Tennis Forever

[raagadevan]

Saluting a triumphant trio

The Hindu - Editorial; September 12, 2013

"Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams didn’t need to win the U.S. Open, which concluded on Monday in New York, to join tennis’s pantheon; they have been a prominent part of it for some time now. Nadal had progressed from being a wrinkle in the argument that Roger Federer was the greatest male player of all time to being a contender for the honour himself. Serena, after her first-round defeat at Roland Garros last year, had dominated the women’s tour, winning three of five Grand Slam titles, an Olympic singles gold and causing former players of the stature of John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert to suggest that there hadn’t been a better female player."

"Another remarkable instance of mind over matter was to be found in the continuing success story of Leander Paes (40). Partnering Radek Stepanek, Paes won an eighth Grand Slam men’s doubles title to add to six mixed-doubles crowns. Doubles might not have the competitive depth singles has, but this doesn’t detract from Paes’s achievement. The oldest man to win a Grand Slam in the Open Era deserves his place among the finest doubles practitioners of all time."

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/edit...ref=sliderNews

[leosimha]

article-2416993-1BBE9707000005DC-929_634x364.jpg

Link - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ten...g-US-Open.html

[JamesDap]

^^^ Bizarre logic in that article, because for instance in Wimb 2012, Fed also beat Djokovic in the semi final. He had to play two of the top four players back to back and won. And in AO 2007, Gonzalez had beaten Nadal to reach the final, where he lost to Fed. So does that mean Nadal wasn't even as good as Gonzalez at that time? Of course I am not actually saying so at all but that would be the inference if we followed this table to its logical conclusion. Nadal was very much in the draw in those 'early' years too and from 2006 he was no.2 behind Federer until he took over after Wimbledon 2008. It's not so much Fed having it easy as Nadal taking a couple or more years to finally reach the level where he could be better than Federer in a few of the years if not all the time.

[omega]

wow... brilliant article that one!!

[VinodKumar's]

How come Nadal's bunny Roger can be considered as his toughest opponent ?

[omega]

How come Nadal's bunny Roger can be considered as his toughest opponent ?

Its a vicious cycle. Anyway it is because,

[Arvind Srinivasan]

I wish the guy can get a spring in his step and notch up another grand slam. A fallen champion fighting all odds for one last piece of glory. It would be great to see him do that.

[omega]

I wish the guy can get a spring in his step and notch up another grand slam. A fallen champion fighting all odds for one last piece of glory. It would be great to see him do that.

I still bel18ve.....

[raagadevan]

Its a vicious cycle. Anyway it is because,

"But just as he had the last word at this year’s Open, Nadal may yet have the last word in the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] debate. If he can stay healthy (a big if: he has struggled with injuries for much of his career), he is certainly capable of equaling or even surpassing Federer’s record. Were that to happen, the combination of major titles plus the winning record against Federer would make it tough even for the most stalwart Federer partisans to deny Nadal the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] label. Beauty matters in tennis, but ultimately, numbers matter more." - Michael Steinberger in the New York Times; September 12, 2013.

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/20...all-time/?_r=0

[leosimha]

Its a vicious cycle. Anyway it is because,

Roger Federer is simply the best considering his 6 ATP WTF titles when compared to Nadal's where he has not yet won one. Not only these, there is 4 AO, 5 USO, 7 Wimby and 2 Olympic medals, and 302 weeks of #1, this is complete pure sheer domination.

I am just wondering if Roger Federer qualifies as the last person for the ATP WTF 2013 at London's O2 and he goes on to win the ATP WTF. Just can't imagine. He will be simply the greatest considering him beating the TOP 6 or 7 people qualified.

Whatever Roger Federer has done is something GREAT...but whatever achievements by Rafael Nadal are something PHENOMENAL.....