Madrid 09: FINAL Roger v Rafa (Highlights Part 1)

[ShawniBawni]

7:10 it's Raúl in the background :)

[Ralzaly]

what a beautiful pick up @ 3:40-3:41

[wonhoyoung]

federer hit alot to nadals backhand just like rafa does to roger...he shud do this even more

[Sonic2710]

If federer keeps attacking Nadal on the backhand and driving Nadal to the baseline, that gives Federer enough setup time for his forehand, or at least, his backhand. Federer should also use dropshots and slice much more often. He should've won long ago with these tactics.

[dwilliams02]

Dropshots yes. The problem is that Federer always feels like he has to hit his backhand because even when he gets a good deep slice on the ball, Nadal is usually able to run around and hit his forehand because he has some of the quickest feet in tennis, probably rivaled only by Roger. Even though Roger can return Nadal's forehand with his slice consistently, eventually Nadal will get a short ball and blast a winner. It's been proven that the only way to beat Nadal's forehand is to attack it.

[extradutyfelt1]

@dwilliams02 well, roger´s know he has to stretch nadal out wide on the forehand side, in order to open up the court for a shot down the line.

[ebowass]

@Sonic2710 i guess your thoughts are worth shit now buddy...

[foudra]

what is this fucking shot at 5:52!!

[MJMonroe]

California ball girls are nice too

[kevmaster]

i have never seen federer whip the forehand so much.

[Fernandez218]

those ballgirls are so gorgeous

[strojzabelu]

anyone noticed the shot at 5.52?? just look at the racquet head acceleration, and the power! it's amazing...

[AnimeIntroStyles4]

probably would have been some record speed if it had gone in lol.

[ductrung3993]

i'd love to see a slow motion of that xD

[karatekid360]

What a tournament for Federer in Cincinatti last week. Great win over Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Definitely the hot favourite for the US Open.

[HawtTuna]

Yes there are. Were you watching with the sound off? >_>

[mitchieee89]

and champion of grass ofcourse

[clash7samurai]

Federer is now officially the new champion of clay...

[ebowass]

@clash7samurai what do you have to say now moron... ha ha ha ...

[clash7samurai]

@ebowass What do I have to say? You are 100% retarded. Oh yeah, and Nadal will never touch Federer's records, and you know it!

[Misterowningshaman]

i have to admit that federer played a really good match here and was the deserving winner!

but saying that fed now propably is able to win the FO is by far too much. here, nadal was a little tired from the match against the djoker (that's not an excuse for his loss but a fact and you could see that nadal moved a little badly in this final) and he made so many stupid errors which he isn't used to. you could really see (mainly highlights pt. 2) how pissed nadal was after his many errors!

[seidl01]

and now????

nadal is kicked out by a "nobody" on clay

[Misterowningshaman]

well, i know. i saw it... i think you didn't even really read what i wrote. i said that saying fed now PROPABLY is able to win the fo is too much. i didn't say that the madrid final doesn't count and nadal for sure will/would have defend(ed) his title, did i? Maybe federer will win but maybe he'll lose to del potro or soderling...who knows?

[polychronio]

85 percent federer vs 100 percent nadal... Federer would still win. last year, federer was sick from mono virus.

[Misterowningshaman]

maybe, but how about this year (ao final) and all the matches from 2004 up to now (winning record 13-7 i think FOR NADAL) ok i know - most of their matches were on clay but there were rafa wins on hard and grass, too! i wouldn't say that an 85 percent fed beats a 100 percent nadal - rafa has proven it over the last years ...so really no offending but stop talking such a crap! or proof it with some facts

[polychronio]

federer is still sick. can't you see federer don't play like 2 years ago before he got sick from mono virus?

[Misterowningshaman]

first you excused fed's losses to nadal last year with his mono and said that an 85 percent fed beats an 100 percent nadal... but fed is still having the mono virus which is the reason why he lost in the last year....but now wins WITH IT?

ok fed isn't playing as good as in let's say 04 up to 06 ...but maybe the competition got just bigger and fed lost his huge self-confidence because he was shown that there is someone who maybe is even better than him (head to head) - who knows?

[aczzz01]

i can tell you dont know anything about tennis, in every generation of tennis there are great tennis players, you just can´t tell murray, nadal or djokovic are better than safin, hewitt or roddick because they are not in the same generation, but i think that in this years wimbledon the old generation showed they are still competitive.

OH and let me remember you that roger is from the old generation and he still rocks the world.

[Alexandahls]

You're right. That's why we call him "The Living Legend" :-)

[butterflycaught900]

why does generation matter at all? the whole idea of "cant compare generations" is just a way for traditionalists to protect the oldies legacy.

[ulizinho]

hey you again, it is me again !

I agree with you here !!!

[addzisbadz]

Fed did win hehe.

[fmvgomes]

Of course the right tatic against Rafa is keeping the ball away from his forehand but also don't be afraid of sending balls to his forehand.

Nadal needs time to apply his best shot on the forehand so if he gets long balls on his forehand the shots won't be so dangerous.

Also one thing i noticed is that Nadal receives (on serve) better on backhand side. Sometimes making good serves on the forehand side he will get surprised!

[dwilliams02]

It's true. Nadal's forehand has probably surpassed Federer's as the most dangerous single shot in tennis due to the variety Nadal has with it, but he's so adept at defending from the backhand side that his forehand is the place you have to attack. In the Aussie Open final Federer was having a lot of success pounding the Nadal forehand until he got too fatigued to get his backhand deep enough. Then, as you said, once the balls weren't deep enough, Nadal took control in the 5th.

