Cincinnati Quarterfinal: Federer/Nadal

[the AntiPusher]

agreed and very good point.. what did Fed say in his pressor

I don't know yet, but I would be surprised if he did anything other than play it down.

From ATP:

The 32-year-old winner of 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and six Barclays ATP World Tour Finals would not be drawn into second guessing his decision to not challenge Nadal’s forehand on match point, which Hawkeye on television showed was out. “At this point it doesn't matter. I'm sitting here,” he said.

thanks Tented..



"I'm happy with my progress along the way," Federer said. "Could have won tonight, should have won tonight, who knows? But at the end, I think Rafa's confidence and the way he's playing at the moment got him through. So for me, I think it was a good step in the right direction."

 

[nehmeth]

agreed and very good point.. what did Fed say in his pressor

I don't know yet, but I would be surprised if he did anything other than play it down.

From ATP:

The 32-year-old winner of 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and six Barclays ATP World Tour Finals would not be drawn into second guessing his decision to not challenge Nadal’s forehand on match point, which Hawkeye on television showed was out. “At this point it doesn't matter. I'm sitting here,” he said.

Lol. Can't say it more clearly than that.

 

[the AntiPusher]

agreed and very good point.. what did Fed say in his pressor

I don't know yet, but I would be surprised if he did anything other than play it down.

From ATP:

The 32-year-old winner of 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and six Barclays ATP World Tour Finals would not be drawn into second guessing his decision to not challenge Nadal’s forehand on match point, which Hawkeye on television showed was out. “At this point it doesn't matter. I'm sitting here,” he said.

Lol. Can't say it more clearly than that.

:laydownlaughing

 

[Luxilon Borg]

agreed and very good point.. what did Fed say in his pressor

I don't know yet, but I would be surprised if he did anything other than play it down.

From ATP:

The 32-year-old winner of 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and six Barclays ATP World Tour Finals would not be drawn into second guessing his decision to not challenge Nadal’s forehand on match point, which Hawkeye on television showed was out. “At this point it doesn't matter. I'm sitting here,” he said.

Lol. Can't say it more clearly than that.

:laydownlaughing

Exactly...

 

[honey1269]

Murray Out. Djokovic out. Federer out ..Time for Berdych to humble Nadal a bit..

 

[ClayDeath]

welcome to the forums honey1269.

post away friend and enjoy the forum.

 

[Luxilon Borg]

Murray Out. Djokovic out. Federer out ..Time for Berdych to humble Nadal a bit..

He can dream...ain't gonna happen.

 

[ClayDeath]

good to see you around luxilon borg.

 

[Garro]

Have to admit, I thought Nadal was going to win in straights. Instead, that was some of the best tennis from Fed since WTF, or possibly even Cincy last year. Too bad about the ending though.

 

[Kieran]

Methinks some Fedfans hath protested too much!

It kind of sets me in mind of the good ol' days:

Fedfan #1: oh no! Roger's playing Blake next! In any other era, Blake would have six slams. He hit an ace in his last match - forget about the H2H - H2H means nothing at this level!

Fedfan #2: Have you looked at the draw? If he wins this, he plays Haas! And then Roddick!

Both, in unison: Tough draw!

Fedfan #1: in any other era, they'd have 37 slams between them. Roger hasn't got a chance.

Fedfan#2: If he wins this tournament...

Both, in unison: ...he truly is the GOAT!

-----------

Seems like Federer discovered his touch. He may go to NY as 4th favourite, but maybe Rafa is peaking too soon, and Nole is off, and Muzza isn't warmed up yet.

Anyhow, sounds like you all saw a great match. Happy for Rafa! Go take Cincy and NY and really shut up the nay-sayers!

 

[brokenshoelace]

People have low standards for a classic.

Agreed it wasn't a classic (and neither was Rafa/Nole last week). But it was an excellent match with sustained high quality (with the exception of Fed's early 3rd set lull perhaps). That's more than I can say about most tennis matches.

