*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

Lol, thought the Fed had all the momentum after saving those two Championship points but I think the rain delay helped Rafa much in the same way the first one helped Roger. So glad to have been proven wrong.

Dunno how you got to bed, I tried to after the rain delay but just couldn't stop thinking "what if it comes back on"

Believe me it was tough, but the thought of "what if I fall asleep in court and start snoring" was much much more frightening. Singapore judges are bitches. One of them had a go at my fashion sense the other day. Stupid whore.

Bjorn Borg in 2007 :- "Rafael Nadal will win Wimbledon in 2008" Gun Call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYhYISFv-HI

Yeah Borg called Rafa winning Wimbledon before anyone. Before Roger's decline as well.

 

[Anil]

Youd think he can manage a couple more slams in his career and hold the record by the time he retires, the upcoming problem he is facing is retaining his number 1 ranking, he's still quite a way off the record of number of weeks at #1 and not that long ago we just presumed it was a foregone conclusion he'd get there.

didn't say he couldn't do it...it has just become a whole lot more difficult...if djokovic continues to improve and nadal stays at the same level or gets even better, however easily feds scythes through the draw, he is always gonna face one or the other in the end and the days of a guaranteed win by just showing up are over...and the three grand slam defeats this season would definitely have shaken that supreme self-belief of his....plus the fact that his two greatest threats are much younger and feds is reaching a "mature" tennis age...not to mention other young guns like tsonga, monfils, murray etc improving all the time...

 

[Perm]

Awesome work from Nadal, so pleased to hear the result when I woke up this morning.

 

[Simon]

Agree with most of it, the one thing that leads me to think that he can still win quite a few slams is that outside of Nadal and Djokovic there just isn't any threat to win grand slams. Sure we will see the likes of Tsonga, Monfils do the odd run to the final and semis but the guys that are supposed to be threats like Gasquet, Blake, Davydenko, Berdych etc... just cant win them. Only two players can threaten them, Safin (when he is 100% on as we have seen) and Roddick (but he needs an awful lot of luck and things to go his way just to be close).

 

[Burgey]

I'm having a debate against someone who says that Federer 'lost it' more than nadal won it, and that Federer made too many unforced errors and wasn't playing his 'A' game.

I think that's crap.

Am I right in thinking that a player is going to make more 'unforced' errors when they play against someone with the hitting ability of Nadal then when they play against a worse opponent?

According to him unforced errors are irrelevant to the opponent because they are after all 'unforced', but I think that's obviously wrong.

Who's right?

Depends what's "unforced". To me, missing an easy overhead at the net is unforced, but if the other guy's play means you have to go for more, then miss, it's not really unforced.
I mean, if Federer threw it away, how come he saved a couple of match points in the 3rd set? Despite losing, I thought his mental strength was unbelieveable in that game. He just got beaten by a better player on the day imo.
Stuff like that happens.

 

[duffer]

Depends what's "unforced". To me, missing an easy overhead at the net is unforced, but if the other guy's play means you have to go for more, then miss, it's not really unforced.
I mean, if Federer threw it away, how come he saved a couple of match points in the 3rd set? Despite losing, I thought his mental strength was unbelieveable in that game. He just got beaten by a better player on the day imo.
Stuff like that happens.

Don't think there was a clear cut better player tbh. Thought Nadal's resilience to ward off 11 break points in the first two sets enabled him to withstand the inevitable Federer onslaught and got him home in the end. The margins all the way throughout the match were fractional at best.

I know someone mentioned the Rafter v Goran Final and although that was superb and dramatic this was a level above in relentless standards set by both these guys. One I'll never forget.

 

[Burgey]

AWTA - this game was like an Agassi-Sampras level. While the Rafter-Goran one was a great match, this one was at another level altogether imo.

 

[Sanz]

Believe me it was tough, but the thought of "what if I fall asleep in court and start snoring" was much much more frightening. Singapore judges are bitches. One of them had a go at my fashion sense the other day. Stupid whore..

I must suggest the following video, incase you need help in future. :-) :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7mjoxHzm4

 

[Sanz]

I'm having a debate against someone who says that Federer 'lost it' more than nadal won it, and that Federer made too many unforced errors and wasn't playing his 'A' game.

