4-time French Open champ Nadal upset by Soderling - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090531/ap_%20...%20rench_open

Its hard to believe but its true!! Rafael Nadal lost yesterday's 3rd round match to Robin Soderling from Sweden! Why oh Why is the question? He was doing so well on this fav clay court and was all set to overtake Bjorn Borg's record of 4 consecutive titles with a 5th one!
On a lighter note, can this be attributed to the reduced length of his shorts? And finally what does this mean for Federer? Does he finally have a shot, a good one at that, at the title that has eluded him for so long? I, being a huge fan of Federer am keeping my fingers crossed!! Ofcourse wud've been good if he defeated Nadal to win the title, but this will also do

So how do you guys feel abt this??

Nadal is not keeping well reason why he lost. He was not well in the last series too that he played just before FO. I feel he should have left it this time round instead of loosing the game. He could have created a record.

I am neither a fan of Federer nor Nadal. Federer has a chance to win this time. But without beating Nadal. Take it from me one thing. The poor fellow will be now remembered more of unable to beat Nadal than anything else. Nadal vs Federer rivalry has become such. It would have been better if Nadal had reached finals then lost to Federer and not this way. It will now be like - Nadal nahi thha islye jeet gaya

Federer recently won Masters against Nadal in clay court and that too in Spain..

BTW - came across this article..

Rafael Nadal's ever-present coach and uncle Toni has slammed Roland Garros spectators for their jeering of his nephew during Nadal's first-ever loss at the French Open.

Gallic-Iberian tensions came to the fore as Nadal went down to Swede Robin Söderling. Toni Nadal told Catalan radio that Paris crowds who booed his nephew when the No. 1 had to retire last November at Paris Bercy also gave him hell in the Söderling loss.

"There is only one set of supporters that is worse than the French and that is the Parisians," the senior Nadal said. "I think the French don't like it when a Spaniard wins.

"Wanting someone to lose is a slightly conceited way of amusing yourself. They show the stupidity of people who think themselves superior."

Four-time Paris champion Nadal, himself, due to fly to London from Mallorca on Saturday to begin the grass campaign at Queen's, added: "I wish when I'm back they can support me a bit more in key moments."

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20090 ... ris_crowds

Ha ha ... there you go Bhaskar!
And i dont really care ... a victory is a victory and if he wins this he has all the Grand Slams and that counts whether he got it by defeating Nadal or not!!!

And Anu, as for that article I can only go !

I remember an old tennis match between Sania Mirza and an opponent who i dont recollect now. The crowd, as usual, was backing Sania like crazy and actually booing the opponent. It was not India, i remember taht as well. Inspite of that Sania lost and the opponent won and she actually thanked the crowd for egging her on by booing her!!!

Sorry forgot to add French Open there.

But the way things are going there I am not sure if any regular winner is going to win the finals.

God knows whats happening this time. Sherapova and Serena are out too in girls.

Federer won the QF. Except for him now there's no proper seeded player left. The other QF, I have switched off the TV. Quality of the games being played is too bad this time round. And with all seeded players gone now don't even expect one. Federer alone what can he do!!!!

BIG congrats to Federer for finally winning the French Open!!!!

congrtulation federer ..finally he won his FIRST french open