I agree with your elements and I agree that Federer is more agile. However, I can confidently say that I think Blake is slightly faster in the first two (particularly quickness off the mark). As fast as Federer is, I feel that a lot of his speed is really due to extraordinary anticipation. On the rare occasions that someone (like Safin) is dictating the point, I don't think he gets to as many well-struck balls as a Nadal or a Blake. How many times did we see Blake win point after point when Nadal was in good position to put it away? That's something we rarely see from Federer in that matchup.


I don't think a British journalist would ever make that mistake. It's pretty well known here in the States.

Yeah, the distinctions between 'United Kingdom' and 'Great Britain' are largely ignored, but everyone understands the differences between 'British' and 'English', 'Scottish', 'Welsh', and 'Irish'. Any UK journalist who made that error in relation to Murray would only have done it because he wasn't thinking (and because there hasn't been a decent Scottish player for ages). A lot of foreigners (journalists or not) seem to see England and Britain as the same thing so that's where the problems arise.

Thanks for the clarification, Richyyy. I've always gotten those mixed up.

On the subject of Murray though, I hope he gets that temper of his under control pretty quick...it's not a pretty sight on the court.

Did anyone get to watch the Monte Carlo final between Federer and Nadal? Was it as good as the scoreline looks? I'm amazed somebody beat Federer in a tiebreak, but I guess it would have to be Nadal, if anyone.

Yes I was quite good and entertaining. The first tie break was heavily to Rog but the second one, Roger came out blazing and went up 3-0, then Nadal came right back and broke Roger both times. Then Roger went up a mini-break again and then Nadal took it back. Nadal really focused on moving Roger back and forth across the baseline. It was a nail biter and Nadal looked thrilled to win.

I had never heard Roger speak French before as he did during the award ceremony. He seems quite fluent. He must have gone to a French school in Switzerland.

I wish I had seen it. Damn you, DirecTV! I want the Tennis Channel!


He's fluent in German, French, and English. I've been under the impression that German was his first language. OTOH, since he's from Basel and his mother is South African, he's probably been multilingual for as long as he can remember.

IIRC, Federer went to train at a tennis academy in the French part of Switzerland when he was 12 or 13. That's where the French comes from.

I watched the somewhat crappy coverage of the Fed-Rafa match on TSN today. They kept cutting parts out...

It was pretty entertaining, though, because Federer kept looking on the VERGE of pulling it back his way. Ultimately, though...

Anyway, I kinda like them both, so I wasn't really rooting one way or another.

I like them both, but I can't help rooting for Nadal since he seems to be the only player capable of thwarting Federer, and you know it's only a matter of time before Federer figures out how to beat him and goes on a rampage. Maybe the French Open?

In Europe, almost everybody speaks two or three languages.

Some Scots, Welsh, and Northern Irish don't want to be called anything else. When Sean Connery was knighted, he insisted that it take place in Scotland; he wouldn't kneel before the queen in England. Look at the leaderboard on PGATour.com - different symbols for each.

See, ruach, I sorta go for Federer, because I kinda like the whole records/grand slam sorta goal. Also, I like the finesse that he plays with.

That being said, I enjoy ogling Nadal's arms (doesn't work out, my ass) and his drop shots were amazing in this match. So yeah, it's a draw.

Hey, there's been a real dearth of tennis coverage lately. I couldn't complain about the Aussie Open because there was so much of it, but I wonder if they were testing audience response and found it generally disappointing. I seem to recall in previous years there was at least something on every weekend in the springtime leading up to the French. Now, sometimes nothing at all. Has TTC taken all the coverage from ESPN and the networks?

karashi, that's another very good reason to root for Nadal. *g*

I'm not a French speaker, but I will comment on how Barrett used it. According to my Webster's dictionary, a bete noire is a thing or person strongly detested, a bugbear, and while I think detested is too strong to describe Federer's feelings about Nadal, I don't think it's too strong to describe his feelings about playing Nadal. And since English is such a precise language, even when we usurp foreign words to express and English-language sentiment, I think the distinction between a simple "pet peeve" and a "bete noire" is in intensity. Peeves annoy but can be overcome, betes noires can fell a person.

