Thursday’s Australian Open match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was exciting to watch but what might have been more exciting was something that happened after a particular single point.

The ballboy to the left of the screen is hit a fast ball and his fast hands manage to pluck it out of the air extremely quickly.

The coolest part? The ballboy was back on the line just as fast as he had made the play.

Here’s the video so you can judge the ballboys skills for yourself:

Notice how the young kid didn’t even pivot off his left foot to ensure he could stay on his mark and allow play to resume just as fast as it had ended.

Ballboy Makes Amazing Catch During Federer-Nadal Match is a post from: The Inquisitr

In case you didn’t know, Federer hasn’t just won he’s thrilled and amazed crowds all over the world for the best part of ten years with shotmaking and vision that most people would be happy with in a tennis video game. I still watch a Federer match and exclaim out loud “incredible, that’s just impossible!” His hunger for tennis is out of this world.

And so it continues. On Tuesday he toyed with Juan Martin del Potro and masterfully took him apart in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Roger Federer must now be the favourite to lift Australian Open 2012 and notch up his 17th Grand Slam. Asked what he thought about the match, Federer said:

“I’m very happy. I thought it was a great match. It was tough with the sun and shade creeping across the court but I thought we did well. I thought it was a high-quality match.”

And a happy Roger Federer is a danger for everyone else. At 30 Grand Slam semis Federer’s now only one behind Connors, and will surely beat that record as well. Because there will be many more matches to add to the spectacular 1000 he’s played thus far.

Source: ABS-CBN News

Federer Into 30th Grand Slam Semi-Final is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry is far from nasty – indeed, the two are never less than utterly respectful to one another. However, a small rift has appeared between the pair on the eve of the 2012 Australian Open.

The subject that divided them is not a new topic: the demands placed on players by tennis and its governing bodies. For some time now, top players such as Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have openly argued that the ATP calendar is overcrowded. This, they claim, increases injuries and exhaustion, potentially damaging players’ health in the long-term.

Yet if Federer feels the same way, we’ll never know. At the weekend, the Swiss said he dislikes players airing complaints publicly, as he feels it tarnishes tennis’ image.

This in turn brought a backlash from Nadal, who on Sunday said Federer was adopting his silent position to reinforce his image as a tennis gent. In comments translated from Spanish, the world number two said:

“I totally disagree. [For Roger] it’s good to say nothing. Everything positive. ‘It’s all well and good for me, I look like a gentleman,’ and the rest can burn themselves. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions.”

The way Nadal sees it, only small changes need to be made to tennis to make things safer and more manageable. He also suggested that the unpopularity of Federer’s view may be telling:

“The vast majority of players have this same opinion. [Roger has] a different opinion. If the vast majority have one opinion, and a small minority think differently, maybe it’s them who are wrong.”

Does he have a point, readers? Are tennis players worked too hard? And does the amount of money they earn mean they lose the right to complain?

Rift Between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as Aussie Open Begins is a post from: The Inquisitr

If he continues on his current pace, Federer, at 30 the oldest competitor in the eight-man field, could become the first player to win six ATP World Tour Finals titles.

“It’s an amazing career I’ve had,” Federer told reporters in a courtside interview, after the crowd cheered to acknowledge his making his 100th final. “I don’t know how I do it, 100 finals and I am still walking normally.”

Watch Roger Federer’s post-win interview at the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals:

Roger, who is currently on a 16-match winning streak is all set to face the winner of the second semifinal between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych – which is being played now -  in Sunday’s final.

In addition to ATP World title No.6, a victory on Sunday would would give Federer his 39th in the Tour Finals, tying him with Ivan Lendl for most all-time.

A win in Tomorrow’s final would also push Roger, who will now finish 2011 ranked in the top 3, a feat he has accomplished for 9 straight seasons, past Lendl and Pete Sampras for the most titles in the season-ending event.

via Fox Sports

Roger Federer Reaches 100th Career Final, Eyes Sixth ATP World Title is a post from: The Inquisitr

Tennis super-celeb, Roger Federer, is one of those people. Earlier today (Friday), Federer shared the photo below of himself and his wife, holding their newborn twin girls, the first known photo of the babies that have been made public. And his 2.5+ million Facebook fans couldn’t be more thrilled. As of about 4 hours after uploading the baby photo, it has received 55,000+ likes and 14,000+ comments.

Roger Federer Baby Photo from Facebook

Roger Federer loves Facebook and loves his fans on the social network, often interacting with them and regularly taking the time to help out some of his fans with their tennis woes. Federer even bragged about hitting the 2,000,000 fans mark during a recent interview with ESPN.

