We are being spoiled!

To me, Delpo losing to a guy ranked 189th has to be the biggest upset I've probably seen in more than just a year. I mean Vasselin didn't win an ATP match outside of Tokyo the rest of the year, we are talking about a guy nearly outside the top 200, how a grand slam winner, even if its after all the hype and glory and you naturally have a down afterwards, loses a match under these circumstances to a guy like he did. Its just unacceptable, very bizarre indeed. Makes me thing I could hang with Delpo if I played a great defense game.

i certainly know wats going to be at the no. 1 upset.....actually everyone knows it...lolzz

rafa losing to ny1 at phillipe chartrier is an upset.....

nd the no.2 would be andy murray losing to marin cilic at uso or nole losing to kohli at fo???

we all know rafas loss to soderling at the french is easily number 1 upset.

in fact its the biggest upset in this decade, even greater than sampras' loss at wimbledon in 2001 and 2002.

heck i would go as far to say its one of the greatest upsets in sporting history.

im still in disbelief rafa lost that match, its been 7 months since, but i dont think im over that loss even now. i so wanted him to win 5 french opens in a row. because in my book he is the best on clay courts thats ever lived, and i wanted him to prove to his doubters that he is the greatest ever on clay.
bjorn borg is one of my all time favourite players ever, but a mentally and physically fit rafa nadal on clay is god.

and i get pissed when people say bjorn borg is greater on clay than rafa nadal.
the depth of players on clay now is far far greater and the utter domination on clay by rafa nadal is unmatched. to week in and week out, year in and year out pummel the best players on clay is nothing short of legendary.
if anyone wants any proof of how good this guy is on clay, then i suggest u go and watch the semifinal vs djokovic at the 2008 french open and the final vs federer in the same tournament.

it was absolutely sick. he took both of them to the cleaners.

i really hope he can return to his absolute very best on clay next year, because as i said before........ fully fit nadal + clay = GOD.

"do you remember where you where when Rafa lost to Soderling at he FO"? This will be a question that will be asked in future gatherings, as people recall some of their lives most shocking and memorable events.
I was at my office and luckily no one was around, because the exclamations which came out of my mouth where not appropriate for most human ears.
ATR, I couldn't agree more with you. If Rafa never goes back to his 2008 legendary form, it will be a disappointment of the caliber of finding out that Santa was fake and Bill Clinton did have sex with that woman. Up to that point, Rafa winning at RR was one of those things that only fools would bet against, and as you say the 2008 RR campaign allowed us to see a superhuman Nadal destroying the man who probably is the second greatest clay court player of all time, Roger Federer, then maintaining that dominance on grass, then going on to winning the Olympic gold and the AO. I felt sorry for anybody else. I thought "if he continues to improve, it's going to be impossible to stop him on any surface"
I hope the Davis Cup was just a glimpse of things to come. Vamos!

and i hope next year nadal destroys soderling and davydenko. i cant stand the first guy and the second guy just should not be beating nadal on any surface.

Don't worry attacking, Rafa still has chance to beat Borg's record of 6 FO titles. If Rafa can go on to win another 3 more FOs, then he will be better than Borg. I think that is achievable, given how good and young Rafa is. We caught a glimpse of 80-90% of the old Rafa at the Davis Cup final this year. All Rafa and his camp need to do is plan his schedule properly from next year onwards, to allow Rafa to be at his best during the slams, esp the FO.

When Rafa played the match at FO, unfortunately I was not able to watch it because Euro Sport was broadcasting some other match which they found more important since they simply assumed the match Soderling-Nadal will be one-sided, uninteresting show with Rafa wining easily. I was only able to watch last set and a half. But being Rafa?s fan and admirer, I followed the game on the live score and was devastated to learn that Soderling was wining his games easily and Rafa struggled on his service games. I remember I was anxious and nervous about Rafa?s performance at the FO, mainly because I saw his game in Madrid and I was worried. If one had followed his play closely, it would have been easy to observe that he did not play the clay season in 2009 as convincing as before, although he was still wining. That only proved how good he was on clay. Even at 70% he was still unbeatable. I knew, however, something was wrong. I was in Miami, two months ago, and bought tickets for both semifinal and final hoping to watch Rafa play, and he surprisingly lost to DelPo in quarterfinals in a match that was only Rafa?s fault. Rafa lost the match; DelPo just used the opportunity given. Rafa later explained he played bad and lost due to personal reasons. Anyway, that should all be history now! I expect Rafa and his team know what is to be done and they must, simply must, aim to win FO again! I think Rafa at his best will run over his opponents; it is almost impossible to beat him on clay. And that is exactly what he should do: demolish them! I know he is so eager to defend his title at AO, and he is currently training very hard. I am not sure how he will perform at AO, I hope he will reach near his best, which should be sufficient to defend the title. But, by the time clay season comes, I expect him to be at his 200 % (expression so often used by Rafa! :) ) and to be wining it all! Vamos Rafa!

Yes natashao, agree with you that those who follow Rafa's game closely would notice that Rafa wasn't at his best this year during the clay season. Even the commentators, Jason Goodall & Robie Koenig, mentioned that Rafa did not play his best tennis, as late as during the Rome tournament, even though by then he had won MC and Barcelona and went on to win Rome. That really shows how good Rafa is on clay, miles ahead of everybody else.

This year Fed wasn't at his best either, losing early at MC, lost to Nole at Rome; saving grace for him was at Madrid and of course the FO. Had Fed played Nole in the semifinal at Madrid, I wonder what would happen then, and would Rafa win the Madrid tournament (ie by not needing to beat Nole in 4 hours thus saving his body and his knees) and went on to win the FO again by being physically fresher and more ready to defend his title?

I hope next year and thereafter, Rafa will not make the same mistakes again. Hope he concentrate on being physically and mentally well for all the slams in particular and win some more slams in the process. Vamos Rafa!

Well, it's all history. Nadal had his break when Fed was down in 2008.

And 2009 Fed got his break when Nadal was down.

I guess we can call it even.

There's no clause in FO that says u must beat a fresh Rafael Nadal to win the tournament.

It's part of the game. I dont think Roger was at his clay best at FO2008 either.

torres, that's exactly what I'm saying. When you are not at your best, and when you meet somebody playing the best of his life, an upset is more than likely to happen. Even when Fed is at his best on clay, you seriously think he can beat a Rafa at his best? After so many tries, the answer is no. Whether Fed was or was not at his best at FO 2008, Rafa would still beat him because Rafa was at his best then.

Sorry, in my above post I didn't make myself clear. When I say 'an upset is more than likely to happen' , I was referring to Soderling vs Rafa. Rafa beating Fed on clay isn't an upset in my opinion, but the reverse, ie Fed beating Rafa on clay, in my opinion, is an upset.