Look I`m big Novak` fan.. and I say if Novak didn’t win­ Rafa in previous occasions in two-setter, then in three­ setter - almost impossible.. Yes I’m sure it will be a­ great match if it comes to it.. but fitness IS a real­ problem for Novak.. Obviously he improved it, but it is­ still not enough, and hardly he can improve it more for­ a short time left until RG.
I say that Rafa is ABSOLUT­ favourite on RG... not only for fitness, but he is­ definitely the toughest mentally. any other Clay event­ Novak came so much close to him, but RG I think still­ he is untouchable ! Fed on the other side, my point is­ for a long time - that he is gone.. sorry people..­ surely their will be bright spots like this with Nadal­ (even Nadal can get tired - really it was obvious),­ but I doubt he can do any damage on RG to Rafa, even if­ serving like hell (like in Madrid). Simply for me, if­ someone can impose his play stile to Federer,­ aggressively, than he can not build his game on­ winners.. he just hit the net or wide if he is off­ blanced by good preassure from opponent. It`s his real­ weak spot in recent times. and guys who can disrupt­ Fed`s game with their on game are Novak and Murray­ definitely.
Big question is, I say again, will Novak­ take that Semi as a final lesson, and look positive­ still on all that happened.. or he is broken.. I must­ admit he locked completely broken after the match..­
great reaction from people to this final before final,­ this real classic , I think should give him energy to­ fight Nadal even harder in the future. but on RG, very­ difficult job.

dont count fed out. he won on favorable conditions no­ doubt, but when fed broke his raquet a few months ago­ ppl freaked out, truth is it shows that fed wants it­ more. nadal is unbelievable on clay, i should say on­ comebacks in the final vs fed, but if fed can play how­ he should play, i say federer wins. fed's forehand­ was perfect at madrid, if he hits it the same then­ nadal will be scrambeling and fed will close in on the­ net like he has been doing in the last couple weeks...­ ale federer

Gore86 & JamesW,
I agree with you both­ wholeheartedly. I believe we need to take Federer's­ win into perspective
1. Nadal had been COMPLAINING­ about the altitude and surface all week. He felt this­ wasnt the best way to prepare for the French Open.
2.­ That surface is NOTHING like that in France-which suits­ Nadal's game to the others.
3. Hamburg 2007 - we­ heard about this 'vulnerability' when Roger won­ under similar circumstances ( Maybe why he wasnt so­ estactic when he won on Sunday)
4. Nadal had to put­ some disappointment in Djokovic's mind before the­ French since he's his biggest threat on clay this­ year.
5. Rest assured I believe the best is yet to come­ from that young man.

to all fed fans; be objective get rid of your biased­ judgements and predictions of fed grabbin RG he must­ have a chance to win but I do believe his chance is as­ even as murray's. but far ahead there's a­ certain djoko and a rock solid nadal

James W,
Whilst I take on board how important it was­ for Nadal to 'put Djokovic in his place' (as­ you put it), I cannot agree that Nadal entered a­ tournament with any other agenda other than to try to­ win. He, more than any athlete I can think of, is­ mentally incapable of 'tanking' a match - and­ certainly not a final, sometimes to his own physical­ detriment. Think back to 2005, the stress fracture? The­ competitive instinct is far too strong in him.

Also,­ to the person that said Nadal was 'lucky' to­ win his semi - did you see the rally played on that MP­ on Djokovic's serve?? Hardly luck. In fact, the­ whole breaker. If that wasn't aggression, I­ don't know what is. Its called raising your game.­ They both played a phenomenal breaker, Nadal played­ those key points just a tad better.

Also, Nadal­ didn't say he was tired, but he did admit to being­ a "little low on energy maybe" in his on­ court interview but followed it quickly with how he­ didn't think that made any difference.

As for RG,­ as I mentioned before, Nadal hasn't been in his­ best form for some months which I believe as been­ mental rather than physical (seeing as the form has­ demonstrated itself in the main as inconsistency during­ matches, one good set, followed by a poor one, rather­ than a total loss of form in poor timing/feel overall).­ This loss, I believe, could trigger a resurgence in­ focus (For the reasons I mentioned earlier). However,­ if it doesn't he could be vulnerable, but only to­ anyone who believes - and that is where we have a­ dearth. There are precious few who actually believe­ they can do it, and can match him mentally, when it­ comes to the crunch.

aus1123 (122) yeah ... for once. Want me to look up the­ other scores?

