Being Andrew Castle must literally be the most easy job in the world.
ATP World Tour Finals: London
- Thread starter wr8_utd
- Start date
Yeah. This is not Nadal we're watching. That marathon match yesterday was not the best preparation for a final.
Hope he can take a set today but the way he's playing I can't see it happening.
Haha what a miss by Federer!
There's the break for Rafa. He's been slightly better this set. Needs to hold on now. Come on!
Crucial hold that. Just needs to cut out some needless errors because Fed's gone off the boil himself now
This is a best of five right?
Good hold. 5-2. One game away now. After yesterday's match it's going to be nervy 
Great defensive winner to win that set! 6-3 Rafa. Final set now. He needs to play more like he has this set and not like the 1st.
The quality of this match has been pretty average though. Last night's match was epic.
The quality of this match has been pretty average though. Last night's match was epic.
Fed 1-0 third set. Rafa's looked very lethargic on the last 3 Fed service games now. 0-15 up and he had an easy shot to put away in an empty court and go 0-30 up and he hits it wide and then just gives up in that game.
Nadal serving second in this set
Nadal serving second in this set
Errors creeping into Nadal's game again
Don't think so? I'm hoping Federer wins this.. don't know why. Like em both really, just hope it finishes tight.
Get in! Federer breaks.
Long way to go here though.
Long way to go here though.
They're both so good it's going to come down to mistakes on a couple of killer points.
3-1 to Federer and hard to see Nadal coming back from that
3-1 to Federer and hard to see Nadal coming back from that
Knew that's coming. 40-15 up and stupid errors and he gets broken again.
Pathetic stuff really. 2 break points faced and broken twice. Very poor
Pathetic stuff really. 2 break points faced and broken twice. Very poor
I just don't understand Nadal today. Everyone knows that serve is coming outwide and he does absolutely nothing to counter it. He's won no points when Fed has served out wide and yet Nadal is doing nothing about it. He's known to be a player who adjusts well tactically on the court but there has been absolutely no evidence of that today. He did not return one serve in that game when served out wide
He looks mentally tired as well as physically.
And to be fair, Federer's in the best form I've seen from him in ages.
Beautiful return from Federer there, he's in full swing at the moment.
5-1 with federer to serve - I think we know what happens next
So good to see Fed back even if Nadal's not at his best admittedly.
Great win by Federer - simply the best on the day
Yeah I hope this gives Fed the momentum going into the new season as both of them on form will make for a epic.
Lessens the chance of Murray winning a slam too
Noone touches Federer at his best. Even though these days he rarely is. For all the so called bad record against Nadal, I heard yesterday that apart from clay Federer lead 7-4 against Nadal on other surfaces, which just became 8-4 I think. Which shows that people overrate how much he struggles against Nadal.
I don't know. Fed could have been beaten today. He was fantastic with his first serve but that second set showed he could be beaten but fair play to him he's been fantastic this tournament and this deserves the title.
But Nadal's performance in that final set is the most gutless and embarrassing performance I've seen from him. He played with more spirit when he was absolutely rubbish last year. The way he got broken in this set was shocking. Missing shots he would hit eyes closed and not even one passing shot today that worked. Very very very disappointing performance today.
But it's been a fantastic season from him this year and 3 slams more than make up for today. Vamos Rafa!
Looking forward to next season though I really hope Nadal can get rid of the habit he's picked up since the USO final of not being able to convert any break points and getting broken far too easily. Not even saving one break point today on the 3 he faced was really poor for someone of his quality.
Aussie Open should be fun. Fed, Murray and Nadal all looking good.
I'm sorry but that's simply not true.
Even on hard courts when it matters i.e in the 2 Finals they've played on hard courts/indoor courts their tied 2-2 after todays result.
On grass Nadal beat Federer at his absolute best in 2008. For a person who had never played more than 10 matches on grass in his entire life before 2006 Wimbledon to go on beat one of the greatest of all time on grass is something brilliant. Nadal won on Fed's favorite surface (beating Fed) before Federer could win on Nadal's favorite surface.
Nadal's even beaten Federer on the hard courts of Australia in the Aussie Open Finals.
Sure Fed has a decent record in the Masters series tournaments over Rafa but the Slams is where everything matters and there Nadal has a brilliant record over Fed across all surfaces.
Anyway Federer was brilliant in this tournament and absolutely deserves it. Quite happy for him actually considering he's not had a very good year by his standards.
Always excuses for Nadal eh
Not using it as an excuse but that was not Nadal we saw on the court today.
Federer was the better man today for sure but 3 matches in 3 days and the emotionally and physically draining 3 hour plus match yesterday really did not help Nadal. Not an excuse but they really ought to have a rest day between the semis and the final imo.
Fed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8-4 is the record on other surfaces. In slams other than the french Federer's won one and Nadal won two (I think), so there's not much in it is there? Federer has been on the decline for a few good years and Nadal's made the most of it. Although the latter is a class act too.
