first.

May 6th, 2010 at 12:49 am

last.

May 6th, 2010 at 1:28 am

“However Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic could still end the French Open ahead of Federer.”

Federer leads both by more than 3K points. Even if one (Rafa of Djoka) won both Madrid (1K) and French (2K), that does not seem like it would be enough points to eclipse Federer by early June. Please explain.

May 6th, 2010 at 1:38 am

And always.

May 6th, 2010 at 3:56 am

last

May 6th, 2010 at 5:37 am

Come on everyone !

Why is it so dead here today. Waiting for some interesting comments. And taking Polo’s advice by ignoring the stupid ones :).

May 6th, 2010 at 9:21 am

I agree Anne.

Yeah they could take over if Fed loses early and can’t defend points.

This is the tilted view of the number one this site takes. When he is down he is kicked and when he is on top he is just moments from imploding and surely can’t survive.

I hope this site celebrates when Fed is the first person to have 300 weeks at number one.

May 6th, 2010 at 9:30 am

TGiT

I agree it is very twisted they way some people analyze Fed considering all he has done :). And what hes yet to achieve, I hope !

Win the French Fed!

PS, lots of people are tilted when it comes to tennis. That’s why I smoke ;)

May 6th, 2010 at 11:35 am

Just watching the 2007 US Open Final again on my PC.

And it seems to me like Feds chilled out a lot since then (or the opposite). Hes ground strokes seem much more aggressive and less conservative than now.

Hope Fed wins many more Slams and at some point decides to just rip it in every tournament. Although if I had to choose I would still prefer him taking home the Slam trophy’s than the Atp 1000.

Wish I could rewind time by 3 yeas though lol.

Go Fed…. and good luck Nadal.

May 6th, 2010 at 11:43 am

Also forgive my Spelling …..trophies etc.
I did have surgery yesterday so I have an excuse :))

May 6th, 2010 at 11:48 am

The calendar SLAM is priceless. The Masters will never carry the weight of a slam no matter how many you win. A Slam goes back to the beginning of pro tennis. It is a historical achievement that all participants both past and future have a chance to prove their worth. Master events are a neat marketing idea.

I would rather win the Super Bowl once than ten conference championships.

May 6th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

TGit

Couldn’t of said it better myself.

Nice post

May 6th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

Yawn – ‘Slams are better than Masters” = “Federer is better than Nadal”.
Perhaps being utterly transparent is comforting somehow…
Come on guys, you can do better than that.

May 6th, 2010 at 2:04 pm

Nice to see the jealousy and desperation of some anti-Feds. ;) It’d have been so much better for them to back and encourage Rafa instead of expressing their hatred towards Fed. But it’s not going to effect Fed or Rafa one bit, that’s for sure.

Whatever, but good job by Fed. Hope he keeps progreesin in Estoril. I also hope the swiftest recovery and regaining of fitness of JMDP, just love that guy. Without him, FO will certainly miss something, no doubt in my mind. But the show must go on, as they say.

May 6th, 2010 at 3:28 pm

Fed looks in good mood in the photo on this blog start. Good for him.

May 6th, 2010 at 3:34 pm

Old photo for sure.

May 6th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

Hello Huh! and to all federer fans. I have been watching a few of the federer videos from gototennis (along with the one that Tom Gainey produced here), but also, as the FO is upon us, very soon, here is a ‘must see’ for federer fans – now THIS is the aggressive federer that we all know and love.

It is 10 minutes and 54 seconds of pure, unadulterated bliss.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8087015.stm

May 6th, 2010 at 4:17 pm

Where’s the photo gone?

Any photo of Roger Federer is completely cool.

May 6th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

Thanks madmax!

I love that site too.

May 6th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

there is too much emphasis on slams in tennis. there are only four of them and you have to be fit/uninjured at exactly those points.
masters series give you more chances to prove your ability on a consistent basis.

it’s like hte difference between the olympics and the world championships in athletics. you can be the best runner for three years then get injured/out of form and never win olympic gold. people won’t care.

also the draws for top players in the slams are a joke most of the time, with the first 3 rounds usually being bygone conclusions and providing pretty boring viewing for the first week. so even though the draws are bigger, the slams aren’t necessarily harder to win.

the fields are of higher quality in the hardcourt masters events, with the cut off being stricter.

in fact indian wells might well be harder to win than a grandslam given it’s large draw and higher ranked entrants.

we need to move on from the old idea that slams are the only important thing.

May 6th, 2010 at 6:08 pm

guy — I agree that slams are far from everything. but you are seriously under-rating them:

(a) the comparison with the olympics doesn’t fly. slams occur 16 times more frequently.

(b) how are the draws a joke? the main difference is that for a top player to win, s/he has to play mediocre opponents for a week, and THEN play others of his or her skill level. how is that not harder to win?

