Prevailing opinion would have it that Federer lost the French Open because he played a game that was below his abilities. This is not only false, it is insulting to another future legend: Rafael Nadal. Nobody ever plays a good game against Nadal because he forces players to make mistakes, to take chances, by neutralizing what would normally be a winner. So, when I hear professional sports pundits, people who get paid to write and think about sports, whine about how Federer will never win a French Open if he keeps making those kinds of unforced errors, I would like to remind everyone that this is what makes Nadal great. He forces the types of risks that create errors. It’s not a very spectacular tactic, like the Italian football defensive play, but it works. And it continues to work against the greatest player of all time.

Furthermore, it must be demoralizing for Federer, used to easy wins and control of play, to finally be flummoxed. Nadal has a steel will and in a Nietzschean sport such as tennis, this cannot be underestimated (Richard Gasquet needs a footnote here… the guy has the mental fortitude of a bagel left out in the rain).

And for those who cite Hambourg, let’s remember that the surface was more humid, thus denser and more compact. This reduces the spin and plays the court almost like a hard surface. This renders Nadal’s heavy topspin somewhat less lethal. And, it’s a best of three. If it had been a best of five, like the Rome final from 2006, I’m sure the result would be surprising.

I can’t help but retain this for the Federer files.

“About 11/2 hours after leaving the court, Federer met up with his parents for consoling hugs and kisses on the cheek. The silver tray given to the runner-up was tucked under Mom’s arm, like a newspaper.

“You can’t win them all,” said Federer’s father, Robert. “But, honestly, what more can we ask for?”"

The last line is ambiguous. Is he really asking for more? Is it a compliment? Or is it just plain the most terrible thing you can inflict on yourself? It’s hard not to think about the one that got away, even when one should be grateful for all one has.

Hey kids! You knows and I knows that the Nardac loves a good laugh. Just look at my funny book of matches! Fun-huh. Anyways, this year the ATP (that’s men’s tennis… yum) starting hosting player blogs. Every tournament you got yourself a nice player telling you about how many bananas he ate, or where to get good Thai food in Cincinnati. Nothing but the good stuff. Of course they still haven’t got King Federer on the roll but Nadal posted during Roland Garros. His blog is seriously some of the most boring shit alive, but since he won the Open, that kind of made it fascinating. But the king of all bloggers is Mr. Dmitry Tursunov. I didn’t even know who he was till I started reading his blog, and then, well, he doesn’t always win so many matches but that doesn’t stop him from being one of the funniest guys around. Lucky for the ATP, they had a few people checking the stats, and so they caught on to the phenom that was his Estoril blog. Now he’s their resident blogger and that means more laughs for everyone, including those who don’t want to spend stupid money on Vincent Spadea’s ATP tell-all book. Yay Dimitry!

A teaser: "By the way, fans don’t realize how much time tennis players spend online. Dinara [Safina] probably has every song on the planet into her laptop. Marat downloads so many movies it feels like he is planning to open Blockbuster Video in Moscow. Gael Monfils is nuts over MSN. A couple of days ago he was sitting in the lobby and, I’m not kidding, talking on six MSN Windows at the same time. The guy is like Neo in Matrix. He has no idea what he is writing anymore or who he is writing to. He just puts “lol” and moves on to the next window. The girl is probably telling him that her kittens died and he just says, “lol.” At the same time he is listening to Bow Wow and tries to sing along. The funniest stuff on Earth. A French dude is trying to rap! Impossible to watch without a condescending smile!"