well, no big deal... the only half decent tourney before Montreal is Hamburg on clay, doesn't really need to bother since Nadal will not play until August anyway - Nr 1 is safe for now

This pregnancy was well timed, this is one of the rare periods in the year when players can afford to take a few weeks off because nothing much is happening.

Here is a link of great picutres showing what Rafa is up to, he is not exactly sitting with his head in his hands.

http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?action=quicksearch&ppid=9048 8&version=int

shit,
It says:'the photo you requested is not in the database' carrie :(

You have to remove the space in 90488.

Thats nice, I was worried he would be off to Hamburg or something. I'm glad he is going home with Mirka and hopefully the next thing he hear from him is that he has a bouncing baby...boy/girl that is healthy.
Technically speaking...wasn't it safe anyway since Rafa can't make any points...since he is the defending champion at Hamburg and the Roger's Masters....? Whatever, hope they are both in good form by then.

Thx carrie, yeap, it doesn't look as if he's suffering from being up and about , lol
Good point Recordbreaks - can't wait for Montreal to come already :)

I hope Fed rests well and just enjoy the moment. I think USO is open toeveryone to take. I dont think Fed is at this best. He's 28 next month... I hope ARod wins USO or maybe Djoker so that the top 4 will be more and more competitive. But it's open for all and wouldn't suprised if Nadal wins it becoz last time he missed a Slam with foot injury he came back to win FO.

Let the good times roll!!

With his epic 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 victory over Andy Roddick in Sunday's Wimbledon men's final, Roger Federer bagged his 15th major championship. The victory propelled the 27-year-old Swiss past Pete Sampras atop the all-time Grand Slam leaderboard, further bolstering his argument for Greatest Of All-Time status.

Here's a numerologist's-eye view of Federer's unsurpassed greatness.

0 -- Losses in Grand Slam tournaments since Wimbledon 2004 in 119 matches against players outside the top five. Federer's last such loss at a major came against No. 30 Gustavo Kuerten at the '04 French Open.

1 -- Opponents who have defeated Federer in a Grand Slam final (Rafael Nadal).

2 -- Men who have achieved a career Golden Slam, winning each of the four majors plus an Olympic gold medal. Federer is one. Andre Agassi is the other.

3 -- Seasons where Federer has won three of the four Grand Slams (2003, '04 and '07).

4 -- Different surfaces where Federer has won Grand Slams: grass, clay and two different kinds of hard courts. Only Agassi has equaled the feat.

5 -- Consecutive U.S. Open victories from 2003 through 2008, an open era record.

6 -- Years without losing a match on grass. Federer won 65 straight matches on his favorite surface between a first-round loss at Wimbledon 2002 and last year's final.

7 -- Consecutive years with at least one Grand Slam title. Only Borg (1974-81) and Sampras (1993-2000) have longer runs, which Federer can match in 2010.

8 -- Losses suffered throughout his streak of 21 consecutive appearances in Grand Slam semifinals.

9 -- Career ATP singles titles on clay, traditionally his weakest surface.

10 -- Consecutive Grand Slam finals reached between Wimbledon 2005 and the '07 U.S. Open, a record. Federer also owns the second-longest streak, his current run of six from the '07 French Open through Wimbledon '09.

11 -- Grand Slam titles won from 2004 through '07, an all-time record for major titles in a four-year span (male or female).

17 -- Countries where Federer has won ATP singles titles: Australia, Austria, Canada, People's Republic of China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

18 -- Consecutive Grand Slam tournaments where Federer was seeded No. 1 from the '04 French Open through '08 Wimbledon, a record.

20 -- Appearances in Grand Slam singles finals, where he's 15-5. Ivan Lendl (19) held the all-time mark until this year.

21 -- Consecutive appearances in Grand Slam semifinals, perhaps the most extraordinary metric of Federer's otherworldly consistency.

24 -- Appearances in the finals of ATP Masters Series events, a record. His 15 victories in these prestigious tournaments ranks second all-time to Agassi (17).

26 -- Consecutive matches won against opponents in the top 10 from October 2003 through January 2005, a record.

34 -- Consecutive victories at the U.S. Open from 2004 through last year, an open era record. Federer is the only player in history to win 34 or more consecutive matches at two different Grand Slam tournaments (in addition to his Wimbledon streak from '03 through '08.)

56 -- Consecutive wins on hard courts during 2005 and '06, an open era record.

94.3 -- Percent of singles matches (247-15) won from 2004 through '06.

182 -- Victories in major tournaments (against 26 losses), a win percentage of 87.5 percent. The only other men's players in the open era with winning percentages above 80 are Bjorn Borg (89.8), Rafael Nadal (85.7), Pete Sampras (84.2), Jimmy Connors (82.6), Ivan Lendl (81.9), John McEnroe (81.5), Andre Agassi (80.9) and Boris Becker (80.3).

237 -- Consecutive weeks spent at No. 1, a record. Federer is the first player to reign atop the ATP rankings for four consecutive years from Feb. 2, 2004, through Aug. 18, 2008.

$48,072,634 -- Career earnings as of June 2009 according to ATPWorldTour.com, an all-time record

Magnificent stats !!!!

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)



Go Roger Go...........

thx for the article tomnjerry,
I have a feeling that this time No. 1 won't last long for Fed, so enjoy it while you can

A lot of articles internet is saying that the no.15 is tasteless and also the acceptance speech is graceless.

There's something different about his celebration this time. Usually it's the crying in appreciation or joy+relieved celebration but this time it's a leap and race towards the net celebration.

I think the whole RF brand and Nike thingy is making Fed a lil bit too obsessed in making a fashion statement that it comes out as 'smugness' and silliness and tasteless.

I think Fed should tone it down next year... Dress up for ads or maybe after-party but during tournaments, it's better to just dress like other players.

P.S. I think last year he must have had a 6-in-a-row jacket or no.13 but he lost

http://www.lbpost.com/sports/general/5979

I think Nike is behind all this... They are even more confident than Fed himself that Fed is gonna get 15. They showed the commercial 'Love fifteen' so short after Fed won.

I hope Nike doesn't influence Fed anymore!!!

U r welcome Shireling .....

Well I dunno how long Roger can defend his #1 position this time ....... but m happy he got it backy....where as he was told he won't even win another slam after AO .........TD !!

But he hit backy..... hit backy hard to win three imp tourney on a row !!!!

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)


Go Roger Go........

Fed and Rafa are not puppets.Nike always ask them what they think about the clothes they are going to wear.Nike runs the idea by them and they have to approve the idea.
This is what Rafa said."he does not wear anything that he does not want to wear".
If a person has a curtain personally then it shows in the way they dress and act.
that is how each of them are.that's that.I am not saying anything is wrong with it...to each his own ...Rafa approved all of those loud colors and approved putting sleeves on his shirts because he got tired of people only thinking of him as a muscle man.well..fed wants to wear clothes with RF on them and he had that jacket made with 15 on it....that is what he wanted.

^^ also ...now.. come on(lol) torres! "Nike have more confident in fed than he has in himself"..about that commercial..you know good and well that...with the odds 18-2 that fed was more than likely going to win so they had already made those commercials.They had already assumed that he was going to win.They probably assumed that he was going to get the 14 in AO but had to trash that film.

I think I read somewhere that Nike filmed the commercial a week before the actual victory, or a week before Wimby started? Something like that, but they made the commercial quite early...so I guess all of them must have some measure of confidence particularly after Fed's RG win.

torres9...Fed's acceptance speech did make me wince somewhat and the no.15 jacket induced a bit of eye-rolling from me as well, and he is my favourite tennis player! But Fed's not perfect and we can't expect him to make the perfect speech and perfect gestures. I do think he meant no arrogance when comparing Andy R.'s loss this year to his last year, although I can see how that can be interpreted (like hello you had FIVE and I had NONE and you now have SIX and THREE at my expense, so yes). But then again, thinking back...Fed probably DOES know EXACTLY how Andy.R felt...after all didn't he lose THREE consecutive RG finals to Rafa? That must be owwie indeed...and not to mention THREE consecutive GS finals to Rafa.

I think with Fed's fluency in English people forget it is not his first language and he struggles with expressions and words sometimes. Although I agree that his speech could be better and the jacket can go hang, I put it down to his own disbelief that he had won a 16-14 set by his first break of Andy R.'s serve for the entire match especially he was in a danger position of losing it at 8-all, and his disbelief that he has actually achieved GS#15.

Also Shireling, I do agree with you that Fed's no.1 won't last very long...realistically. I honestly hope he DOES end the year at no.1 but it's doubtful especially if Rafa returns competitive and fierce and he WILL be (and I kinda want Rafa to win USO, career slam for my two most favourite players ^~)...and there is very little separating them at the moment. Fed needs to win USO - lots of points to defend there...but then again he didn't do well in Montreal and Cincinnati whereas Rafa did really well...

I think it's going to be a wonderfully interesting North American hard court season ahead. I personally can't wait...one whole month without tennis, woe!

torres....buddy...the no. 15 on jacket....as has been said before...there is NO WAY fed would have worn it if he had lost....NIKE gave it to him should he have won....be ready and prepared NOT go on to court with the objective of losing....if he had have lost...then he would have worn the RF jacket...

i think that roger's achievements should be celebrated...rather than being picky about what he was wearing....it's all crap.....concentrate on the tennis and how well he is playing...the range of shots that he has been displaying...the mental toughness.......it's really sad when people want to concentrate on the sponsor side of things....the guy is tied to NIKE...he is contracted to them...i read the opposite....that NIKE SEND what THEY want Roger to wear....NOT the other way around....in all honesty....i couldn't care less what he wears....he has always been someone who has respected history and 'looked the part'...it's his tennis tho' that should do the talking and be where the comments lie....everything else is unimportant in the scheme of things.....

fed was certainly not his usual eloquent self when interviewed straight after the roddick match...but if you read the numerous interviews out there....he was a number of things at that moment:

1. tired and relieved.
2. conscious of the fact that roddick COULD have won the match...so a bit shocked.
3. aware that roddick was gutted when he lost.....and he said in interview..he did NOT want to celebrate the win cos he realised how roddick was feeling....in actual fact i thought his 'lack of celebrating was both the right thing to do and also acknowledged how upset roddick felt. bravo federer!

tomnjerry2, I don't think it's valid to say Fed won the career golden slam because his gold medal was in the doubles event. It's a bit like saying Johnny Mac has 17 grand slam titles (7 singles, 9 doubles, 1 mix doubles).

Put this GOAT debate to rest. There simply isn't one. He can only lay claim to being the greatest of his generation and one of the greatest. There are other players who can lay claim to GOAT on other grounds like number of titles won (not just grand slams), Davis Cup heroics, not to mention doubles titles won - I know the last point isn't a strong one but doubles used to be played frequently by top players and was very competitive. Also one of the greatest, Rod Laver, has not endorsed Federer as outright GOAT, quote: "I've always thought that you're the best in your era. That, to me, is a pretty good compliment. It's hard for anyone, I think, to come out and say who's the best ever."

cable - really agreed! There simply ISN'T a GOAT in my honest opinion so really people should stop fighting about the GOAT title unless someone comes out and wins like 50 consecutive GS then I have nothing else to say. The eras are different, courts were different, rackets were different...it's like comparing who's greater, Elvis or MJ. You can't compare because they are both great and both legends, just as Borg, Laver, Sampras and co. are legends in their own era.

Fed is not yet a legend...but I daresay he will be considered as one when his career ends on the tennis court...but is he the GOAT? From the perspective of one of his fans, my answer is no. Greatest/best of the current generation, but of "all time"? The comparisons of # of GS is not valid enough in my opinion.

jyannis- I have to ask what was wrong with his acceptance speech, I didn't notice anything bad. The jacket however, I was like WTF?! when I say it. I wanted to slap the man for that one. I thought the speech was nice though.

ANYONE can feel free to tell me which part of the speech made them cringe, I might not have heard the horror, I was not really listening cause his stupid jacket was blinding me with it horrific nature.

Still do not think there can be a greatest ever, you can't compare eras, or even sometimes men of the same era, who play to win at different places.

Recordbreaks - the cringeworthy part for me was when he compared A-Rod's loss to his own loss last year. Although part of me do feel that he DOES know how A-Rod felt (A-Rod lost all his GS finals to Roger, Roger lost all of HIS to Rafa), I don't think it's appropriate in that context because it seems a bit "to your face" to me bearing in mine that Fed had five when he lost. It was just "comparing losses" thing that made me cringe but I think even Fed himself heard it come out wrong regardless of his intentions and he backtracked it a little to give proper credit and recognition to poor A-Rod.

Yes, the jacket...I just thought it was really poor judgement on Roger's part to wear it in A-Rod's face after such an agonising and close loss. He could be wearing that jacket the day after or even post-interview the day itself and I wouldn't really think there's anything wrong but to wear it ON COURT RIGHT AFTER...with A-Rod there...uh...no. Not really the right thing to do in my opinion.

