Pierre's Tennisrulz Blog (get your own blog here)

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Federer takes out Nadal

Many of you know that over the years, I have been a big critic of Rafael Nadal. That was mainly because in my opinion it was unfair to compare Nadal and Federer since the Spaniard was a one surface guy. But then this year, I was truly impressed by Nadal's run in Wimbledon. Sure, I did think he had a fairly easy draw and was not truly tested before the final. But then when he faced off with Roger Federer, on grass of all surfaces, he was able to put up quite a fight, very impressive. And then I doubted... could Rafael truly be an all-around player? I guess the hard court season would be the perfect way to find out.

While the debate is certainly not on, I think Rafael has certainly improved on other surfaces and has actually created a challenge for Federer. I and many others have beleived that Roger was not even playing his best yet. Remember that Wimbledon final against Andy Roddick? After having a tough time early on, he changed match plans and eventually came back and won. In almost all of his matches, Roger does not even need to push himself, he can just play a safe match and not really push himself. That all changes when he faces Rafael Nadal. COnfidence is no more and he needs to push his usually "safe" tactics. That is certainly what can explain the uncharacteristic mistakes we him make when playing Nadal, he's just not used to playing with much risk. But a big problem is now arising for Rafael Nadal because ROger is becomming more and more used to playing like this which means it will only be harder in my opinion for him to pull off these wins and even clay could prove another story in 2007.

So anyway, I did not get to see the latest Nadal-Federer showdown today in Shanghai but I'm certainly happy to see Roger won in straight sets, and actually not that surprised either.

Should make for an interesting rivalry in 2007!

# posted by Pierre : 7:01 AM  

Comments:

It was in straight sets, but was a very tight match. Nearly two hours long, with some fabulous points. Easily the best Nadal has played in months, even with a loss.

Interesting stat (or maybe a telling one, really): since losing to Nadal at Roland garros, Federer has gone 47-1.

# posted by Todd Spiker : 9:51 PM

 

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