Will Federer beat Nadal again?

Terry Tibbs · Mar 14, 2019

It's very much looking like a Fed v Nadal semi. Federer has owned Nadal in recent matches. His performance against Nadal in 2017 IW is the best I have ever seen him play I think. The landscape has possibly changed though since their last meeting with Federer arguably slightly below the level he was producing then. I really hope this match happens. It will be really interesting to see how it plays out and if Federer finds the form he produced in their matches in the 2017 season. He has been playing pretty well again in Dubai and this tournament.

Tennis_Hands · Mar 14, 2019

It is possible, but his chances now are lower than one or two years ago.

Towser83 · Mar 14, 2019

Been quite a while since he's played Nadal and he's not at the same level, he'll need to hit his backhand very well and still keep the confidence he had vs him. Not really sure how Nadal is playing, I feel with his lack of matches on HC last year it's hard for me to judge the curve of his game from 2017 to now, where as with Fed there was a definite dip. Played well recently but not been tested and also he was playing well in Australia and then lost his form suddenly

DSH · Mar 14, 2019

First, Nadal has to beat KK, then it is the Spaniard who has to prove that he is capable of defeating the Swiss again.

Deleted member 688153 · Mar 14, 2019

If they meet, sure. Fed is playing better than Nadal at the moment. Not guaranteed of course but Fed would have to be the favourite.

I think the bigger question is will Fedal ever beat Djokovic again, as I asked in another thread

Im(moral) Winner · Mar 14, 2019

True Fanerer · Mar 14, 2019

60/40 Fed IMO.

NatF · Mar 14, 2019

Backing Federer but can never count Nadal out in Fedal match.

weakera · Mar 14, 2019

RAFA will win the match.

underground · Mar 14, 2019

Well so far it seems like Fed has found his mojo in time for a potential Fedal semi, I'll back him to do it again.

jklos · Mar 14, 2019

Who's the last to beat Rafa six times in a row?

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

Yes he will. Federer is playing substantially better at IW 2019 than at IW 2017. He has destroyed tough rivals like Wawrinka and he is returning much better than in 2017.

IW 2019 = neo-backhand AND brilliant return skills.

IW 2017 = neo-backhand and good (but no brilliant) return skills.

BeatlesFan · Mar 14, 2019

If they meet, much will depend when the match is scheduled. Rafa stays with Larry Ellison when he comes to IW and it's quite well known Ellison is a Rafa fan, so it will be scheduled at night. It's the marquee match anyway and nobody cares about Thiem/Raonic or the other half of the draw.

The difference between the daytime conditions and the night is extreme. Fed can play aggressively in the daytime and can hit through the court and stand in on the baseline. At night everything is heavier and the conditions slow down "to a crawl with arthritis" as Jim Courier described it.

I still favor Federer in a night time match. Rafa's looked really impressive all week, but I still think Roger takes it in straights. I usually predict Nadal over Roger in any match they play since 2008, but not this time.

BeatlesFan · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Yes he will. Federer is playing substantially better at IW 2019 than at IW 2017.

What total nonsense. Do you actually believe some of the stuff you post? I can never tell if you're deliberately being funny or you just really believe some of this?

True Fanerer · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Yes he will. Federer is playing substantially better at IW 2019 than at IW 2017. He has destroyed tough rivals like Wawrinka and he is returning much better than in 2017.

IW 2019 = neo-backhand AND brilliant return skills.

IW 2017 = neo-backhand and good (but no brilliant) return skills.

Come on man.

Deleted member 77403 · Mar 14, 2019

jklos said:
Who's the last to beat Rafa six times in a row?

You really don't know?

jklos · Mar 14, 2019

Hitman said:
You really don't know?

Looks like Novak beat him 7 in a row. Twice. Had to look it up though.

jklos · Mar 14, 2019

jklos said:
Looks like Novak beat him 7 in a row. Twice. Had to look it up though.

The most Fed has beaten him in a row before this run is 2... Crazy. Neither of them have beaten each other six times in a row.

MugOpponent · Mar 14, 2019

I don't think either is very tested against a player of the other's caliber. Total toss up.

underground · Mar 14, 2019

BeatlesFan said:
If they meet, much will depend when the match is scheduled. Rafa stays with Larry Ellison when he comes to IW and it's quite well known Ellison is a Rafa fan, so it will be scheduled at night. It's the marquee match anyway and nobody cares about Thiem/Raonic or the other half of the draw.