Well said cable and jyannis, simple numbers not enough to justify GOAT, cos unless you can bring back the clock and have Sampras versing Mcenroe, versing Laver versing Fed all at their peak, or like yjann said winning 50 in a row, one can only be claimed the best of the generation.

I'll add another point to that, FEDs the great in his generation, but he is NOT the best RIGHT NOW, rafa is, just look at the achievement in the last 12 months of rafa and Fed its easy to see who is a better player NOW, but Feds the best in his generation, that is the generation of Ferrero, Hewitt, Safin, Haas and Roddo etc.....

quote.....Although part of me do feel that he DOES know how A-Rod felt (A-Rod lost all his GS finals to Roger, Roger lost all of HIS to Rafa)...unquote...

jyannis...you don't have to reply to this but that's up to you.....federer lost ONE wimby final to nadal....hardly the same stats as roddick's loss to fed...so saying that ROger lost 'all of his to rafa'...He lost ONE wimby final.....and that was last year.

PLUS can we stop this ongoing friggin argument about the jacket.....HE WORE IT BECAUSE HE DID WIN 15 SLAMS...what is soooo wrong with that? you guys will never be satisfied.....if he hadn't have won it...he wouldn't have worn it....who the hell cares what he wears!

you could also argue that roddick acted a bit like a petulant child at that point.....'boo hoo...you won five GS....how can you understand how i feel? A loss is a loss........' a lot of journos have pointed that one out....they both are members of the school of hard knocks...when you lose a match.....it must have been hard for roddick as he came so close...but then so did haas and so did del potro and haas (in the semis of FO)...this is the nature of the fed...he grinds them down.....

this is the only time that roddick has come so close to beating federer which is why it hurts so much...as it did with roger last year at the final at wimby....he....more than anyone else...would have known how 'close' he came to winning wimby last year....roger had match point at one point.....and finally lost by 9:7 in the fifth set.....roddick could have got 2 sets off roger...but he didn't. he squandered 4 break points...that shows that in the second set...how strong and deep roger's mindset was....roddick played some crazy, poor shots at that point.....

and he is a legend....even tho' technically you call someone a legend when they have passed......all the top players have called roger a legend....the mighty MJ was always called a legend when he was alive.....roger is called a living legend because of his contribution towards tennis.....

and Michael Jackson IS the GOAT...more than Elvis....look at the memorial...count the fans.....millions...and millions around the world.....count the no. 1's...more than ELVIS.....The Mighty J...lives on.....

Laver has already said federer is the GOAT as has Sampras....Borg....McENroe.....Courier.....Rudsezki.....(all THEIR opinion...of course)...never the less Laver said it....totally get where you are coming from in terms of raquet technology...etc...but just quoting what they have ALL said......

malt o malt ....when are you going to see past the pathetic effort of some of them in this site to discredit fed . The FedExpress numbers speaks for itself ...seriously ....amazing numbers ....
Personality aside ...TennisTalk only ... Fed is quite PERFECT. The records ...streaks ....and consistency . The day he looses by playing defensive tennis in an early round in a Grand Slam ...thats the day I would doubt his tennis ability ....but i dont think it'll ever come ...he will loose ...but the losses will come due to his inability to hit those winners ....not cos he had to sit back and get whipped.

At this point of time ...Fed is undoubtedly the GOAT ....every damn newspaper says it . Every damn tennis legend says it ...hhaha ....and the logical Fed haters have pretty much dropped out the face of earth ...that should tell you a lot ...

WIMBY09 ...where we've right the wrongs
C'MON !!

AZN, I don't agree that in the past 12 months Nadal is better because Federer is got US Open, Wimby and FO so no argument who is better in the last 12 months but in 2008, Nadal is the better player.

And Nadal is in Fed's era, half of it. He peaked really early and young. He is like Becker who starts very early but whether he can sustain this is another story. Nadal's batch is Djoker and Murray. Murray is very close to Nadal and also Djoker can beat him. Can't say that about Fed's batch where he annilates everyone except Hewitt who owned him earlier in his career.

Nadal is greatest in his generation and batch for now but Murray will definitely challenge him once he gets it right in the Slams. And Djoker will always be dangerous.

Fed has set the bar and it is now up to Nadal, Murray and Djoker to live up to it. But the unfortunate thing for them is Fed is still there and probably would have a career like Agassi and pop up with some Slam wins in his 30s which will spoil their party.

Funny that you missed to list the "other' fedfans who don't believe in the GOAT thingy,fedexfan.

GOAT =Greatest = the best doesnt really mean PERFECT.

Sometimes I think people who disagree that Fed is the greatest will only agree if Fed wins 100% of his matches, wins FO 5 times as much as Wimby and USO and AO, wins against Nadal 10-0 on clay, hold no.1 for 10 years.

I mean, his records may not be 100% perfect who else is even near his record? Laver's case is mostly an IF thing. Laver need not face a clay king like Nadal (oh wait, Laver played 3 out of 4 SLams on grass). Imagine if Fed has 3 Slams on grass.

And if Fed is like Sampras who s*cks on clay (best showing:SF), he wouldn't even meet Nadal 11 times on clay which will make his record against Nadal more like 5-4 or 6-5.

For me Fed is the best...

malteser, I am referring to the fact that in all of Roger's GS-final losses, it has ALL been to Nadal. Five of Rafa's slams came from Roger's expense. I am not solely referring to Wimby. And since Andy R also lost all his GS finals to Roger, I believe that some parallel could be made about Roger knowing how Andy feels to a slight degree.

torres9, I have always believed that the grass-season is too short, ridiculously short, for that fact. If there are more ATP-1000/Masters series on grass over the years, I think Roger would have dominated far more. Just my opinion.

Cable....... we can remove that points.......

Still fed is the best ever .....as I have said.....n saying .....I really don't give a damn to these posts ..... I care for comment of Sampras..... Laver.....Borg...... n all tennis gr8s..... who have acknowledge Fed as gr8est ever ........

well ..... itzz simple as that ..... U want Rafa to be called the best ever ..... no worries....... If he goes past Fed's record set fo 15 GS ...... which I don't see oon the cards very soon.......... I will n all will (including Fed) stamp him as best ever .......

so for now ...... Fede is the GOAT .... full stop !!

m not telling u to stop..... u ppl keep on....... I have personal views.... with some stats ....... upon u....... agree or disagree....... Fed is the best ever to play this game !!!

And he is not gonna stop on 15 ....... or may stop at 15..... u know ...... we can not predict future..... but we can hope for more....... at least me !!!!

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)


Go Roger Go......

good point torres, i sooo agree with you...:) as of now, Fed is the Best, for having set a lot of incredible records. it's up to Nadal to catch up on him. He has to prove more...But until then... FED is the GOAT...

quote.....

malteser, I am referring to the fact that in all of Roger's GS-final losses, it has ALL been to Nadal. Five of Rafa's slams came from Roger's expense. I am not solely referring to Wimby. And since Andy R also lost all his GS finals to Roger, I believe that some parallel could be made about Roger knowing how Andy feels to a slight degree....unquote....

Jyannis....I understand what you saying now honey...

but i disagree with roger understanding 'slightly' how roger feels...firstly...when roddick said.....'but you have won FIVE...at wimby 2009......he WAS referring to wimby slams....not any of the others.....

last year was the GREATEST EVER wimby...soul destroying at that point for Fed in terms of being 'so close' to winning.....the match was sick...so close with either player....nadal got it..fed was gutted......fed MORE THAN ANYONE....at the point of winning wimby 2009 would have KNOWN how gutted roddick felt....it took fed until the 77th game to break roddick.......completely different match to the wimby 2008 to wimby 2009...but the similarity is that they were both close.....Fed understood how roddick felt which was why he did NOT make a big deal of answering questions on court...AND recognised how roddick felt...and wanted to be low key about it....even the end of the match...when he usually falls to his knees...he jumped in the air.....a big difference....

and the fact that roger's finals losses have ALL been to Nadal.....thank god for that! At least the person who has taken those finals from him....has been a valid champion in his own right.....the...then No. 2 player...I would have been more worried if it was the no. 52 player in the world who had taken the finals slams......It's a two way thing with those guys..they bring out the BEST in each other...they PUSH each other to their limits and beyond.....

PLUS...regarding roger/rafa....roger has made many more finals than rafa (yes...i know that rafa is five years younger than roger....BUT....if you are going to compare the two in terms of reaching GS finals.....just take the GS finals that both players have reached in the time that they have been player each other ...and i am sorry...but rafa has a long way to go...i really think the defining point in rafa's game...in terms of 'where his mind was at/his game was at'...was at the FO...being knocked out in the fourth round of FO was a seismic shock of tsunami proportions in terms of the World No. 1 being knocked out in a fourth round....that has NEVER happened to federer...which shows just how great a player he is......i mean his record of 21 semi gs finals is just fantastical....NO ONE has ever and WILL EVER...(I doubt it)...do that again...Fed has been amazing and continues to amaze....

tomnjerry...you are just making me laugh like a drain this morning with your 'backy home'!

Roll on US Open.....

Fedexfan...absolutely agree with you.......thanks for the reminder!

Zoey...come back...in any form...girlfriend! Come Back! i'll look out for idaho valley!

C'MON!
Allez Federer!

lo malt..... I was so desperate abt his world.no 1 rank to get backy that I now can not hold my feelings........

N i love ur posts .......

USO........ I want more......then AO then......... FO.... Then WImby..... then USO......the Fed rolls on..........moves on n on n on......

@torres.... Even I can recall that u posted once (may more) that Fed will end the year as no.1...... I can see this happening ....... bulls eye...... ur predictions r hitting target quite well....... lol !!!

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)

Go Roger Go........

am lovin' YOU tomnjerry....feel the L-U-R-V-E! just missing my homegirl zoey..and homebuddy sky......
ZOEY.......WHERE ARE YOU!?

C'MON!

Allez Federer!

TnJ, thanks buddy.

Here's how Fed will get year-end no.1
a) Do better than r32 in ATP Canada (he has only 10 points from there), Nadal won it (1000)
b) DO better than r16 in Cincy (150 pts..LOL) and Muzza won it (1000) and Nadal (450)
c) Reach at least USO finals or semis

That is basically it. Nadal will lose 800 points from Beijing Olympics and Roger gains 600 points from there.

It's looking good for Fed but Of course Nadal can nick it if he wins US Open and TMC but only by a little margin.

I am sorry,but i must comment on Malt's statement of comparing MJ to Elvis.(lol)
you can not compare the 2 because MJ was the King of Pop,Elvis was the King of Rock&Roll.two different eras.they both had big hit songs,both had huge memorials ,1 will have Never Land Ranch,1 has Graceland.Both great at different times in life.I use the same logic to analyze federer and this goat discussion.Federer is still alive.He is still playing tennis.Laver won 2granslams in his time.
Now if federer was to retire now.. then ..during his TIME.. playing tennis he was the greatest but ...IDK...everyone see things differently i guess.

I agree with what you say alik, about trying to compare MJ to Elvis. It's ludicrous to try. They both had huge contributions to the music world but were in totally different eras and circumstances were different. You can't judge them by numbers alone.

BTW, Laver won 2 CALENDAR slams, not just grand slams.

thank you f4t,i knew it was something like that(lol)

Daily Mirror:

Fatherhood will foil Roger Federer

By Derek McGovern 9/07/2009

What a humdinger the climax of Sunday's Wimbledon final was. It was the longest set since Flo-Jo's fingernails.

Roger Federer said in the papers on the morning of the final that he wanted his soon-to-be-born child to see him play tennis; what we didn't realise was he meant that very match.

Fed, with 15 Grand Slam titles to his credit, is 10-1 with Ladbrokes to have 20 or more by the time he hangs up his cravat, but I'd sooner take the massive 9-1 with Hills (just 5-2 with Ladbrokes) that he doesn't add to his current tally.

Epic though Sunday's victory was, Federer allowed Andy Roddick to take 39 games from him. In the Wimbledon final four years earlier, Roddick won only 12. He's on the slide in other words, and impending fatherhood ain't exactly gonna help. Fed will find that a father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be.

carrie....i cannot believe how negative you are....A-G-A-I-N...do you know how many articles there are out there.....being negative about rafa....how many could have been posted.....by any fedfan....but NO....not one....so here's one for you carrie.....to read and to perhaps change your ways....i doubt it tho'.

fft...my parents used to listen to Elvis....my dad's favourite actually...i guess you would be around their age.....MJ's memorial a couple of days ago hosted by the BBC...Paul Gambicini and Trevor Nelson (R n' B D.J)....gave the stats on the televised funeral/memorial of Elvis as compared to M.J....i don't make this up you know....i listen to what the experts said and they said..the televised ratings for MJ....were 3 TIMES MORE THAN ELVIS.....so really...put that in your pipe and smoke it lady.....

carrie this is the article i was talking about...i won't post the one on rafa...because that would be too upsetting for you...but trust me...they are out there.....

