Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Come on, Roger could not beat Rafa when Rafa was young and strong. He's beating up on an old, weather-beaten, aging Rafa.
No fair.
Indian Wells: Federer vs. Nadal [Semi-finals]
- Thread starter SeeingDusk
- Start date
No fair.
DjokovicForTheWin
Banned
Yeah Nadal will probably win Miami
forthegame
Hall of Fame
The buggy-whip, moonball, deep topspin FH to Rafa's BH seemed effective today. He's tried that a few times but never really spun it deep consistently before.
Towser83
G.O.A.T.
I think it would be his 6th. Off the top of my head - Basel, paris masters, WTF, Rotterdam and Dubai.. oh and Doha? that would be 6th with this being an attempt at 7.
Yeah I don't think he has too many problems physically with best of 5 actually, it's mental mainly. Just keeping that level of intensity and concentration might be too hard these days.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
Yes, it's his 6th over the last 5 months (if he makes the win tomorrow). I corrected it in the original post, thanks.
Pwned
Hall of Fame
To me it looked like Nadal could not take advantage of the wind at all. Playing with the wind his topspin brought the ball down too short too often. Into the wind it was 100x worse. His high balls sat up in the wind and were blown short with no penetration.
Federer was able to hit with more spin but also pace playing with the wind. His balls zipped through the air. Into the wind he flattened them out and got them deep.
Federer was able to hit with more spin but also pace playing with the wind. His balls zipped through the air. Into the wind he flattened them out and got them deep.
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
Considering the conditions, you bet it was!
It was similar to that one match he played against Soderling at the French. The wind was horrible, but it only seemed to be on Soderling's side of the court. Federer played like the conditions were calm...it was bizarre.
The same thing happened today. You would never know it was windy looking at Federer. That was bizarre.
raphMODE
Professional
An interesting fact is that Federer can equal Nadal's Masters 1000 titles record (19) by winning tomorrow.
(even if I guess nadal will improve this number later with the clay season...)
–
For the record :
Nadal : 19
Federer : 18
Agassi : 17
Sampras : 11
Djokovic : 10
Murray : 8
–
(even if I guess nadal will improve this number later with the clay season...)
–
For the record :
Nadal : 19
Federer : 18
Agassi : 17
Sampras : 11
Djokovic : 10
Murray : 8
–
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
I think we can agree that Rafito lost due to a combination of being too tired and too rested.
Towser83
G.O.A.T.
that cracked me up. No offence to rafa fans, just a funny quote.
flyinghippos101
Legend
Fed and Isner score the upsets and trolling begins. TT keeping it real
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
I know the laughter just bubbled out of me. Verdasco. How apt! But that's exactly what it looked like. Big props to MichaelNadal. That was too funny!
chrisberchris
Semi-Pro
I'm glad Fed got the win, but I feel bad for Nadal. Those conditions were so rough
prosealster
Professional
LOL.....quote of the day
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
You're funny. I love your sense of humor.
FlashFlare11
Hall of Fame
Yeah, that match against Soderling was a total masterclass. But Nadal is a totally different player than Soderling and usually doesn't let the conditions get to him, which is why I was surprised by his on-court disposition.
But Roger can play in any kind of weather and make it look serene. It's incredible!
boojay
Hall of Fame
Federer has only lost ONCE since the US Open--against the man he just demolished.
Exos, withdrawals, and Davis Cup do not count.
The wind definetely affected rafa's play. His loopy forehand and backhand both were flying and the conditions favored fed because he has the ability to hit through the wind and ball more. But I give credit where credit is due, he served extremely well and adapted well props to him.
mandy01
G.O.A.T.
Interesting quote from Roger. Something a lot of us thought in 2008 after Wimbledon.
