At 35 years old, Roger Federer is once again the dominant player on the ATP World Tour.
That was certainly the case in the Miami Open final on Sunday afternoon.
Federer improved to 19-1 this season and captured his third title by cruising past Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes. The Swiss triumphed at the Australian Open, Indian Wells Masters, and Miami Masters in a single year for just the second time in his career, having previously accomplished the feat in 2006. He defeated Nadal at each of those three tournaments; first in the Aussie Open final and then in the Indian Wells fourth round.
On the heels of a five-set thriller Down Under, Federer had no issues of any kind getting the best of Nadal in the California desert and in south Florida. This latest installment of the rivalry–the 37th between the two all-time greats–was not quite as comprehensive as the 6-2, 6-3 beatdown issued by Federer last month, but it was nothing short of routine at the same time. The 18-time major champion held all 10 of his service games, saving four break points in the opening set before dropping a mere four total points during five second-set service games.
Federer and Nadal combined for seven break-point chances in a hard-to-believe five of the match’s first seven games. Only holds by Nadal at 0-1 and Federer at 1-1 went without a break point. Neither competitor could convert any opportunity, however, on the way to a 4-3 advantage for the world No. 6. That is when Nadal finally cracked, and a break of serve in Federer’s favor allowed him to serve out the opener at 5-3–which he did with no trouble whatsoever.
Despite featuring a slightly more competitive 6-4 scoreline, set two was far more lopsided. Federer coasted through each of his service games, whereas Nadal had to fight off two break points at 3-3 before donating a decisive break of serve at 4-4. The now three-time Miami champion fell behind 0-15 while serving for the title, but he took four the next five points to clinch victory.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKFqsPKq6I
“He’s playing [well],” Nadal said of Federer. “That’s all. He’s playing [well] and with high confidence. When a top player like him is playing with this high confidence and playing that good, then it’s tough to win.
“Today was a close match in my opinion. Was 6-3, 6-4, but I had opportunities to have the break before him in the first set. I don’t believe in luck, but I was not very lucky in the first set on a couple of points that I think I played well and I lost in the break points. Then he has the break and you are in trouble. (A) few things decided the match, and today (it) was for him. For me was a much closer result–much closer level today than what the result says, and completely different than [in Indian Wells].”
“I think it was a close match,” Federer agreed. “Maybe if you didn’t see the match and you were sitting somewhere around the world and you see the score you’re like, ‘Okay, sort of maybe just straightforward and couple breaks and that was it.’ That’s not the full story. I thought he had his chances in the first and in the second. It was close. I think on the big points today I was just a little bit better. Why, I have no explanation. I just think it fell that way today.
“Great atmosphere again–a lot riding on the match, of course. So it was a special match and it was great to play against Rafa again.”
Federer is still 14-23 lifetime against Nadal, but he now leads the head-to-head series on hard courts 10-9. The next showdown is not expected to come until at least the French Open. Federer said during his press conference that he plans to skip the entire clay-court swing before playing the French Open. He plans to continue training on hard courts until two weeks before Roland Garros begins.
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4-0 streak continues until here. If Rafa losses just one more on clay to Fed, 7-0 would not be a surprise. It does not sound good to Rafa, but this makes battle of big 3 far more balanced and exciting. Rafa has to hit back to create some thrills.
The reason for Roger’s win and the change in match-up dynamics is detailed in this article http://www.138mph.com/the-old-man-strikes-again/
Nah, I’ll pass on the one-sided fedfawn bias, thanks.
Betcha it doesn’t mention Rafa’s drop in play since Rafa dominated Fed which has as much to do with the dynamic change as anything else such as the racquet.
Ditto for Nole.
For what it’s worth, peak Rafa or Nole would still beat 35.5 year old Fed.
#FederazziAreEverywhere
Have you ever predicted Fed to lose a match or a tournament. I have been reading your post from 2014 and every time I see you predict Fed to win and on top of that mostly you predict an easy win for Fed irrespective of the opponent. And when you are occasionally correct like in 2014 to 2016 then you start boasting of yourself with all sorts of hashtags and the moment other Fed fans start enjoying the win with you then you start your usual trolling of Fed.
The moment Fed wins and many fans come to the blog you start like biased scheduling, day matches/ night matches, faster courts, opponents, their current form as if the entire tennis world is under Fed control. And also why always you expect peak Rafa or peak Nole to compete against Fed. No one can be at their peak level for a longer time the more you sustain the more achievements you will receive. If you only expect a peak form player should play then there won’t be any matches, sometimes a lower ranked player also plays outstanding but it may not even sustain for one full match. Even fan of them can claim if their player plays how he played in that set then he could have won multiple slams which never happens. I just feel that according to you Fed is the best player but somehow you don’t like him.
I’ve never picked Fed to win on clay with Rafa in the tournament (to date).
I picked him to win Australia before it started but I didn’t pick him in the final vs Rafa. Ditto for IW.
But when he beat Rafa in IW so handily how do you pick against him in Miami???
I picked Rafa over Fed consistently from 2008-2013 and I picked Nole over Fed from 2012-2015. The exception to this was indoors at WTF.
I’ve never picked Muzz over Fed.
I’ve done pretty good with those picks.
Your last sentence is fair.
You’re welcome My fan.
#Humb1e
Whats with these links of yours? Are you not getting the message nobody is interested in reading it? Stop spamming
http://deadspin.com/roger-federer-cant-be-stopped-by-rafael-nadal-or-anyon-1793960298
Well he could be stopped if either Rafa or Nole were playing their best tennis.
They don’t need to change their game. They just need to get it back.
#WhenTheCatsAreAwayTheGOATwillPlay
Just watched the highlights of Nadal Dimitrov from AO semi..where has that Rafa gone…from that tourney, Rafa has regressed so much..the Rafa we saw in Zverev, Milos, Dimi match..the one who fought fought fought, showed aggression..where art thou Rafa?
Sanju, I doubt Rafa has regressed much. It’s a matter of slam vs Masters; moreover, Rafa is not going to risk injury upon himself by going all out to win when the clay season is round the corner.
I’ll bet that come the clay season, you’ll see a better Rafa.
Hope so lucky. The intensity in those AO matches was something I never saw in Miami
http://www.oregonlive.com/the-spin-of-the-ball/index.ssf/2017/04/roger_federers_recent_dominanc.html
Not clicking on oregon live. Forget the guy’s name but just another federazzi fedfawn.
Not interested.
Federer is great and his biggest asset beyond his obvious Top 3 tennis skills to get him to 18 has been his longevity.
Here is another article in the series analyzing the games of rafa, roger, novak and andy http://www.138mph.com/decoding-the-big-three-murray-the-intangibles/