Roger Federer Gives Rafael Nadal a Master Class

Written by: Tennischiro on 23rd November 2011

Roger Federer Gives Rafael Nadal a Master Class

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their at ATP World Tour tennis finals group match held in O2 Arena in London, Britain, 22 November 2011. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

I just got done watching A Master Class given to the all-time leader in Masters titles. I know: it’s indoors, the court is just right, etc, etc, …but that has to be the best I’ve ever seen Federer play against a quality opponent. Nadal only had 7 unforced errors and yet he was blistered. He lost 10 of the last 11 games including the last 7 in a row. Federer just never wavered. Not even a sign of a “walkabout”. It was breathtaking! Sets him up great for the weekend.

What has happened to Nadal since he played those 4 days in a row at the US Open is hard to absorb. I wonder if something is really wrong with him. I can’t see him recovering this week. And Tsonga is going to be hyped up beyond belief for their match on Thursday. Today’s players are lucky: they’ll get a day of rest before Saturday’s matches! Tsonga and Nadal will play for the second spot in the semis from this group, and Federer has the head-to-head against both of them.

For Fish, it’s been a tough autumn. He’s realized some of his dreams just getting to play in the Tour Finals, but he’s been really limited by his injuries. He was able to break Tsonga three times today, but he was out of the match in the second set. He has to play and practice a lot to be really sharp and ride the razor’s edge that is required for effective serve-and-volley tennis in today’s pro game. I hope he gets a couple of more good years to show his style. He reached a new peak for him this summer, but he can still be a little better before he loses it physically. It’s fun to watch when he’s got it working, but it is very difficult to maintain against these players.

Murray’s gone. I thought Berdych looked really good against Djokovic. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back against Tipsarevic and Ferrer. I think he is a good candidate for top 3 or 4 the next two years. Too bad we couldn’t have worked on his service motion when he was 14!! With better mechanics, I think he could have served 160mph! Or at least gotten a lot better than 44% in at 145mph! I love how solid he is when he strikes the ball.

don

Here are the charts for Nadal/Federer today!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/269/federernadal2nd112211.jpg/

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/4150/federernadal1st112211.jpg

http://imageshack.us/photo/myimages/269/federernadal2nd112211.jpg

Fish and Tsonga Charts

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/4150/federernadal1st112211.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1382/fishtsonga2nd112211.jpg

Topics: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer