Good luck Novak..even though you beat my boy :'(

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be squaring off for the 12th time in their careers when they do battle in the final of the Masters Series Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon...........

edit Ricky.......... its not Rafa........Its Djoker .......:D

All da best Roger ...........:)))

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

Haha when did you write this article Ricky? :)

LOL... good pickup tomnjerry2. Didn't even noticed that until you pointed it out.

Good luck to the both of them.

i think Roger will win this. and unfortunately, i don't think it will be close..

if Djoker attacks like yesterday ...i think its anyone's game ....

but of course ...FedExpress for the win !

C'MON !

it is going to be hard match , Djoko played a great match i thought that Nadal owe him that from madrid when i thought Novak did deserve the won, i hope Roger can fix his serve it is going to be the key of the match last time thay met he borke a racket but he is hardly the same person hope he can won this master.
GO ROG

tennislover, it is going to be a great match and i am very excited about the match up to see how both players react to each other. I also cannot wait to see the gameplan that roger adopts against novak. Fed is gonna be firing shots like a cannon and i think that nole is gonna give him a great run for his money - but fed to prevail!

Cheers to all novak and fed fans!

am sure roger will be going into the match today with the same mentality he had yesterday against murray -

Federer snaps losing streak against Murray
(AP) ? 13 hours ago

MASON, Ohio ? First Rafael Nadal. Now Andy Murray.

Roger Federer had lost five consecutive matches to Nadal before a straight-set win in the finals at Madrid in May, and on Saturday, the world's No. 1 player snapped a four-match losing streak against the second-ranked Murray to reach the finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

Federer won 6-2, 7-6 (8) and will face the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between No. 3 Rafael Nadal and fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic. The top-seeded Federer, who won the tournament in 2005 and 2007, put more emphasis on reaching the finals than on snapping his personal losing streak against Murray, the defending champion.

"It doesn't matter to me," said Federer, the winner of a record 15 Grand Slams, including the last two at the French Open and Wimbledon. "I'm past that point. People try to hype it up, but I don't read anything into it. I know my game's on, and when my game's on, I know I can beat any player in the world."

Novak will crush Roger. If he could play that well against Rafa then Roger doesn't stand a chance. Roger only just beat a tired and of form Murray in the SF, even my husband who normally sides with Roger, agreed with me yesterday that it was an exergeration by commentators describing Roger's performance in that match as supreme.

carrie - it was no exaggeration.
Roger was outstanding yesterday. Completely fantastic match. I haven't seen you post in this way and obviously you have your reasons - but for someone who was prepared to say positive things about roger, am just a bit confused why now, you want to be so horrible about his performance yesterday and him saying supposedly horrible things about rafa - when so much good has been said about rafa, by roger - i just dont understand them.

Murray was not 'off form' yesterday - roger just didn't give him a chance - he was all over him - and he played brilliantly. whilst i know you are a rafa fan carrie, i dont think you are being objective here. Shame.

maxi, I have noticed that since you started posting here, you have brought some calm onto this forum. In the past Fedfans and Rafans used to go at each other hammer and tongues as if their lives depended on it, but we have all mellowed, even I am now happy to say positive things about Roger which you wouldn't catch me doing before because it was like scoring an own goal.
carrie , 8/21/09 11:35 AM

Ok. guys, we'll see in few hours, who's the boss...

hi gordana - this is going to be a fabulous match - Roger is the boss! :)

I was pleased to see that Novak had found his form yesterday - did you see the murray match? After the match, roger said he was looking forward - 'very excited' be playing either rafa or novak -and that novak should be given more credit as he was hiding 'under the radar' in terms of 'quietly going about his business' - i dont think that roger is under any illusion about how fantastic a player novak is! so the best player on the day will win! Cheers!

I think that Feds going to take this won, I really want Novak to win although I was a bit upset but not surprised to see him beat dear Rafa last night!
Fed seems on a mission, and the way he is firing his forehand I feel Novak might struggle to get the better of Fed this time. He has to serve well and consistantly.. There Rome match was Feds for the taking until the rain break in which Fed choked after, alot has changed since then though and he isn't going to have another melt down I fear. Really rooting for Novak though..

There are many occasions where a player beats Nadal loses to Fed in the next game so even if Novak beat Rafa it doesn;t mean he will beat Fed but he has a very good chance tonite.

torres, under no illusion here at all - just looking forward to the same federer we saw yesterday - playing lights out tennis - but will be supporting federer all the way - he knows he can win if his game is 'on'. he'll do it for the twins! Go federer!

