Federer: Nadal lacks drive

Irresponsible headline on the article.

Fed's comment had a narrow scope, and by "that drive" he was refering to the motivation to stay number 1.
Nadal has stated his primary motivator is daily competition, and ranking is secondary.
Fed is all about staying at the top of the heap.

And I agree with him, there are subtle differences between players in what motivates them. I remember Roger talking about the "My Game" Nike commercial he did with Tiger Woods, where one of them says "I love winning" and the other says "I hate losing." Roger knew immediately he wanted to say the winning phrase, because that was his motivator, whereas Tiger was more motivated by hating to lose.
To a competitor, these subtle distinctions are important.

Roger's a smart guy, and knows that saying Nadal lacks drive in general would be patently ridiculous.

Agreed. The media (not for the first time) have taken Federer's remarks out of context, conveniently failing to mention that he also said that he thought Nadal would be back soon winning tournaments and that the Spaniard was simply going through something similar to what he (Federer) went through last year when he had a slight dip in form and was hastily written off. The media always do this to get cheap sensationalism.

Well said, Paul & Lisa. It's indeed 'cheap sensationalism' again, trying to stirr up an issue between Federer and Nadal where there isn't any. The two have great respect for each other and will never slag one another off. It's about time that the journos realize that any attempt of trying to create 'bad blood' between the two is in vain!

Cheap journalism, indeed. Why do the Press wax so hot and cold over Roger? The headlines were blatantly over exaggerated as usual and taken out of context, to show Roger in a bad light. He has always gone out of his way at the end of matches to praise his opponents, and he has great respect for Rafa. Let's not forget that Roger has just won the ATP Sportmanship award for the sixth year running, voted by his fellow competitors!

Nadal knows Federer well enough to realise that his comments were not meant to be derogatory. I suspect that deep down Federer wants Nadal to come back to his best to renew their rivalry, because let's face it: noone has consistently been able to challenge Federer where it really counts, other than Nadal.

this reminds me of the some of commentaries i hear begining of last year when Federer was on a losing streak..

Several of the TV commentators (oh i can name you some) and journalists were writing Federer off saying that Federer was never a great player, criticising his play, etc,etc... and then when he started winning again, the same people then turn turtle and started praising him and saying that "without a doubt" (has anyone ever noticed how often this phrase "without a doubt" is used by tennis commentators ?)Federer is a greatest player of all times, etc ,etc

seems to me that that things TV commentators and journalists said or write about are of little value at all.

I totally believe that Roger still has a lot of tennis left in him and he will continue to stay on top no matter who he faces. He is the bestest.