Roger Federer

[gunnarthor]

He's in the Aussie Open Final.

http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/18557011/roger-federer-advances-australian-open-final-victory-stan-wawrinka

 

Wow.  I really hope he gets his 18th grandslam down under.  And it could be against Nadal, if Nadal can get by Dimitrov.  

 

With the possible exception of Tiger Woods and Roided up Bonds, I don't think I've ever seen an athlete dominate a sport like Federer owned Tennis.

[Squirrel]

And ... Venus! I mean that's an even bigger story, imo. While I know the rest of the world will kvetch about an all-Williams slam final, I think it's awesome!! Serena is the favorite to win, but she has, in the past, had a lot of mental difficulties beating her older sister, so it could make for an interesting final.

 

While Federer already leads the 'who has the most singles titles' category, Serena could pass Steffi with a finals win! She is an amazing, absolutely amazing, athlete.

[Squirrel]

And then there is this Federer ad that I love!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZISGe6JYUA

[gunnarthor]

And it's a Nadal/Federer final!  Wow.  I really hope Fed wins.

[Squirrel]

 

And it's a Nadal/Federer final!  Wow.  I really hope Fed wins.

A Nadal/Federer final for the men's and an all-Williams final for the women ... what year is this??? Have we gone back in time?

 

I'm way more interested in the women's final than the men's, but both will be interesting.

[jimmer]

Go Roger!!! My favorite tennis player of all time.

[Vanimal46]

Flashback Friday to when Nadal and Federer met in a Grand Slam match for the first time in 2005. Who would have guessed 12 years later they would both still be at the top of their game. 

[Squirrel]

Rafa v Roger is all kinds of nostalgia. But this was history:

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/18571644/australian-open-goat-debate-serena-williams-everyone-else?addata=espn:frontpage

[Willihammer]

Federer is awesome- maybe be the greatest of all time, but Nadal has absolutely pwned the French Open where 9 of his 14 grand slam titles have come. Maybe a greater tennis mind can explain how that happens, do you need superior core strength to win on clay?

 

Also does anyone know if they let women play in the Australian Open?

[Squirrel]

Federer is awesome- maybe be the greatest of all time, but Nadal has absolutely pwned the French Open where 9 of his 14 grand slam titles have come. Maybe a greater tennis mind can explain how that happens, do you need superior core strength to win on clay?

Clay is a very different game than hard court than grass. I don't think it has anything to do with core strength, it's just a very different game, one that I think Nadal is superior to Federer in.

 

 

Also does anyone know if they let women play in the Australian Open?

You are dead to me.

[Willihammer]

Yeah I'm just wondering since Nadal looks to be the more powerful man if that benefits him on a slippery surface since he can't plant his feet like on grass or clay. But after reading a bit into it, it sounds like the ball doesn't bounce as high, so volleys are longer, and it comes down to a test of endurance and committing fewer unforced errors. Something just occurred to me now, perhaps Nadal simply deals with the heat better than Federer.

 

FWIW I love the women's game too. And Serena is an amazing talent but let's face it, if any man, even the greatest - Federer let's say, treated line judges like Serena does on an all too regular basis, attitudes were not be so reverential towards him as they are for Serena.

[Squirrel]

Yeah I'm just wondering since Nadal looks to be the more powerful man if that benefits him on a slippery surface since he can't plant his feet like on grass or clay. But after reading a bit into it, it sounds like the ball doesn't bounce as high, so volleys are longer, and it comes down to a test of endurance and committing fewer unforced errors. Something just occurred to me now, perhaps Nadal simply deals with the heat better than Federer.

 

FWIW I love the women's game too. And Serena is an amazing talent but let's face it, if any man, even the greatest - Federer let's say, treated line judges like Serena does on an all too regular basis, attitudes were not be so reverential towards him as they are for Serena.

The famous incident with Serena was a bogus foot fault call. While Serena shouldn't have responded as she did, that line judge should have been removed from ever being an official again. But don't kid yourself when singling out Serena, she's far from the worst. Still not acceptable but Federer is no angel either.

 

Also, Serena isn't just an amazing talent, she is THE BEST the women's game has ever seen. And the longevity the Williams sisters have had at the level they have played is really unprecedented in today's game. A 35 yr old woman at #1? It's more than just amazing imo.

[gunnarthor]

Nadal is better on clay, as I understand it, because the ball doesn't bounce as high and his LH spin is so different from everyone elses. And the clay slows down the court so Federer's speed advantage is neutralized a bit.

 

I've never bought into his GOAT argument because he is such a clay-only player.  He's "only" won 5 grand slams outside of the French, for example. Basically, his only claim is his head-to-head against Federer (which isn't a bad claim) but if you look at things like weeks at #1, longevity of career, best peak, Federer has him over a barrel. 

[Squirrel]

Also, since challenge/replay system has been instituted in tennis it has taken away much of the line call disputing that has been present in both the men's and women's games. I think I read about 30% of the calls have been overturned. That's a lot, really, when so much of the game is dependent on in or out calls. There was a finals match involving Roddick where he had a 'meltdown' over a call (prior to replay challenge) where later it showed he was right and the line judge was wrong. 

[jimmer]

Federer!!!!!! I stayed up late watching the match. I'm tired but it was fun to watch.  You can tell neither of these guys are what they once were, but it was fun

[gunnarthor]

Maybe we should keep this thread alive.  He won the Australian Open and Indian Wells, beating Nadal in both.  Now it looks like they might meet again in Miami.  I really hope Federer has a magical year.

[gunnarthor]

So Nadal just got bounced at Wimbledon before the semi-finals. Someone posted this amazing stat.

 

Over the last 57 majors (his first championship Wimbledon 2003) including ones he didn't enter, Federer has failed to make the quarter finals only 9 times and failed to make the semi-finals only 15 times.  

 

Over the last 50 majors (going to his first championship French Open 2005), including ones he didn't enter, Nadal has failed to make the quarter finals 18 times and failed to make the semi-finals 25 times. 

[gunnarthor]

And he wins Wimbledon

[drjim]

And he wins Wimbledon

Amazing

[gunnarthor]

While we were watching the match, the camera kept going to this very pretty woman in the audience so I said to my wife, that must be Cilic's wife or girlfriend. She looked at me and said, "That's Kate Middleton. She's married to the prince."  He did well for himself.

[Willihammer]

Greatest ever, no doubt about it.

 

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/nwfishing/bobber1.gif