The Tennis Channel would be foolish not to air this.

^^^ understatement of the century, if not millenium

Whats the big deal about 22? I've seen more.

^^^ well, it IS kind of a big deal when you consider that Nadal is only 24 years old.

Yes but Roger is soon 30, and Rafa isn't going to be your typical tennis player who will be playing his last decent years at 31/32. I have a feeling he will be done long before.

22 times in 7 years

15 times in a span of 3 years

thats a lot, folks

22 times between 2 players who--as Cheryl noted in her blog today--are not even in the same "tennis generation"

^^^ Is a lot, but I have a feeling they won't stretch it much more. If only Safin and co had been performing when they had to.

yes, I agree (as mentioned in above blog)

"And speaking of TV and stream, the Tennis Channel has announced that is actually going to televise doubles. I'm NOT EVEN KIDDING. Not only that, but the TC is REARRANGING ITS SCHEDULE to accommodate this specific doubles match."

But wheeeennn will they broadcast it? What time?
I neeeed to seeee it!!

9 PM Eastern Standard Time

When will the tennis channel come down to Australia ???
Missing out big time here !!!!

Ricky - I haven't seen an announcement anywhere on their site.
Did they verify this for you?

Do we need to send emails to programming? :-)

Cancel that last - I just saw the Tweet from TC.

(Took them long enough. *g*)

Thanks, Ricky!

cheryl,

Thanks again for a timely and nicely written blog. I am happy to have the chance to see Rafa and Fed, even if it is in doubles and there are partners playing with them. This will be a great opportunity to see them in a totally differend kind of match. It must be a dream matchup for the tournament and also the tennis channel, which is really, really televising it!

I think it's great for tennis, great for doubles and great for fans of these two champions. The only part that made me sad reading your blog is that you don't think they will meet much in singles anymore. I always thought they brought out the best in each other in their grand slam finals.

hehe....its RICKY'S blog NNY!!! :)

vrael,

Don't I feel like the fool now! I thought I saw cheryl's name at the top. That's the state I am in after watching Rafa's match.

Ricky,

I do owe you a sincere apology. So please accept it and my promise to never do it again. You did a great job with the blog and do have a way with words.

Two talented blog writers on one site!

May I plead temporary insanity due to being a nervous wreck after Rafa's match?

well its cheryl who does most of the blogging,anyone could have assumed its her blog.....ricky just likes to write his "approach shots" thingy..:P

Regarding the 22 matches they've played, everybody seems to forget that Federer and Djokovic played each other 21 and Nadal and Djokovic 23 times !!! Especially considering that the first time Djokovic played against any of them was in 2006 (compared to 2004 start for Federer-Nadal)!

^^^^Yes, and we musn't forget that Rafa leads on 14-8 and the other 16-7.

the great thing about the 22 meetings between rafa and rog is that they have been number 1 and 2 for the most part of the rivalry.....that means that they have played a lot of finals.....a testament to their consistency ,rafa has played a lot of semis with nole,not a lot of finals....the chances of world number 1(or 2) meeting the number 3(or 4) are greater than a match between number 1 and 2 happening....people tend to forget that.

wow looking forward to this match!! but will someone please tell me how tennis channel works, do i need to subscribe beforehand?

To mark this historic doubles occasion I think they should have a special format - Wawa & Marc play the 1st set against each other, Rafa & Roger play the 2nd set, and if there is a tie, the pairs play a deciding set. Lol

wawrinka will steal the show and win this match for the swiss team.

Yes croc..............i believe you!!!!!!!!!!!.......snuff! snuff!!

VAMOS Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nadal/Lopez in 2.

Djokovic has met Rafa 23 times and Roger 21 times over a much shorter period of time (5 years?). But I can see how, as #1 and #2, the odds were lower for a Fedal matchup...

^^^^Yes, and we musn't forget that Rafa leads on 14-8 and the other 16-7.
nadline
, 3/18/11 11:22 AM

nadline, you're so predictable.

everyone, we all mustn't forget either that's it's 16 slams to 9 slams - just to keep nadline happy. do you want to go into grass court stats nadline? hard court? clay? are you the one always saying, repeating the same old statistics just becomes boring?

there's no point in comparing slams until their careers are over. Sorry, maxi. Nadline has you beat on this one.

Thanks, Ricky.

