(continuing post 66)
pjcogs, thank you for your­ civilized and well thought posts, i enjoy your posts­ too.

pjcogs, thank you for your kind words. Probably you­ won't read my post since this article is one day­ old. I find it difficult to judge the past from where­ tennis is right now. I can only compare the eras of­ Sampras and Federer (and their rivals) since those are­ the ones that i've seen live. If i would have been­ old enough to have seen them all from Laver to Federer­ it would have been different. Believe me i've tried­ to watch old matches of 70's (Borg-McEnroy,­ Navratilova - Evert etc) but it's difficult if­ you're missing the memories of the emotions you­ have felt watching those matches live. I can talk about­ my emotions anytime Graf played Sanchez, Selesh,­ Sabatini etc, or Sampras and now Federer against their­ rivals. It's hard to seat and watch those old­ matches because they look like in slow motion, i­ understand that has to do with the type of rackets they­ had and the technology, but still it's difficult to­ appreciate it if you haven't experienced it live at­ that time. Tennis players of modern era have to be much­ better athletes than the tennis players of the past,­ for the simple reason that the new technology requires­ them to be fast, otherwise they will have no chance.­ That's why the movement is so important nowadays­ and if you're just a half step slow, it's too­ late. But then again everything is subjective, you find­ Marat to be the closest to the true genius, whereas i­ find Federer (not because of what he has achieved but­ because of what i've experienced emotionaly) to be­ a true genius of tennis. People become someone's­ fans because of the sensations they feel when they see­ someone play. We can argue here all day long about who­ is the best(i'm talking in general) but no one is­ right or wrong, everyone is only expressing their own­ sensations, and that can not be wrong. At the end we­ have only the achievements of our favorites to compare,­ but even that sometimes is not enough. Thank you for­ the civilized

COOLWORLD: You don't need my help...you're­ doing fine in your review of tennis and players.­ Believe it or not, in the beginning of pro tennis,­ "rivalry" was nowhere. The "game"­ and the "player" were everything.. Can you­ remember Becker-Edberg matches? I peg those matches as­ the last of the of the competition of­ "styles." Edberg with his great, great,­ classic serve-and-volley style was beauty in motion,­ the likes of which we don't even see today in­ Federer. So, the "game" and the­ "player" are gone forever in tennis. I'm­ not suggesting that is a bad thing. We should, we ought­ to, we MUST look at change as progress. Personally, I­ believe that a bit of Marat's slight bitterness at­ times relates to the fact that the "genuis"­ needed to "win" in tennis today lie in­ "power.".. I'm just rattling on here, but­ what keeps my interest in tennis is still not the­ "rivalry," but the individual player's­ mastery over that little yellow ball... Djokovic's­ mstery is underated; so is Cilic's. Roddick, to me,­ turns into the symbol of the transitional player...the­ one who could today wipe the court clean if the­ "game" and the "player" were still­ the thing. Somehow, he seems, to me, to lack the­ imagination of Nadal, Feferer and Djokovic when it­ comes to shot-making with the new power tools...­ I'm just an analyst who should probably stick to­ archeology and leave the tennis analysis to you guys,­ but my heart is too full of memoriesas well as ­ what's happening today on the courts.

i just cant express my feeling whenever nadal play­ winners. i am really disappointed that federer is not­ playing this tournament i just want to see a thrilling­ match of rafa and roger just like wembliedon 2008 and­ austrailian open 2009.

And even more so thanks to Goran Ivanisevic and now­ Nole and Murray,bringing more .
That the new tennis­ fans generation are more prone to play act no better­ than football hooligans is a bit of a let down but a­ few still stay objective and keep a clean passion for­ this sport,and it's only through rivalries that­ we'll keep interested,let's hope for more­ then,free of insults or doping suspicions and silly­ accusations.
Respect to all fans,even Nabuc and Triple­ A

