Aus. Open: Rafa vs. Federer

[El Che]

What a great match. This and Serena-Venus made for a great Slam.

 

[asdffdsa]

Can't believe this shit. So happy Federer won.

 

[Amerikuracana]

Just caught the end. A tad anti-climactic, but a great match, and I don't think Federer could be any more happy.. at all.

 

[Amerikuracana]

Mr. Cho had the most Asian sounding English I've heard.. But the substance was class, of course.

 

[Fedorer13]

Great match

 

[dildos]

I gotchu



And what a win for Federer!

thanks for having my back bro!

 

[dildos]

Just caught the end. A tad anti-climactic, but a great match, and I don't think Federer could be any more happy.. at all.

ive seen him display more raw emotion crying over a loss than this winning speech!

 

[Amerikuracana]

ive seen him display more raw emotion crying over a loss than this winning speech!

He was holding it in.. Because he didn't want to show how huge this was for him. I saw the smirk when they were both standing there. Federer NEEDED this win over Rafa, because of how Rafa had his # in the past. If Rafa wins this, and 2 more slams, he is better than Federer in every way; this win stops all that on multiple levels. YUGE.

 

[DaleBoca]

What a fantastic story. The stars lined up perfectly for him. And beating Nadal in a final? Oh sweet it is!

 

[Amerikuracana]

I've mentioned this before, but the mother of 4 of my kids is 3rd cousins with Novak Djokovic. Her mothers maiden name is Djokovic, and his mother and her mother are first cousins.

 

[DaleBoca]

He was holding it in.. Because he didn't want to show how huge this was for him. I saw the smirk when they were both standing there. Federer NEEDED this win over Rafa, because of how Rafa had his # in the past. If Rafa wins this, and 2 more slams, he is better than Federer in every way; this win stops all that on multiple levels. YUGE.

I don't think even if Nadal won this and 2 more he would've been the GOAT. Majority of his slams have come at the French. Roger is far more complete. Every tournament he'd always reach a semi, where Nadal got beat in a open round at Wimbledon. Roger has been consistently great at every playing surface. Can we say the same about Rafa? Not as much.

And Nadal should stop worrying about catching Fed, he's got Novak breathing down his neck.

 

[benebox]

I don't think even if Nadal won this and 2 more he would've been the GOAT. Majority of his slams have come at the French. Roger is far more complete. Every tournament he'd always reach a semi, where Nadal got beat in a open round at Wimbledon. Roger has been consistently great at every playing surface. Can we say the same about Rafa? Not as much.

And Nadal should stop worrying about catching Fed, he's got Novak breathing down his neck.

This is why I wanted Federer to win, ESPN wrote an article stating that if Rafe was to win and wasn't able to catch Federers slam record he should be considered the GOAT due to their head to head record. This clearly didn't consider the fact that most of their head to heads came at the French and also that Nadal had the perfect style play to beat Federer. Plus Wimbledon > every other grand slam.

 

[asdffdsa]

He was holding it in.. Because he didn't want to show how huge this was for him. I saw the smirk when they were both standing there. Federer NEEDED this win over Rafa, because of how Rafa had his # in the past. If Rafa wins this, and 2 more slams, he is better than Federer in every way; this win stops all that on multiple levels. YUGE.

Yeah in terms of historical significance this match could be huge. Funny thing is I had the same feeling when they played in 09. Didn't think they would be playing each other in slam finals 8 years later.

Nadal could easily make up a two slam difference. If he continues like this and Djokovic doesn't turn his slump around, he will be the favorite at the French IMO. It's hard to image Federer winning more than one more slam. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but he usually says he will be back next year during the post match speeches. He didn't this time. I think he knows this is his last hurrah. Hope he can stay healthy this year and take a good crack at Wimbledon.

 

[DaleBoca]

This is why I wanted Federer to win, ESPN wrote an article stating that if Rafe was to win and wasn't able to catch Federers slam record he should be considered the GOAT due to their head to head record. This clearly didn't consider the fact that most of their head to heads came at the French and also that Nadal had the perfect style play to beat Federer. Plus Wimbledon > every other grand slam.

LEts not forget, over the last 10 years or so, they've always slowed down Wimbledon court and that favors Rafa. One of the main reasons Roger was so good at the AO was it was a very fast court this year. When the court is fast or indoors, Fed always has a shot.

Rafa knows this is a bitter, bitter pill. CATCH and surpassing Fed is going to be tough and with his health, possibly impossible. He's going to have issues within Dimtriv(who perhaps is more focused on tennis now instead of banging the entire WTA and Ranoic(sp?) and you know Murray and Novak give him fits now.

Novak should be the favorite at RG, even if ESPN is saying Rafa is back.

