Love, love, love the last line. OK now let me go back and read the rest of it. :)

Don't jinx it !!! It's been almost two years since these two faced each other in a Slam final.

/fingers crossed/

"In the fourth round he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."

LOL Steve!

I understand New York can't wait but hyping something (especially the way ESPN is over teh top) that has only a 25% chance of happening is a little too eager.

Let the hype not diminish our enthusiasm for the match in case it does happen.

I totally disagree with ladyjulia,

You should hype it more!! ... tennis does a lousy job to hype the sport... look at the nfl, we waited like crazy for opening day, and we got such a bad game, but we were hype as crazy! there is nothing wrong with marketing!

I also loved this line : "In the fourth round he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."

It was painful to watch Monfils.. I couldn't understand his strategy, there where a lot of questionable decisions from gael, but the one that stuck with me the most, was an approach that djokovic made and went to the net, and monfils with a considerable amount of time to set up either his backhand or forehand, choose a between the legs shot to try to pass Djokovic, i knew the match was over since I saw that, it such a shame that such a talented guy is more interested in playing pretty than winning, hold that thought he also lacks at playing pretty, was the deal gael??

These guys deserve each other! No truer words have been spoken.
See what Saturday brings of course; and hope for yet another dream final. I agree with Steve, Rog vs Rafa!

tennis101

I should clarify...hype is good...the Wimby 2008 match deserved all the hype and lived up to its billing. ESPN is marketing this match as the "greatest match of ALL time"...how is that sort of exaggeration reasonable and fair?

Sure, the stakes are high for this match (if it does happen)...but the stakes are not high enough to make it "the greatest match of ALL time"...once its hyped up like that, and if its a dud (which has chances of that as well)..well, its sort of negative publicity for the sport as well, IMO.

I am all for publicity...Fedal final deserves to be written about...but feel that the "greatest match of ALL time" is already over the top. Build the hype around realistic stakes, IMO.

Its more comical because it hasn't even happened yet.

tennis101

I should clarify...hype is good...the Wimby 2008 match deserved all the hype and lived up to its billing. ESPN is marketing this match as the "greatest match of ALL time"...how is that sort of exaggeration reasonable and fair?

Sure, the stakes are high for this match (if it does happen)...but the stakes are not high enough to make it "the greatest match of ALL time"...once its hyped up like that, and if its a dud (which has chances of that as well)..well, its sort of negative publicity for the sport as well, IMO.

I am all for publicity...Fedal final deserves to be written about...but feel that the "greatest match of ALL time" is already over the top. Build the hype around realistic stakes, IMO.

Its more comical because it hasn't even happened yet.

Quick question: I know the men's semifinals begin at 11 AM ET on Saturday, but which match is first: Federer vs Djokovic or Nadal vs Youzhny?

The #1 ranking is not at stake...neither player is going for a sixth consecutive title. Neither player won this title last year. No streaks are riding on this matchup.

The match won't even affect the rankings...

Its important for their careers,yes..in a big way...but seriously fail to see where the "greatest match of ALL time" is coming from.

"Before, I would train really hard in the offseason and work out just a little bit during the season, trying mostly to keep my flexibility. Then I'd hit a wall in August. But the last few years I've been training all year, and that has changed my whole career, because I don't get weaker during the year. I don't suffer a down spell or hit bottom. I stay strong all year."
-- Barry Bonds, in Muscle and Fitness magazine, 2003

Nole you can do it! Rafa and Roger was supposed to deserve each other last year as well, but one man simply deserved glory even more: Juan Martin Del Potro! This year, it will be Nole.

"Or maybe [Federer's] just moving more aggressively."

For what it's worth, Steve, the way I've been describing his movement and play is that he's playing with more urgency. I don't mean to split semantic hairs, but he appears to be more on top of more balls, offensive and defensive, than he has been in the recent past.

Some of it save points, while some of it forces the issue. In both cases he's not letting anyone take deep breaths during points.

Ok rafa go go go go ..

im actualyl liking the fact the steve pick roger.. i get nervous with the whle jinxing!!!
but starts are alinging and im feeling great.. best of luck to both.. still one more game!!! lets not get wayyyyyy to excited yet.. VAMOS RAFA!!!!!

Schedule for tomorrow is up:
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/schedule/schedule19.html

Nadal v Youzhny at 12 noon ET
Federer v Djokovic not before 2.45pm ET

Frances,
Steve stopped short of picking a champion.
If you read the post he picks a winner for each semifinal but nothing for the final.

@ T

yes yes you are right THANKS hahahhaah - anyways regardless in still feeling good !! thank you for the schedule post!
me likeky the schedule moi moi!! vamos!!!

OKOKOK...so pls pick the WINNER too!

Steve,i loved this.

