be fully prepared.

[gsheiner]

Agree with all your comments except that I root for Nadal.

I especially agree with your comments on the improvement in the Nadal backhand. He uses more slice, is quite comfortable with it now, and usually gets good depth.

[oliensis]

French Final: Men's

I tend to root for Federer over Nadal when they play. Federer's virtues as a player appeal to me more than do Nadal's. Nevertheless, going into the final I suspect that Federer doesn't have a real chance. Why?
1) I think that Nadal's backhand is now better than Federer's on clay. The drive is better, and N's slice has improved a lot. This means that Federer doesn't really have a place to go to consitently hurt Nadal. And that's different than was the case even a year ago. Also, it means that there are many less patterns to play that will give Fed the advantage in court dynamics.
2) Nadal will be playing his game. Federer will be changing his game to beat Nadal on clay. At crunch time the guy who doesn't have to choose how to play has an advantage: he doesn't have to think, and so, he doesn't have anxiety or uncertainty. Just clarity and empty-mind state of being, which allows his nature/game to emerge.
3) Nadal's serve has improved to the point that I will be surprised (gleeful but surprised) if Federer can consitently hurt Nadal when returning.
4) Federer has had his service games broken a fair # of times by lesser players than Nadal during this tournament. F will have to serve lights out to dominate sufficiently on his own service games that he'll feel comfortable taking risks on N's service game.

I hope that Federer plays the match of his life and wins the tournament, but I think that's a fairly low-odds propostion before the fact.

[uspta146749877]

A picture of Monfils-very funny

Great comments so far. I agree that running around the second serve is a way for Federer to shorten points. You run around and go for a huge shot. The point will be over in one or two shots win or lose.

I might add that I don't think Nadal likes it when guys run around his second.
You could see that at wimbledon in the fifth set when Federer did it a few times.

It might one of the few ways that Federer can get into Nadal's head.

see a funny picture of Monfils playing Fed

http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/rg_friday21.asp

[uspta146749877]

"there later on"

Yep that was a Tennisplayer clip. Well Bruce Elliot knows a lot, but I'll take that as a compliment. You might see more of us there later on also.

Did u mean by "there" NYTimes or French Open?
I assume the latter

[John Yandell]

Yep that was a Tennisplayer clip. Well Bruce Elliot knows a lot, but I'll take that as a compliment. You might see more of us there later on also.

[uspta146749877]

Nadal

If it was yours, they should have had you or one of your guys doing the commentary, as it would have been as good or better.

see

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/02/05/sports/20060205_SKILLS_ILLUS.html

[uspta146749877]

More about serve

If it was yours, they should have had you or one of your guys doing the commentary, as it would have been as good or better.

see as well

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/sports/playmagazine/601gift.html?_r=1&ref=playmagazine&oref=slogin

[airforce1]

If it was yours, they should have had you or one of your guys doing the commentary, as it would have been as good or better.

[airforce1]

Was that yours?

[John Yandell]

You guys know who gave them that clip of her serve, right?