The difference between the daytime conditions and the night is extreme. Fed can play aggressively in the daytime and can hit through the court and stand in on the baseline. At night everything is heavier and the conditions slow down "to a crawl with arthritis" as Jim Courier described it.

I still favor Federer in a night time match. Rafa's looked really impressive all week, but I still think Roger takes it in straights. I usually predict Nadal over Roger in any match they play since 2008, but not this time.

I don't think IW do night sessions for semis, only Miami does that.

Rhino · Mar 14, 2019

I was sure Djokovic was going to play Kyrgios, so lets see what Hubert Hurkacz can do first.

BUT if this semi happens I will be pumped. I think Federer can do it again, he's looking sharp enough.

wangs78 · Mar 14, 2019

Fed just needs to remember to play the ball and not the bull. And he will win.

tennisaddict · Mar 14, 2019

Match is on Nadal's racket. Remember his opponent is 38 in just a few months.

NBP · Mar 14, 2019

Last top 10 win outdoors was Wimbledon 2017 so let's wait and see

Harry_Wild · Mar 14, 2019

Hope Not! Go Rafa!

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

tennisaddict said:
Match is on Nadal's racket. Remember his opponent is 38 in just a few months.

Nadal is 33 in just a few months.

Plus, it is played on hard courts which gives Federer the court "advantage". I know Roger prefers fast hard courts like Shanghai over slow hard courts like IW. But Federer is better on any hard court than Nadal. Federer has 5 IW, Nadal only 3.

tennisaddict · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Nadal is 33 in just a few months.

Plus, it is played on hard courts which gives Federer the court "advantage". I know Roger prefers fast hard courts like Shanghai over slow hard courts like IW. But Federer is better on any hard court than Nadal. Federer has 5 IW, Nadal only 3.

Nadal has won a big HC title more recently.

Nadal has reached finals of AO, SF of USO while Fed got eliminated by Milkman and NextGen player

Nadal has a 23-15 advantage.

Nadal still hits a killer FH to pound Fed's BH and is not afraid or ashamed to repeat the same tactic

RF#21 · Mar 14, 2019

Would say 50/50, whilst these days Fed seems to have a good game plan against Rafa on hardcourt, Rafa has consistently shown better overall form of late and over the past year or so. Could go either way I reckon.

Petike · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Yes he will. Federer is playing substantially better at IW 2019 than at IW 2017. He has destroyed tough rivals like Wawrinka and he is returning much better than in 2017.

IW 2019 = neo-backhand AND brilliant return skills.

IW 2017 = neo-backhand and good (but no brilliant) return skills.

What?? lol
I think you do this by design. I mean, you cannot be serious with these posts.

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

tennisaddict said:
Nadal has won a big HC title more recently.

Nadal has reached finals of AO, SF of USO while Fed got eliminated by Milkman and NextGen player

Nadal has a 23-15 advantage.

Nadal still hits a killer FH to pound Fed's BH and is not afraid or ashamed to repeat the same tactic

But don't forget 2017. I can no longer put Nadal favorite over Federer on hard courts after 2017.

We will see. It should be a good match (provided Khachanov doesn't defeat Nadal).

Towser83 · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Nadal is 33 in just a few months.

Plus, it is played on hard courts which gives Federer the court "advantage". I know Roger prefers fast hard courts like Shanghai over slow hard courts like IW. But Federer is better on any hard court than Nadal. Federer has 5 IW, Nadal only 3.

Big difference between 33 and 38. Not that I think age is everything, Fed can still play well but he's more prone to random losses of form, at his best form he can still play well, so depends if he does that.

Fed is better on most HCs (Nadal does have more titles in Canada) but we all know that's always been the case but often goes out the window when facing Nadal. Nadal punches above his weight when facing Federer, he's had the game to beat Fed but that did seem to change in 2017. You'd be a fool to write him off though, he's overall been more consistant on HC than Fed for over a year now - Since AO 2018 Federer hasn't hit the same heights as back in 2017, looks good for a while and then the wheels come off like in Australia this year

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

Petike said:
What?? lol
I think you do this by design. I mean, you cannot be serious with these posts.

Ok, maybe I was overreacting. But this is not the late 2018/AO 2019 zombie Federer. He is playing really great here.

