US Open update

Federer smooshed Roddick last night like an ant. Federer is the best I've ever seen, he's a machine. Roddick had his big booming serve going but if you can't take the tiebreaks, you ain't beating Federer. Tennis is a funny game like that: it looks like Federer smoked him straight sets but it was actually an extraordinarily even match-up. Federer didn't get any break points on Roddick until the middle of the 3rd set! Roddick had more winners than errors! When two guys both play at this high level, it’s the tiniest moments that make the difference and Federer took them all. He's a great champion, I think he showed that against Nadal at Wimbledon. You got to remember Federer rarely gets challenged by anybody, he only gets pushed by the best in the business and when he does, he beats them.

Pete Sampras made the comment last week that Federer doesn't have as much competition as Sampras did, and thus Sampras was a better champion. I understand his point: Sampras had Edberg, Becker, Courier, Agassi, Connors, Lendl, Chang, Ivanesevic, Rafter, and others up to and including Federer, Roddick and Safin. Federer has really only had to deal with Agassi, Roddick, Nadal, Hewitt and Safin and that's pretty much it--and that's a mixed bag at that. Safin never came close to his potential, Agassi was on the way out during Federer's rise, Nadal is unbeatable on clay but beatable otherwise, Hewitt's peak period was not that long and has long since passed and Roddick just can't break through.

So while I agree with the 1st half of Sampras's thought ('I had tougher competition'), I don't think I buy the 2nd half ('Therefore, I was a better champion'). The reason Federer has no competition (other than Nadal in Paris) is because he's killing people, he's crushing careers around him, he does not let the other guys win. There is no competition because Federer doesn't allow it.

Federer's career reminds me of Mike Tyson. When Tyson burst onto the scene Ali was long gone and Holmes was hanging around getting old. Tyson made his name by brushing aside all the old guys and then he dominated for 4-5 years. He ushered in the next generation and then dominated it. That's what Federer has done: he chased off Sampras, Agassi and Kafelnikov, then he outlasted Hewitt and Safin, suffocated Roddick and his only real challenger is Nadal. I suspect Federer will get old and retire rather than go to prison like Tyson. On Charlie Rose the other day he suggested that he was aiming for 2012 Olympics in London as potentially his grand hurrah, which I'd say is within his grasp. So that means he's got his eye on 20 majors, 2 gold medals and 3 or 4 Davis Cups. I bet he takes most all of those.