"I have had doubts in the past against Rafa," Federer admitted. "It's just normal, I guess. If you get destroyed like in the finals of Paris [in 2008], next time you play him around, which for me unfortunately was the Wimbledon finals, that epic one we had, of course you'll be affected a little bit, even though now you are on your favorite surface potentially. But it did take maybe potentially take me a set or two to shake that off, and then it cost me the match in the end. So sometimes I've gone into matches with Rafa where I knew it was gonna probably difficult because either maybe he's coming in on an incredible hot streak or I'm coming in from an end where I know I probably shouldn't be winning this match tonight just because I'm not feeling right, my game is not up to par. I've maybe come through some other matches against other players, but against Rafa it's a different story."
"I have had doubts in the past against Rafa," Federer admitted. "It's just normal, I guess. If you get destroyed like in the finals of Paris [in 2008], next time you play him around, which for me unfortunately was the Wimbledon finals, that epic one we had, of course you'll be affected a little bit, even though now you are on your favorite surface potentially. But it did take maybe potentially take me a set or two to shake that off, and then it cost me the match in the end. So sometimes I've gone into matches with Rafa where I knew it was gonna probably difficult because either maybe he's coming in on an incredible hot streak or I'm coming in from an end where I know I probably shouldn't be winning this match tonight just because I'm not feeling right, my game is not up to par. I've maybe come through some other matches against other players, but against Rafa it's a different story."
SirGounder
Hall of Fame
Was Federer not playing in the same conditions? I will admit though that Nadal's higher bouncing shots will always be affected by wind more.
Love all
Semi-Pro
U nearly made that.
In my opinion the keys to Fed's fantastic win include are but not limited to
1. Fed hitting through his backhand returns of serve instead of chipping them back. His deep floaty backhand return of serve usually allows Nadal to set up immediately start the attack of Fed's OHBH. Not this time.
2. Fed continually hitting through or over his backhand instead of slicing it. His slice may cause others problems but not Nadal. By hitting through it, he was able to take time away from Nadal, create angles, etc.
3. Fed going after Nadal's BH with his inside-in FH. How times did you see Fed blast that deep inside-in FH to Nadal's BH again and again, taking it early until you could see Nadal off balance and not ready for the next shot and drawing the error.
4. Great clutch serving
1. Fed hitting through his backhand returns of serve instead of chipping them back. His deep floaty backhand return of serve usually allows Nadal to set up immediately start the attack of Fed's OHBH. Not this time.
2. Fed continually hitting through or over his backhand instead of slicing it. His slice may cause others problems but not Nadal. By hitting through it, he was able to take time away from Nadal, create angles, etc.
3. Fed going after Nadal's BH with his inside-in FH. How times did you see Fed blast that deep inside-in FH to Nadal's BH again and again, taking it early until you could see Nadal off balance and not ready for the next shot and drawing the error.
4. Great clutch serving
FlashFlare11
Hall of Fame
Postponed to tomorrow, after the singles final.
thanks I'll go back to bed!
FlashFlare11
Hall of Fame
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Twice. Federer also lost on clay to Isner in Davis Cup. Davis Cup does count. Exos and walkovers don't count on win-loss records and head-to-heads.
DjokovicForTheWin
Banned
Nadal blamed his loss on the weather:
"I was feeling the ball great. I felt I'm ready to compete and ready to win the match, but later the crazy wind [made it ] very difficult for me to play with a clear tactic," Nadal said, "...and the weather conditions makes the topspin more difficult for me."
"I was feeling the ball great. I felt I'm ready to compete and ready to win the match, but later the crazy wind [made it ] very difficult for me to play with a clear tactic," Nadal said, "...and the weather conditions makes the topspin more difficult for me."
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
Thanks! I can guarantee my sense of humor was not at its most functional during the match but I usually recover some calm and perspective afterwards. Posting here helps.
Talker
Hall of Fame
#3 was key.
Fed also likes to volley or hit short sitters straight back to Nadal, this time he watched and held the ball a little longer and used the open court.
Fed stuck with the plan, many times he keeps trying different strategies even when the ones he's using are working fairly well.
