I admit it. I’ve been hostile towards Rafael Nadal as he’s made his way into the headlines of the tennis world. When Nadal injured his foot I said that he’ll probably have an injury shortened career because he plays such a grueling style of tennis. Then I said that his game wasn’t good enough to win anything on hard courts. Then I said that his high bouncing balls wouldn’t be offensive enough on grass.

Wrong, wrong and inconclusive. Nadal lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals at Queens on Friday but he lost because he injured his shoulder and had to retire. Before he injured his shoulder at the end of the first set, he was sailing along.

Meanwhile, as Federer continues to struggle, instead of looking better on grass as the week proceeds, he’s looking worse. I suppose it means that I am a Federer groupie. I welcomed a rivalry from Nadal but not a repeated smackdown.

onIt’s o.k. to be a groupie, even if I’m a journalist – how else can I celebrate marvelous players, but when I started to make exuses for Federer, I knew there was a problem.

[blockquote]It’s not as bad as Mats Wilander makes it out to be. After the French Open final, he said that Federer didn’t win for two reasons then pointed to his crotch. Give Wilander credit for directness and tell Andy Roddick that he should consider Wilander as a consultant if the Jimmy Connors thing doesn’t work out.

(I found myself saying that Nadal had injury problems that would curtail his career due to his hard, grinding style of play. Embarrassing to admit)

I found myself thinking, and saying, “Oh, you know, Nadal, really, he’s just another Vilas. He hasn’t, after all, done that much more than Vilas, has he? Vilas won the Australian on grass you know.” However, that was back when no one bothered to travel to Australia. (who did Vilas play in the tournament?).

The most interesting part of the grass season will be seeing (awkward) if Roger Federer’s confidence has been damaged by his battles with, and losses to, Rafael Nadal. The early reports are in and they seem to indicate that the answer might be yes. First he struggled with Richard Gasquet, winning 7-6(7), 6-7(7), 6-4, then he struggled further with that tower of grass strengh Olivier Rochus, 6-7(2), 7-6(9), 7-6(5). Lots of sevens in there and even a nine.

It’s easy to say he’s struggling, and he definitely is if you compare him to Roddick, but Roddick has had an extra week to practice on grass. Maybe I’m just a die hard Federer hopeful. Maybe I’m hoping for the best as I see Federer slowly crumble before me. Isn’t he supposed to get better as the week goes along instead of worse.

I admit it. A small part of me has not enjoyed Nadal’s rise because, evidently, I am a Federer fan. That’s not necessarily a bad thing unless it crowd’s my vision. And it is. I can see that I want to make excuses for Federer, he hasn’t had much practice time on grass, he

Roddick and Blake: start with Roddick’s quote from Davis Cup, “he’ll (Blake) be passing me soon”??? Andy Roddick turned up on grass this week with a new spin. On the ball. Gives him more room for error, I suppose. It certainly seems to be working though the 145 mph serves help. Interesting that he is rumored to be negotiating a coaching agreement with Jimmy Connors, a flat ball hitter.

And now we’ll see who has the biggest, um, game in US men’s tennis because Blake and Roddick are ready to meet in the semis at Queens. Blake is all the way up to number seven and Roddick is clinging to number five. It would be a huge statment if Blake beats Roddick on grass. In the last three years (?), Federer is the only other player to do it.

It’s not the be all and end all for Blake, though. Grass is not his forte and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch up with and blow by Roddick in the hard court season.

My man Dmitri(sp?)Tursunov is gone despite a marvelous runback to track down a Tim Henman lob that ended with Tursunov spinning around and hitting a perfect backhand passing shot down the line for the winner. Oh well, I still have four men alive and yet, still I dwell in the cellar of my subleague, tennisdiary.com.