Official Nadal vs. Federer thread.

[CanonNo1]

This is Sampras v Agassi all over again, except Rafa is even stronger mentally than Andre was.

I'm thinking this more Seles vs Graf. Graf was the dominant players of the late 80's and early 90's. Single handed, elegant and graceful ... then came Seles. Grunt, Power and Strength and always seems to have the better of Graf. Graf grabbed a a few slams, as Federer will, but one could only imagine that Seles would have dominated her for even longer.

Devastated at the Federer loss and I think mentally he is resigned to fact that he is going to lose far more times than win against Rafa.

 

[warney7]

The end of the Aussie Open is always a sad time.

It not only marks the end of a 2 week Grand Slam tournament, but a summer of International Tennis right across the country.

Bloody 4 months until the French........

 

[Judd 05]

well said mate..completely agree...harden the **** up.

He wasnt crying because he lost, he was crying because of Rod Laver and the other legends present. He didnt cry after he lost Wimbledon or the 3 Roland Garros'. The only other time he cried was when Rod Laver presented him with the '06 AO Cup, see the link?

 

[Rod Stroker]

However, I would be crying as Federer realising that Safina will get the same pay as him. That is depressing.

What's depressing is that Rafa had to spend 10 hours on court for the same pay that Williams got in 2.5! That equal pay garbage is a sham!

 

[Hawks1523]

Dunno why, couldnt help myself from laughing when fed cried. how disappointed did rod laver look? hahaha!

King Rafa reigns supreme again


also lol at saying sorry to fed haha

 

[ashylon]

well said mate..completely agree...harden the **** up.

Good on Roger for showing his emotions and his love of tennis! Maybe he was crying because he lost a game which meant so much to him, but he was also crying because of the legends presents around him, include Rod Laver. He has so much respect for those men and the game.

Well done to Nadal aswell, desereved the win!

 

[red+black]

so Federer has to cry every single time he's in Laver's presence?

 

[Audacious]

i cant feel sorry for Federer either. He has millions and millions of dollars, is well like by most people around the world, will go down as the greatest tennis player in history and will most likely have a few places around switzerland named after him.

Im happy for Rafa to come along and give us a contest. The previous mens singles finals have been relatively boring, with this the 1st time in decades for it to go to 5 sets. Thank god we got good value for money this year. Breath of fresh air seeing someone else have a chance at the Grand Slam too.

Rafas 10 sets over a semi and final is an unbelievable effort, and despite Jim Courier suggesting a thousand times throughout the match that Nadal would tire i never once doubted that he could go the distance. The man is a super fit athlete.

+1 for Rafa should get much more prize money than Serena Williams. What a joke equal pay is for tennis...

 

[Hot Spenny]

so Federer has to cry every single time he's in Laver's presence?

He probably doesn't have to, unless there are rules in place.

 

[red+black]

you have to think people will think twice before shelling out money for the Women's final in future. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if most tickets on Saturday night were corporates and freebies. why would anyone pay good money for a ticket to Saturday night? That's why the US stuffs up the draw and puts the men's semis on Saturday also because the women are an unmitigated embarrassment.

 

[Power King]

I like the way Federer showed his emotion at the end. The greatest thing about sport is emotion, so it was good to see just how much tonight meant to Fed.

I like the way the two interacted after the match as well. Great sportsmanship.

NADAL YOU ****ING CHAMPION - current Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon champion!!!!! well-deserved!!!

As for Mary Joe Fernandez, yes that's her. I remember thinking she was hot stuff when I was around 6/7. If I couldn't have her, surely Rasheed the tank should have a crack..

Whenever I see Rod Laver, the aura he gives off just seems to automatically give me the vibe that this man is the shit. What a legend.

As for Federer taking the shine off Nadal, I really don't think Nadal would mind so much. He has a big trophy in his hands, and really he doesn't seem to be someone that needs the limelight. Plus he has so much respect for Federer.

However, I would be crying as Federer realising that Safina will get the same pay as him. That is depressing.

Well done Rafa!!!!!

Great gesture when he put his arm around him. I love the guy!

Yes, that was awesome. I don't have words to describe that, and I can only say that it was really good to see. Beautiful moment.

true...raf should be able to celebrate, and not have the job of consoling his opponent. Fed's emotions are just on overdrive around laver. Kinda like how bruce mcavaney was in the presence of carey... though instead of crying, bruce would just blow his load every time

lol at the mcavaney analogy

I'm thinking this more Seles vs Graf. Graf was the dominant players of the late 80's and early 90's. Single handed, elegant and graceful ... then came Seles. Grunt, Power and Strength and always seems to have the better of Graf. Graf grabbed a a few slams, as Federer will, but one could only imagine that Seles would have dominated her for even longer.

^That's actually a good analogy

Also, for anyone who doesn't have a clue, surely, SURELY you can see from this AO why women do not deserve equal pay. These men are ****ing warriors. I cannot say the same for women.

KING RAFA

 

[Ed_Gein]

i cant feel sorry for Federer either. He has millions and millions of dollars, is well like by most people around the world, will go down as the greatest tennis player in history and will most likely have a few places around switzerland named after him.