These tactics caused a lot of confusion for Nadal, he was left standing at times as the ball went by and even a gettable drop shot wasn't even tried for.
Towser83
G.O.A.T.
yet he destroyed murray in the wind back in 2009 at IW...
so the wind, does it hurt rafa's topspin more, or does the spin keep the ball in, and is Federer's serve hurt more as well as his more agressive aproach? Federer is better indoors so why did the wind hurt Nadal more than Federer today
dudeski
Hall of Fame
Nadal's ego has been hurt. Real Nadal is coming out the fake humbleness cover.
It really helps to read posts one responds to!
Yes.
Fed's a better wind player than Murray and evidently Rafa. Full presser doesn't come out for 24hrs. Some more quotes from Twitter:
"Very difficult for me to play with clear tactic. Today was colder, the ball stayed lower."
"the real excuse was him, he played better than me."
http://twitter.com/#!/burtonad
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M
monfed
Guest
LMAO! WHERE DO I EVEN START? First off ...ALLLLLLLEZ ROGER!!! You made me proud today, CLUTCH FIRST SERVE AFTER A RAIN BREAK ON MP TAKES THE CAKE. WOW!
Let's dispense with some myths -
A)"OUTDOOR HC". Let's hope this absurdity never gets thrown around again. It was NEVER outdoor/indoors to begin with, it was ALWAYS the court surface and it always has been.
B) Federer can't beat Nadal when it's windy. ROFL. Federer beat him on one of the windiest days I've ever seen their rivalry unfold at. Fed's strokemaking is all about the timing and he played such a clean match(apart from the usual chokes ofcourse), it was a sight to behold. One could argue that the wind affected Nadal's play but one could counter argue that it affected Fed's play too especially on his BH side because it's so timing reliant almost punishingly so.
On to the match -
Federer came out on a mission today. You could clearly see it in his body language,it barely dropped. He wasn't to be denied NOT even by the rain gods who conspired against him on MP(LOL worthy).
Federer went after Nadal's BH and that was pretty evident right from the get-go. I'm glad he stuck to it(although it's easier to do so in a best-of-3).
The most telling aspect for me was Federer's BH returning. I mean are you kidding me? He barely missed! He didn't let Nadal get too many free points on his serve and that gave him the belief that he could break him as the BP conversion rate kindof shows that.
The other thing that stood out for me was Federer won 60%+ points on his SECOND SERVE. That indicates that he was very much in the hunt in the rallies. Towards the end it looked like Nadal was getting the upper hand, luckily for Fed it didn't hurt him.
I did feel Nadal played a little subpar, the wind seemed to have bothered him , he just wasn't crushing his FHs like he usually does. But CMON, the conditions OVERALL favoured Nadal 10X more than Roger, this is SLOW HC FFS, so let's just leave it at that. And Roger played SUBLIME tennis, the wind DIDNOT throw off his timing which was something special.
I'm glad in a weird way that Roger served it out on 5-4 than 5-2 which indicates that he still believes he CAN beat Nadal. I don't wanna get too ahead of myself here but this COULD be the match that turns the tide in their rivalry.
Congrats to Federer fans on this board and a HUGE shoutout to aphex if you're lurking , I hope you had a BLAST like i did.
ALLLLLEZZZZZ!
Let's dispense with some myths -
A)"OUTDOOR HC". Let's hope this absurdity never gets thrown around again. It was NEVER outdoor/indoors to begin with, it was ALWAYS the court surface and it always has been.
B) Federer can't beat Nadal when it's windy. ROFL. Federer beat him on one of the windiest days I've ever seen their rivalry unfold at. Fed's strokemaking is all about the timing and he played such a clean match(apart from the usual chokes ofcourse), it was a sight to behold. One could argue that the wind affected Nadal's play but one could counter argue that it affected Fed's play too especially on his BH side because it's so timing reliant almost punishingly so.