That was Nadal and he got beaten.
Nadal's rise coincided with a gradual decline in Federer's form. I can blame every defeat on that.
I'm just saying that people don't overrate how much he struggles against Nadal. Nadal gets into his head it's as simple as that. I honestly would have never imagined Nadal would beat Fed at Wimbledon or Australia but he did it. Despite being horrendous today he still managed to take a set today and this was Federer at his best in quite a while on his favorite surface
Anyway I'm pretty happy with the tournament. After the shambolic performance last year where he exited without winning a single set this was brilliant.
I've heard lots of people on forums like 606 say he's a flat track bully and can't beat the top 10 players blah blah. But he beat Djoko Murray and Berdych, all on their favorite opposed to Nadal who hates indoors even more than hard courts and he yet beat them all in the space of 3 days. Pretty encouraging
Good thing is that there are not too many indoor tournaments in a calendar year!
Anyway these two are absolute legends of the game and it's a honor to witness them both at their very best. 25 of the last 30 Slams have been won by these 2. Legends!
Again I don't want to use it as an excuse but today was not the Nadal we've seen over the past year.
It was not the typical chasing down absolutely everything performance from him. Not taking anything away from Fed but yesterday's match was so hard on both Murray and Nadal that had even Murray made it through I doubt he would have been up for it today.
And Nadal's rise has not coincided with the decline in Fed's game! Nadal beat him in 05 when Roger was King and Nadal was a newbie at Rolland Garros. That was his first ever Rolland Garros as well.
Nadal beat him at the Aussie Open last year, on Fed's favorite surface in the same year Fed won 2 slams.
Nadal beat him in 2008 in both the French Open and Wimbledon when again Fed was at his best and won 2 Slams.
Maybe Nadal's rise has lead to the Fed's decline in a way eh? It's all right beating the likes of Roddick and Hewitt for years but thank god Nadal came along to finally give him some good competition.
"Federer: 'I haven't spoilt Rafa's vacation, he's had an amazing year. Thanks to the ball boys so we… don't have to pick up our own balls'."
Hahahahahahahah
Hahahahahahahah
Not sure if others have mentioned it, one thing I really like about the Roger/Rafa rivalry is the mutual respect. These guys never hesitate to give credit and props to the other....unlike the ladies game.
Complete shambles, 75% can't stand each other, and don't hesitate to let that bitchiness show from time to time.
No one likes the Williams, and many for all the WRONG reasons, I think personally they are very good african american sports role models, especially when you compare them to some of their even richer male counter parts.
Plus Venus seems like a genuinely nice person, Serena not too far off it, but she can be a bit precious at times...
Sorry for the little tangent.
Complete shambles, 75% can't stand each other, and don't hesitate to let that bitchiness show from time to time.
No one likes the Williams, and many for all the WRONG reasons, I think personally they are very good african american sports role models, especially when you compare them to some of their even richer male counter parts.
Plus Venus seems like a genuinely nice person, Serena not too far off it, but she can be a bit precious at times...
Sorry for the little tangent.
True that. That's why I don't even feel bad when Nadal does lose to Roger. The two of them are so appreciative of each other it's hard to be too bitter about either losing against the other.
Compared to Fed-Djoko and the Fed- Murray rivalries , Fed Nadal is absolute class. Even though I was disappointed about Nadal losing I was actually quite happy for Fed to win today. He's had an average year and he deserves a big trophy like this.
As for the ladies game well it's a joke
.I feel Kim is the only genuinely nice player and person while Venus seems not to bad. I hate SerenaFederer was no way near his absolute best in 2008, especially in the early parts of it. Probably the worst period of his career since 2003, he got to finals and semis on pure talent more than anything.
Watch Fed matches from his peak and he's a different beast to the player we see today. His consistency of ground strokes from those days was amazing although one can argue the defeats to Nadal did impact on the confidence of his groundstrokes over the latter part of his career.
I thought French Open apart he was very very good that year. Maybe not his best but yes very good.
Yeah. He was indeed brilliant and it was nice to see him playing at somewhere close to that level but I'm yet not sure he can maintain that at Slams where hard hitters are really beginning to trouble him now.
If his first serve deserts him he's a gooner. He won an incredible 94% points on the first serve today
feck, I'm pissed off I missed this. I presumed Nadal would have just pummeled Federer as usual.
I would have loved if Nadal and Federer when both in their prime. Federer isn't half the player he used to be, unfortunately.
I would have loved if Nadal and Federer when both in their prime. Federer isn't half the player he used to be, unfortunately.
Don't be. It was not great tennis. I want to see Nadal and Federer play against each other and both of them should be at their best simultaneously during the match. Murray vs Nadal yesterday was a great example of that. Nadal, a couple of games apart was rubbish today. Tired ground strokes, strange errors, no real energy.
Fed was brilliant at times but still making a number of unforced errors himself. Not a spectacle this game.