2009 Australian Open Finals - Nadal vs. Federer

[gwu]

Get your votes in boys and girls!
Who's going to take it?

Do you think Nadal will keep his Grand Slam streak going?

or

Do you think it's Federer's time again to reign as king and tie Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slams?

[trinh]

For some reason, some how I don't like Nadal (or the way he act). I hope Roger can win and tie Pete record.

[porphyra]

I really want Federer to win, but Nadal is looking more ominous each time. This Aus Open hard court is a little slower than the US Open and Nadal is relishing it. With Nadal almost making the US Open final last year; he is upping his fast court games all the time while being the master of the French and now the ever slowing Wimbledon.

It should be a great match-up. Also, you never know. Nadal is not in the final yet. Could be a huge upset here, ala Murry/Nadal in the US Open Semis last year.

[sleepyguy]

You mean Fed Vs. Verdasco :)

[Mintmaster]

I really want Federer to win, but Nadal is looking more ominous each time.Agreed.

It's not often that we see two athletes so far ahead of the rest of the pack. I'm sure both must at least occasionally entertain the thought that if the other wasn't there, they would dominate so thoroughly that they'd be the greatest of all time.

[Rocketo]

the reason why a lot of folks like feds game is because it's so complete...it's like watching art ...nadal is playing well for a typical clay player and maybe he is adjusting to playing on clay...you can tell cuz he won wimbledon but then wimbledon's court has slowed down big time which helps nadal hustle game

[gwu]

I guess I was a little early jumping the gun on predicting Nadal vs. Federer.... ;)

[Lone_Prodigy]

the reason why a lot of folks like feds game is because it's so complete...it's like watching art ...nadal is playing well for a typical clay player and maybe he is adjusting to playing on clay...you can tell cuz he won wimbledon but then wimbledon's court has slowed down big time which helps nadal hustle game

Yeah it's like poetry in motion. Plus it's awesome watching his one-handed backhand. :razz:

[Jyeatbvg69]

Nadal's been way too dominant in this tourny. I'll go with him.

[wesleyw]

Nadal hasn't even won his semis match yet...

[Madchester]

Nadal's been pwned by underdogs like Gonzalez and Tsonga the past two years at the Aussie Open. Verdasco may fit the bill this year.

[Mintmaster]

Wow, is anybody watching this? Verdasco is actually controlling most of the play. If he didn't miss that easy overhand a few games back, he'd be up a break.

EDIT: Verdasco got the first set! Great match so far.

[Madchester]

Nadal looks pissed that the match is probably going to a 5th set. He also looks more tired than Verdasco...

[porphyra]

What a good match. Verdasco really had Nadal there. Oh so close. Sets up an awesome final..

[Rocketo]

wow nadal got lucky there...how do you double fault for the final point...

[winstona]

What a bummer to end the match this way in a double fault..Oh well, If Verdasco can play like this in future tournaments (meaning not a one hit wonder), there will be one more player for me to watch...

With a tired out Nadal, I predict a Federer win on Sunday.

[sleepyguy]

He's never been in the position before... heck i think the farthest he got in a GS was 2nd round before this. So, it's kinda forgivable. Great match though. I really want to see Fed win this and hopefully give the GS cycle a shot... yeah French would be the toughest. -sg

wow nadal got lucky there...how do you double fault for the final point...

[Rocketo]

He's never been in the position before... heck i think the farthest he got in a GS was 2nd round before this. So, it's kinda forgivable. Great match though. I really want to see Fed win this and hopefully give the GS cycle a shot... yeah French would be the toughest. -sg

nadal has never been in a gs final on hard court..i guess he is closing the gap...it's his defence that always keeps him in games...roger has to make SHATS on sunday for him to win..otherwise he'll have a lot of unforced errors...but i think nadal has the mental advantage on roger...as much as i like the fed...it's a tough one..the only way fed ever wins the french is if nadal is sick or is injured

[flexwong]

roddick can't seem to focus against federer. the umpire really fcked up some calls for his match though. ridiculous.

i predict a nadal victory. =D

[mcceng]

Federer has his "A" game back. He looks smooth now and found his "will" to win when he came back against Berdych.
You got to love another Nadal/Federer final though. Without Nadal, imagine how many slams Federer would have won. Federer in this one.
I'm looking forward to the final.

[littlevince]

fed in 3

[Rocketo]

Federer has his "A" game back. He looks smooth now and found his "will" to win when he came back against Berdych.
You got to love another Nadal/Federer final though. Without Nadal, imagine how many slams Federer would have won. Federer in this one.
I'm looking forward to the final.

if it wasn't for nadal fed would have 5 more gs titles...aka 18

[flexwong]

wow nadal got lucky there...how do you double fault for the final point...

nadal didn't get "lucky". verdasco has a habit of double faulting when there is an important point to be won.

