Greatness Defined

Da Realist:

So what do you think of the match yesterday?

Gangsta D:

Didn't catch all of it, but I thought Nadal was gonna take it. He went something like 3 sets without getting broken, and Fed needed two tie breakers. But Raffa spit the bit in the fifth set. When he got broken, I knew it was a wrap. You just can't give Fed an opening when you got him on the ropes.

Da Realist:

Nadal is the only guy that makes federer blink. when they play, it seems like roger plays with a monkey on his back. everything he does is more labored. things he does to other players, rafa does to him. his serve breaks down, his forehand breaks down. he gets wrong-footed. he gets frustrated. it's amazing to see, actually.

Raffa, on the other hand, does feel pressure. he was broken in the first set and 2 games later, broke right back. federer gets broken by rafa and the set is over. whoever thought federer would get broken more times than rafa ON GRASS?

it'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few years. nadal is in roger's head and there's no sense denying it. maybe it's because roger is playing for history, maybe it's because he's been considered one of the all-time greats at such a young age...whatever it is, he plays nadal with a huge monkey on his back.

we know roger will be there, but will rafa be able to make it to the final at the us open? who holds the advantage there on the slick hardcourts of new york? what about slow, high bouncing rubber at the aussie?

if nadal can challenge roger in new york and melbourne, all i gotta say is...
poor andy roddick...poor james blake. because even if roger starts to slow down (he's 25), rafa is only 21 years old. ooops.

Gangsta D:

Yeah it looked like Nadal was just a couple steps ahead of Fed in the first four sets. He really impressed me. I don't think there's any doubt he CAN beat Fed on grass. He's just got to do it the full five sets. I wonder if his injury had anything to do with it. Maybe it got in HIS head. When Fed broke him in the 5th, it just looked like he broke his spirit as well. The US Open just got a lot more interesting. BTW, don't mention Roddick and Blake again until they get to another Grand Slam final:)