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Former US Open champion Mats Wilander responds to our readers' questions from Flushing Meadows over the next fortnight.

Hicham from Egypt: Hi Mats. A lot of people say that Rafael Nadal relies on his fitness, but in my opinion he plays a very clever game. What do you think?

Mats: I think that he's probably the cleverest guy on Tour. Of course he relies on his fitness too, but so does everybody else. His fitness starts in his heart more than anything. Of course he's strong, but I'm not sure he's stronger than anybody else, he just wants it more. But this is his worst surface, specifically for his body and in terms of technique with his shots. Top spin doesn't kick away quite as hard. The US and Australian Opens are going to be tougher for him to win than Wimbledon and Paris.

Ben in New York: Hi Mats. It is quite clear that you are one of the true Roger admirers amongst the pros. With Rafa winning the clay-grass double and Olympic gold, do you feel that in a way Nadal has already achieved more than Federer? Do you think that Roger's legacy might not be as glorious as it should?

Mats: I don't think so, just because he won the French and Wimbledon titles in the same year. Roger has won Wimbledon, the Australian and the US Open and made the French Open final three years in a row. He's so far ahead of Rafael Nadal in terms of legacy, it's scary. But a strange thing has been happening: even when Federer was the world number one, the only player he failed to beat regularly was the world number two, Nadal. And he now has a deficit against him. So that has added a strange twist to the whole story. But Federer has to lose to somebody and at least he's losing mainly to Nadal. Nothing is going to cast a shadow over Roger Federer's career.

Rhymes450: Novak Djokovic has two victories in 2008 over Rafa, both on hard surgace. His tactic in Cincinnati appeared to be to try to stretch Nadal on the forehand side, opening wide angles and forcing relatively weak looped returns, which he then attacked with his forehand. Who are the other players in a position to adopt a similar strategy and put Rafa under pressure?

Mats: This is a very common way of playing against Rafael Nadal and they are trying to do it on every surface. It's much easier to time the ball on a true hardcourt bounce, and Rafael's balls bounce as high on hardcourts, it's just that there's no doubt in the opponent's mind where the ball is going to end up on the bounce. And that's the reason why they can't take his balls on grass and clay as early as they can, and Djokovic does, on hardcourts. That's his problem and it will always be. Tomas Berdych is doing the same thing, James Blake is doing the same thing - it's pretty common. It's pretty much common knowledge, but you need a two-handed backhand and that's why Federer is struggling.

Samba from Senegal: How important do you think it is on hardcourts to use a variety of shots compared to clay or grass. Is it better on this surface to alternate slice, topspin, net play and baseline play?

Mats: I don't think it's more important than it is on grass or clay. I think there's a misconception about the claycourt style of playing. Clay is the surface where the most aggressive player wins, because you have to keep dictating the point, or else you're going to run miles. On hardcourts you can get away with hitting flat shots. I think it's more monotonous than any other surface for that reason.

aeronick2000: Hi Mats. In the Wimbledon final, in similar fashion to most Nadal-Federer encounters, Nadal relentlessly attacked Federer's backhand side to glaringly expose this supposed weakness of Federer's. Is Federer's backhand really that bad? Is there a solution to this flaw?

Mats: First of all, Federer's backhand is not that bad - it's just that Nadal has a cross-court forehand that duels with Federer's backhand. There's not many guys who can handle Nadal's topspin, which gets really high. Roger, as everybody else, has a problem with it. People forget, Roger plays one guy in the whole year who plays like Rafael. That's the worst case scenario, because he doesn't play anybody like him at all, not even close, for six matches. It's a nightmare scenario for Roger. All he can do is cut down the length of the rallies, and not get involved in long rallies. Once Nadal hits his ball to his backhand, that means that Federer has played one shot too many in the rally. He should rather hit the ball into the stands like Sampras used to do.

Will in France: Do you think Tatiana Golovin can come back to her best despite her injuries?

Mats: These things are really hard to know, because you don't know what sort of drive people have left after suffering those kinds of injuries. And being that young, I think that she hasn't accomplished what she thinks she's able to. But you never know. Some girls get really determined to come back because of the injury, but it's very easy to suddenly start using the injury as an excuse, subconsciously. If she doesn't get to where she should be in three years, then it will be tough.

Dina: Hey Mats! When I saw Federer's draw (surprising though to see him in the other side of the draw) I realised that Marat Safin and Novak Djokovic are likely to meet in a fourth round in a rematch of Wimbledon! Who do you think would win?

Mats: It's tough to say, I think that on hardcourts Djokovic has a better chance than on grass. But Marat carries around a big aura and a lot of guys have respect for him on court. Basically they know that with Marat, win or lose, it's usually up to him. He's full of confidence and he doesn't believe that he should lose to anyone on Tour, so that's the sign of a champion. They're both shot-makers, so it could be an unbelievable match, especially on hardcourt.

Jean: Do you know of any teenager who is coming through, like a Rafael Nadal or Richard Gasquet?

Mats: I think Ernests Gulbis has a really, really big game, but the question is where his head is at so far. But I think he's probably the most talented and the one who has the best resources to break through. Juan Martin Del Potro is starting to play really well and he's very young as well. But it's so mental once you get to a certain stage and it's tough to say how someone like Gulbis will develop mentally.

Mohamed Lamine: Do young players like Gulbis feel especially stressed when they play Nadal or Federer?

Mats: I think they feel like they have everything to win and nothing to lose because they've grown up watching Nadal and Federer and they're obviously the big idols for all the young players. But that's about the worst mentality to have, and it very rarely works if you think you have nothing to lose. That's something that they're going to have to overcome, otherwise they'll never beat the best players in the world.

Yann: Who do you think is best on grass considering that Federer was outplayed in five sets by Nadal at Wimbledon despite his lack of form?

Mats: At the moment it's Nadal, but over the last five years it was Federer. But at the moment Nadal - he was a bit unlucky in the final, and this year Roger was a bit lucky to be anywhere close to making it a close match. So at the moment Nadal.

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