(c) the field’s average quality is higher at masters series, because they are far smaller. but at a slam, you still have to play the other top players in the final rounds — in other words, your chance of going ‘deeper’ might be higher (because there are twice as many rounds) but that’s totally meaningless.

You are also overlooking the best-of-5 versus best-of-3. You have to be extremely consistent to win seven best-of-5 matches. Not so in a masters.

Nadal had to win 10 sets for his Rome victory. At the FO, he’ll have to win 21 – including 12 in the final four rounds, against opponents the same quality as he’d face in a masters. Your claim that slams are somehow easier to win is ludicrous and, simply, stupid.

May 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm

Bravo Eric!

May 6th, 2010 at 7:30 pm

Eric’s statement really goes to show how the Masters have gone down in significance due to the abolition of best of 5 set finals. Not to say Eric is wrong or anything like that, I agree with all his points. But years ago, you could always say that winning a Masters was a different kind of test since you had to go from 3 set matches to overcoming a high quality opponent in 5 sets. Nadal would have a Miami title if not for the 5 sets. Ljubicic would had a Madrid title if not for the 5 sets. And so on.

May 6th, 2010 at 7:51 pm

“in fact indian wells might well be harder to win than a grandslam given it’s large draw and higher ranked entrants.”

This must be a nomine for quote of the year in the tennis world. LOL, just priceless! :)

In fact, tennis-x should make a pool with the dumbest/craziest/funniest lines every written in this blog so we can vote in a monthly basis. That would be fun!

Sorry guy, but you should have read what you wrote before posting. It’s like saying Sharon Stone wasn’t sexy in ‘Basic Instinct’! :)

May 6th, 2010 at 7:57 pm

I think they should definitely bring back 5 set finals. (And get rid of tie breaks in GS finals, but…)

What’s actually more interesting is that Federer, who is undeniably the best slam player ever, has a comparatively weak (!) record in the MS events and even hasn’t made it to the ATP finals / year end whatever they’re calling it now final since 2007. It’s interesting because it seems to imply that Federer is able to outlast opponents (which is the key to his slam success) but has become relatively middle of the pack for top-10 players in terms of shorter matches.

I wonder what the tennis rankings would look like under an ELO system…(wherein who you are playing and the result determine rating-point changes on a by-match basis, and the actual event doesn’t matter) Not saying it would be a better ranking system but it would be interesting to compare.

May 6th, 2010 at 8:00 pm

Well Federer had a pretty bad back in the 08 Masters Cup but he narrowly lost in the semis of last year’s WTF to Davydenko, so I wouldn’t say he’s all that middle of the pack.

May 6th, 2010 at 8:20 pm

According to wikipedia’s stats, Federer reached 2 MS finals in 2008 (which he both lost) and 2 in 2009, winning both. (In 2007 he reached 5, and in 2006 it was 6 finals.) Meanwhile Djokovic reached 8 in 2008-09 (winning ‘just’ 3) and Murray, 5 (winning 4). Even Davydenko reached 2, winning both. In other words Murray and Djokovic far outperformed Federer at MS events in 2008-2009. (Not to mention Nadal, who reached 9 and won 6.) So I’d say “relatively middle of the pack for the top 10” is fairly accurate.

May 6th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

“Cbeast Says:

Hope Fed wins many more Slams and at some point decides to just rip it in every tournament.

don’t hold your breath. when a player gets into their late twenties they have to pick their spots more.any players that have had totally dominant years have been in their early twenties.

May 6th, 2010 at 11:54 pm

tennisfan,

“when a player gets into their late twenties they have to pick their spots more”.

Roger doesn’t have any “spots!” He has a lovely complexion! :)

Guy,

you cant compare olympics and world championships to slams.

Olympics EVERY 4 years, slams EVERY year, 4 of them.

Roger hasn’t done that badly in the WTF championships. Most recent, he reached semis, won all his round robin matches in great style.

which is more than can be said for others.

May 7th, 2010 at 1:49 am

“which is more than can be said for others.”

I have to say that last year’s YEC was incredible with 6/8 players going 2-1 in their RR matches.

Federer “picking his spots” is an interesting theory. It’s not like Federer chooses where and when he loses, but it seems like he’s content on waiting for lightening to strike. Excluding the slams, where he’s always prepped and ready to go, he never kills himself to win an event. But sometimes his game really comes together and it’s as if though there’s nothing that can stop him from winning an event. Madrid and Cincy last year, Federer wasn’t playing great even in the early rounds of those events, but eventually he hit his stride and played some of his best tennis, especially in Cincy against Murray and Djokovic. So it’s like he just waits it out and sees where his game takes him.

May 7th, 2010 at 2:39 am

Ben, u mentioned Madrid and Cincy, do u think its a coincidence that both the events he found his form in were just before the slams?

May 7th, 2010 at 4:29 am