But then, it's language like that that really chaps my ass about John Barrett. The combination of his smug tone and his pearl-clutching hyperbole just makes me wish he'd shut the hell up. I'd rather listen to Mac and Carrillo getting overheated and loud but discussing the competition in normal, sports language, than Barrett talk about how this is going to haunt him for the rest of his life, or how someone will lose many nights of sleep over every single lost point. Seriously, the tone may be hushed, but the language is so tortured I wonder if I'm watching a tennis match or gladiators.

If you guys haven’t read it yet- I can’t recommend Dmitry Tursunov’s blog for this week on the ATP website enough.

This guy is hilarious! Before this week, he was probably best known for beating Henman at Wimbledon last year and for his awesome five set match against Gasquet in the Davis Cup this year. But his blog is getting a good deal of buzz on the tennis boards so I think he is gaining a lot of new fans. Here's a little snippet about a conversation he had with Marat:



I’ve always thought that Tursunov was rather good looking with a fun game to watch and some of his quotes after the Henman match made me laugh, but this blog has cemented yet another tennis crush.

I hope he does well at the remaining grand slams this year (though FO is doubtful he does have the game to do well at Wimbly and the USO) because I would love to see some in studio interviews with this guy. It would be very interesting to see an interview with he and Chris Fowler.

That blog is golden! He is so funny, snarky and gossipy. Love this bit from yesterday-



Even though I am a fan of Lopez that made me laugh out loud.

Dima's getting props on tv too. On the ATP wrap up show they talked about his blog and read a little snippet. I have never heard them do that before.

I am smitten.

Too funny. I especially love his liberal use of the exclamation points. I don't know why, but that makes it all that much more endearing.

One of my personal favorites:



OK, It's got me giggling again.

Anybody watch the Venus-Hingis match today? I was following live scores and apparently it was a real nailbiter, just like old times. Venus came back from down a set and 0-3 to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. She started cramping terribly in the third set and could barely run or serve but managed to eke out a win. Pretty sloppy match but full of drama. These two hate to lose to each other. H2H now tied at 10-10. Pretty impressive considering Martina has 25 matches under her belt this year to Venus's 3, and the surface favored Martina (clay).

These two have one of the most compelling rivalries in tennis ever. I'm already looking forward to their next meeting.

I didn't watch it but, to take the other side, I'm impressed that Hingis had some control over the match, even if she let it slip away from her at the end. Right before her retirement, she had no chance against any of the power hitters, so I'm glad she's figuring out a way to work around them now. To be fair, Venus wasn't at the top of her game, but I think it still speaks well of Hingis's improvement.

I agree that Hingis should take some positives from the match, but years ago when they were playing, Venus always seemed to squeak out a win in 3 sets as she did in yesterday's match. She needs to work on this mental aspect of her game and learn to get down and dirty when its tight, because that is where Venus really has her beat. She should never have squandered a 6-4, 3-0 lead to begin with. If she can't bring home the victory on clay, with that lead, when Venus has played 3 matches in 8 months (and Martina has played 25 for the year and was definitely the most fit and match-ready of the two), it doesn't bode well for the Swiss Miss vs. her old rival.

I'll admit to disliking Martina and loving Venus back in the day, but Martina has really grown on me since her comeback and I find myself rooting for her. It was made painfully obvious that the tour really needs her and her style of play.

Chesty, thanks for linking to the blog. I think I'm in love. Besides his dislike of those walnuts, I loved this:

Dmitry's blog is indeed hilarious. I have loved reading it for the week.

Marat and Dmitry had to pull out of the dubs. Marat rolled his ankle on his way to get his hair cut. No, I'm not lying.

I hope Safin's ankle is not too bad and that he will be okay for Rome.

First Chinese Final in the Esteroli Open.

Na Li vs Jie Zheng...seems they have improved immensly on clay.

Ooh, tomorrow Roddick's playing Baghdatis in the second round of the Italian Masters Series tournament on TTC. Damn, those early round match-ups in the Masters tournaments are brutal!