I don't see their relevance of bringing up their past matches (unless people are singing praise for the quality in the past 5 years). Many of their matches are error-filled? Well, this one wasn't.

 

[isabelle]

Rafa will humiliate Fed in 2 lopsided sets. The h2h increases and Roger goes to Flushing Meadows via the toilet.

You were too harsh with Olderer this time !!!
He played better than everybody expected from him even if Buttie was not at his best

 

[DarthFed]

Methinks some Fedfans hath protested too much!

It kind of sets me in mind of the good ol' days:

Fedfan #1: oh no! Roger's playing Blake next! In any other era, Blake would have six slams. He hit an ace in his last match - forget about the H2H - H2H means nothing at this level!

Fedfan #2: Have you looked at the draw? If he wins this, he plays Haas! And then Roddick!

Both, in unison: Tough draw!

Fedfan #1: in any other era, they'd have 37 slams between them. Roger hasn't got a chance.

Fedfan#2: If he wins this tournament...

Both, in unison: ...he truly is the GOAT!

-----------

Seems like Federer discovered his touch. He may go to NY as 4th favourite, but maybe Rafa is peaking too soon, and Nole is off, and Muzza isn't warmed up yet.

Anyhow, sounds like you all saw a great match. Happy for Rafa! Go take Cincy and NY and really shut up the nay-sayers!

He showed up for a set and some change and everyone wants to stop the presses. It's funny. He isn't the 4th, 5th or even 6th favorite for the USO. We will see if he still has game next year (I think he does).

As for the first part of the post I have no idea what you are talking about. Expectations change, I highly doubt any Federer fans were worried about him beating Roddick and Haas back in his prime. Now you see Fed fans thinking it is some decent result if he wins a set on fast hard courts.

 

[Mog]

Ever heard of a down-the-line forehand?

In the great scheme of things how often are you in a position to hit a DTL forehand?

If you're controlling the point, the way to go is try and pin Nadal deep on the backhand. If he's stepping back across, keep going back behind him. He hit quite a few UFE's himself there by trying to do to much with it when lost patience. Once you're putting him out of court then go back cross court. Federer did that quite often tonight with quite a lot of success. Djokovic does it/did it quite a lot also.

Obviously, You've got to be controlling the point in the first place.

Federer's main problem was getting the ball away from the Nadal forehand when he was defending. Largely because Nadal as always was going after Fed's backhand - moreso as the match went on.

Where Federer fell a little short for me was ROS. Particularly on the second serve. He did go very agressive on a couple in third set - going inside out. He needs to be more aggressive in that department.

Otherwise, I don't think he did a whole lot wrong. The match swung on a couple of games.

Very well said Britbox.
I also think the ROS was the problem to some extent,mainly on BH side. Rafa served 87-90% on Roger's BH. Whatever people say, the match was very close match. Good to see Roger playing this way.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Pretty much. I don't think I've ever seen so much excitement over a 6-3 decisive set.

I long for the day when Roger plays great again and for more than 60 minutes at a time. I think he will be refreshed in 2014, too much pride to go out playing so bad.

The man Fed has won more, achieved more and earn more cash than anyone in the history of the game.. Even Jordan couldnt dunk over FatherTime... Damn

Roger is still playing AP, he is way past his prime but that doesn't mean he can't be great. MJ is a great example. Well past his prime at 35 and still the best player in his sport. That won't be the case for Roger and it is harder to do that in tennis but it doesn't mean Roger is playing up to capabilities. I doubt he sits around thinking "who cares that I just lost the 2nd round of Wimbledon, I have 7."

Players like Roger have been greedy all along. Eventually he will be back and focused with a point to prove. It won't be the USO but maybe later this year or early next year. I don't think he is done yet despite everything pointing towards it.

good point Darth

 

[tented]

He showed up for a set and some change and everyone wants to stop the presses. It's funny. He isn't the 4th, 5th or even 6th favorite for the USO. We will see if he still has game next year (I think he does).

