seriously... can you believe this guy!!

didn't need to be said, but Federer is actually 100 percent correct

no reason why Djokovic-Nadal should have lasted more than 3 hours.

Consider... The longest match ever at the Australian Open, between Nadal and Verdasco in 2008, took about 5 hours. Only an hour more, and that was a five-set match with 3 tie-breakers, not 2. It is very true that there is no reason for a 3-set match to take that long. However, Kudos to Nadal and Djokovic for putting on one heck of a show. Unbelievable drama in that 3rd set tie-breaker, regardless of time taken. Tough luck for that match Djak, but well done anyway. You pretty much beat Nadal, you just don't have the score and that one extra point to make it official.

This big tactless mouth of his is one of the reasons why I will never admire this guy, even if he wins all the matches!

This a pointless topic some matches are long some are short, thats is life simple.

hahah....instead of bad mouthing him ...maybe you should try and prove him wrong ....take into account the number of points played ...length of rallies and you will see that so much time was acctually wasted in the match . ....anywayssssssss

i quite frankly dont really care ..... about what he said here ....he gave them due credit and "answered the question" posted to him . if you guys have a hard time dealing with the truth just ignore it ...i find this article made only to stir up some pointless arguments ....im sure nadal fans are gona crowd this place now since he is the one notorious for the time wasting ..hahhaah..cheers guys...

Johan...what a way to start a war ....Ricky ...with that comment of yours above they are going to turn on you !!

The truth is Federer is just bitter because almost all of the great matches this year involve Rafa. He cannot attack the quality of the game so he complains about how long the matches are.

Danny dont bother rising to the bait. It is th most ridiculous topic i have come across... when it is commonsense than some matches will be shorter or longer thn others what is there to prove wrong or argue about.
Like i said it is a pointless topic, whether it should have been shorter again is a pointless topic. LOL

well, in some racquet sports (badminton namely) you lose a point if you take too long to serve & rightly so too cause there's a reason for that. so i kind of understand what roger is on about.

in tennis, you only get a warning for taking too long to serve... & i'm not surprised if they start changing the rules on serving too.

OMG, I just CAN'T love this "poetry in motion" guy...He is so far far far away from "poetry in words"...What a rubbish..he is bitter, I agree, Danny.. :) He should've thank to Nole 2day at the ceremony... ;)
Ajde, Noleee! :)

Well in this match there was no warning given to either player in this case the match was long due to the quality of play and the toughness of opponents and to point out all epic matches are long. I didn't see anyone complaining about the final at Wimbledon or AO. And this was an epic 3 set masters semi-final.

danny....stay calm......on sky sports...TWO viewers emailed in and TIMED nadal's bouncing before serve....52 SECONDS.....I swear.....Peter Fleming said that something has to be done about this and there is talk about bringing in a digital board so that the players can see the clock and time themselves. If they go over the 25 second rule, then the board will let off a buzzer and the point is awarded to the other side....that being said......this argument has been droning on for ages now. And to be fair, Rafa is one of the culprits... EVERYBODY knows it....Federer is not saying anything other than what is fact already....As Ricky has confirmed....try not to get all rabied about it, you know, frothing around the mouth? No point.

WHAT A MATCH!!!!! "I don't say that to take anything away from how they played because it was phenomenal and fantastic to watch". Be fair to Fed down. I know you don't like him...try and detach the man from the tennis..he really doesn't mean anything by it. I REALLY believe it....but anyways..you and I can enter into an argument over this and there will be no winners..
Martine.......chill....Fed won today!!! Did you hear me? He won today!!!!!!!!!! Go Roger!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roger has always been condescending, conceited and arrogant in a veiled sort of way which I have never been a big fan despite his talent. So no real surprise here. We all know Rafa and Nole are habitually slow players, it did not however diminish that epic battle that took place. The fact that he had to mention that first shows his bitterness.

