Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 5 – The Usual Suspects: Rafael Nadal

Part 1 Laid out Key Questions Part 2 Looked at Bjorn Borg’s Credentials and the Difficulties of the GOAT Debate Part 3 Looked at Pete Sampras’ Credentials Part 4 Looked at Roger Federer’s Credentials Rafael Nadal Why Rafael Nadal Might be the GOAT – Rafa’s claim to the GOAT title revolves around three areas of…

Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 1

Part 1 – Arriving at the Relevant Questions A Question from California Shortly after Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the 2012 Australian Open semifinal round, I was asked how I thought Roger Federer’s record against Rafael Nadal impacted his arguable status as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT). Federer winning only one third of…

Lendl and Sampras’ Impact on Federer’s 6 Year End Championships

A Major Accomplishment Winning 6 Masters/ATP World Championships/Masters Cups/World Tour Finals (Year End Championships hereafter)* is not an accomplishment on the same level as winning 16 Grand Slams.  It is however no small task.  To win a tournament that is only comprised of elite players is difficult.  To win a tournament in which one has…

Federer Sweeps and Tsonga Advances

Roger Federer d. Mardy Fish 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 Roger did not play his best tennis in completing a 3-0 sweep of his pool.  Even in the one-sided 1st set Roger faced a lot of challenges while serving.  Still, Roger brushed back Fish in the 3rd set after Fish found his range in an impressive 2nd…

Federer d. Nadal 6-3, 6-0 – Are You Kidding Me?

The Indoor Setting Matters Before I make too much out of this match, it should be noted that Roger was 3-0 versus Rafael Nadal at the World Tour Finals/Masters Cup.  Roger had won 6 of 7 sets the two had played in this event prior to today.  Now, Roger stands 4-0 vs. Rafa at this…

The Big 4 Play Risk

Global Domination With the top 4 players in the  world sweeping all 4 Grand Slam titles and all 9 Masters 1000 events, it is clear that a gap exists between the top 4 and the rest of the tour.  In fact, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer were the only 2 players outside of the big…

Federer since 2008

2004-2007 Roger Federer’s results from 2004-2007 are the most remarkable 4 year period any male player has compiled.   The accomplishments for these 4 years are too numerous to name in a single column, but 3 top highlights are Federer winning 11 Grand Slam titles, 3 Year End Championships and 41 total tournament titles.  This…

Youtube Tennis for 11-14-2011 through 11-19-2011

3 Good Tennis Videos 1.  Roger Federer d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  6-1, 7-6 (3) to win the Paris Indoor – Highlights of Federer winning his 18th Masters Series Shield.  2.  Roger Federer vs. Andy Roddick Wimbledon 2004 – Roddick won the set featured in this video, but this video focuses on Roger’s shot-making skills. 3. Jimmy…