As a Fed Fanatic, it's with a heavy heart that i have to admit -Fed did not believe he could beat Nadal in the final.
His body language, his first serve percentage, his forehand, the grievous inability to convert break points -the basic winning package just wasn't there.
He was nervous, and so was Nadal. Forget the atmospheric conditions, and Nadal, Fed played at about 60% of his capability Nadal played about 80%.
It was painful to see Fed missing elementary shots , and play his game without conviction.
I don't think he believes he can win the French against Nadal-maybe against another guy yes, but not against the grunting timewaster, so i don't think he'll win the French.

Ive been wondering about this all day . Was his poor performance today anything to do with playing Nadal or was he just having a bad day? He's had these poor spells in a lot of his matches this year. Even in Hamburg, he couldnt get his serve in in the first set and yet, won the next two 6-2,6-0 . And there were flashes of brilliance today when he played great attacking tennis only to make an unforced error on the next point .
I dont think this was about a mental block about Nadal. But I wait for Tenez to better explain this loss , atmospheric conditions or not ;)

Yes big Al it was so frustrating to see a great point where he really was the boss on the court followed by an unforced error.Imagine the defeat is down to a combination of atmospheric conditions and mental pressure,not to mention Nadal's great tennis,but as you say Tenez's the man for this analysis.To be honest I wasn't so surprised at Rog's defeat.Nadal seemed invincible throughout the 2 weeks and Fed wasn't that convincing against Davydenko.Tenez said ages ago that if Rog wanted to win RG he'd have to pray for a cool day and that didn't happen either.Let's hope Rog can pick himself up and show us his full talent at Wimby. :D

Don't worry, Tenez will show up. ;)
The essence of this debate is; is federer losing confidence along the way in matches against Nadal, because Nadal is so good at exploiting Federer's weakness OR is Federer constantly not at his best against Nadal because he lacks confidence the moment he steps on court to face Nadal (on clay that is and in a lesser degree on Grass and HC) .
Probably a mixture of both. But there's no denial (even for Tenez) Federer can't hit back after some disappointment against Nadal like he can against every other player. At 1-1 in sets it looked pretty good for Fed but after the early break in the third the match was basically over, that must be something mental.

All and all it's for a federer fan like myself hard to accept even though Rafa didn't played that well, he was better in about every department. Even in the short rallies (4 strokes or less) Rafa was ahead in points; that's quite shocking.

Positive note; Fed's post match interview was classy as it can be. He bended but didn't break. He will be ready for Wimbledon, no doubt.

What's slightly worrying is that even on Swiss radio it's being suggested that Nadal will be challenging Fed 's supremacy in the not-too-distant future.Fed certainly looked gutted after the match.I hope he's not going to develop a mental block about Rafa.

Nadal did what claycourter must do and thats grind people down.He is relentless on the clay and its a surface that allows him to be just that.
Congrats to Rafa he deserved to win.However Federer could have easily had a 2 sets to love lead given all the opputunities he had,but it wasnt meant to be.
This is somewhat a replica of Agassi when he reached 2 finals early in his career and failed to win.It took him nearly 10 years later to eventually win.Federer will have his day that I am really sure of!

Glad you're still optimistic Darky.I'm afraid I'm starting to feel that it may never happen if he always has to play Rafa in the final.Feeling pretty down today-like when Portugal knocked England out of the World Cup :(

I hope your right about that, he certainly has a good few years yet to win it.

This is what I wrote on Thursday on Tennis Warehouse

"I'm in Paris at the moment. I was at Phillipe Chatrier yesterday, saw Djokovic play Andreev and Nadal play Moya. Both wins were impressive.

But Nadal was particularly impressive. It's the first time I saw him play live and even when his shots drop midcourt, they have so much topspin that they still bounce very high so it's very difficult to attack him off short balls. Nadal is also extremely quick and covers one half of the court, he feels he can get to the forehand side when posed a question of the opponent hitting down the lines. Whenever Moya came to net he had an answer.

Novak has his work cut off. However, Nadal hasn't dropped a set, seems really fresh and I think revenge is on his mind. The sun is hot here and if he plays Federer on Sunday, Federer has his work cut out.

I think the high balls to Federer's backhand could make the difference again, Moya couldn't handle that either, and when Federer gets frustrated, he runs around it to hit the forehand and makes even more errors - it will be a fascinating tactical battle should they both meet.