Well, I have to hand it to John Barrett and TTC. I've been a pretty serious tennis fan since I was a little kid, and I have never heard of that Italian French Open champ ... oh, now I'm forgetting his name. Pietrangeli? Is that it? There was a little TTC Factoid saying he was "the first Italian" to win a tennis major. Was there a second Italian? I remember (well, the way I "remember" Tony Trabert winning the French) a gorgeous Italian guy named Adriano Panatta (sp?), who was a great player in the 70s, I think. Did he ever win the French? I'm quite sure he never won any of the other three.

Pannatta won the French in 1976.

I'm going crazy knowing all this tennis is going on right now and I don't get to see any of it. I can't understand why Comcast doesn't doesn't make TTC available in my area. For those of you who have TTC through Comcast, is it a part of your regular channel lineup, or is it a premium package like those season ticket deals?

Also, did anyone hear why Ana Ivanovic had to retire from her match against Na Li?

Here in Nashville it's part of Comcast's Digital Sports Tier for an extra $5.

Hee. I just noticed Gael Monfis has the teeniest wittle ears. So funny. I'm just watching him play Santoro on the afternoon/evening replay. This could be fun. The match just started.

Thanks Jer2002. I've been looking and it doesn't seem to be on the Digital Sports Tier here in the DC area. Unless I'm wrong, I'll have to keep waiting.

In case anyone else was wondering, it looks like Ivanovic withdrew with a left hamstring strain.

Hee! Did you notice his little robot dance after he won against Santoro? I think he is an enthusiastic cutie - he is certainly a character. I love that fact that he and Gasquet (who is rather shy) are really good friends, a real contrast. Gael played so well today against Roddick - I was very impressed. And I'm glad that Doug Addler (sp?) quit being so negative about him. At the beginning of the Santoro and Andy matches he would talk about how Gael's weaknesses in his game would be exposed (or something of that ilk) but then would praise him when it was warrented. And the deserved praise (imo) was flowing from both announcers in today's match.

Almagro really gave Roger a scare today. I think that he could cause some problems for people at RG this year. Granted, Roger did not play that well in parts of the match but Nico showed some really talent- and not just with his backhand (which is the most often praised part of his game) but he also hit some great shots off of his forehand.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s semis between Nalby/Federer (battle of the guy who sweats the most and the one who sweats the least) and Rafa/Gael (battle of the babies).

Oh, did you guys hear that Steve Bellamy stepped down from The Tennis Channel. There are rumors that he was pushed out. I think that is a shame, because while Bellamy may have been over the top sometimes in self praise- he really was passionate TTC being added to more carriers and is very passionate about the sport as a whole. I hope that the channel does not suffer with his departure.

I caught the Fed/Alma match today and it was pretty fun. Almagro came really really close. It'll be interesting to see what he does in the future.

Federer's playing was really off today. Hopefully he can pull it together before he faces Nadal (all things coming out as they might) - not necessarily so that he can win, but just so we can get an exciting game.

A taped match of Roddic vs. Monfils is on TSN/ESPN (canada) now, but I think I'm spoiled from reading comments... drat.

He won a paddle tennis tournament in Vegas and beat the Federer of the paddle tennis world. All in his first time playing that game. Love that boy. I'm so glad he did so well here! And he and Richard are so cute and adorable.

Ah bless- those pictures are adorable. Hope that Gasquet will be back for RG and that Gael's ranking will be high enough for him to be seeded. I remember how happy Monfils was when he was winning paddle tennis. They showed some of it on TTC and after one match he was so happy that he did that break dance move where you spin around on your head.

I couldn't root for him today against Rafa - but I was so happy that the announcers gave Gael props on a great tournament.

Speaking of Rafa, for those who are fans of he, Moya or Zabaleta (rawr!) who haven't seen it there is a pretty funny clip of them playing Play Station from Zabaleta's Argentinian show Tennis Pro. Moya is a very happy winner. As a bonus, a couple of them are not wearing a shirt Hee!