Fab post James W no.87 agree with everything you said­ it makes perfect sense...Djokovic is Rafa's main­ rival and like you said, to say that Djok nearly won is­ just not good enough is it. Rafa played nowhere near­ his best and he still broke Djokovics heart!

Nadal was tired after beating Djokovic and Rojer took­ the advantage, simple!!. Nadal will always be the King­ of clay

Errr I said Nadal relies TOO much on being fit,­ obviously they all need to be relatively fit.
But if­ Nadal gets a bit fatigued his game plummets because he­ run his opponents around.
I think Nadal will probably­ win the French Open because of the invincibility­ factor, but I would love to see Federer win.

For Murray is hard to win Roland Garros, as it is the­ worst surface for him. But if the shame of Nadal and­ Djokovic wasting time irregularly will end he could­ increase his chance.

I can prove both Nadal and­ Djokovic benefit from their irregular behaviour when­ serving. This benefits have been underestimated because­ is like they serve with three balls instead of­ two.

Passing too time (beyond the limit allowed)­ before serving bouncing the ball and doing something­ else increases the concentration of server and­ decreasing it for the receiver.

There is the precise­ rule of 20 seconds like foot fault, double fault and so­ on. Why they could do what they want? Then why other­ players couldn’t touch the baseline before the ball is­ hit when serving? The advantage of this behaviour is­ much less important.

How can I prove it? Try to watch­ the Djokovic matches between the end of last year and­ the start of this one, when he could not win anymore.­ During this period he quite respected the rules of 20­ seconds. And the same happened to Nadal in different­ times.

What is Simon Reed on? His whole piece seems a­ convoluted way of saying that Nadal is still the­ favourite to win the French Open! The biggest laugh is­ reading posters saying Federer is finished. Guess this­ is what Fed haters wish ... well, wish on! Am sure the­ AO defeat knocked his confidence sideways but he lso­ had a lot of "other issues" off court to deal­ with too ... like baby coming, getting married ..­ enough to set anyone's head spinning a bit! But he­ has never lost his confidence that he could get his­ game back - and that was evident for all to see­ yesterday. Long may it continue ... he is the­ "players' player".

Oh, well, a sportsman who relies on physical fitness...­ that's really odd.

What nobody see`s Murrey like a winer of Roland­ Garos???I think he is perfectly capable of strangeling­ his opponent to death with his boring game...

I believe Nadal has a huge disadvantage in that he­ relies on physical fitness so much.
He is pretty­ useless when he's tired out, as seen in Madrid and­ against Murray in the US Open.
I think he's running­ a big risk of playing long points to tire his opponent­ rather than using skill like Federer.
People who rely­ so heavily on fitness and speed, in all sports, tend to­ burn out quite quickly.

To blushenka: I couldn't care less wether­ you're tired or not. I write what I please. Just­ like you do.

**MURRAY LOST TO MATHIEU TODAY IN THE MASTERS GUINOT­ MARY COHR INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION TENNIS­ TOURNAMENT(Paris) 4-6,7-6,6-7(super TB).ALSO INVITED:­ FEDERER/NADAL/MONFILS/CLEMENT/SAFIN/HAAS**

I think both Djokovic and Federer are great threats for­ Nadal at Roland Garros. At the same time I’m sure­ Djokovic has no chance against Federer in­ shape.

Nobody seems to remember the great problem­ Federer had with various kind of illness, causing him­ not to train enough. It is impossible otherwise the­ greater player so far in the circuit to play so bad so­ many times. Before that period Federer won quite easily­ against Djokovic on all surfaces. And at Rome the last­ time Federer showed to be a better player before rain.­ Now Federer seems to be in shape, and there is no way­ for other players on all surfaces except (maybe) Nadal­ on clay.

Peri whahahahahha agreeee.. if asisakovvic think he got­ the name of tennis players he should go out and play­ well see how far you make it..... all first rounds...­ of allllllllllll tournaments? sad hater... cant stand­ fed has won.. so what its just his first title this­ year.. he got 58 titles total, 15 masters, 13 GS 30­ others.... LMAO

hahahaha asisakovic: Federer has qualified for the last­ 20 or so grandslam semifinals? you think he gonna fall­ in quarters??? Do a little research first before you­ start slamming the big guys ;)

sad sad sad haters of fed.... 6-4, 6-4 game set and­ match no discussion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!