Federer wins 16th major, prolongs British drought

fed x is the best player in the world his never say die spirit is what i like

Vivia serena you are great athlet. And America should be pround on you. Instead of journalists broad casting what was happened in U.S. open . I love you are pround women in the world.
Thanks,

Get well rafa.........

The winner won and the loser lost. Let's stop theorizing what might have been or had been. Let's just wait for the French open where I hope the two again - serena and justine - will meet in the finals; as with roger and nadal.

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Sue...
We knew what was going to happen in the blogs after the match. The comments are not really about tennis,per se, and the ladies are just being used as pawns for people to express points of view that are in their own interest.

You must realize that the supporters and detracters of Serena go from one end of the spectrum to the other and everything in between.

There is a definite indication that the "War of Words" in the comments here are the result of people feeling that their position goes beyond personal opinion and trumps the personal opinion of all others. In order to establish themselves, they pull out everything including the kitchen sink.

The negative "diplomacy" exhibited in the comments here in many cases far exceeds anything that any of the players have ever exhibited. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Maybe one of the benefits of these forums is that it allows people with pent up frustrations to let off "steam". Bottom line....It is, what it is.

Stay thirsty my friend.

Johnp,
"This thread is about Roger, but all of the discussion has been about Serena. Realize that a lot of the power that she has is her ability to influence people mentally. Have we not proven that already?"
You don't know that this is a thread about Australian Open? Roger just happened to be the last winner. After he won, I was about to say, finally. But... Do you really think that it is her ability to influence people mentally? It is her radical fans. She initiated it, and her fans has been talking about the 2003 French Open for almost seven years now. You can say controversial but "a lot of power" is way overrated.

This thread is about Roger, but all of the discussion has been about Serena. Realize that a lot of the power that she has is her ability to influence people mentally. Have we not proven that already?

Methodical
"Really? And of course you leave out Henin's errors which were almost always caused directly by her running down Serena’s shots. Tell me I'm lying. There weren't many long rallies for Henin to "prove" anything. the only thing she "proved" is how bad her high risk strategy was. Did we watch the same match????"

I don't think we watched the same match. Serena Williams won 5 points more than Henin for the whole match.
Serena Williams served 12 aces to Henin's 4. There is a 8 pointsdifference.
Serena Williams had 3 double faults to Henin's 6. There is a 3 points difference.
That is a total of 11 points difference only for the serves.

Other than the serves, how bad is Henin's high risk strategy and how good is Williams' game? Did you really see Henin make more errors than Williams (long and short) ?
How can I say that you're lying when we watched a different match.

Thanks to all who have raised the level of civility of these threads...agreeing to disagree...kudos!!!

Methodical....I enjoy your posts. Thanks.

I was incorrected. She got 5,400 of her 9,000 ranking points from the 4 Grand Slams she played in the last year.

Delores B
"Don't even go there, with that Serena, Safina crap."
Good point. Please tell that to Joy W. Joy W. wants to say that Henin benefited from "many" of the top seeded players in her half losing early. He/she must have meant Safina. Safina was out on injury. If he/she said that Henin benefited from that, Serena Williams also benefited from it too.

"Tell you what, to make it easier for you and other's who are questioning the Ranking status of Serena and Safina from last year. Why don't you call the WTA in White Plains, New York and make it easy on all of us. They will explain it all to you so you won't be befuddled."

I have never questioned and I have never befuddled about the ranking system. Serena Williams won only 3 of the 16 tournaments she entered. She got 5,900 of her 9,000 ranking points from the 4 Grand Slams. The reasons why she was not number one until the last tournament were she did poorly if not terribly on all the other 12 tournaments she entered; she lost each of her first match for all the three tournaments leading up to the French Open; she lost in her second match at Western & Southern Financial Group; third match at Bank of the West Classic and China Open; she only reached one final out of the12 tournaments she played, the Ericsson Open, Miami Florida, a lost to Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 1-6.

