Roger Federer is betterer & joins Pete Sampras as a tennis legend

Roger Federer wins the French Open, finally

Is Federer the greatest tennis player ever or just one og the legends now?  Of course, Roger would have preferred to enter history without the retarded Jimmy Jump disrupting his game but old Federer proved he could still even win with a distraction as crazy as that one.

With Robin Soderling about to serve at 1-2, 15-0 in the second set, an intruder ran down a staircase in the lower section of the stands at Philippe Chatrier court, jumped over the barrier and onto Roger Federer’s half of the court. It took guards about 9 seconds to realize they were paid to do more than stand there, & they quickly ran after and apprehended the man.  It’s sad what some people do for publicity.

In the New York Times, Harvey Araton notes that the tennis world agrees not just on Federer’s greatness, but also his goodness. “Count on the sport continuing to root for Federer to climb higher up the mountain of immortality, as it has championed him since he rocketed to the top with the beautiful game and the embraceable persona,” Araton writes. “Even Soderling, who by reputation shuns discourse with most players, became a humble charmer during the awards ceremony, paying his respects. ‘You really gave me a lesson on how to play tennis,’ he told Federer.”

Time to give thanks for all things tennis

This has been a good year for tennis. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, whose dazzling five-set Wimbledon final provided tennis with a match for the ages, this match halted Federe’s five-year reign at Wimbledon and supplanted the mighty Swiss atop the rankings, a position Federer owned for a record 4 1/2 years without interruption. Nadal cemented his No. 1 status by dominating Federer with four wins in as many tries in his great 2008.

Rafa also captured three Masters Series events this year and was the runner-up at two other tournaments, as he appeared in 10 finals all told (8-2). All these accomplishments helped him become the first-ever Spanish year-end No. 1. In addition to his Wimbledon setback, the 57-time ATP titlist Federer also lost his two-year hold on the Masters Cup title, which went to Djokovic, who is only a few points behind the Swiss superstar for the second spot on the ATP rankings list.

Honorable mention this year goes to a pair of men who finished just outside the Top 10 — Argentine David Nalbandian and Spaniard David Ferrer. The former Wimbledon runner-up and former Masters Cup champion Nalbandian went 44-16 with a pair of titles in five finals, while Ferrer came in at 44-23 with two titles (and a Davis Cup championship).

Their’s also some I need to highlight NOT in the top 10.  The new Davis Cup champs hail from Spain, which upset the host Argentines 3-1 in the final, with Fernando Verdasco, playing in place of Ferrer, outlasting Jose Acasuso in a five-set thriller in the fourth rubber. The Nadal-less tie featured three of the Top-12 players in the world, but the final match was decided by a pair of players outside the Top 15. Including the doubles rubber in Mar del Plata, Verdasco went 2-0 for the week, as did his fellow lefthander Feliciano Lopez, who played alongside Verdasco in the dubs and won his singles match on Day 1 of the final.

Can Rafael Nadal win the 2008 US Open?

Nadal roll saround in victory

This first week of September, the tennis community will be biting their nails watching to see whether Nadal will close the deal this summer or whether Federer will be able to bounce back with the mental challenges of having the No. 1 ranking torn from his grasp for the first time in 1/20th of a century.

Nadal has never made it past the quarterfinals at the US Open or Australian Open, which are played on hard courts – (except once). And other players, such as #3 Novak Djokovic, who will be looking to follow up on his win over Federer in this year’s Australian Open, and past US Open champ Andy Roddick, could easily take the trophy for the tournament as well.