2017 Australian Open Final: FEDAL XXXV

[GameSetAndMath]

Federer handed a lot of easy breaks to Nadal. Both players played awful on some parts, and almost never well at the same time. It was a strange, tense match, but not high quality. I can remember a handful of stupid sitter shots Federer missed.

I definitely would not call this match "classic" even though it is a historically important match. The fifth set can be called as the classic, may be.

 

[atttomole]

I am also thinking Roger watched Grigor's semifinal match very closely. Roger was hitting more down the line backhands, instead of hitting them cross court. Roger misses more with his cross court back hands, even though he won great points from it in this match. He kept Nadal guessing as to which side he was hitting his back hand, and often he seemed to fake a cross court back hand, then hitting down the line, or straight back at Nadal, which I thought surprised Nadal a little. I also felt a lot of the service breaks Roger suffered were gifts.

Darren Cahill also said that Roger was hitting his backhand so flat that there was practically no spin on the ball - that he could read the Wilson logo on the ball from where he as sitting courtside. McEnroe seemed shocked at that - as if it never occurred to him to that Roger could take all the spin off the ball so Nadal had to work harder to create all the topspin he puts on his forehand.

I guess on a much slower surface it may not have been easy for Fed to hit the back hand the way he did today. I was wondering if they changed the playing surface at the Australian Open, because I am not sure if its cheap enough to change the surface every year.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

They just mentioned another interesting tidbit in ESPN.

Roger won against four top 10 opponents at this AO to lift the trophy, viz., Berdych, Kei, Stan and Rafa. The last time somebody had to win against four top 10 opponents to life the trophy was 1982.
No doubt that this whole tournament (and the final) is a hard fought win. :clap

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

They just mentioned another interesting tidbit in ESPN.

Roger won against four top 10 opponents at this AO to lift the trophy, viz., Berdych, Kei, Stan and Rafa. The last time somebody had to win against four top 10 opponents to life the trophy was 1982.
No doubt that this whole tournament (and the final) is a hard fought win. :clap

Also wondering if he ever had to win 3 five-setters to win a slam? :huh:

 

[kskate2]

Only Rex got it right. He voted Fed in 5. Well done. :clap

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Roger made a weird statement at the trophy presentation. I don't remember it exactly and so I am paraphrasing. "I hope to see you all next year. But, if not Australia was great for the last 20 years for me. Thank you all".

Is he thinking of retirement?

Later in the ESPN Studio Interview, Chris McKendry asked him what he meant by that. Fed said that he made the statement as you never know what will happen in future.

 

[Kieran]

Were some of Federer's kids in the players box? Nice for them, if they were.

I don't see why he'd think of retirement. I've never seen a player that age defy the logic of the calendar so successfully. I imagine he has few goals left, but to play so well after a long break is remarkable, to say the least. I think we'll see more of him...

 

[DarthFed]

Well, I didn't mind the MTO, and it didn't affect Rafa, but let's never hear you complain about them again, eh?

Welcome back. It was well known Roger had an adductor injury and obvious from the match against Stan. He played 3 x 5 setters. I'd say it was perfectly justified and anyway, he lost serve as predicted right away to start the 5th. Knew he would. So quite why Carol says he's a cheater is anyone's guess.

She's saying it for the same reason you always b1tch about it. But this time, Federer actually admitted the other day against Stan that his MTO was "more mental than anything else" because it gave him the opportunity to chat with somebody, "even if it's just a physio."

Now, personally, I have no complaints about any of that stuff, but you should to be consistent in your criticisms...

EDIT: thanks for the welcome back, by the way.

You were gone way too long my friend. Don't ever take a 2 week vacation like that on us again :devil

Amazed that Roger pulled that out in the 5th. We'd seen that movie many times before and he finally flipped it with brilliant play the last 5 games.

I can't stand Rafa but I think he has an excellent chance to claim his 10th RG this year. Roger has a great chance at winning his 8th Wimby too but if he never wins another match this was one hell of a signature win.

