<p>Nadal has his number. I think the best male player ever is Sampras, Laver or Nadal.</p>
<p>Federer isn’t even the best player of his era. I love the way Federer plays, but Nadal keeps beating him.</p>
<p>I loved the way the Justine Henin played too, but Serena was/is better than her.</p>
<p>Anyway, another great Nadal-Federer match.</p>
<p>I am trying to remember - didn’t Federer have mono or something about a year ago? Is that related to his not playing as well these last months?</p>
<p>Both Federer and Nadal and I am sure many others are playing so intensely at the ages our kids are in college. I can’t imagine how hard it is to not get burned out.</p>
<p>Nadal so new on the scene and you are putting him with Sampras, Rod Laver? The later 2 gentlemen had long dominant careers. Isn’t it way way premature to rank Nadal even in their court ?</p>
<p>It’s a little premature.</p>
<p>Federer is probably the best hard court player of all time. Nadal is better on clay (obviously), but I doubt anyone thinks he’s a better hard court player than Federer.</p>
<p>I’d go with Laver. Definitely premature imo to mention Nadal.</p>
<p>Federer hasn’t been the same since he had mono. It took so long for him to recover; meanwhile Nadal and Djokovich were just getting better and better. So long as Roger keeps having to face Rafa in matches, I don’t foresee him winning too many more. Maybe he needs to finally get himself a coach, and go see Gil Reyes in Las Vegas and start running some hills like Agassi did.</p>
<p>There are a lot of older players that love Federer because he is a bridge to the modern game and plays with many of the aspects of the classic game: a great serve and volley and the one-handed backhand. He also grew up with the Pro Staff.</p>
<p>The advent of Poly Strings made possible the modern game with very powerful and large rackets tamed by string. Now kids learn with western grips, two-handed backhands and windshield-wiper strokes. They play with stiff and light rackets and hit harder and with more penetrating spin than the generation before them.</p>
<p>One of the benefits of the classic game is that it should help with longevity. Stiff rackets generally take a heavier toll on the arm. Violent windshield-wiper strokes take a tougher toll on the joints. It is interesting to watch Nadal play but I wonder how long he will last. The late 20s are generally the end of career time for men’s professional tennis. There have been a few exceptions but the move to higher and higher levels of physical fitness has made it harder and harder to stay near the top as you get older.</p>
<p>Federer went to the K90 a few years ago which is an interesting racket. It is a blend of the old and the new. I’d say that 90% of tennis players can’t use the racket effectively - it’s a difficult racket to use. Sometimes I think that he should ratchet up his use of technology to compensate for his age. He knows better than I do of course but it’s something that others have done as they get older.</p>
<p>I consider him a great player. There are tons of YouTube clips of him in slow-motion. Examine his footwork, preparation, concentration and you will see the magic that he does that sets him above other great players.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s time for Federer to get a coach. He’s an unbelievable player but something about Nadal’s game messes him up. I watched some of the match and was surprised at how weakly he returned Nadal’s second serves…Verdasco was destroying those serves.
Federer can no longer be viewed as the best hard court player. Nadal took it to him - even after being worn out in a tough five setter.
All that said, I REALLY like Federer’s game. It was so sad to see him break down and cry. I wanted him to win. These guys are both class acts though…and the tennis between them is a joy to watch.