"In the fourth round he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."
Love,love,love this one...I'm LOL

"Rog and Rafa haven't lost a set. I'm guessing they won't lose one on Saturday, either. This should be it. These guys deserve each other"
Love,love,love this one too...

OK,i love both the lines.
Steve, you are simply superb.You are a creative writer at his best.

i've decided not to talk about u know what until it happens
AM
its the least i can do for u ,ladyjulia and others who are tired of the noise made around it here and the media!,don't know if others will but i'll do my part and let my moniker speak for itself
lol see how i said something without actually saying anything ,later twibers

Methinks Ladyjulia doth protest too much.
I think that she is just so afraid that Federer is going to lose she is trying desperately to lower the stakes, so that it will hurt less.

I can boldly state that Novak has better baseline game then Federer at this moment.Federer gets by with his extremely good serve and thus putting pressure on opponents.Thats why i think Rafa/Nole final would be more fun to watch tennis wise.

2010 has been a crappy year overall (I'm talking about the world beyond tennis). Nothing would be better than a Rafa/Roger five setter at Ashe to add to their incredible lore. I just hope Nole obliges. Youzhny is walking into an oncoming train.

"he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."

Brilliant AND funny...thanks for this Steve....

don't disagree with much in your assessment...

hi anyone, did anyone noticed that bryans win 2010 us open? we do have good players in tennis at least in doubles, we have the greates couple ever on tennis history

I am a RAFA fan but I am too nervous about the showdown with Youzhny! Hope RAFA prevails over one of his previous tormentors. VAMOS RAFA!!!

I just love the end of the post. The nice thing about these two players is that in the future, once both retired, we won't be able to speak about one without considering the other. Nadal and Federer will remain as a tandem in our memories forever, just like Borg-McEnroe, Lendl-McEnroe and this time will be remembered as a brilliant time for tennis lovers...and for sure, we will remember these wonderful posts as well.

Enjoy US Open there! we, in Spain, have not seen Nadal unless we woke up at 3am!!!!

Yes, something is definitely at stake in a Fedal match. I think what's at stake is Fed's awesome legacy, and the reason is the MEDIA. If Nadal wins, we will be avalanched by all of the "Now Nadal is the greatest player of all time" prematurity that happened after Nadal beat Fed at Wimby. The media will jump all over the fact that Nadal accomplished the career slam AT THE AGE OF 24 as if doing it at 28 makes it somehow less compelling. Forget that Fed would still have 7 more slams than Rafa and some of the most awesome records in tennis that Nadal isn't even close to. The thought of it really makes me sad for Roger, and that is why I hope he wins. It's too soon to sweep Roger's legacy under the rug, but that's just what the media will do. Maybe some day Nadal will earn this epithet, but he doesn't have it yet and won't even if he wins the USO. Roger has earned it, and I get sick when I think about how it will be taken away from him if he loses to Nadal on Sunday. GO, ROGER!!!!!

Hello; I was at the Rafa match last night and he was sharp as tack once he adjusted to the cool windy conditions. No worries, he (and Fed) will get to the finals and give us the dream match we all want.

Thank you Steve for great analysis always!

?but ugly? how can the commenter who called the Williams sisters butt ugly make such a riduculous comment? They are poetry in motion and beautiful in being so. He should judge the talent, not the looks
george

I am a Rafa fan too and agree I am too nervous about the Youzhny match considering their h/c record *gulps* I think that this is Rogers to lose, he has won here 5 times a go and a finalist so the history speaks for itself, but I would be a liar if I didn't say I would cry with joy if Rafa got his career slam *sobs* one can dream can't they?

Honeychile

i was at the rafa match with simon and he look so much better live than on TV

so excited!!!!

Wow, I'm surprised Youzhny has been written off so easily. This is a guy who has beaten Rafa multiple times before (4), unlike wild wild Verdasco. And the last few times he lost to Nadal, he was actually going through a string of bad results. A steady and crafty player like Youzhny in good form, in my book, will give a good match to Rafa. I think he'll at least take one set, and Nadal has to win another in a tie-breaker. Nadal in four - 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 or thereabouts...
Federer will be too much for Djok...straight sets..

Another Fedal final will be the end for tennis. Could that be more boring?
I agree with a previous post that Nole has a better baseline game than Federer, if he can keep that up and his first serve in, he will be the winner. And he will defeat Nadal, because Nole owns him on hardcourts.

Fingers crossed for a Federer Nadal epic - the United States, and indeed the whole tennis community worldwide deserves at least one more. Please tennis gods?!?

The reason one might say this is the "Greatest Match of All Time" is that it could conceivably determine who goes on to be considered the GOAT. Fed's obviously got a great case for GOAT right now, with his record against Nadal (esp in Grand Slam finals) the major question. So a Fed win, in addition to raising his already astonishing total of Grand Slam titles, would give him a much needed win against Nadal on the biggest stage and cement the idea that Fed is, at least on hard courts, better than Rafa.

