ATP Tour Finals 2010: Federer Defeats Nadal 6-3 3-6 6-1

As predicted, Roger Federer of Switzerland won his 5th ATP Tour Final championships on Sunday in London  by defeating World #1 Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3 3-6 6-1 in 97 minutes. Federer joined Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras as the third man to win the tour-ending championship for the 5th time, which he had previously won in 2003 (d. Andre Agassi), 2004 (d. Lleyton Hewitt), 2006 (d. James Blake), and 2007 (d. David Ferrer). Interestingly, it was also the 4th time he won the Australian Open (the first tournament of the year) and the season-ending championship in the same year (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010). (Novak Djokovic was able to achieve the same feat in 2008.)

Federer improved to a career record of 8 wins, 14 losses against his arch nemesis (with the clay court record of 2 wins and 10 losses), who is now regularly being called the greatest clay court player of all time. Federer won his 66th ATP tour title, placing him firmly in fourth position on the all-time list, a mere 11 titles behind John McEnroe at 77, Lendl at 94 and Jimmy Connors at 107.

Nadal is firmly ensconced at #1 and basically has no ranking points to defend until the clay court season. The earliest Federer could challenge for the #1 ranking again is probably Wimbledon 2011. It should be an exciting year!

Rafa Secures Year End World #1 Ranking

On  the strength of his winning three Grand Slam titles in a row in 2010, Rafael Nadal has clinched the year-end World #1 ranking.

ATP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONS (since 1973)
Year Player2010 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 
2009 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2008 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 
2007 Roger Federer (Switzerland)
2006 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2005 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2004 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2003 Andy Roddick (U.S.)
2002 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 
2001 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 
2000 Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil)
1999 Andre Agassi (U.S.)
1998  Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1997 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1996 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1995 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1994 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1993 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1992 Jim Courier (U.S.)
1991 Stefan Edberg (Sweden)
1990 Stefan Edberg (Sweden)
1989 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1988 Mats Wilander (Sweden)
1987 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1986 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1985 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1984 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1983 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1982 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1981 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1980 Bjorn Borg (Sweden)
1979 Bjorn Borg (Sweden)
1978 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1977 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1976 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1975 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1974 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1973 Ilie Nastase (Romania)  

MULTIPLE ATP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONS
Player (No.)
Pete Sampras 6
Jimmy Connors 5
Roger Federer 5
Ivan Lendl 4
John McEnroe 4
Bjorn Borg 2
Stefan Edberg 2
Lleyton Hewitt 2
Rafael Nadal 2

US OPEN 2010: Nadal Completes Career Slam At Age 24

Rafael Nadal completed the career slam (winning one Australian Open title,  five French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, one US Open title) at the age of 24 by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2.

The Spaniard's feat will spur many commentators to compare Nadal's performance to current "Greatest Of All Time" Roger Federer at the same age.

Federer vs. Nadal at the Very Same Age

	Nadal on 9/13/10	Federer on 11/18/05
Overall Record	460-98	390-119
Winning Pct.	.824	.766
Titles	42	33
Major Titles	9	6
Majors Played	26	27
Davis Cup Titles	3	0
Olympic Gold Medals	1	0
Longest Win Streak	32	34
Rank	1	1
Weeks at No. 1	60	93
Record vs. No. 1	14-6	2-3

To me (who is an unabashed Federer fan, although I also admire and respect Nadal's play and prowess) these comparisons just reflect impatience. Until someone else actually wins more Grand Slam titles than the current leader (Federer's 16), Roger Federer is the greatest of all time. It is very possible, that Nadal will be declared the Greatest of all Time at some poit in time in the future, but he will have to win at least 16 (and possibly more) in order for me to agree to bestow that title upon him.

That being said, he is clearly the World #1 player in the world right now, and probably for at least another year when he has to defend all those points. I think he has a pretty good chance (and should be considered the favorite) to win the 2011 Australian Open.

Additionally, Nadal becomes only the 7th player in history to win all four major tournaments (Rod Laver, Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer). Many, many great players, such as Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Bjorn Borg never were able to win at every single Grand Slam venue. Nadal also becomes the first player since Rod Laver to win 3 Grand Slams in a row in a calendar year.

Murray Defends Canadian Title Over Federer

Andy Murray got revenge for his 2010 Australian Open final loss to Roger Federer by defeating the 16-time major champion 7-5 7-5 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. The Scotsman improved to 7-5 head-to-head over Federer and maintained his right to be in the conversation of potential winners of major titles, especially those played on hard courts.

Murray won his first title of the year, by defending his title at this tournament from last year, the first person since Andre Agassi in 1995 to achieve that feat, and did so by defeating Rafael Nadal and Federer in the same tournament.

Sam Querrey Repeats As Champion in LA

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

American Sam Querrey became the first person since Andre Agassi in 2001 to defend his title in Los Angeles by defeating the top seed, World #4 Andy Murray 5-7 7-6(2) 6-3 on Sunday.

