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That's an interesting point you brought up there, Strange: while you thought that only Marat Safin, either now, or a few years ago, might have always been thought as 'a contender', to rival Federer (or Nadal) as a favorite in every Slam he may have entered, I never really payed much attention to him, until he beat Roger at the Australian some years ago, then I thought twice. He is very good, but I don't know if it's his injuries, or he's just lackadaiscal, or now too old and never really capitalized on the 'good years' he had in him, but I guess, it's hard to capture glory when you are entrenched in one of the more recent 'Golden Eras of Tennis', capitulated by the absolute dominance that one Roger Federer has had over the course of near a decade now.
On the other hand, though, before Rafael Nadal came into play, the only person who I saw as, really, the rival to Federer was Andy Roddick, both back in 2004, and up until last year's final at Wimbledon, it was still evident that Roddick is a true power player once capable of taking multiple Slams. I never saw him as a really agile mover on the court, and he's not above average in any part even near to the net, but what Roddick lacked in agility (at least that is what I perceived it to be) he made up in brutal service hits, and punishing forehands. I've never seen Roddick ever really blow anyone out of the water as other top-seeded competitors can do sometimes at ease, but he hangs in there, and has always been a great percentage player if ever faced with a tiebreaker set.
This year's US Open may be the most interesting one I've seen in several years, as I have no idea who can be considered the 'favorite', save for the most recent Slam champion, Rafael Nadal. Something about right now, though, has me wanting to see Soderling win it. He's really impressed me this year.
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi
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