On the other hand, a Nadal win against Fed would give him 9 slams at 24, make him the youngest ever to complete the career slam, and give him something else that I haven't heard anyone mention: it would give him a "Fed Slam" -- that is, he would have completed a career Grand Slam (Wimbly, RG, AO, USO) entirely against Roger Federer, the presumed GOAT! Think about the implications of that. If that happens, it would be pretty hard to call Federer the GOAT anymore, no matter how many slam titles he has.

I don't know. There's still too many arguments in Federer's favour to say Nadal is GOAT if Nadal does indeed win the USO. For Nadal to be in neck and neck contention for GOAT with Federer Nadal would need to do something that Federer hasn't done and that would be the Calender Grand Slam. I wouldn't say this would be the "greatest match in history" but if Nadal wins and they both make it to the finals of the AO, then that would probably be it.

For me, it has to be a Fedal or Nadal-Djoko final. My order of desired winner: Rafa, Nole, Federer. I think Rafa winning is the best narrative, 2nd: Nole winning. Federer already had his 16, so his story is the least important at this moment.

Yeah. Rafa beat Roger on AU, Wimbledon and RG. If he beat again in the Open, it is not not called Rivalry. Nadal is simply a better player.

>>And he will defeat Nadal, because Nole owns him on hardcourts.
Yeah, just like Murray owns Fed on hardcourts, except on the occasions when it really matters...

"Greatest Match of All Time"? How can the greatest match of all time be played in the worst of all four majors? Wimbledon and French Open are far away, and even the AO is a much better major than the USO with that corrupted schedule, lousy fans etc. The organizers should think how to come close to the other majors.

Unfortunately, the thing about "Super Saturday" (one of the worst ideas ever), is that you can't even focus on just winning the match. You also have to worry about winning it quickly. If Federer (who plays second) beats Djokovic, but it takes him 5 sets and 5 hours, going until 9pm or something, there is not even a moment to feel good. He would be screwed for Sunday.

Youzhny v Nole - wouldn't that be special. Something different for a change.

Djokovic will win! Ypu will se! ;)

Congratulations, Geoff.

I wrote, at 2.11pm on page 3 of "One if by Land" at TennisWorld:

"The narrative is what it is. This year's narrative, IMV, writes itself - "can Nadal be the youngest in the Open Era to win a Career Slam, and, in doing so, beat his now-struggling-to-fight-off-decline rival?"

Stories that "write themselves" get written. It would also give Nadal three majors in a row (one away from a Rafa Slam!) and give him a career finals slam over Federer. If you're a hard working tennis journalist, you could knock that one off in thirty minutes, tops. Sprinkle in some match reporting, some quotes, bip, click, you're done.

I don't write the paragraphs above in protest, nor does it particularly worry, anger or trouble me. Things are as they are.

For my part, any GS win is a huge achievement - for Nadal, winning at the USO would be as praiseworthy as Federer winning at RG - and beating Federer in the final would be especially praiseworthy.

I see Federer's career as still a long term effort: its outcome won't be determined in the next 48 hours. But *if* a Fedal final happens, a win for Federer would, I think be seen (by others, not me) as more of a temporary event, while a Nadal win would be a confirmation of longer term arc. Not saying it's right or wrong, just my read of the zeitgeist."

You've either tagged into the collective unconcious, or you're a great mind thinking alike. Still, in case it isn't clear, I don't think either player's career hangs on the outcome of this or any other single match (which we don't know yet will occur).

go djokovic go,go for serbia!

nole all the way

The pictures of Federer and Nadal on the tennis.com front page say it all: a slim, tempered athlete versus a hulking monster with an arm almost as thick as his head.

Oh man oh man pleeeeeeease let Fed vs Nadal happen

Posted by Carlos 09/10/2010 at 01:16 PM
Nole you can do it! Rafa and Roger was supposed to deserve each other last year as well, but one man simply deserved glory even more: Juan Martin Del Potro! This year, it will be Nole.

Last yr nadal was injured. So a fresher and more healthy nadal is hard to beat on hardcourt or any surfaces. We all know that. Nole might have own him lately, due to the fact it happen while he was injured, not when nadal was at his best. But nadal will end that streak like he did with feder in may. The same way he did with soder in may and june. The same way with murray in june. I don't see nole beating nadal if they meet in the final on sunday. Cuz it's payback time for nadal. He always make sure and live up to the expectation. Nadal is baggin it sunday and goin back to spain with it. I am confident of that.

