CAMELOT FANTASIES

Confident Federer sees opportunity in Nadal's U.S. Open absence
http://www.si.com/tennis/2014/08/23/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-us-open
NEW YORK -- Roger Federer hopes to see his rival Rafael Nadal back on tour soon, but he won't deny that the Spaniard's absence from the U.S. Open creates an opportunity. Nadal announced last week that he would not defend his U.S. Open title due to a right wrist injury he sustained during training, meaning the Spaniard's stronghold over Federer -- he owns a 23-10 advantage in their career head-to-head -- won't be getting any worse in New York City.
"For us, the players, I mean, we hope he gets well and he feels better quickly and all these things and he's back on tour soon," Federer told reporters on Saturday. "But at the same time, I think what stands out is the opportunity to try to take advantage of him, the fact that he's not here. It's one less really difficult player to beat maybe."
by Richard Deitsch
Federer comes into New York as the No. 2 seed after a great summer hardcourt season.Federer went 9-1 on the North American hard courts, making five straight finals and winning his sixth Western & Southern Open title a week ago. This is a far cry from how he arrived in New York last year, where he struggled with a bad back and lost to Tommy Robredo in the fourth round.
"I think last year I was trying to convince myself I did have an opportunity, because I feel like once you have had success and once you know how to win majors, or U.S. Opens for that matter, yeah, you can always do it again," Federer said. "I believe it's the case, but you just need a lot more luck and the draw opening up. Because I just kind of felt like it was always going to be hard for me to beat the top-5, top-10 players. I felt like I had little margin against guys ranked just outside of the top 10 to No. 30 in the world. And then the rest of the field I felt like I could manage it somehow, but the confidence was going away quickly, too, just because I was just not moving so well. I was scared to have another setback, and so it was just not as clear-cut and simple as it is this year."