ATP World Tour Final 02
Discussion
Lucky enough to go to both sessions on Sunday and Monday plus the afternoon session yesterday. Thought Murray would give Federer a tough match on the evidence of the first round but he never got started yesterday; luckily for him the round-robin format means he can have a bad day and still make the semi-finals and I think he will. However, he'll need to be back to the form he showed on Sunday if he's to have any chance against Nadal or Djokovic!
Federer was good yesterday but I think even he was surprised at how poor Murray was! Nadal struggled against Roddick (who played very well) and could have quite easily lost that match; however, in typical fashion he fought for every point, found his timing and, once he'd won the second set, there was only one winner. Should be a good match tonight as Djokovic looked very solid in the first round.
Based on what I saw I'd say Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray for the semi-finals. Not easy to pick a winner from those but Federer seems up for it this week so if I was a betting man I'd probably put my money on him!
Federer was good yesterday but I think even he was surprised at how poor Murray was! Nadal struggled against Roddick (who played very well) and could have quite easily lost that match; however, in typical fashion he fought for every point, found his timing and, once he'd won the second set, there was only one winner. Should be a good match tonight as Djokovic looked very solid in the first round.
Based on what I saw I'd say Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray for the semi-finals. Not easy to pick a winner from those but Federer seems up for it this week so if I was a betting man I'd probably put my money on him!
Allblackdup said:
Watched the Nadal match this afternoon on TV and frankly i can't see anyone beating him on that performance. Superb doesn't come close!
His serve is now first class and that top spin forehand of his now works just as well on hard courts as it does on clay. He's immense.North West Tom said:
Federer was too good, just a shame Nadal choked in that final set.
I thought he seemed to more run out of gas than choke. The high energy game you normally associate with Nadal wasn't really there tonight and if Federer hadn't suffered a dip in form in the middle of the 2nd set I think he would have won in straight sets; he was the one dictating proceedings whenever he played well and certainly deserved to win. Hopefully this victory will give him a confidence boost for next year and also some belief that he can beat Nadal! Still, three grand slams isn't exactly a bad season for Rafa; 12 months ago I bet he'd have settled for one in 2010 after his awful showing at the O2 last year!
JNW1 said:
North West Tom said:
Federer was too good, just a shame Nadal choked in that final set.
I thought he seemed to more run out of gas than choke. The high energy game you normally associate with Nadal wasn't really there tonight and if Federer hadn't suffered a dip in form in the middle of the 2nd set I think he would have won in straight sets; he was the one dictating proceedings whenever he played well and certainly deserved to win. Hopefully this victory will give him a confidence boost for next year and also some belief that he can beat Nadal! Still, three grand slams isn't exactly a bad season for Rafa; 12 months ago I bet he'd have settled for one in 2010 after his awful showing at the O2 last year!
I thought they both looked a bit tired, also looked as if they had both lost a fair amount of weight
Federer beats Nadal when he plays a measured attacking game, keeps Nadal off-balance (very difficult) and resists the urge to get into lengthy points. I am SURE he has been doing some serious strengthening on his shoulder to cope with the height and weight of the ball off of Nadal's forehand as his backhand was strong and very accurate throughout the match. Changing the trajectory of a high, heavy ball with incredible amounts of spin and putting it in a very specific spot point after point is extremely difficult. Roger did amazingly well with this. Much better net play, closing out the points early and using wide serves did a lot of damage and pulled him out of a few dicey situations.
Good job Roger and Rafa.
Good job Roger and Rafa.
- As a multiple drug cheat, Maradona should be BANNED from all sporting arenas. Bloody disgrace seeing him there.
Justices said:
Federer beats Nadal when he plays a measured attacking game,
Agreed, when Federer plays well and to his strengths I'd say he'd beat Nadal on all surfaces except possibly clay; question is really whether he believes that but I think Paul Annacone could be a great help to him there.
Justices said:
As a multiple drug cheat, Maradona should be BANNED from all sporting arenas. Bloody disgrace seeing him there.
He certainly got a VERY mixed reception from the crowd when Mark Petchey drew attention to his presence on the Monday; no disputing the bloke was a teriffic footballer but equally no disputing he was a cheat and a lot of people clearly remembered that. At least Roger and Rafa prove that it is possible to have both talent and class!People forget Roger grew up on the clay. This is where his all-court game was developed and why I believe he seems hesitant in attacking the net. If you watch his Wimbledon match against Sampras he played superbly at the net (no option really) so he is more than capable of doing so when he chooses. You only need look at the way he dispatches everyone (even the top clay players) at Roland Garros each year for proof of his clay court prowess. Nadal is a very different animal though as there is virtually no point in a match where his head dips so it is very difficult to turn the proverbial screw as you get little to nothing in terms of leverage. The only way I've seen it done is with all-out-attack where he is neutralised and doesn't have a chance to get into the points. James Blake and Tsonga did this well against Nadal. It's high-risk tennis however and you need to be ON for the entire match. The moment you aren't.. "VAMOS" it's over.
