Agassi says Federer, Nadal are the best

His own rivalry with Pete Sampras was intense, but Andre Agassi feels nothing matches the current battle for tennis supremacy between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

"Federer and Nadal has been even more compelling, with the standard of their play and that they are the antithesis of one another," Agassi said Thursday on a conference call. "Having someone dominate the game like no one else like Federer, and then Nadal to have a two-to-one record over him in his prime.… that speaks to the complexity of our sport."

The Las Vegas native known as master returner of serves said the level of tennis played on the ATP Tour is continually rising and that Federer, a record 16-time grand slam champ, has "an entirely different skill set than I ever encountered. Roger have pushed the game further than Pete or I ever did."

Date: 15.07.2011, Source: Canadian Press

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Ljubicic salutes Federer and Nadal

World No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic believes that while a changing of the guard in tennis will come eventually, for now Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remain the undisputed top players in the game.

In explaining their dominance, Ljubicic highlighted their absolute consistency when they step on court. “When they play, they play absolutely their best, and it’s really difficult to beat them. It makes a difference at the end of the day that they never give up on a single point. They are always in great shape when they have to be in the big tournaments. They are able to compete everyday and really give their absolute best when they are on the court, which I don’t think was always the case with past champions.

“I always felt with Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi they had two or three tournaments where they were not good at all and they would lose first round. That’s not happening with these two guys. That’s why they’ve been up there for such a long time, because it’s really difficult to win one single game against them.”

Date: 11.02.2011, Source: ATP

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Roger Federer defeated in final

Roger was unable to defend his Madrid title today. In a remake of last year's final, Roger was defeated in straight sets 4-6, 6-7(5) by Rafael Nadal this time.

Both players dropped serve early in the first set before Nadal broke to lead 4-3 and went on to bring the set home, even though Roger had quite a few chances of swinging it around. In the second set, Nadal claimed a tightly contested tiebreaker after two breaks of serve each. All in all, Roger even scored one more point than Rafa (46:45), but was not at his best during the critical phases of the match, simply committing too many errors.

“Rafa’s and my clay court seasons are decided at the French Open, and not before,” the 28-year-old Federer said.

“It’s unfortunately—or fortunately—like that. If we win all the tournaments like Rafa now and then go out in the first round of the French, everything will be questioned.”

“I think under the circumstances I played well today but he comes up with some incredible stuff,” the 16-times grand slam winner said.

“I’ve played more beautiful match points than this one,” a smiling Federer said at a news conference.

“That’s what happens, we’re on clay after all. I decided to take a chance and it didn’t pay off.

“He was obviously coming in to the match with loads of confidence having done so well on clay this season so it was always going to be tough.”

But our champ certainly showed that he is more than ready for the French Open which starts May 23.

Date: 17.05.2010, Source: RF Official & Reuters

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Roger Federer saturday interview + Madrid 2010 finals promo

Date: 16.05.2010

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Roger and Rafa to renew epic rivalry

The Roger and Rafa show is back in town.

After a year in which the tennis world has been deprived of seeing one of its greatest ever rivalries played out on court, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal battled through their Madrid Open semi-finals on Saturday to set up a mouthwatering showdown on the clay at the Magic Box arena.

Spaniard Nadal was first into Sunday’s final when he came from a set down to beat compatriot Nicolas Almagro 4-6 6-2 6-2 and world number one Federer joined him by dispatching David Ferrer, another Spaniard, 7-5 3-6 6-3.

The last time the pair met across the net in a competitive match was in last year’s Madrid final.

Federer’s 6-4 6-4 victory 12 months ago sparked off a golden spell for the Swiss as he went on to capture an emotional first title at Roland Garros before triumphing at Wimbledon for a sixth time.

One of the keys to Roger's success today was certainly his serve - he dropped just two points on his own serve in the first set and a break in game 11 helped him secure the set in a little over 45 minutes. Ferrer broke Roger in set number two, taking the fourth game and continuing strong in order to force a decider. Roger then managed to raise the pressure in the third set and secured the vital break of serve in the eighth game. He showed a few more terrific points before closing out the match with an ace and with it a fourth Madrid final in five years.

“I think it’s exciting for tennis and for us as well that we can face off again,” a relaxed-looking Federer told a news conference.

“He’s playing really well on clay now, I’m finding my form again really nicely here in Madrid so it’s one of those finals you just never know,” the 28-year-old added.

“I was able to come up with the right plays at the right time in the final last year and I have to do something similar tomorrow to come through.”

“I knew on clay I was going to come through a tougher period and that’s what happened in the second set,” Federer said.

“He (Ferrer) doesn’t miss much, he fights like crazy and he’s really improved over the last few years.”

