Sorry for such a delayed post, just been really busy over the past few weeks. I guess all of us Fedfans have sorrow faces as Roger was beaten by Tomas Berdych in four sets in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Roger was seeded no.1 at the start of the tournament and was the favourite to win after making everyone look like amateurs at Cincinnati. I guess a quarterfinal lost was not what anyone expected. Roger comfortably cruised past all his opponents in straight sets on the way to the quarterfinals. He was actually due to play home favourite Mardy Fish in the 4th round, but Fish withdrew due to fatigue and health problems so that meant Roger got a 4 day break before his match with Berdych.
Roger broke in the first game of the match, only to be broken back in a poor service game at 3-2. The set went into a tiebreak and Roger screwed up an easy backhand volley on the first point. Not a good way to start a tiebreaker and things went from bad to worse for him as he only managed to win one point in the tiebreaker losing it 7-1.
Berdych was the one who broke straight away in the second set, grabbing a 5-2 lead before Roger broke back and held another service game to make the score 5-4. Berdych was not denied though and he served out the set to love, 6-4.
The last time Berdych took a two sets to love lead against Roger was the Australian Open 4th round in 2009. Back then, Roger was faster and fitter and Berdych was just beginning to start establishing himself as a true top 20 player.
The third did not begin well for Roger as Berdych grabbed another break, before Roger won 4 straight games in spectacular fashion to take the third set 6-3. Roger had gathered a lot of momentum and the crowd was on his side. I thought it would be enough for him to make a winning comeback, but in the fourth set he didn't take his chances and it was all over in 36 minutes.
Even though he lost, there were still some crazy shots including a backhand flick slice passing shot and two full-stretch volleys winners in the 2nd and 4th set.
A lot of people, including me blame Fish's withdrawal as a factor to why Roger lost. Roger hadn't really played any tough opponents en route to the quarters so he didn't know his actual performance against top players and the 4 day break made it even worse.
It was such a shame Roger was out early, he was confident coming up to the tournament, had much better preparation than the previous two years so to crash out in the quarterfinals was highly frustrating and his words in the interview after the match clearly shows that.
So in conclusion I can say it was a disappointing match, Roger wasn't himself and Berdych played pretty well anyway.
I think everyone's expectations are too high for Roger - winning an 18th slam and 6th US Open, beating an improved Andy Murray and a 'looking for revenge' Djokovic, its all too much for him to handle. He's a 31 year old athlete now, daddy to twin girls and has so many younger players out there all wanting to beat him. Its incredible that he is still beating everyone and winning Wimbledon and reclaiming No.1 makes me happy enough. Roger is no longer in his invincible prime form, so we can't expect him to win everything. Funny thing is, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal are roughly 5 years younger than him, they should be playing the best tennis of their lives at this stage of their career and Roger is still beating all of them! Just astonishing.
Well now Roger has many points to defend at his final tournaments of the season, it will be tough to stay No.1 unless he wins all of them and hope Djokovic doesn't win any of them. He's tired and wounded so a holiday will do him well and hopefully he can play well in his next scheduled tournament - Shanghai.
Been a while since my last post, but here is the review of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, the last Master 1000 tournament before the US Open.
Before the tournament started, I expected Roger to be fit and fired up for Cincinnati, as he withdrew from Toronto to get an extra week rest. The courts at Cincy are some of the fastest on the tour and we know Roger is probably the best fast hardcourt player of all time so everyone had high expectations for him. Historically he has played ... Continue reading...
Roger had to settle for silver at the Olympic Games, losing in
straight sets against home favourite Andy Murray 6-2 6-1 6-4. Roger was cleary
tired after playing a in epic 4.5 semifinal against Del Potro, so that's the reason
why he got crushed. I didn't expect him to recover so quickly after the
semifinal, he's a 31 year old athlete now! He just didn't have enough gas in
the tank for the final. Took me days for the result to sink in and realise it's
not such a big deal that Roger lost, one...
What an epic match between Roger and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina! The contest lasted 4hrs and 26 minutes, the longest match in the Open era and Olympic tennis history! It brings me memories of their meeting in the US Open final back in 2009 where Del Potro outlasted Federer in five sets, but this time it was Roger who outlasted Del Potro 19-17 in the decider! I was very happy to be able to watch the match live on my laptop, even if it wasn't in high definition!
FEDERER VS ISTOMIN Roger faced Denis Istomin in the 3rd Rd, started well with a break to lead 3-0 but got broken back to level the match. At 15-30 5-5, rain was starting to pour down and the match was delayed for half an hour. When play resumed, Roger had to save two break points but quickly found momentum and broke Istomin to take the first set 7-5.
Once again, Roger took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd set but this time Istomin failed to make any impression on his return games and Roger comfortably won... Continue reading...
For the rest of the Olympics, I'm probably going to have to do 2 match reports together in one post because there isn't much to type since my channel can't access full live coverage of the tennis in London so sadly I missed both of Roger's matches. Pretty amazingly, he was drawn to face two opponents that had almost beaten him in the early of rounds of the past Wimbledons. Well he beat Falla 6-3 5-7 6-3 which for me is not too surprising after Falla took Roger to five sets back in 2010, what ... Continue reading...
What an emotional day for Roger and fans after he won his 7th Wimbledon now equaling Pete Sampras's record! He also increases his tally of Grand Slams to 17! And is back up to No.1 in the rankings at 30 years of age overtaking Djokovic and Nadal in one tournament! So glad to see that his drought has ended, last triumph was Australian Open 2010 where he also beat Murray. This time, the encounter was definitely closer and the support of British fans was huge, sadly for them Roger ended Murray's... Continue reading...
Roger's done it, he's beaten Djokovic in a very convincing victory to reach his 8th Wimbledon final! Always the Greatest Of All Time! Before the match Roger had already thought up of a Djoko-bashing plan, he broke at his first opportunity at 3-2. He closed out the set 6-3 in a quick 24 minutes. Djokovic looked if he'd had a slow start, Roger was the one who was aggressive early and had comfortable service games, never facing a break point.
Djokovic seemed to of finally woken up in the second s... Continue reading...
Total cruise match for Roger, beating Youzhny 6-1 6-2 6-2. Looks like his back injury isn't such a concern, he was dominant on serve, never broken despite Youzhny's two break point chances in the third set. I think Youzhny is one of those players who will never beat Roger, now the H2H is an embarrassing 14-0, even during the third set, Youzhny called out to Andre Agassi who was in the Royal Box for advice on how to beat Roger!
Well I guess there was nothing really to critize about Roger's pe... Continue reading...
Apology for the late post, I didn't get to see much from Roger's match against Julien Benneteau and what a thriller it was! Unfortunately I had to see highlights, as channel Seven was broadcasting Hewitt/Guccione's doubles match instead, that's what you get for living in Australia! But I did get to see Roger's encounter with Xavier Malisse from start to finish and both match reports are in this post.
FEDERER VS BENNETEAU When Nadal got beaten by Rosol a day earlier, not anyone was expecting F... Continue reading...
