posted May 18, 2009

I think Roger won a nice indoor hard court final in Madrid playing hard court tennis against a player who along with Djokovic had given us the best match of the week the day before and was obviously a)spent and jaded and b)not much fussed about losing a final to Federer after proving himself and his form the day before against one of his true rivals for the Roland Garros title. As a well known Madrid radio programme said last night: "Rafa handed the victory to Federer today because he was due a wedding present from him."

The altitude and the semi-enclosed nature of the venue mean playing conditions in Madrid are a long way from being normal slow heavy clay ones and Roger can't expect to win in Paris playing as he did yesterday when it was obvious right from the start (Yes! for once he had a plan!)that he was not going to engage in combat with Rafa but just go for winners, as one can on fast courts like Madrid's Magic Box. As the players have been pointing out all along, the conditions in Madrid make it completely useless as preparation for the clay major at Roland Garros and this new tournament needs to be moved to a different slot in the calendar, for example swapped with Monte Carlo as many suggest.

I think the big lesson learned from Madrid is that Djokovic, not Federer, is now the most serious challenger for Rafa's Paris clay court crown, so let's hope they're not in the same half of the draw.

BTW. Re: Stars play under Wimbledon roof - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7907707.stm
".... and five-time champion Roger Federer sent a video message from Madrid where he was taking on current Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the Masters final."

The writer of this report surprisingly/typically omitted to say that reigning champion Rafael Nadal also sent a video message from Madrid, which was drowned out by the crowd's cheers for him... Could anyone fill us in on what the Wimbledon champion had to say?

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

At the start of Madrid there was a possibility that Andy Murray could see himself crowned world #2 today. For that to happen Andy would have had to win the tournament, and Federer to go out early. In fact it was Murray who exited at the quarters, and Fed who went onto win.

So hats off to Fed, along with a whole troop of monkeys on his back. Finally he wins a Masters tournament again. Finally he beats one of the big 4. And finally he gets some revenge for last year's humilation at RG - and just in time for the 2009 version.

He's certainly got a lot to thank Djoko for. But before the Aussie final they were saying that Verdasco had practically handed the title to Fed as Nadal would have nothing left. However he wasn't able to close the deal - this time he has.

The player who's emerged with the most credit from the clay so far is Djoko. I for one had written him off as a serious contender - how wrong I was. If anyone has the game to match Nadal on clay it's Djokovich. The only question is whether he can match Nadal's iron will over 5 sets.

Murray must be slightly disappointed. Sure, he's made considerable progress but he's neither done as well as he might have hoped, nor have the others done as badly as he might have expected. Now the second half of the year looms, and with it a lot of points to defend.

As for the rest of the pack... No-one will fancy seeing Del Potro in their half of the draw but I can't see him going all the way as he'd probably have to beat 3 of the big 4 if he's to win at RG. The rest can be safely discounted.

Finally, Nadal. Rafa may be a wounded King of Clay, but he's still the King.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

looking at the excuses given by rafito fan girls I wonder why the FACT that Wimbledon courts have become slower and more like Clay courts for Rafa to even get to the finals there leave alone winning there??

The arrogant French will never change anything and certainly don't like "CHANGE". we should see the French making Roland Garros a little faster than it is and we should see what excuses Rafito girls will come up with.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

If Fed wins the French Open with Rafa in the mix, he would be regarded as the greatest of all time. Right now there is a question mark hanging over it. This is a step in the right direction as i thought he had lost it mentally against Rafa.

And since when has a 3 setter been a long hard slog for someone as fit as Rafa?

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

Ok sure, I'm sure that Nadal was feeling the effects of his gruesome 4 hour something semi-final match with Djokovich the previous day, but that said, credit where credit is due, as it has to be said that Federer did execute an aggessive and risk-taking game plan to amazingly good effect.

Moreover, people may talk about all kinds of things such as Nadal did not play to the lofty heights of his full ferocious clay court potential, which may be true, but that's tennis for you. You can't come out and expect everything to click every single time, just as Federer has so painfully learnt in the last 18 months or so.

Nadal did not play amazing yesterday, but the same could be said for Federer in that classic 2008 Wimbledon final and ofcourse this years AO final. Last year at Wimbledon, if Federer had been playing to his peak on grass, would he really have lost the first two sets 6-4, 6-4 against Nadal? - On the contrary, if he had been playing his very best on grass (Not forgetting he had won FIVE straight wimbledon titles prior to that point, and in fact had not even lost on grass in Halle for five years either!), the chances are that he would have won instead won the first two sets and certainly atleast one of the next three!

Same could be said about the AO final where Federer served poorly and yet the match still went to five sets! Now lets just assume if Federer had-had a good serving day that day, he would have likely have won the match in 4-5 sets, especially seeing as though Nadal may have been a little weary from that draining Verdasco encounter! As it turned out, it didn't happen, and Nadal won both finals and now has 6 slams to his name as opposed to 4, and the tennis world does not care whether Federer played good or bad or served poorly or well - They have instead taken their hats off to Nadal!

So at the end of the day, whether you play good or bad, are tired or fresh, people will only look at the end result - and that works both ways!

The truth is, we'd all fathom to see an encounter where both Federer and Nadal are playing to their MAXIMUM potential at the SAME time! Nadal being at the peak of his phenominal athletic ability, energy, confidence, fighting spirit and with everything else automatically clicking for him at the same time AND Federer, who in my opinion is the slightly more naturally talented of the two, walks on court on a day where his 'poetry in motion' tennis hits the VERY limits of it's capabilities in terms of timing, shot-making, rhythem, flow, precision, energy, and confidence.

The Winner? IMO, Nadal at the FO and Federer at Wimbledon, the USO and the AO. Unfortunately, the chances of getting such a match would be highly unlikely! ((

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

I think this win has been overexaggerated, i did not see the match, but i know that excuses can be made as they always are. However the fact of the matter is Federer won.

Having said this it is only one match, you have to remember nadal has still won 33 of his last 34 clay court matches and 150 of his last 155 clay court matches. It is ridiculous to say that Nadal is less likely win the FO because of this. He lost one match to the world number 2. All this speculation is ridiculous, simply because he hasn't won every single match he has played on clay this year.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

how does the ranking point system work

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 18, 2009

So glad Roger has had a win at last,I hope that it is a sign of good things to come. He is a real champion in my book.

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 19, 2009

You are talking about Federer victory as if nothing had happened in semi final.
I am also amazed how shallow your comments are. The most comments here are made without any facts.
And the facts are as solid as rock.
Fact No.1:
Federer won the Madrid open beating players who are, except Nadal, hard cort specialist (Del Potro, Roddic).
Fact No.2:
Every time he was in Djokovic's part of the table he didn't make it to the finals. (he was beaten by Wawrinka in Monte Carlo 1/4 final and by Djokovic in Rome 1/2 final)
Fact No.3 : The Madrid open is not the first turnament in wich Nadal gave 110% in 1/2 final just to lose the final match. ( exectly the same happened when he beat Moya in 4h tree sets match just to lose to Youzny in the final match)

Why the organizers changed the table and paired Djokovic with Nadal when Djokovic slip to the 4th spot on ATP ranks?

add comment | complain about this comment

posted May 19, 2009

Come off it, no 3 set match will drain Nadal *that* much.

Also, he takes a long recovery time between points which is part of the reason his matches are so long. This makes a substantial difference.

add comment | complain about this comment