Holy shit. We are tied at one set apiece. I am in awe of both players, but to see Agassi lift his game up so many more notches to take the second set is just fantastic. One hell of a match going on here. C'mon Andre!!!

That was disappointing though to see Agassi fade in the third the way he did. After finally breaking Rafa and getting it to a 3rd set I was hoping for classic Agassi magic and amazing defense from Nadal for a tight 3rd setter. Nadal stepped it up and grabbed the third set by the throat. I love it. Nadal is the best thing to happen to men's tennis in a long time. Congrats to him on his first hard court title!!

What can you say about the kid, Nadal. He is such a huge force to be reckoned with. Andre gave it his best shot, and he showed he could elevate his game even higher as he did in the second set, but this kid Nadal, is just a bull. If anyone thinks he won't be a force to be reckoned with in the U.S. Open, they will be dead wrong.

I don't think Andre has anything to be ashamed of. He played great today, but Nadal has such a pair of feet. The kid got to everything today, and still needed 3 sets to beat Andre. I hope Andre sees today as a positive, and takes it with him to the Open.

While I am very happy Nadal won his first hard court title I'm going to play devil's advocate here a little bit. I'm sitting here looking at the draw for Cincy and trying to contemplate Nadal's chances at winning. First off...Federer is back in the mix...all bets are off as he is the one to beat. Second...the courts at Cincy are faster and the balls are lighter so that already is a strike against Nadal and a plus for other players. The conditions Agassi had today didn't help him with the heavy, humid conditions. Roddick will have rebounded from his first match loss at Montreal and with Hewitt, Federer, and Safin in the mix I'm looking forward to a great Cincy Open. Nadal's road to his 2nd straight hard court title will be much much tougher this week. While he proved he is a force to be reckoned with on hardcourts...the true test of his hard court prowess will be if he has to go through 3 good hard courters from the quarters on. If Nadal can beat someone like Hewitt in the quarters, Roddick in the semis, and Federer in the finals I will bite and say big time threat at the Open which plays the fastest. While he was impressive with Agassi today his competition overall this week wasn't all that stellar. Moya gave him issues in the first round but when is the last time Moya has won a tournament of significance with the best in the world playing? And I'm sorry but Mello, Grosjean, Puerta, and Mathieu aren't all that for me to jump up and say he's winning the US Open. I'm looking much more forward to Cincy than Montreal. Agassi gave him a good test but lets be honest...Agassi doesn't have the pop on his serve that Federer has, nor the quickeness (Agassi is quick...Federer is quicker), nor the punishing forehand and backhand groundstrokes of Federer, and Agassi didn't come to net enough. Nadal has proved he's more than just a punk ass dirtballer but this week will be the true gauge of his chances at the US Open, as the Cincy courts are faster and will play more like the US Open courts.

Andre's had a hard time closing out the big matches the past few years. It seems to have started with the Wimbledon semi in 2001 against Rafter when he was up two breaks in the fifth and couldn't put him away. Yeah, he won the 2003 Australian, but I seem to recall that he had a pretty soft draw and then destroyed Schuetler (sp?) in the finals.

Consider the past four or five matches Andre has played against Federer. The matches always turn on a few points. Andre will be rolling along on serve, and then all of a sudden at 4-all he'll throw in a double fault, hit a forehand wide, dump a backhand into the net, and Federer will come up with a big forehand and secure the break. Voila, the match is toast. Sure he'll win a set or two, but the only thing that counts is who wins the final set. Andre certainly has the experience to close these matches out, even against the Federers and Nadals (no doubt he would have won the 3rd set against Nadal had the 1999 Andre been playing today), but I wonder if his limited match play does him in when he's up against the big boys in the quarters/semis/finals.

Having said that, I would give a couple of toes to see Andre make a run at the US Open and take home the hardware a la Sampras in '02. I don't see it happening, though. Maybe if he had Pete's serve; but as Andre showed today, he just can't hold serve against the big guys in the clutch. He'll make the quarters, and maybe even the semis (hopefully his ranking will keep him from having to play Federer in the quarters this time), but he's going to get beat during that second week by Nadal or Hewitt or Federer. Unless, of course, Nadal, Hewitt and Federer stumble during the first week. That's Andre's ony chance. A perfect draw would have him against Roddick/Safin in the quarters and semis and then a surprise player (maybe Nalbandian or even Ruzedski the way he's been playing since Wimbledon - he's done it before) in the finals. As much as I would love it (and I might even say a few prayers), I just don't see it happening.