Women's Grand Slams are not the same as the men's Grand Slams. They just play one or two more match(es). They are still best of 3, not best of 5 as the men do. The reason why she did well in the Grand Slams (2009) was there were no worthy opponents, it is going to change this year. The reason why I think that Martina Navratilova is the greatest, she won 167 titles. She won tournaments day in and day out. She lost only 1 match in 1 year (It cost her the Grand Slam in a calendar year); that is what I call very dominant.

"FYI. Sam Stosur and Na Li is no push over. Of all the players Sereva has played in past, Na Li has given Serena the hardest fight to win a match. Dementieva and Petrova, followed. The rest was not match for Serena."
You meant the hardest fight but not win? Serena Williams is 7-5 against Dementieva, 6-3 against Nadia Petrova, and Na Li? 4-1. Where do you get that hardest, ... followed.... the rest.?

Joy W
"Serena did not get a lucky draw. She had a tougher draw than Henin had."
How do you see Dementieva, Petrova, Wickmayer are weaker than Azarenza, Stosur, and Li Na.
Dementieva, Petrova, and Wickmayer won a total of 27 titles and with proven Grand Slam records. How many titles did Azarena, Stosur, and Li Na win? They had six titles all together. Do I have to remind you about their Grand Slam records?
If you are not talking about them, you must have meant that Serena Williams is weaker than Henin.

"Henin benefited from many of the top seeded players in her half losing early. Serena benefited from Li Na upsetting Venus in the quarterfinals."
Are you exaggerating? How many? How did she benifit according to the seedings? She beat them all besides Safina and Cljisters (the player who beat Serena Williams in last year's U.S. Open). If Petrova could win over Cljisters that convincingly, you don't think she is a worthy opponent?
I don't know anything about you. But as a big Serena Williams fan like you, I think you should have trashed Safina and Cljisters before. How worthy are they according to you. If you say the Henin benefited from Safina's injury, Serena Williams also benifited from Safina injury in last year's WTA championship. Serena Williams could have lost her number 1 ranking.

"You would expect the number one player in the world to have a more favorable draw than a wild card."
What do you mean? Who has the favorable draw now? I am befuddled.

TD,

"I am not a Serena fan. She has always played the players I like better."

-That’s obvious.

"I like Venus because she let's her playing do the talking and she is not a loud mouth.

-She’s low on the list when it comes to even current tennis players when it comes to running her mouth. Ever watch Jankovic? Roddick? Nuff said. And for the record I like both players, even Jankovic, because you never know what she’s going to say next.

"Serena's serve was great. She has the best in the business but based on the match I saw with Li and Henin, she struggled behind the baseline."

-I think with Li, that had to do more with exhaustion vs her typical baseline play. And again, I disagree she struggled at the baseline against Henin, since Henin was doing a majority of the huffing and puffing to chase down Serena’s balls.

"At the French, a player need to be more patient and deliberate with their shots. The surface is slower. This is why Serena only won once. She did not have the game suited to the French Open. Henin Kutznesova, or Wozniacki could be a finalist and win."

-As for the French, again, I'll leave my crystal ball in the basement until the matches start.

TD,

“Methodical, still no mention about the point the officials robbed from Henin in the first set. That would have been a break point. I can only imagine if that was Serena. She started to say something "you said the ball was called out." The ball was clearly in and that psychologically effected Henin who yelled out "Merd." You Serena fans are a bunch of hypocrites.” The ball was clearly in and that psychologically effected Henin who yelled out "Merd." You Serena fans are a bunch of hypocrites. Henin also had won 13 points in a row to win the second set 6-3. She did not need or call for a bathroom break.”

