Fedal 34

[Kieran]

Exactly. He's on an Incline, but he isn't there yet...

 

[El Dude]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

 

[Kieran]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

Yeah, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. It's not a great result, but from what I've read, there's evidence that he's still combative. I remember the Madrid final, he was impressive til that day, then a stranger turned up to face Murray. Doesn't seem like he was overly out of his depth today...

 

[El Dude]

Also, where is "there"? Do you actually expect him to return to his peak form?

As I said in the "Federer flaw" post I just made, I see Rafa as about at, or close to, 90% of what he was at his best - not unlike Roger has been the last couple years. Maybe this will be something of the new norm for him?

My point is, just don't be disappointed if you don't see 2013 Rafa with any regularity. Maybe on clay, or at a given tournament, but I'd be surprised if we see that for an extended period of time.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Fed's wins in his favorite tourneys:

Halle ----------- 8
Wimbedon ----- 7
Cincy ------ 7
Dubai ------ 7
Basel ----- 7
WTF ---- 6
USOpen --- 5

That accounts for 47 of 88 titles.

I believe Fed is the only player to have won 5 tourneys at least 6 times and also 6 toruneys at least 6 times (not sure of 7 tourneys at least 5 times).

 

[El Dude]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

Yeah, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. It's not a great result, but from what I've read, there's evidence that he's still combative. I remember the Madrid final, he was impressive til that day, then a stranger turned up to face Murray. Doesn't seem like he was overly out of his depth today...

I only saw about half of the last set, but what I observed is that his movement looked good - he was getting to balls - and most impressive, he was getting some nice slices and passing shots.

 

[Carol]

Roger says after the match: "To have Rafa in this event is something very special for everyone. He has had a very good week after to go through a tough year, he seems to get back to his level"
Rafa says: "I'm happy how I've played this week and I know I'm close to my best level, I just want to thanks the crowd for the support everyday more than today (laughing) and I hope Roger and me to play still many finals".

 

[Kieran]

Also, where is "there"? Do you actually expect him to return to his peak form?

As I said in the "Federer flaw" post I just made, I see Rafa as about at, or close to, 90% of what he was at his best - not unlike Roger has been the last couple years. Maybe this will be something of the new norm for him?

My point is, just don't be disappointed if you don't see 2013 Rafa with any regularity. Maybe on clay, or at a given tournament, but I'd be surprised if we see that for an extended period of time.

From what I've seen this week, he's a few tweaks off his best, by which I mean, not necessarily 2013, but able to compete. He was losing matches earlier in the year and it wasn't the result that bothered so much as the way he was playing. Now he's definitely moved on from that. My hope isn't that he gets to his very best, because that's unlikely, but that he can play his best at the big events next year...

 

[Front242]

Fed's wins in his favorite tourneys:

Halle ----------- 8
Wimbedon ----- 7
Cincy ------ 7
Dubai ------ 7
Basel ----- 7
WTF ---- 6
USOpen --- 5

That accounts for 47 of 88 titles.

Commentators were talking of whether he'll get to triple digits in titles. Of course it'll be much harder as Roger doesn't often play anything less than 500s. He'll never be the mickey mouse king of 250s like Ferrer. Next up with 94 titles is Lendl but Connors 109 may well be out of reach for the reasons above. Namely, Roger isn't concerned with playing 250s. A lot of Connors' titles were from complete mickey moue events. Even so though, 109 is mighty impressive.

 

[El Dude]

I was impressed with what I saw, and it sounds like Rafa and I share a similar view of where he is at . I think he's at least back to being on par with Roger and Andy, and should be able to challenge Novak on clay.

My hope is that he and Novak face each other in the Roland Garros for a five-set battle royale!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

We just have to ignore Kieran. He cannot be rational.

Rafa has surely confirmed his incline by reaching the finals of Basel, even if he were to lose 0-0 to Fed. But, Rafa stood his ground and gave a very good run for the money to Fed.

I hereby order that talk of Rafa's decline cease from this moment.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Roger says after the match: "To have Rafa in this event is something very special for everyone. He has had a very good week after to go through a tough year, he seems to get back to his level"
Rafa says: "I'm happy how I've played this week and I know I'm close to my best level, I just want to thanks the crowd for the support everyday more than today (laughing) and I hope Roger and me to play still many finals".

Also, Roger said that it was really a victory for Rafa to make it to the finals again .

 

[Kieran]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

We just have to ignore Kieran. He cannot be rational.

Rafa has surely confirmed his incline by reaching the finals of Basel, even if he were to lose 0-0 to Fed. But, Rafa stood his ground and gave a very good run for the money to Fed.

I hereby order that talk of Rafa's decline cease from this moment.

Au contraire, I've been very rational. You just need to pay attention. If Rafa lost 0-0 to a 34 year old, I think the suicides would be all over this side of the net. Bad enough that he lost as it is.....

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Both Rafa and Roger wished many more finals to each other. I wonder why they don't wish many more titles. :lolz:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Wait, I'm confused. Kieran, I thought if Rafa lost it meant that he wasn't on the incline? Now you're changing your tune?

We just have to ignore Kieran. He cannot be rational.

Rafa has surely confirmed his incline by reaching the finals of Basel, even if he were to lose 0-0 to Fed. But, Rafa stood his ground and gave a very good run for the money to Fed.

I hereby order that talk of Rafa's decline cease from this moment.

Au contraire, I've been very rational. You just need to pay attention. If Rafa lost 0-0 to a 34 year old, I think the suicides would be all over this side of the net. Bad enough that he lost as it is.....

You were trying to have it both ways since the point Rafa made it to finals and everybody knows.
I am not going to engage in pointless long conversations over this.

