(AP) — Rafael Nadal fell to Roger Federer 2-6, 3-6 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells.
Federer broke Rafa to open the match in front of a packed Stadium 1 crowd. Federer faced just one break point on his serve in the match, but he recovered with a big serve and two winning backhands to go up 2-0 in the first set.
“The main thing he take the break in the first game, and I had break point in the next game and come back and he had a good serve,” Rafa said. “When Roger has the advantage, his serve is so good, he has a lot of confidence with his serve, he’s able to play much more relaxed.”
Rafa wasn’t too shabby either, serving three love games. But Federer’s shotmaking was superb, frequently kissing the lines off both sides.
The four-time Indian Wells winner was crafty, too. Leading 5-1, Federer moved in quickly on Rafa’s second serve, surprising the Spaniard, whose forehand sailed long. Federer’s drop shots were well-timed and even when a scrambling Rafa got to them in time, Federer answered with one of his 26 winners.
The two superstars hadn’t played each other before the quarterfinals of an event since 2004 when they met in the third round at Miami. Wednesday’s match was just the fifth time they weren’t opposing each other in a final.
Source: AP
Not interested in the bickering and small talk. I’m a committed Rafa fan but have to admit that Roger was by far the better player on the day. However, I think this has fired up Rafa to solve the problem and do well in Miami. I hope that if he meets Roger there, he will avenge his loss in IW.
Beverley and fan love – worry not i think she has said she will post no more. Quite bizzare
Susie, quite bizarre indeed. I realise now that I made a mistake in trying to reason with her as she is obviously incapable of following any kind of reasonng and just responds with the same old things, ending up with that ridiculous GROW UP to all She no longer annoys me . In fact I feel very sorry for her. I hope there is someone out there who can help her.
My apologies to other fans on this site for my futile ramblings with this person. Shall try no more.Back to our lovely Rafa and his next challenge in Miami. !!
Err who’s Barbara?
Susie, I think she means me.
I have never before disagreed so vehemently with anyone on this site before but her utter childishness and constant criticisms of everyone else’s posts while seeing herself as the innocent victim really gets to me. I will have to ignore her in the future as I doubt she will ever change.
Who cares what you say about me. I like good tennis and Nadal, Federer, Novak, Stan, Del Potro, Nick, and many more. I like to see good matches. Good luck Barbara, I don’t need to take an insult from you or anyone. I love tennis and I don’t care how the tennis player looks.
Susana, You have just very recently said you would not post anymore, yet here you are back again and still going on about not caring how any player looks. !! That’s fine, but it doesn’t mean other people can’t appreciate good looks nor does it mean that they don’t appreciate good tennis.
Nor does it mean that appreciating a good looking man means they are IN LOVE with him.
(Fortunately I can laugh over that. I should be flattered that at 83 years of age you could even consider me, a great grandmother of 5, being in love with anyone.)
Susana, continue enjoying your tennis and if you are now back to posting again please try not to get so upset about such trivial matters.
It is not worth it , and when all is said and done we are all Rafa fans, and tennis fans in general on this site,. and that should be the most important factor.
Just a reminder, once again, my name is Beverley, not Barbara.
whatever your name is. I have not posted anything only today after how mean you are. Get a life. I will report you. Nothing else to say.
Will not post anything anymore. Grow up
Susana, I have not been mean to you except in your own mind. All I have tried to do is encourage you to stop getting so upset at trivialities and lashing out at anyone who disagrees with you. As for reporting anyone I am surprised that someone has not reported you. I wouldn’t do it as it is not in my nature to be so vindictive.
I can only hope you will learn to become a happier person as time goes by and free yourself of all this resentment you constantly display.
And Susana that is not being mean. Just trying to help you .
That is all I have to say. No more posts to you.
Let’s just enjoy Rafa and tennis in general.
I am so tired that unless you say nice things about a player, you criticized me old the time. For that reason, I will not bother to say anything. I really don’t care anymore. To some of you, you have your favorite and that person can’t win all the time. Enjoy the matches like I do and I will not bother to say anything, . I am a very disappointed about your negative comments. Just GROW UP.
Susana, my dear, you are the one who needs to grow up.
However I thank you for a most amusing.reply to me in another post (my name is Beverley by the way, not Barbara ) In that post you accused me of being IN LOVE with Rafa. .
At 83 years of age I have two grown up grandchildren older than he is. My affection for Rafa is in a purely grandmotherly way I can assure you.
And in a grandmotherly way I can only advise you for the last time to lighten up . How anyone can get so upset simply because someone made a remark about Rafa’s good looks is beyond me..!! For your own sake, stop this nonsense.
Beverley…I got put under mediation again which means that they could bump me off again just because I said Rafa was better looking than Roger and that until recently he could kick his butt! … I don’t know who is running this site but they sure pick on me. I’m glad that you are quite capable of sticking up for yourself… Susana’s accusations of you being in love with the Rafa is perverted … She does not understand the love that we have for him … His lboyush good looks , his mannerism, his humbleness..plus
his gladiator type game..all adds up to the whole package of why we love him. I admitted that Roger deserve win… hey simply played better than Rafa ! I may not be able to post this which is unfair because I am a true fan and I don’t believe I said anything that terrible in which they should kick me off for!
