Wimbledon 2011: 5 Reasons a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal Final Is Bad for Tennis

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are fighting for their Wimbledon lives.

Nadal is looking to repeat this year while Federer is looking to tie Pete Sampras’ record of seven Wimbledon championships.

With these two story lines dominating the headlines of a potential Federer-Nadal Wimbledon Finals, how could this possibly be bad for tennis?

It may not appear that way on the surface, but for this year alone—for the sake of the future of the sport—we need to see one or both men fail leading up to their potential showdown.

Here are five reasons why a Federer-Nadal final is bad for tennis.

BREAKING NEWS: Roger Federer collapses against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Quarterfinals.

5. Fail To Live Up to the Hype

Rafa and Federer have put together some of the most memorable matches in the history of the sport.

This year, Federer enters the No. 3 seed and Rafa is battling a heel injury. As the tournament wages on and take its toll on their bodies and psyche, they clearly are not the same men they used to be.

It will be too difficult for them to create another classic at this point in the tournament, which could cause the fans to lose interest in both altogether. We do not just expect greatness from these two men when they meet on the hallowed court, more importantly, we expect excellence.

This year, it is difficult to see them delivering the instant classic we will so desperately yearn for.

4. Tired of the Same Faces

Fans get worn out seeing the same faces dominate the sport.

We yearn to see them develop into superstars on their way to the top, but once they are there, we lose interest. We want to see them continue to be successful, but we also want to see them fail every now and again while they are at the top.

We have seen Federer and Nadal dominate the finals for years. They are two of the greatest and most dominant men’s professionals of any sport.

We want new blood now more than ever in tennis, because at some point it just makes us flat-out sick to watch the same people over and over again.

3. Fans Love Upsets

As much as we enjoy seeing certain men or teams dominate their respective sports, we love the upset much more.

We wanted to see the San Francisco Giants and Dallas Mavericks take down the favorite in their respective championship series. We yearned for the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers to topple two of the most dominant NFL franchises of the past decade in the Super Bowl.

This past Monday at Wimbledon was one of the most exciting in recent memory as the favorites of the Ladies’ Draw went down. Carolina Wozniacki, Venus and Serena Williams were all ousted from the tournament on the historic day and we as fans ate it up.

If on the way to the Finals we could see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer upset by a surging star, fans will be drawn to Wimbledon even more than they would for a Nadal-Federer final.

2. Tennis Needs More Stars

Tennis has been dominated by the same faces year-in and year-out. One year it’s Rafa, the next it’s Federer.

These two men are absolute machines, but is that good for tennis in the long run?

The answer is an emphatic no!

Tennis needs new superstars to emerge and there is no better place than the Wimbledon Finals.

We need Novak Djokovic to truly break through his glass ceiling and join Federer and Nadal on the elite stage. We need an American like Mardy Fish to replace the disappointing Andy Roddick. We want to see a young stud like Bernard Tomic continue his surge, equipped with youthful exuberance.

Instead of seeing the same two men dominate the sport in Rafa and Roger, we would have a host of men to rely on going forward.

1. Been There, Done That

As sports fans, we are always excited to see a new rivalry emerge. As much as we like to see old classics reignite, we have already seen Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal put on a classic.

We worry that they will fail to live up to the hype of their past duels, we want to see new faces in the finals and tennis needs to create new superstars going forward.

How many times can we possibly see the same studs dominate the sport? We’ve seen this match before and we are yearning for something new. We are always looking ahead to the "new" and Federer-Nadal has simply been done too many times before.