This is MORE for fedfans than the fed trashers....and fedex...yeah...i know...you are right about fft AND carrie....

Roger Federer determined to stay at the top of the game, says Neil Harman
The Times Tennis Correspondent gives his end-of-tournament report and reflects on Roger Federer's historic victory. He talks to Ben Smith

(Graham Hughes/The Times)

You had the chance to talk to Roger Federer today, what kind of mood was he in having had time to reflect on yesterday's final?

Understandably elated if a little tired. But as you say he had had time to reflect on what he has done and considering he hadn't had a great deal of sleep the previous night, having been to the Champions dinner, he looked very relaxed.

There was a group of about ten of us in a room with him and it was a very relaxed conversation almost, rather than a formal press conference. He was in a very, very happy frame of mind as you can well imagine.

Did he speak about his future in the game?

He did and the strong indication is that although he can't be sure how he will react when he becomes a father, he sees no reason why the brakes are suddenly going to go on, and why he will feel that he has to drop everything to concentrate 100 per cent on raising his child. He seems to be firmly of the belief that it is only going to increase his desire to go out there and play.

Unlike some of his rivals, his playing style and economy of movement don't appear to tax him physically. Did he hint at how long he might plan to go on for?

He has that kind of stride, he almost floats across the court. It's the walk of a champion who knows what they are doing. He holds himself tall and looks the part.

Although he has had some problems with his back he has never had real injury problems during his career. When you get to 27 you are bound to have more aches and pains in the future than you have had in the past but he is just not one of those players who gets injured easily......

Unlike Rafael Nadal, he doesn't have a style of play that is going to hurt him. Who knows how long he can go on for? Maybe another two or three years.

Did you get the impression that he is beginning to accept his place as the greatest the game has ever seen?

He is very humble about everything that has been said about him. He has read and heard what people have written and said about him, with most agreeing that he is the greatest. But he would never be so arrogant to label himself that. His opinion is that it is very nice for other people to say it but you will never hear it from him.

He is aware that people will always go back to the argument about how many grand-slam titles Rod Laver might have won had he been able to compete between 1962 to1969. He won 11 in total but missed between 15 to 20 grand-slam events in that period, so who knows how many he might have won. Roger's statement that he still feels he shares the record with Pete Sampras because he is still one short of his seven titles at Wimbledon was also an acknowledgement of Pete's place in the history of the game. He is extremely humble about everything that has been said and always will be, no matter how many titles he goes on to win.

Just to let you know carrie by the way..that Derek McGovern is a huge Andy Murray fan...NOT a federer fan...a bit like you actually.....

Another one in The Guardian talking of other bad choices in clothing:

"Prince William did a slightly better job of going incognito with his choice of leathers while riding his Ducati to a polo game. He wasn't quite Bond, who would have been head-to-toe in unbranded black, but with his spotless suit he could have been any other weekend biker. Apart from the giveaway customised Cross of St George kneepads, that is. He might as well have gone the whole Eurotrash hog and had his coat of arms and initials embroidered on the suit.

Much like Roger Federer, the embodiment of Swiss Eurotrash. Sublime tennis player, great champion and all that, but did he really have to accept the Wimbledon trophy in a jacket with "15" embroidered on the back and "RF" on the front? It's not the chutzpah in having had a jacket made to mark your 15th grand slam title and stashing it in your bag just in case, it's having the bad taste to wear it at all.

Federer's people laughed it off by saying it was something Nike had knocked up for him. Roger, you're a big boy now. You've got loads of dosh, so next year tell Nike to sod off and dream up their own publicity stunts without you."

BTW malt: Elvis's memorial was not held in an arena, nor was it televised as an "event" back before you were even born. I can't believe that you are trying to say MJ is "better" because his televised memorial stats were better than Elvis's!!! You can't judge someone by numbers alone! Graceland is still one of the most popular destinations to visit here in the States THIRTY TWO YEARS AFTER ELVIS DIED!!!!!!! Both made major contributions to music in general and made it easier for artists of their era. Why is there this need for one to be better than the other???

Rafans just can't leave a fed thread alone. We never talk about Rafa here and u all come with your Rafa crap again. Rafa is no.2 now. Even Roddick is worth talking about than the no. 2

Check this thread ofr another opinion on Federer's attire:


Sampras pays tribute to new tennis king Federer

"FEDs the great in his generation, but he is NOT the best RIGHT NOW, rafa is, just look at the achievement in the last 12 months of rafa and Fed its easy to see who is a better player NOW"

I don't know if anyone's touched on this point yet, but I'd like to say that, in the last 12 months, Rafa won Wimbledon and the Australian, and Federer won the US open, the French, and Wimbledon...

-Arvis

fft...i thought you said you were a fan of tennis?

you should therefore be talking about the tennis racquet/player/game/analysis...NOT what the hell they are wearing...here we go again.....fed can wear what he likes..he has earnt his place...for EVERY article you post on some author's comment on what he was wearing..there are hundreds out there commenting on his earning the right to wear what he wants....15 GRAND SLAMS baby! That's sick! in 6 years! Half the time of Sampras! Doubly sick!

How can anyone say that rafa is the best right now? honestly guys...accept it..the way the fed fans had to accept it...last year......and move on.....yeah..am sure rafa will come back and i hope for your sake he comes back good and strong....cos over the last 12 months...have you counted the number of injuries he has had? the number of withdrawals? the number of losses to players outside the top 10? the number of losses during the early rounds of tournaments? not once but many times.....i am not going to list the losses.....to save you the embarrassment.....but as you have kindly posted the derogatory articles about fed...i shall return the favour to you...of sorts....

Arvis....who said the first paragraph of your post? looks like its a quote from some one but i cannot see who it is from....?

Federer has won 15 slams in 6 years...HALF the time that Sampras won 14 slams in 12 years! Enough said.

Regarding rafa.....am just going to cite the injuries he has had since he turned pro in 2001.....(3 years after fed turned pro...)...fedfans i would post this on a rafa thread but there aren't any current ones...so here goes....

2004 - rafa missed most of the clay court season with a stress fracture in his LEFT ankle.

2006 - Nadal missed the AO with a foot injury. He also withdrew from the Stella Artois championships with an injured shoulder after initially playing against Hewitt.

2007 - 'serious' knee injury confirmed by Toni Nadal...but disputed by nadal and his personal spokesman.

2008 - retired against Davydenko in the semi finals of madrid citing tendinitis of the knee. In November he withdrew from the Tennis Masters cup in Shanghai citing tendinitis of the Knee and later withdrew from spain's davis cup final against Argentina quoting a second knee injury.

2009 - lost in rotterdam in final to murray..citing a tendon problem in right knee. withdrew from barclays dubai tennis a week later.
withdrew from queens suffering from tendinitis in BOTH knees...

I know you fed haters want an unhealthy, injured fed....whereas we fedfans want a rejuvenated nadal...a healthy rafa to return to give our guy a run for his money....and we do.....i quote the injuries here for no other reason than to give you a taste of your own medicine when you post such ridiculously negative comments. it adds nothing...........You are right about one thing.... Tennis needs rafa...BUT tennis does NOT need rafa fans like you carrie or you fft....absolutely not....you post articles which talk about what federer wears on court? so friggin' what? he wears what NIKE want him to wear. period. Talk about the swing ladies...not the bling.....do you know the difference?

you should be supporting your man...not worrying about fed....he doing alright at the moment....but the fedfans will pass on your good wishes.....

Malt, I was quoting a post by azn2nvy, and pointing out that, in the last 12 months (the time frame he stipulated) Roger Federer has been the better player, as he's won more slams.

Also since Wimby 08, I believe Federer and Nadal are 1-1 H2H? Not sure on that one...

-Arvis

malt-Thats a good interview.
I'm laughing at Nadtards right now..boy,dont they just love to come in post whatever trash they find about Roger?..oh yes they do.Of course forget the fact that the extent to which Nadal himself is being marketed by Nike is far greater than Roger ever had with 6 slams.
I also had to laugh at the lack of factual info.of both the articles.-I guess the fact that Roger was given the jacket on the spot and it wasnt some pre-planned act, either this dosent get into the heads of some people or they're just plain ignorant.Its funny they made nothing of Murray's Fred Perry drama when the guy dosent have a slam to his credit yet.

I guess when you havent got much to chew,you grasp at straws :D

I guess I should've posted the article where the WADA boss slammed Nadal and Murray for whinning about doping rules,or maybe all those articles of time-wasting etc..would've been great but unfortunately I cannot taint celebrations of fans when their favorito wins. :(

Of course forget the fact that the extent to which Nadal himself is being marketed by Nike is far greater than Roger ever had with 6 slams.

janhavi , 7/9/09 7:40 PM


That's because Nadal is more marketable than the Fed.

yeah right carrie...now be nice.....try very...very....hard......here's what one poster said......'nadal is more marketable.....for bandages....'

you see..i don't like this...i actually don't like what you say...but the thing is carrie....why should you get away with it....why aren't you supporting your man...? why are you so interested in federer right now...changed allegiances? i think there cannot be any smoke without fire......are you trying to tell the fedfans that you wanna join the fed gang?

oh carrie...here's another one...i believe almost 1000 people have posted POSITIVE comments about fed....kind of puts what your comments are into a tin hat.....

Nobody's saying Federer is perfect, but he is the best representation of class and grace in all of sport today"

Your opinion, Oliver Holt....with which many would disagree. "

the players that know him better than you or I do -- that interact with him regularly, spend time with him in locker rooms, etc. -- don't seem to agree with your views. They are the ones who selected him for the prestigious best sportsmanship award for 5 straight years. I would accept their views anyday over unfounded assumptions of arrogance that Holt and his ilk want to promote as reality.

The last I checked, Federer has over 2 million fans on Facebook, which also appears to challenge your notion that "many would disagree" with my view.
It baffles me that people that don't know Federer at all interpret what he says spontaneously after a tough match with their own anti-Fed bias. Anyone who says he does not credit opponents after a loss...have you read his press conference after last year's FO loss in its entirety? The only answer he had for every question was Nadal and how good he was. Or, have you read his extended interview with the press after his win over Roddick on Sunday?

Take a moment and educate yourselves before you accuse someone as classy as Federer of bad sportsmanship.

This is me now carrie....problem is all of this stuff falls on your deaf ears....as you have confirmed earlier.....so no more...

Jan...let's just celebrate chick.....carrie is just turning sour now....wish i could be a fly on the wall and see her scrunches up sour grape face....so childish.....

jan this is for you.....

"I don't know if I can ever top this," Federer said. "This last month, with all the records on the line and coming through both times ? it's quite amazing.

"I don't know if I've had a more happy period in my tennis life."

It was the exact opposite a year earlier, when Federer had just lost an epic five-set final to Rafael Nadal. He fled to the nearest island retreat, shutting himself off from the outside world and avoiding all images of the match.



Now, even those dark moments seem to have a bright side.

"I came out being horribly sad; it was a tough loss," said Federer. "But then again, I look back and go -- and it's going to be similar to this time around for Roddick -- like, 'What an amazing match we played.'

"Sometimes it takes a loss to make you strong," he said. "As you can see, I reacted, I've come back."

Severin Luthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain who acts as a part-time coach for Federer, believes the rebound was spurred by Federer's passion.

A back injury hampered Federer early this year, but those who saw it as the start of a career decline couldn't have been more wrong.

He identified a five-set defeat to Nadal in the Australian Open final in January as his friend's lowest moment this season. "Australia was pretty tough," Luthi said. "It's huge that he loves tennis. That helps him a lot. Otherwise, he would maybe need some time off afterwards.

"But he loves tennis, so he went on. He was practicing hard, he was staying focused, and everything paid off now."

Federer feels that completing the long and sometimes rocky road to 15 Slams is testament to his "fight."

"I'm famous for being all casual and relaxed out there, not showing much," said the man sometimes known as Artful Roger. "But we all know how different it was."

It's apt that Federer's official return to the tennis summit was marked by a five-set win, because his early-season slump had been defined by a string of collapses in the deciding set. After fading badly in the fifth set against Nadal in Australia, Federer fell to Andy Murray 6-1 in the third set at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, and lost in three sets again to Novak Djokovic at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

What changed? "I have no more back pain," said Federer, who began to struggle with the problem last fall.

"I'm not scared any more of going into the very corner of the court and digging out a ball, which I was scared of doing at times. And that's why my serve sometimes faltered in important moments, because I didn't have belief that my body was holding up.

"So I would play way too offensive, and against the top guys, that was too risky, and this is why I would lose."

