Though Nadal has looked superb on clay this year it is still to be remember now that Federer has won the last 3 of 4 encounters.

The H2H is now 7-4 to Nadal but Federer has finally scored a clay win and historically a leading 7-# h2h against federer is when he has pulled it back against Hewitt, Agassi, Henman etc.

I think Federer can now win alot more of their clay encounters and almost clean-up elsewhere. Optimistic yep but I certainly beleive his battles against Nadal were all mental. He has now proven he can beat Nadal on clay and get matchpoints over a 5 setter!

True, but I'd hold off on any pronoucements on Fed on Clay until after RG. Rafa can get past most anyone on clay no matter what while Fed still can be challenged and beaten by a number of players.
Fed may have the monkey off his back but Rafa's still King Kong on clay.

Hmm I agree Nadal is still King Kong on clay but Federer has proven there aren't really any other players capable of beating him on clay.

Apart from Nadal the only person federer has last to on clay since 2005 is Volandri (and that shows he had a bad spell for Volandri). I think on MTF they said his clay streak (without Nadal) got to about 36 before he lost to Volandri.

Nadal maybe King Kong on clay but Federer is Tarzan :P :lol:

I don't think there's as much difference as you imply. Over the last couple years, Rafa, of course, has been perfect on clay, until yesterday. Fed, though, other than his match-ups against Nadal, only has the one loss to Volandri. And, yes, Fed has been pushed by some other players, but Nadal was also pushed by Davydenko and Hewitt this year and last year nearly lost to Nieminen and Federer.

The problem for Federer is that most of the encounters have been on clay, and that is where most of them are likely to be as they will both have to get to finals to play each other (Nadal can be knocked out by a number of players on surfaces other than clay).

Believe me, had they played, say, 4 matches on each of grass, hard and clay, Fed would lead the head to head about 8-4 I reckon!

I agree. Sadly the clay season is much longer than grass too. Fed luckily is brilliant on hard, so does well. Too much clay IMO, more time should eb given to grass. We might then actually get more proper grass players and also more all rounders.

Agree totally. The grass court season should last two months .

Mmmmhhhh. It is good to see Federer get one back on clay but I seriously doubt it was a mental thing for Fed. I am sure it is going to help him believe he can do it next time they have key points, but I I have no doubt that a fit Nadal on clay under a bright sun and high temperature could destroy Federer again. If you look at the whole week, Nadal did not really impress in Hamburg. PLaying him in Paris is likely to be pretty different.

The good thing about Fed's victory in hamburg is that it reinsures a lot about Fed motivation and increases his confidence for the rest of the season. Cause if Nadal is struggling against Fed on clay, then he simply can forget about Wimbledon or even the USO.

But as Nadal said, Fed is not really improving...while "i" am improving a lot.

Not sure about that. I can't see Federer losing to anyone but Nadal on clay. His record was impeccable v the others ....until he was bothered by Roche's sacking.

With respect to either of them being beaten, I don't think it's so much a clay thing as much as it is a five set thing...both Fed and Rafa prefer five set battles- Rafa can outlast God and Fed has a set where he can go walkabout if he wishes.

I still don't think Fed will win RG (but my pessimism means I'm almost always pleasantly surprised ;) ), but I do think he'll make the final.

As a side note, on the Fed-Rafa head to head, isn't it funny how statistics can be so misleading- for example, it can now be said that Federer has beaten Nadal in 3 of the last 4 competitive meetings...

And on three different surfaces grass, indoor and clay.

Too right big al - Grass court tennis should last as long as clay, maybe, for instance, have Halle after the french open, then queens (maybe both masters series?), perhaps bring newport into it, we need more grass court tennis!

Yeah a lot of people would want a bigger gap between the French and Wimbledon - but is it ever going to happen? Having Queens starting the day after the French final is ridiculous. :huh:

Yes the grass season should be longer and eat up on the too long NA hard court one which destroys the players physically.

It makes perfect sense to have a bigger gap between the French and Wimbledon, but somehow it just never happens, it's a bit like moving the Australian Open so it isn't virtually at the start of the season-it makes perfect sense but somehow just doesn't happen.