If there were no rain delays.....a different result???

[Nadal2]

I was really impressed by the way that Roddick came back in the fourth set. But Roger started to come up with big serves when he needed them, so that's why I don't think that, despite all those chances, Roddick broke Federer in the fourth.

[sarpmas]

I didn't think rain-delay is the factor separating Fed and Andy. Andy certainly deserved the 1st set with the way he was playing. To think Fed could actually hang in there and make it close was already incredible. As the match progressed, the main factor that separated these two was Fed's amazing defense at some of Andy's apparent winners, especially at crucial points. For those who have watched the match, I believed you will agree with me that on those crucial moments where Andy was threatening to break Fed, Fed almost always came up with some amazing defense under a barrage of huge shots from Andy, be it retrieving Andy's big fh or lunging for vollies or defensive top-spin lob. And partly why Fed was able to come up with those unbelievable shots was because of his amazing shot-making ability. Andy could only rued over those missed opportunities that he failed to capatalize because like Fed said in his interview, this could easily be Andy's title had he taken his break opportunities (Andy actually had more break opportunities than Fed).

[Russell Finch]

Rain breaks can only really help the guy who's losing - he can rethink what he's doing and the guy in front can lose his momentum. That's what happened yesterday. I'm sure Roddick would have won the 3rd set without the rain and I didn't think there was much sign of Fed coming back until then. The question mark over Roddick would have been whether he could keep coming to the net and not lapsing back into what comes naturally to him. I'm surprised to hear Fed say he was thrown by Roddick's aggression early on, anyone who watched last year's semi when Fed just chipped retuns back down the middle of the court would have come up with a bit of S+V to get Fed out of his comfort zone.