Are you tired of this yet? From arbit. Thanks.

ARBIT

Never get tired to watching this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-HKMhH7PgA&feature=related&fmt=18

Where does Federer rank all time?

By Mike Lupica, New York Daily News 7 hours, 35 minutes ago

The end of it for Andy Murray was coming fast now at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the way the end of the U.S. Open was. The end was coming up fast on Murray even though the lobs he was throwing up into the twilight as he tried to find a way out of a second match point against Roger Federer seemed to be taking forever to come down. Federer was ahead two sets now, ahead 5-2 in the third, and Murray wasn’t going to be able to beat him and Rafael Nadal in the same weekend. He doesn’t have the game for that, at least not yet. So now it was just a question of when one last ball from Murray wasn’t coming back and Federer was going to have five Opens in a row.

Federer glided back and bounced one smash from the back of the court and Murray, who sometimes seemed to be backing up to the Grand Central Parkway trying to stay in there against Federer, put up another soft shot into the wind that had been swirling around Ashe since this final had started a little after 5 Monday afternoon. Again Federer waited, the way he had been waiting all year to win another major, his 13th, the one that would put him one behind Pete Sampras.

Again Federer hit a bounce overhead at Murray and this time Murray tried to get a forehand past him, only the ball caught the top of the net. Now it was over at Ashe. Now Federer had done something no player had ever done, won two different majors five consecutive times, done that at the two biggest tournaments there are, Wimbledon and the Open.

Now Federer gave a great shout, dropped to his knees, rolled over on his back, got up, looked over at his father and his girlfriend and the rest of his crew in his box. And now it wasn’t just joy you were seeing from Federer, it was relief. Not just that he could still win the Open, but that he could still play tennis the way he did in the semis on Saturday against Novak Djokovic, the way he did against Murray, who just finally ran out of gas. And ran into Federer on a day when nobody was going to beat Federer at Ashe, not Nadal or anybody else.

Maybe Sampras could have gotten him Monday, or Connors or McEnroe on one of their best days. Or Rod Laver or Pancho Gonzalez or Jack Kramer or old Bill Tilden. Federer played tennis with them Monday at the Open. You imagined him against them as much as you did the tired, nervous Scottish kid on the other side of the net.

“I came up against the best player to ever play the game today,” Murray said during the trophy presentation.

Now that will always be open to debate, the kind of debate that is always the beating heart of sports. Federer or Laver. Federer or Sampras. Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams. Mary Carillo loves Federer’s game and talent and grace as much as anybody, but points out that anybody who says with complete certainty that Federer is the best of all time has to explain how there is one guy out there – Nadal – who keeps stealing his lunch box.

Part of the fun of these next few years in tennis will be watching to see how much Federer has left, watching how it goes for Nadal, and Murray, and Djokovic. But if Federer can get to 15 majors, if he can pass Sampras, he will not just have stuck his flag at the top of the hill. He will have made some case for himself at the same time.

“I’m not gonna stay at 13,” Federer said afterward. “That would be terrible.”

And the crowd cheered. He came in here after having lost the last two major finals he played, both to Nadal, and having lost to Djokovic in the Australian semis. So he had to fight them off this year, and mononucleosis, had to fight his own confidence and footwork and forehand. That is why the crowd came to Federer as much as it did at this Open, the way it did with Sampras at the end.

Then the Open watched as Federer once again played the way he did in all the years when the only person who could get him at a major was Nadal on clay. His forehand was one screaming line drive after another Monday. He broke for 2-0 in the second set with a backhand crosscourt that could have set off smoke alarms. When it was 6-5 for him in the second, when he was trying to kick Murray into a two-sets-to-none hole, he came in and covered a short forehand and ripped another forehand winner and shook a fist in the air.

Murray got a bad call in that set when he had a chance to break. Bad calls happen, with or without technology. Mostly, Federer happened to Andy Murray Monday. He hit his hardest forehand of the day in the first game of the third set and finished the game with an ace and then started the next game with a drop shot Murray could only watch die at his feet. But then Federer had thrown all sorts of spins and speeds at him all day, because he can give you even more looks than McEnroe did in the old days.