It was only at the end of April, at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, when Federer began to feel "like the old guy again."

It has had a big effect on his game: "Now I feel so much better, and I can play the way I normally play -- use offense, use defense. My serve is clicking. I know in the important moments I'll make the right decisions."

With his biggest career goals accomplished, Federer has returned to Switzerland to turn his attention to his personal life. He married longtime girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec in April, and the two are expecting their first child this summer.

"[I'm] looking forward to going back to Switzerland and staying put for a little bit, because I've been on the road. It's been a lot of dedication trying to achieve this back-to-back with Paris and Wimbledon," said Federer. "Mirka helped me in a big way, so now it's my turn to support her as much as I can, and I hope everything's going to go well."

But when he returns to the tour later this summer, Federer plans to be as determined as ever. After Sunday's victory, he came to his press conference wearing a T-shirt that read: "There is no finish line."

Still, the question remains: What now? "I'm still young in tennis terms, I think," said the 27-year-old Fed. "It's only after 30 that the clock starts ticking."

While there are more Slams left to try to win and other records to chase, the most meaningful challenge may come from those just behind him in the rankings. In particular, there is the task of improving his 7-13 match record against the 23-year-old Nadal, which has been used to undercut Federer's case for greatest-ever status. And Federer is just 2-6 against Murray, 22, and an increasing number of other players are threats when they're in form.

That may be why remaining No. 1 is again a goal for Federer, who returned to the top spot after winning Wimbledon. "Getting there was awfully hard, [but] once I was No. 1, everything just clicked," he said. "I beat all the other top-10 guys, I won every final I played. And I hope that's going to return again, that I'm able to dominate my fellow rivals again and go from there."

Federer has faced history and won. Now there are only flesh-and-blood opponents left to battle.

Go: roger!

C'MON!

dont be ridiculous carrie-You just show off your double standards.When Nadal does it,its all good.
So I say now,at this stage at 15 slams,Roger deserves to be marketed that way.How many athletes have we seen being marketed like that? So many of them.
Nike wanted to pay a tribute to the biggest tennis star(currently) they have.Roger appreciated it and wore it.Nobody even knew about it till Sue Barker actually asked him to show it and evevn then he looked quite embarrassed.
The articles I'm seeing are nothing but sour grapes.
Sure Roger's timing could've been bad ( I doubt he could really think much in the moment.He said his head was spinning and he looked to be in disbelief.)and I wont deny it.The rest is all....clutching at straws.

hey fedfans.....this is especially for torres and for sky...and to all the fedfans still celebrating!

Roger Federer redefines what it means to be truly great
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGELjenfloyd@star-telegram.com

Flipping recently through an old GQ article about, of all things, some journalist deciding not to run for political office, I stumbled across a shockingly accurate summation of myself and most of my colleagues.

"Journalists are outwardly cynical and inwardly idealistic."

Let me let you in on our dirty little secret, we love the good guy, the good story, the good moment even though we do not write about them as much as we probably should.

I have been thinking about this a lot since Sunday when I watched, transfixed, as Roger Federer and Andy Roddick delivered a Wimbledon final of epic proportions. I do not, per se, consider myself a big tennis fan. I watch the major Majors ? Wimbledon and the U.S. Open ? and Federer falls under my Tiger rules. I do not ignore greatness in my lifetime.

Federer is greatness. And Roddick brought out that greatness.

Sunday?s was a grueling match, back and forth, aces and long rallies, impossible angles and powerful strokes, battling into an amazing 30th game in the fifth set, an insane 90-minute fifth set.

Roddick surprisingly and gutsily pushed his nemesis, Federer. He looked a couple of times to have Federer beaten only to lose, in gut-churning fashion, by the tiniest of margins, despite playing his game, giving his best effort. And when Roddick failed to return that final shot, making Federer the winningest winner of all in majors, Federer had every reason to go T.O. on tennis. He now has 15 Grand Slam titles, or one better than Pete Sampras, or one better than any other man ever.

The moment encompassed all the -icals, historical and magical. A rare moment in sport when we actually see greatness reclassified as greatest ever.

Yet with his pregnant wife in attendance, as well as Sampras, the first person Federer chose to address was Roddick. I do not remember his exact words and my good friends at NBC have blocked www.youtube.com from running the video on copyright stuff. Of course, these are the same geniuses who had semifinal matches on tape delay lest we bump into The Today Show. What I do remember is how he turned to him and basically said, "I understand."

He had been exactly where Roddick stood the year before, holding the cheesy silver platter after playing his coconuts off and thinking, "How did I not freaking beat Nadal?"

"Yeah," Roddick joked, "but you?ve won five."

Federer smiled, admitted he had and then basically told Roddick that he?d win his Wimbledon one day. And in every interview he did afterward he talked about how much he hoped Roddick would indeed win one.

We always talk about losing with class, and it is a virtue, and Roddick certainly did. But I think that is easy because, frankly, to do otherwise gets you called out as a royal butt.

Winning with class is much harder mainly because I do not think anyone would have said anything if Fed had simply ignored Roddick or forgotten him. This was his moment and, in an era of planned celebrations and Sharpies and trash talk, nobody would have blinked had Federer basked in his moment.

Watching at home, it was impossible to forget Roddick mostly because NBC kept showing his almost-in-tears face that told his sad tale of now four Grand Slam finals against Fed without a win.

Of course, this was not Federer?s concern. This was his day.

He earned the stage all by himself with a stunning comeback a year after being humbled by Nadal, by virtue of his sheer genius, by virtue of being the victor in this amazing match. That the difference between winner and loser was so crazy tiny did not matter.

I do not think I?ve ever liked Federer more than I did then because he was the good guy, the good story, the good moment. He appealed to the idealist in all of us by being real.

In his moment, he reached out to the guy he had just beaten and said, "I have been there and one day you will be here." And in that moment, he was better than great.

do you know what fedfans...it's so great to read an article by an American woman who has actually admitted that she is not a massive fedfan....just write this article and gave a viewpoint that is both real...honest...and i felt that she also gave credit and understanding to roddick.....it's rare to find an American woman like this...dontcha think?

Zoey! read this wherever you are and comment girl! I miss you!
Mwah! xxxx
C'MON!

whoa! great article and it perfectly sums it all up.Roger's respect towards Andy has been 100% genuine and if appreciating a tribute is being arrogant..then long live arrogance .ROFL.

Enter Federer... looking like an extra from Miami Vice or a rather camp waiter on a cruise ship................

By Martin Samuel

hey carrie...just thought we'd take a trip down memory lane babe....this one's for you as you are being soooo generous with us right now...janhavi...get back to you in a moment chick.....

Nadal Upset Hits Tennis' Reset Button
Posted May 31, 2009 4:00PM By Greg Couch (RSS feed)

Not to overstate things, but a bomb just dropped right into the heart of everything that makes the world feel normal. Well, the tennis world at least.

Here is something that has never been said before: Rafael Nadal lost at the French Open. He's out. Andy Roddick has been unstoppable at the French, has not lost his serve and not lost a set, and Rafael Nadal is gone.

Never. Been. Spoken.

Thirty-one straight wins there. It was 31-0 for Nadal's career. And he lost Sunday in the fourth round to Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

it's weird actually carrie...cos janhavi is right...double standards on your part honey...you bleated on about fedfans posting on rafa threads...and that is all you are doing here....how strange.....last one for the evening from me to you...(janhavi...i know...its sour grapes from carrie....Arvis...i know...i should be the bigger person...and i will...am trying to ignore this woman...but she kinda feels the need to get up all of our noses...no worries...i guess she just sad and upset that rafa isn't playing so needs to take out her anger on fedfans...we are definitely her therapy right now.....

By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal woke up on Monday with a bruised ego to go along with his aching knees after losing his world number one ranking.
That status was snatched away from the 23-year-old Spaniard on Sunday the moment Roger Federer leapt high into the air to celebrate winning his sixth Wimbledon crown.
As Federer grabbed all the headlines for landing a record 15th grand slam title and declared "I don't know if I've had a more happy period in my tennis life", Nadal has undoubtedly endured the worst month of his career.
His four-year French Open reign was ended in the fourth round by eventual finalist Swede Robin Soderling but things went from bad to worse when he did not even manage to defend his Wimbledon crown after his body let him down.
His misfortune cleared the way for Federer to win the Paris-Wimbledon double and after his titanic All England Club win over Andy Roddick, the Swiss was back on top of the tennis summit and he likes the view from the top.
"I'm sad for Rafa that he didn't get a chance to defend Wimbledon... and having a chance to defend his number one but at least I got it by winning Wimbledon which is at least fitting. It's fantastic," Federer, whose record run of 237 consecutive weeks as world number one was snapped by Nadal last August, told a small group of invited reporters on Monday.
Ominously, the Swiss feels he has regained the mental belief to begin another long stint as the world's best player.
"When you lose number one, you never know if you're going to return to it. I always thought it was easier staying number one than getting there," said Federer, who will turn 28 next month.
"Some reason getting there was awfully hard. Back in 2002 and 03, I was playing unbelievable and still I wasn't able to get to number one.
"Then it took a huge effort at the (2004) Australian Open to win there to finally get to number one. Once I was number one, everything just clicked and everything was easy.
"I beat all the other top 10 guys, I won every final I played and so I hope that's going to return again and I'm able to dominate the fellow rivals again," added Federer referring to his feat of stringing together 24 consecutive final victories.
Federer has already started a new run of titles, he is undefeated in his last three tournaments, but some critics were still asking if his success at the last two majors was devalued as he did not have to beat Nadal to win either.
"No. Not at all. Sure people might see it this way and I wish I could have played him again. But I've played Rafa here (at Wimbledon) three times," said Federer, who has a 15-5 record in major finals with all five defeats coming against Nadal.
"I always say you've got to beat the guy who is opposite to you. Rafa was part of the French Open. I didn't play him in the final and it didn't take anything away in my opinion.
"Some people will always say 'oh you should've beaten him to do that'. I disagree. (Bjorn) Borg walked away from tennis at 27, does that take anything away from John McEnroe or the legacy he had. No. You only have to beat who's across the net and that's what it takes."

Roger Federer was going for the Generalismo motif. Looking either like a cross between a guy leading a coup and a backup dancer from Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" tour, the five-time champ's military get-up was an interesting choice, but not as interesting as the tuxedo vest he wore in warmups. It made him look like the ring bearer from my sister's wedding. The only chance that look has at making it from Wimbledon to the country clubs is if it's being worn by the valets.

Another fashion faux pas from Federer was the bag he carried out onto the court. I half-expected Paris Hilton's dog to jump out of it.

That being said, the whole look was an improvement over the sweatered, preppy vibe Federer went with last year.

And, in his defence, Roger was sporting some pretty fresh kicks (that's what the kids say, right?). His new gold-trimmed Nike sneakers have his "F" logo on the back of the left shoe and the Wimbledon trophy overlayed with the number five on the back of the right.

what a sad 50 year old woman you are carrie....hey carrie...just thought we'd take a trip down memory lane babe....this one's for you as you are being soooo generous with us right now...janhavi...get back to you in a moment chick.....

Nadal Upset Hits Tennis' Reset Button
Posted May 31, 2009 4:00PM By Greg Couch (RSS feed)

Not to overstate things, but a bomb just dropped right into the heart of everything that makes the world feel normal. Well, the tennis world at least.

Here is something that has never been said before: Rafael Nadal lost at the French Open. He's out. Andy Roddick has been unstoppable at the French, has not lost his serve and not lost a set, and Rafael Nadal is gone.

Never. Been. Spoken.

Thirty-one straight wins there. It was 31-0 for Nadal's career. And he lost Sunday in the fourth round to Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

blerrrrrrrrgh more fedclown news. i got serious fear for this kid having two tennis parents & one of them being a nutter like mugger. he'll be pushed to burn out like gasquet, you all heard it here first!

What were those DECLARATIONS before that "we fed fans DON'T hit on Rafa"..."we the fed fans have CLASS and will not stoop down to the level of putting DOWN other players"...... "we the fed fans bla bla bla"......and we see HOW the SUBCONSCIOSness reveals itself! YOu CAN't HIDE forever like you're always FAIR! HYPOCRICY stinks and it's fumes will come out HOWEVER you cover it!
Having a feast on Rafa's misfortune is vry very SWEET....like an oasis in the desert!
JUST BE READY WHEN THE GREAT SWISS GET BEATEN AGAIN..... BE VERY VERY PREPARED!!!
FEDERER just won something very important for his career.....and it's DONE with RAFA, his rival and nemesis, ABSENT! You can't blame SOME people if they feel that "that" achievement is not 100% "legitimate" as it STILL cast the shadow of the doubt.... coupled with lots of "IFs" and "BUTs"!

