Federer defeats Djokovic at French Open as both players return to usual selves

Roger Federer, the greatest player in history, rolled back the years to produce a vintage display of tennis to destroy Novak Djokovic's perfect start to the year.

The Swiss master did it in style with terrific groundstrokes and a solid backhand throughout, the one place that has in the past, broken down under pressure.

At Roland Garros yesterday, Federer's backhand was on song as he hit winners, slice shots which caused Djokovic all sorts of problems, and forced errors from the usually clean Serbian's racquet.

Federer wrapped it up in 4 sets after surviving a Djokovic comeback in the 3rd and 4th sets, breaking Djokovic as the Serbian served to take the match to a 5th set at 5-4.

Federer served well throughout the contest and returned Djokovic's serves with precision and depth. 

At the end of the contest, which finished at 9:37pm local time in rapidly fading light, Federer gestured that he is the true number one. It sure felt great!

Check out these video clips from youtube:

The first clip in this video must be the point of the championship, a wonderful Federer backhand winner!

Here is match point for Roger Federer as he aces Djokovic, accompanied by a fitting piece of music...

ATP Tour Masters London Final Line-up

So Rafael Nadal struggled his way through his semi-final with Andy Murray, who blew a 4-1 lead in the final set tie-breaker to gift the Spaniard a final berth.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer obliterated Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4 to enter the final, as he attempts to win the end-of-year Masters for a 5th time.

LET'S GO ROGER, LET'S GO!!!

ATP Tour Masters London Semi-finals

So we have arrived at the semi-final stage of the ATP Tour Masters in London. There are no surprises and 2 stand-out players thus far. The semi-finals will shape up like this:

ROGER FEDERER aka the G.O.A.T.    vs     NOVAK JOCK-STRAP

RAFAEL NAYDULL     vs     ANDY "ANGLES" MURRAY

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have both come through the round robin stage undefeated, with 3 wins out of 3. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic qualified as group runners-up after losing one of their three matches each.

I'm desperately hoping Andy Angles can go against all the odds and beat Nadal because to be honest, I'm scared of Nadal but not Murray. As for Federer, he just has to play to a similar standard as he has in the round robin stage and he should have no problems against Djokovic. Federer is hitting the ball sweetly and most pleasing, his backhand was magnificent in his victory over Soderling. Nadal has not been at his best, doing enough to win, but he did enjoy a 6-1 thrashing of Berdych after he took the first on a tie-break. Nadal dropped a set against Roddick but Federer has yet to lose one, with a perfect 6-0 record in that department.

I hope Murray makes the final, but in my head, where common sense normally prevails, Nadal will slaughter the helpless Scot and enter a mouthwatering final with Federer.

And Federer is due a win over his Spanish rival...

Federer wins, completes good weekend

Every weekend we look forward to our sport. Sometimes there are many different sporting competitions going on at the same time, for example, football, tennis, Formula One racing, rugby. We enjoy following each sport and our favourite sportsmen and women. Sometimes there are good weekends where all of our favourites win; and occasionally we endure the disappointment of a bad weekend, where the teams and individuals we yearn for, end up on the losing side.

The weekend just passed could be classified as a good weekend, though it wasn't a perfectly victorious one. Allow me to explain.

Firstly was the Barclays Premier League on Saturday night. Any team which is half-good and poses a threat to Manchester United, will be cheered on in all of their struggles. Tottenham, who are rapidly improving and just beat reigning European Champions Internazionale in midweek, suffered a terrible hangover as they went down 4-2 at Bolton Wanderers. That was a good start to our weekend, not to mention a very entertaining match for the neutrals.

By the way, Kevin Davies should definitely keep his place in the England squad

Things almost took a turn for the worse when later that night an absolutely wretched performance from Man.Utd almost resulted in more dropped points. It was only thanks to a stoppage time winner from South Korean winger Ji-sung Park, which gave us the 3 points in a 2-1 win over unlucky Wolves.

On Sunday, there was football, tennis and F1. Let's deal with the one disappointment first, shall we? Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth in the Brazilian Grand Prix, behind title rivals Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, who carries a slim lead into the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton needs a miracle comprising of him winning the race and his 3 main title rivals all not finishing in the points. Oh well. . . there's always next year.