EthiopianPharaoh7, you cannot say that the only reason nadal lost last year is because he was injured, and that "we all know that" the only reason we know that nole owns nadal is because that nadal is always injured. This simply isn't the truth: nole owns nadal on hardcourts because he is better than nadal is on the surface. Likewise, Nadal is a better clay court player than Federer is, thus, Nadal wins more matches on clay. However, on surfaces other than clay, federer is and always has been the better player. On grass and hard courts (especially in the majors), Federer has been nearly unbeatable for 6 years. After winning 44 out of his last 45 matches at the US open, you cannot discount Federer's chances of winning. Despite losing his last match against nadal on a hardcourt, Federer is playing better now than he has been since the Australian Open this year. He has taken out some serious competition in an on-target Jurgen Melzer (playing some of the best tennis of his entire life in the 2nd set) and in Robin Soderling, who had beaten Federer the last time they played and was on a role. Against both opponents, as he had against the competition in Cincinnati, Federer basically ran in circles around them, making his shots and playing as well as he had in his prime. If Federer plays this well, Nadal doesn't really stand much of a chance in the final. No matter how well Nadal plays, Federer is ALWAYS the one dictating in their hard court and clay court matches, and the only reason Fed loses is because he misses his shots- which Fed hasn't done here. You can't really debate that Federer doesn't have the match on his racket each time they play on hard courts either; check out the stats for the Aussie open 2009 or any of their other matches on hard courts. In the 2009 Aussie open (as is frequently quoted by rabid Nadal fans), nadal saved a multitude of break points in the 1st and 3rd sets and came back to win in 5. What these rabid fans don't realize, however, is that Federer HAD that many break points. If Nadal is so sure to "bag it sunday and go back to spain with [the title]" because Federer doesn't stand a chance against a healthy Nadal, then why did Federer have so many chances in the Aussie open in 2009, when Nadal was healthy AND Federer was playing horribly? If the same situation happens this sunday, Federer will most likely take advantage of it.

Regardless, both Nadal and Fed have to make it through their semis first, against opponents who have beaten both of them before on hard courts. I would say that a Fedal final is definitely not inevitable, nevertheless, I'd give it a 75% chance of happening. In the final itself (should it be Federer against Nadal), I would give Federer a 70% chance of taking it. If Nadal plays Djokovic, I can't imagine that Djokovic would just fold up (especially since he would have to have just beaten a nearly unstoppable Federer), so I would say it would be a 50/50 tossup likely to go 4 or 5 sets. If Federer plays Youzhny, I would give Fed a 90% chance of taking it (given their head to head, which is 8-0 in favor of Federer).

Why not just give Federer and Nadal walkovers? You would not think this was professional competitive sports we are talking about. Maybe Youzhny and Djokovic should just skip the semis? Most pundits are dismissing them anyhow. This one included.

saying that nadal plays as offensive as federer is pure blasphemy

"On the other hand, a Nadal win against Fed would give him 9 slams at 24, make him the youngest ever to complete the career slam, and give him something else that I haven't heard anyone mention: it would give him a "Fed Slam" -- that is, he would have completed a career Grand Slam (Wimbly, RG, AO, USO) entirely against Roger Federer, the presumed GOAT! Think about the implications of that. If that happens, it would be pretty hard to call Federer the GOAT anymore, no matter how many slam titles he has."

I've been thinking about this all week - not only would Nadal go up 6-2 in Slam finals but he would indeed have beaten Fed in the finals of all 4 Grand Slams - has any of the other greatest players even accomplished that against their main rivals? I'm thinking Martina might have done it against Evert (can someone confirm?) but other than that it's never been done before.

I agree with those who say that the hype has been over the top.

Steve, I'm relying on your judgement. You've done a good job predicting the winner of the last 2 slams so I hope the third time will be charm and that you will right again on Sunday.

JoJo Prancer,

I am not downplaying the stakes...the stakes are what they are. Sure, they are high...but how are they greater than Wimby 2008? A match where the Fed lost anyway ( since you brought out the point that I am downplaying the stakes since Fed might lose).

Novak Djokovic will beat Federer in straight sets! You ask why......Well bc he is just that good! Federer cant beat Nadal nomore! Djokovic has a better chance to beat Nadal than he do. Djokovic vs Nadal matches are the best matches around! Nadal will make Federer cry again if they face each other! Nadal vs Djokovic Final. 50/50

"In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."

LoL, oh Monfils. *sigh*

It's true, Djokovic may have a better chance of beating Rafa than Fed. The only shot advantage that Fed has really is the serve, his forehand is negated by all the errors and the likelihood he'll probably spend all day hitting high backhands. I don't want to look back and say, "I'd have rather seen Djokovic give it a go" after watching the latest installment of left topsping vs right one handed backhand. Okay, we get it, the ball bounces high, lol.