-As for the bad call, you are missing my point. When did I argue it was a good call? I've admitted as much the line judges were making some pretty crappy calls on both sides, especially in the first set. Serena was right to say something since the line judge called the ball out. From there you go into conjecture and "imagining what Serena..." and guesses how that would have affected set 2 and three. I could care less about Monday morning quarterbacking. The reality is, she won that set, Henin played brilliant tennis the second set, and Serena walked away from henin in the third set. From the match I watched, Serena’s bathroom break was well within the rules of the tournament, rather you think is was right, wrong, or indifferent. And Henin took the break as well. As for psychologically affecting players, and the crowd going against Williams for most of the match wasn't taxing? As for being a hypocrite, I don't fish for whine-fest excuses when the player I root for loses. I've been playing and watching sports too long to put the blame of a loss on officials and rules. I've said even here Serena lost that French open because she made plenty of errors, was outhustled, and was not mentally prepared as her opponent. So I don't know who is the hypocrite Serena fan you speak of, but it's not this guy.

"Henin made her chase down a bunch of balls. I beg to differ. Serena's strength is her short balls and her serve. Henin proved that Serena is not an all court player. Her serve won the match and not her long rallies."

-Really? And of course you leave out Henin's errors which were almost always caused directly by her running down Serena’s shots. Tell me I'm lying. There weren't many long rallies for Henin to "prove" anything. the only thing she "proved" is how bad her high risk strategy was. Did we watch the same match????

"And as far as being an American. African Americans have had their agenda ever since the civil rights movement."

-Relevance???

"Of course you are going to pick Serena over another American say Oudin."

-Again, I would not be disappointed if either player beat the other. I like Oudin actually, and I DON'T like some of the bad things said about her because she lost early in the Aussie open. I've been just as hard on the hardcore Serena and European fans dogging her.

"We have a diverse population of people. Now that Serena fans got your victory, I noticed how you are not quick to attack others with accusations of racism etc."

-This isn't about race. I don’t care who rooted for who for whatever reason. I can speak only for myself, when i say I enjoy American athletes doing well in international sports. And frankly I'll let the trolls, kids, and race-baiters stoop to such jackassery. I'm here to discuss tennis. This is about discussing in my view, lame excuses to justify the fact that one player simply outplayed another come crunch time.

continued...

Serena did not get a lucky draw. She had a tougher draw than Henin had. Henin had Dementieva in the second round but then the rest of her draw was Kleybanova (31), Wickmayer (16), Petrova (19), Zheng (36). Serena had Kvitova (77), Carlo Suarez Navarro (33), Samantha Stosur (13), Azarenza (7), Li Na (17) . Henin benefited from many of the top seeded players in her half losing early. Serena benefited from Li Na upsetting Venus in the quarterfinals. You would expect the number one player in the world to have a more favorable draw than a wild card. If you remember, in 2009 Dementieva also beat Serena badly, this time in the semi-finals of Sydney but then when they played in the semi-finals of the Aussie Open a week later, Serena beat her convincingly. Serena has a winning record against Dementieva and I do not believe she has ever lost to her in a grand slam tournament. I don't have any facts, just going on memory. The fact is that Serena won the tournament. I don't know why we keep trying to rationalize or claim foul.

Sue, pay no mind to any of these people. They spent months trying to dominate the tennis blogs and put everyone else down who did not support Serena. They tried to make people feel badly by calling them racist, evil, redneck, hillbillies, rebs, KKK followers, Nazis, and every nasty thing possible. We weren't allowed to support who we wanted or blog about that player. There was so much intimidation and unwarranted attacks. Some of these people formed their little cliques and bullyblogged every chance they got.

It sounds to me that they were the haters and the bitter ones because Serena was disqualified from the US Open. I was rooting for Kim and thought about how they failed to realize Kim was the true victim because all she wanted to do is finish out her final but couldn't. Now that Serena has won a major without controversy; I can't recall how many times people said Serena was cheated (in practically every major tournament).

Well, I am upset now because I think Justine was cheated out of a break point in the early part of the first set. Also, Serena took a 10 minute bathroom break because she was winded. Justine had her running around the court and let's face it Serena is a big girl. Serena NEEDED that break because she was tiring.

