Roger Federer

[Adamjr91]

Wasup with the face slap?

Yeah man, Federer is all power and no skill. Whereas Nadal is a finesse player.

[elgranluchadore]

Federer is the GOAT for now.

I think when Nadal is retired he will have eclipsed Federer's accomplishments + have the better slam finals record over him.

War Rafa

nadal will probably be done winning slams by 29, with his injuries its only natural

[Tom Cruise]

Federer is the GOAT for now.

I think when Nadal is retired he will have eclipsed Federer's accomplishments + have the better slam finals record over him.

War Rafa

I don't think Nadal's style will.age well. I see him as like a brawler in boxing, it requires so much energy, fitness and power to pull it off that once they get a bit older the style falls apart.

But then again i think a lot of **** alot of the time so

[ShoulderRoll]

Yeah man, Federer is all power and no skill. Whereas Nadal is a finesse player.

That's not what he said. He stated that Federer was going to get stomped again by the superior player which is true.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

That's not what he said. He stated that Federer was going to get stomped again by the superior player which is true.

Look at my sig and then he said it was "still true"

[Tay Roc]

To those who quoted me: I agree re Nadal's style. It's not built for the long run. Also, he has been getting injured more as of late, esp. his knee injuries.

However, I think the breaks due to injury have really helped to remain fresh and will lengthen his career. I believe if he hadn't been injured and kept his crazy pace his career might have been over by now from wear and tear and use. He's been more diplomatic with his tournament selection and hasn't been over-extending himself by playing every ATP event.

I think it's inevitable that his career end; shelf life as a top player is so short. However, with advances in medicine, exercising, diet, etc. I think he can still play until he's 30-31 max. I don't think he will be as competitive as Federer at age 32, but all that matters is that he maximize the time he has left as a top player. For instance, Djokovic not being in the championship is a pretty big opportunity to win a major without having to face the guy who has given him the most trouble in majors and who can match him mentally. Only federer has the mental fortitude to match Rafa outside of Djoker.

Anyways, I think if Rafa can win 3-5 more majors with his remaining time on top, he will go down as the GOAT. I don't think he even needs to pass Fed to be the GOAT, but I'm sure that's always on his mind.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

It's not Federer's fault that Nadal couldn't get his **** together on hard courts during Roger's prime.

[cupocity303]

And its still true, and Federer is going to get stomped again by the superior player.

And when Nadal gets to rogers age.. will he even be playing??

His game is even harder physically.. he has hurt his knees multiple times already

It's true that Nadal's skills have improved. I see minor improvements in his game now compared to the young Nadal who was all huff and puff and sliding from one side of the court to the other, making crazy returns.

This is WHAT might take Nadal to the next level since consensus seems to be (as the above quote suggests) that he is finished in a couple of years due to his physical playing style. I think he is already preparing himself for the physical post-peak years, so he can still be competitive.

[cupocity303]

As for this never-ending Federer Vs Nadal debate. Head to head stats do matter.

However, there is the argument that Nadal during Federer's peak just wasn't getting to the finals of each major often enough, in order to face Federer often enough on non-clay courts (on which presumingly, Federer would've creamed him right?) whereas Federer during his peak almost always made it to the finals of the French to meet Nadal, and lose ---hence the head-to-head record.

BUT lets not give Federer this Roy Jones treatment either and give him all his credit for wins and blame the loses on being past-prime either. As great as he was during his peak-years, to me he was like the Larry Holmes of Tennis. One of his arch-rivals was Rod**** for chrisp sake, while Nadal (and then Djokovic years later) were still toddlers. It's still a sign of greatness to set yourself so far apart from everyone else (I.E. the same argument I make for Wlad Klitschko despite the "he just beat bums" brilliant counters) but lets not pretend and lump in Nadal/Djokovic in with the other Federer-Era victims. That somehow, if a prime Nadal or Djokovic were around during Fed's peak years, he would've done the same thing to them as he did to everyone else. Because it's nonsense. These guys are legit. They're the product of Evolution and are Federer's equals (not in accomplishment but in potential and ability), hence why a still green-Nadal and a still-wet-behind-his-ears Djoko had a lock on the #2 and #3 rank for years, even though they still didn't play their best Tennis yet.

[Tay Roc]