[chazza1231]

wat r u talkin about. nadal should be able to recover.hes a A class player. that just proves his legs cant hold

[chazza1231]

what a match.

GO FEDERER!!!!!

the best player of all time. he will win the french open

[kaferinelol]

ROGER IS AMAZING

[poostinkpoo1]

ppl can say what they want but the fact is regardless of whether nadal is "tired" or not

if federer plays this well witgh such confidence he has a good chance of winning RG

[ksj3613]

Nadal made more errors than he was used to. If this is the reason that proves Nadal is so fatigued, What about Federer? Federer recently has been struggling from too much unforced errors. Is Federer always dead tired? NO. The main reason is because Federer hit the ball deeply to the baseline. Yes, a 4 hour match against Novak affected Nadal, but it cannot be the main reason of his loss.

[Mortikhan]

Amen to the positives, it was great to see Roger win and have a laugh with Rafa after. Their's a Roger+Rafa "Wildboys" video floating around youtube, its my fav to see them hanging out after all these historical tennis battles. Congrats to Fed & Fed jr.

[singwithin]

God, I just love that moment when Roger keeps hitting to Nadal's backhand to set up break point. Seriously freaking gorgeous. And it's nice to see for a change, instead of the other way around like we usually see in Fedal matches. I really want to see more of that in RG, Roger. :D Drop shots, FH DTLs, good first serve %, great bp conversion, control of your nerves during bps, confidence and everything else that helped you win - more of that, too, please. :)

[RomanticRF]

I couldnt agree more , he should use this tactics more often againest Nadal .

[OptimusEpica]

HAHAHA!!!!! My man federer ran around some backhands! That's what i'm talkin about, that's where Nadal's been killing him. Let's hope Federer can continue to neutralize that.

[lulleeh1993]

KING FEDERER!

[demondayzzz]

incredibly hot ballgirls!!!

[mystikr]

THANKS !!!!!!!

[fmvgomes]

7:41

Nadal likes to receive the ball almost 20 miles away from the baseline. That's what can happen If a good kick serve goes in!

Nice one Roger and nice victory!

And Nice highlights and great quality videos! Thanks for uploading this!

[awesomerepublican]

Definitely not Nadal's best here. His backahand was a weapon that ended points during the last several matches against Federer. Here, it seemed like a shot that kept him in the point, but couldn't be used on the offensive.

But to Federer's credit, it seems like he is starting to find a way to deal with Nadal's constant attacking of his backhand.

[demondayzzz]

even an "off" Nadal has beaten Federer several times before. Nadal in prime form was 2 matchpoints down vs Federer in Rome. and nadal at his worst is still tough to beat.

and nadal doesn't hit as many winners on clay vs fed as he does on grass/hard anyway, especially off the bh side.

but you're right about fed dealing with the fh to his bh, all it takes is hitting a better crosscourt bh to relieve the pressure (about a 100 times a match). this isnt' new, it just doesnt always work as much.

[awesomerepublican]

But it seemed like Fed wasn't dealing with Nadal's fh to his bh by hitting better crosscourt bh like you suggested he do. If that was the case, that'd set up even more fh crosscourt for Rafa. That wouldn't help Rog.

Instead, it looked like Rog was doing the same thing Nadal was doing to him-namely hitting to Nadal's bh to bait for a shot to his stronger fh. It worked well enough to beat him on clay.

[demondayzzz]

there was indeed a lot of picking on nadal's bh, which probably relates to ur earlier comment about nadal's bh not being as offensive (though he did hit some crazy winners with it), but u can tell when fed hits a good cc bh he then has nadal on the move, and nadal doesn't always angle it with is fh enough cc to go back to fed's bh. fed has time to move to the left and hit a forehand and break the fh-bh chain of nadal's. it's in all their matches, he just usually hits a lot more errors.

[AceGuitarR7]

yeh, ive been saying thats the tactic too use against nadal for ages now. Rafas forehand is lethal but if you have a decent forehand you should be attacking nadals backhand. feds too stubborn though, i know his backhand is his favourite shot but against a lefty like nadal its a big disadvantage. Fed did this in the first set of aus open and got alot of short balls.. he should have won that set but chocked. Glad to see him playing well though makes the french open more interesting.

[awesomerepublican]

That's the obvious strategy to use when playing a lefty, but for a single hand backhand to consistently hit up the line with any sort of pace is a tall task even for Federer.

[awesomerepublican]

At 2:57 that was some low passing shot!

[HardstyleSVOBO1718]

fed is back!!

keep going roger!!!!!

[sachinsteffie]

thanks a tonn for posting such a high quality video with perfect length of time and exquisite editing.... Awesome job... Bravo... Please continue in the same fashion... Thank you once again...

[greekie88]

wow, the quality on this is just fantastic! is there a program you specially use, if so, what is it and where can i get my hands on it?!

[seidl01]

the backhand at 6:39 had more spin than nadal's forehand

[mystikr]

Yes his backhand is just pure art...

[nanospeedreloaded]

omg! how hard did he hit that forehand at 5:52! AT least 100 mph! And he didn't miss by much!

[strojzabelu]

yeah, it was a rocket!! But in the end , it didn't matter that he missed it :))

[Stylaz21]

It was a bit gulbis like, very short swing. I hope he hits some of these in the final of the french open.

[KillerFitfh]

thank you man =)!! Come on roger!!!

[CAF91060]

Thanks for posting.  It is a great win for Federer in Spain!