 

[benebox]

LEts not forget, over the last 10 years or so, they've always slowed down Wimbledon court and that favors Rafa. One of the main reasons Roger was so good at the AO was it was a very fast court this year. When the court is fast or indoors, Fed always has a shot.

Rafa knows this is a bitter, bitter pill. CATCH and surpassing Fed is going to be tough and with his health, possibly impossible. He's going to have issues within Dimtriv(who perhaps is more focused on tennis now instead of banging the entire WTA and Ranoic(sp?) and you know Murray and Novak give him fits now.

Novak should be the favorite at RG, even if ESPN is saying Rafa is back.

Would you consider this match the most important of both of their careers, or even the history of tennis? Nothing will ever beat that Wimbledon match where by the end they where playing in near pitch black conditions.... but for historic significance it has to be right at the top or close to it. I really hope we get to see at least one more final between them, hopefully in Wimbledon.

 

[DaleBoca]

Would you consider this match the most important of both of their careers, or even the history of tennis? Nothing will ever beat that Wimbledon match where by the end they where playing in near pitch black conditions.... but for historic significance it has to be right at the top or close to it. I really hope we get to see at least one more final between them, hopefully in Wimbledon.

We can't say it's the most important match in the history of tennis until they are long retired. History is exactly that, the past and what we perceive of it.

Yet, it was a very important match for both of their careers because it is perhaps the last time that either one had a chance of winning a Slam. Everything lined up perfectly for them. Avoid Murray and Novak and go through some obstacles, which they both did.

Will they meet at another slam final? Who knows, it is tough to say. I think this Roger can beat Rafa who doesn't have the physical gifts as he once did. Fed will have the longevity on his side because of his style. I still believe Novak will surpass Rafa in slams. The Aussie is usually his and he's won RG, so he knows how to win there as well(not to mention, has beaten Rafa at RG). The question remains, where is Novak's head?

It's strange, Rafa gives Roger fits, Roger gives Novak fits and Novak gives Rafa fits.

Plus, you have Stan the Man who can beat anybody on any given day.

Tennis needs some stars for the future, there are good players but are there future stars? Not just yet. The old timers are keeping their throne.

 

[Frank23]

It was awesome.

 

[HUNTERMANIA]

crushed that Rafa lost... but his post-match speech made me happy again As always, I feel inspired watching him play, I really appreciate rafa as a spectator because he provides pretty much exactly what I want to see. Happy for Roger, he's pure class, love Roger he's just not my favorite player.

I saw Rafa play this tournament and he really surprised me, I thought he was done, but to make it to the Final and the way he did it, I felt like he passed a lot of tests along the way and somehow Roger starts hitting his backhand better than ever when he's never done that in their entire rivalry... he starts hitting amazing shots fucking constantly, just spamming everywhere, it was incredible to see. I felt like Rafa was a little bit slower than he used to be and he didn't chase down some balls he would have gotten in the past.

I think, to win the French Rafa needs to play even better than he did here, it's on clay so that's a start, but he's got more to improve... I felt like he improved every match here though, so, I feel decent about the chances of that happening.

Agree that novak should be the favorite for the French but I'm expecting Rafa to win, of course.

 

[dildos]

Yeah in terms of historical significance this match could be huge. Funny thing is I had the same feeling when they played in 09. Didn't think they would be playing each other in slam finals 8 years later.

Nadal could easily make up a two slam difference. If he continues like this and Djokovic doesn't turn his slump around, he will be the favorite at the French IMO. It's hard to image Federer winning more than one more slam. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but he usually says he will be back next year during the post match speeches. He didn't this time. I think he knows this is his last hurrah. Hope he can stay healthy this year and take a good crack at Wimbledon.

I said earlier I thought he might retire at this one, just to get that one last major open that he hadn't got since 2012, and no better win than to get it over Nadal! But then it dawned, there's still 3 more left, got one right now and he is the only person that can achieve the grand slam this year just because of it lol. So yeah then I was like lol ok he won't retire now...

But yeah his 'see you next year' was said with strong tones of uncertainty.

 

[Amerikuracana]

Yeah in terms of historical significance this match could be huge. Funny thing is I had the same feeling when they played in 09. Didn't think they would be playing each other in slam finals 8 years later.

Nadal could easily make up a two slam difference. If he continues like this and Djokovic doesn't turn his slump around, he will be the favorite at the French IMO. It's hard to image Federer winning more than one more slam. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but he usually says he will be back next year during the post match speeches. He didn't this time. I think he knows this is his last hurrah. Hope he can stay healthy this year and take a good crack at Wimbledon.

I would guess that Nadal has 2 more in him.. With his head to head semi-dominance over Federer, this was literally the biggest win of Roger's career, for me; for his legacy. I think Nadal v Djoko is the French final this year.