What is surprising is that last year after Wimbledon, Nadal went right back to clay instead of preparing for the upcoming hard court season. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Nadal is getting older too and the injuries are starting to creep into his knees. It’s sad to see that at 22 but what will it be like at 24, 25 or 26. Federer is 27 now, what will be the Nadal we see at 27?

True, the media says that Federer is done and Nadal is king. I think they are for the most part bored of Federer which is just plain sad. They did the same thing to Sampras, bury him, get him out of the way and make room for the next crowd and we miss Sampras now. The same will happen to Federer.

Also, the media has selective amnesia when it comes to Nadal. They forget that after Wimbledon, the guy disappears and doesn’t show up again until Indian Wells. This is due to hard courts not being as effective for his game and to a lesser extent, he’s trying to get himself healthy for the clay court season.

Unless Nadal can compete in the summer, he won’t overtake Federer for the top spot and he can make up a lot of ground in the rankings there.

Djokovic had his chances against Federer in New York last year but didn’t get it done because he choked and because Federer took it to him. In Australia, Federer had mono and still almost beat Djokovic.

I love Nadal and want to see him win Wimbledon but he’s shown his ability on grass, I want to see him reach the finals at the US Open. I want to see him win the Masters Cup. What I don’t want is to keep hearing the comparisons to Borg. Borg didn’t win the US or Australian Opens. Borg retired early. Not exactly the same fate we want Nadal to face.

Most media compare Nada and Fed today as if they’re at the same time in their development. Yet Rafa just turned 22 and Fed is one month shy of 27. They’re nearly five years apart in age! So in looking at RN’s record in ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, shouldn’t we look at Roger’s record at age 19, 20 and 21.

Fed won is first slam at 21, but 22 was his breakthrough year where he added two more slams. RN has 4 slams…true all on clay…just weeks after turning 22.

The big unknown is how much more can Nadal develop? So far, he’s improvement on grass is spectacular. At least that’s what I’m hearing from comments by McEnroe, Becker, and Roddick. The accumulation of ranking points aside, Greg Rusedski, doing Wimbledon commentary this past week,just tabbed him as the current best player in the world.

No clay court specialist gets to the Wimbeldon “Runner Up” slot twice. More importantly, he really improved his showing there taking only one set from Fed in ‘06 and going five in a very close final last year.

The question for the Fed at nearly 27 year is really not one of getting better, but more one of keeping up at his current peak performance level of say 2005 and 2006.

Some tennis pundits started this question after the 2007 US Open where Djokovic (then just tender 20) had five set points on serve in the first set and two against serve in the second set. Sure Fed won, but that and the ‘07 Wimbledon final not to mention the trashing at this year’s Roland Garros have raised legitimate concerns that we may have seen the apex of Roger’s game.

True, this question may be premature, but it is coming. And if Fed’s competition is now rapidly maturing 20 and 22 year olds, he’s got his work cut out. Even more so as today’s game is that much more physical than the 1990’s tennis of Sampras, Courier and Agassi.

As for Rafa, I’ve never seen a tennis player with more determination. And one more willing to put in more hard work. His win at at Queen’s was pretty impressive as he came through much stiffer competition that at Halle in knocking of Roddick and the Joker.

I agree that the hard courts are Rafa’s least successful surface, but who knows to what level he can improved as he peaks his performance over the next couple of years? If 2008 is any guide, getting thrashed as he did by Tsonga at this year’s Oz Open just seems to get him more fired up.

One thing nobody can deny about Nada: he won’t give up. Ever.