Im happy for Rafa to come along and give us a contest. The previous mens singles finals have been relatively boring, with this the 1st time in decades for it to go to 5 sets. Thank god we got good value for money this year. Breath of fresh air seeing someone else have a chance at the Grand Slam too.

Rafas 10 sets over a semi and final is an unbelievable effort, and despite Jim Courier suggesting a thousand times throughout the match that Nadal would tire i never once doubted that he could go the distance. The man is a super fit athlete.

+1 for Rafa should get much more prize money than Serena Williams. What a joke equal pay is for tennis...

I have no problem with the equal pay.... if they bump womens tennis in the australian open up to a best of 5. get a longer perv at some of the fine bodies of the female variety.

 

[red+black]

I have my doubts fed will ever make another French Open final. What do others think?

He still has to be favourite going into Wimbledon though.

 

[Power King]

I'm still thinking Djokovic is in for a big year.

He played some good tennis at the AO, and still has improvement left in him.

Of course the spotlight is on Nadal at the moment, but all I'm saying is I wouldn't lock it in to be Nadal-Federer for the other 3 major finals this year. I think Djokovic could make the US open final, but that is a long way away.

 

[red+black]

For Novak's sake, I hope the sun never comes out when he's playing.

The strain could be too much.

 

[Audacious]

I have my doubts fed will ever make another French Open final. What do others think?

He still has to be favourite going into Wimbledon though.

yeah id agree with that. With Nadal a lock for 1 of the spots in the French final its hard to see Federer getting past so many other clay court specialists. I think if Federer was going to win the French open it would have been done in 2006 or 2007.

Shame that probably the best ever tennis player was denied winning the Grand Slam.

 

[pinkus maximus]

Nadal is a freak. He would have to be one of the toughest competitors of any sport I have seen

 

[Total Power]

Nadal is a freak i am saying that for over half a decade now

 

[aaronm46]

I thought the presentation was brilliant, so many emotions.

The funniest part for me was when Rafa first went up to the microphone, he said something like, ''Well...uh..hello?'' I LOL'd

 

[pinkus maximus]

I thought the presentation was brilliant, so many emotions.

The funniest part for me was when Rafa first went up to the microphone, he said something like, ''Well...uh..hello?'' I LOL'd

lol yeah. The poor guy gets pretty nervous speaking his second language

 

[Hawks1523]

I thought the presentation was brilliant, so many emotions.

The funniest part for me was when Rafa first went up to the microphone, he said something like, ''Well...uh..hello?'' I LOL'd

Haha, was hilarious. Then when talking to Federer, he came out with the "To Roger.... I'm sorry for today"

haha, cracked me up.

 

[Kaan]

I'm still thinking Djokovic is in for a big year.

He played some good tennis at the AO, and still has improvement left in him.

Of course the spotlight is on Nadal at the moment, but all I'm saying is I wouldn't lock it in to be Nadal-Federer for the other 3 major finals this year. I think Djokovic could make the US open final, but that is a long way away.

Djokovic cant even play a few hours... if you want to win multiple slams you need to be able to play 10 hours in 3 days like Nadal.

 

[Power King]

^Yep, one such area he needs to improve in.

There is much to like about his game though.

and it was about 10 hrs, in 2 days

 

[Macca19]

Feds my favourite player, but I dont feel sorry for him. It was a very touching moment though. Its shows how much tennis means to him. Part of it would have been Laver being around, part of it would have been the crowd yelling out when he was trying to talk, part of it would have been that he really wanted the tournament to prove the doubters wrong. All boiled up and came out.

Its good to see a rivalry in sport thats not full of spite. They seem to have a genuine friendship and its great to see. I think it has the potential to be the best rivalry mens tennis has seen. Certainly, Nadal could well overtake Feds GS total as well...depends if and how many more Fed can win.

 

[randyzany]

Great and big victory for Nadal, I'm not too sure how Federer is going to react to this mentally, he played such a poor 5th set, it'll be tough. If he wants to regonised as the best player of all time (which is a stupid thing really to say) then he needs to play better in the big moments. Can completely understand the reaction from roger there at the presentation, nice to see Rafa was able to take it the right way.

I don't really like Nadal but huge respect to the guy What stamina to be able to keep going, and when he looked like he was slightly flat he picked himself up again. That no.1 spot is his for a long time now barring injuries of course.

I'm not a fan of Nadal (his game bores me and some of mannerisms/gestures on court makes Hewitt look lie an angel by comparison) either but yeah I don't begrudge him this success. It's was an amazing effort.

However players like Verdasco, Tsonga, Murray, Djokovic are more than capable of taking it right up to him and beating Nadal of that I have no doubt. He may intimidate a mentally fragile Federer but he doesn't hold the same mental edge over some of the aformentioned tennis players and thank goodness for that. We really do need players that are willing to take Nadal out of his long defensive heavy top spin rallies comfort zone and as talented as Federer he seems incapable of doing what Verdasco did in the semis.