Meanwhile, things were going great at the Emirates stadium where Newcastle put on a magnificently disciplined performance to beat Arsenal in their own backyard by a single Andy Carroll goal to nil. Arsenal to win the league? No chance! Not when you've lost games at home to newly promoted teams in West Brom and Newcastle.

Further joy came at Anfield where a resurgent Liverpool powered past Chelsea 2-0 thanks to a rejuvenated Fernando Torres. Chelsea's second BPL defeat of the season was sweet. ManU are just a couple of points behind the leaders now. Thanks Liverpool, for helping us out yet again.

Meanwhile, on the continent, in a small town named Basle in Switzerland, a home-grown star was lifting ATP title number 65 of his glittering career. Roger Federer, the G.O.A.T, beat Novak Djok-strap in 3 sets, sealing triumph with an amazing half-volley backhand winner on match point, taking the decider 6-1.

Enjoying a pizza party with his fellow ball-kids after the match

A rare Federer off-day

Roger Federer never got his serves going as he gave away his semi-final match to Novak Joker-vic in five sets. He played well in phases but relied on far too many second serves to have any chance of winning. But win he almost did when in the final set he had 2 match points on Joker-vic's serve at 15-40. But the Serb, who had earlier bashed his head three times with his racquet, hit two lines with giant forehands to get to deuce and held serve from there. Federer resultingly hit a forehand wide to give the initiative to Novak, who held serve to progress to his second U.S. Open final.

Nothing more to say. I hate losing. Joker-vic better beat Nadal in today's final!

U.S. Open 2010 - The Draw

The Draw

The draw for the U.S. Open 2010 Grand Slam has been conducted. Top seed Rafael Nadal has been paired in the same half as Britain's Andy Murray whilst Roger Federer, the 2nd seed and five-time champion from 2004-2008, joins Novak Djokovic in the other half. That will be great news for Federer, who has struggled in recent times against Nadal and Murray but has basically owned Djokovic.

Potential Stumbling Blocks


Rafa Nadal has a pretty good section of the draw. He lies in the same quarter as Fernando Verdasco, though Verdasco is in wretched form coming in to the U.S. Open and I honestly don't see him reaching the quarter final stage. This is where my tip of the tournament comes in - David Nalbandian. He is the 31st seed. I think he could take care of Verdasco and then easily overcome Ferrer/Gulbis to set up a quarter final showdown with Nadal. Should Nadal manage to win, he is likely to face either Murray or Berdych in the semis. And that's where the first real threat to Murray's challenge will come from - the beast Tomas Berdych. As we saw at Wimbledon, he is capable of beating the very best players.

On the other side of the draw, Roger Federer is on a quarter final collision course with Robin Soderling, who beat him at that stage at the French Open earlier this year. Soderling is one of the most improved players on tour and Federer will have to be at the top of his game by that stage if he is to progress deeper through the draw. Novak Djokovic, the 3rd seed, seems to have a much trickier route to the latter stages with a potential 4th round tie against either Marcos Baghdatis or Mardy Fish (two of the form players from Cincinnati), followed by a possible quarter final with either Roddick or Davydenko. Should the Serb come through those testers, he is most likely to be met by the Swiss 16-time Grand Slam champion in the semis.

Surprise Packages


I really feel good about David Nalbandian. He went on a sensational 12-match winning streak through the hard court tournaments leading up to this event, and seems to be back to his best when he was in the world's top ten and challenging the best players in the world. I think he has a lovely section of the draw and could realistically get through to a tasty quarter final with Nadal. And if he can pull off a shock by claiming Nadal's scalp, he may just have the momentum and confidence to go on to the final.

The only other surprise I can see is Tomas Berdych. He should sail straight through to a quarter final with Murray. I'm sure he would have great incentive to beat the Scot as Nadal would likely be his opponent in the semis, where revenge for his Wimbledon final defeat would be on Big Tom's mind.

Prediction


Roger Federer is in great form coming in to this one. I think the key for his success here will be how he returns serve. In the past he has had the irritating tendency to just slice his returns half way up the court, leaving his opponents an easy put-away, time and time again. If he can read serve well and get some good deep returns in, he has every chance of lifting the title again. I would put Federer in the final to play against either Berdych or Nalbandian. Yes, I think Nadal just hasn't got what it takes to win the U.S. Open, and Murray's serve is far too susceptible to break-down when the pressure is on, and boy can Berdych exert pressure!