Poor maxi, she must be so frustrated because her champion horse is now no longer the favorite and who knows, the great horse might soon have to be put out to pasture.
So she consoles herself with old statistics like Fed's gs count which has already become boring as it has remained static for a year.

I still think Doubles is a different sport entirely.
Not that I'm not Glad that Rafa and Roger happen to excel in this other sport. I'm glad for them. But to me, Tennis and doubles are about as different as Tennis and Ping-pong.

huge shot by Lopez on the deuce point at 0-1

The Swiss strategy is simple : Don't hit any balls at Rafa. Make Marc hit everything.

that will probably backfire. Lopez is 14 in the world for a reason.

Poor Nadal drops his serve and the set goes to the Swiss.

He's actually playing better than Rafa who just donated the first set with 2 double faults to end the set. Why does that never seem to happen in singles? ;-)

Stan has the best single handed backhand

I am really enjoying seeing doubles televised, so I can get a feel for the game. The rules are different and it goes by so quickly. I thought Rafa and Marc were doing quite well until Rafa managed to double fault on set point. Very surprising!

No contest in the end.

Federer and Stan won, they didnt win Olympic Gold for no reason they should play doubles more often. Nadal and lopez are also good doubles players it would be good if these 2 teams can play more doubles events.

No, should not play more doubles events, but play enough will do. Shouldn't add on the work load, unless players want to cut down on singles play.

Team Rafa/Lopez served badly today, hence no chance of winning. Rafa can now concentrate on his singles matches, no easy, going from here.

I also hope that Rafa will now focus on his match tomorrow. It will be his first real day match and at an early time, so he may have to adjust to the conditions since he has been playing mostly at night.

I sure hope his serve is working for his match tomorrow.

So sad Team Cuteness lost, but I had this theory in my head that it was beyond the realms of possibilities to win both the singles and the doubles in the same tournament and that if they won the doubles Rafa wouldn't win the singles, so from that point of view, maybe it's good that they lost.

Well done to the Swiss team, they were simply too good on the day.

Rafa/Marc, sorry to see you surrender your doubles crown, but how sweet will it be if My Guy can exchange it for the singles title!

VAMOOOOSSSSSSS!

that was fun, well done stan and roggie .... ok now rafa leads 2-1 in their doubles head to head record LOL ...fidal rocks !

i dont care much for nepotism ricky, and the rafa fan club patting each other on the back.

there's no point in comparing slams until their careers are over. Sorry, maxi. Nadline has you beat on this one.
RickyDimon
, 3/18/11 6:29 PM

FYI, it was a fact. stating a fact. it wasn't a competition. Nadline has been the forerunner of 'why does everyone (fed fans) posts stats and she did just that. the fact she then comes on to support you is not uncommon, and vice versa. so both enjoy your new found friendship. blah.

Poor maxi, she must be so frustrated because her champion horse is now no longer the favorite and who knows, the great horse might soon have to be put out to pasture.
So she consoles herself with old statistics like Fed's gs count which has already become boring as it has remained static for a year.
*thanks for the laughs holdserve*
Very true holdserve. very true. and who else has as many? and who else has been as consistent? carry on and say your blah blah.

holdserve
, 3/18/11 6:47 PMPoor maxi, she must be so frustrated because her champion horse is now no longer the favorite and who knows, the great horse might soon have to be put out to pasture.
So she consoles herself with old statistics like Fed's gs count which has already become boring as it has remained static for a year.
holdserve
, 3/18/11 6:47 PM


holdserve, you have no idea how i feel. am very pleased that federer is not the favourite. pressure off. I watch him now with great pride and passion for his game. whether he wins or loses. im also very pleased that novak, having been no. 3 (with a brief spell at no.2) is playing the best tennis of his career, he has worked hard enough - and deserves where he is. This is what all tennis players strive for. To beat Roger, stick it on the CV, then to beat Rafa. so before you try and become a mind reader, (where you failed abysmally), i think you need to do something else to bide your time.

we are very proud federer fans, the fact that there are hardly any of us here means schnitzel. very proud of what roger has achieved. he gets written off every year, and comes back - after playing a singles match, he goes on to win along with stan, rafa the title holder from last year, and rafa had that extra rest along with lopez, so had that advantage. Roger - he has performed really well this year, (i wont quote the stats, i'll leave that to boring nadline), and for an 'old horse' as you put it, he's not doing that bad - poor holdserve, grasping at straws.