Sunday's final will take place earliest at 6.30 p.m. (local time). Roger and Rafa had met each other in the final in Madrid last year, the outcome then was 6-4, 6-4 in Roger's favour.

Date: 16.05.2010, Source: RF Official & Reuters

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Federer, Nadal Open New Centre Court Stadium

World No. 1 Roger Federer and four-time champion Rafael Nadal rubbed shoulders with former Italian greats Lea Pericoli and Nicola Pietrangeli during the inauguration ceremony of Rome's new 10,400-seater Centre Court prior to the start of play at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Tuesday.

"I want to thank everyone who made it possible to build an incredible stadium like this," said Nadal, who has a 22-1 record at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournament. "I'm delighted to be here.

"It's a fantastic stadium and different from others because the audience [is] so close to the court. I am also happy that the tournament has been in this beautiful location, in respect of a great tradition."

Two-time runner-up Federer described the new court as "a beautiful stadium in a fascinating location."

Pericoli hosted the official ceremony at the Foro Italico sports complex, while Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, the under-secretary for president of the Sports Committee Rocco Crimi, the chairman of the Italian National Olympic Committee Gianni Petrucci and Angelo Binaghi, chairman of the Federazione Italiana Tennis, also attended the inauguration.

In 2006, the old centre court stadium was named after 1957 and 1961 titlist Pietrangeli.

Date: 28.04.2010, Source: ATP World Tour

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Foolish to write off Rafa, says Federer

Roger Federer admitted on Sunday he was shocked his old rival and four-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal had been written off as a spent force.

World number one Federer, who will renew his rivalry with the Spaniard at the Rome Masters this week, likened the criticism aimed at Nadal to the experience he went through a year ago.

Back then, many people were claiming that Federer was past his best as he had not yet won a tournament that season and had dropped to number two in the world rankings.

And yet he finished the year as world number one once again, having won two more majors and having completed a career Grand Slam.

Until a week ago, when he claimed a sixth straight Monte Carlo Masters crown, Nadal had not won a tournament since Rome last year, an 11-month drought.

"I was surprised to hear that everyone thought that Rafa was not playing so well," said Federer.

"He surely should have won Qatar in January because he was playing so well over there and for those who saw the match against (Nikolay) Davydenko (in the final) he was clearly the guy but Davydenko got lucky, saved match point and played incredibly in the third set," said the Swiss.

"Things would have been very different going into the Australian Open but then he pulled out injured (in the quarters) and so everybody gets negative.

"So even if he wins everything after that then people are not going to be happy because the focus is on the Australian Open.

"So I think that there was a little too much negativity around Rafa and I went through the same thing (last year).

"It's true, 11 months for a player like him is a long time without winning a title but you'll have to assume that once the French Open was on and the clay season on, then he would be back on again."

Date: 25.04.2010, Source: AFP

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Roger and Rafa in same half of draw & potential semi-final clash between “big two”

With Rafael Nadal down to No.3 in the world after his injuries and lean spell, there was always going to be a 50% chance that he would be drawn in the same half as Roger Federer for this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia, and this is exactly what has happened.

Defending champion Nadal, who finally got back to winning ways at Monte Carlo last week after a barren spell without a title to his name since Rome last year, is scheduled to face world No.1 Federer in the semi-finals (providing of course that all matches go according to seeding). Last year’s finalist and 2008 champion Novak Djokovic is No.2 seed this year and finds himself in what looks on paper like the slightly easier half of the draw, though with plenty of players having withdrawn through injury, others (Djokovic included) struggling for form and the European clay season barely more than a week old, anything could happen here at the Foro Italico over the coming eight days.

The top eight of the 16 seeds have a bye in the first round but there are already a number of big matches in store for the second round. Nadal will face the winner of Pablo Cuevas and dangerous German Philipp Kohlschreiber, ranked No.28 in the world and a tough nut for anyone to crack so early in the tournament. Federer meanwhile will have to take on whoever emerges victorious from the Marcos Baghdatis – Ernests Gulbis match which is one of the main ties of the first round.

Other interesting match-ups in the first round include Ivan Ljubicic – Paul-Henri Mathieu, Igor Andreev – Juan Monaco, Janko Tipsarevic – Jérémy Chardy (with the winner earning a crack at Djokovic in the next round), and an Italian derby between Andreas Seppi and Fabio Fognini for the right to take on Andy Murray. With the Scotsman out of sorts at the moment, whichever Italian wins will be confident of claiming a big scalp in front of a partisan crowd.

The potential quarter-final ties based on seeding are as follows:

Federer (1) – Cilic (6)
Nadal (3) – Soderling (5)
Tsonga (7) – Murray (4)
Verdasco (8) – Djokovic (2)

Date: 25.04.2010, Source: Internazionali BNL d'italia

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