Agassi is a great champion and a tremendous role model. When I was in my teens, during the 'Image Is Everything' era, I kept a scrap book of newspaper clippings about Agassi. I'll never forget watching the French Open match (I think it was the semis) against Wilander in 1988, and going nuts every time Agassi hit a huge forehand winner or changed up his game and came to net to put away a volley (he came to net c. 100 times over that 5-setter and won almost 2/3 of those points), and then crying my eyes out when he ran out of steam and lost the 5th 6-1. Then at the U.S. he lost a tough four-setter to Lendl, and I cried some more. His game was so awesome back then because it was so different - kind of a cross between Lendl and Connors. But there was something about him, despite 'Image Is Everything,' that I revered. Maybe it was his age. Maybe it was the long hair (although I highly doubt it was the hair). Maybe it was his cockiness. Whatever it was, who could have predicted that this loud, flashy, cock-sure, hard-hitting kid would stick around for another 17 years and grow up to be such a caring and sensitive person, and arguably the greatest champion tennis has had since Laver? It's been nice growing up along side of him and following him through his highs and lows, and for this tennis fan it's going to be an awfully sad day when he hangs up his rackets.

I hope that when Agassi's playing days are done (sounds like he would like to give us another year), he won't disappear from tennis like Connors, Lendl, Borg, Edberg, and Sampras. It's kind of hard imagining life without him. I think he'd be a great commentator (much better than Brad Gilbert, Pat Mac, Courier, Tracy Austin, Billie Jean, Leif Shiras, Barry McKay - are you kidding me with Barry? There's a reason he's not on ESPN and hasn't been picked up by the big three), because he is so thoughtful and smart about the game. I'd love to hear him in the booth with Mary Carillo and Mac. Sure tennis has its "new balls," but there's something to be said for those "old balls" too.

There's no doubt that seeing is believing. I think he's more than proven that he can be real on hard courts. Whether or not that translates to a US Open title this year is yet to be seen.

His records with the other big guys:

2-1 with Federer:

2005 French Clay Nadal 6/3 4/6 6/4 6/3
2005 Miami Hard Federer 6/2 7/6 6/7 3/6 1/6
2004 Miami Hard Nadal 6/3 6/3


1-1 with Roddick:

2004 Davis Cup Clay Nadal 6/7 6/2 7/6 6/2
2004 US Open Hard Roddick 0/6 3/6 4/6



0-3 against Hewitt:

2005 Australian Hard Hewitt 5/7 6/3 6/1 6/7 2/6
2004 Canada AMS Hard Hewitt 6/1 4/6 2/6
2004 Australian Open Hewitt 6/7 6/7 2/6


2-1 against Coria:

2005 Rome Clay Nadal 6/4 3/6 6/3 4/6 7/6
2005 Monte Carlo Clay Nadal 6/3 6/1 0/6 7/5
2003 Monte Carlo Clay Coria 6/7 2/6

0-0 against Safin.

As much as I agree that Federer is the guy to beat at the Open (for anyone), I think people might be either slightly over-estimating Nadal's chances against the rest of the field, or slightly underestimating the field itself.

I wouldn't disqualify Roddick too quickly against Nadal on a hard court. And Nadal's never beaten Hewitt, although that one's tough to guage because they've only met once in 05. Safin's never played Nadal. There's no doubt he would be a menace to anyone (look how he beat Federer at the Australian) but his knee will put a big question mark on things. Nadal though, isn't a clay-courter in sheep's clothing, that's for sure. He's definitely worth consideration for the Open, I'm just not sure how much yet.

[ August 14, 2005, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Tennis Guy ]

Are you sure the courts in Cincy are faster? It seems to me Cincinatti has been the hardcourt masters event most often won by the claycourters--Moya and Kuerten both won there. I think he'll have a better shot at Federer at Cincinatti than he would at the U.S. Open.

Sure, Federer's the favorite in any event he enters, but if any of the top players can beat him, it's Nadal. Hewitt and Roddick just don't seem to be able to handle him. Even head-to-head, I'll take Nadal over Roddick, right now. Roddick is off form and hasn't beaten anybody this year. Against Hewitt, it's a tougher call, but Nadal's got a lot more confidence than he did last year and Hewitt may be rusty.

ya know I always thought that Cincinnati was faster but I am hearing that its not so that throws my theory out the window huh? I still would've liked to have seen Nadal face better quality players. I'm sorry but Moya, Mello, Grosjean, Puerta, and Mathieu are players that Nadal should have beaten convincingly. Agassi gave him a good test and Federer is leaps ahead of Agassi. I just want to see Rafa play Roddick and/or Federer before the open so I can gauge how much of a threat he will be. After his win today I just am already hearing rumblings of a US Open win and I'm not quite ready to dethrone Federer just yet.

Houston Gator. I couldn't agree with you more, in everything you said. The last match that Agassi plays will be a hard thing to take. The guy is the epitomy of a never-say-die guy, and he is definitely a role model. It was just awesome seeing this 35 year old sprint like a kid half his age.
Regarding Nadal. Nobody is dethroning Federer just yet, but Nadal clearly now has huge confidence, and its only going to get bigger. I could see him beating Roddick, unless Andy gives it his best tennis effort. Yes, Roddick can serve unbelieveble, but Nadal can run everything down, no matter how hard the ball is struck. Its going to be a very, very interesting run at the U.S. Open this year. This may be the best yet, in my opnion! I can't wait.

[ August 14, 2005, 08:16 PM: Message edited by: puckman1 ]