Rafa lost last year because he was literally overpowered, which he amost never experiences and had zero answers. The ATP is tough, he couldn't reach a semi final if he was any more banged up than Fed was at Wimby this yr. Enough with the injury stuff. You think Stanislas Wawrinka was in good shape yesterday? Give it a rest.

One match at a time. I pray that Fed wins in straight sets tomorrow. And Go Youzhny, its your time to shine.

Posted by Nightmare:
"Nadal will make Federer cry again if they face each other!"

very funny. i could not agree more!
i don't want to see federer crying again. it would be too much. no more tears at tennis court by this guy. so go novak go!!!!

Yeah Carlos. Fed And Rafa "deserved each other" last year too. Then Delpo gave them what they really deserved. heehee

Go Rafa! Hope Rafa wins the title this year.

"is it sunday yet?" said it all. only friday night it is.

would be wonderful if the outcome of the final is not determined by schedule or the length of the semis. for this federer will have to beat djoko in a hurry and there should not be any rain/storm delay between the 2 semis.

let's rock, tennis !

i want djokovic to win, to be the party popper, and he can do it on saturday against fed. He has beaten fed before. i love fed of course with his records in tennis, but i would like to see an interesting match with djokovic on saturday.

Youzhny's troubled Rafa before, but I'm not inclined to place much weight on results from Chennai '08 or US Open '06. Steve puts it well when he says that past performance is a good predictor right up until it isn't, but it's the best predictor we've got: and their respective US Open performances this year point pretty unambiguously to a "clean kill" for Nadal.

I don't see Djokovic taking out Federer, and though I like Nole, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've now totally hoped on the Fedal US Open '10 bandwagon and so find myself compelled to root against him. I do hope, however, that even if he loses, he doesn't lose as meekly as he did last year. Hopefully it will be a loss on which he can build, take pride, and use as a spur to push himself back to that impressive level that won him AO'08. But this tournament, I think he just doesn't have the serve to pull it off.

Will wrote:

> Unfortunately, the thing about "Super Saturday" (one of the worst ideas ever),
> is that you can't even focus on just winning the match. You also have to worry
> about winning it quickly. If Federer (who plays second) beats Djokovic, but
> it takes him 5 sets and 5 hours, going until 9pm or something, there is not
> even a moment to feel good. He would be screwed for Sunday.

Will nailed it. Nadal will dispose of Youzhny in three easy sets. Federer / Djokovic is a coin toss. The second semi is likely to go four or five long sets. Whoever takes it, stands no chance on Sunday vs. much fresher Nadal.

Super Saturday is a dumb idea.

Posted by Eva 09/10/2010 at 03:09 PM
Another Fedal final will be the end for tennis. Could that be more boring?
I agree with a previous post that Nole has a better baseline game than Federer, if he can keep that up and his first serve in, he will be the winner. And he will defeat Nadal, because Nole owns him on hardcourts.

U fedites are a piece of joke. U don't like seeing your playa lose almost everytime to his rival, so you use this statistic. Before nadal had the injury last yr, his record against djoko was 14-4 which is lopsided type. After his injury and the divorced of his parents, it took nadal a while to find back his form and he lost 3 times to djoko, who took advantage of nadal injured and mental state of play. Nadal was never near his form when he lost to him. It would take nadal 11 months to return back to his top form. He is finally over what happen last yr, and now is a different playa. This is not nadal 1.0, this is the 2.0 version. He is more complete and better than the old version. It's just the fact. Just like soder bests a injured nadal last yr 2 times, and the same with delpo doesn't mean they own him. Nadal return the favor to soder at french and also wimble. When delpo is healthy again he will do the same to him. I would love to see djoko and nadal final, so we can put it to rest. I am going to guranntee if that happen nadal will be victorious. Nadal wants revenge against all who took advantage of him when he was injure and physically and mentally unstable last yr. It was a rough 11 months, but it's payback time.

Rafa vs Federer final.
I hope Rafa wins but I know Federer wins.

well its official, its a Youzney Djoker final, thanks a lot Steve :(

wait Federer has won 16 Slams, and only 2 over Rafa in finals, how can you say you cant write about Fed's career without mentioning Rafa? that's ridiculous! THe main spin there is without Rafa at RG, Rog would have at least 3 French Opens!

@Tim
but that's the point. Fed won most of his GSs over scrubs. Nadal has won 6 of his going through the supposed GOAT. Moreover, if Nadal wins the USO over Fed, that will mean that Nadal has won the majority of their non-clay GS finals. That's HUGE in terms of how we think of these players. Sure, Nadal will be a long way from Fed's dominance of the rest of the tour, but it will be safe to say that Nadal was more than a match for the GOAT. And it will always be difficult to say that Fed was the GOAT when there was a guy who so had his number. Moreover, if Nadal wins on Sun, you also have no excuses. Fed has looked fantastic, Nadal has looked fantastic. This will really be mano a mano stuff. Both guys healthy; both guys playing well.

