2014 Australian Open of Tennis

[RagaZ]

It seems like many of you have forgotten that Federer is 32 years old. That's a senior citizen in the sport of Tennis. Let's wait and see what Nadal is doing at the age of 32. Since his game is largely predicated on defense and athleticism, I doubt he's a top 10 player past the age of 30. I'd be surprised if he wasn't already retired at the age of 32.

Yeah, but how old was Federer when he became a star? 22 years? Nadal was 18 when he won his first Slam. Nadal has been at the top for nearly 10 years.

[bdreason]

I think the tour needs to seriously reconsider their strategy of increasingly slowing the courts to create more rallies. Sure, people want to see exciting rallies... but people also want to see players hit winners. The PGA has faced a similar issue with some of their tournaments over the past few years. People want to see PGA pros face challenging conditions... but at the same time, people don't want to watch PGA pros play par level golf.

And just for the record, I'm not really referring to Nadal with this post. Nadal is a great player, and although he's known for his defense, he's also a very explosive offensive player and his serve has improved steadily over the past few seasons. The elite players that I think really benefit from the constantly slowing conditions are guys like Ferrer and Murray.

[bdreason]

Yeah, but how old was Federer when he became a star? 22 years? Nadal was 18 when he won his first Slam. Nadal has been at the top for nearly 10 years.

ehhh both guys have been playing competitive tennis their entire lives. Nadal has also taken a lot more time off than Federer. Let's not forget that Fed defended his #1 ranking for almost 6 years straight, something only matched in the modern era by Pete Sampras. For context, Fed has held the #1 ranking for 302 total weeks in his career... while Nadal has only held #1 ranking for 119 total weeks. While some people like to just point at majors as the only way to rank players, in a sport like Tennis, where the top players compete against one another all year long, not just at Majors, it's ridiculous to disregard consistency. Tennis isn't like Golf, where you can just show up and win Majors, and take the #1 ranking. In Tennis, there are dozens of highly competitive events throughout the season that are must wins for anyone who wants to achieve a high ranking. For example, the event I always attend in March, the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, has every one of the top 20 players in the world attending on both the Men's and Women's side.

http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/Player...r-Landing.aspx

Have a look at that entry list. The same exact players that you'll find at any of the Majors. The points rewarded for the tournament are also on par with the Majors.

[bdreason]

Women's final starting soon. Not a very interesting matchup though.

[bdreason]

I can't believe Cibulkova is a successful pro tennis player at 5'2"... let alone top #20 in the world and in a Major final.

[alenleomessi]

women tennis is a joke anyway.. nobody watches for the actual tennis

[poido123]

Would loved to have seen prime Federer, Novak and Nadal play against Courier, Sampras and Agassi

Nadal will clean up Warwinka, Nadal is simply unstoppable when his knee isn't bothering him.

If you want to know when to bet on Nadal to win a major, have a look and see if he has his knee brace on in lead up tournaments.

[imdaman99]

ehhh both guys have been playing competitive tennis their entire lives. Nadal has also taken a lot more time off than Federer. Let's not forget that Fed defended his #1 ranking for almost 6 years straight, something only matched in the modern era by Pete Sampras. For context, Fed has held the #1 ranking for 302 total weeks in his career... while Nadal has only held #1 ranking for 119 total weeks. While some people like to just point at majors as the only way to rank players, in a sport like Tennis, where the top players compete against one another all year long, not just at Majors, it's ridiculous to disregard consistency. Tennis isn't like Golf, where you can just show up and win Majors, and take the #1 ranking. In Tennis, there are dozens of highly competitive events throughout the season that are must wins for anyone who wants to achieve a high ranking. For example, the event I always attend in March, the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, has every one of the top 20 players in the world attending on both the Men's and Women's side.

http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/Player...r-Landing.aspx

Have a look at that entry list. The same exact players that you'll find at any of the Majors. The points rewarded for the tournament are also on par with the Majors.

I think the 300+ weeks and all them WTF tourney wins he's had is cancelled out by being dominated by someone else who is not even 5 yrs younger than him. Fed has lost in 2006 to him while in his prime.

I'm not saying Fed ain't still the GOAT, because I think he is. Nadal has a few more slams to win (including today's) to officially overtake him. Imagine if Nadal gets a triple career slam... He'll have his double if he wins today. But he still has a long way to go. Federer got his career slam when Nadal got knocked out by someone else at the French Open. So there are no asterisks, you can only beat who's in front of you.

But VAMOS RAFA!

[bdreason]

Wawrinka takes the first set.

[cos88]

Wawrinka destoying nadal he's going HAM

[bdreason]

Nadal pulling this BS tactic. Rules need to be changed involving injury timeouts. If you're injured so severely you need to leave the court, you forfeit the match.

[Mr Clutch Melo]

Nadal playing injured Stan is playing good though.

[imdaman99]

Nadal pulling this BS tactic. Rules need to be changed involving injury timeouts. If you're injured so severely you need to leave the court, you forfeit the match.

No. Watch the match. Nadal is in serious pain, he's not going to forfeit a grand slam final.

That being said, this match is as good as done.

[plowking]

No. Watch the match. Nadal is in serious pain, he's not going to forfeit a grand slam final.

That being said, this match is as good as done.

Stan was killing him before that.

[Mr Clutch Melo]

Stan was killing him before that.

Nadal would have fougth back like the warrior he is. 2-0 is nothing for the GOAT.