 

[Kieran]

We just have to ignore Kieran. He cannot be rational.

Rafa has surely confirmed his incline by reaching the finals of Basel, even if he were to lose 0-0 to Fed. But, Rafa stood his ground and gave a very good run for the money to Fed.

I hereby order that talk of Rafa's decline cease from this moment.

Au contraire, I've been very rational. You just need to pay attention. If Rafa lost 0-0 to a 34 year old, I think the suicides would be all over this side of the net. Bad enough that he lost as it is.....

You were trying to have it both ways since the point Rafa made it to finals and everybody knows.
I am not going to engage in pointless long conversations over this.

But you'll have your say anyway, eh?

My position is always that any defeat to Federer is a bad result for Rafa. I've felt that way since 2008. Even more now that Federer is ancient, and I've seen lots of ancient in tennis before.

But I think that today Rafa should obvious signs that he isn't a push over to the top players. So I put this down as not as bad a result as I would have thought before the match. And that's fair enough. He's had a good week, a tough one, plenty of good tennis, and so he's still on the Incline...

 

[Carol]

Roger says after the match: "To have Rafa in this event is something very special for everyone. He has had a very good week after to go through a tough year, he seems to get back to his level"
Rafa says: "I'm happy how I've played this week and I know I'm close to my best level, I just want to thanks the crowd for the support everyday more than today (laughing) and I hope Roger and me to play still many finals".

Also, Roger said that it was really a victory for Rafa to make it to the finals again .

And I'm sure he will do more finals against whoever

 

[Front242]

Au contraire, I've been very rational. You just need to pay attention. If Rafa lost 0-0 to a 34 year old, I think the suicides would be all over this side of the net. Bad enough that he lost as it is.....

You were trying to have it both ways since the point Rafa made it to finals and everybody knows.
I am not going to engage in pointless long conversations over this.

But you'll have your say anyway, eh?

My position is always that any defeat to Federer is a bad result for Rafa. I've felt that way since 2008. Even more now that Federer is ancient, and I've seen lots of ancient in tennis before.

But I think that today Rafa should obvious signs that he isn't a push over to the top players. So I put this down as not as bad a result as I would have thought before the match. And that's fair enough. He's had a good week, a tough one, plenty of good tennis, and so he's still on the Incline...

You need to snap out of that of that bs, seriously. So it's fine to lose to Berrer, Fognini (3 times!), Brown, Darcis and countless other donkeys who are not world number 2 but someone it's an insult to lose to the world number 2 and slam record holder who has had a way better year and made 2 straight slam finals? Both Nadal and his fans are actually lucky that Federer p1$$ed away so many matches against him and you know it. There's no way he should've lost some of the ones he did. No one should be ashamed to lose to Roger Federer plain and simple.

 

[Kieran]

You were trying to have it both ways since the point Rafa made it to finals and everybody knows.
I am not going to engage in pointless long conversations over this.

But you'll have your say anyway, eh?

My position is always that any defeat to Federer is a bad result for Rafa. I've felt that way since 2008. Even more now that Federer is ancient, and I've seen lots of ancient in tennis before.

But I think that today Rafa should obvious signs that he isn't a push over to the top players. So I put this down as not as bad a result as I would have thought before the match. And that's fair enough. He's had a good week, a tough one, plenty of good tennis, and so he's still on the Incline...

You need to snap out of that of that bs, seriously. So it's fine to lose to Berrer, Fognini (3 times!), Brown, Darcis and countless other donkeys who are not world number 2 but someone it's an insult to lose to the world number 2 and slam record holder who has had a way better year and made 2 straight slam finals? Both Nadal and his fans are actually lucky that Federer p1$$ed away so many matches against him and you know it. There's no way he should've lost some of the ones he did.

You see, this is where you and GSM need to pay attention. All year I've been saying Rafa needs a Fedal match, this is the one that'll reboot his game. I'll leave aside Federer's age, but the point of waiting for him to face Federer is that a) he owns him, and b) there's historic resonance to this match, it should bring the best out of both men.

I expected it to be the antidote to struggling against FFS and others. But actually, from what I've heard here and through others, the match wasn't so bad from Rafa's perspective, and so I'm none too disappointed...

 

[Front242]

But you'll have your say anyway, eh?

My position is always that any defeat to Federer is a bad result for Rafa. I've felt that way since 2008. Even more now that Federer is ancient, and I've seen lots of ancient in tennis before.

But I think that today Rafa should obvious signs that he isn't a push over to the top players. So I put this down as not as bad a result as I would have thought before the match. And that's fair enough. He's had a good week, a tough one, plenty of good tennis, and so he's still on the Incline...

You need to snap out of that of that bs, seriously. So it's fine to lose to Berrer, Fognini (3 times!), Brown, Darcis and countless other donkeys who are not world number 2 but someone it's an insult to lose to the world number 2 and slam record holder who has had a way better year and made 2 straight slam finals? Both Nadal and his fans are actually lucky that Federer p1$$ed away so many matches against him and you know it. There's no way he should've lost some of the ones he did.

You see, this is where you and GSM need to pay attention. All year I've been saying Rafa needs a Fedal match, this is the one that'll reboot his game. I'll leave aside Federer's age, but the point of waiting for him to face Federer is that a) he owns him, and b) there's historic resonance to this match, it should bring the best out of both men.

I expected it to be the antidote to struggling against FFS and others. But actually, from what I've heard here and through others, the match wasn't so bad from Rafa's perspective, and so I'm none too disappointed...

Yeah and you need to look into why he "owns" him a bit more. There's a reason he's not "owning" anyone right now.