omg 2 straight games for Fed! maybe he needs to try and bring Nadal in?

I disagree with a lot of this. I think Nadal should be given full credit. He has played sick good.
Of course Federer makes a mistake here and there or plays a bad point. But that happens in every match whenever he is not playing a 100 percent. We only notice it so much because the opponent is making zero mistakes.

Federer just has to play at his very best all the time. And that's just to have a chance. That's a pretty hard thing to do but good to see he has done it at least in the last few games or so.

This could still be a great match. We have the best player ever against the best clay court player ever. On clay. Whoever wins this match won't just be the best at what they do but also the greatest ever imo.

?

I mean if Federer wins this I think he cements that he is the greatest player ever.

If Nadal wins he is the greatest clay courter ever.

Both probably only a matter of time anyway but I think today is "already" the day.

Now it's just pure ownage

well it was a good match for about 3-4 games

Well Nadal has just destroyed Fed. He is the greatest clay-court player ever.

Is Fed the greatest ever ?

Nadal's scores just for lol sake:

7-5, 6-3, 6-1
6-4, 6-0, 6-1
6-1, 6-3, 6-1
6-1, 6-0, 6-2
6-1, 6-1, 6-1
6-4, 6-2, 7-6
6-1, 6-3, 6-0

Didn't even drop a set man and nobody got close to him either lol

Next year they should allow every player who has to play Nadal to have a partner.

Yeah that's nuts. It's something I would expect from Monica Seles in the early 90s blowing out weak competition, not in men's tennis at the highest level ever with a very deep talent pool.

I don't remember anyone ever, facing these kinds of very good, sometimes great players, blowing through a French Open like this.
Thomas Muster in 1995 when he had his dream season on clay. Even he had tough matches and Nadal has now had 3 or 4 seasons like that.

He is just a beast.
Best and greatest ever player on a clay court, simply taking it to whole new levels.

The crazy thing about their clay court matches is that Nadal makes Federer look average. Fed didn't play too well today but Nadal was pulling off some sick shots. it's hard to tell on TV but Nadal's style makes it very difficult for his opponents to play their normal shots. When he hits the ball it bounces so high and with so much spin that his opponents have to play very awkward strokes.

lol Nadal just apologized for raping Fed.

Nah I think Fed had to win this today to already become the greatest ever.

Actually looking at Nadal probably even better now than the last few times he won, and with the inevitable new breeds of great players coming through, it looks like Fed's best chances at winning the french are now gone.

I don't think he nessecarily has to win the french to become the greatest ever though. It's just something that in my mind at least would end all debate.

I think Rafa can match Fed on grass now. It's just hard courts that Rafa has to improved on. With Novak getting better and really pushing Rafa for N:2 now rafa is probably miles ahead in the race (don't know how the point systems works but that's him won a GS and beat him en route).

I don't follow tennis all that much, though I usually watch bits of the grand slams.

What are the chances of Nadal winning:
- all the other grand slams at some point?
- at least one of them?
- the next three French Open's in a row? (to break the record)

It's pretty scary because he just turned 22 a week ago. If he stays healthy he'll be a huge favorite in the next 8 or so. I hope he can improve on the other surfaces and become one of the all-time greats instead of merely the all-time best at the French Open.

I think Federer will need a Nadal injury or illness to have much of a chance at winning the French.

he'll prolly win the next 3 frenches. I don't think he win more than 1-2 on hardcourts (aus, us) if he wins one at all..

He's really close on grass. I think there's an excellent chance he wins a Wimbledon in the next 3 years; I think he and Djokovic have been steadily catching up to Federer, and while Fed is still going to be a Wimbledon favorite I think a Fed-Djoko or Fed-Nadal final would be very close. On hard courts, I think he's got quite a bit further to go, but maybe he gets there at some point. I wouldn't be surprised if Nadal ends up as a top 10 all time kind of guy. 28-0 to start your career at the French is ludicrous.

I just can't rule out him stealing one Wimbledon at some point.
He is only 22 and will have so many chances.
Just a few years ago I'd never have thought Nadal had a better chance at winning Wimbledon than Federer did the French Open, but that's become the case now I think.

I'm not sure he will win the next three French Opens. But two he should be able to do.
Injuries will slow him down at some point. He has already had quite a few issues and his style takes a tremendous toll on his body.
Fortunately for him it's a very strong one.

His chances of winning an US Open are probably better than Wimbledon but it's far from a gimme.
So many players are just able to hang with him on hardcourt and even dictate play meaning they don't get worn out like on clay.
He has to work so much harder than Fed or Djok on the faster surfaces and while stamina is never really an issue on grass, it certainly is on hard court.

I still think he's the greatest ever. I mean it would be one thing if he wasn't getting past the third or fourth round and you coule make a legitimate case that he struggled on clay. But he's gotten to the final the last three years and the semi-final before that, basically he's perfect against everyone else at the French except Nadal, and he's owned Nadal in every other grand slam and and mostly everywhere else (even beat him on some other clay court last year). Sure his resume isn't "complete", but in terms of how good he is there's nobody you can argue has been close.

Don't understand that. Two consecutive Wimbledon finals versus one US Open quarter-final. And he really could have won Wimbledom last year. I think fatigue always sets in with Nadal by the time of the US Open.

No Federer is obviously the best ever, noone has ever played on his level, but you said it yourself, his resume isn't complete yet, and I think good cases can be made for him still being behind, maybe a couple of players, when discussing greatest ever.

But had he won today, also considereing just who he was facing, I would have handed him the greatest ever tag.

I actually edited that post. First I was guilty of writing his chances were obviously better but then I realised that was stretching it.
Maybe writing probably is too?
He has been close like you say.

My first reacton was just the classic stereotype, that he is a spaniard, multiple French Open winner and clay court specialist, which with past players, in different eras, automatically have meant better chances on hard court than on grass.

But a lot indications maybe suggest that it's different this time.
Just how serve and volley is less of a factor now.
How speed and strenght have improved.
How racquet technology has improved.

It's close.

One thing speaking for greater chances of winning on hard court instead of grass is simply how much more difficult it is beating Federer on grass. Eventhough he has been close I'll still give Nadal better chances at beating Fed on a hard court than on grass.

I think it's more a mental thing with fed vs. nadal on clay. There's no way fed is this much worse given that he pretty much ran through the field also. If you look at it, going against nadal on clay is the only match fed has played in five years or so where he wasn't at least a 2-1 favorite. But you'd still think that fed would be able to steal more than like the one out of nine or whatever it is.

Probably true. For one thing, he's beaten Fed on a hard court a couple of times, though obviously never at a grand slam.

I think it's going to be very tough for Nadal to win the Australian or the US and not just because of Fed. I feel Djokovic is a better hard court player than Nadal and he's still improving.