He is an intelligent guy who calculates everything, No one can pull the wool over his eyes!! Some of the things the commentators say!! I just put my TV on mute so that way I dont need to hear them! and watch the game!! Whats this epic Nadal Djokovic ,that went on for so long, yes! it did didn't it, doesn't that tell you something! That Nadal struggled to finish the game!!

This is a fact. WHy is someone being called arrogant bla bla bla for saying the truth? Djokovic bounce the ball zillions of times in random count and nadal do his usual slow routine and you can watch it.

And why would Fed be jealous if he is not part of a 'great match'? Ridiculous reasoning. This is why Fed gets Sportsmanship award because the guy on the other end is not annoyed by slow points when playing Nadal who is the most 'humble' guy on tour but still never gets Sportsmanship. Because sportsmanship means much more than just keeping quiet in interviews. It's about playing FAIR.

the problem that you have verascoe is that you cannot understand how erudite, eloquent and intelligent federer is....he tells the truth and so to hide behind the statement that he is bitter? What a pile of C-R-A-P. What has he got to be bitter about? He confirmed what a P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L match nadal and djoker played....any averagely intelligent person could see that. And actually...wasn't the question to fed from the interviewer....'do you think that the bounce of the ball should be within 25 seconds?'......Fed has a right to reply. It's ridiculous to think that he doesn't respect both novak and rafa....He absolutely 100% does. The problem is that you cannot accept that we have and continue to have Roger Federer as the greatest ambassador the sport has ever seen...with Rafa also the most incredible ambassador for tennis as well........roger is not the only one who has commented on the ball bounce saga....djoker has in the past, as has roddick and most of the players that have played rafa.....EVEN the SKY COMMENTATORS yesterday commented on it and they do have a point......THAT IS NOT TO DETRACT from the incredible match yesterday. It was awesome and I am going to watch it all over again tonight.....

Congratulations Roger....for being the best!!!!!!!!!!!

fedexfan - who is "they"

Ricky ...they are rafa fans :)

What's with the water bottles and all this superstitious stuff he does, a serious player, plays a clean games! end of story!! Federer gets on with his game and has consideration for all players!! Title of this article is just right! EFFICIENT Federer!!
Why is it always Federer who is interviewed and asked his opinion on others, because they highly respect his knowledge!! Take that!!

sorry guys, this can be discussed properly..I wont be surprised if he got misunderstood beacuse in articles,thats how it comes across as...
But if you read his interview-He nowhere stated that Nadal and Djokovic do it on purpose .They've always had a long service routine and they do take longer between points.
My guess is,they probably dont realise it until the're given a warning which didnt happen.Sometimes you're so focused you , maybe cant tell for yourself. The truth also,is that in some ways its against the rules.Relax guys.He wasnt accusing them...its a pattern in their case,which comes naturally to them.He only stated that match could've been shorter which is probably true.

Janhavi i agree with but reading some of the nonsense above you would think they did it on purpose.

Hey Ricky no match report??????

@Ricky: I think that you are wrong. If you analyse Fed's game, you will see that he relies very much on his serve, and that he finishes his points after two or three rallies. After 20, or 28 rallies Rafa or Nole need more time to recover.

Otherwise, I find that Federer is not correct in his statements about his rivals. He has an ugly, almost disgusting habit to underestimate them. All his defeats, in the last year and a half, didn't make him wiser. This man thinks his the god of tennis. Time will tell...

I see your point Merlin
True it is logical that they would require a bit more time to recover.

It's simple really!

I am Federer! I am used to having the lime lights focused on me for so long. How dare these two upstarts hogging the lime light for more than 4 hours and take it away from me. Even in the middle of my own game people are discussing that epic match.
I am Federer! I am bitter!

See how simple it is?

Federer is not taking anything from the epic semis!! he is answering the question,it's not his problem that the questioner asks about the time limits!! and he did say that it was phenomenal and fantastic to watch...why do u try to raise a conversation on whatever fedex say,he is honest and respectful.

