GibsonGirl

Oh, I know the match itself won't be boring! It'll be high-class tennis at its finest, as it always is when Federer and Nadal play against one another. I just feel it's boring in the sense that we continue to see the same two players battling it out for every grand slam title. This kind of thing obviously goes in phases, though.

intedomine

C'mon Zheng! Please not another boring Williams sisters final.....and Venus is the most annoying player on the circuit.

LJT

We may have to just wait till a few other players step up their game...the only other player to do so at the moment is Djokovic...Gasquet has plenty of talent to do so, but he just isn't mentally tough enough...Murray may step up, but has seen the physical effort he needs to develop to go one step further. I can't really think of anyone else who could push the top two. Gulbis might in a few years...about it at the moment.

That's not to say the rest aren't excellent tennis players...just Rafa and Fed are responsible for upping the entire level tennis is played at.

Clement and Schuettler are both old pros who have been about for donks...with Clement being notable for his brightly coloured bandanas which he changes for every match...solid pros they both are but it is the furthest either have ever been in a grand slam....both are former top 10 players though...but Nadal shouldn't really be bothered by either.

A few comments on the bbc tennis forum have been annoying me ie. 'Nadal is a great athlete but he is not a naturally gifted tennis player'?....it takes a lot more than being a great athlete to win matches...the majority of tennis players are great athletes these days.

CTU2fan

It does. Look on the positive though, at least we're lucky enough to have Nadal to compete with Federer. He may not be the most popular player but having 2 high level players is better than having a single guy (Pete Sampras for example) who's a prohibitive favorite in every tournament. Hopefully another player will step up and push them (maybe Djokovic?)

U2girl

Maybe Djokovic in a few years' time.

Meanwhile it looks like another Williams final.

GibsonGirl

The last all-Williams final happened in 2003. It's not as predictable anymore as, say, Federer-Nadal.

I would say that Djokovic is probably the greatest threat to Nadal and Federer right now. Give him two years, three years, and I'm sure he'll be a top contender if he continues to play as well as he has over the past few tournaments (current Wimbledon excluded). I just can't see Gasquet or Murray bringing themselves up to that level.

Let me guess. Die-hard Roger fans? I've seen a lot of ridiculous comments launched against Nadal by people who are afraid that he will surpass their hero. Either that, or they know absolutely nothing about tennis. Sheer physical fitness does not allow one to hit a perfect ground stroke.

Personally, I don't like Nadal very much, but my reasons have little to do with his ability or style of playing. I just...don't like him. I respect the fact that he is a brilliant tennis player - there's just something about his attitude/look that irritates me.



The Venus-Dementieva match has just gone to a tie-break in the second set.

EDIT: Ah, no need for the yikes. Come on, Serena!

BEAL

I really wish Roger could get that French Open. We're looking at probably the greatest tennis player of all time right now, but no one will give him his much deserved credit because he can't win the French.

Unfortunately he's run up against probably the greatest clay player ever in Nadal. I would love to see Nadal just slip up next year, and Roger would probably have no trouble winning, but I'd also like Roger to beat Nadal

It was the same thing with Sampras, couldn't win on clay, but Pete was always knocked out fairly early in the French, where Federer routinely makes it to the finals...and loses to Nadal

CTU2fan

Very good point...while I think it was fair to knock Sampras for not being able to win on clay when you look at Federer it's more a case of "can't beat Nadal on clay" which isn't the same thing at all.

U2girl

If Federer wants to be "greatest of all time" he should defnitely win in Paris.

GibsonGirl

Why? Pete Sampras is considered by many to be the "greatest of all time," and he only ever made it to the semi-finals at Paris. Once. Federer has made it to the finals three times. Federer has also won more Australian Open titles than Sampras, and is close to reaching Sampras' Wimbledon record.

Then there's Björn Borg. Five Wimbledon titles (same as Federer, who might break that record tomorrow), four US Open titles (same as Federer), and no Australian Open titles. The only major difference between the two is that Borg was very successful at the French Open.

If Federer continues to play at his current standard over the next three or four years, there is no doubt in my mind that he will meet and exceed Sampras' grand slam record. He might not be able to be able to dominate on clay like Borg (or Nadal, for that matter), but I think he will certainly surpass him on every other surface.

BEAL

If he wins the French before he retires, there's no doubt he's the greatest of all time.

He has beaten Nadal on clay, so it can be done

CTU2fan

I think he's been good enough in the French that you can certainly fairly call him GoaT if he ends up with the most Slams. IMO he's been better in the French than Pete was, and people are quick to throw "greatest" around when discussing Pete.

Pretty good women's final today. Often when Venus and Serena play the match is less than what you'd expect from 2 players as good as they are; lots of unforced errors etc. But today I thought both played well, but Venus was just better. Or maybe it was rigged [/Dementieva]

Salome

whether the statistics will ever proof it I don't know
but from all the tennis footage I have seen Federer is the best tennis player ever
I guess winning Roland Garros would cement his position, but in my eyes there hasn't been a better player ever anyway

Federer would have studied what happened in that 2nd set between Nadal and Schuettler
Schuettler didn't even play that much better (he still was hardly able to read Nadal's service) but at times he made the ball do less himself and left more for Nadal to do
who didnt seem to enjoy that

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ntalwar

Nadal looks stronger than I thought .

vaz02

Nadal could do it here :O