Tennis Forever

[omega]

Meanwhile Murray & Federer seems to be in good touch with both getting thru' to 3rd round winning in straight sets.
And Federer had that spectacular between the legs tweener lob.........

[JamesDap]

Rafa has to learn to flatten out his shots at Wimbledon, esp his serve! That topspin serve just sits up to be whacked back with interest by the returner. He has to at least mix it up with slice serves. Topspin is not gonna work on the first week of Wimbledon; at least he doesn't have the power anymore to make it more for him. He has to take his chances and go for winners much more. Fed was simply awesome by contrast yesterday, especially the third set. There was the obligatory miracle tweener but there were also some amazing backhands, amazing for the sheer pace he was generating off that wing. And one forehand winner notched up 100 mph! Good omens these for Fed. Querrey too started strongly but faded away where Rafa allowed Brown to get to him. Rafa seems to have got into some kind of fear psychosis at Wimb. I wonder if ever a two time Wimbledon champion has had such a terrible losing streak at the event, that too, beginning a year after his last final (2011).

[ajithfederer]

Omega, watched the 4th round??. I couldn't watch it because I was traveling. From the score line looks like a smooth ride. How did he play?

[omega]

Omega, watched the 4th round??. I couldn't watch it because I was traveling. From the score line looks like a smooth ride. How did he play?

Only watched towards the end of 3rd set. Catched the highlights though.
Anyway from what I have been reading it does seems like yet another great match from Fed.
He seems to be in good touch all round through the first 4 rounds.
Watched his 3rd round with Sam Groth which was good match with his backhand clicking early.
Many people now have started believing that he can do it this time round.

In my personal opinion he is definitely looking much better than last year. His forehand looks like the fearhand once it was. His movement and serve looks top notch. However I am going to take one match at a time. You never know these days. Next up, Simon could be different. Even though this is his first QF appearance on his worst surface, Simon seems to be hitting the ball real well. He is the type of counter puncher who can frustrate Federer and draw lot of errors. Should be a good match before meeting Maari in the SF. Lets see which Federer shows up in QF.

[JamesDap]

THAT forehand comes back every now and then unlike last year when it was almost completely gone but for the last three games of the 4th set against Djoko. I suspect it strains him to hit the forehand that hard. He did that against Querrey to quell his resistance and then went back to hitting a more of a 'push' shot. Looks good to beat Simon but you never know with Fed. Murray will be a tough one thereafter. Beating Dr Karlovic is always good preparation at Wimbledon.

[JamesDap]

What, no comments? Yesterday's match just came out of nowhere. Even if grass does bring Fed closer to the rest of the Big Four, yesterday was ridiculously awesome. The Fed of old, not the old Fed, came back in style. He has beaten Murray in all but one of their slam meetings but this time, he just battered him. Murray simply crumbled under the relentless pressure of the Fed onslaught of robotic big serving and brutal aggression from the ground. Fed actually made more groundstroke winners than Murray, by a margin of 13-6 on the forehand side. That just about says it all. It was way closer than the scoreline suggests and Murray played almost flawless tennis. A telling reminder to Fed's detractors that he didn't just fluke those 17 slams, he earned them with out of the world tennis. Now if only Gasquet had pulled off a French leap. Still, if Fed plays like this on Sunday, he does have a great shot at no.18.

[VinodKumar's]

Important moment in the match was Federer held his serve 40-0 after losing 5 set points in that marathon game in second set. That sent out a message to the opponent whatsoever I am not going to choke today.

[JamesDap]

Yeah, the commentators noted it too. It was like, "Yeah, you know what, I CAN handle this. Is this all you got?" Something like that, was what Roddick said. By the by, the Henman-Roddick-Castle team was much better than boring Johnny Mac.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

What, no comments? Yesterday's match just came out of nowhere. Even if grass does bring Fed closer to the rest of the Big Four, yesterday was ridiculously awesome. The Fed of old, not the old Fed, came back in style. He has beaten Murray in all but one of their slam meetings but this time, he just battered him. Murray simply crumbled under the relentless pressure of the Fed onslaught of robotic big serving and brutal aggression from the ground. Fed actually made more groundstroke winners than Murray, by a margin of 13-6 on the forehand side. That just about says it all. It was way closer than the scoreline suggests and Murray played almost flawless tennis. A telling reminder to Fed's detractors that he didn't just fluke those 17 slams, he earned them with out of the world tennis. Now if only Gasquet had pulled off a French leap. Still, if Fed plays like this on Sunday, he does have a great shot at no.18.

Yes. But would he. These sort of performances arise only once. It would be unjust to expect a 34 old tennis player to do it again. But this match must have given him immense satisfaction and confidence. I am sure he's going to start confidently tomorrow. Another interesting thing is how Djokovic-Federer have split matches for the last 9 meetings. Djokovic -5 and Federer-4. Is it Federer's time to equalise?

[JamesDap]

That is indeed the Big If, the million dollar question, Arvind. I am reading what other forums are saying on the internet and people are near unanimous that should Fed bring this game on Sunday, it could be his title and in fact they are a lot more emphatic about it than I would be (considering Djoko can make more return winners than Murray). But they too question whether he really would be able to bring it. I hope at least 80% of it. He just can't push on the forehand. He has to serve well and then keep swinging hard on the return game. That is what he did in the brief passage of play last year in the fourth set when he rattled Djoko. That is the only way he can win. He can no longer win physical battles and esp not against Djoko. He has to swing for it with all his might and hope to get through in 3 or 4 sets max. He did beat Djoko in 4 at Wimb 2012, but then that's 2012 when he bageled Djoko at Cincy.