Roger Federer retires

Barty defeated Collins 6-3 7-6 to win her 3rd Grand Slam! Collins led 5-1 in the 2nd set and twice was 2pts away from winning the set.

28-1 in her last 29 matches, including Wimbledon, Cincinnati, Adelaide & Australian Open titles.

Commiserations to Collins, who has rheumatoid arthritis and had surgery for endometriosis last year.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 29th 2022 »

Rafa from two sets down ftw!!!

Most. Ever. Grand Slams.

VAMOS

Matt77 said:

Predictions:

Barty in straight sets

Rafa in 5 sets

Rafa comes back from 2 sets to love down to win 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5 in 5 hours and 24 minutes!!!!! It is the 2nd longest GS Final in history, and one of the all-time classics.

Rafa served for the 2nd set at 5-3 Ad-40 and also lead 5-3 in the tiebreaker, but choked.

Rafa then trailed 2-3 0-40 (3 break points) in the 3rd set. He somehow saved them all, and then broke serve immediately to take a lead.

In the 4th set Rafa saved 4 break points when leading 4-3. He held, and that was enough to squeeze out a tight 4th set.

In the 5th set Rafa got an early break, then won a mammoth game serving at 3-2. There were several deuces. He then won a tight game to get to 5-3. He had 30-30 on Medvedev's serve, but Medvedev held.

Then Rafa served for the title. He led 5-4 30-0, before he channeled Roger and choked while serving for a 21st Grand Slam. Medvedev broke to get it back to 5-5.

Rafa then managed to break serve immediately after 3 deuces, and comfortably held to secure one of his greatest wins.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 30th 2022 »

To come back from two sets down in a Grand Slam is outstanding. I bet Novak wasn't impressed though.

It is the first time in Rafa's career that he has come from 2 sets to love down.

Novak will be fuming, but he is entirely to blame. He should've got the vaccine. He would've thrashed Rafa in the semis, and them thrashed Medvedev by an even worse scoreline in the final. It was an exciting grand slam final, but there were some messy moments where Novak would've capitalised on.

Even worse for Novak is that:
a) Rafa is the favourite to win the French Open and lead 22-20-20 in the GS race.
b) France will be changing their rules so that professional athletes need to have had a positive result within 4 months in order to play sports unvaccinated. Since Novak tested positive in December, and the French Open is in May, that's 6 months.
c) There is a possibility that Wimbledon and the US Open (as well as other tournaments) will ban unvaccinated players.

Keep it up, Rafa!!!

After last year's disgusting Jan/Feb period (Novak, Osaka, & Brady all winning competitions), we will get Barty, Rafa, and Burrow/Stafford. Complete opposites. May it continue please.

We want Novak to eat another bagel on clay please.

Oh dear LOL, that means that potentially, Novak could be three Grand Slams down by June if Nadal wins the French which he must be hot favourite to do so and Wimbledon where he is in with a shot. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, he should have got the vaccination like everybody else, I don't feel sorry for him at all.

Rafa would be up two if he wins the French. A nice lead, but Novak could easily win the final two and tie back up if allowed to play. XD

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Feb 2nd 2022 »

The problem for Novak, is that Rafa is better than Novak at the US Open. Historically Novak has struggled there, while Rafa has got a few title wins in the last 5 years. Also throw in Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Thiem (if recovered from injury), Berrettini etc. In fact, Rafa has yet to defend his 2019 title. In 2020 he was absent due to the French Open being moved, and in 2021 he was injured.

Meanwhile Roger's injury has got worse, and Serena is nowhere to be seen. Both will retire this year, and I don't know if they'll play another match again. Roger's last match was a bagel at Wimbledon, and Serena's was retiring injured at Wimbledon.

When all is said and done which one of Federer, Novak, and Nadal will be considered the best ever.

Do you know what their head-to-head is on the different grand slam surfaces. I personally would give the title to the guy who has won the most grand slams on different surfaces. Which probably means it is not Nadal as most of his will be at the French Open. Do any of the players have a Grand Slam in all four tournaments in one calender year? That to me is a good indicator.

Rod Laver is the only mens player in history to achieve the Calendar Year Slam (winning all 4 Slams in the same year), and he did it twice. Albeit that was a very very long time ago.

Novak won the Australian Open, French Open & Wimbledon last year, and made it to the final of the US Open. He was 1 win away from achieving it, but lost in straight sets to Medvedev in a stunning upset.

As for the women, Steffi Graf is the only player to win the Calendar Slam. In 2015 Serena Williams won the Australian Open, French Open & Wimbledon, and made it to the semi final of the US Open. But she choked from a set up (6-2) in a match she was heavily favoured to win.

Rafa versus Novak in the Quarterfinals of the French Open. Horrible seeding this year. They needed to have those guys on the opposite sides of the bracket.

Hopefully Novak gets upset again on this way to the quarters so it is not an issue. Is it just a case of Novak and Rafa and everyone else is there to make the numbers up? If so Tennis is in trouble, it runs the risk of becoming boring. Who wants to see the same two guys in the final of every major competition.

They still have Medvedev at #2, which makes it sort of competitive. Federer is still hurt. Somehow Novak #1 and Rafa #5 are about to play in the Quarterfinals. Outrageous. That should be the Finals. lol

Men's Tennis was good in the early 80s, I can't name you anyone now aside from Nadal, Federer, and Novak.

Nadal defeated Novak in the Quarterfinals. If all chalk from now on, Nadal will meet Medvedev in the Finals.

Nadal has made it into the finals. He will be playing some random guy that I don't know.

It was kind of bittersweet though for Nadal, as his opponent had to retire from the match after what appears to be a dislocation to ankle. Ouch.

As long as Nadal wins and puts more distance between him and Novak in the Grand Slam titles total I'm happy. Not good for Tennis when an unknown reaches the final and gets blown away.

Nadal won in straight sets, capturing his 14th French and 22 Overall Grand Slam. Do not know how he did it. Apparently, his foot is injured and they had to keep numbing it with anesthesia so that he could keep playing. Hopefully he can recover before Wimbledon.