@Eva
keep drinkin the cool-aid lady. What those persons who are not fans of Rafa fail to realize is that his game continues to evolve. None of the other top players can make that claim to anywhere near the degree of Rafa. Now for sure, Fed did not need to improve his game very much. It is and always has been amazing. He could have been more aggressive against Rafa at times, but for the most part, he's played beautifully and brilliantly. However, Nole? Murray? Come on. These guys have needed to make serious improvements to their games (either tactically or mentally) and have, for the most part, failed to do so. Bodo is always saying that Nole seems to be a guy who's content to make it so the semis of GSs these days. That's why Rafa fans are so fanatical. We have a guy who, unlike the great majority of other great contemporary players, is wiling to make the changes necessary to evolve.

----------------------REALITY CHECK STATS-----------------

FEDERER--------------------------------------------------NADAL
-----7----------------WIMBLEDON FINALS---------------4----
-----6-------------------US OPEN FINALS-----------------0----
-----5-----------AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS----------1----
-----4--------------FRENCH OPEN FINALS-------------5----
----22------------------------TOTAL-------------------------10---

FEDERER-------------------------------------------------NADAL
-----6---------------WIMBLEDON TITTLES--------------2----
-----5-----------------US OPEN TITTLES-----------------0---
-----4----------AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITTLES---------1----
-----1--------------FRENCH OPEN TITTLES-----------5----
----16-----------------------TOTAL--------------------------8----

FEDERER------------------------------------------------NADAL
-----10-------------SLAM FINALS IN A ROW----------2----
-----23---------SLAM SEMI FINALS IN A ROW------4----
-----31----SLAM QUARTER FINALS IN A ROW---4-----
------2-----ALL 4 MAJORS FINALS SAME YEAR--0-----
------6---------3 MAJORS FINALS SAME YEAR----0-----
------4----ALL 4 MAJORS FINALS IN CAREER----0-----

FEDERER-------------------------------------------------NADAL
----1---------------CAREER GRAND SLAM------------0-----
----0--------------CALENDAR GRAND SLAM---------0-----
----1--------------------------TOTAL-------------------------0-----

WHY FEDERER IS THE BEST EVER:

Athletes regarded as the "BEST EVER" in all sports have always lowered the level of dominance in the later stages of their careers and that was never a reason to stop calling them the best ever. Lowering ones production is not only a natural step as athletes ,but also as humans. The "head to head" between Federer and Rafa DOESN'T have the power or standing and CAN'T DISOLVE Federer's SOLID relationship with History. I always say that the best way to resolve disputes is by looking at the facts and evidence. As in court,when one want to bring an argument to the judge ,one must bring the "PRECEDENTS" ,meaning cases which were resolved in court and which validate the point we are trying to bring across(Martin vs FL, Joe vs . John,etc...)

Perhaps we should look at some "PRECEDENTS" in sports ,so that we can better understand why Roger IS & WILL BE the best ever regardless of the outcome of the head to head with Nadal or results during the rest of his career. Here are the cases your honor;

All of them are clearly regarded as the best ever in their sports.

1-CARL LEWIS won 4 GOLD MEDALS in LOS ANGELES 1984, 2 GOLD MEDALS in SEOUL 1988, 2 in BARCELONA(1992) and 1 in ATLANTA(1996). It is a known fact that he lost 80% of his encounters against his rival Ben Johnson and during the later stages of his career was not even included in the 4x100 really,which he most famous for. Numerous sprinters not only defeated Lewis constantly but also broke Lewis's 200 and 100 meter records and he only won a GOLD medal in ATLANTA because after he faulted his 1st 2 jumps in the long jump final, Lewis made the jump of his life in the last attempt and got the GOLD at the age of 35 years old.

LEWIS IS TILL THIS DAY REGARDED AS THE GREATEST EVER TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE.

2-MICHAEL JORDAN doesn't need any introduction here or anywhere,so all i will say is that when he came back from the first retirement (1995) he was not even a shadow of himself & even made bloopers in their last game where they were eliminated when Jordan made a huge mistake with only seconds on the clock to finish the game. When he came back from his 2nd retirement he was not the same either,since at that point he could score 50 points one game,but only 10 in the following game. He finished his career in good terms ,but far from the player he once was.

JORDAN IS REGARDED TILL THIS DAY AS THE BEST EVER BASKETBALL PLAYER.

3-JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ had a record 90 wins & 0 loses before he was handed his first loss by Randall. Chavez was never the same after that loss and even loss 3 or 4 more fights before retiring. Some of those loses were one sided to say the least. Julio was knocked down & defeated twice by DE LA HOYA and never able to win against DE LA HOYA.