I want Novak to win but i don't feel as though he will because(like Torres9) for some reason players play lights out tennis against Rafa and when they play federer it is a different story.
Plus it is going to be hot out there too!...no disrespect to Novak fans but.....
Novak deserves a win.. he has been down a little lately so....
Let the games begin:)

Game on! :) Looks to be a great promising match between two of my favourite players!

6-1 in the first. Yikes!

Like they said during the match, the 2 matches Nole won against fed, fed always won the first set. Now Nole just broke fed in second set.

My goodness. And Fed isnt even playing as well as he did yesterday!

Is he tired? Where's the desire we saw yesterday? Was it enough for him to beat rafa, or does he just not like to play during the day?

His second serves are doing him in.

Thanks Roger, for ending the agony for Novak fans quickly!

Novak was great - am really pleased that he has found his form in terms of pushing roger in the second set - excellent Novak! You are a great sportsman - he has a real shot at the USO - am looking forward to USO - it gonna be fantastic!

Novak will be dejected and disappointed but he will come back from this! How wonderful that novak is back !

Gordana/Novak fans - dont be disheartened AT ALL! The crowds were supporting novak as equally as Roger! He so popular!

fedfans - this is just a dream! gorogergo! He did it for the twins!

Wow. That was a weird match. Fed served terribly in the first set, only getting 47% of his first serves in, needed 7 chances to break Nole. Nole in contrast served 81% and lost the set 6-1??

And Nole cranked it up in the beginning of the second set...and sort of lost it in the middle and towards the end. Hmmm.

I don't see the Nole from yesterday and neither did I see the Fed from yesterday. I gotta say it wasn't as explosive as I thought it would be.

But kudos to the Fed for winning and congrats to Nole for making it to the final...when no one even thought he'd make it past third round. Good on you, Nole. Now go firing all out at USO (and maybe beat Murray in the process).

The scorelines yesterday and today are similar. Does this mean that Nole = Blandy? :)

LOL.... In tennis, you just have to play better than your opponent. Fed's return was better than Djoker.

I dunno what to say... Don't ever underestimate the Fed even when he's 6 years older or 5 years older. Even when he's a father.

Fed is just phenomenal. He's the best there is.

^^

stu, you naughty! you dont have to answer this stu, but there is a 'stu' on tennis.x. Are you one and the same?

Yes, torres. Fed is phenomenal - just credit to the game.

stu - beg to differ :) Nole's rather different from Murray. I definitely like Nole's attitude AND game more than I like Murray's.

Nole plays an agrresive game (most aggresive among the top 4). Muzza plays a defensive+variety game. When Nole is on, he can beat even the Fed (as evident in AO2008) in str8 sets and also can beat Nadal in str8s.

Nole is not the same as Muzza. The top 4 is different from each other. The way I see it:-

Attacking game:-
1) Djoker
2) Fed
3) Nadal+Muzza

Defensive game:-
1) Nadal
2) Muzza
3) Fed
4) Djoker

It cracks me up that Ian Eagle (CBS commentator) keeps saying that in May, fed dropped down to number 2 in rank. He has said it 3 times and Carillo and Fernandez won't correct him. Shows how much he follows tennis.

maxi, until yesterday i never paid attention to the comments on tennisx, only read the articles. i read some comments yesterday and i had to post!

Nobody does it better. He's en fuego. Too bad we have to wait over a week for the U.S. Open to start. He's untouchable now : really aggressive, great return game just rolling. He won't lose more than one or two sets the whole tournament if he keeps this up. Roll on Fed Nation.

stu, i thought it was you! you post in a similar way and last night boy was it great! the comments were coming thick and fast weren't they?! always a bit of heat between steve/von/veno/mindy - but they are great! I enjoyed what you read tho' stu! cheers.

Ahhh... such an enjoyable night tonite!!!!

GaGaGa....

Nole-Murray would be such an interesting USO semi...but that would mean Rog meets Rafa, not sure I want that before the final. The ideal final for me would be Rafa-Nole, but I don't see Nole v2009 beating Fed in the semis of the USO. So I hope Rafa is in Fed's section of the draw!