[Mintmaster]

nadal didn't get "lucky". verdasco has a habit of double faulting when there is an important point to be won.Well then why did Verdasco come through so many other times in the match? If he double faulted any of those times, you'd be saying the same thing, but he didn't yet you still think he's following a pattern. Verdasco is not the same guy he used to be, especially with serving.

All match long Verdasco was playing a risky game, and that was the best strategy against Nadal. He had a lot of errors, but a lot of winners too. A safer game would have reduced his winners more than his errors due to Nadal's defense, IMO.

One of the main reasons that Verdasco was in the match was that his second serve was very strong whereas Nadal's was quite shallow. You gotta play the odds and keep doing what's working.

Was Nadal lucky? Not really, because his skill is what forced Verdasco to take the chances he did. But it's hard to put forward the case that Nadal truly earned the victory.

[Lone_Prodigy]

Federer can definitely win, but it's a mental game too: he'll definitely remember losing at Wimbledon and while he can claim otherwise, losing so many times to Nadal must've really hurt his confidence.

[mcceng]

That is so true. Federer must think that he must be perfect to beat Nadal and it forces him to take a riskier shot than normal at critical points in the match.
Federer will still win, though. Surface is not clay and he is playing better than at same time last year since he is 100% healthy.

[Mintmaster]

As much as Federer feels pressure and insecurity (I don't think it's that bad), I have to think that Nadal doesn't feel very confident after being controlled by a #14 seed, being pushed to a 5-hour 5-setter, and only winning due to his mistakes. I don't think Nadal has much of a mental edge in this match.

With a tired out Nadal, I predict a Federer win on Sunday.I want to change my vote in the poll. :cheesygri

[Rocketo]

wow i stayed up and watched the whole match i knew fed would lose..he just can't beat nadal

[Madchester]

That was a sloppy match by both players. Way too many shanks and 2nd serves for a final.

The question now is whether Nadal will have an extended reign at the Slams or if he's just a one or two year wonder like Courier or Wilander.

[Rocketo]

That was a sloppy match by both players. Way too many shanks and 2nd serves for a final.

fed made like what 45 percent of his first serves in..that's just sad

[MaximDude]

So sad to see Roger go down like this yet again to Rafa. The man just can't get over the hump mentally when he's playing Nadal. :cry:

I really don't understand why Roger is like this against Rafa. Federer looks so confident against pretty much everyone else, but again Rafa he is complete trash mentally. :(

[MaximDude]

And just to add, the time it took to play the men's finals, you could have played FOUR women's finals. :lol:

I can't remember the last time there was a really good women's finals. Pretty much a blowout usually and things are over quick. Not sure why anyone would pay to see a women's finals.

[winstona]

I am happy to be wrong about predicting a Federer win (I am a Nadal fan). I watched the whole thing from start to finish and Federer seemed to have lost his serving groove that helped him escape trouble time after time in the past...

Poor Roger...He is in tears in front of the crowd...

[MaximDude]

Aww crap......Roger with the tears at the AO again, except this time tears of anguish. :cry:

[flexwong]

im one of the 7 to have voted for rafa! woooohoo!!! honestly though, just as a tennis fan in general, this rivalry is great for the sport. i have the utmost amount of respect for both these men.

i wonder if rafa can complete the career grand slam before roger does. that would be quite something.

[Rocketo]

im one of the 7 to have voted for rafa! woooohoo!!! honestly though, just as a tennis fan in general, this rivalry is great for the sport. i have the utmost amount of respect for both these men.

i wonder if rafa can complete the career grand slam before roger does. that would be quite something.

he has a better chance at it than fed...nadal is unstoppable on clay the only way fed wins french is if rafa is sick or injured or someone else beats rafa cuz fed is not the same player when he plays nadal

[flexwong]

he has a better chance at it than fed...nadal is unstoppable on clay the only way fed wins french is if rafa is sick or injured or someone else beats rafa cuz fed is not the same player when he plays nadal

yup, that's what i figure.

i think federer needs to change his game. nadal changed his game drastically over the past 2 years to become a more all around player. federer was always a great all around player but he hasn't changed it at all, and i think a few players are starting to figure him out (apart from roddick, who always gets spanked by feds).

[Mintmaster]

How can Federer change his game? It's about as good as it can be for him.