Nadal want's revenge, if they will met each other in RG, nadal will win. He is so much harder to beat when it's best of 5 sets.

Sorry... he's...

Although I have to add that he is really a great tennis player. And congrats for this victory! He needed it, but tennis also needed it. I think this will be a great year.

Fili cant wait for the Roland Garros. I am guessing we are going to see the best of Nadal and Roger if HE brings his A game but goodness me this is a great lead up to the slam. Generally everone should see the positives in this loss it is fantastic for tennis fans and and Nadal and Roger rivlary i love tennis, especially when its Nadal playing so BRING on Roland Garros.
(I'm so excited, thank god for tennis revision stress is not healthy lol)

@niloofar: He is not respectfull, he was never respectfull. Just remember his statements about Murray's play, or Rafa's play, or Djokovic the joke...

COMMENTATORS TO BLAME!! SOME OF THE COMMENTS THEY MAKE INSENSIVE!! TOWARD FEDERER!! JUST SWITCH TO MUTE WHEN YOU WATCH A GAME I DO!!
FEDERER FAN!!!

Welcome back, torres! Where've you been?

Roger played a superb match. It's not his fault that the commentators/Tennis Channel began putting the clock on TV for all to see the length between points yesterday and today (maybe even before? not sure about that).

Roger is back, and that's a fact!

"Why is it always Federer who is interviewed and asked his opinion on others..."- fofe , 5/17/09 7:48 PM

Because he is the only big mouth in town!

"Those two guys take their time as well, so, it wasn't really four hours",
Man...insteed of saying something correct...ok he's winner...he is still falling lower an lower ...deeper in his ilusions and arogance.
I can understand him...ofcourse he hates both of them (Rafa and Nole). Even when he's winner...it's not enough. There is shadow of that wonderful game in semi finale. He simply cannot stand it.
"It was Djokovic who gave them the self-belief that they could win titles in the company of Federer and Nadal and, if necessary, beat them in order to do so..."
...that why he hates Nole...
...and why he cannot stand Rafa...it's so obviousle.

I'm sorry but the issue of "time between points" is irrelevent to yesterdays match in my opinion. What made the SF with Rafa/Nole exciting was the struggle to win, the fight to stay alive for the final, with a leg injury to Rafa and cramps to Nole thrown in to make it even more intense. I know some will say,becuse I am a Rafa fan that, of course I won't complain about the time between points. Nole took his time (over 25 seconds alot) too but Rafa didn't complain. They know the rules. I believe it is the chair umpires call whether to warn them or call attention to it. He didn't so deal with it. That was the least of Rafa's and Nole's worries yesterday. I'm sure they were worrying more about how to play a shot than that.

Wrong danny.

"Why is it always Federer who is interviewed and asked his opinion on others..."- fofe , 5/17/09 7:48 PM

Because his answers are always honest answers and intelligent one. Not the same politically correct you hear from Rafa not that it's wrong for Rafa to be that way but Fed's comments are usually the exciting and truthful ones. He is like Djokovic. Why is it wrong to speak up your mind? He didn't call Nadal anything abusive like 'you boring twat' so what's the problem here?

DANNY.......now DON'T BE BITTER because Roger won today....you were doing sooooo well on other posts.....Federer is a true gent. As is rafa......nobody replied to what I said earlier in terms of Rafa getting all the glitter paper out of Roger's hair? How cute is that. There is respect there danny....absolutely. And in fact, when Rafa was asked at an interview (not in this match)....but you can google his interviews...interviewer said.....'rafa...are you and roger friends?'.....his reply?...my friends are in majorca!!!!!!!' so what does that say? I believe that rafa and roger have a healthy respect for each others game. It's only morons that believe otherwise and want to stoke it up.....ROGER'S DAY TODAY DANNY......HE IS A B-E-A-S-T! (like you dan.....mwah!!!!!).

