Roger Federer extended his lead on the ‘Big Titles’ scoreboard over rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal by beating the Spanish left-hander to earn his second title at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Sunday. In taking down his longtime rival, Nadal, Federer captured his fifth ‘Big Title’ of the season, winning two Grand Slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon as well as earning an ATP World Tour-leading third Masters 1000 trophy. The first two came at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Swiss upped his total of ‘Big Titles’ — a combination of Grand Slams, Masters 1000 events and Nitto ATP Finals — to 52, five ahead of Djokovic’s 47 and six in...
1) Rest is best for Roger They don’t call Roger Federer the ‘Swiss Maestro’ for nothing. The 36 year old has played a masterful schedule in 2017, helping him rise back to the No. 2 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings with an outside chance at challenging Rafael Nadal for the year-end top spot. While many may point out his on-court play, some of that success boils down to something simpler: rest. After losing in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals, Federer took the rest of the year off to return to health, and that he did this season. The Swiss won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and this week captured his tour-leading third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy in Shanghai. The...
When it comes to playing Rafael Nadal, things haven’t always been easy for Roger Federer. Although their 38th meeting ended in a 6-4, 6-3 win, his fifth in a row against his Spanish southpaw rival, Federer still trails Nadal 15 to 23 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head. The Nadal playbook has always been simple, but historically effective against Federer: use heavy topspin forehands to pound away at the weaker Federer one-handed backhand and attack the open court at the first opportunity. But in 2017, the Swiss has managed to flip the script. “I think I'm maybe serving consistently better. I get easier power ever since I switched to the bigger racquet, the RF97. I feel I'm connecting better on the...
Rafael Nadal lost an opportunity to earn his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title on Sunday against Roger Federer and a chance to extend his 16-match winning streak. But after capturing titles at the US Open and last week's China Open, the Spaniard was not devastated. “I played a fantastic tournament, having very good wins. Very pleased the way I played the whole Asian tour for me, whole China tour. Beijing, Shanghai have been a very positive two weeks for me,” Nadal said. “A lot of points, a lot of victories against great opponents. I come back with very good personal satisfaction the way that I played.” Nadal earned his 11th and 12th victories of the season against the Top 10...