Today i spent the best part of a full day watching the Nadal v Djokovic Australian Open mens final and it would easily rank in my top 3 tennis matches of all time. The Match took about 5:50 but with all of my breaks i was in front of the tv for close to 9 hrs. It amazes me the amounbt of talent at the top of the mens game at the moment. During the height of Feds reign it was thought that ther would be no one even close, then came along Nadal - what a rivalry that was.......best since Agassi v Sampras or Borg v Mcenroe. Over the past 12 months the Djok v Nadal rivalry has become the number 1 in mens tennis, but what i am getting really sick of is how quickly the people in the media seem to forget. The question is often posed where is Federer?? Are they forgetting that Fed is now 30 years old and well past his prime, yet he is still maing the semi finals of grand slams and winning Masters 1000 events.
The players that he is going up against and losing in extremely close matches are 24 and 25 year old still in the prime of their career. How is it so easily forgotten that when Fed was mid 20's he was untouchable. If it wasnt for Federer then the guys coming up would not be playing at the level the game has been taken to. It is only because of the need to "close the gap" that this has happened. From 2003-2010 Federer won 16 of 27 Grand Slam finals, 22 of which he played off in the championship game, he also made 23 straight semi final appearances at least. Fed also held the number 1 spot from Feb 04 through to Aug 08 and again from July 09 to April 2010. He has not dropped beyond 4th since July 03. I am pretty sure that others dont even compare to the overall stats. Unfortunately this is all forgotten in the heat of battle - its not till we reflect on someones career to be fully aware of their greatness.
It is often also talked about how anybody can be called the greatest of all time when they are som often dominated by another player (Nadal being Feds bogey man) yet do you hear anything about how Djokovics latest dominance over Nadal dimishing his greatness?? I would be very suprised if Nadal is playing at Federers level when he is past his 30s or if he is even able to take to the courts at all............
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