...Should we at least TRY to get back on topic? I really suggest that Rafa lovers and Fed haters just not venture into any thread that specifically states it's about Roger AND vice versa? Seriously there are people who happened to love both players (like me, OMG HUGE SURPRISE) and it's disheartening, really, to read all the arguments and trashing that honestly does not have a lot of basis. Roger's awesome but so is Rafa, both respected each other immensely, so we as fans maybe should do the same.

BACK ON TOPIC...does anyone here think that Roger might perhaps miss one or both of Montreal and Cincinatti due to baby arriving? After all he does not have a lot of points to defend there, so it might be good for him to miss at least one tourney (which would be the earlier one Montreal) to regroup a little and hang out with Mirka and Baby.

Here is a link to an interesting article by Robert Cohen STRICTLY for Fedfans to devour.
Others please dont bother to read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/opinion/09iht-edcohen.html?_r=1&em

jyannis- Eh, I watched the speech again. I think you are right about the back track. I didn't really think of it that way before, but after reading what you said it sounded horrible. The jacket must have been darned distracting. D=

agf25agf- ...Seriously, anything you win is legitimate, unless you are on riods. Personally it doesn't matter if he beats Nadal or not, though I would have loved it. Well not if the defeat was as agonizing as Roddicks, but in general, I was have loved to see the two duel but Nadal wasn't there for his own reasons, it isn't as if Rog broke Rafa's knees and then won. There are always "ifs" and "buts". Like what if Rog had never had mono, how many slams would he have, should he have? What if Nole didn't retire from everything (Breathing problems, not making fun of the man, he used to weeze, I feel his pain I do as well sometimes and doing an awful lot less)? What if....what if....any player wasn't injured, how many more would he have, how many less would his rival have? Basically everything is questionable in the end and you have to push those thoughts aside because it is a dis to the men the winners beat.
But I will admit, it is understandable to think that way, kind of do myself, but I'll encourage others to be better than me.

Moving on though, I expect Rog to have his butt sliced and plated and handed to him in Canada. And considering how much he used to win it is amazing I don't have more faith, but he played awful in the Wimby final, hopefully he'll play a little better in Canada, his serve is good for this hardcourt swing.

RB, since you are obviously one of the saner fed fans, let me ask you this. Many fed fans say that the Rafa-Roger H2H is not important because "most of those matches were on clay." Is it Rafa's fault that fed could not beat Rafa on clay? Is it Rafa's fault that Rafa won on a surface that fed grew up on? Since those same people want to dismiss clay matches as uninportant, why shouldn't we dismiss grass as uninportant since it's season is much shorter than the clay season. This goes hand in hand with your "ifs and buts" reasoning.

Fed: "I'm happy at least that I became No. 1 in the world by winning the tournament, not just by him not playing at all." (Last I checked..Rafa didn't play at all) Then he turns around and says he knows he is No 1 again because Rafa could not defend his title due to injury. Well, which is it? What do you think RB?

fft...don't you EVER call me a liar again....trust me TT is watching you and what you are saying as well as carrie...you bring the forum down...no one else...i don't want to hear the negative bad mouth press that you post on this forum...i want to talk about the tennis...yet time and time again..you and carrie come on here and post crap...so just stop doing it...if you don't believe what i posted...go to the link that CARRIE posted where she started the whole goddamn article on the emperor's new clothes....Oliver holt...scroll down and READ the posts in response to that...they are all there...and honey...have you really read WAR and PEACE...isn't it JUST the most amazing book? you have the choice to scroll down and boy oh boy when we talk about LONG POSTS....well...you been doing your homework girl.....left, right and centre.....so trust me...........go look at YOUR posts on a fedthread and see HOW MANY TIMES YOU HAVE POSTED..YOU ARE OBSESSED girl.....OBSESSED....no other word for it....

Agf....listen honey....i hear what you are saying....what i would say to you is that you need to have a word with one of your own...when carrie and fft...sit there like two gloating saddos because the great Fed has won his sixth wimby and so go about posting articles about his clothes???? Huh? D'oh!? rather than commenting on the game of tennis...what does that say? it's utter rubbish hearing about stuff like that agf...utter rubbish...and they call themselves tennis fans...and then fft has the audacity to call me a liar? the woman is deranged...get back on track fft....cheryl is watching you.......

Jyannis....i dont think that roger will play montreal and cinny...may be wrong...but i read he was gonna take a 5 week break....so i wouldn't be surprised if he didn't return until new year US Open...and it will be interesting to see what happens then.....

sky....catch you later buddy..looks as if zoey has gone to ground for now....:-(

C'MON!

In a way, we Fed fans are thankful that Rafa is there. What if Rafa didn't stop Fed 5 times?

Yes, he would have won 20 Slams and 4 Calendar Slams... By that time, nobody watches tennis, bookmakers will be super-rich, Fed would even probably get banned from Slams just like Tony Hawk in skateboard tournaments.

So, in a way, it's good that Nadal is there.

And another thing about the strength of the field. Nadal's dominance on clay were only challenged by Fed. Where's the other clay-courters. Only recently Djoker did something. So we could say that Nadal's didnt get too much competition either.

wohooo torres.... m just loving ur points n posts.............he would have been banned from tennis ..... lol..........that's true.......

well even now he should be banned that others get something as well..... lol !!!!

Roger N Rafa have shared almost all GS since 2005 ...... and Roger has got almost 3 each year !!!! lol

But I will still go with Roger to win USO........ mmmmm...... i can not imagine except Roger ....... no.6 on a row !!!! wowwoooooowowowowowowowoowowwwwwww.....

Abt no.1 ranking ...... I don't think Roger will take it easily.... he is quite aware of the fact that there is very small difference b/w him n Rafa ......

He won't let it go that easily........ even though he losses no.1 position again.... (which I don't think is gonna happen) I don't care !!!!!!!

238 weeks n counting ..... 15 n counting ......... he is not gonna stop here .....

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)

Go Roger Go..........

jyannis ,:

what was wrong with Fed's speech? here it is:
"Andy played an unbelievable tournament and don't be too sad, I went through some rough ones as well, one on this court last year, and I came back and won," Federer, who returns to the number one ranking, said.

Roddick quipped that Federer had already won five Wimbledon titles when he lost to Nadal but Federer added: "I won five but still it hurts, so you're going to come back and win it, I hope so.

"You're an unbelievable guy and you played unbelievable today. Unfortunately there has to be a winner and today I was on the lucky side."
******************

Andy might say 5 Wimbledons is enough for a plyer but u know how much Roger cares! and he didn't mean anything but to show his sympathy,and that he understood.
about the jacket:Roger said he didn't know about it. and even if he did it was not that much of a big deal,personally I didn't like it but it was not that important.
it was meant to be worn IN CASE roger won not that they were sure he would win.

fan4tennis:
I know u asked that question about h2h from Recordbreaks but since I'm one of those who says :"most of their matches was on clay" I want to respond.
the point is that Rafa is probably the GOAT on clay,people who claim Roger is the GOAT(not me) compare him with Sampras ,Laver,Borg...most of all with Sampras who wouldn't probably win a single match against the clay GOAT on clay...what I think is that Rafa and Roger did not peak at the same time.when Roger was at his peak rafa was not a complete player yet,so he didn't make it to hardcourt finals that's why the h2h is in his favor. now that Rafa will most probably be in most hardcourt finals roger is past his peak...then again I don't think Roger is the GOAT,but the h2h is on Rafa's best surface ,imagine all thoses matches played on hardcourts.

it's good to read,about the jacket
:http://www.gototennisblog.com/2009/07/08/wimbledon-dead-horse -roger-federer-and-the-infamous-15-jacket/

fan4tennis, I am a Fed fan that thinks the H2H is of some significance to the Roger/Rafa rivalry, if not it wouldn't even be called a rivalry. And it's not Rafa's fault more than 50% of their match-ups are on clay because they are arguably the top 2 clay-courters (with Rafa having that definitive edge) throughout their rivalry with Nole only showing some tenacity to challenge this year.

That being said, it is not Roger's fault that Rafa is injured and unable to defend Wimby, not Roger's fault that Rafa was unable to get past Soderling in RG and not Roger's fault that he returned to no.1 in Rafa's absence. As Fed himself and many other greats in other sports has said, this is life and this is sports, injuries are rampant and longevity is not guaranteed.

niloofar, there are many aspects to be taken with regards to Roger's speech/jacket - but I am of opinion that it could be more tactful. That's all there is for me.

malteser/Recordbreaks, would be wise for Fed to take time of Montreal to spend some family time and recuperate from the crazy of June-July but me thinks might be good for him to play Cincinatti, just as a warm up and also to see how the rest of the field is preparing for USO09! It's going to be a big one for Roger - 6th consecutive USO to match Bill Tiden. That's probably the bigger hallmark compared to GS#16.

jyannis :

I know but I asked because you are a Fed fan and I wanted to understand your point.
I think itwas nice of him to admitt he was on the"lucky side"...and his celebration was subdued,he didn't keep Andy waiting for him by the net after such a hard loss,but no one mentions these things. he also tried to tell Andy he knew it was hard to lose a close match,not that he knew how it was to lose Wimbledon,I don\t feel any bad intention in what he said.
all these talk about a jacket Roger didn't know about(as he said) and a conslation which obviously meant to be friendly is taking away the glory of this win and makes me wish Roger had lost and taken his no.15 at some point else or even not.

"...he played awful in the Wimby final, hopefully he'll play a little better in Canada..."

Recordbreaks, this makes me think you didn't actually watch the Wimbledon final...

-Arvis

Arvis: Fed took his B game to the final, that was not the man of 2006-7. The match was a marathon, not a firework display. And whether Fed can "recapture the first fine careless rapture," well, we'll just have to wait and see.

malt, I called you a liar BECAUSE YOU LIED!!!! Very simple! You changed my words on a post to make me look bad and THEN claimed what you wrote as "quote unquote". You have had more than enough time to justify why you did it, seeing as I asked you in several posts. Your silence and refusal speaks volumes!!!!
Here is the post:

malt: "I am NOT a liar fft"
You stated: "..i also asked you what you thought of certain people on this thread calling me MALTOSSER....your response was
quote...
'How the hell should I know....go and ask them!' unquote..."

**Here is the proof that you change things to fit your needs. This was the ACTUAL conversation that you took liberties in changing and claimed as quotes of mine:

"fft..as a matter of interest...what do you think about homos,danny,carrie, posmatrac calling me MALTOSSER? "
malteser1
, 7/4/09 10:05 PM

"Why don't YOU ask them? And you can answer why you called them danielle, posey boy and of course, what you called homos, to name a few. I don't recall you making a play on words of carrie, you just filled up posts with insult-filled tirades against her."
fan4tennis
, 7/4/09 10:09 PM

As far as the warnings, sorry to disappoint you malt, but I have received ZERO!!!!!!! On the other hand, I have saved the emails where the admins AND mods all state you received a warning letter, then they all wrote again (after you kept calling homos that name) saying that you received ANOTHER warning letter. (Have noticed you stopped calling him that all of the sudden...wonder why???) Not surprising your buddy zoey got banned after all her "F" bombs and cursing she did shoving fed's win into Rafa fans faces. I can't even quote her taunts at us because of the disgusting words she used.

You don't seem to realize that your posts are basically just insult filled tirades against anyone who disagrees with you. If it were up to you, this would just a lovefest site for fed. You may not like or agree with what I say in my posts, but it is not the same thing as your insult filled tirades. People don't have to look far to see that you do that. It's almost every thread that you do that to someone.

Both of you are going to bed without supper if you keep this up...

-Arvis

Too late Arvis, I already ate--lol.

Justin Gimelestob who is a very good friend of Andy was there in the locker room after the final.He said Roger was really nice and made sure he didnt make Roddick feel uncomfortable since those two were only ones there.

http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?id=4318556

f4t, this is a forum talking about tennis. And everybody lies. Don't tell me you never lied in your life.

fft....enough already...your tirade of insults is becoming tiresome...and old.......you are a really very unhinged person to be on this forum......however you want to twist this fft....homos..danny...YOU....carrie all started calling ME names FIRST..you simply cannot expect me not to respond after waiting for quite some time before i returned the favour......

torres.....forget fft....i can easily ignore her...it will be so refreshing to ignore the woman and no doubt she will choose some other person to bully...she is good at that....

torres.....regarding the US Open....i have a sneaky feeling that roddick will be fighting tooth and nail to win that slam....I watched the wimby final again.....and roddick's shots were the best he has ever played..... am also hugely interested to see how the new 'daddy fed' will play his first match after the birth of baby fed.....i say that because quite a few articles out there believe that fed's fire will not be burning as brightly in terms of the need/ambition to win...i cannot see that myself.....fedfans...your thoughts please....and that's FEDFANS....

C'MON!

