The men's side of the 2011 US Open Tennis tournament has been dominated by the top seeds. Not because they have been winning, but because they have been winning easily.
Leading this charge has been Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. However, their run of dominance is about to come to an end.
Roger Federer has only lost one set in three victories. But don't get too excited Federer fans. Roger is still too old to win this tournament. It is just hard to tell because so far in the tournament he has been playing weak opponents.
Federer's dominant play begins with his first serve. He is getting it in at a much higher percentage than he has recently and his opponents have been well equipped to handle this. This has allowed Federer to mask his growing deficiencies.
The first sign is Federer's decline in foot speed. It has become increasingly evident as the season has worn on. He just can't cover as much court as he used to. Of course, he rarely used to have to cover as much court as he does now, which leads us to the most alarming sign of all.
Federer is losing his pinpoint accuracy. While he is delivering on his first serve, he is not as sharp on his groundstrokes.
Federer's loss of accuracy is tied to his loss of quickness. He is not able to get into as good of position for returns and the split-second loss of his reaction time leaves him struggling to catch up.
Rafael Nadal has been even more dominant than Federer. He has yet to lose a set in three matches. He is, however, losing sets left and right to his body though. At some point, this is going to knock him out of the US Open.
Nowhere was this more apparent than following his third-round match.
Nadal sat at the podium and then began to grimace like a pit-bull had locked its jaw on his groin. This gruesome image only cemented thoughts that have been percolating: Nadal is far too banged up to win this tournament.
Nadal entered this tournament with injury concerns already fully in place. His game has been deteriorating since his his troublesome foot pain flared up at Wimbledon and it has altered his mental approach.
While Nadal has been able to fight through the foot pain, he has not been the same. It has robbed him him of some of his explosion.
Following his foot injury, he also suffered burns on his finger that have plagued his game.
He has performed admirably, but instead of getting better, Nadal's game is headed in the wrong direction.
Nadal's body has hit the wall and it is time for him to let it rest. However, I do admire his willingness to play through injuries and pain. It is a lesson that many players could learn from as the US Open has broken records for in match retirements.
So, I applaud Nadal and I will continue to applaud after his upcoming loss.
Andrew Brackman A.J. Burnett Steve Garrison Phil Hughes Damaso Marte Mariano Rivera
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