I thought Nadal was fun to watch and wouldn't consider him one dimensional. He's not an all court player yet but he's trying to improve his game all the time which is commendable."

And this is what i wrote yesterday

"I watched the match on BBC interactive. I think Nadal played very well indeed in sets 3 and 4 but it wasn't a very good final unfortunately.

If you remember last year, Nadal played against Roger that 5 hour match in Rome, a 5 hour match against Paul Henri Mathieu in the French (only 4 sets!!), a 3 and a half hour semi against Ljubicic (which was only 3 sets!) and a 3 hr plus final where he served for the match and got broken.

This year, Nadal is much more fresh. With that in mind, I wonder if Nadal could really make a serious tilt for Wimbledon?

As I said since Thursday those high balls to the backhand is just too much, that's the reason for the forehand errors by Federer trying to go for too much and becomming frustrated. It's really too much for anyone not just Federer.

Nadal against Kuerten would have been an interesting matchup because Kuerten was one of the few one handers that could deal with high balls to the backhand.

I can guarantee you guys, if Federer could come up with a great gameplan to beat Nadal, he would on clay.

But it is very difficult to deal with high balls for hours on end - not moonballs but vicious topspin shots off both wings but primarily to the backhand.

You also have to remember Federer is not the only player to have these issues as Nadal has beaten all comers.

Maybe people will start to appreciate how brilliant Nadal is on clay after the emotions have died down a bit.

Maybe this will allow Nadal to really have a go at Wimbledon and US Open where he has to modify his game slightly (playing further up the court more consistently)"

I think I called the situation correctly, maybe it's because I'm neutral but I knew Hamburg had nothing to do with yesterday. And I agree with Tenez that the hard surface and hot conditions in Paris suits Nadal's game where Hamburg is cool and Fderer has won there 4 times now.

I also said on Friday, that if Davydenkom played with self belief he would have won and would now have sleepless nights on how he threw away the semi. Federer had 10 break points in that 1st set but it was interesting how focused Nadal played on saving those points with good aggressive play more often than not.

Federer had the most success in the 2nd set when he tried to mix up his game, coming in, staying back, using slice - couldn't sustain it but Sampras says that's a good strategy for tackling baseliners who hit with a lot of topspin - try to mix up the game to keep them off balance.

Dear Friends - I am certainly gutted too. This is not the reason I was silent though. I had to travel right after the match and am stuck in Dublin for a 10 days seminar!!!! (even more gutted even if in a lovely resort).

Once again, Fed proved he could do it, but failed. A few points converted in the first set and it could have been a different outcome. But at the end of the day, it's not originally a moral problem , though it clearly becomes one when getting closer to the defeat. It is a physical one as Federer pointed out. Having to run extensively and be sharp at the same time is an impossible task in those conditions. Nadal also runs but his game does not need to be sharp, he just makes sure there is enough spin on the ball. It makes a big difference because the pressure is constantly on Federer. The analogy we can came up with is the sharp blade (Federe) v the axe (Nadal). The blade is sharper but does not last as long at the axe, clay would be the tree. You need an axe and not a sharp sword the cut it.

Clearly at times, Federer showed brillance but all those shots required excellent timing and sharpness. As the match goes on and tiredness comes into play, this sharpness goes away...as it wentfor Mc, Edberg, Medvedev, etc...

the positive fom that though is that Federer proved that on any other surfaces, he should have nadal number from now, except if going through a very bad day of course.

Let's look forward to the grass season. I very much doubt Nadal will reach the final this year and on the other surfaces Djoko should have an excellent advantage now....

Another regret from the FO was not to see a Davydenko Nadal match up. The way Davydenko started his match v Federer, he could have been very damaging to Rafa as Nikolay 's BH and FH would have made made him run to death.

Anyhow, I'll try to keep reading you all when I can...

Ciao

Hello,Tenez and Laurie and thanks for these two interesting posts.Guess us Fed fans have just got to look forward to Wimbledon now.I find Djokovic an appealing player too btw.

I too share the same centiments here but I still believe he will win it.His game is so fluent on any surface and on clay he is less exerted.I look forward to Wimbledon with a heavy heart knowing that he could have held all 4 titles at once.Im sure that he will be in that position again!

Nadal is great on clay..because of his style of play.... but there is no way he cand do what Fed is doing..... and that is what makes special significant..... Pete Sampras as great as he was .never even made it to so many french open finals consecutively as FED...