As long as everything suits these Serena supporters on this blog, than they are fine. Notice the less acrimony and insults on here. These people make me sick. They now acknowledge that many of us were going for Justine so they can rub it in our faces. What a bunch of bad sports. Sue, you and I can root for who we want and if it is not Serena than too darn bad. Paco is an idiot. Have you read his comments. He doesn't make sense half the time. And this DNY she has been a part of of group that spreads nastiness and constantly puts down others. It is called the Serena clique. If you don't like Serena or want her to win, than you are excluded and they each take their turns getting their digs.

I always thought this was a blog about tennis and that we can express our opinions without scrutiny and even tyranny. I am happy for Serena because at least these high school wannabe bullies will not have so much animosity. They think that by calling other racists that it is okay. It is hurtful especially when you know that is not the case. I hope Henin or someone else wins the French Open but unfortunately the harassment will start all over again. It makes you wonder who really has the racial hatred?

Paco, my dear
I got another nice comment about Henin from your buddy Methodical.
" And you know as well as I do, despite the offical rankings, Henin is a top 10 caliber player, not some random unknown "wildcard". That is dishonest, and you know it."
I just want to see how you spin and twist again that Brisbane International was indeed a weak field.
Sorry, Methodical, I didn't mean to embarass you.. As I told DNY before, I was talking to Paco. I just want to see how he would respond.

Hi, DNY
"Justine cheated, plain and simple. The French crowd booed because they wanted to see their French-speaking neighbor win. Justine clearly put up her hand to call time while Serena was serving and then pretended she didn't know what Serena was talking about when Justin was awarded a point."
Did you answer the question? Why did she serve when she saw the hand up? Did she have some courtesy? Maybe it is too much of an expectation from Serena Williams.

Do I agree that Serena Williams can beat everybody? Yes, for sure. She hit somebody and made another headline. I also saw her hit Martina Navratilova with full force. I only see that kind of attitude in men's tennis. and there were only a few of them would do something like that (I could be wrong because I didn't watch all the tournaments).

The French Open had terrible crowd, The BNP Paribas Open had terrible crowd... How many times the Saint had been booed? She boycotted BNP Paribas Open because she thinks she is too big for BNP Paribas Open, but no matter how big she is, she is still too small for the French Open. She kept going back to the "terrible crowd" even she had less than desirable results in the last sixn years.

" And please don't try to insult our intelligence or Justine Henin by saying that she was just a "wild card". We all understand that in her case, "wild card" is just a title. She is far more than that. And it doesn't matter how many rounds there were and who had a bye and who didn't -- Serena played everyday, Justine didn't. "
DNY, I know you're intelligent. I won't even doubt about Paco's intelligence, I think he has in-depth tennis knowledge (but he just said something otherwise), he just has a big mouth. Please remember I was talking to Paco. I was trying to trap him. I netted you instead.
He kept complaining that Brisbane was a weak field.....no top players, Cljisters and Henin dared not to enter the Sydney tournament because of Serena Williams. Each of them had more titles than Serena Williams and he called it a weak field. DID YOU SAY ANYTHING TO Paco? The top 5 players in Brisbane International won more titles than the top 8 players in Sydney. How about that?

DID YOU SAY ANYTHING TO PACO WHEN HE BRAGGED AND BABBLED. AND YOU KNOW THAT HE LIED ABOUT THE 6 MATCHES AND 13 MATCHES, INSTEADING OF SAYING THAT IN FACT IT IS NOT CORRECTED, YOU ARE TWISTING THE FACTS AND DIVERTED THE QUESTIONS LIKE PACO DID.

I expected Paco to say "JUSTINE HENIN IS FAR MORE THAN THAT.", Instead I got it from you. Anyway, I will transmit your nice comments about Henin to Paco. DNY SAID IT! IT HAS MUCH MORE WEIGHT than somebody who is not a vehement Serena Williams fan.