JULIO CESAR TILL THIS DAY IS REGARDED AS THE BEST EVER POUND PER POUND BOXER.

4-WAYNE GRETZKY broke every single record there was to be broke and dominated Hockey like no one before him of ever since. He was clearly an average player when in his later stages and was even traded couple of times by his teams since they no longer included him in their future plans.

WAYNE GRETZKY IS TILL THIS DAY REGARDED AS THE BEST EVER HOCKEY PLAYER.

I can safely say that the reason for them to be called the best ever in their respective sports go beyong loosing or winning "heads to heads" against particular opponents. Its clear that the best ever is and must be the one who achieved the most within that sport & the one who actually played the sport in the most perfect way possible,technically speaking. All these athletes i mentioned,are not the best ever just because they were always the best during their careers. They are the best ever because they achieved more than anybody else ,dominated more than anybody else consistently & in the process did it with the most PERFECT & PUREST TECHNIQUE HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

I REST MY CASE.

JUDGE: YOU DO THE MATH.

come on Ethiopia, so are we supposed to chalk all of Rafa's defeats last year to injury? That's ridiculous, if he was that injured he shouldn't play and if he's fine enough to beat top 20 in the world calibre tennis players, he's not injured enough for folks to go on and on devaluing his opponent's legitimate wins like this.

Steve Many thanks.

Well you are also tipping a Rafa v Federer final I see.

Well as a Rafa fan I have watched his game evolve for nearly 9 years.One of the things I have admired about Rafa is continual improving of his game in all areas.To me his serve has been the biggest improvement over the years.I am glad to say we are seeing the hard work he has done at the USO.This isnt his favourite or best surface.Though the fact that up till now he has only being broken once his a testaemtent to that fact.The serve here is soo important giving free easy points.

Rafa plays one point at a time.Also he never takes any oponent lightly.He has a mind made of steel.I am looking forward to his semi final which is his 3rd straight.

3 times lucky they say.

Geelis - "Fed won most of his GS against scrubs"

nonsense. These are the same "scrubs" that were tooling out Sampras just prior. Your slanting of things is just ugh, eww, get real.

Geelis : what is your take if fed beats nadal? in 5 tight sets or straight sets?

Kombo, Sampras was 30-31 yrs old. He wasnt being tooled out by them, he obv made it to the final but was too burnt out by the retarded back to back semi/final we have here at the Open.

I'm sure Federer fans will try to use the excuse that he is 29, and 'past his prime' when Nadal wipes the floor with him and beats him in all 4 major finals.

Fed is a great, but hes not the greatest. He is just what you have in front of your face right now. Just like supposedly Federer > Sampras...well the same thing happened to Fed, he will be surpassed by Nadal.

Oy, the Fedfans are getting frantic already. I think we'd better have medics standing by on Sunday.

Gellis wrote:

> if Nadal wins on Sun, you also have no excuses.

Not really. A lot depends on what happens on Saturday. Fed faces a much, MUCH tougher semi. If Fed goes five sets against Djokovic, he stands no chance on Sunday against a fresh Nadal.

Hehehe, are you happy Fed fans because the last line....? well you always say that Steve is wrong on his predidtion, maybe this time he has prefered to choice Fed because ....that
Com'on Steve, say really what are you thinking

plzzzzzzz i neeed federer vs nadal :((((((((

remember nadal at the aus open, two five setters on consective days

Dania

FEDERER 29 YEARS OLD ----------------------NADAL 24 YEARS OLD

I would rather watch Fed lose to the Djoker in the semifinals than to Nadal in the finals. If he loses to Nadal on Sunday, it will confirm my worst fear i.e."Nadal is better than Federer".

I don't want to know.

That Nadal-Youzny match 4 years ago is so ... what can I say ... so FOUR years ago. Nadal has exponentially improved and Youzny, shall we say, either stagnated and trying hard to get his form back. Sure, the ball is round but the way Nadal handled the wind and just firing screaming cross court shots early, Youzny has no prayer.

Think of tough back to back matches. It has to drain any player, Youzny or any other. Which means you can only play so much top level tennis for so long. Youzny's history has been that --- flashes of brilliance but no top banana.

On the other hand, the Djok-Fed match is a more tantalizing prospect to spin. Sometimes top player eventually gets sick of being beaten regularly, especially in one surface. All of Djok's matches with Roger have been close ones. Quite unlike the trashing and pasting Roger got from Nadal in 09 Roland Garros.

Looks like Djok has a better positive mind set this time, devoid of the distracting Roddick brouhaha episodes, and the fact that it seems after his first round baptism of fire and heat, he symbolically got over the "hump."

I expect a Djok win, because Djok also knows how to deal with the wind quite unlike Soderling. And Roger, I suspect will start shaking in the knees when he starts thinking of the prospect of facing Nadal in the finals. Those losses in Paris and Oz Open are nightmares that cannot easily be discarded. They haunt you as they sure will Roger this time again.