LMAO

Roddick wwill destroy Nadal if he played like he did in WImby final. Rafa dont stand a chance against that serve.

torres...am sure you know this already...but fft didn't give quite the full picture in terms of h2h re: rog/rafa...so here it is...and i actually agree with what you say above...i think roddick is gonna be rabid when he goes into USO...should be fantastic stuff!

Federer and Nadal have been playing each other since 2004 and their rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers. They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 7 Grand Slam finals, which include 3 Wimbledon finals (2-1 Federer),

3 French Open finals (3-0 Nadal) and 1 Australian Open final (1-0 Nadal). Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 13-7 (Nadal leads 9-2 on clay...but Federer leads 5-4 on grass and hard courts).

Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match of all time by many long-time tennis critics,....while many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.

C'MON!

Allez Federer!

According to the H2H on this site, Rafa leads it 3-2 against Roddick. Last time Roddick won was in Dubai 08 and before that, the USO 2004 when Rafa was 17. Rafa has beaten him in London 08 and IW 09. Can't remember where the other win for Rafa was.

Rafa has the motivation for getting his Career GOLDEN Slam on his first try along with proving to everyone that he will come back strong. You even said in a post to not forget that the last time Rafa was out awhile from injury, he came back and won the AO!!! Murray and Roddick both have the talent and the motivation to win it also! You can't count anyone out!

torres and sky.....

re: federer...
OVERALL GRAND SLAM CHAMPIONSHIPS RECORDS
Overall Record accomplished
Wimbledon 2003 ?Wimbledon 2009 15 Grand Slam titles Stands alone
Wimbledon 2003 ?Wimbledon 2009 20 Grand Slam finals Stands alone
Wimbledon 2005 ?U.S. Open 2007 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals Stands alone
Wimbledon 2004 ?Wimbledon 2009 21 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals Stands alone
Australian Open 2004 ?U.S. Open 2007 Most consecutive years winning at least 2 Grand Slam titles (4) Stands alone
2004 ? 2007 & 2009 Most years winning at least 2 Grand Slam titles (5) Stands alone
2004 & 2006 ? 2007 Most years winning at least 3 Grand Slam titles (3) Stands alone
U.S. Open 2006 ?French Open 2007 Most consecutive Grand Slam sets won (36) Stands alone
Wimbledon 2003 ?Australian Open 2006 Highest streak of consecutive initial Grand Slam finals won (7) Stands alone

its a good job that fed is gonna take a bit of a break sky.....i mean looking at the above stats...are just too breathtaking......

malt: before you butted in, we were talking GRAND SLAM head to heads!!!!!!
you wrote:
"but fft didn't give quite the full picture in terms of h2h re: rog/rafa"

I have been saying that the Rafa-Rog H2H in GS is 5-2 in favor of Rafa. What is incorrect about that stat? I also stated that IN GRAND SLAMS, that Rafa has beaten fed on HC, clay and grass and that IN GRAND SLAMS fed has only beaten Rafa on grass. What is incorrect about that stat?

sky...i'll catch you tomorrow buddy....not seen you here tonight...so you probably having a bit of a break..good move......

SO BRING this discussion into a CONCLUSION already.....ALL of your stats ARE quite overwhelming! This will end up to just a very simple mathematics...... FEDERER with all those wonderful, amazing , outstanding, breath taking, unbelievable, extarordinary ACHIEVEMENTS is ABOVE E*V*E*R*Y*O*N*E* else...EXCEPT for one freak called RAFAEL NADAL! Someone can't be the greatest IF there's someone GREATER than him!
Let him PROVE that he's BETTER than Rafa by making their H2H on clay 10-9 , and over all 14-13 in Roger's FAVOR....by then, WE can all REST in PEACE (sorry 4 the phrase) and BOW our heads to the G*R*E*A*T*E*S*T....the god of tennis known as ROGER FEDERER!.......but for NOW .... you can give us the list of ALL the NUMBERS/STATS you want (for all we care), and it will JUST boil down to the same question....WHO ALWAYS GETS THE BETTER OF FEDERER?

VAMOS!!!
VAMOS!!!
VAMOS!!!

Who lost to Robin Soderling as world no.1 and defending champion?

VAMOS!!
VAMOS!!

f4t, if Nadal is so dominating, why did he finish no,2 for 3 years consecutive to Fed (2004-2007)?

Can you answer this?

loving your passion agf....but what about all the losses that rafa has had this year....del potro....soderling...murray...federer....to name but a few....you have to admit that....plus he has had many more injuries than anyone would have thought.....i wish for your sake that he comes back strong agf....it will be good to see him again.....and the rivalry can start again...tho' plenty more rivalries in terms of rafa/murray/del potro...and now with roddick in the mix......OH MY GOD!

If Fed is so dominant, why does he have a 7-13 h2h against his main rival and a 2-6 h2h against Murray. If fed is so dominant, why did it take him 11 years to win a slam on clay?

agf wrote:

" you can give us the list of ALL the NUMBERS/STATS you want (for all we care), and it will JUST boil down to the same question....WHO ALWAYS GETS THE BETTER OF FEDERER?"

Perfect!

If Fed is so dominant, why does he have a 7-13 h2h against his main rival and a 2-6 h2h against Murray. If fed is so dominant, why did it take him 11 years to win a slam on clay? f4t.

LOL... And you accuse me of ignoring the statistics. WHy don't you answer my question instead of giving another question. And agains, H2H, is that all you've got?

Dominant means owning most of the tournaments and in Fed's case he owns 3 out of 4 tournament. So he is still more dominant. Rafa only owns 1 tournament.

I answered your question, why dont you answer mine, f4t?

I didn't say that Rafa is better than del potro(4-1), soderling(3-1), or murray(7-2)-- (or is he?)......and the GREAT FEDERER(13-7),,,,yes, I said Rafa is better than him!

2004 they met 1x in MIAMI--- Nadal won
2005 2x @ FO---Nadal, Miami---Federer
2006 6x @ Dubai---nadal,Monte Carlo---nadal,Rome---nadal,FO--- nadal,Wimby---Fed,China(mcup)---Fed
2007 5x @ Monte Carlo---nadal,Haaamburg---Fed,FO---nadal, Wimby--- Fed, China---Fed
torres--- from 2004-07, Nadal has been winning against Federer---(8-5)..if that's not dominating, I don't know how you'd call it then! Roger DID dominate tennis but not Rafa!

BREAK pls!!!--- CILIC and FISH are having a battle on clay (davis cup)...2 sets all and 6-6 ...great match!

fan4tennis- H2H does matter, it should not be all that is looked at but it is important. It is not Rafa's fault the meetings were on clay and Fed could not beat him. However, it can go both ways, it is not Roger's fault most of the time NAdal did not make it to the hardcourt finals to verse Fed. Can be looked at both ways, but either way it still matter in some respects. Nadal quite simply pwns Roger most of the time.

Arvis= Fine fine, he did not play awful, but for me it was lack luster. Maybe Roddick just made him look bad... I did watch but his moments of brilliance were a little farther between then they used to be. I dream of the old days, I should get used to his "new awesome" being a little less often them the old. D= That sounds far more negative then I mean it to be, trust me. I know he play wonderfully but it cheese me that it isn't all consistent? I'm more inclined to enjoy when he owns, cause I have less ulcers, but yes, this match was good quality because Roddick, not because Fed sucked. I'll admit it. Sorry for saying it was awful, it truly wasn't.

fan4tennis- Darn, I forgot to comment on the quotes. Well for those, I think he actually did mean more of the later. I took the first quote to mean the same as the second. I think Roger meant the only way he could have become number 1 was if he won the tournament, not only if Nadal was not there. Might be wrong, but he seemed to be implying the same in both. However, I may not be a crazy but I'm still naturally biased...

Agf, sorry, the dominant ones are the ones who is no.1, and winning 3 out of 4 Slams. In that case, Nalby is better than Rafa because he has 2-1 record against Rafa. So Nalby is the greatest player ever and most dominating player.

For me, I look at it this way for a player greatness
1)GS
2)No.1
3)Masters Cup
4) H2H

But for Rafans,
1)H2H
2)Anything else doesnt matter becoz only H2H is where Rafa has an edge over Fed

And we're still NOT on back on topic!! Why am I not surprised?!

Headline of this article is "Federer puts down the rackets to wait for his new baby" folks. While Rafa is mentioned in passing with regards to jumping back into the tennis season, neither he nor the forever-on-going-never-ending Roger v Rafa debate is part of the article.

niloofar, just to answer you again: Again I do think it's the overwhelmingness, and the quick pace where everything transpired within like 10 minutes from the final ball to the trophy that led to what I presumed as stumbling of words on Roger's part. And again it's how the words are interpreted and again I just think it can be more tactful. But it's not like I'm gonna stop supporting Fed or anything

Blame it on bitter Rafans who can't keep a Fed thread alone and keep showing up with the same old H2H case.

They are like their idol who have borderline OCD, talking on the same thing over and over again and can't get out of their routine beliefs that Rafa is no.2 and not the best player anymore.

"For me, I look at it this way for a player greatness
1)GS
2)No.1
3)Masters Cup
4) H2H .."

this makes perfect sense if both players were the same age, since they are not H2H gives more realistic picture; or use your model but normalize it on Rafa's age - take the snapshot each year until both players retire.

"In that case, Nalby is better than Rafa because he has 2-1 record against Rafa. So Nalby is the greatest player ever and most dominating player. "-torres9 , 7/11/09 1:41 AM

If you are saying that a 2-1 h2h record is more convincing than a 13-7 record, then you are either out of your mind or just plain dumb!

oooopzzeee........ H2H does not matter at all......... actually who cares........ till Roger has got 15 slams.....n Rafa has only 6..... still 9 behind........

And has pulled out of Wimby due to injury ...... we can not say how will he play after his come backy........ may be he will on fire....... may be he would have lost his charm.........

Rafa u r still 9 ....... oopzee...... sowee 10 to go to reach Fed..........

Greatness is determined through GS ........ not H2H(only aspect of the game where Rafa has an edge over Fed) .......consistency ......... not how many times u have beaten ur opponent.........

As simple as that ...... u know....... itz a game n win is wt finally makes a player gr888..... Fed has already won 15 Grand slams........ Rafa has six....... yup...... Rafa is younger to Fed........but who knows whether he will be able to beat Roger's record in future........ can u bet on it ??

I don't think one can predict future ........... ooppzzz........ he is the best for now....... we will see wtz in the magic box in future.........

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it).......

Go Roger Go........

if both achievements are normalized to 23 years of Rafa's age, Roger is far far behind Rafa. It doesn't necessarily mean Rafa can keep this pace until the end of his career.

I can see Roger losing his new #1 quite soon.

2-1 h2h may not matter, but a 13-7 record against the purported "greatest tennis player of all time" surely matters. BTW, if Roger is the greatest of all time, what do you call Rafa who owns the GOAT? GOAT SLAYER?

Federer and Nadal have been playing each other since 2004 and their rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers. They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 7 Grand Slam finals, which include 3 Wimbledon finals (2-1 Federer), 3 French Open finals (3-0 Nadal) and 1 Australian Open final (1-0 Nadal).[91] Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 13-7 (Nadal leads 9-2 on clay,

Federer leads 5-4 on grass and hard courts).

Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match of all time by many long-time tennis criticswhile many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.

may be phoenix if rafa had got through to the french open final.....we would be having a different conversation..but he has had many losses this year as a No.1...far more than fed did as a number 1.....we know that you dont think fed is the GOAT....fine...that's your opinion.....entitled to it....but equally....rafa ISN'T A MULTI SLAM WINNER......FACT...

he is a brilliant clay court player who had a bad day at the FO against a player at that time seeded No. 25...what does that say phoenix....do want to answer that one...? rafa has a long way to go before he can even be considered the GOAT and if he is as great as you say...WHY DID HE LOSE AT THE FO...IN THE FOURTH ROUND phoenix...answer that one....i am all ears...

So LET'S accept IT , Nalby is better than Rafa (2-1)........CAN you ACCEPT it THEN that RAFA IS BETTER than FEDERER (13-7), but that DOESN'T mean that Rafa is the greatest player EVER (yet)....and if there's any Rafa fan who'd say that ,I would certainly DISAGREE! ALL of U*S* here are giving arguments to SATISFY our beliefs.... Rafa's loss in the 4th round is a very CONVENIENT reason to "discredit" the guy for all his accomplishments. Same with Fed's losses way back, allegedly, because of mono or injured back! IT WILL be the greatest MIRACLE of ALL time if this discussion ENDS in an AMICABLE compromise! This is so PERSONAL that it became an INTEGRAL part of our lives. Please tell me whom of us here can live a day without peeking @ CARRIE's or MALTESER's statements of the day? .... TORESS' or FAN4TENNIS' statistical analysis (however redundant they may be).

