Great serving by Roger tonight! Really impressive! Hope he brings that serving rhythm to New York.

Too bad not all tennis matches were played on fast hard courts :) Del Potro was not razor sharp, but Federer served amazingly. He seemed really intense out there...

It's good to have a good mixure of slow, medium and fast courts. Not giving Fed any compliment with comments like 'too bad not all tennis matches were played on fast hard courts', when in the past Fed was supposed to win on all hard courts.

Anyway, not surprised with the results, as Delpo after his injury at Wimbledon, is not the same player like he was during the earlier hard court season this year. He has lost to Gulbis, Cilic and now Fed, not a good start to the fast hard court season. I hope to see Fed against Nole here, as I think Fed has better chances against Nole on fast hard courts. Yes, I'm happy for Fed about this win against Delpo. Fed against Nole or Murray or Rafa will be interesting here at Cincy. Fed has beaten both Nole and Murray here in the past, it will be interesting to see Fed vs Rafa here, hope they can get that far.

I do have a feeling that Fed will end up in Rafa's half of the draw at the USO. I hope the top four guys can meet in the semis at the USO this year.

Fed came out strong, as I expected he would after that loss to Tsonga in Montreal. He is the defending champion here and has done very well here. As I also predicted, Delpo hasn't yet reached his best form or fitness level. Looking at Fed's draw, I expect to see him to meet up with Nole in the semis. If he can place at this level, then he has a good chance.

I don't know what happened in my last post, but my last two sentences didn't come out right. I meant to say that I expect to see Fed meet Nole in the semis and if he can PLAY at this level, then he has a good chance at the win.

I didn't see the match but it sounds like Fed did the job well.

Lucky, now that questions are being asked about whether the USO draw is rigged, it won't surprise me if the pattern of Rafa/Andy and Fed/Djoko changes and Nadal with Federer ending up on the same side.

Hope that happens. I am so tired of seeing Rafa and Andy on the same side. If Rafa beats Fed in the semis and Andy or Djoko in the final, it would be the perfect USO campaign for our man.

Yep agree with rafaelite that Rafa beating Fed in semi and Nole or Murray in final will be the perfect USO for us Rafa fans.

And I would love Andy to meet Fed some place other than the final!

"USO draw is rigged"... LOL.... only USO???
And what about others???

Does somebody actually know how many times Fed and Novak has been joined together in the half of the draw? And Murray on Nadal half? Even when Fed was 1 or 2 Nadal got the easier draw of Murray.

I can't believe this Sienna person...what is wrong with you? Why do you hate Rafa so much?!!! I have been reading posts regularly but every time I stop by I run into this obsessed and erratic Sienna person who argues all the time with everybody and who is always bringing some disrespectful stuff on Nadal...I can't stop but thinking that criticizing Rafa is all she/he cares about...I personally am very pleased to see Fed playing well as I have huge respect for him and I actually love his game and love watching him play but you Sienna just spoil everything...why are you even here? You are so annoying...

sienna, I thought all along when Rafa and Fed were 1&2, that we said they rig the draws to help Fed? Fed is supposed to be the best on hard courts, therefore Nole always end up in Fed's half during the hard court slams, when it comes to the FO, as Rafa is definitely better than Fed on clay, so Nole always end up in Rafa's half at the FO so that Fed can safely reach the final? Also at Wimbledon, Murray seems to be better than Nole on grass and therefore, he always ends up in Rafa's half, again to make sure that Fed has a safe passage to the final? Didn't we say in the past that Fed was favored over Rafa because of viewerships, and because of Fed being more popular than Rafa? Now sienna is trying to twist things around and said that all these so called 'rigged' draws favor Rafa? Really? When Rafa has to face Murray for three consecutive years at Wimbledon, and Murray being the winner of Queens twice? And Rafa has to face Nole at the FO, when Nole is clearly the no.3 guy on clay? Not to mention that Rafa has the honor of facing Murray in the QF of AO 2010, when Murray was no.5 then?

It just shows youre a bunch of Fed haters when someone claims the same for your boy when others already claimed it against Fed. Such a bunch of two faces here on this site. It makes me sick.
Luckystart You cannot be serious? Even you must admit that it is easier to reach a final trough Murray then through Djoker. Even in the past that hads shown.
On all surfaces. I remember you lot claiming foul play because Fed always got Djoker! and then you said well they would probably switch the deal because Fed lost against Djoker. That certainly was not the case.
Rafa is being protected to face murray on the slams instead of fed.

natashao
, 8/17/11 12:55 PM

There's 2 words to describe it actually, natashao..................Rafa obsession.

Sienna.... google a little...
ExFed is KING... of absurdly easy draws and walkabouts last 2-3 years!
Just take a look!

"Rafa is being protected to face murray on the slams instead of fed..."

Come now, that's a bit paranoid, and I will be interested to see how many night matches Fed gets @ Cincy this time. He's already had one.
Also I look forward to the day when Murray isn't considered an `easy` option for the other 3.
And that day may be sooner than some of you think...

Er,
Actually I take the Paranoid part back, now I've read the other thread on fixed draws.

sienna, all these situations are used and twisted around against both Fed and Rafa. It makes me laugh when I read your earlier post, and that's why I posted my comments. It shows how easily things can be twisted and turned to suit whatever we wish to believe!

You may think that Murray is an easier opponent than Nole but that's only true this year. Do remember on grass Murray has always performed better than Nole until this year, Murray won Queens in 2009 and Nole only reached the final at Halle the same year. Murray was semifinalist of Wimbledon in 2009-2011, and Q finalist in 2008, whilst Nole reached R2 in 2008, QF in 2009 and then SF in 2010.

At the AO, after 2008 Nole didn't get to meet Fed in 2009&2010 even though they're in the same half of the draw. At USO 2009, even though Murray and Rafa were in the same half, it ended up Delpo was the one who met and beat Rafa in the SF. So whether the draw is rigged or not, nobody can foresee who's going to reach the final and winning it. The players concerned still have to play the matches and win them. However, the scheduling of matches sometimes do leave much to be desired, especially when rain is being forcast.

Sosueme? So what! The other people onthis site the rafafans are questioning the draws to claim favoring of Fed. I do teh same thing and therfor paranoid?

Luckystar? Pff You agree that they do not favor Fed above nadal?
I gues they do want a Fedal final for a long time that might change this US because
they really want to see DJokerer final.

And to the rest of you who are completely out of sink because the scheduling is unfair? Scheduling is not at random. They try to give the audience and TV a great showing so you dont schedule top3 opponents on the same time etc etc. Fed Nadal Djoker will get bigger TV ratings so they get prime time.
Plus they take into account preferences of the players and every tourney takes more weigth on the big guns then the lesser players. It is no big deal and not a factor for the players..

Sosueme accusing others of being paranoid.

Now THAT'S amusing!

I did retract the paranoid bit Sienna as clearly it is not a paranoid statement (alledgedly!), mmm.
I've also stated here before that the tournament directors are making impersonal business decisions re scheduling, so I agree with you!
But to say its not a factor when you play in 95 degree heat & 50% humidty (as Murray had to every day last time & he was shattered!) and Federer gets to play practically a night time tournament is rubbish as it clearly will be an advantage, although less this time hopefully.

Jean Says......

Bow wow wow!

Woof Woof, Bow wow!!!!!

Woof!

Solid match against Delpo yesterday. He played actually really well and Delpo wasn't bad at all too.