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

Towser83 said:
Big difference between 33 and 38. Not that I think age is everything, Fed can still play well but he's more prone to random losses of form, at his best form he can still play well, so depends if he does that.

Fed is better on most HCs (Nadal does have more titles in Canada) but we all know that's always been the case but often goes out the window when facing Nadal. Nadal punches above his weight when facing Federer, he's had the game to beat Fed but that did seem to change in 2017. You'd be a fool to write him off though, he's overall been more consistant on HC than Fed for over a year now - Since AO 2018 Federer hasn't hit the same heights as back in 2017, looks good for a while and then the wheels come off like in Australia this year

OK. Then in Canada the court would favor Nadal. You are right that Nadal is better in Montreal/Toronto than Federer.

But this is not the late 2018/AO 2019 zombie Federer. He has impressed me a lot with his 2019 IW form, while Nadal not so much. That is why I put Federer a clear favorite. I could be wrong though.

Towser83 · Mar 14, 2019

[

Sport said:
OK. Then in Canada the court would favor Nadal. You are right that Nadal is better in Montreal/Toronto than Federer.

But this is not the late 2018/AO 2019 zombie Federer. He has impressed me a lot with his 2019 IW form, while Nadal not so much. That is why I put Federer a clear favorite. I could be wrong though.

He is playing much better I agree with you, but he's not been that tested, Stan is still not back to his best. Plus Fed has looked good in some events and then suddenly lost form, he looked good in Australia this year til the Tsitsipas match.

If he brings his best he's slight favourite imo, but I think Nadal is more likely to come out firing, with Fed I never know who's turning up, the good the bad or the ugly

Petike · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Ok, maybe I was overreacting. But this is not the late 2018/AO 2019 zombie Federer. He is playing really great here.

In my opinion this is the best Federer on Hc since last year's Rotterdam, but 2017 Iw Federer was truly amazing. I think his form is promising now, but not even close to Iw 2017.
I am not sure about Nadal. He seemed to be amazing at the Ao till the final, but I hasn't been impressed by him in Indian wells so far. To me it is a toss up. I would say Federer looks better right now, but has lapses in every single match these days.

TearTheRoofOff · Mar 14, 2019

BeatlesFan said:
What total nonsense. Do you actually believe some of the stuff you post? I can never tell if you're deliberately being funny or you just really believe some of this?

Reads like deliberate 'underdogging' to me.

Zhilady · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
Yes he will. Federer is playing substantially better at IW 2019 than at IW 2017. He has destroyed tough rivals like Wawrinka and he is returning much better than in 2017.

IW 2019 = neo-backhand AND brilliant return skills.

IW 2017 = neo-backhand and good (but no brilliant) return skills.

This is just about the worst analysis I’ve ever read. In fact, I won’t call it analysis. I’ll call it anal.

Gazelle · Mar 14, 2019

Fed has little chance. Will be lucky to get even past his QF opponent (whoever that is).

MasturB · Mar 14, 2019

BeatlesFan said:
If they meet, much will depend when the match is scheduled. Rafa stays with Larry Ellison when he comes to IW and it's quite well known Ellison is a Rafa fan, so it will be scheduled at night. It's the marquee match anyway and nobody cares about Thiem/Raonic or the other half of the draw.

The difference between the daytime conditions and the night is extreme. Fed can play aggressively in the daytime and can hit through the court and stand in on the baseline. At night everything is heavier and the conditions slow down "to a crawl with arthritis" as Jim Courier described it.

I still favor Federer in a night time match. Rafa's looked really impressive all week, but I still think Roger takes it in straights. I usually predict Nadal over Roger in any match they play since 2008, but not this time.

Roger was making the court look pretty fast the other night against Stanley.

I remember one of the quotes two years ago. Connors and other legends who were at IW said the court was playing as slow as they'd ever seen it. But Roger (this was 2017) was the only guy who could make that court look like it plays fast.

TheIntrovert · Mar 14, 2019

Nadal will always be the favourite for me in a fedal match

yokied · Mar 14, 2019

Federer and Nadal have dropped their levels since 2017. At different times and to different degrees but it's pretty clear they've dropped and the gap between them at the moment isn't great. Rafa made the final of the AO and is rolling along nicely here. He is feeling confident. Roger doesn't have a lot of reasons to feel confident, and for some time now. Plus Roger's FH has declined in every department. This was what saved him in a lot of serious matches until the neo backhand arrived (and left).

