Roger Federer and Rafael nadal will meet tomorrow in an exhibition tomorrow on a customized court that is half clay and half grass. Wild concept. Obviously a gimmick but it would fun to see it.

The court took 19 days to build and cost $1.63 million!

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/ne...tory?id=2855114

The timing of the exhibition is odd ... if either of them gets hurt switching surfaces, it could really impact the height of the tennis season that's upon us. Regardless, it's nice to see the top two players in the world do something just for shits and giggles at the height of their rivalry. I'll be very interested to see who wins! My guess is Nadal will pull through; he'll want to win more in front of his home crowd.

Agree seems a bit risky.

I would suggest though that it has nothing to do with Nadal and Federer doing something for the "shit and giggles" but rather a soothing $4 million each.

4 million would make me shit and giggle!

Sure.......but in that order?

This is the biggest tennis 'stunt' i've seen in a long time.......

Fed must be psyched because he only gets to play Rafa on grass once a year at most but he travels to Rafa's favorite surface a couple of times, hence their head to head tilted towards bicep/ass boy.

I hope Fed kicks his hunky chunky ass....

If anyone wants to watch this and doesn't have Fox Sports Latin America (which I oddly enough do!), there is a live stream via Sopcast channel 20036 (hint: look for "true sports channel - football").

This channel is also b'dcasting the J&S Cup from Warsaw.

If you're at work or otherwise occupied, I'm sure there will be a torrent (or 10) available later.

Nadal wins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6. Apparently the third set tie break went to 12-10. i couldn’t get the streaming thing to work (i have a PC for testing at the office), but I was able to get the scores… in Spanish.

Did anyone get to see it? Were they having fun or taking it serious??

I'm thinking this was all in fun, like Roddick's exhibition win before the Australian Open, but my coworker thinks this is a huge statement and that Federer is probably wrecked right now. I have a sneaking suspicion that Roger likes to fuel the Rafa as King of Clay thing so that it takes a little pressure off.

I didn't see any of it. But with a scoreline that close, my first question is ... which side of the court was Nadal on when he managed to wrestle away those final two tiebreak points and win?

Answer: Nadal was on the clay side, hitting a forehand that skidded off the grass and beyond Federer's reach to take the match. Fedex blew a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak.

Whether they did it for the money or the shits and/or giggles, this was great exposure for the sport despite it nor being televised (here in the US anyway). Made the home page of yahoo.com anyway.

And just like Mazeppa, Tessie Tura, and Electra say "You Gotta Have a Gimmick if you wanna get applause". This was a really smart and cool gimmick, and the 12-10 tiebreak in the third only makes this special event that much more special.

Bravo to Roger, Rafa, and whoever came up with this idea.....totally cool!!!!

I stand by my contention that this thing was totally fixed. Regardless, it was a cool spectacle for sure. Bummer it didn't get more press, or even televised, in the US of A. I am thinking specifically of when Agassi and Federer played on the helipad in Dubai, which was carried live by the Today Show.

Why on earth wouldn't the Tennis Channel get in on this? Guess we had to see the Vince Spadea special or Luke Jensen at the 2004 French Open again.

Interesting publicity stunt, but hey, whatever helps market tennis.

Anyone see the match? Did it look like both guys were giving it their all? Or as someone else has said here before....was it just "tenntertainment?"

Hey...that was me Tennis Guy. That makes me laugh that you remember that.

Lynn...why do you think it was fixed? Just curious. I didn't care much about it, but I guess it is getting more eyes on a tennis court, even if it did look funny.

Decided to turn on SportsCenter this morning-- had a hunch there would be highlights there -- and sure enough, within 5 minutes of watching, they showed some points! Also, there are several clips on YouTube.

Obviously they weren't giving it their "all," nor did anyone expect them to. But it's a rare thing that can excite non-fans AND the hard-core near-purist... And given each player's multi-year win streak on the surface - plus having appeared in last year's finals on the opponent's favored surface - it's truly a unique time and fun experiment.

Plus, it looks cool!

You expected Fed to win an exo in Nadal's hometown? Of course it was totally staged.

it was the first story on COLBERT tonight!

he then had a strip of grass brought out and put across half of his desk.

I'm sure it's not staged but playing on a half and half court doesn't make me take the results seriously...

The fact is, this year, going into the FO, Nadal's the absolute, uncontested favorite...Last year, it was at least 50-50 that Fed coulda/shoulda won...Will that change anything? I don't know, but it is a difference...Nadal is the absolute favorite, Fed is the underdog if they both get to the final...

It's nice to see the top two players in the world do something just for shits and giggles at the height of their rivalry. I'll be very interested to see who wins! My guess is Nadal will pull through; he'll want to win more in front of his home crowd.

yours,
christina

_______________
Simulation pret