I've seen snippets of Tennis Pro before, and it's a lot more open than Open Access is.

ROFL!!! That? Is. Hilarious! My Spanish is a little rusty, so the subtitles were a huge help...and the pushups with the shirtlessness was an excellent bonus.

"Graba estooooooooooooooo! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" Hee.

Man, does Roger look to be playing poorly (for him). Really, both Amagro and Nalbandian should have won their matches. It still shocks me that Nalbandian is a weeny competitor; He just seems as if he should be a tough competitor. But every time he had a chance to take over the match with Roger, he began just spraying the ball. Those high backhand volleys. Whoa.

Tomorrow's final could be grisly.

I've come to the solemn conclusion that Doug Adler is pretty worthless and boring to boot. The Brits are good. Although sometimes I have to laugh when they use words like "desperate" and "tragedy" in those breathless tones. I guess John Barrett's gone home for the rest of the tournament. I miss him and his grandfatherly fondness for the players.

Man. I would kill to have TTC right now. The Rome final looks like a classic. If anyone's watching, how are they playing? How is it possible that Roger's not dead after his matches with Almagro and Nalbandian?

ETA: I think I might have to start loathing Nadal. His screams annoy me, I don't like his playing style, and he beats Roger too frequently. Yep. I've turned a corner. A mild annoyance has turned into full blown hate.

On the positive side of things, Roger made it close. Really, really close. To the point I think choking was a definite possibility. I can't tell, 'cause I didn't see the match (damn Direct TV!). Any thoughts on this?

If there were any justice in the world, you of all people, jimena, would have TTC. Although, honestly, now that I think about it I do question the intensity of your fandom. I mean, wouldn't a real fan have moved by now?

Nadal - awesome. Roger - Patchy as hell. That's why I said above the final could be grisley. Hopefully, his poor form will help Roger psychologically.

He may well be. And the final is best of five.

Oh, now, I don't think I've ever loved a player as much as I love Federer, but Nadal is a sweetheart. He's very, very loveable. If you want to keep the hate going, definitely don't ever see Bam-Bam smile. So adorable.

I agree that Roger's a lot closer than commentators seem to think. And, as I've said before in this forum, I think it's a mental question for Fed. Roger is (relatively) more fragile mentally than Nadal, who just seems to have an ideal competitive temperament. I really like that he's tough as nails as a competitor, but a doll baby otherwise.

All that said, I hope Rog kills him. GO FED, you sexy beast*, you.

*UN Goodwill Ambassador-beast.

Well, as a fan of Rafa, I have to say that is a shame. He has enough haters out there. He was actually not screaming that much at all during the match today. Actually, Roger was more vocal today. And supposidly- Nadal is one of the nicest, if not the nicest players off of the court. (Or is tied with Roger) He always sticks around and signs autos- even after a loss (my lucky friend who goes to Nasdaq every year got one after his 1R loss in Miami and was shocked that he stopped to sign, when so many players just "tromp off the court"). He also tries to do as many interviews asked. He does soooo much with charities in Spain, and does a lot of stuff with kids (has learned how to speak sign language so he can speak to his disabled child fans) and is always quick to make a joke at his expense and seems to be quite humble and respectful of other players.

Feel free to hate the game but I don't think you should hate the person, because he seems like a really, really good guy. :) Sorry to be fangirly- but the popular thing nowadays seems to be being a Rafahata! and he just seems like such a sweet guy.

Congrats to Rafa and Petrova! I am so glad that Nadia has been winning lately- she is one of my favorites. And I am still hoping that she and Murphy Jensesn will become a couple.

oops- double post.

What did they say? The guy had two match points! Federer is getting extremely close to breaking through against Nadal. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the ATP.

I acutually thought that the commentators were pretty good in describing how Federer had the keys to the kingdom (meaning how to beat Nadal)- such as coming to the net more and varying his serves. I also thought the commentators did a good job of explaining what Nadal was doing wrong during parts of the match as well, such as Rafa playing too many shortballs to Roger and not being as aggresive as he can be.