Vintage Roger, definitely. What a joy it was see him play today.
When he plays like this (specially in the first set) only 1 player can 'try' to match it: David Nalbandian.

Let's see what happens in the USO, but I still think Nadal is the favourite to win it.

Nadal the favourite to win it, are you mad? He has been crushed by both Novak and Delpo now, I know its his comeback but players in the top 4 are not going to think they are the underdog against Rafa since he has come back. They have a different mentality entirely to what they used to have during his '08 year.
I think we very well could see another Fed vs Murray final, or Fed vs Djokovic, either way, final will be competitive, 4 or 5 sets. Think Fed might want this one the most though as no one has ever won a tournament 6 times, Fed loves the records, he'll want it badly.

todays performance was better than anything as a roger fan could ask for, reminds me so much of Roger 07 it was unbelivable specialy in the 1st set,the mentality is totaly have changed he played Murray and Djoko back to back and won in striaght sets both are very good on this surface, i dont know if its the twins or the 2 GS but i liked what i saw so much. reading the serve going for the shots not chocking in the 2nd set after falling behind, that was totaly a champ attitude,very good one. funny how we expected very recently if he would won another master on hard courts guess what he did by beating the 2nd best , coz ofcourse he is the best
welcome back Roger, welcome back man

Wow Roger! He looked so fantastic today and yesterday. Just PHENOMENAL!!! I'm impressed with the way he carried out against Murray and Djokovic. Wow! The US OPEN is going to be a "BLAST"!!! We "KNOW" Roger wants it BADLY!!! LOL Now we can say he also wants it (to win) for the "twins"! :) It will make watching him even more exciting, even more gou gou ga ga! LOL :) Who can/will stop him?! Let the games begin... He is going for it, no holds bar...
:) C'MON Roger! C'MON!

I don't mean to gloat (too much), but carrie's totally impartial analysis above was right on the money ... again.

I don't think there should be any question now as to who's the favorite at the Open, at least among those who don't have an agenda.

Tennis-Victorious Federer in perfect frame of mind for U.S. Open
Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:45pm BST

By Simon Cambers
CINCINNATI, Ohio, Aug 23 (Reuters) - A victorious Roger Federer said an intensive training programme and a happy personal life have left him in the perfect frame of the mind for the defence of his U.S. Open title next month.
Just a month after becoming a father to twin girls, the world number one beat Novak Djokovic 6-1 7-5 on Sunday to win his fourth title of the year, his 16th Masters Series crown and the 61st tournament win of his career.
"I think that's the special part, winning for the first time as a dad," Federer said.
"It's a great thing. Gets me going emotionally a little bit, because I know it's been a wonderful summer. Going through all of what I've been through and then now right away having success again, it's a great moment in my career again."
Federer's wife Mirka gave birth to twin girls last month but the Swiss found time to step up his practice, something he felt he needed to, despite setting a record of 15 grand-slam titles by winning the French Open and Wimbledon this summer.
"The hard work I put in again in between Wimbledon and Montreal - people don't know about it - but things went great," he said.
"I was three weeks at the hospital but I also went for practice almost every day except obviously during the time of the birth and right after.
"My condition trainer was really happy with the work I put in and with Severin (Luthi, the Switzerland Davis Cup captain), we were really precise on what we wanted to work on. "Of course I was always going to be confident after winning those big titles in a row. I felt like my game was already pretty good in practice so I knew when I was coming here it was just not just to show up, but to really do something.
"(That) it already paid off so quickly, I am a little bit surprised about, but it's been great, and now I look forward to New York."
..

LOL SenorPlaid! How right you are! (at least among those who don't have an agenda)... :)

With this kind of Fed form it was good Rafa did'nt meet Roger only to be sent packing again in a Masters tournament. Carrie should Ricky's job now that her analysis is spot on.

Really cool Maxi! Roger really does get strength from thinking about the twins! He has to hunt for them as well now! LOL :) Roger is the "ONE"! C'MON Roger! Make us (your fans) "all proud" (again).

WOW!! Just WOW!!
Federer was superb!!
I knew it!!
I knew he can win that final by straight sets.
Djokovic will never ever have a chance against him..
We know now who's on fire for USO.
Federer deserves to win it!
He's in good form.
No wonder nobody outside top 5 can defeat him,coz he is just so AMAZING!!
Federer honey,good luck for USO.
We (ur fans) will be cheering for you throughout every matches you play.
Makes me proud once again..
GO ROGER GO!!
Hoorayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
=)

"I don't mean to gloat (too much), but carrie's totally impartial analysis above was right on the money ... again."

