Indian wells - woo hoo !!

[PaulP]

I know what you mean - I do like watching Rafa on clay.  Rafa's skill is immense - just unorthodox.

I would argue that Fed has also got everything out of himself - he was gonski a few years ago and has come back.

They are in the same place - both work(ed) very hard to get where they are.

Raf was better then Fed for a time - beat him for a few years.

dodge, I'm certainly not suggesting Rafa is a spud. And I have no doubt Fed takes his tennis seriously and trains as hard as Rafa.

But in terms of pure tennis skill, and the purity of shot making, Fed is significantly superior in my book, and should trounce Rafa the way he does most other players.

I would argue that Rafa owned Federer mentally during those years. His tennis was never as good as the Swiss, but he created an aura of invincibility, of never cracking, never giving up. In a way, I would say that Fed lost before he even stepped on court. It's for these sorts of reasons that I am such a Rafa fan.

People talk about racquet head size, and I also wonder whether it would have made a difference. Maybe, maybe not. I'm sure Fed had his reasons for not changing, good or bad.