Going back to Maradona, his handball was one thing, that incident was for the referee at the time to judge (unfortunately). The consistent, flagrant drug use and being allowed to play time and time again despite disgracing his various teams and the competitions he was allowed to compete in is something else. As brilliant a player as he was, victory means nothing when you cheat. Fundamentally it is a complete lack of respect for your opponent and without an opponent, there is no sport. The absolute definition of a false idol IMO.
In Argentina, so long as you don't get caught it's seen as acceptable to cheat in sport to win. I discussed this at length with a few top athletes earlier this year and although I had suspicions, I was still bowled over that it's really a bit of a non-issue there. A large number of Argentinian tennis players have been caught and banned. International players that well known Argentinian players have coached also get involved in doping, allegedly of course..
[/semi-rant]
Going back to Maradona, his handball was one thing, that incident was for the referee at the time to judge (unfortunately). The consistent, flagrant drug use and being allowed to play time and time again despite disgracing his various teams and the competitions he was allowed to compete in is something else. As brilliant a player as he was, victory means nothing when you cheat. Fundamentally it is a complete lack of respect for your opponent and without an opponent, there is no sport. The absolute definition of a false idol IMO.
In Argentina, so long as you don't get caught it's seen as acceptable to cheat in sport to win. I discussed this at length with a few top athletes earlier this year and although I had suspicions, I was still bowled over that it's really a bit of a non-issue there. A large number of Argentinian tennis players have been caught and banned. International players that well known Argentinian players have coached also get involved in doping, allegedly of course..
[/semi-rant]
Justices said:
People forget Roger grew up on the clay. This is where his all-court game was developed and why I believe he seems hesitant in attacking the net. If you watch his Wimbledon match against Sampras he played superbly at the net (no option really) so he is more than capable of doing so when he chooses. You only need look at the way he dispatches everyone (even the top clay players) at Roland Garros each year for proof of his clay court prowess. Nadal is a very different animal though as there is virtually no point in a match where his head dips so it is very difficult to turn the proverbial screw as you get little to nothing in terms of leverage. The only way I've seen it done is with all-out-attack where he is neutralised and doesn't have a chance to get into the points. James Blake and Tsonga did this well against Nadal. It's high-risk tennis however and you need to be ON for the entire match. The moment you aren't.. "VAMOS" it's over.
Going back to Maradona, his handball was one thing, that incident was for the referee at the time to judge (unfortunately). The consistent, flagrant drug use and being allowed to play time and time again despite disgracing his various teams and the competitions he was allowed to compete in is something else. As brilliant a player as he was, victory means nothing when you cheat. Fundamentally it is a complete lack of respect for your opponent and without an opponent, there is no sport. The absolute definition of a false idol IMO.
In Argentina, so long as you don't get caught it's seen as acceptable to cheat in sport to win. I discussed this at length with a few top athletes earlier this year and although I had suspicions, I was still bowled over that it's really a bit of a non-issue there. A large number of Argentinian tennis players have been caught and banned. International players that well known Argentinian players have coached also get involved in doping, allegedly of course..
[/semi-rant]
interesting i never knew Federer grew up on clay, it might partly explain the mental block he has when playing Nadal...?Going back to Maradona, his handball was one thing, that incident was for the referee at the time to judge (unfortunately). The consistent, flagrant drug use and being allowed to play time and time again despite disgracing his various teams and the competitions he was allowed to compete in is something else. As brilliant a player as he was, victory means nothing when you cheat. Fundamentally it is a complete lack of respect for your opponent and without an opponent, there is no sport. The absolute definition of a false idol IMO.
In Argentina, so long as you don't get caught it's seen as acceptable to cheat in sport to win. I discussed this at length with a few top athletes earlier this year and although I had suspicions, I was still bowled over that it's really a bit of a non-issue there. A large number of Argentinian tennis players have been caught and banned. International players that well known Argentinian players have coached also get involved in doping, allegedly of course..
[/semi-rant]
That is the great thing about Nadal, the only way to beat him when he is on top form is to attack like Federer did but to keep that kind of level up for a whole match is very difficult
Jimmy Connors summed it up perfectly: "In an era of specialists, you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a hard court specialist...or you're Roger Federer."
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