Couldn't have said it better myself, Senor. :)

-Arvis

There was a great destruction carrie did you hear it? It was so loud, very loud , I hope your ears did not get hurt, and I hope your dear husband was there to help you through it, wow, did you see the match were you able to witness the greatness, something that no one can deny, even you, I assume
" there is something about Roger" must be your words, what is possibly is wrong with the guy. Winning 4 titles in four months didn?t get distracted even by a TWIN ,beating good guys whom are 5 years younger back to back, what is wrong with him?
The love of the game, is what is wrong with him you can see the passion for the win, the love of the game is what possibly make some one brings out his best after being down for a year peaking at 28 against young guys .
Last night match was a master peace, thanks roger

Last night match was a master peace, thanks roger

tennislover , 8/24/09 7:24 AM

I would like to second that tennislover! SuPERB PLAYING! GRACEFUL! and AFFECTIVE! And against Murray the day before, Roger showed why he is (even at 28 "still" #1. When Roger plays with such joy in his heart, and such determination for the love of the game, compounded with his LOVE of his new born TWINS Myla and Charlene, it's just BEAUTIFUL Destruction to the other players... Peace to all you other (player) fans. Your time will come... Right now the FED is just on FIRE! Unbeatable at this level. The others will move up a notch, or the FED will drop some eventually... May the best "tennis player" win the US Open. C'MON Roger! C'MON.

can I 'third' it, sky? I thought this was interesting, from a non-fed fan writer - (cos of course we are all emotional people aren't we, when we celebrate "our" player's wins - ). sorry if it's long - but the full article is on bleacher report. - have put the headline to help. (as there are tons of them!). - it's not even half of it, but it's a good read.

Simply The Best?: Tim Ruffin's New Take On Federer and Immortality

that being said, a great deal has been made of my "dislike" for Roger Federer and my "partiality" to Rafael Nadal. Many people have charged me with this in both respectful and not so respectful ways.
After watching the Cinncinati Masters this weekend, I felt that I needed to clear the air. First of all, it's true I am not a member of the Roger Federer fan club. I've given my reasons before, I don't need to rehash them now. it is also true that I prefer to watch Rafael Nadal play.
I can identify with Nadal's game more than Federer's (though not at the same level). I understand exactly what he's doing out there because I myself was a player who used his wheels. I grasp how unlikely and amazing his game is, to hit the winners from defensive positions as he does.
I identify with the knee issue, God knows I've had more than my fair share.
So, yes, I would be dishonest to say that I viewed Rafa and Roger on the same plane. That being said, I am not dilusional. I understand all too well how good Roger Federer is. How hard it is to win 15 Grand Slams, even if I thought that the field of competition was a little thin. As of this very moment, I hold fast to my belief that there is not a single greatest player of all time. I still believe that this is a title shared by 5 to 6 guys (of which Roger is one), but held collectively as a group.
Prior to Sunday, I would have said that there is nothing that would have changed my mind. Today is monday. I am willing to make a concession.
I watched Federer face off against two guys in back to back rounds to whom he had dropped a total of 6 matches in a row against. I didn't think he'd win either match. By now we all know the story.
Federer opened each match with a brand of tennis that set the dominating tone for each match. In my mind, if he is still capable of beating these younger opponents in important matches, he is capable still of becoming the greatest player.
The thing that struck me about Roger in this tournament was that he seemed to be developing the Samprasonian quality of turning it on and off for important occassions. He knew full well that to have a positive mindset heading into the U.S. Open, he needed to beat Andy Murray, he needed to beat Novak Djokovic. He set his sight on the targets and destroyed them. Straight up.
I don't to hear a word about Roger slowing down physically; he moved better than both 20-somethings over the weekend. The trademark forehand looked even better that it had before, an absolutely dominating shot. It reminded me of moments like the 2004 Masters event at Cincinnati where Andre Agassi returned from the depths to beat Moya, Roddick and Hewitt enroute to the title, while in his mid-30's.

i thought it was a good piece. it's worth the full read on bleacher.

the sleeper has awaken! Thank you for the article MAXI, it sounds "reviting"! LOL I will go try to find and read more later... Roger "is" S P E C I A L! (indeed) :)