The foundation of Nadal's game is very unique: He has this stroke that generates ridiculous topspin (this has actually been measured). Yes, he moves quickly and has great conditioning, but it's only marginally better than the best tennis players like Federer. The commonly addressed advantage in his stroke is that it gives the ball a lot of kick, so it bounces too high to hit back as comfortably and accurately as usual.

The other advantage is that it gives him a bigger margin of error. If he hits it too hard, instead of going out it dips even faster to stay in. Another way to look at is any target area - e.g. the corner - looks bigger from the top than from an angle, so he doesn't have to be as perfect to hit the ball where he wants to.

You can see this in a lot of his matches. When facing both Federer and Verdasco, Nadal hit a lot fewer winners. However, because he is so exceptional at keeping the ball in play, they eventually make errors, and that wins him the match.

Nadal is going to dominate for a long time unless he gets beset with injuries to his wrist or knees (quite possible). He has this unique weapon than can only be neutralized by error-free play and, unlike a powerful serve or finesse shots or other tools, it applies to every point that is played.

Nonetheless, Federer still has the more complete game. He actually scored one more point overall than Nadal, and IMO would have won if his first serve percentage wasn't so poor. I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't elect to smash back Nadal's second serves like Verdasco did, but his serving is what really let him down.

On the bright side, I voted correctly in the poll, but I wish I was wrong...

[sfu_lifer]

Federer cannot be called GOAT after this debacle. He is a choker against Nadal. Nadal if he keeps this up has more credibility as GOAT since he can win in all surfaces now.
Time for Fed to beg Wimbledon folks to restore the grass the way it used to be in Sampras's day.

[MaximDude]

I think Federer's game is still all there and he's more than capable of beating Nadal still. Maybe the only things he needs to work on with his game is his backhand abit and his tactics. IE when you have so many opportunities to hit against a Nadal 2nd serve, you don't float it back, you take some chances and wack it hard!

But the biggest challenge for Roger when it comes to Nadal is mental. Rafa is all inside Roger's head and it seems he rarely can play he best against him these days. Federer's serve was solid throughout the tournament and especially against Del Potro and Roddick but then when he faces Nadal all of a sudden it goes to hell. :mad: Even as bad as Roger played, he had TWO CHANCES, TWO HUGE CHANCES to break Nadal in the 3rd set. Roger had a game up 0-40 and another game at 15-40 that he could have broken Rafa at and then served it out and taken the 3rd set.

But instead he blew blow of those golden opportunities away. I applaud Rafa for being able to come back from such deficits, but something is not right with Roger when he can't take advantage of such important opportunities to win the set and perhaps the match right there. Roger's game is still great and at this point its all mental for him. Nadal simply intimidates Roger for some reason and Federer is half beaten even before the match starts it seems. :( If Roger can ever get over that mental block, he can easily challenge Rafa for at least a couple of more years if not more. I sooooooo want him to beat Sampras' record and keep on winning, but in order to do so he must destroy the monster that is Rafa first.

[Madchester]

I think the media (and fans) needs to tone down on these career Grand Slam projections for both Federer and Nadal. No commentator in their right mind would suggest that winning the first Slam of the year would put a player on pace to win the calendar Grand Slam. Still ballsy to do so after the first 2 slams. Yet, it's reasonable to forecast a player's total GS wins 5-10 years into the future?

The press should stick to reporting what is - not what could be. Until Federer passes Sampras' GS total, it doesn't matter that he's on a quicker pace to date. Likewise, tone down these projections of Nadal winning the most Slams ever even if he's on an even quicker pace than Federer.

As an aside, at age 22 both Jim Courier and Pete Sampras had 4 GS wins - the former never added to his total, while the latter is the the career GS leader.

[Lone_Prodigy]

How can Federer change his game? It's about as good as it can be for him.

The foundation of Nadal's game is very unique: He has this stroke that generates ridiculous topspin (this has actually been measured). Yes, he moves quickly and has great conditioning, but it's only marginally better than the best tennis players like Federer. The commonly addressed advantage in his stroke is that it gives the ball a lot of kick, so it bounces too high to hit back as comfortably and accurately as usual.

The other advantage is that it gives him a bigger margin of error. If he hits it too hard, instead of going out it dips even faster to stay in. Another way to look at is any target area - e.g. the corner - looks bigger from the top than from an angle, so he doesn't have to be as perfect to hit the ball where he wants to.

You can see this in a lot of his matches. When facing both Federer and Verdasco, Nadal hit a lot fewer winners. However, because he is so exceptional at keeping the ball in play, they eventually make errors, and that wins him the match.