“A special moment in my career,” Federer said when it was over.

It wasn’t just that he had shown Murray he could play like this, shown Arthur Ashe Stadium and the television audience and the Open. The best of it for Roger Federer on the night when he owned the Open again, maybe in a way no one ever will again, was that he had shown himself.

Federer and the trophy.

 

Will rest of the season for Federer resemble the third set in the finals?

Did you notice how relaxed he was in that third set when the outcome had become a foregone conclusion and the subsequent pressure was released? He was just toying with Murray then. Remember the drop shots and other ‘fancy’ strokes that started coming out of the woodwork just like the old times?

Now that he is no longer No. 1 and has significantly salvaged and redeemed this season with this win, will that release the pressure to unleash the brilliance for the  rest of the season?

Additionally, he may have also realized the sudden ballooning of the urgent need to be winning Grand Slams, now that No. 14 is within striking distance, essentially lifting the pressure to win other Master Series events, like in years past. That could mean a fun journey for the rest of the events, similar to what we saw in the third set.

If Federer adopts that mind set and we know what kind of tennis flows from that mental state, the rest of his career will be more fun for him and the fans alike, even if wins don’t come in the bunches everyone is used to.

To all cheap, lazy freaking Federer fans.

You certainly deserve this euphoria over Federer’s return to the top. You have suffered for nine months to deliver this hardware. It must have been devastating to watch your idol stumble and fall time and time again, after being so close to the promised land.

But you stood by your man through the thin with grace, patience and strength. I think, this success Federer’s had is in big part to your well wishes and sincere ‘from the bottom of the heart’ prayers that followed every time he took the court. The millions of you cheapsters around the world formed a strong block that the man upstairs just couldn’t ignore any longer.

Hope Federer realizes the massive part you all have played in his entire career, specially this year. It’s an intangible support but may have been stronger than any other tangible tool Federer has ever employed.

You defended your man against attacks when everything seemed lost from the lunatic nut living in a basement. You kept your hope alive and I KNOW this: Prayed harder than you have ever prayed for anything in your miserable life – OK, as hard. Although 50 percent of that credit goes to Federer for having conducted himself in such an exemplary manner to attract such devoted fans, but the more important 50 percent comes through all you lazy creeps because you never gave up on your man, even when probably Federer was doubting himself.

More importantly, for the most part, you have behaved becoming of a fan of a man who will go down in history as one of the most adored sports figure of all time. Federer must be proud the way you have conducted yourself in the face of onslaught after onslaught on your man from every freaking direction.

It’s hard not to feel the extreme emotion and love most of you have towards your idol. It’s admirable. When the sentiment is so pure, genuine, rich and strong, there are very few things in this world that will not bend against that pressure.

This year was an extremely tough journey for you, but I have yet to see any break from that love and adoration towards Federer. It may have actually gotten even more intense, seeing from the outpouring of stark happiness and joy at this sweet win for Federer.

It’s also a blatant proof that prayers do get answered. Who could have thought that Federer will be holding this trophy, considering the poor losses he had leading up to it and the laboring he did against Andreev and Muller? But that’s what makes the journey even sweeter.

What would it take for you to switch your loyalty to me? I mean I am pretty non-brash, decent, ‘fun’ loving, respectful, ‘not trying to start a fire’ guy. Maybe your stupid prayers can get me – well – I really have everything I need in the basement. ‘Closer to the ground cow’?

I think you are all lunatics who have lost their mind over one guy I can easily beat in every department. Tennis, too, if played by my rules. Besides, I have a more ‘balanced’ nose, a set of teeth that show when I smile and talk, my goats are at ideal weight, I don’t ‘play’ doubles and I am not adopted.

Meaning of a warrior. From Mike. Thanks.

Federer’s Interview on the TODAY Show after winning his 5th US Open. From Rodaina. Thanks. Good work.

RODAINA

Federer’s Interview on the TODAY Show after winning his 5th US Open
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/26622036#26622036

Federer vs Murray US Open highlights.

Click here.