Yes you can never bet against Federer @ Wimbledon..­ Bblee you are obviously a big Fed fan, but to say that­ Nadal was at his best @ RG is rubbish, he was far from­ his top form, and has been since Miami 2nd round, he­ only got through his clay court swing because he is! so­ good on clay, injured or not! however by the time RG­ came around he really wasn't prepared, Madrid was a­ step too far, he knew that, he really suffered from­ that, Rafa is proud to be spanish and his devotion to­ his country has and is always a class apart from the­ rest, he deserves credit for this alone! Sure Feds win­ @ RG was gr8 he really had struggled with the pressure­ of Nadal losing so early and stuck with it well so­ congrats to Fed! Having said that Djokovic and Murrays­ early exits were surprising though. Lets hope­ Wimbledon is more competitive!

Good work RF.............Hoping for your 15th­ Slam...........We want more...........

Great talk of confidence. And guys,never write Rafa­ off.i expect a good run from him to the quarters-at­ least. But that talk from Fed can even win a match­ before the start. Well,time and chance happen to them­ all

Well said #145! I agree with you completely. But I­ think the purpose of these blogs is just to have a­ little fun: gossip, trash talk, support our favorite­ and trash our least favorite etc based clearly on­ insufficient knowledge, just media bits. Its all just­ for fun and should all be take with a grain of salt.

I am just wondering, is Federer better than ever or is­ injured Rafa worse than last year?

I think after winning RG 11 days ago, No one can ever­ criticize this man who always comeback to win more­ triumphs after many doubts that he is finished and­ titles are no more available for him...Go fed Wimbledon­ crown is waiting for you this year.

After his performance and achievement in RG, how could­ anyone doubt that he is one of the best player around.­ Bare in mind that He is not playing his best tennis in­ RG yet he still brought home the Title. On the other­ hand, Novak, Murray and Nadal was at their best going­ in RG yet all did not even managed to make it to the­ Semis. Over confident perhaps. Don judg a player just­ becos you hate their guts.

Robertcbkrick and Carlos, guys I admire your civility­ and patience, using reasonable statements in this forum­ without getting upset by the fact that the people you­ are addressing just don't get it. It's a waste­ of time but nonetheless you're commendable!

Joel, if you cannot say something decent, keep your­ mouth shut

Federer is back...i honestly woudn't mind.If he can­ beat Murray who plays fantastic tennis and whom i hate­ a little less every time,if he can beat Djokovic whom i­ expect to be number one one of these days sharing top­ spots with Murray,if he can beat Nadal let's wish­ he'll be fit again and at his best warrior­ condition...In fact i don't doubt at all that he­ can,it's all in the head.Can these 3 guys beat­ him,of course they can,they all have the­ talent,especially Nadal,but Federer is back.In his­ latest final,he­ aced,backhanded,forehanded,dropshoted,outpaced and­ returned 215km/h services non stop,just like with Del­ Potro...as only a true number one knows.Had Nadal been­ in that final,we'd have had a real contest.Sorry­ Fed's haters,he's in great shape and still a­ true contender,tears or no tears.And if he's not­ afraid to lose anymore,if he enjoys his tennis and just­ being there like he should,he'll be in the­ final,again,if not,the guy who pushed him out will­ be,deservedly,just like Soderling was in RG

Of course he's the favourite- the world no 1 and­ defending champion is injured and he's world no 2­ and won 5 out of the last 6! I am a fan of both Fed and­ Rafa but I don't understand the comments about Fed­ being arrogant. If I was the best (or even second best)­ in the world at what I do for a living, I'd be­ fairly proud about it! He is also, at the end of the­ day, simply stating facts. If there were 4 competitions­ in the world each year for what you do, be it­ bricklaying, taxi driving, golfing lawyering or­ whatever, and you had won all of them at some stage in­ your career, you would be fairly chuffed I guess!­ People on here slag off his character when really, none­ of us know him and are simply judging him based on­ soundbytes fed (!) us by the media. Much more­ tellingly, all his fellow pros have nothing but praise­ for him, as they do for Rafa (which can't be said­ for Andy M or Novak). Remember when James Blake was in­ hospital in Rome? - his only Get Well Card? - from­ Roger Federer. We need to look at ourselves here a bit,­ I'm probably not even the million and second best­ at what I do in the world and yet I've had the odd­ bad word to say about some of my competitors in the­ past. Chill out guys and girls and just enjoy the­ tennis!

@141 very reasonable comment

I understand all Federer's fans. They suffered with­ Roger for more than a year. Now, they are euphoric and­ of course they are exaggerating a little bit. The only­ thing that I cant understand is the hate they fill for­ everybody who they consider a treat for Roger

Better than EVER? I guess you said it too early. After­ winning Wimbledon if you had said this it would have­ made sense. Winning French Open does not guarantee­ that your not going to struggle against Murry, Djokovic­ and Nadal

So Federer feels "better than ever" AND ? of­ course he does,what else did some of you people expect­ ? He has obviously got a spring in his step after RG,so­ why not feel self confident.If he can win not playing­ his best on clay,then he most certainly can do it on­ grass,only a fool would bet against him at­ Wimbledon,like him or not,his record there is­ outrageous .

boow, thank you for your answer. Usually the people­ when they are afraid of somebody or something, hate the­ object just you do and this hate shows lack of­ confidence (sorry I do not like to offend you, but you­ are reacting on Rafa's name like bull on red). I­ like Federer very much, and I do not like him out,­ because I like to see good tennis. Of course, I am not­ his fan, because I prefer passion over elegance and­ Roger looks a little beat "sterile" to me. I­ am only sorry that Rafa is not healthy (I wish I were­ wrong) and I think that this year we will not see a­ dream final like W2008.

federer is a pompous wuss... he aint no man... he is­ like a lil hen!!! he likes wawrinkas! everyone saw wat­ them after they won the doubles at the olympics!! ­ Novak is a man! an a sexy one too:D

Fed says it like it is ... brutal honesty or arrogance,­ call it what you will. By some people's reckoning­ here, 14 Grand Slams, 237 consecutive weeks as No 1, 20­ consecutive GS semi-finals is in no way equal to 6 or 7­ Slams and less than 52 weeks as No 1. Nadal must­ obviously be the GOAT because of the h2h he has against­ Fed .. lol.

I thought Fed's hard fought victories­ in Paris more than validated his triumph in the final­ and I'm very happy to read that Fed himself thinks­ along these lines too. It takes a great champ to dig­ victories out of what looks like a defeat (as against­ Haas). Haas and Del Potro played the match of their­ lives against Federer because all the players now see­ him as beatable. Yet, they couldn't do it. So­ Fed faltered in some of his matches - so what? Hardly­ surprising with the pressure he was under following­ Nadal's defeat and the knowledge that all the­ French fans were willing him to finally win the title. ­ I seem to recall Nadal faltering against Robin­ Soderling who thoroughly deserved that win. How­ convenient for news to be leaked out about Nadal's­ knees right after the FO, thereby trying in some way to­ invalidate Soderling's victory and infer that had­ he been fully fit, he'd have won his 5th French­ title. I'm heartily sick of hearing about­ Nadal's knees ... part of being a great tennis­ player is picking the right schedule and not­ over-playing in an effort to stay injury free. So do­ I have sympathy for Nadal? Short answer: No.