Federer-Nadal era ending, says Agassi
By AP, 16 Oct 2009 AP is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Andre Agassi, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tennis
Andre Agassi says Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s domination of men’s tennis is coming to an end, tipping Scotsman Andy Murray as the most likely successor.
“Now we have possibly the changing of the guard,” Agassi told reporters by phone from Las Vegas.
“You have those top two who are now losing ground to the likes of (Novak) Djokovic and Murray and (Juan Martin) del Potro.”
Nadal has struggled with injuries since his shock exit in the fourth round of the French Open.
Federer won the French and Wimbledon, breaking Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams, but was beaten in the US Open final by 21-year-old Argentine del Potro.
It was the first grand slam won by a player other than Federer or Nadal since Djokovic won the 2008 Australian Open.
Agassi, who preceded Federer in winning all four grand slam tournaments over his career, believes the Swiss “still has the chance to do some more special things,” but the 28-year-old’s chances are diminishing with age.
Agassi, who was promoting his upcoming exhibition match against Pete Sampras in Macau on October 25, worried that Nadal’s injuries may be chronic.
“If you’re struggling with your knee, it tends to be recurring and not to be easy to do, so I got to believe he’ll struggle with it probably for his career,” Agassi said.
Agassi earmarked 22-year-old Murray as the man most likely to be the dominant figure in the next few years.
The world No.3 is still seeking his first grand slam title.
“From a talent standpoint, Murray is a person who should win multiple slams,” Agassi said.
“When I look at his game compared to the other players, he has what it takes to win and to win against anybody on any surface.”
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Greg Russell said | October 16th 2009 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
“It was the first grand slam won by a player other than Federer or Nadal since Djokovic won the 2008 Australian Open.”
The greater significance of the 2009 US Open is that it was the first time Federer has been beaten in a grand slam final by anyone other than Nadal. Prior to this encounter, Federer’s record in grand-slam finals was 5 losses to Nadal, 2 wins over Nadal, 13 wins over other players. Now, in his 21st final, he’s lost to someone else. Or to put it another way, a 13-0 record has come to an end. The significance of this will not be lost on players like Murray and Djokovic. After all, they both already beat Federer regularly outside the grand slams.
As for Nadal, his problem is not his game but his knees, which simply cannot last anything like a full year of tennis. If I were Rafa’s manager, I would design a program for him whereby he plays for only half the year, culminating in the French and Wimbledon. He should just forget the Australian and the US, and concentrate all effort on having his fragile body right for the big events in June and July.
ohtani's jacket said | October 19th 2009 @ 5:30pm | Report comment
He’d have to drop out of the top 30 in order to skip the Australian and US Open, not to mention the other compulsory tournaments. I don’t think Nadal or any one with any sort of inkling towards tennis wants Nadal to drop out of the top 30. Everyone knew Nadal was going to have knee problems, except for Nadal himself, who understandably refused to believe it. He’s been pushing himself hard over the hard court seasons to reach No.1 and come clay court season every tournament organiser wants him there to keep clay court tournaments alive on the ATP circuit.
Anyway, with all due respect to Agassi, Murray, Djokovic and Del Potro have yet to prove anything. They ought to be winning hard court tournaments because they’re younger than Federer and in better shape than Nadal, but Del Portro and Murray are injured and Djokovic choked for the millionth time in Shanghai the other day. Federer could take another two Grand Slams next year.