CAN we have @ least a day of TRUCE? We don't have to AGREE with each other... just refrain from "attacking" one another! ......It would be nice if we can do this @ least once a month.......THIS WILL BE GOOD FOR OUR H*E*A*R*T*S!!!

I have never said that Rafa is the GOAT. In fact, I stated several times in the past that in my opinion, there is NO GOAT. It is ridiculous to compare players of didderent eras, different conditions, different rivals. I was talking hypothetically in my post above, didn't you notice I used "purported"?
Besides, I am not posting you nor reacting to your posts so stop addressing me. This is my first and last reply to you.

Owhh, come on phoenix and post,

if you want the h2h to be 'normalised', then why is it played more than clay than on grass. WHy don't we suggest to the ATP that they make matches between Roger and Rafa only equally on all surfaces.

Then this whole argument is 'normalised'

And last time I checked, viewing h2h like Rafans, just as long as you lead doesn't matter what margin it is or what conditions were the matches in. You all are probably saying that Rafa and Murray are better than Roger if it's h2h. Well then Nalby is better than Rafa so obviously, nalby is GOAT. Yeay!!!

And also Nadal is the most dominating player ever although he's only no.1 for not even a year... YEAY!!!!

For me, FED IS STILL THE BEST!!!!

agf...yeah...let's try for a month...but it won't work honey...will it? you are just as culpable as EVERYONE else....Phoenix....weird...that a rafafan wont answer a direct question...why doesn't that surprise me.

fan4tennis:
on that explaination about the no.1 spot,roger said he was sorry that Rafa was not there to defend points(he said this on court without being asked ),in his press conference he meant to say,AT LEAST I became no.1 by winning,not JUST by Rafa's absence and me playing in the tournament. IMHO he's saying it's not that great becasue Rafa was not there but he's happy at least he won the tournamnet.

look english is your 1st language,but it's the 2nd for me and Fed.:)

niloofar....honey...we know...we know.....roger has NEVER said he is the greatest...please stop trying to convince fft....you are elevating her status...it is ridiculous!...........be confident in your own beliefs niloofar......read the articles that people have said about him being the GREATEST...third person perspective...what others say...NOT what roger says.....he is humble....dignified and the greatest to all his fans....and he has the game to prove it...simple....sky has written a post on another thread which says it all...fed just dismantles the players with his game and his mind....we are lucky to be living in this era to watch this man play...we should enjoy it....for as long as he is here....it is a joy to watch federer...he is the master of disguise......shots....shots and more shots..

have any of you watched slumdog millionaire? am sure you have....the first four questions that were asked of Jamal Malik at the start of the film....:

1) He cheated?
2) He's lucky?
3) He's a genius?
4) It is written?

Relate it to fed....

Carrie thinks fed is lucky...said so herself....

I'll go for 3) and 4)....

Second that malteser!!!

FED is a genius and maybe he's too nice of a guy to play like the brutes in the game but that's why we love him. He can play the fairest and still win!!!

FED IS THE BEST EVER!!!

didn't say h2h 'normalised' but their individual achievements; to me cumulative achievement comparison of a 28 year old and 23 year old just doesn't make sense. it does make perfect sense once both players retire.

postmatrac, i wholeheartedly agree. Fedfans refuse to see the logic in this.

It is to Rafa's credit that at the age of 23 he is being mentioned in the same sentence as the greats in tennis and being compared to a player of 28. I don't remember Federer being mentioned in that context at that age, let's face it.

rafa ISN'T A MULTI SLAM WINNER......FACT...
malteser1
, 7/11/09 11:49 AM

Rafa has won 6 slams, 4 on clay, 1 on grass and 1 on HC. What is your definition of multi-slam winner??????

As we are talking about MAJORS FFT...you have definitely got a MAJOR CRUSH on me baby....a multi slam winner fft....if you read what it means my lovely....is rafa has not 'multied' his slams save for clay courts...in other words.....having 1 on grass and 1 on hard courts is not a multi slam my sweet..it is a SINGULAR SLAM on that type of court...(i.e. hard court = 1 and grass court = 1.....clay court is MULTI for rafa = 4........my darling......his multi slams have come ONLY at the FRENCH OPEN clay court....where he has won 4 times.....once on grass and once on hard court is not multi my lovely.....tomnjerry has quoted the different wins for fed....above..but i'll put them here for you AGAIN....so he is a multi slam winner save for the clay at FO....so he has 5 USO...(hard court = multi)....he has 6 grass court slams = multi)...he has 3 Aussie open - hard court = multi as 3 is more than 1...i hope that clarifies it for you....

fedfans...a really nice article from bleacher report...about both rafa and roger....

Roger Federer is not just the best player of this era but the best player ever.

A lot of critics will argue that Federer might have the most Grand Slam titles now but his record against rival Rafael Nadal offsets that.

I beg to differ.

I will admit, Nadal is the perfect opponent for Federer. The heavy topspin to the Federer backhand is just one of the many difficulties that Nadal poses.

The current head to head record stands at 13-7 for Rafael Nadal.

At first glance, critics might be right about Federer's place but let's look at the numbers a little closer before we make a final decision.

Rafael Nadal has won 4 of the last 5 French Open titles. Until his recent loss to Robin Soderling, Nadal was considered one of, if not the best clay court player ever.

With a career record of 179-16 on clay-with 25 titles, he's clearly the best clay court player of this era and can be mentioned with Borg.

Of the 13 losses to Nadal, 9 of those loses have come on clay.

On hard court and grass, Federer is 5-4 against his arch rival.

Even though I root for Federer, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Nadal. Not just how he plays on the court but also how he handles himself off the court.

Nadal has become a much better complete player over the last two years.

We've seen that from his first loss at Wimbledon to Federer through his victory over Federer in this year's Australian Open.

However, Nadal is just 167-53 on hard courts. While that record isn't bad, Nadal's injuries and "poor" play during the hard court season has often denied us more matches with Federer.

Federer is "only" 139-42 on clay, 88-12 on grass and 380-82 on hard court.

I'm taking nothing away from the last two wins by Nadal at Grand Slams against Federer. Federer served poorly but played well and lost 9-7 in that epic 5th set against Nadal.

In the Australian Open this year, Federer played a terrible 5th set and deserved to lose to Nadal.

In the end, Federer has the most Grand Slam titles and has won each of the majors.

Federer has a few more good years in him and Nadal has quite a few more too (hopefully the knee injuries won't continue to plague him).

Hopefully we'll get 20 more match-ups between these two great players and more will be played on anything but clay.

Federer doesn't get the credit he deserves for being the second best clay court player of this era. When the guy who is number one, might be the best ever, where is the shame in that?

For someone who always tries to proclaim she NEVER speaks bad of Rafa and respects his achievements, you are such a liar! Now you are trying to find a way to denigrate SIX GS wins by a 23 yr old Rafa? Would you allow us to say that fed's FO slam win means nothing because he 'only won it once, not multiple times'??

Those plus your constantly repeating that Rafa is no true champion since he lost in the 4th round to Soderling. That's almost in every post of yours regardless of topic. You TRY to say that "Rafa said he was fine before RG" so no one can claim that he was hurt. You forget that fed also said he was fine in many of the tournaments he lost last year, yet he and his fans use the mono and back reasons, but according to you, no one else is allowed to do that but fed. Just like fed, why would Rafa televise his weaknesses (Rafa-knees, fed-mono/back) to opponents he is scheduled to play???? So you're argument for that is as lame as you. And all the bad things you said about Rafa's injury ("sore knees...I don't think so" and "there's no problem with his knees.....he's just scared of Roger").

Don't ever try to say that you never speak bad of Rafa and that you respect him. You've proven otherwise!!!!

First and foremost, let's all agree that we hope that the Federer baby (I thought media reports quoting Roger said it was a boy way back when) arrives healthy and whole. Beyond that, I do agree that the Federer attitude at Wimbledon was not very gracious towards Andy Roddick, particularly when the 5th set went 16-14 and how many times have we seen Rafael Nadel comforting a sobbing, yet still arrogant, Roger Federer. The ATP Masters stuff, don't be surprised if Federer doesn't show in Montreal and maybe not even Nadal. Just a gut feeling. As far as the US Open is concerned, if Andy Roddick is still on target and has his spirit because he should be very proud of his Wimbledon performance and Nadal is back in full form, wow it will be a fun tournament to watch. And for the record, I agree with some of the Australian writers and the Bleecker report blogger, Federer needs to still yet prove he is the GOAT. For those blind Federer believers, look at the stats of losses against some of the other top ranked players. Sampras had grace and dignity, Federer just wants to be on the cover of Vanity Fair. And for those of you that might want to bash my comments, one of my really good friends lives near Federer and another good friend grew up with him so I am not speaking from the media whatsoever.

fft...STOP this constant attack on me...You are deranged. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever to all the rafa fans out there to say that I RESPECT THE RAFA...I HOPE FOR THE TRUE RAFA FANS THAT HE IS BACK SOON TO TENNIS SO THAT YOU CAN SEE YOUR HERO PLAY...I LOVE THE RIVALRY between rafa and roger...what I DO NOT LIKE is the CONSTANT trashing from FAN4TENNIS of my character and more than that of ROGER FEDERER.....t

he ONLY person on this thread who constantly attacks the Fed is fan4tennis.....Is anyone else out there SICK and TIRED of her constant attacks on Federer....? (as well as carrie...i mean haven't you really got better things to do than post articles on what the fed wears? I mean what does that say about you and carrie....)....? Oh My God...what a waste of time....GROW UP FFT...GROW UP....GROW UP....

What does she do...time and time...and time...again...she posts CONSTANTLY stupid articles about what Fed wears...Ha! That is all she can do and quite frankly lady I am sick of YOUR ridiculous tirade of excuses and insults...you are a joke on TT....As fedfans WE are expected to put up with your crap fft....your crap...you come on a fedthread because YOU ARE BORED...lady...you are bored...because you have nothing better to do than look for fed articles that are anti-fed.....you do this time and time again and then you come on here and say that its me that trashes rafa....it is so untrue....you purposefully look for me because you need me to fire your soul lady...to fire you up and to keep you constant hatred burning alive....just stop it fft.....why don't you now break the habit of a life time and actually ADMIT that it is YOU who wont accept what TORRES says about fed's stats...that he is ahead of the rafa by 5:4 on grass and hard courts...that rafa is NOT a multi slam champion except on hard courts...why don't you admit that fft...do you know why? because you HATE to apologise...you HATE it when you are wrong....you cannot bear it...you constantly flood these threads by cutting and pasting and twisting...it is what you are good at..

I have no problem with rafa....at all....he is a GREAT champion but as i have said time and time again...he is NOT my favourite player...Federer is...unlike you who swaps and changes who she supports when they get knocked out...you ONLY support ANYBODY who is against Federer because you HATE federer so much...that isn't a fan at all..that is a really mixed up cookie who doesn't know where to turn but will do anything to bring a great champion (roger federer) down...by not accepting any of his fantastic achievements......Don't ever say that i speak badly of rafa...time and time again i have recognised his achievements...time and time again....i have posted articles that go against what you say about Federer fft because you keep coming on here over and over and over again....posting anything that is remotely negative about federer...i have said before you are not a fan you are a projectionist...your ridiculous assumptions are way off track lady....way off track...

fedex is right about you...you are jealous...insanely jealous about federer's achievements...you cannot cope with the fact that you are missing rafa...of course you are...but he will be back soon enough and then federer will go on to win AGAIN...so how are you going to cope with that fft? 'cos I'm actually worried about your state of mind right now...it's just not normal.

Musing to myself...now, I don't think anyone can change anyone's mind at this point, everyone is to biased and stubborn, even myself. Kind of annoying, but I'm sure that is how everyone feels.

Oh....I really can't understand why it isn't excepted that in general Roger was better and is in terms of how he'll be remember, (not so much how he plays these days,) - better then Nadal. Nadal can someday destroy Roger's records, and if not the records at least win enough times to prove he is better in most respects. No one will ever say Rog is a better clay court player than Nadal, unless they are on drugs and no one wlll ever say Nadal is a better grass court player unless they think one win at 9-7 in the fifth is better that Fed's entire career on grass, unless again on LSD. Nadal can turn this around, by winning again more in years to come. As for hardcourts, were Nadal and Fed are surprisingly even, you must consider that Rog generally got further in the tournaments and in the case of GSs won the darn things. It just means Rog was in the final of the clay events more often the Nadal was in Hardcourt finals and therefore has the butt of the H2H. It proves Rafa's eternal greatness on clay, but also prove Roger's far great all-around (all-court not sure which term is right) play. Again, Nadal can turn this around in years to come, so eventually it could be Nadal fighting to be called GOAT but for now, he lacks the credentials, only for now. He has more than enough time to prove himself if this injury does not hamper him. It may, which will leave a lot of "ifs" for Nadal and no so many "buts" Roger.