On to the match -
Federer came out on a mission today. You could clearly see it in his body language,it barely dropped. He wasn't to be denied NOT even by the rain gods who conspired against him on MP(LOL worthy).
Federer went after Nadal's BH and that was pretty evident right from the get-go. I'm glad he stuck to it(although it's easier to do so in a best-of-3).
The most telling aspect for me was Federer's BH returning. I mean are you kidding me? He barely missed! He didn't let Nadal get too many free points on his serve and that gave him the belief that he could break him as the BP conversion rate kindof shows that.
The other thing that stood out for me was Federer won 60%+ points on his SECOND SERVE. That indicates that he was very much in the hunt in the rallies. Towards the end it looked like Nadal was getting the upper hand, luckily for Fed it didn't hurt him.
I did feel Nadal played a little subpar, the wind seemed to have bothered him , he just wasn't crushing his FHs like he usually does. But CMON, the conditions OVERALL favoured Nadal 10X more than Roger, this is SLOW HC FFS, so let's just leave it at that. And Roger played SUBLIME tennis, the wind DIDNOT throw off his timing which was something special.
I'm glad in a weird way that Roger served it out on 5-4 than 5-2 which indicates that he still believes he CAN beat Nadal. I don't wanna get too ahead of myself here but this COULD be the match that turns the tide in their rivalry.
Congrats to Federer fans on this board and a HUGE shoutout to aphex if you're lurking , I hope you had a BLAST like i did.
ALLLLLEZZZZZ!
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Nadal's game is low risk, high net clearance so windy condition should be harder for Federer to adjust/adapt. Somehow he think it effected him more, lol.
Maybe Nadal believe a control environment(indoor) suits him better.
Pwned
Hall of Fame
Nadal's game is low risk, high net clearance so windy condition should be harder for Federer to adjust/adapt. Somehow he think it effected him more, lol.
Maybe Nadal believe a control environment(indoor) suits him better.
Well it clearly did effect him more. Most thought it wouldn't...but it did. Federer used the wind to his advantage with it or against. Nadal did not use the wind, with or against.
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
Nadal's game is low risk, high net clearance so windy condition should be harder for Federer to adjust/adapt. Somehow he think it effected him more, lol.
Maybe Nadal believe a control environment(indoor) suits him better.
Nadal forgot he won this same tournament under hurricane conditions, far worse than today. :lol:
If it affected Nadal more, it was all mental. Nadal's game is less of a shot-making game and a game with wider margins for error than Federer's. In terms of style of play, wind advantages Nadal's game over Federer's.
Federer is a better wind-player; it is clearly because of mental fortitude.
So much for the "Nadal is mentally stronger than Federer" nonsense.
Nadal really took a BATHROOM break on match point? It is one thing between sets, but on match point is is just unsportsmanlike.
sbengte
G.O.A.T.
Congrats to Federer fans on this board and a HUGE shoutout to aphex if you're lurking , I hope you had a BLAST like i did.
ALLLLLEZZZZZ!
For monfed :
Wind does not necessarily favor the topspin player more. Agassi is an infinitely better windplayer than Nadal, and he hardly hits with any topspin.
M
monfed
Guest
The Nadal making excuses for the loss, can't say I didn't expect it. :lol:
The wind is advantageous to Federer now? LMAO. All I'll say to that is Shankerer wasn't in the building, it was Goderer. Go figure!
The wind is advantageous to Federer now? LMAO. All I'll say to that is Shankerer wasn't in the building, it was Goderer. Go figure!
M
monfed
Guest
For monfed :
Cheers sbengte, that smile always gets me.
Now, if only you change your sig from Murray to Fed, would be dandy. :twisted:
Always
Fed is having a nice winning stretch right now proving one can still kick ass in the game of tennis in their thirties...
That is very respectable of you.
Disagree. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Nadal has a matchup advantage vs. Federer, irrespective of their respective talents and overall strength.
Nadal's 0-7 stretch against Djokovic is horrible for Nadal. A loss to Federer isn't.
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