Hey guys if you can all take a moment and read this article its hilarious. LOL

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/177304-novak-djokovic-ends-h is-relationship-with-rafael-nadal-humor

Still I believe that Roger is diminishing whatever legacy he has established every time he opens his mouth. Like today, instead of us discussing his first master of the year, we are talking about his "exciting, "truthful", and "intelligent" answer as torres has said.

Anyhow, it's your day so I'll give it to you. See you at RG!

"Getting the job done" is not necessarily what tennis fans are looking for. I for one like it a lot when a match takes it's time.Swiss effecienty may be fine for some but give me a slow, steamy Spanish romp anytime

hey dan...I know its a difficult day for you honey...but THANK YOU for giving me....MY DAY!....qu'est que se?......Swiss timing....to perfection.....

I dont know about you guys but I dont always hear ATP players say how irritated they are with Fed's comments. Maybe it is out of respect or maybe it is the fact that what he say is true if you think about it. And his critics on a player's game is usually constructive like when he said to Murray that he play defensive or when he say Nadal is 'one-dimensional'. After these comments, they both turned out for the better.

Hi torres...welcome back buddy......the players I feel have a lot more respect for roger and personally, I feel that its the journos who want to stoke it up and so the words they use are reported speech. It is as simple as that....it is then left to the readers to put their own spin on what fed said....Not only federer, but ARod,Novak,Murray have all had 'their moments' where things have been taken out of context....I just feel that when we read reported speech....it contains no nuances, no tone, things can be taken out of context. Roger is roger....and as Ricky said earlier...he was 100% right here.

To danny and critics of Federer... it is better that he speaks the truth than to hide behind false statements a la Nadal with his "Federer is the real number 1".

And the minute he did that cable, you would be right there, along with torres to bash him for being conceited--lol

f4t, you are predictable

Yes I am, sue me!

I will sue you in the court of intelligence for having a lower IQ than the legal level of a normal citizen. LMAO

You wasted your time getting that masters torres. Your IQ is lower than Australia!

Guys...........ROGER is INNOCENT...................and he won!!!!!!!!! I am such a happy girl this morning.....I feel like I have glided to work.....nadal fans....I know you feel like this all the time....but for the moment....I feel I am in a bubble and it feels W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L............come join me danny?

I was also wondering what the actual time of play was. I mean, they should only record the time when the ball is between the lines.

The time between points is always a disadvantage for the 'fastest' player. It's harder for the 'faster' player to keep his momentum / rythm going when he always has to wait just a tad too long.

I think thatswhy this 25s rule serves both type of players well.

As for Roger. It's really incredible what he did yesterday, just the win he needed. If he manages to find a way to avoid his backhand vs. Rafa like he did yesterday and to serve extremely well, I'm sure he has a good shot at the RG title.

Merlin:
u don't need to remind me of Roger's interviews,since his haters started badmouthing him , I've searched and read many of his old and recent ones.and he IS respectful,but he does give his real opinion when he's asked a question and ppl like to take it out of context...Murray's mother was happy with the constructive criticism Roger gave him,you r not?!! he is really honest,when he wins a match in which his opponent does not play his best Roger mentions it,when he gets lucky in a match he mentions it.

zare: Roger hates Rafa??? you're kidding? the 2 guys get along very well and Roger gives the most credit to Rafa because he deserves it,and I guess Roger has mentioned 1 million times that Rafa is the best now,and always says he's amazed with what Rafa has achieved at a young age,and that he himself had not. one thing i'm sure about is that they get along very well.

torres: u r right the others r not upset with his comments and thier comments about Fed shows that they actually like him.u should trust the ppl who meet him in person.

There's no point discussing this.....Roger has always been that way.....you cant teach an old horse new tricks.....like i say to my friends sometimes when they talk......

'you just cant help yourself!!!!'

roger is respectful towards rafa...period....
quote one interview from roger yesterday.......

?I?m very happy to have

won, but I?d like to congratulate Rafa as he?s had such a great run on clay,? said 13-time Grand Slam title winner Federer. Accept it and move on.