Last 8 in Paris are the 8 going to the world tour finals

[Ali-Iqb93]

Same story again.. Works hard to get 2nd set and then gifts the 3rd.. He sucks playing the deciding sets

[Corbon]

No stamina left = mounting UE's and not being able to win rallies. And his netplay isn't exactly getting better too. Same situation in Cincy vs Nadal and Paris last week.

[Vieira151]

I think it's just a level of fitness. Federer can only seem to play good for 1 set in matches these days.

[Florian]

Haven't seen the match, how did Fed play compared to last week ? I'm sure if he keeps last week's level Gasquet will be an easy straight set win. His match vs Delpo will decide of his future in the tournament, especially if he plays lots of 3 setters.

Delpo isn't in a great position either, defeating the easiest opponent in 3 sets isn't good in case he doesn't win his last 2 matchs, and i'm pretty sure Fed will give him more trouble than Djoko.

[ICEMAN_9588]

Federer played better than Bercy.
He has limited stamina, it's normal when your season is ruined by back injury (plus to the fact he's 32, that makes a lot of difference, obviously).

But I'm happy to see Federer still fighting, no matter what. And he won 2 sets in 2 matches against the player who is "de facto" the World number 1 in this season ending.

Roger still got it. He doesn't need to prove it, but he keep doing int.
Admirable.

[Ali-Iqb93]

It doesn't have to do with stamina. It's just his inconsistency.. He played decent but errors were way too much.. Only thing he lacks is the magic of his serve that he once used to have that gave him free points

[ICEMAN_9588]

Well, if you don't get with the right timing on the ball, unforced is waiting for you.
Federer's "magic" arm can't always solve the problems that his legs cause to him. Agassi said that the most important thing in tennis is foot work and movement.

And obviously, if the match keeps going on, Federer has more troubles moving good.
Then you can see his inconsistency, yes. But physical, not technical.
Also because he played perfectly, tactically speaking.

[Ali-Iqb93]

And the streak continues.. Wawrinka still not able to win a set against rafa even after having set point

[ICEMAN_9588]

But Wawrinka was very unlucky in the last 2 points of the tb (especially the last one).
What a pity, he played a great set.

[Ali-Iqb93]

He wasn't unlucky. He made 2 silly backhand errors when he should have tried to stay in the rally instead of trying to get the winners on backhand against a guy like rafa..

[djarvik]

He wasn't unlucky. He made 2 silly backhand errors when he should have tried to stay in the rally instead of trying to get the winners on backhand against a guy like rafa..

So staying in the rally against Rafa is the key?

[Corbon]

Nadal remains the No. 1

[ICEMAN_9588]

He wasn't unlucky. He made 2 silly backhand errors when he should have tried to stay in the rally instead of trying to get the winners on backhand against a guy like rafa..

Last point(=set point): Stan hits a great offensive forehand and goes to the net, Nadal takes the ball but hits a short backhand passing shot that goes slow, Wawrinka just needs to hit a comfortable and winning volley on the net...but he slides and loses the point.

Not unlucky.
Sure.

[Corbon]

Stan will never win against he big guys, stop arguing...

[ICEMAN_9588]

Not arguing about this, actually.
In fact, even winning that point, Stan would have been 6-6 in the tie break.

Anyway, let's see what he'll do in 2014. Today, Nadal needed to play really well to beat him. I think he became more continuous during the match, and he's physically improved too (5 set agst Djokovic in Melbourne and NY, 2 hours and 15 minute today agst Nadal in a very close match).

If he keeps going this way, I believe he'll be really competitive next year, or at least he will get a lot of satisfactions.