As for the first part of the post I have no idea what you are talking about. Expectations change, I highly doubt any Federer fans were worried about him beating Roddick and Haas back in his prime. Now you see Fed fans thinking it is some decent result if he wins a set on fast hard courts.

What was the last truly great Federer match?

(I'm being serious here, as you know, but others may think I'm trying to provoke you. I'm not. I'm truly interested in your opinion.)

 

[DarthFed]

He showed up for a set and some change and everyone wants to stop the presses. It's funny. He isn't the 4th, 5th or even 6th favorite for the USO. We will see if he still has game next year (I think he does).

As for the first part of the post I have no idea what you are talking about. Expectations change, I highly doubt any Federer fans were worried about him beating Roddick and Haas back in his prime. Now you see Fed fans thinking it is some decent result if he wins a set on fast hard courts.

What was the last truly great Federer match?

(I'm being serious here, as you know, but others may think I'm trying to provoke you. I'm not. I'm truly interested in your opinion.)

That I've seen where he is actually dialed in and strong from start to finish, I'd say Tomic and Raonic matches at AO (though the latter always makes for tough return/easy baseline tennis). Roger was also pretty good against Jerzy in Rome (only match I saw there).

 

[tented]

What was the last truly great Federer match?

(I'm being serious here, as you know, but others may think I'm trying to provoke you. I'm not. I'm truly interested in your opinion.)

That I've seen where he is actually dialed in and strong from start to finish, I'd say Tomic and Raonic matches at AO (though the latter always makes for tough return/easy baseline tennis). Roger was also pretty good against Jerzy in Rome (only match I saw there).

He was on fire in the Tomic match. He hit that point where he could do just about anything, he was in such control of the match. (The ultimate example of this being the '07 AO semi against Roddick. I watched highlights of that one on YouTube a month or so ago. Incredible match. For those who don't remember it, it's definitely worth checking out. You wind up almost feeling sorry for Roddick.)

I don't remember the Raonic or Jerzy matches. The Tsonga match in Australia was thrilling, but it went 5 because Federer was too inconsistent to close it out earlier. Made my heart race at the time, though!

 

[DarthFed]

What was the last truly great Federer match?

(I'm being serious here, as you know, but others may think I'm trying to provoke you. I'm not. I'm truly interested in your opinion.)

That I've seen where he is actually dialed in and strong from start to finish, I'd say Tomic and Raonic matches at AO (though the latter always makes for tough return/easy baseline tennis). Roger was also pretty good against Jerzy in Rome (only match I saw there).

He was on fire in the Tomic match. He hit that point where he could do just about anything, he was in such control of the match. (The ultimate example of this being the '07 AO semi against Roddick. I watched highlights of that one on YouTube a month or so ago. Incredible match. For those who don't remember it, it's definitely worth checking out. You wind up almost feeling sorry for Roddick.)

I don't remember the Raonic or Jerzy matches. The Tsonga match in Australia was thrilling, but it went 5 because Federer was too inconsistent to close it out earlier. Made my heart race at the time, though!

I had Fed over Murray in the SF...until I watched the Tsonga match. Obviously it is just coincidence but it was all downhill from there, poor performance in the QF and I knew he wouldn't suddenly turn it around and play well vs. Murray. Roger DID play with a lot of heart against Murray to even get it to 5, hopefully he finds something similar soon and combines it with good play.

 

[Kieran]

Fed-Roddick Oz 2007 was cat and mouse. If the mouse had fangs the cat mightn't be so cocky, but Federer knew what Roddick could - and couldn't do. He could swing with impunity.

Darth, if you believe that Roger's decline is a natural consequence of aging (and I'm not saying you believe this wholly, so correct me if I'm wrong), why are you so critical of him?