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Federer Defeats Nadal Again at Long Last in Basel
As I expected it turned out to be a close match but, of course, I gave Nadal the edge and Federer ended up winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in what was a good contest. So all credit to Federer for proving me wrong and getting another win over Nadal at long last and in doing so winning his seventh Basel title and sixth title of the year. It hasn’t at all been a bad year for him. He just came up short again when it mattered most.
With this confidence boosting victory, he will also be a big factor in the remainder of the indoor season in Paris and London. His draw is Paris is good so he should try to make the final there at least.
As far as the match goes the opening three games made you think that we will see the usual result from a Fedal encounter because Federer went to deuce on his serve while Nadal held serve easily. But Federer soon hit his stride and played some very nice tennis.
As you would expect, he was the one who looked comfortable on the fast indoor courts while Nadal was on the defense most of the time. Federer broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and he broke Nadal again in the ninth game to win the opening set 6-3.
In the second set, he looked in control the whole time while Nadal was the one under pressure on serve. So it was against the run of play when Nadal broke serve in the eleventh game to take a 6-5 lead. He proceeded to hold serve and all of a sudden Fedfans were fearing the worst again.
At least Federer was serving first in the deciding set which was a slight advantage. He broke Nadal in the eighth game after a loose game from Nadal where he made two uncharacteristic unforced errors late in the game to take a 5-3 lead.
What Does It Mean?
I am also glad about this result because it makes tennis more interesting. If Nadal won the rivalry would have been well and truly dead. Now at least there would still be a reason to watch any future meetings.
For Federer to make any kind of serious statement in the rivalry he would need to win a slam meeting. But even then the slam head-to-head would still be 9-3 in Nadal’s favor. I don’t see it happening anyway if he can hardly beat Nadal in Basel. It will now also be very interesting to see what happens if they meet in London.
It’s highly unlikely that they will meet in Paris as they are in opposing halves. In London, the courts are much slower than in Basel so probably Nadal becomes the favorite again there, but then again I said the same thing about Basel which is why it will be interesting.
In the end I am happy for Federer because seriously, losing even in Basel to Nadal? That would have been a bit rough for a player with his record. It would have been another terrible stain on his legacy after all the losses he already suffered to Nadal. It’s good to see him regain some pride at least if nothing else.
- What Is Left of the Tennis Season
- Highlights
is in your court.
30 Comments
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Let’s not kid ourselves. There is not a big four in tennis anymore. There is a big one. Then three others. Then the rest of the pack.
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Ru-an Reply: November 1st, 2015 at 11:22 pm Well said, Eric. Fedal is still playing at a high level, but Djokovic is now simply better. Murray was never quite there with the big three. Djokovic winning the USO was the big one. There is no stopping him now.
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Ben Chia Reply: November 2nd, 2015 at 4:36 pm Nice short write up Ru-an. Fed really needed this one. Psychologically, Fed still had a mountain to over come despite all the new changes, adaptations to his game. The h2h don’t lie, Nadull is in his head all the time. So to pull this off was big. I’m still very much a fed fan but even for me, I thought Nadull had him by the balls after winning the second set. The GOAT debate would certainly have been over. Kudos to our champ for fighting through. You know I respect Nole’s game a lot, but I wanna see “old” fed lift WTF one more time while he still can. Paris should be Nole’s given how much is on the line. Nadull just need to lose 1 more match to complete #Rafa-Zero-Zero prediction for the year. Hope it comes quickly. No, I don’t like to see Nadull play better and stronger. Let him lose in first round for all I care
@Eric, yeah man. Its speaks volumes that Nole is so far ahead of the pack. The GOAT debate can be revisited if he brings over 70% of his 2015 form to next year. God forbid, if he actually wins Paris and WTF. HIs confidence will sky rocket and his nemesis (honestly only 3) will feel the pressure. His bid for GOAT will be super legit. After a season like 2015, what’s left to prove? Calendar slam anyone?
Cheers! Great Tournament coverage ru-an. Thanks!
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Eric Reply: November 2nd, 2015 at 8:44 pm Ben Chia, I am amazed that Fed is still playing at this level at 34. That, to me is part of the ultimate GOAT debate as well. And this debate should not happen until all of these guys retire. I finally got to watch the match this morning and thought that both guys played high quality tennis and both guys suffered from nerves at crunch time. At 4-3 in the 3rd if felt like neither of them could avoid the panicked errors. And that is the biggest difference between where they are and where Djoko is. I mean, Roger is number 2 in the world and has a pretty easy time beating just about everyone on the planet. At 34 that’s insane. But in the biggest moments of the biggest matches, his confidence falters while Novak digs in and raises his level even higher. I think George mentioned above that he’s still a Fed Fad and so am I. I read somewhere that he was set on his schedule for 2016 and thinking about 2017 which makes me very happy.
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George Reply: November 2nd, 2015 at 9:33 pm Federer is not my favourite player due to some issues unrelated to his tennis skills. However, from a pure tennis prospective, I believe that Federer has massively improved (backhand and net anticipation) and plays better than ever. This is not so surprising (see also Karlovic, Lopez, Wawrinka) and we will watch more battles involving him, Nadal and Djokovic.
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Haha Fed Fan not Fed Fad…. classic typo.
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Brilliant!
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Jiten Reply: November 3rd, 2015 at 4:06 am What about Fed Fade for all the nay sayers who desperately wants him to FADE?
Again, great analysis Ru-an. You still have a soft corner for your old love, don’t you? 
( I hope that corner does not harden much 
) There were some brilliant shot-making in the final and the net play by Fed was exemplary, particularly in those clutch situations. This really proves that he should have never abandoned that strategy in his earlier encounters against Dull where he would apply it in experimental basis and then, once Dull starts passing him, completely jettison it. Even in this match, on couple of occasions, he was hesitating and did not come to the net at the opportune time and paid the price for the delay.
Wow, tennis is getting more interesting with the old man still very much in the pack. 
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I’m very happy about this victory, and it was about time too after an eternity since he last beat Nadal. Though we (Fed Fads
) shouldn’t get too carried away. It’s just one match, and in these conditions he has always been able to beat Nadal. It changes nothing as far as the rivalry and lopsided H2H stats are concerned. Ru-an is absolutely right, Nadal still owns him. It would take a few slam victories (preferably outside Wimbledon) against Nadal to really change anything as far as their rivalry is concerned from a historical perspective, and I think that train has sailed.
But not to be a downer. A win over his dominator is always good for confidence. Might give him that extra belief he needs if they were to meet in Melbourne in a couple of months. I’m certainly a lot more optimistic ahead of that possibility now than I was a few days ago.
I’ll be following Paris and WTF with great interest. All the discussion over the years, about how much Nadal’s ownership of Federer affects his GOAT status may soon become irrelevant if Djokovic cleans up all the big events and continues to dominate next year in the same way.
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WTF round robins don’t count towards H2H numbers do they?
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I am for as many matches between Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. It would be great if these 3 end up in the same group in WTF.
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