Federer beats Nadal -- on clay

As a huge Federer fan, I am very happy to see this. It's Fed's first win over Nadal on clay and it snapped Nadal's 81-match win streak on clay. The win will hopefully give the sport a boost heading into the French Open.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=AlsUR47MMV1N4RRa3_NKbhY5nYcB?slug=ap-hamburgmasters&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

It's about time.

 

After all his struggles, this is absolutely a huge win for Federer. Hopefully, he can pull it off in Paris.

 

It was really something else.

Federer was back on his heels in the first set, absolutely being dictated to, mostly because he wasn't getting his first serve in.

He got down in his first serve game of the second set, and it was like something clicked. Like a lightbulb went off.

He started moving his feet, taking the ball much, much earlier, running around to hit forehands, just generally ruling. And Nadal crumbled, started making errors. Had his ass handed to him in a way I don't think he ever even remembers happening on clay.

6-2 and 6-0 in the last two sets. Federer was pretty overcome. Even his usually-catatonic girlfriend was into it. They had a nice, tender moment afterwards, which you rarely see from him.

Now, best-of-5 sets is a bit of a different story. Nadal got a lot further the previous week's tourney, and he barely squeaked one out against Hewitt the previous afternoon. I think he was a bit run down.

But at least this makes it interesting. A week ago, Nadal was odds-on, and you wouldn't have bet on Federer not to get upset early by one of the multitude of Spaniards and Argentines as he looked too far ahead to Nadal. It almost happened twice - this week alone.

 

Yeah, 2 & 0 in the final two sets against Nadal is pretty impressive. I think Nadal is as good on clay as Federer is on all other surfaces. Maybe it was a marketing ploy for the French.

 

You must never have met Mr. Nadal.

 

The hopes and dreams of many a would-be Grand Slammer are entombed in the terra cotta of Roland Garros. Here's hoping Rog gets it done this time.

 

Terre battue.

 

Indeed, though for Borg and Lendl it was the U.S. Open.

I wonder how often McEnroe thinks about that loss to Lendl?

 

Damn it's about time Federer won a match against this Nadal guy. (LMAO)

 

I'm amused by RAMBO's newfound love of tennis. First insisting that Sampras could play now against guys such as Federer, and now seemingly blissfully ignorant of the fact that Federer is far ahead of Nadal on every surface except for clay.

 

Don't forget: Six channels of French Open coverage on DirecTV.

Ivanovic on Ch. 217
Kirilenko on Ch. 218.
Hantuchova on Ch. 219.
Dementieva on Ch. 220.
Chakvetadze on Ch. 221.
Vaidisova on Ch. 222.

Oh, and Federer and Nadal are playing, too.