 

[DarthFed]

Were some of Federer's kids in the players box? Nice for them, if they were.

I don't see why he'd think of retirement. I've never seen a player that age defy the logic of the calendar so successfully. I imagine he has few goals left, but to play so well after a long break is remarkable, to say the least. I think we'll see more of him...

I think winning another Wimbledon is what will keep him going from here on out. If he gets it this year I expect he will retire after this season if not right after the USO or something. If not he will come back in 2018 most likely.

 

[Kieran]

Welcome back. It was well known Roger had an adductor injury and obvious from the match against Stan. He played 3 x 5 setters. I'd say it was perfectly justified and anyway, he lost serve as predicted right away to start the 5th. Knew he would. So quite why Carol says he's a cheater is anyone's guess.

She's saying it for the same reason you always b1tch about it. But this time, Federer actually admitted the other day against Stan that his MTO was "more mental than anything else" because it gave him the opportunity to chat with somebody, "even if it's just a physio."

Now, personally, I have no complaints about any of that stuff, but you should to be consistent in your criticisms...

EDIT: thanks for the welcome back, by the way.

You were gone way too long my friend. Don't ever take a 2 week vacation like that on us again :devil

Amazed that Roger pulled that out in the 5th. We'd seen that movie many times before and he finally flipped it with brilliant play the last 5 games.

I can't stand Rafa but I think he has an excellent chance to claim his 10th RG this year. Roger has a great chance at winning his 8th Wimby too but if he never wins another match this was one hell of a signature win.

I'm kinda cautiously optimistic about Rafa, but he's shown this tourney that he's still not wobble-proof. 2nd set against Milos, 2nd set against Grigor, and during patches of the match today, he was very ordinary. The fifth set today he just ran out of everything, but he fought well. A promising aspect is that generally in the clutch he was immense, after he wobbled. The points he played at 3-4, 15-40 against grigor spring to mind. He didn't reach such levels of aggression or intensity today, but that's understandable.

But there's no guarantee that playing great in one event means necessarily that he's cured of his woes and he's back. I'd have to see this a lot more often before I'll think he's going to be as great as he was...

 

[DarthFed]

Well he will never be as great as he was. The same is true for Roger by the way, but that doesn't mean Rafa can't be good enough to get it done at a slam. It's not like Rafa was at full peak level form going into this match and it was an up and down match tonight too.

That also has been true for Roger who has banged on the door a few times the past few years but couldn't quite close the deal until today. This was an amazing tournament for him in part because he had to struggle so much to get it done, he hasn't been great in 5th sets for much of his career but he was amazing in them this event, especially since he had been up 2 sets to 1 in each of those matches and had to regroup. Rafa will always be one of if not the main favorite at RG and he could still pull one out at AO and USO.

 

[Kieran]

Well, players are usually in terminal decline long before they hit Rafa's age. He wasn't as clinical as he was a few years back, and we can't base a judgment on him on a single great event. Grigor had a great event too, but he still has to prove himself.

I think Rafa will be heartened by his effort here. He kiboshed his chances in the final by playing such a long semi, but he still fought really hard to stay active in the final. But these are signs he's getting older. Federer has utterly defied logic and age here in Oz, but rafa hasn't. He looked his age a lot of the time against Grigor, and he felt it today. In BOF, you need to be able to recover from long matches, and this will be an issue going forwards. We'll see. He's heading the right direction, but it's still a long hard road, and as he's getting older, who knows what'll happen?

 

[DarthFed]

The match vs. Grigor was tremendous. I don't think Rafa gagged in the 2nd or 4th sets and the tennis in the 5th was great. I hear you about Dimitrov, I'm hopeful he turned a corner here because if he keeps playing like that he will probably win a slam soon. If Rafa hadn't played great he'd have been done and dusted in 4. The long match didn't help Rafa for tonight that's for sure but ultimately tonight was a case where Roger's backhand held up extremely well and he returned Rafa's serve better than he usually does. Rafa's level tonight was not as high as the semi but it was probably better than what we saw from him against Zverev and Monfils.