I think that's crap.

Am I right in thinking that a player is going to make more 'unforced' errors when they play against someone with the hitting ability of Nadal then when they play against a worse opponent?

According to him unforced errors are irrelevant to the opponent because they are after all 'unforced', but I think that's obviously wrong.

Who's right?

Federer usually doesn't play his 'A' game early in his matches. I have watched him play casually so many times only to switch into a different level when threatened and then he just crushes his opponents.

Nadal is in a different league though. IMO Roger didn't play his 'A' game until the 3rd set and it was just too late by then. Also Nadal dictated the game for the most part. He consistently attacked his back hand, made him play from the baseline, long rallies. It was just not going to go Roger's way, if that played this match Nadal's way.

However, Roger is so good that he came damn close to winning the match, despite the slight decline and playing Nadal's game.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

So dissapointed, can't stand Nadal. Get evenly proportioned arms you ****.

 

[duffer]

Watching the replay now, gotta say that Rafa's cross court backhand is probably the main reason he's improved so much over the past couple of years.

Watching him early in his career he always went down the line or had to slice cross court but now he has the extra weapon where he just ****s it across court, gave him an extra dimension for mine.

 

[Laurrz]

Easily the greatest match i've seen, watched till 6am or something.

4th set tiebreak was unreal (those two winners), and then 5th set you thought Fed would run away but Nadal is SUCH a fighter, so mentally tough

I thought when he serve and volleyed for the first time in the final game you knew he'd win that one

Twas funny to see Raffa with the trophy, he looked like a lil boy who wasn't sure if he had won or in disbelief (even tho he's won 4 RO's this is Wimbledon) and standing next to Fed to with the runners up

Changing of the guard? Raffa is winning RO easier and easier and Wimbledon he could've won last year too.. and now the knife has turned, Federer's beloved Wimbledon has been taken away, must be feeling rather shattered.


Federer's serve is just incredible, he just finds the lines. But Nadal's i think, along with the cross court backhand (as said), has vastly improved.
Federer's volleys - sloppy to say the least...didnt have good net position at all.. however got better as the match goes on, I think he needs a coach, you can't beat Nadal from the back of the court in Wimbledon (or anywhere probably)

 

[Bobisback]

Fell asleep at 5-5 in the 5th, so ****ing angry.

 

[biased indian]

Fell asleep at the first rain break......

Took the English paper today morning ...checked the score in sports page ..it said 2 sets to one...was ok about it then saw in the front page it saying 2-2 ...was very happy.....

then look the local language paper ...it had the full story... was very disappointed ...

that was three emotions in space of 5 minutes --> -->

 

[Jono]

****'s sake. I was talking to a guy at work today about the Final and he said "nah I was wanting Federer to win, because Nadal looks like a rat".

That is the worst reason to not want Nadal to win. Especially since Federer looks like Damien Peverill from the Essendon Football Club, which is so much worse than a rat.

I tried explaining that to him, but as a Singaporean he had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[Johnners]

Looks nothing like him for mine. Can see the Nadal/Rat resemblence though (no bias )

 

[biased indian]

Looks nothing like him for mine. Can see the Nadal/Rat resemblence though (no bias )

AWTA

 

[Burgey]

Fell asleep at 5-5 in the 5th, so ****ing angry.

I don't want to be rude, but how could you possibly do that, assuming you hadn't been out all evening the night before?

 

[Bobisback]

I don't want to be rude, but how could you possibly do that, assuming you hadn't been out all evening the night before?

Yeah, was working off like 5 hours sleep. Couldnt believe it myself.

 

[irfan]

This match and the titanic struggle that enveloped just made me realise how good these two really are compared to the rest. Both Fed & Rafa cruised to the final but neither could put each other away in this match.

Rafa saving 11 break pts in the first two sets was immense as was Federer' two tiebreak sets (esp when he was 5-2 down) was brilliant as well. We all know they are very talented players but coupled with that is their incredible mental resilience which sets them apart from everyone else.

Top 10 Tennis Rankings
1. Fed (juuust)
2. Rafa
3. D
4. A
5. Y
6. L
7. I
8. G
9. H
10. T