Fedex loses again and may be the #1 spot too

[Slava]

MASON, Ohio -- Roger Federer lost another match and, perhaps, his longtime grip on No. 1, as well.

Need the scores from any match played in this or any other tournament? Results

The world's top-ranked player had another out-of-character setback on Thursday, a 7-6 (8), 4-6, 7-6 (7) loss to Ivo Karlovic that left the Croat exulting on his back and opened the way for Rafael Nadal to take over the No. 1 spot by winning the Cincinnati Masters.

Nadal stayed on course for the seismic shift by beating Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-6 (0) later Thursday, reaching the quarterfinals with his 31st consecutive win. Three more wins and the top spot in the world rankings belongs to him next week.

Link

[BlackMamba]

yep, nadal will be #1 by august 18.

i don't know if federer still has a chance of getting the #1 back.

but it's going to be a great 2nd part of the year with the olympics in the way and with the us open deciding a big deal of next years ranking.

[Slava]

Nice! I hope he has a long reign as world's #1. He deserves it and has amazing skills and an undisputable work ethic to go along with it!

[BlackMamba]

well, it's not that i don't like nadal, but i'm with federer all the way, so this makes me sad and mad, but i have to accept that nadal seems maybe to be the most hard working player, because i truly believe that federer is pure talent and nadal has the talent but what he lacks he adds his passion and his hard work, so yes i agree its very deserving but i hope federer wins everything that is left in the year and gets back to #1.

[Slava]

Does anyone else think that Federer is getting a little too paranoid when playing against Nadal? He used to come into a tournament thinking that he could beat any player while only playing 80% of his tennis at the time but looks like he doesn;t have that kind of confidence when he plays against Nadal. He seems to go very defensive in some of his rallies and even passes on options to serve and volley instead staying more on the baseline.

Similar to the mental block that Andy Roddick had for quite sometime against Federer.

[BlackMamba]

is federer still coachless?

[Slava]

Yes. He fired Tony Roche because of his unwillingness to travel full time and currently just works with his fitness trainer.

[BlackMamba]

well, i think he should really think about it and get some help.

[Duiz]

Vamos Nadal!