 

[mrzz]

Front, Quit Bitchin.."You Can't Stop what's Coming "

Hate to be this picky, but anyway...

Yeah, Front could not stop what was coming, but somebody else was.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

She's saying it for the same reason you always b1tch about it. But this time, Federer actually admitted the other day against Stan that his MTO was "more mental than anything else" because it gave him the opportunity to chat with somebody, "even if it's just a physio."

Now, personally, I have no complaints about any of that stuff, but you should to be consistent in your criticisms...

EDIT: thanks for the welcome back, by the way.

You were gone way too long my friend. Don't ever take a 2 week vacation like that on us again :devil

Amazed that Roger pulled that out in the 5th. We'd seen that movie many times before and he finally flipped it with brilliant play the last 5 games.

I can't stand Rafa but I think he has an excellent chance to claim his 10th RG this year. Roger has a great chance at winning his 8th Wimby too but if he never wins another match this was one hell of a signature win.

I'm kinda cautiously optimistic about Rafa, but he's shown this tourney that he's still not wobble-proof. 2nd set against Milos, 2nd set against Grigor, and during patches of the match today, he was very ordinary. The fifth set today he just ran out of everything, but he fought well. A promising aspect is that generally in the clutch he was immense, after he wobbled. The points he played at 3-4, 15-40 against grigor spring to mind. He didn't reach such levels of aggression or intensity today, but that's understandable.

But there's no guarantee that playing great in one event means necessarily that he's cured of his woes and he's back. I'd have to see this a lot more often before I'll think he's going to be as great as he was...

Look, Rafa is a confidence player. He needs lots of match wins to get his confidence after coming back from injury. So, I don't see why he cannot get his confidence back in time for RG.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I remember the sad times after the three final losses to Novak ( W 14, W 15 and USO 15). Each time I voted for Roger and all pumped up only to be seriously disappointed.

But, today made it up for all those. I did not vote for Fed and did not think he will win, especially after coughing up an early break in 5th. So, it is even sweeter.

 

[Front242]

Roger made a weird statement at the trophy presentation. I don't remember it exactly and so I am paraphrasing. "I hope to see you all next year. But, if not Australia was great for the last 20 years for me. Thank you all".

Is he thinking of retirement?

Later in the ESPN Studio Interview, Chris McKendry asked him what he meant by that. Fed said that he made the statement as you never know what will happen in future.

Yeah, was a bit of a huh comment alright. My opinion when he said it was that it wasn't to do with possible retirement, but because he doesn't know how his body will hold up. It's a long way till next January in terms of mileage on those legs. That's my guess anyway. After all, he recently said h hopes to play a few more years. A couple is 2 so a few is 3+

Now, if he wins another slam this year which isn't impossible then he may consider retirement but I'd be gutted if he did, eventhough I'd be delighted if he wins another Wimbledon or USO.

 

[Front242]

Roger really improved his awful 5th set record this tournament too. Another plus. Many pluses from this event. Off the top of my head: 18th slam, now has 5+ at 3 of the slams (AO, Wimbledon, USO), beat 4 top 10 players on route to the title (after knee surgery a year ago and 6+ months off!), notched up another 3 x 5 set victories to improve that record as mentioned, oldest player to win a slam in donkey's years, lowest seeded champion I'd imagine for quite a few years, got the h2h with Nadal to 23-12. As I said earlier and a few years before, I always maintained that as these 2 aged, Roger would get that h2h looking less ugly and I stand by it. Especially in best of 3 I expect him to win a few more. When all's said and done, it won't look half as ugly.

 

[Front242]

Most impressive stat for me personally in today's match was that, in the 5th set, Roger won 5 straight games to win it. When was the last time he did that to Nadal?! In a slam final, no less.

 

[Front242]

Roger's finally got the idea right. From his post match interview: "I tried to play the ball and not the opponent." Only took him what, a decade? Hopefully he's turned a corner.