being a bit youger,i grew up watching Borg,macEnroe and­ Connors,then Willander Ivan Lendl,Stephan Edberg...saw­ the Nick Bolletieri kids,monica Seles,Michael­ Chang,Agassi,Jim Courier and of Course Pete Sampras­ mature to slowly take their place,along with that­ amazing german Boom Boom Becker,then not much of­ excitement with Gustavo Kuerten,then marat Safin,until­ that new number guy Andy roddick with the 244km/h­ serves and his thousand tics until his first Wimbledon­ final against one federer,then absolutely fabulous.
To­ go back to such a difference in tennis level between­ number ones,and longevity at the top and consistency,i­ apologize to the Sampras fans,but i must go back to­ Bjorn Borg,and further away in history,of course,Rod­ Laver the only one who can still claim Best Ever,and­ i'm sure Federer would agree.
Nadal was such a­ breath of fresh air though,because let's face it,no­ matter how great a champion,it's a bit boring to­ just know he's just gonna win them all,and a­ rivalry like Federer/Nadal,i'm sorry,can't find­ any other.
Pjcogs, a little help here ?Even­ Borg/MacEnroe can't compare,as for Rod Laver,i­ don't know that any other name is linked to his in­ history,if it's more than one,then it's no­ Federer/Nadal level.
Only in Wta can we find such,Chris­ Evert/Navratilova.
and it's this rivalry that­ increased the number of tennis fans,and divided them­ like never before...so hate them of love them,RF and­ RN,we are more,and that's good

ILDA: Ooops! Sorry, Post #67 cut off your name. It is a­ response to your post.

When you refer to the "era of Sampras -­ Agassi" many of us realize that your are a­ new-comer to tennis. Your passion is commendable, and I­ always look for your posts. Maybe one day, you will­ have an inclination to trace back the roots of tennis­ and see what marvelous players " perfected'­ their skills through crafty dynamics with a good old­ Wilson catgut-wooden racquet...and the controversy and­ excitement of the introduction of nylon strings...Our­ modern tennis players work with powerful contemporary­ equipment and can develop formerly un-heard-of shots­ using these new, powerful tools. You are such an­ interesting poster..and my post is kindly meant.­ However, if you ask people who have been tennis fans­ since the days when tennis was amateur, who their­ favorite player ever is/was, few will say Federer or­ Nadal--not because these "two" along with­ Djokovi, do not light up the tennis legend, but because­ player such as Laver, A. Gibson, et al were so grand.­ Marat Safin is my choice as one who comes the closest­ to the true genuis of tennis skills with or without new­ age equipment. Anyway...I enjoy your posts and your­ passion for tennis...Cheers!

semi-final
rafael nadal vs. robin soderling
i'm­ looking forward lol, ahahha,..!!

I find Nadal's outfit utterly humorous. As if­ he's playing in pyjamas. Ridiculous. Great tennis­ tho :)

how old are you igor? of course your guy has a big­ chance. Safin is out. Roddick and Haas retired. What­ more could ask for?

Well done Rafa on ya win yet again and just like u­ said­, "one match at a time"....and also no­ matter what happens­ u'll always be a winner­ becuase of the true­ sportsman that u are. Just as u­ said before.."some­ people simply talk too­ much" Ya still young and­ there's more for u­ to accomplish but so far so­ good. VAMOS RAFA...V is­ for VICTORY. Stay Blessed and­ Good luck for ya next­ much.

. and please take a look at:­ djokovic-says-fitness-helping-avoid-burnout page­ ..
Some freak is again hiding comments on Novak page­ with tones of negative votes ..
ten mins ago, all was­ normal.. 10 negative in a 10 minutes for ordinary post­ ??
Thank you Murray sport !!!!
WHEN WILL THIS TERROR­ STOP ???

Well done Rafa on ya win yet again and just like u said­ one match at a time....and also no matter what happens­ u'll always be a winner becuase of the true­ sportsman that u are. Just as u said before.."some­ people simply talk to much" Ya still young and­ there's more for u too accomplish but so far so­ good. VAMOS RAFA...V is for VICOTY. Stay Blessed and­ Good luck for ya next much.

Dear Igor.K, according to this logic, John Mekinro­ would not be dealt with tennis !
And yet he is one of­ the biggest in the sport.

Lol. "It's easy to handle Nadal. Just wrong­ foot him every time". Nice to see a bit of humour­ round these parts.

Superrbrowserr leave it be man :-) particularly this­ is Nadal`s page.
I`m sure Half A brain didn’t think­ anything bad. I can accept that Novak has his bad­ sides of course - I personally don’t` like when he­ brakes racquet or get to nervous.. but he is showing­ this year that he is mature person with great­ personality he as

Igor K, no one questions the talent Novak has, but­ people questioned his attitude, which he seems to have­ changed. That is why he is getting more and more people­ to support him.
From Half A Brain,

Please, tell me­ what is the attitude had Djokovic, and it was­ questionable??!
Perhaps in your minds have wrong­ attitude, because it is not respected, and now that his­ game has improved, all taps him on the shoulder.I call­ it hypocrisy.