Federer sets career goal of 20 Grand Slams

Boy that'd be tough. I can see 18, 19 may be stretching it, but 20 is out of the question, IMO.

2 US opens..1 Aussie..1 Wimbledon

Not to hijack your thread, but IMO Tiger has better chance of breaking Nicklaus' record than Fed does of winning 20, and right now it doesn't look good for Tiger.

With players catching up to him on grass, and the slower surfaces at the French and Aussie opens, the U.S. open is his best shot. I just don't see Fed winning 4 more slams. Even if he stays after it and keeps in good shape (with no major injury), think the over-under on slams is 2.5.

Can't see Fed hitting 20. Maybe not even another. Nadal has just been whipping him like a government mule. If we're honest, Fed's solo French is 100% attributable to Robin Soderling taking Nadal out and one of his Wimbledon titles because Nadal didn't defend from the year before due to injury.

Unless Rafa takes a physical dive again, and because Djokovic, Del Potro, Verdasco and a handful of others have risen up, Fed is going to have a tough row to hoe to win even one more.

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They've only played each other once in the past year.

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May be, but have a look at their record in GS finals and, more specifically, Fed has beaten Nadal ONE TIME since 2008.

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Verdasco?

And Djokovic hasn't exactly been setting the world on the fire the past year either.

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Verdasco was simply an example of the type of player that could pop Fed on any given Sunday, like Del Potro has.

As for Djokovic, what are you talking about? You think the ATP donated to him all those points that put Fed in his rear view mirror?

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May be, but have a look at their record in GS finals and, more specifically, Fed has beaten Nadal ONE TIME since 2008.

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And almost all of their matches have been on clay.

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Verdasco was simply an example of the type of player that could pop Fed on any given Sunday, like Del Potro has.

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Federer has been losing exclusively to big hitters for the most part. Citing Verdasco, who is not a huge hitter and has never beaten Fed, doesn't make sense.

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As for Djokovic, what are you talking about? You think the ATP donated to him all those points that put Fed in his rear view mirror?

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If you think Djokovic hasn't been a massive disappointment recently you haven't been paying attention. He's only won one tournament the entire year. That's also the only time all year he's even made the finals.

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And almost all of their matches have been on clay.

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Except that two of the 3 GS finals that they've played in that time period were 08 Wimbledon and 09 Aussie. Guess who won both?

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Citing Verdasco, who is not a huge hitter and has never beaten Fed, doesn't make sense.

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Again, I'm not advocating that Verdasco is going to take Fed to school, but anybody who watches the game knows that Verdasco has one of the biggest forehands out there. Of course he's a big hitter.

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If you think Djokovic hasn't been a massive disappointment recently you haven't been paying attention. He's only won one tournament the entire year. That's also the only time all year he's even made the finals.

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He's definitely not bringing home an arse load of trophies, but, again, Fed is in his rear view mirror because he's so damn consistent to making it to the second week.

Fair enough. I understand your points, and they definitely have validity. I'm interested to see how the US Open shakes out. Nadal just pulled out a 3 setter over Kohlschrebier. Hopefully I can catch the Fed/Berdych rematch later.

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As I think about it, I guess I said Verdasco to begin with because I'm remembering the 09 Aussie. Remember the semis? Verdasco gave Rafa all he could say grace over in 5. Then, Rafa takes the title from Fed. Verdasco definitely played Rafa tougher than Fed did, but that's apples and oranges - agreed.

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That Verdasco/Nadal semi match is one of my all time favorites. That was a great one. I've pulled for Verdasco since then. And yes, he definitely played Nadal a lot tougher than Fed did in the final.

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Me too. Tennis channel or what?

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I was hoping that ESPN might cover it live. They probably won't though

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Which one is more impressive?
LINK
or
LINK

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Both are, of course, great points, but I'll take the first one.

Continuing the discussion from above in the thread, and this ain't gonna be too popular with TulaneTiger, but I have lost some respect for Fed in the last couple of years based on his play in the closing sets of his finals matches against Nadal in the Aussie and DelPotro in the Open.

I was always a big Fed fan because I admired his all-court, all-style game and the way he handled himself even as he began to be considered as the greatest in the game. But it seemed to me that in those 2 matches he sort of lost his will to win/compete. Maybe he just got a little tired, but it seemed like more than that to me -- and I lost some of my admiration for him when he seemed to settle for second in those matches.

In contrast, against Nadal in the epic 5th set at Wimbledon, it appeared that Fed was a little tired and it affected his footwork that caused him to miss some forehands that he otherwise usually makes, but he never stopped competing, struggling to the death until the last point. I just didn't get that same feeling in the other matches, and it surprised me.