Tennis: US Open...series

[U2girl]

How do you lose two 6-5 set points and comfortable 4-1 lead in the second set ?

Well done Djokovic for standing your ground against no. 1 at such a young age (I think we're watching a future no. 1), I guess experience saved Federer. Nice to see Nadal and Djokovic at least making Federer less comfortable.

I always moan at all the "greatest tennis player ever" (or just greatest - insert sport name - player ever) debates. What criteria is used and how can you compare someone like Rod Laver to someone like Sampras who played in a completely different era, with different rackets and a much more physically athletic game ? If I had to pick anyone, I'd say Borg. 11 grand slam titles, and he quit at, what, 25 ? And just look at who he played up against in his time, and he had consecutive wins for grand slam.

Federer is no doubt a fantastic player, possibly one of the greats. I do believe he is somewhat lucky by lack of serious competition, even when including Nadal's Paris domination and this year's Wimbledon and now US finals.

 

[boosterjuice]

And I think all of Federer's skills, while all being quite impressive, are made to look even better than they are by being used against what is more the most part mediocre competition.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

mediocre competition? I think you're completely off with this line of thinking.

Players now are more skilled than ever. They have better training, technology, and tactics. There is no question that the quality and skill in tennis is always improving. To say that the competition is mediocre is crazy.

Hypothetically, let's remove Federer from the past 4 years. What would have happened had Federer chose soccer instead of tennis? Roddick would be trading the #1 back and forth between Nadal, Safin, and Hewitt. Would the competition be considered mediocre if this was the case? Of course not. You are just wanting a closer race and rivalry for the #1.

So instead of giving Federer the credit he deserves, you blame his success on his "mediocre" competition. They guy deserves more credit than that.

 

[cobl04]

Bloody Federer.

I love Djokovic. Great player with a good personality. Type him in on youtube he does good as impersonations.

I wish Federer would stop getting so emotional though. It's not like he's had cancer or something and broken through for his first win. It's his 12th!!

But let me mention -- of the top seven or so players who have won the most grand slams the only two who have won all four at least once are both Aussie

 

[namkcuR]

mediocre competition? I think you're completely off with this line of thinking.

Players now are more skilled than ever. They have better training, technology, and tactics. There is no question that the quality and skill in tennis is always improving. To say that the competition is mediocre is crazy.

Hypothetically, let's remove Federer from the past 4 years. What would have happened had Federer chose soccer instead of tennis? Roddick would be trading the #1 back and forth between Nadal, Safin, and Hewitt. Would the competition be considered mediocre if this was the case? Of course not. You are just wanting a closer race and rivalry for the #1.

So instead of giving Federer the credit he deserves, you blame his success on his "mediocre" competition. They guy deserves more credit than that.

Borg, Wilander, Connors, MacEnroe, Lendl, Becker, Sampras, Agassi > Roddick, Hewitt, Nadal.

Like I said, we'll have to agree to disagree.