Geellis and petewho, way to go. Steve, keep writing! Ana, keep working on it, girl!

MindyM, i too, was gaga over Borg and kept my Time mag with him on the cover for the longest time. I too, at first couldn't understand how he could just walk away from the game and could hardly forgive him for a long time. But he did leave a clue in the Time article when he said that after a final, all he could do was lie in bed and look up at the ceiling; that's how exhausting mentally and physically winning was for him. So I guess it was an all-or-nothing proposition for him--if he couldn't compete at the highest level, he probably didn't want to stay in the game. Interestingly, at 24, Borg already had 11 majors to Nadal's 8. I just wonder how many more he would've won had he continued playing? Did he regret walking away? I really think he had at least another 2 FO wins in him. Until Fed came along, I've always thought Borg was the real GOAT.

usa tennis fans, i feel your pain. it seems so incredible that those of us who live in a third world country out here in the far east were spoiled with wall-to-wall live coverage of wimby (and aussie open, but alas, no RG) care of Star Sports, while Americans got tape delay. i must confess feeling guilty of not watching last year's final live (tooooooo frazzled then utterly frustrated with the outcome), and that i could choose to do this while you can't. but this year, i steeled myself to watch the final come what may cuz i didn't want to miss out on what may be a historic match and now i'm sooo glad i did (and my hubby wished he could've photographed my contortions during the 5th set :)) iirc, the match finished past 3am here. then they played all the finals again in the next 2 days. i complain a lot when espn doesn't show the slams here but when they do, i have to say that we're spoiled with hours and hours of tennis, almost a whole day's coverage because of repeat coverages. i'm crossing my fingers hoping that they'll show the us open as well.

I expected more sadness, but we got a shrug instead. ---------------- steve, i thought those shrugs spoke volumes and volumes of sadness. the man seemed to choke back tears. but if you want tears, go see Fed.

Wait ... so there are Fed fans who don't frazzle???? Who are these people? I want names. :) ----------------- if there is one, then that person is not a fed fan :) fed fan, thy name is FRAZZLED! oh what will these 4 days be like? it's so hard to work!

and I am very disappointed at Steve for unfairly painting Soderling as the bad guy here. nobody was. Steve, you write beautifully; unfortunately, in rare times like this, you have to mar it with uncalled for remarks.

None of us Rafa fans are saying Rafa should not or cannot lose, we were referring to Soderling's on court personality and the way he was so dismissive at the net about a great champion in his first loss on that court. If you cannot fathom the difference you must be very shortsighted. ----------------------- nam1, don't let your emotions color your objectivity. soderling wasn't dismissive. given what has happened between them, you cannot seriously expect a warm hug from either one. you can also see from rafa's reaction that their hand tap and brief eye contact was just fine by him. it's easy to read something else in player's reactions when you can't see the actual interview. seeing soderling's interview changed my view of him from the disrespect that was being insinuated in these blogs. the guy was almost sheepish and just shrugged off rafa's reactions. by no means was he arrogant; didn't he acknowledge rafa to be the greatest on clay? cut the guy some slack.

i've seen the nadal-soderling wimby clip as well as the clip provided here of their 4th round match and i have to say that soderling seems to be getting the bad rap rather unfairly. i can't see any animosity in their hand tap at the net and having replayed it many times, i think i see some eye contact there, even if a very brief one, but by no means arrogant. i think many people are blowing this up to unfair proportions. nor was he overly gloating after his win. as someone here suggested, he might have left first to give the crowd more chance to show their appreciation for the 4-time champ. as for the crowd, are we seeing different crowds? i heard a great big cheer go up when nadal's name was called as he was leaving. even the commentator said "rafa was acknowledging the applause." all the news write-ups i've read so far have said that the crowd was very appreciative of rafa.

Roger did not collapse mentally, Rafa is younger, stronger and a great, great player. Roger gave it everything. What more can you ask for? ------------- Caroline, i want to say i know where you're coming from but if i think that roger gave everything and still lost, then i must fear for him. how can he win over nadal ever again? we know he has the game to beat nadal, but it's happened time and again that the gameplan goes awry once he gets on court with nadal, so what does that tell about him? why does his game break down when he faces nadal? how i wish this loss will prove strong enough a motivation for him to work on his mental game. fed is still a world-beater; unfortunately, he just isn't a nadal beater. his face showed it; his body language showed it. no fear--wish too that he could adopt that motto from now on.

just goes to show how numb i am--forgot to congratulate rafa fans. kudos to your kid today--he truly has the makings of the goat himself.

come on folks, Fed lost a GS final in the 5th set to the world number one bringing only a C grade serve with him. Not too shoddy really. --------------- agree, naughty t. analysts were almost one is saying the match rested on fed's shoulders, or make that fed's head. this match would've been fed's had he been serving like he did in the semis--oh, the pressure. conversely, you could say that had fed won in 5, not too shoddy for rafa who took all of 5 sets to get beat after that verdasco epic. as a fed kad, i'm beyond gutted after 3 straight slam wins by rafa over roger. rafa made adjustments after wimby 07 and 30 mins of crying in the shower--i'm sure he vowed to move the earth to beat roger next time around. can roger do the same? more importantly--WILL roger do the same? or will his famed (or make that infamous) stubbornness always make him the technically superior player but the mentally weaker one compared to rafa? sigh. not a good day for someone who's facing a deadline in less than 24 hours. grrr... WHY, OH, WHY, FED?

dang, what's wrong with typepad... sigh, fed should've broken there.

YES 4 ALL. Wow, Greg Norman's a tennis fan through and through now :)

oh man, i'm supposed to go to sleep awhile ago but now how can i when i'm pumped up. GO ROGER!

dang, what's with venus?!

thanks spacenoxx! it's gotta be nerve-wracking for them. scoreboard watching is sooooo blehhh. C'MON VENUS!

Al, you're making me feel so bad for not being able to see the match :(

just dropping in. C'MON VENUS! what's up with nadal/fish match? why aren't they on yet? thought they'd be done by now? pls update!

Nooooooo, have to work tomorrow. hope fed's backhand goes up several notches since rafa was attacking it relentlessly. g'night all! er, or should that be d'day :) hope to wake up to fed's 6th wimby crown!!! let me dream nice dreams.

AND WE HAVE A MATCH!

we're gonna grow old fast just watching this game!

5- 2 can Roger make it?!

rog saw that 2nd serve coming and nails it! yes!

This match is over, Federer is going to get broken right now. What a disaster, well at least he still has Mirka. ------------- nope wasn't me. dang, typepad.

does fed look resigned, anyone?