Nadal is going to dominate for a long time unless he gets beset with injuries to his wrist or knees (quite possible). He has this unique weapon than can only be neutralized by error-free play and, unlike a powerful serve or finesse shots or other tools, it applies to every point that is played.

Nonetheless, Federer still has the more complete game. He actually scored one more point overall than Nadal, and IMO would have won if his first serve percentage wasn't so poor. I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't elect to smash back Nadal's second serves like Verdasco did, but his serving is what really let him down.

On the bright side, I voted correctly in the poll, but I wish I was wrong...

I agree with this. Nadal is able to get shots that would put away any other player, AND get a winner at the same time. Anyone else would've been blown away by Federer's strokes, but Nadal seems to be the only one who can return them. I watched a bit of the first set and they were commenting on how Federer would try risky shots (try for a forehand winner when backhand is safer) to get a point. Against anyone else Federer would be more conservative, but against Nadal he tries to be more aggressive, and I think that's out of his comfort zone and that's why he makes mistakes.

I agree though that Federer's game is more complete. Nadal's serve isn't as good as Federer's, but his defence is unmatched.

[sfu_lifer]

Federer just needs to get his mojo back. Against Nadal he's basically out of his rhythm before the first ball has bounced on his side of the court. He also needs to work even more on his serve/volley. His first volley seems too safe, unlike Sampras' where he places it for optimum put away volley on the next point.
You need to do something to disrupt Nadal's rhythm. Bring him to the net, etc since he's such a great mover on the baseline.
Until he can do those, he has no chance of ever dominating the field again. Nadal has his number, plain and simple. Fed has all the tools, just needs the mental edge to come back and tweak his mighty game a bit. I still believe Fed has the most talent amongst the champions, it's just Nadal is the kryptonite.

[radeonboy]

It's like Nadal is haunting Fed and is his worst nightmare. Fed must really cringe when he sees Nadal now, it's like he's the only guy preventing him from being complete.:-0

[farkaland]

*Fedbot does not compute*

I agree with above posts about Fed's mentality. At times during the final, he displayed his godlike accuracy and power but when it really mattered (getting those break pts) he settled with being just human...

[Rocketo]

Federer cannot be called GOAT after this debacle. He is a choker against Nadal. Nadal if he keeps this up has more credibility as GOAT since he can win in all surfaces now.
Time for Fed to beg Wimbledon folks to restore the grass the way it used to be in Sampras's day.

for real..the grass isn't the same as before..it's almost like the french now...used to be so slick and fast

[winstona]

It is not hard to believe that Nadal can win the career slam sometime in his career...After the Aussie Open, he has already showed that he can win a hard court slam. In my opinion, the US open is a bit harder for Nadal though, because most of the time he will become too tired to compete in the US open by the time the tournament starts after a long season of his trademark physical play...

[Eyies]

2009 gonna be a great year to watch the slams!

[Mintmaster]

I agree with this. Nadal is able to get shots that would put away any other player, AND get a winner at the same time.Getting the winner is not a big part of Rafa's game, though. Yeah, you see it once in a while after a long rally and it makes for great highlights, but quite often he gets substantially fewer winners than the opponent he beats.

The big thing is not just that he can get shots and winners. It's that he can get shots and send the ball deep and/or make it bounce high. That's what keeps him in rallies so that opponents beat themselves. They don't have to deal with this insanity with any other player, so they never had any advantage to develop this kind of game.

I think the only way for anyone to beat Nadal consistently is to develop a similar game (and stroke) from the very beginning.

[MtX]

Nadal wins Wimble & French, Fedex wins US! :cheesygri

[sfu_lifer]

Nadal wins Wimble & French, Fedex wins US! :cheesygri

Nah. FedEx will be on a mission to take back the Wimbledon. Watch Nadal not make it to the finals thanks to Murray or Djoko or (don't laugh) Roddick.

[Eyies]

Nah. FedEx will be on a mission to take back the Wimbledon. Watch Nadal not make it to the finals thanks to Murray or Djoko or (don't laugh) Roddick.

Gogogo Murray.!

[bly]

I used to laugh a Nadal because he only does well on clay. I take that back... this kid is amazing. He's not a power server like Sampras back in the day, and his matches are not boring. He's definitely great for the sport.

[sleepyguy]

Indeed, gotta give him props at the way he dismantled Federer and Verdasco... and also Simone (who has beaten him recently). -sg

I used to laugh a Nadal because he only does well on clay. I take that back... this kid is amazing. He's not a power server like Sampras back in the day, and his matches are not boring. He's definitely great for the sport.