In 2017, IMHO it was 70/30 Roger. That was a comfortable enough buffer for Roger to overcome the psychological scar tissue. But in 2019 it's closer to 55/45 IMHO. I think Rafa might be able to do just enough to turn it into a street fight and Roger will do the rest to lose. Roger either needs the neo BH or a better FH to have enough of an edge to feel comfortable against Rafa. If he is without those, I think Rafa can win anywhere.

Firstservingman said:
I think the bigger question is will Fedal ever beat Djokovic again, as I asked in another thread

If I was Djokovic, never losing to Fedal again would be a key objective in the mission of surpassing their tallies to become GOAT. He needs absolutely unshakable belief in his superiority and doesn't have any time to waste, so in his mind he shouldn't be willing to accept any more losses to those guys, ever. Part of it that would also be the hope that he can damage their aura enough to stop them ever getting close again. I think this is part of his thinking but Novak does run his own race in his own way.

Tennis_Hands · Mar 14, 2019

Surely, Federer has done something right, if the people put him at 38 as a favourite against the player who made the final of the last HC Major and they are playing in conditions that favour his potential opponent.

Can't wait for the match to happen.

Deleted member 716271 · Mar 14, 2019

Tennis_Hands said:
Surely, Federer has done something right, if the people put him at 38 as a favourite against the player who made the final of the last HC Major and they are playing in conditions that favour his potential opponent.

Can't wait for the match to happen.

He is 37.

However, you are right he is doing something right.

Tennis_Hands · Mar 14, 2019

125downthemiddle said:
He is 37.

However, you are right he is doing something right.

Yes, and Nadal is 32.

Jeebus.

duaneeo · Mar 14, 2019

Even at 37, Federer should beat Nadal at Indian Wells.

But people shouldn't get too confident the meeting will happen, says Khachanov.

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

Tennis_Hands said:
Surely, Federer has done something right, if the people put him at 38 as a favourite against the player who made the final of the last HC Major and they are playing in conditions that favour his potential opponent.

Can't wait for the match to happen.

The conditions favor Federer over Nadal. Federer prefers fast hard courts like Shanghai. So? Federer is better than Nadal on hard courts overall, not only on the fast ones but also on the slow ones.

IW:
Federer 5
Nadal 3

Miami:
Federer 4
Nadal 0

Sport · Mar 14, 2019

duaneeo said:
Even at 37, Federer should beat Nadal at Indian Wells.

But people shouldn't get too confident the meeting will happen, says Khachanov.

Exactly.

Tennis_Hands · Mar 14, 2019

I hear that Nadal is about to withdraw from Miami and Madrid.

Just giving you guys heads up for when he announces it after his last match in IW, that it has no connection whatsoever with the injury that will inevitably occur, should he not win the title here.

stringertom · Mar 14, 2019

The lack of respect for Hubert Horatio Humphrey Hurkacz and the great Russian composer/conductor Karen Khachaturian is a.s.stounding. That is the SF I can’t wait to see, not the 39th episode of As The GOAT Turns, a tiresome soap opera that reaches silly levels here of whose fanbase can be more preposterous than the other.

Third Serve · Mar 14, 2019

Sport said:
The conditions favor Federer over Nadal. Federer prefers fast hard courts like Shanghai. So? Federer is better than Nadal on hard courts overall, not only on the fast ones but also on the slow ones.

IW:
Federer 5
Nadal 3

Miami:
Federer 4
Nadal 0

I think Fed's won Miami 3 times, not 4

Will Federer beat Nadal again?

Hall of Fame

Banned

G.O.A.T.

Talk Tennis Guru

Deleted member 688153

Guest

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

Bionic Poster

Talk Tennis Guru

G.O.A.T.

Professional

G.O.A.T.

Bionic Poster

Bionic Poster

G.O.A.T.

Deleted member 77403

Guest

Professional

Professional

Hall of Fame

G.O.A.T.

Legend

Legend

Bionic Poster

Hall of Fame

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

Bionic Poster

New User

Rookie

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

Rookie

G.O.A.T.

Professional

G.O.A.T.

Legend

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Banned

Deleted member 716271

Guest

Banned

Legend

G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T.

Banned

Bionic Poster

Talk Tennis Guru

Similar threads