No.79 fredc, I take my hat off to you!! Great post!!

Federer had a poor season last year.Lost to Nadal in­ the French Open final and Wimbledon final.Rafa has just­ come through an injury ,and his season has been­ affected by it.However he still won a grandslam­ tournament ,and thats not bad for an "off­ season".All top tennis players have off­ seasons.Questions were being asked about Federer being­ a spent force after 2008 ,and the critics were answered­ in 2009.Rafa is still very young,has an awsome physique­ and a huge heart to go with it.Anyone writing him off­ is an idiot.

he hasnt got that long to sort himself out, especially­ if he plays davis cup, that is why i think he wont play­ davis cup, country comes second always.

Well, Nadal just need time to get his top condition­ again. Since his comeback, he played an overall good US­ Open reaching the semis but he hasn't won any­ tournament, usually losing by top player who were in­ better condition. Here are playing just the top players­ and they're doing on a fast surface, that­ doesn't suits best to Nadal. Rafa knows he's­ not playing his best tennis, and against oppenents like­ Soderling, Djokovic and Davydenko who are among the­ biggest one on the tour on this surface, he probably­ don't stand a chance to win. Anyway Nadal's got­ then a pair of months to train and try to be at his­ best again to defend his Aussie Open title.

WOW! LOVED TO SEE SODERLING SHOUTING IN NADAL'S­ DIRECTION WHEN CELEBRATING HIS WIN!! GREAT STUFF!!

Good job SODERLING,I`m so happy you beat Nedal! I­ don`t like him at all,he iritate me!
I`m a big fan of­ you,Del Potro and the most of all- FEDERER!

Nadal made a lousy start and had to spend the rest of­ the first set making up ground, which he did and he was­ clearly superior for most of it. Nadal himself has­ pointed out that matches often hinge on two or three­ crucial points and yesterday he didn't win any of­ them. Perhaps the best example was the ace he hit that­ would have put him 5-5 in the opening set. The ball was­ called out and Rafa didn't ask for the hawkeye­ challenge that would have won him the game. At that­ point, the momentum was with Rafa. He was hitting to a­ pretty good length and moving Soderling around and the­ Swede looked anything but comfortable when forced to­ defend. In some ways, Soderling's strengths as a­ player are similar to those of Del Potro. The crucial­ difference for me is in the movement. Delpo now moves­ very well and looks certain to be a big star of the­ present and future. On what I saw yesterday, Soderling­ is the weakest of the 8 players in that­ department.Teapsky's point about Rafa and faster­ courts is a good one. Prior to his injury, it looked as­ if he had found his way on hard courts, with big wins­ in the Olympics, Australia and Miami. Now he looks a­ far less confident. In the end, I suspect it's a­ question of finding that extra inspiration that in the­ past made him the winner of those crucial two or three­ big points. Time will tell. Right now, he looks very­ unlikely to get out of this group.

Why doesn't the media (particularly Eurosport) give­ Soderling his due credit? The Swede beat Nadal simply­ because he chooses to attack Nadal at every opportunity­ without any hesitation and with aggression.­ Nadal's defensive counter-attacking style is being­ read by more players these days, and that is why he is­ getting beaten more, forget the excuse of injury,­ divorce, blah blah. Sampras played through more­ pain/emotional barriers for years and still continued­ to win. As it is , the only player amongst the top ten­ who continues to be wary of Nadal'sgame is Federer,­ but the way he won in Madrid shows that he is not too­ far behind. My prediction for next year: Djokovic is­ the man to become No.2, very closely behind Fedex. As­ for thios tournament? Straight fight between Djokovic­ and Federer.

To be frank, I don’t feel Rafa is playing bad to his­ standards, except that more others are gaining­ confidence to attack first and second serves. Look at­ his records in championships, did he ever go beyond­ semi final? Didn’t he lose badly to Federer there? Well­ done 46 concerning the looping forehand troubling­ Federer and single handed backhands. It is also true­ that he makes his opponents look beating themselves, he­ masters that by putting more unexpected balls back­ rather than winning himself.

Soderling is the dark horse for winning the title.­ Remember Nalbandian 2005

Great victory by Soderling. I had already said last­ week that he deserved to be in this ATP final. He­ played great this yr and improved a lot. He played­ great to reach French Open final and against Federer in­ USA Open quarter final. I hope he can win one more­ match and reach the semi.

Just another lost...its funny reading some comments­ about Nadal winning 6 grand slams because his opponents­ made so much unforce errors....hahahahahahahaha....Rafa­ will definitely comeback next year....VAMOS RAFA..

Nadal fans can you get over it ? When will you stop­ making excuses for your idol ? Nadal is not injured­ anymore,
get it ? No media is talking injuries, only­ the sad fans. Why don't you accept that Nadal is a­ great player but he's human and not bionic. Maybe­ he's best has gone, maybe he will be a terrific­ force once again. The thing is now we have more great­ young player coming through like Murray, Del Potro and­ Djokovic might yet peak. It's not Federer - Nadal­ anymore, sorry.

If you look at Nadal's style of play and the way he­ scampers about and slams the ball back across the net­ you'll see that it is bound to wear him down.­ Federer on the other hand has a seemingly effortless­ style. Nadal will come back next spring and beat the­ also rans but most of the top ten players have now got­ his measure and that aura of invincibility has been­ deeply pierced by Soderling. He will never be the same­ again, though good enough to win four or five more­ slams over the next six or seven years if he­ doesn't burn out first. Mind there are others­ catching up fast and waiting to take his mantle. So he­ won't be as dominant as before, and he'll have­ to play a lot more four and five setters to get to­ grand slam finals.

I saw the match. respect both players but at time,­ victory favours the brave. soderling's angle shots­ is just devastating. Sorry to know that rafa will not­ win anymore match. He is not at the same level with­ Novak right now and davydenko will come in court with­ full confidence having beaten him before. My vote for­ this group goes to Soderling. He will do really well as­ the underdog.

As foreseen, this Masters Cup is very open. This is­ very interesting to watch everygame without knowing­ who's gonna win for once.

And as many of us said,­ Nadal's draw was not "easier" than­ Federer's. Plus, I really think right now­ Rafa's not the real number 2. His confidence level­ is not that high cos he knows the gap between him and­ top 10 players has been reduced or maybe suppressed.­ He's clearly lacking confidence on big points...­ but confidence comes with big wins (he didn't get­ big wins lately, he escaped Almagro and Robredo, beat­ Tsonga but these are not big wins for a guy like Rafa)­ something Rafa misses from some time now. At the same­ time, other players go on the court against him feeling­ they're are favourites or at least that they have a­ good chance to win, something that we could not say­ apart from a couple of players back at the beginning of­ the season.

I think the days when there were Federer,­ Nadal and the rest of the world are over. Doesn't­ mean Nadal is a finished player though. I still expect­ him to win Roland Garros once or twice but as for­ faster surfaces, I'm a bit worried for him.

I love Federer and i love his rivalry with Nadal. Rafa­ says he is close to his best form, I think he needs to­ win 2 Slams next year including the French or the­ injuries may cut short his career, which would be very­ sad.

i am so sad that rafa lost, to soderling at that. i­ could only see how painful this could be to his­ confidence. i really miss that dominating player that­ he was. i still hope he will be back though as­ men's tennis is pretty boring without him. please­ oh please come back old rafa!!!

Rafa Nadal and Fernando Alonzo, useless both of them.

Dear oh dear. Nadal has not been playing as good as­ before, since his injury. I have te feeling (and I hope­ I am wrong) he is now a spent force.