Nina, people made a big deal out of Federer's win in Hamburg over a visibly tired Rafa. I think Federer has become obsesses with Nadal. He consumes his dreams, to the point that he has recruited a lefty junior's champion to play "exactly like Nadal" with him. well, he is 25 and is running out of time. He will have the weight of the world and all the expectations on his shoulders, should he reach the final. The draw is on his side. Nadal has to be careful and not under-estimate Federer at all. He should play with force and aggressively. A fed-NAdal final will be very interesting. IF Fed wins, nothing extraordinary has happened. Something everyone expected of him, but if Nadal wins, the rivalry will be most interesting.

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Hi Tom and Zola, Federer would have to play Nadal in a five set final and that will make it harder. Federer will have to play very aggressively and that's hard to do over five sets without making a whole lot of errors. Meanwhile, in last year's final, Nadal had two unforced errors in set 2 and four unforced errors in set 3. If Federer can take the first two sets he has a chance. If not, Nadal's consistency and defense will defeat Federer's aggressive offense.

nina, what do you think was Federer's magical tactic in Hamburg? He said after the match that he has decoded Rafa's game.

He probably noticed that Youzhny and Berdych defeated Nadal on hard court by attacking his forehand and he did the same thing. He hit wide to Nadal's forehand to get him out of court then hit an approach to Nadal's backhand. The main difference was that tactic: attacking the forehand wide to get to the net. Federer was pumping himself up when he said he had decoded Nadal's game. When Federer's forehand is as fast and flat and hard and accurate as it was, and Nadal is just bit tired, that is more than enough. Did you notice anything else he did differently?

nina, I didn't see the match. I saw the highlights later on and couldn't figure out what happened or what different tactic Federer employed. To me Nadal did not play his game. He had far too many unforced errors. What you described is a known tactic against Nadal. Even Cipolla was doing it today against Nadal. I think Fed did the same thing in Shanghai too. I guess Fed was trying to play very aggressively and coming to the net more often. What I am wondering is that why he didn't do that in Monte Carlo, and was it Fed's tactic or Nadal's tiredness that cost Nadal the match. I always thought it was mental against Nadal. Maybe the win in HAmburg gave Fed some confidence, but deep down he knows Nadal was tired and I agree that he tries to pump himself up against Rafa in every occasion. That's why I think the mental edge is still there, but hidden under a cloak of false confidence.

When you're trying to figure out how to beat someone who has beaten you again and again, you need a "fake it or make it" approach. If you get a win, you think to yourself that it was because of your strategy. In that sense Federer has a cloak of false confidence but it's the correct approach. I'm left wondering what Tony Roche was trying to do with Federer. In the French Open last year Fed didn't attack as much as we expected. After that, Fed went on to win everything in sight until Indian Wells. Was Roche trying to add topspin to Fed's forehand to start preparation for the French Open? Did it throw off Fed's forehand and his rhythm? Monte Carlo happened when Fed was close to ending his relationship with Roche so his mind wasn't clear. To me, Hamburg was a continuation of the 2006 Rome final where Fed was close to beating Nadal. He fine tuned his strategy just a bit - wide to Nadal's forehand instead of initially attacking his backhand - and a bit of Nadal tiredness and he had his first victory.