The Tennis Thread

Nadal and Djokovic will always school Federer.

They are better than him.

Beat the world ranked 85, 121, 59, 64, 53, 28 (seeded 24) and 32 (seeded 28) players to win it.

Federer on his way to beating Nadal in Australia he beat the world 128, 205, 10, 5, 27, 4, 9 and this was when Federer was ranked number 17. That is 4 top 10 players that he beat on the way to winning the tournament. Compare that to Nadal’s stroll to the US Open which was a bit of a farce this year.

Why do you keep ignoring the large chunk Federer’s titles picked up against the likes of Bagdathis, Gonzalez, Hewitt, Roddick, Nalbandian, Safin and Philopoussis?

Are you trying to rewrite history?

As far as I’m aware Federer was in this tournament but couldn’t overcome Del Porto.

Mark Philippoussis was a wonderfully gifted player who’s career was ravaged by injury. A US open and Championship finalists. Beat Pete Sampras at the Australian Open in 1996 as well when Sampras was in his prime. Very unlucky in the Championship in 1999, a set up on Sampras in the quarter final and in control of the match when he had to retired injured.

His victory over World Number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the deciding match of the 2003 Davis Cup Final when he defied a shoulder injury to win was one of the bravest performances in adversity I have ever seen on a tennis court.

Philopoussis was terrible. Anderson is in reality a better player than Philopoussis ever was.

I’m open to correction on this, but to the best of my recall, in 19 Grand Slam winning campaigns Federer had to play at least one player in each of the 19, seeded at 6 or higher. Its amusing watching @Nembo_Kid re-writing history and bigging up Big Kevin Anderson to put a semblance of credibility to this year’s face of a US Open.

A pity Federer’s record is so poor against Djokovic and Nadal. It shows the early titles he captured were so soft. Nalbandian, Hewitt, Bagdathis, Gonzalez, Roddick, Safin, Philopoussis and Ferrero were given their early jotters and expelled from the top echelons of tennis. Federer was demoted to 3rd best.

Federer has beaten Djokovic in all four Grand Slams. In the only one that really matters, Federer is 2-1 in head to heads against Nadal at the Championship. Beat Nadal in the Australian Open Final back in January.

Championship Wins
8 Federer
3 Djokovic
2 Nadal

Grand Slam (to include lesser 3 of French Open, Australia & US)
19 Federer
16 Nadal (* Asterix for US Open 2017)
12 Djokovic

Djokovic 9 Federer 6
Nadal 9 Federer 3

Federer has a nice padding of soft slams against Roddick, Hewitt, Nalbandian etc who all subsequently disappeared when the bar was raised.

These are facts Geoff but you don’t like what they say.

You have a strange obsession with David Nalbandian. Federer actually lost to Nalbandian in the 2003 US Open. I’m struggling to recall any Federer Grand Slam wins over Nalbandian. Federer never faced Nalbandian in a Grand Slam final and I’m fairly certain he didn’t face him in a semi final either.

Yep this is what @Nembo_Kid is not getting, he or she can bleat on saying this player in the top 10 is better than that player who was top 10 15 years ago. The fact is that in all of the 19 slams Federer has beaten players who were seeded in the top 10 of the competition.

This US Open has been shit, not really the US Opens fault, you can’t do anything about players pulling out because of injury. Infact I think the US Open could be in real trouble with top players pulling out as they have done this year. The top players who have been battling away on the tour for the last 5 - 10 years have seen what a break from the tour can do for you, when you see both Federer and Nadal winning the 4 slams between them this year. Would both have done as well if they didn’t cut their seasons short in 2016.

I’m looking forward to next years Australian Open, imagine the carnage the draw is going to throw up when you will have the likes of Murray, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Nishikori who all will be seeded outside the top 10. Its going to be class, there wont be no easy draws then just like when Federer won the Australian open while seeded 17.

And Nalbandian was a guy who was one of the top guys when Federer was picking up soft titles. He was made redundant when the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Tsonga, Ferrer came about. The bar was raised and suddenly Federer’s main adversaries when he was picking up soft slams were exposed as chumps.

LOL Tsonga and Ferrer would ya fuck off.

I actually think the standard in tennis at the moment is about as bad as it ever has been. A top 5 all in their 30’s (and in the case of Federer closer to 40) in a sport where players traditionally peak for 3 to 4 years between the ages of 23-28. Sir Andy looks finished from injuries. Djokovic lost his appetite for it when he finally won the French last year and with all his off court travails, I’d be surprised if he suddenly re-discovers his mojo at 31. Its a damning indictment of the sport when Federer at practically 36 can win the Championship without dropping a set all tournament - a feat which hadn’t been achieved since a 20 year old Bjorn Borg did it in 1976. No champion player has emerged in at least 15 years from the USA and Australia, the two traditional strongest tennis nations.

I’ve put up lists of seedlings on slams Federer won 03-07. Some of the top seeds there are absolutely hilarious. No comment from you though.

He’s already commented on it.

He’s ignored it as have you because it tells a story you don’t want to hear. They are facts and you want to wipe them from evidence. Tough luck, I’ll be here to put them forward again.

Facts

Championship Wins
8 Federer
3 Djokovic
2 Nadal

Grand Slam (to include lesser 3 of French Open, Australia & US)
19 Federer
16 Nadal (* Asterix for US Open 2017)
12 Djokovic

The facts are since Nadal and Djokovic turned the age Federer started winning slams, they have completely dominated him. That is a fact you can’t accept.