Back to those twins – They’re so tiny, and cute! Congrats to Roger and his wife.

Roger Federer shares first pics of his twins on Facebook is a post from: The Inquisitr

After passing Pete Sampras’ record by winning his 15th grand slam tennis title, the question is being asked about whether Roger Federer can now be considered the greatest tennis player of all time.

There are two serious contenders for this title – not considering the likes of John McEnroe or Bjorn Borg, who were not as consistent over as long a period. Sampras and Rod Laver are the others who can be placed alongside Federer in this conversation. Federer now has 15 grand slams among 60 career titles in ATP tour events, compared to Sampras with 14 slams and 64 titles and Laver with 11 slams and 27 ATP titles.

The complication with going on pure statistics is that Laver spent much of the glory years of his career outside the ATP tour, as his run coincided with the advent of the open era. He played as an amateur until 1962, winning six of his slams including a Grand Slam in the calendar year of 1962 before turning professional, which disqualified him from the still-amateur ATP tour. It was not until 1968 that the open era began and he was allowed to return to the ATP tour, after which he completed a second calendar year Grand Slam in 1969 as a professional at the age of 31.

There are arguments either way. Three of the four slam tournaments that Laver played in were on grass, whereas Sampras and Federer have had to win on synthetic surfaces as well. On the other hand, Laver is the only one of the three to have won more than one French Open. You could argue that Sampras may have had the greatest array of opponents facing him, with the likes of Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi where Laver’s main rival was Ken Rosewall and Federer has struggled mightily with his nemesis in Rafael Nadal.

In fact, it is Nadal who stands in the way of Federer’s claims. Federer did not have to play the Spaniard in either of the last two Slams and it was Nadal who had beaten him in the final of three of the previous four slam tournaments. Federer’s 7-13 record against Nadal, including 2-6 in slams, is the greatest flaw in his record.

Personally, being an Aussie, I realise I am biased in thinking Laver would have the wood over the American and the Swiss champions. However, the six-year hole in his ATP record is only a potential for slam tournaments so we will never know if he could have reached 20 or more. Federer could still get somewhere near there… but only if Nadal stays injured.

Is Roger Federer the greatest tennis player ever? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Experience has generally triumphed over youth in the 2009 Wimbledon quarter finals, with Tommy Haas the oldest of a wrinkly four semi finalists.Tommy Haas was the oldest of those to survive the quarter finals, defeating Serbian Novak Djokovic 7-5 7-6(6) 4-6 6-3. Djokovic, the youngest of the eight players contesting the quarter finals at 22, has not kicked on in his tennis career after winning the Australian Open at the start of 2008. The German Haas has never progressed past a grand slam semi final, reaching that stage three times in Australia, and at the ripe old age of 31 years and three months he might not have expected to ever reach one again. Haas will face Roger Federer in one semi final, who had less trouble disposing of Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-3 7-5 7-6(3).

In the other semi final, the home town favourite will most definitely be Andy Murray, after the Scotsman bucked the ageist trend by beating Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero to the tune of 7-5 6-3 6-2. Ferrero is in his last year on the regular tour before retirement at the tennis wall of 30 years of age, while Murray goes on to meet Andy Roddick who outlasted Lleyton Hewitt 6-3 6-7(10) 7-6(1) 4-6 6-4. It was Hewitt’s second five-setter in a row, and the best match of the tournament so far with Roddick’s backhand winners being a highlight.

Old men dominate Wimbledon semi finals lineup is a post from: The Inquisitr

Defending champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon after failing to recover from injury.

Nadal has been suffering from chronic tendinitis, a condition that gives him aching knees and forced him out of the Queen’s Club tournament leading up to Wimbledon. The injury is also believed to have played a role in his shock fourth round loss to Robin Soderling at the French Open.

Nadal’s withdrawal makes the top seeds for the event Roger Federer and Englishman Andy Murray.

Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon due to Injury is a post from: The Inquisitr

A man dressed in a Barcelona soccer shirt attacked Roger Federer at the French Open final Sunday.

The invader ran onto center court at Roland Garos waving a Barcelona flag, then attempted to place a hat on Federer.

Federer pushed the man away, and then security intervened, chasing the man across the court until eventually capturing him. The bigger question for the French Open organizers is how the man got to within reach of Federer to begin with; the “Roger Federer Attacked” video below shows the intruder on center court for some time before security steps in.

The bizarre attack didn’t interrupt Federer’s game though, with the Swiss tennis great beating tournament sensation Robin Soderling 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.

Here’s the Roger Federer attacked video:

Roger Federer attacked at the French Open Final (video) is a post from: The Inquisitr