Hopefully Nadal will keep improving on other surfaces, win more then one hardcourt slam and be able to defend his Wimby glory in years to come. I look to see him come back this Summer a little fuzzy, testy but healthy and ready by the Open to annihilate any one ranked between 1-1000. He may prove himself further there, making two men complete the career slam in a year, it would be nice in its own way.

Rafa is a true champion, I would never say otherwise, but Fed is too and they excel in different ways and when they cross paths there are sometimes unusual results and often splendid tennis. One can't take the H2H alone into the rivalry, because for a while Nadal didn't come into Fed's territory as Fed ventured into his and received a lot of stings for it. Nadal is amazing, Fed is, more was, amazing. I don't see Fed improving the H2H much after this year so Nadal is probably free in that respect. But I'm sure he, as a great champion and genial person, knows he has a lot to do to be considered the same way Roger is in history. (again this does include Fed not being considered an super-powered-freak-of-nature on clay in history as well. Which he actually was, just not what Nadal was and IS)

*multi slam ONLY on CLAY courts...not HARD courts...

and zoe..who the hell cares whether 'a friend of yours' grew up with Fed...considering he has been travelling the world since he was 16 years old..and unless your 'so called friend' travelled on the same plane with him and shared the same hotel room with him and mirka....(honestly...what a crock.....)...then i think the people who play the game day in..day out...as well as the journos who have followed him for more than a decade KNOW the kind of guy that he is....gorgeous, humble, kind....just go read he has the player's vote for sportsman of the year 5 times on the trot....as well as the sporting world...honestly zoe...get a grip.....and so really....fed might need to prove that he is the GOAT to you...but hey zoe...don't you worry about it...he doesn't even know you...and there are plenty of other people out there who do believe that he is fantastic for tennis and should be enjoyed......HE IS THE BEST and ALWAYS will be....you clearly didn't read the article that niloofar posted earlier......he is complimentary (this is soooooooo groundhog day) towards roddick....and completely downplayed his celebrations...so just stop twisting things zoe and read the article and his interview....it's all there in BLACK and WHITE.... and get it right for once...it's oh so tiresome right now).

To malty: "Me thinks thou doth protest too much" You're showing your fear!

Rafa IS a multi-slam champion. Multi-slam champ means you have won at least more than one slam. You cannot twist a definition (like you did some time ago and got warned for that too) to fit your needs to try to dismiss Rafa's wins.

bye fft....you are just NOT listening.....

Recordbreaks, wonderful post! I reckon everyone should read it but then again, no one is going to stop bickering and building personal attacks, which is really sad. I lauded the fairness and objectiveness of your post, something that is very rarely seen on TennisTalk today. I agree with everything you wrote - time and again I stressed that both Roger and Rafa are wonderful, have great respect for each other and it's pretty sad their fans don't share the same respect.

Well done on a great post. :)

1) If Nadal is better than federer than Boris Becker is too
2) If Nadal is not to be compared with Fed, then why compare him in H2H
3) Nadal is the best, but only on clay
4) Federer is better than Nadal overall =TRUTH

jyannis- Thanks you're write though, no one will listen, or not most people. Some like yourself will However, at the same time I someone doubt anyone else will read it. Maybe too afraid it doesn't give enough credit to their man or it is too long for their tastes. xP I'll hope it is the last one. Thanks again though jyannis.

Hey RB, your type of long post is a pleasure to read! Giving BOTH men credit for their different achievements!

Oh thank you as well fan4tennis. I'm glad you read it.

jyannis- Thanks one last time, and I apologize for the ridiculous amount of typos in that comment. I must need some sleep or something, that is worse then usual.

Roger Insists He Is Not A Legend Yet .
===========================

To Roger Federer's way of thinking, labels such as ?greatest ever? or ?legendary? are only applicable when a sporting career is finished.

Others may eulogise him as the most complete player to swing a tennis racket and statistically he is the most successful man when it comes to winning big prizes. In his own mind, the job is far from done.

Fashion statements were de rigueur at Wimbledon 2009 and, just as Serena Williams did a day earlier, Federer chose the chest of his post-final T-shirt to make a statement. Not for the suave Swiss the ?Carry On Centre Court? innuendo of Serena and her ?Are you looking at my titles?? His shirt said simply: ?There is no finish line . . .?

A long night of congratulations and celebrations, interrupted by just two hours? sleep, had passed when Federer added to those five words. ?Far from done,? insisted the winner of a record 15 Grand Slam singles titles, the last of which was achieved in front of a positive Mount Rushmore of tennis greats he does regard as legends seated in the front row of the All England Club?s Royal Box.

There is still a long way to go,? he said. ?Of course you look up at people I regard as legends, like [Rod] Laver, [Bjorn] Borg and of course Pete [Sampras], who made the journey specially for me, and you realise it is very special. It was a strange feeling because they are great champions who have made tennis so big, so I suppose I am now in an elite group. But I don?t regard anything as complete and therefore it?s best not to spend much time thinking where I stand in those terms. There will be plenty of time for that when I am done with the game and for now I like to view others as legends and greatest-evers.?

All week in the aftermath of Federer?s victory, debates have mounted about who is the greatest sportsman the world has known. He has a distinct list of candidates, which, of course, involves the three men he rubbed shoulders with in front of Wimbledon?s honours board after his triumph. His close friend Tiger Woods, one of the first to congratulate him by phone, is another.

?For me probably the greatest of all is Muhammad Ali,? he said. ?I?m only 27 so I did not see any of his fights live but I respect him as one of the modern world?s most influential figures. He is up there with Obama and Mandela. He transcends sport. Then there is Michael Jordan. When I was young Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg were my heroes but I loved basketball and Jordan was my idol. He was a true legend. Football has always been a very important sport for me. Pele was obviously a true great but Maradona stands out for me because of his wonderful skills and control.

?Then, from Formula One there is Michael Schumacher, who was so dominant in his sport. Looking at track and field, Edwin Moses not losing a race for nine years and nine months is unbelievable. Maybe some people bracket me with these guys but I don?t. It?s never been my goal to beat the tennis greats? records. I have enjoyed playing, and breaking them, but not so they could not have them any more. To me that is only a part of the true story.?

What is irrefutable is Federer?s role in the resurgence of men?s tennis. Only a decade and a half ago the cover of Sports Illustrated featured a huge question mark under the words: ?Is Tennis Dying?? A few months earlier two Americans, Sampras and Jim Courier, had waged an Independence Day war of big-serving attrition in the Wimbledon final and one British tabloid headline read: ?Bored On The 4th Of July?.

Courier summed up the current picture. ?This is a very special time for tennis,? he insisted. ?The quality of play as well as sportsmanship is remarkable and the individuals in the upper echelon of tennis are not just worthy champions, they are fantastic ambassadors for the sport. These are role models for any parent to point to. The sport is in safe hands and a lot of fun to watch these days. And for that, all tennis people should be thankful.?

Wt say now abt his humbleness ??? u haters r just yucckkyyy.......

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)


Go Roger Go.........

T&J: "To Roger Federer's way of thinking, labels such as ?greatest ever? or ?legendary? are only applicable when a sporting career is finished. "

If even Roger says you can't label anyone as GOAT until their career is over, then why do so many fedfans get mad when others say the same thing?

fft..... Simple as that .... Roger is leading the tennis history with 15 slams ...... so obviously we (Fed fanz) will put him on the top...... coz he is there where there is no one........ rite ???

IMO...... a player's greatness mostly depends on how many tourneys or matches ha has won ....... not to one or two players H2H record....... IMO..... may not be urs .......

He is done something which exceptional...... from others that 15 GS which is said to be the most honorable tourney of Tennis as a game......... rite ???

the fact is that Rafans ....... just could not digest the truth that Fed has won more majors than n e one else.......... in the history of the game ....... on such a short span of time ......... n he has also won two back to back GS on a row n his elusive FO ......... n has beaten Rafa on clay in Madrid ....... n Rafa was out of FO from round of 16 ........ n he is injured ....... n his future is insecure ......... n ....... Roger is 9 GS ahead of him........... n ........ Roger is No.1 again.......... n he has a good chance of winning his 6 th consecutive USO on a row ......... he can end the year as now one again...... which is exceptional.......

now this amount of shock is enough to make u mad ...... n jealous ........ rite !!!!

I have never ever criticized Rafa(may be some where) ...... I don't care wt others say abt Fed ......... for now he is the best n standing at top alone.......... with no one close to him........rite........

let both Roger's n Rafa's career finish ....... it will be decided......... but the fact is ....... ROGER HAD DONE IT ......... RAFA IS YET TOP DO THAT ......... u know ....... future .............. is unpredictable.......... so letzz wait n watch ....... for now .......

......Roger Is The best ..........rite ........ yessssshh....... it is !!!!!

and simply..... fans don't wait till career ends ..or finishes..... fanzz r fanzz..... the wanna see their fav on top alwayzzz.....seeing his achievements.... rite ........

hE iS bAcKy HoMe ....wOrLd No.1 (m lovin it)

Go Roger Go.............

well done there tnj.....but it will fall on deaf ears....you are a true fedfan...very passionate and loyal to your hero....

recordbreaks...i didn't actually read your post in full...as i scrolled down because i thought it was from fft.....THEN i went back and did read it...and jyannis was right it is a very objective, complimentary post.....THEN what was even more shocking was that the one woman who hates fed with avengeance replies by saying she enjoyed the article because it gave CREDIT TO BOTH MEN...RB...take care....you have an imposter in your midsts my friend.....she has never been objective and has posted numerous articles AGAINST fed and then comes back and says something like that.....but then that follows...she cannot make up her mind!

tomnjerry..loving your passion and enthusiasm.....

OK... here's the timeline on Fed's recent criticisms.
a) AO2008- he's losing his game (responded)
b) FO2008-he'll never win FO (won FO2009
c) Wimby2009- Nadal will take it from here and Fed will never win WImby again (Nadal didnt even show up for Wimby2009 and Fed won)
d)AO2009-won't get to 14 or break Sampras's 15 and no.1 or beat Nadal again (broke the record and beat Nadal on his clay hometown)

Haha.. Fed did all that he could have by winning and winning but the more he wins, the more the doubters ask him to do this, do that. I think the more someone wins, the more people like to find their weaknesses. It comes from winning too much.

FED IS THE BEST!!!

All those who say Nadal is only good on clay, do you realise that he had the best record on grass and hardcourt in 2008?

So nice of Roger to do so. I agree that sometimes there are more important things in life than playing (or watching/following) any sport (including tennis).

Thanks tomnjerry2! Have enjoyed your posts on many occasions! Go FED go! C'MON! :) torres9 love your factual data! Keep it Up Bud! Good perspective.

"All those who say Nadal is only good on clay, do you realise that he had the best record on grass and hardcourt in 2008?" - carrie , 7/12/09 11:40 AM

You are right, Carrie. Rafa's record on grass and hardcourt is above all the others including Roger in 2008. One cannot become world #1 by winning only in clay, right?

Getting back on track of the article - very best wishes to Roger and Mirka. Hope you have a healthy little one. Cannot wait to see whether it's a boy or girl and what you name him (Freudian slip) :D

I wonder if baby Fed will come closer to Fed's b'day or b4 end of July? Come on, Baby Fed - make it 8/8!

Thanks sky, I love facts rather than crystal ball-looking,
carrie and phoenix, Rafa is good on hardcourts and grass, no doubt about it, but still long way to be called the best on it.

Anyway, I hope Baby Fed will grow up to be a tennis superstar like his Dad.

FED IS THE BEST!!

torres he was the best in 2008, that's all we are saying!

For sure, Rafa is the best in 2008. Nobody's doubting that.

All those who say Nadal is only good on clay, do you realise that he had the best record on grass and hardcourt in 2008?

carrie , 7/12/09 11:40 AM

torres, this is what I said taht you were objecting to, now you agree.

I agree but I disagree that he is the best on hardcourts and grass among the present players in the tour. Only on 2008. 2004-2007 is Fed. 2009 remains to be seen but since Andy M wins the most on grass this year, it should be ANdy M but Fed won WImby.

You are missing my point. What I said was a response to people making out that Rafa is only good on clay.

Alright malteser1, I'll be wary of imposters. =) Hopefully, I'm to naive to notice deception when it won't do myself any harm. I mean if someone insults Rog, I might jump on them, but it does hurt me or him if they say. I rather like to think most people like Rafa and Roger or at leat appreciate their accomplishments, not necessarily like them.However, I'll admit several people of come off brash and uncouth about either man, post after post. But, I'm hoping...to eventually see less cause really when one insults Rog or Rafa, you insult the other. Both would be hurt to know they lost to a loser at one point or another, if you know what I mean.

torres- Technically, Murray and Haas have the same number of wins on grass right. Or is Halle that much smaller...by a round or something?