Hope this is not another one of Nick’s antics… I was wishing him to knock out Roger… All of a sudden food poisoning…really?
Sioux, thanks for your support. I can’t see how you have said anything worse than anyone else in your posts. I would be very sad to not see your comments anymore. Best of luck.
I think Rafa will gain back his confidence when he next beats Djokovic and Federer, he usually beats Federer so what has happened, he will get both of them on Clay courts I think.
Please, don’t post anything that is not related to tennis or last night. This is not a beauty contest. It is a page about TENNIS. STOP BEING SO RIDICULOUS.
Not nice susana….
I am going to tell all of you. I am a fan of Rafa’s. I don’t appreciate that you are posting who is better lLOOKING Rafa or Roger. As I have said before, this is a Tennis Page, not a Beauty contest. Who cares how the players look. I am so sick and tired of you ignorant people, that just like to post anything. I don’t see in a match who is better looking. I look at tennis. So stop sending me these nasty messages. I will not lower myself to yours. I played tennis since I was 8 years old. How about you?????
Solo quiero decirles a todos los fans de Rafa, que no aprecio todos los comentantarios de quien es mas guapo. Como he dicho antes, esta es una pagina de Tennis, no es una pagina de belleza. A mi no me importa quien es mas guapo/a. Estoy harta de gente tan ignorante que solo escriben tonterias. Por favor dejen de escribir tonterias. No dire nada mas. No rebajare ante ustedes. Para su informacion, yo jugue tennis desde que tenia 8 anicos. Y ustedes?????
meant to be taken as a joke : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) But in all fairness I do believe…… : )
Goodness gracious……appears here same folks write comments under different names ….. either way weather it is Diane or Susana or Margo or Maria s or the many other made up names here……please leave no room for trashy talk and enjoy humor from time to time.
I stopped commenting for a while exactly due to such trashy nastiness and I imagine a few other genuine commentators did the same. .
Excuse me. Why don’t you post your name. Are you afraid of what? Are you a fan Love? or a fan hate?. And I only have one name and is SUSANA. I DONT NEED TO BE CHANGING NAMES LIKE YOU. Have the guts to put your name and stop talking non sense. If you don’t have anything else to do find a charitable organization. How sad.
Goodness gracious is right, Fan love. Just now reading all of the comments. I wonder who the mysterious susana is. A plant?
RAFA ROCKS
Susana, this is not just a page about tennis. This is a site devoted to Rafael Nadal, tennis player and human being . Many posts have been submitted over the years about Rafa the person, including mention of his good looks.
Whenever you post a comment it is to lecture and criticise – eg, After the AO accusations that Rafa had made bad comments about Roger, although no one else could find anything anywhere about this. The next complaint /lecture was that some people wrote lengthy comments ( You can accuse me again here for this comment if it gives you satisfaction).
Now we have your complaint about a simple remark relating to Rafa’s good looks.
Added to this you have reminded us in several posts that you have been playing tennis since you were 8. What that has to do with your complaints (above) completely eludes me.
I am sure that many people writing in to this site have played tennis since they were young but do not use that as justification for making nasty, negative remarks . I came from a very tennis orientated family and my parents had both my brother and I coached as children, but I would be the first to admit that they probably wasted their money.!!
Nevertheless my love of tennis was born then and has never left me.
Susana for your own sake lighten up, stop this constant fault finding and write something pleasant for a change.
If you find this site does not live up to your expectations perhaps a Federer site would please you better.
Barbara what a nasty comment about me. You must be in love with that guy. This a free country, and I will post anything I want. I don’t care about your nasty comments about me. Grow up and enjoy you life like I do without insulting people.
you must admit Rafa is the better looking….: ) : ) : ) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
You fan love. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A TENNIS MATCH NOT A BEAUTY CONTEST. Grow up.
I have a faint suspicion that you don’t like to read that Rafa is considered better looking than Roger, Susana.
Who cares who is better looking……..THINK, WHOO IS A BETTER TENNIS PLAYER?….you FAN LOVE.
RAFA is better looking than Roger and until recently could kick his butt!
I am so sorry Rafa, but you did not played well last night. Roger was amazing. I do hope you will be in better shape and attitude during the next matches.
Oh, Susana, at last you have posted a comment that was pleasant. Yes Roger was amazing but you offered encouragement to Rafa also. Keep it up.
And Federer was awesome – think he could beat anyone when he plays like that. Nadal will need to be at his best to beat him again; clearly he wasn’t yesterday; hopefully he will find a way next time.
Clearly Rafa did not play well, but Roger was on fire. I do think that playing Rafa brings out his best efforts as it does to Novak. We have all seen matches where the players seem to hit every line. That was the case yesterday. I just hope Rafa can stay healthy and really go deep during the clay season. Win or lose, I am always rooting for him.
Roger was the better player. Rafa had no chance yesterday. Sad but true. Good luck for Miami. Vamos Rafa <3
Please disregard last post my auto correct changed spellings.
Rafa, not only played bad, he was in shock, on how aggressive Federer played… Team Rafa need to bring new strategies, for Rafa to be able to keep up, with nole and Federer, they both know Rafa to well… beating Rafa is what makes nole and Federer feel alive!!! So Rafa wake up!!!