And, remember he said he is "injured". True or not, he is injured.

There.

At least, tennis is getting a lot more publicity again, since there are a lot of big fishes in a large lake now, compared to the one big fish in a small pond during the years 2004-07.

And then came Nadal!

"In the fourth round he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."

They probably had mono. It is just unbelievable how Novak is always lucky, and people let him win. He is a mediocre player, but somehow, people always look miserable playing him - it has been 4 years of this trend.

All "journalists" never forget to mention this peculiar oddity - rightfully so. I mean, we all know that Andy Murray is SO MUCH better than Novak, and he is never so lucky, that people give up when playing him. But, "journalists" never forget to put him on the cover pages and pronounce him the favourite. If he only had luck that Novak has, he would probably be in fronot of Novak in the rankings, where he belongs, all experts will tell you. Free of charge. Honestly.

"In the fourth round he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all."
- This should go down as the most original tennis analysis ever. You may found thousands very, very similar descriptions of Novak matches (as a matter of fact, all Novak matches, ever played) in Western media, but those are routine, this one is inspired, fresh, it adds unnoticable novelty into sports writing. It is so hard to notice the originality, that it makes it more valuable. And so on.

*you may find (not "found")

i couldn't agree more...i also think nadal has lifted his game enough even to not lose a set against federer in the final!

Rafa won this year two succesive grand slam tournament and i'm very much confident that Rafa could wrap up this remaining grand slam tournament.

GO RAFA GO RAFA GO RAFA GO!! were here behind you.

You're in TROUBLE AGAIN FED! BANG BANG BANG

Yes I think Roger will play Youshny in the final

[edit] Style of Play
Roger Federer's game is based around his big forehand, which is one of the best shots in tennis. His game's pretty one-dimensional, really. Without the forehand, he'd be nothing. You could just hit to his right hand side and you'd win every point.
From this, you can clearly see what's wrong with Federer's backhand.
Added by 15Mickey20I'd like to see him hit a backhand winner from there. So a forehandless Federer would be useless. Except for the serve, of course, that's really accurate and reliable. Without the forehand and the serve, what would you really have? A backhand and some volleys, that's what. His volleys are vastly overrated. They're not the best in the world. They're merely in the top ten, which makes them sort of okay.
So there you go. If Federer couldn't hit his forehand, his serve or any volleys, he'd be in a lot of trouble. As we all know, he has a decent backhand, but if you can somehow manage to consistently hit the ball deep and make it bounce up high to shoulder height, then he might not hit a winner every time. Then you've got him right where you want him.

(I got the above quote just now in Uncyclopedia. Oh, man, how right it is. It's why Nadal
beat him and why he always has trouble with lefties...)

... he got Mardy Fish, who conveniently forgot he was a New Player. In the quarters, he got Gael Monfils, who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all.

Federer, on the other hand, has been his old regal self, making No. 5 seed Robin Soderling look like the flat-footed Sod of yore—like, 2008....
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And Nole didn't make Monfils look like the flat-footed Mon of yore—like, 2008?? But it was Monfils "who conveniently forgot that he was a tennis player at all".

LOL...

Truly hope today's match will prove you being flat-footed or at least the tennis writer who forgot how to write, Steve.

Such a biased analisys, Steve. You started to write what you were asked to wirte.

arbiter...agreed. This is not the most ridiculous tennis article I ever read.

Well, this is an adavanced writing, then.

AT LEAST sTEVE DIDN'T WRITE ABOUT Nole's father, and mother and his horrible uncle...and his nasty dog ...and his horrible neighbour...and all horrible Serbs nationalists, and ugly Balkan countries...he also never mentioned the war in Balkan, where Serbs are to be compared to Nazi,...like G. Garber wrote on ESPN two years ago exactly at the same stage of the tournament, when Djokovic was about to face Roger in s/f.

Well, this is an adavanced writing then.

All the fed fans seem pretty squirmy.

Dania you left out a couple stats, like LENGTH OF LIFE (aka AGE) and oh wait i know there is another one, oh ya HEAD TO HEAD scores.

espnanaldo...And Roger, I suspect will start shaking in the knees when he starts thinking of the prospect of facing Nadal in the finals. Those losses in Paris and Oz Open are nightmares that cannot easily be discarded."

lol...those losses were so tantalizing, so it would be better for Rog to lose against Djoko, since it's almost 100% Rafa is already waiting in Final.

Posted by Kombo 09/10/2010 at 09:39 PM
Yeah Carlos. Fed And Rafa "deserved each other" last year too. Then Delpo gave them what they really deserved. heehee
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ahahaha...this is the best post so far.!!