This was definately the closest match between the two on clay. And I think that Federer will soon beat Nadal. But I don't think that is a signal of doom for the ATP- because, unlike some opinions that I have read on other forums- I don't think that once Federer beats Nadal that means that it will be open season for Feds and that he will beat Nadal every single time they play thereon out. Federer is a fantastic player but he is not invincible and Nadal is improving in areas of his game, such as net play and his backhand, so it is not like either are stagnant in their level right now. I think that this will for sure go down as the ATP rivalry of the 2000 decade, though Federer and Nalbandian is proving to be a darned good rivalry in itself.

I always really enjoy the Master's coverage so I really wish that they had a 10 minute or so tournament wrapup. I thought that this year in Rome had some very interesting stories, including and apart from the finalists, such as: Roddick finally living up to his seeding at a clay tournament (I think that he and Marcos could form into an interesting rivalry as well),the continuing ability of Nalbandian to go far in big torunaments without getting the win, Henman playing well for the first time in ages, Monfils (j'adore!) finally getting his act together this year, and the continuing emergence of Nicolas Almagro. I really think that Almagro will cause trouble for whatever section of the draw he is in at the French Open this year and could be a real factor at the FO in 2007. Too bad that the doofuses at ESPN will likely ignore his existance at the FO this year and viewers in the US will not really get to see any of his play. He is talented on clay for sure! And then next year, when he makes the semis- the ESPN fellows will be like "who is this guy?"

It was a really good match - even if I did miss most of the beginning due to it being in the tv guide's "To Be Announced" section.

It really looked like Roger was going to pull it out! I was wondering it Nadal would have a cakewalk, with the suck that Roger played against the last two opponents. But moments of defensive playing interspersed with brilliant line-painting was thrilling.

I'm in a house full of Federer supporters, but Nadal's one of the few tennis players I kinda like as much, so I wasn't caring who won, which felt odd. I enjoyed the quality of play, though.

Oh, he's adorable. Off the court. And like Nadal, I can be a sweetheart (you're going to have to trust me on this one...) when I'm not in a competitive mode. But I get really competitive when Roger's playing. Which in turn leads to Nadal-hate when he's on the court.

Heck I love Agassi, the human being. And, unlike Nadal, I like Andre's playing style. But he beat Becker too many times when I was a young one and Becker was the player that made me fall in love with tennis. So I proceeded to hate Agassi, the player (and the human being back then, 'cause he was a punk), and root against him. To this day, I can count on one hand the times I've been on his side. Maybe when he plays Hewitt...

And I don't know why people say there are so many Rafa haters out there... He's the "it" boy. The heir apparent. And according to some of his more vocal supporters, the true number one in the world. There are plenty of Rafa-worshippers out there...


And leave the wonderful tropical island where I live? Don't think so! I mean, Roger's my favorite player EVER, but I do have limits, you know? I'm tempted. Really. But I also think it's better for my mental health that I don't get to see tennis that often... I wouldn't get anything done!

IMO, Rafa and Roger probably have just about as few "haters" as it is possible for someone to have who's in the spotlight the way they are. I just think it's a given that at least some percentage of the populace will hate any public figure, even the most charming and loveable of them. And these two guys are about as charming and loveable (and phenomenally excellent) as sports stars get.

DAMN, it was close today. But (shh, don't tell anyone), I have a good feeling about the FO.

(jemina, for some reason I thought you lived in Chicago. I have absolutely no idea why.)

So what was the final score? When did Roger have match points? There is nothing in the paper about the match, and when I try to look it up online all I get is how to buy tickets! Grrrrr. I'm a total Fed fan-girl, but I don't hate Nadal. He's a great player, reputedly a very sweet guy, etc ..... but godDAMN I'm getting sick of him always beating Roger. I gather Fed had a rough tournament, generally didn't play all that well (sigh.) I'm happy for them to have a rivalry, but that ought to mean their head to head is at least roughly equal.

And Nadal the true #1? Pshaw, I'm not buying that for a second. Yes, so far he has Fed's number, and I could see him as high as #2 for sure, but forget about it based on overall records. Roger is #1 with a vengeance, no contest.

