HogHoopsFan

Yep, and when I saw the final between Joker and Rafa at Wimbledon, I thought Rafa looked flustered. Today was even worse.

Joker has now gotten into Rafa's head in the same way which Rafa eventually got into Federer's head on every court other than Roland Garros.

I think the better question is whether or not he even makes another majors quarterfinal in his career. It's becoming more and more cliche for him to bow out in the first 3 rounds lately, and he hasn't been anywhere near his former self since losing to Federer at Wimbledon in '09.

Stop kidding yourself. Nadal was as flustered and confused as anyone I've ever seen in a final yesterday. Everything he tried aside from the 3rd set, Joker had an answer for.

To pretend that Nadal was even still in that match even after the 3rd set is the ultimate display of denial. Joker won the match for the same reason he's beaten Nadal the previous 4 times they've played this year. Every "great" player has one opponent who's always going to give them fits. For Federer, it's Nadal. For Nadal, it's Djokovic. He has Rafa's number, pure and simple.

Yep, like I said before, it was so much like the beatdown Sampras laid all over Cedric Pioline several years back in the final at the AELTCC. Nadal had one breakout set, then Novak went right back to showing him the match tactics which have allowed him to beat Nadal 5 straight times. Poor Rafa didn't know whether shovel sheite or wind his wristwatch, and the look on his face during and after the 4th set proved it. He was as lost as a ball in high weeds.

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Alabama played plenty of solid home-and-home series in the 70s. Nebraska, Missouri, Southern Cal, Houston, Cal, Maryland, and Washington were among them.

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That's pretty much what I remember, too. Bama played alot of home-and-home series during the year in addition to their SEC schedule. They didn't need a series with Texas or OU to prove anything, and that probably eats at the hearts of those schools' fans to know that is the truth.

All of that mess you just said is assuming that Nadal would ever be ever able to consistently generate a return against Sampras in his prime. But don't take my word for it. Pay attention to what Agassi says at about the 4:55 mark of this video:

LINK

Combine that with the fact that Sampras held his serve 92% of the time during the 1990's. Nadal has never faced that.

In his prime, Pete Sampras would have worn Rafa Nadal's azz out, both on serve and volley. Sure, Federer ended Sampras' run as Wimbledon King, but to say Sampras was at his best at that time would be ignorant. He was well past his best days by the time his AELTCC run ended. In his prime, there was no better tennis player in the world, EVER!!!

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At least Pippen came close to making the Finals in 1994 and 2000!!!

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And without Jordan was unable to even to turn the trick. In 1994, Pippen's Bulls lost to the same Knicks team that Jordan's Bulls NEVER lost to in the conference finals. He was supposed to be the missing link in Houston, but again fell flat on his face.

Aside from Jordan in Chicago, Pippen had the same supporting cast, but couldn't get past the resentment of being forced to share the spotlight with somebody like Tony Kukoc long enough to beat the Knicks. As outsppoken as he was, you never saw Jordan go mental on Phil Jackson late in important games over a call. Pippen did it twice, and he'll be remembered for it as much as anything he accomplished in his career.

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With 17 trophies between them, the Williams sisters have earned the right to play on Centre Court, or Court 1. Serena is a top ten seed to boot.

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So by that same train of thought, lets assume that Martina Navratilova (18 Grand Slam titles and 9 Wimbledon titles), and Steffi Graf (22 Grand Slam titles and 7 Wimbledon titles) both were to come out of retirement for one last year-long hoorah on the tour. Are you telling us that neither one should have a match outside of Court 1 or Centre Court when Wimbledon rolls around?

Simple fact is that more tennis fans want to see Federer and Nadal play than just about any women's player currently on the tour. There are only 2 courts which allow maximum numbers of fans in their seats for their matches, and those two places are Centre Court and Court 1. The same could also be said for Novak Djokovich and Andy Murray. People pay dearly to watch them play. The same cannot be said to the same extent for anyone in the women's draw.

Jake Bequette.