So it's come to this. A Federer-Nadal final. You'd think this would have happened some time ago, but it's been a year since they last met. At the time, Federer had a relatively straightforward win over Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals who, up to then, had not had a great clay season. Nadal,
Well, the final that people were hoping for, but thinking they might not get, might actually happen. At the beginning of Madrid, Roger Federer had lost to Albert Montanes, a player not even in the top 20, in the semifinals of Estoril. Federer's game in Estoril looked pretty much liked it did in Rome, which
It's fair to say that the Federer playing in Madrid is not the same Federer playing the last few months. But it's fair to say that this Ernests Gulbis was not the same that played Roger Federer a mere two weeks ago. Ah, the journey of Ernests Gulbis. Two years ago, many touted this man
Oh Roger, how could we doubt you? Just because you've been mishitting balls since Indian Wells, and then Miami, and then Rome, and then Estoril. You kept telling us "everything is fine--I'm having good practices", telling us not to panic. But how were we to know? If you could play like today, then what was
That's more like it. Federer had been struggling with his game, including a loss to Albert Montanes in Estoril last week. Although there was a tiebreak in the 2nd set, Federer will look to several positives. First, his serve percentage was way up, almost near 70%. More importantly, Benjamin Becker never had a break point
The match should have been played earlier, but due to the weather, it was delayed til past 5 PM, the rain creating heavy conditions. Roger Federer was looking to right the ship. He had not played well since Australia. A loss to Marcos Baghdatis at Indian Wells. A loss to Tomas Berdych at Miami. Then,
Federer appears to schedule a tournament like Estoril so he can build confidence playing decidedly weaker players. It may be the only tournament of the year Federer enters with a draw this weak. Federer played Doha, which is an ATP 250 event, but it typically draws stellar fields, such as Nadal and Davydenko, and, in
Bjorn Phau is a rather ideal opponent for a struggling Federer. Federer lost to Ernests Gulbis and should have had a week to train. His level of play should look better than Gulbis, but it looks about the same. The scores tell you that Federer won 6-3, 6-4 which seems like a comfortable win. But
The clay court season starts with Monte Carlo and culminates at Madrid. Technically, there's one more clay tournament (in Nice, France) prior to the French, but the likelihood is no top seeds will play that tournament. There are three Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid) with Monte Carlo considered an optional tournament (the other
Everyone knew this would be a tough opener for Federer, regardless of who he faced. On the one hand, he could face Marcos Baghdatis, the guy who beat him in Indian Wells. On the other, Ernests Gulbis, who everyone said could be the next great player as long as 3-4 years ago. Hard to believe