Now, Serena. When she’s playing her A game, she has NO competition. Except maybe her sister.</p>
<p>“He’s an unbelievable player but something about Nadal’s game messes him up.”</p>
<p>Nadal messes up just about everyone.</p>
<p>Nadal has unorthodox strokes so you can’t watch the usual cues about where he’s likely to hit the ball. Perhaps Verdasco is more familiar with how Nadal plays.</p>
<p>Nadal is relatively predictable on the serve but age is catching up with Federer. It’s awful to watch. I saw it with Sampras, Agassi and others. It’s wonderful to see these guys (I’ll toss in Connors) playing in tournaments in their 30s but it is downhill for them.</p>
<p>It was even painful to watch Rosewall get crushed by Connors at the US Open many years ago.</p>
<p>
Maybe currently. I’m not sure Nadal will be able to match Federer’s 2004-2007 run, which is arguably some of the most dominant tennis stretch ever played.</p>
<p>Fed has 8 hard court grand slams; Nadal has 1 and Federer won more points in that match. Only 4 months ago, Federer swept the person who beat Nadal fairly handily in the US Open. </p>
<p>Nadal will have to do a lot more before being considered the world’s best hard court player.</p>
<p>Nadal has exactly one year where he has won more than 1 Grand Slam. Federer has 4. Too early to consider Nadal among the best. He needs to produce more Grand Slams with consistency; it may happen with time, but too early right now to declare it.</p>
<p>Nadal had a rough tournament schedule last year and those bandages around his knees probably indicate some level of joint injury. He’s a big guy with big and heavy muscles with a very jerky playing style and that will take a toll on your knees. Most great players decrease their schedules as they get older and concentrate on the tournaments that they really want. It will be interesting to see if Nadal goes with a heavy schedule or lightens up to put more focus on the slams.</p>
<p>It is very hard to win at the French and Wimbledon in the modern age. Nadal winning one and then the other is a remarkable achievement and he clearly made adjustments to his game to do so. It reminds me of the changes that Borg made to do well at Wimbledon.</p>
<p>I was premature in calling Nadal possibly the great male player ever.</p>
<p>I’m assuming he wins 6-8 more grand slam titles in the next 4 years.:)</p>
<p>It’s true. His body may break down. Nadal might not win those titles.</p>
<p>yeah…everybody thought Nadal’s body would break down yesterday and it didn’t. Or maybe he just played through the pain. Remarkable.
Yes, Federer has more of a record but Nadal is young and its feels like a changing of the guard. Honestly, I wanted more of a rivalry between these two but Nadal keeps getting the big wins lately.<br>
I read up on an interview Federer gave yesterday after he stopped crying. He said he “gave it” to Nadal in the 5th set. Hmmm…not very sporty of him. You should always give your opponent credit. Nadal was gracious as usual and even his Uncle Tony had high praise for Federer.
Hey, and I like Federer. But Nadal is showing more class here. Federer is coming across like a bit of a spoiled brat. Crying…hey you can’t control that sometimes. But give Nadal credit…he was amazing!</p>
<p>I’ll go with Bjorn Borg. He was dominant on grass (fast) and clay (slow), winning 5 straight Wimbledons and 6 French Opens. Who can match that success on both types of surfaces? Plus, who else has the “mystique” that he had?</p>
<p>Who can forget Jimmy Conners (before he went baseline) ? Or Boris Becker, The Big Mac Attack ? Love the old legends.</p>
<p>Conners, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi. It was so cool when we had REALLY excellent American players to root for (grateful that we have the Williams sisters though).
Roddick, Blake, Fish - they always seem to fall short.
I think the US is in trouble with the Davis Cup coming up (Switzerland).</p>
<p>I think that the lack of top talent in the US is parents making sports decisions for their kids when they are young - to some extent to go after scholarship dollars; if they happen to be really, really good, then they could turn pro.</p>
<p>The Williams sisters are a really interesting case. They were homeschooled by their parents and taught by their parents - neither of them teaching pros. I believe that they spent their early years in Compton, CA, a very high-crime area.</p>
<p>I think that parents are pushing their kids into other sports areas which has drained off the number of kids interested in tennis.</p>
<p>^^^^ BC – Your last statement is not completely true. I read something in Tennis magazine a few months back about all the young (like 5-8 yr old) phenoms and their stage moms and dads pushing their kiddos along in tennis.</p>
<p>Regarding US players, the USTA and the academies are always making a push to bring about greater awareness and make tennis cool. Other nations just seem to instituitionalize their programs better than the US. </p>
<p>I believe Nadal is taking it to Federer now because Nadal is a better/stronger athlete, but yah Federer is a better tennis player.</p>