MadProfessah had been invited to visit the tournament earlier in the week for a USTA Diversity event and saw Querey and James Blake lose a desultory doubles match to the excessively handsome (and eventual semifinalist) Feliciano Lopez and Jarko Tipsarevic.

Nadal Beats Federer To Win Record 18th Masters Title

Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer 6-4 7-6(5) in a tight clay court final of the Madrid ATP Masters to extend his clay court dominance of the all-time Grand Slam title holder 10-2 and he now leads their storied head to head rivalry 14-7.

The match was an interesting, nervous and erve-wracking affair. Federer had a breakpoint in Nadal's very first service game but continued his inexplicable behavior of failing to convert breakpoints at an acceptable rate against the Spaniard. Nadal struck back by holding serve and following it up with a break of Federer. The Swiss player returned the favor by breaking-back and holding to go back up 4-3 on serve. Nadal's backhand has vastly improved and is forehand is deadly. Only late in the match did Federer start combining his deadly forehand with the finesse of forehand drop shot winners. The second set was mostly on serve (just one break each) and in the tiebreak Federer was up 4-2 when he went to the drop shot one time to many and made the fatal error of playing it to close to the net. Nadal was not even going to run for it! Instead of being up 5-2 he was up 4-3 and Federer proceeded to make 3 consecutive unforced errors to bring Nadal to championship point. Federer erased that with a crisp cross court winner but then on the second championship point on his own serve, Nadal's service return bounced badly and Federer swung and completely missed the ball, ending the match!

By winning in Madrid, Nadal avenged his loss to Federer from last year, the first time they have played in over a year, and became the first player to win 18 Masters titles (all but 5 of which have been on clay), ahead of Andre Agassi at 17 and Federer himself at 16. Of course, Federer also own 16 major titles, to Nadal's paltry 7, but that may change in about two weeks once the 2010 French Open is concluded.

Federer-Nadal Final Set For Madrid Masters

For the 17th time, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will play against each other in a final, this time in Madrid. Federer scored a rare 6-4 6-4 win against Nadal in last year's final, after the Spaniard played a draining 4-hour 3-set thriller against Novak Djokovic. Nadal and Federer have competed together in 7 Grand Slam finals, with Nadal winning 5 to Federer's 2, although Federer has won 16 major titles overall, to Nadal's 6. Overall,Nadal has won 13 of their 20 matches, 11 of which have been on clay (and Nadal has won 9 of those matches).

Federer has not been playing well on clay this year, having lost his very first clay court match of the year to Ernests Gulbis (who he beat in the quarterfinal in Madrid) while Nadal is undefeated. I would be surprised if Federer even wins a set tomorrow. However, it should be helpful for Federer's chance of repeating as French Open champion to have to at least face Nadal in a non-major tournament to calibrate his game before Roland Garros which starts Monday May 23rd in Paris.

Nadal's place in the final assures his return to the World #2 position. If he wins on Sunday, he will have 18 Masters series titles, 2 more than Federer and 1 more than Andre Agassi, the all-time leader.

Federer Defeats Djokovic To Win 16th Masters Title

Roger Federer completed his "2009 revenge tour" by defeating World #4 Novak Djokovic 6-1 7-5 at the Cincinnati Masters series tournament, to win his first hard court title of the year.

Federer followed up his 6-2 7-6(8) defeat of World #2 Andy Murray yesterday to win his 16th ATP Masters title, one behind the all-time leader Andre Agassi, and his 60th ATP Tour title overall.

Federer has an opportunity to win his 6th consecutive US Open and 16th major title overall, starting next week.

Nadal Wins Record 4th Rome Title over Djokovic

World #1 Rafael Nadal defeated World #3 Novak Djokovic 7-6(2) 6-2 to win his record fourth title in Rome and his 15th ATP Masters shield. Nadal now has one more shield than Roger Federer and just two less than the all-time leader, Andre Agassi.

Celebrity Sunday: Andy Roddick Got Married!

World #6 Andy Roddick, 26, married his girlfriend of two years Brooklyn Decker, 22 in a small private ceremony in Austin, Texas attended by Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf on Friday.

Roddick got married one week after World #2 Roger Federer got married.

Serena Beats Jankovic For Record 5th Title in Miami

Serena Williams beat World #3 Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 to win her 5th championship in Miami, which is held a short drive from her home in Palm Beach Gardens. Craig Hickman has his thoughts and some more risque pictures at his tennis blog. Serena's win matches Steffi Graf's five titles at what is known as the "Fifth Slam." Her husband Andre Agassi has the all-time record with six.

Agassi Hits Graf in Face with Racquet

Appearing at an exhibition at the Westside Tennis Club on Sunday during the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship final won by 6'10" Croatian Ivo Karlovic over Agentine Mariano Zabaleta, 8-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi hit 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf in the face with a volley. The two were holding hands at the time and Agassi had the racket in his left (non-playing) hand. Graf needed three stitches on her lip.

"She's OK," Agassi said. "It was an unfortunate accident."

I suppose what everyone is thinking is "How did he miss her nose?"

UPDATE: Craig Hickman has posted the video of the incident.