Acre, it was 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-4 2-6 7-6(5) to Nadal. Tight, tight match. I still can't believe Federer wasted two match points, but hey, good for Nadal. Now all he has to do to better Vilas's record is to win one more match!

I don't think Nadal will be able to top Federer overall, but right now he is definitely the Clay Master. The French Open should be very interesting, since it is obvious Federer is getting very close to figuring Nadal out.

Kohlschreiber totally choked. He was lookin good there for a while.

I'm watching the Moya/Blake repeat on TTC. Who is the female commentator?

They don't have a rivalry. It's 5-1 to Nadal.

I think part of the reason Nadal is going to have Roger's number for a while, is that they have met in slow hard court and clay tournaments only and will probably continue to do so for a while longer since there are a lot more players that can beat Nadal on quicker surfaces. Nadal hasn't done that well in quick hard courts or carpet (he won Madrid, but the field wasn't particularly good), or grass. And Roger routinely does well everywhere. So whenever they've played, the surface strongly favors Nadal.

Was the hard court in Dubai slow? The one in Miami is reputedly rather spongey and slow, not like the US Open court.

Nadal could have a lot of success at the Australian Open in the future.

This match actually has me very encouraged for Roger. I haven't felt until this point that he had a handle at all on playing Nadal, but now he seems to have developed some tactics in which he can have confidence.

I would be very interested to learn what he and Roche are thinking about doing to attack the Nadal serve, because it seems to me that there is something there Roger could work with. Not that Nadal's service is bad. It seems that he's got a ton of kick and action on it, similar to his forehand, which makes it a lot of trouble. But still, I'll bet Fed Ex could make some hay there.

I think I may have a harder time rebounding from the lost match points than Roger - it was hard to get over from the AO Safin-semifinal, and I'm hoping to tell myself that Roger tanked in purpose so that the FO may indeed be the big victory....

Right? RIGHT???

Sigh. I am at the point where I feel we will never get TTC here through Comcast Chicago. Jerks. 54 channels of golf, and I can't watch these ATP Masters Events - pfft. I've exhausted all my options to get these people to see things my way. I may yet move indeed, Harry. I hear Basel is nice!

But what I DID get to see was that hour-long wrap ESPN showed, and I have to say that 30-second Roger commercial nearly made up for it entirely. Has anyone seen it? The acting might not be so great, but my goodness he is endearing.

Don't forget Montreal- where the court is medium/medium-fast hard court. He won there and played a great tactical set against Agassi in the final- the best I have seen him play on medium or fast hard courts. And to be fair- in Madrid he beat one of the best indoor players in the final. (Ljubicic) - so that win was a real break through for him on that surface. And I don't think that Dubuai was considered slow. But I agree with the rest of your point- that Federer goes much further in a variety of surfaces- and threre are many more folks who can beat Rafa on those surfaces than can beat Roger. (And Federer was not at Madrid or Montreal.) I have the feeling that as Nadal continues to improve on these faster surfaces, we will see Fed/Rafa finals on sufaces that favor Federer. Though I will be very, very surprised if they ever meet in a grass final.

OoopsSorry- I love the Roger ESPN commercial. I squeed when I saw it. :)

One thing that is interesting this week in Hamburg is that it won't be Nadal or Federer who wins since they are out. Nalby did not play and Berdych, Safin and Moya are out- so unless Ferrero or Henman wins there will be a first time AMS winner- which could be interesting. The crowds in Hamburg always seem so dead though. I so want to hear the announcers snark on that. Hopefully, the crowd will liven up as the week progresses.

I want Federer and Nadal to play the next 5 matches on grass. Then we'll see where the head to head lies. Seriously, having one player able to play all these matches on his best surface gives him an advantage or the other who is no slouch on clay himself but it is hardly his best surface. They need to play on mutliple surfaces over a long stretch of time. If the next ten matches they play are on grass and harcourt and Nadal comes out ahead, then I think it's fair to say he has Federer's number. As it stands now, it seems more accurate to say that, on clay, Nadal has Fed's number.