Methodical, still no mention about the point the officials robbed from Henin in the first set. That would have been a break point. I can only imagine if that was Serena. She started to say something "you said the ball was called out." The ball was clearly in and that psychologically effected Henin who yelled out "Merd." You Serena fans are a bunch of hypocrites. Henin also had won 13 points in a row to win the second set 6-3. She did not need or call for a bathroom break. That was Serena because her heart rate was up and she was tiring. Henin made her chase down a bunch of balls. I beg to differ. Serena's strength is her short balls and her serve. Henin proved that Serena is not an all court player. Her serve won the match and not her long rallies. And as far as being an American. African Americans have had their agenda ever since the civil rights movement. Of course you are going to pick Serena over another American say Oudin. I don't like Sharapova but I am a European American and like Kim and Justine. I did like Davenport before she retired. You don't think Chinese Americans rooted for Li and Zheng, or Latin-Americans rooted for Nadal or Del Potro. This is America. We have a diverse population of people. Now that Serena fans got your victory, I noticed how you are not quick to attack others with accusations of racism etc. Of course there are always the exceptions like Cookie Montza, Delirious Delores, Paco the obsessed fan, Joy, DNY, and the list goes one. I am not a Serena fan. She has always played the players I like better. I like Venus because she let's her playing do the talking and she is not a loud mouth. Serena's serve was great. She has the best in the business but based on the match I saw with Li and Henin, she struggled behind the baseline. At the French, a player need to be more patient and deliberate with their shots. The surface is slower. This is why Serena only won once. She did not have the game suited to the French Open. Henin Kutznesova, or Wozniacki could be a finalist and win.

Hi Mad -- How have you been? I see you're up to your devilish tricks again -- lol.

I'm curious -- Americans of Irish descent celebrate their Irish roots with St. Patrick's Day parades; Americans of Italian descent celebrate with Columbus Day parades; Americans of Polish descent acknowledge their Polish ancestry with Pulaski Day parades; Americans of Greek ancestry pay homage to their Greecian roots with Greek Independence Day parades; and German Americans celebrate with Oktoberfests, just to name a few.

If Serena Williams or any other American of African ancestry wants to acknowledge that heritage (as millions of other Americans do without a second thought or question), why is it such a problem? What's up with that?

Mad,

"Real quick think if Serena and Oudin played who would you want to win? You Say you root for Americans, but it's human nature to like one more than a another. Who are the true Americans?"

-I would be happy if either won honestly. I would be actually impressed if Oudin could defeat a more powerful and experienced player like Serena.

"Do you cheer for Sharapova? She has lived here for many years as do a lot of tennis players,but does that make them American?"

-She still plays under the Russian flag and has a Russian citizenship. So it is irrelevant where she lives. I like Sharapova. But if shes playing against an American player, I'm going to root for the American anyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

"Serena claims her roots are from Africa not America - What's that all about? LOL !!! So that's enough about that - just giving you something to think about !!!!"

-There isn't much to think about here. If you are Black, chances are, your roots are in Africa. If you are White, your roots are in Europe. Did you drop out of anthropology 101??? Unless you are a Native American Indian, your roots are not in America. Now citizenship is another story altogether. When Serena plays in the tournaments or for the olympics, does she play under the the flag of Ghana or Kenya? No. She plays for the USA, with an American flag next to her name, and is a tax-paying citizen of the USA. You are really reaching here.

Sugar,

"Right now serena, got the money and the trophy, to bad you dont like it, so go kill yourself! Justine is a yellow teeth tramp whose husband left her!"

Completely unnecessary, low class,and over-the-top. Why answer Johns foolishness with even more foolishness? Justine is a spirited competitor, and frankly I can respect anyone that can give Serena a good match. She's not a terrible person just because other terrible people post nonsense over the internet....

John C,

"I thought the rule for time between sets was only three minutes. Why did Serena take so long to return? Was it because Justine was kicking her ass and had won the last nine points? I'm not sure about the rule on this break between sets so if anyone knows please let me know."

-You are not sure about the rule by your own admission, but you went ahead and made a dumbass comment anyway. This is why it's hard for me to believe some people here are actual tennis fans vs a bunch of lowlife 14 year old trolls that post stupidity for the sake of stupidity. The bathroom break is longer than 3 minutes. They have to actually wait for an escort, walk there, do their business, and come back. Do the math....

And next time do try to add something of value here, other than jackassery.