If Nadal were to try to be as consisten as FED over a tennis season.by the Clay court season he will be some what wasted.....

Nadals time would come... he would win quite a few more... but as whether the concistency level will be the same as FED thats different..

Yes Federer squandered a gazillion opportunities .....but I am always reminded of the quote .. " MOTIVATION WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER MERE TALENT " in other words sometimes you have to be motivated to overcome the challenge......and Nadal is Mr. Motivated...... Federer is Mr. Lets see how long you can deal with my skills..... Why does he only play as if possesed at Wimbers......

Mirka ..should have put him on her lap and smacked his bon bon like my granny used to do when I was a toddler....(giggles)

I agree with the opening post. Fed lost the Fo himself, he made too many errors. It was sad as he seems to have finally worked out how to get chances to beat Nadal, and he created so many but was unable to take them. Of course Nadal played a fab FO and won the final, but one can't help but think that had Fed played more consistently he'd have had a great chance in what woudl have been a very tight match.

Most people seem to be in two minds about this. But I definitely don't think Fed lost the French, he was never in control of that match imo. Even in the 1st set when he had all those break points, he was serving at such a low % that it was only a matter of time before he got broken.

He could beat Davy et al not playing at his best level but not Nadal...was it the court conditions, I don't really know about that stuff like Tenez...but Im more inclined to see the Hamburg Final as the one off and RG and the rest how Fed normally plays on clay...tentatively and without conviction for the most part.

Still, no matter how many Wimbledons he wins, one title in Paris will completely change the conversation about Federer's place in the tennis hierarchy.

This sport has had its share of elite players who pursued a particular Grand Slam title that always eluded them: Sampras at the French Open, Ivan Lendl at Wimbledon, Bjorn Borg at the U.S. Open.

At this time next year, Federer will be 26, and only six French Open champions since 1974 were that age or older.

``I feel my window is definitely not getting smaller,'' Federer said. ``The French Open has been very good to me the last few years. And I'm confident that I can win here, and that's the most important. If I'm going to do it, time will tell.''

Just a quote from tennis mag.


My own take on this is that perhaps Federer has made a mistake in playing a game so far removed from his own.He looked fantastic before the final,mixing up his play and then in the final played almost subdued.

Then again I think Nadal made him change.For me they have only played their best against each other on one occasion."rome".
It was there that they went head-on with weapon versus weapon.The game yesterday was not the best.They were almost too respectful of what the other one might do to them.

It reminded me of two great football teams who cancel each other out.
How many times seriously did Nadal use that hooking forehand to devastating effect?Not many.Federer protected his backhand,and from being passed,by not getting to the net.
Nadal spun all his serves mainly to Roger's backhand,he didn't step up to the baseline much to crack winners.

Both seemed they were playing a game that wasn't first choice,but it made absorbing viewing,but torture for Federer fans,as I think he was more affected due to Nadal being a natural on this surface.

I look forward to the faster courts this summer,as I hope for more twists and turns in this fascinating rivalry.

It was definitely torture for us Fed fans :( i've had more pleasurable trips to the dentist than watching that match!
One big difference compared to this time last year is that Fed has beaten Nadal three times since last years French Open, after last years French he had only beaten Nadal once and that was over a year earlier. Being ahead of Nadal 3-1 outside clay means there's slightly less of a psychological burden when Fed plays Nadal on hard or grass-a crumb of comfort for us Fed fans anayway.

A friend of mine told me that Federer may have a personal issue that forced him to fly to Switzerland on Friday.

Does anyone know anything about this?

That reminder of Fed's improving h2h stats against Rafa is a grain of comfort to us Fed fans after the painful experience of watching yesterday's final.Thanks for that BT. :D

Didn't he play his match with Davydenko on the Friday? I also heard the rumour that he flew to Switzerland the day before that s/f - and rumours now abound that it may have had something to do with an adductor injury/strain that he may have picked up before that s/f.

If indeed he did have some physical problem during that final, I think it speaks volumes about the man that he made absolutely no mention of it in his post match interviews and rumour about the injury has not emanated from him either. I'm going to have to rewatch that final with a more dispassionate eye this time and see if I can catch where some commentator on a TV channel said they saw Fed rubbing his thigh.

Very interesting news. I really thought he was a touch slow in this final, or rather that he did not try to reach the ball when in woudl have normally at least tried.