I'm a big fan of Haas. He is probably one of the most accessible and nicest players on tour. Haas kind of has underwhelmed in his career. Him and Benjamin Becker were supposed to be part of the Fourth Reich, but injuries got in the way.
Oh, so embarassing. Thanks for pointing that out. Just wiki-ed and their face to face record on clay court was like 9-2. I honestly have no idea Nadal was once defeated by Federer on clay, not even the recent one. Federer almost screwed up in the last round. I like him a lot, wish him good luck. Mr. Brightside, I agree a match of Muster vs Nadal on the clay will be exciting to watch. Although Chang's career achievement is no where close to Nadal's, it does not mean that he cannot defeat Nadal, esp on clay court.
I just don't see how Chang would hurt nadal. the players that Nadal has problems with are the big hard hitting guys who catch fire. Rarely does a grinder beat Nadal. 1) Chang didn't have the big serve 2) Chang doesn't have the big groundies in order to dictate the points. These 2 elements alone give Nadal problems on any surface. it's just a matter of his oppnent being able to sustain it. The things change does have going for him is 1) He never gives up 2) Very Cerebral player 3) Takes the ball on the rise VERY WELL 4) With today's string technology he'd be able to find better angles than he was already able to find in the first place. He's very good at directing the ball and I wouldn't be surprised if Chang was the one making Nadal run around. 5) I'd imagine chang's strategy would be a combination of short shots to bring Nadal into net and attack him with his passing shots.
Federer deserves to win this. at least winning by not playing against the best clay court player. to me he is the best of all time. Sampras is great too but he mostly relied on his big serve. that's not pure tennis. Roger is more complete that's why I say he deserves to win this now. The way Soderling beat Nadal was he was hitting the ball without any pressure. He was like a kamikaze player, he knew he's not going to win by playing safe. Luckily he didn't commit too many errors. Nadal was always on the dfense all the time.
Well, the Nadal Killer is waiting for Federer in the finals... Since Federer won't get the chance to beat Nadal to win his first French Open, at least he can beat the guy that beat Nadal.
Well, this Soderling fella is mashing the ball with accuracy. But, assuming Federer beats Del Potro, I think he will make it more difficult for Soderling to dictate points. I also think Soderling's fantasy run will come to an end under the spotlight and pressure of a GS final. I agree it would be epic on multiple levels if Soderling beats Federer. Soderling's run, in and of itself, would be an epic story. Add to that Federer having his best chance ever to win the French only to let it slip away and you have a double epic.
Del Potro pushed Federer again in the 2nd set but Federer wins it in the tiebreaker. Nice showing for Del Potro today but I expect Federer to win the next two sets fairly easily. Federer vs the Nadal Killer should be an interesting final (at least the drama leading up to it).