So Federer to win with some sharp tennis and good returning.

4 DAYS TO GO

Will Djokovic wilt in the heat or reign supreme?

Djokovic and Murray are worthy losers

So far in this tournament, players have got exactly what they deserve. Federer and Soderling tied up their groups in the first two games with some great tennis. Del Potro and Davydenko fought back after opening defeats to claim semi-final spots. Nadal and Verdasco were off the pace and finished bottom of their groups. Verdasco however, was a tad unlucky, losing two of his matches on final-set tiebreaks. But he simply didn't have the shots when it really mattered, and the same can be said for an unrecognisable Nadal.

And then we come to the two clowns of tennis, Novak Joker-vic and Andy 'never-win-a-major' Murray. Murray's disrespectful comments about his match with Federer coupled with his ridiculous insistence that his career is not just about winning competitions, got their just desserts - a beating from Rog followed by elimination from the competition. He couldn't have asked for more.

Novak Joker-vic was no better, but this time the joke was well and truly on him. His kamikaze against Soderling in a supposed effort to save his energy for the Nadal match, dramatically backfired. Little did he know that giving up so easily took matters out of his own hands. Davydenko duly beat Soderling in his final match, dumping Joker-vic out of the tournament. And that's exactly what he deserves for causing such embarrassment to Soderling, to himself, and to the tournament.

Good riddance to Murray and Joker-vic. Tennis doesn't need you.

ATP Tour Finals

The tennis tour finals is almost upon us, and the draw has thrown up some tantalizing matches in the group stage. World number one Roger Federer has been paired with Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray, Argentine scum-bag Del Potro, and Fernando Verdasco.

In the other group meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is matched up with three players who have all recently beaten him. His rivalry with Swede Soderling continues after he entered through the backdoor due to Roddick's injury. The Spanish bull will also face Novak Djokovic, who gave him a good stuffing last week, and Nikolay Davydenko (Mr. Consistency) who beat him well a few weeks ago.

It all starts on Sunday November 22nd, 2009 and I can't wait. In the back of my mind, I really worry for Rog as he just seems a bit off the pace at the moment, but I am reminded that Rog is a winner through and through, he wants Grand Slams and is not really bothered about inferior tournaments - those are for Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray. But on the flipside, I'm hopeful that Federer's period of rest will stand him in good stead and that he will produce his best tennis when it really matters.

The end of year finals is still a good tournament to win, but it doesn't really signify anything special nor accurately predict the outcome of the upcoming year. (Just take Murray's victory in last year's Shanghai finals and contrast that with his performance in 2009)

Anyway, whatever competition he is playing in, I want him to win. COME ON ROG!!!

US Open semi-finals

Waking up this morning I knew that Del Potro had stunned Nadal by taking the first set 6-2. I remember the fist-pump I executed. Just like a traditional Nadal fist-pump, but in favour of the Argentinian. It's not often that I find myself cheering on an Argentinian, but Del Potro was the subject of my very best wishes last night.

Heading straight to Skysports this morning, I was somewhat surprised by the shocking scoreline, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to the 20-year-old Del Potro! At the same time I was ecstatic that the Spaniard had fallen and wouldn't be in the final against Federer.

For yes, Federer has made his 6th straight final at Flushing Meadows, with a straight sets win over the professional imitator, not so good tennis player, Novak Joker-vic. The final score read 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 in Rog's favour.

Fed is looking in great form and I'm extremely confident that he will sweep aside Juan Martin Del Potro in Monday's final. After all, the Swiss has never lost a Grand Slam final to anyone other than Nadal, and I don't see that record ending here.

Del Potro will have shocked himself by coming this far, but experience, class, talent, and big-match nerves all lie with Federer. I'm expecting a close final at the start, but nevertheless a straight sets victory for the great man.

Here is Federer with a magic moment near the end of his semi-final with Novak Joker-vic...

U.S. Open latest

There have been many surprises and shocks so far in this years U.S. Open Grand Slam. Notable players such as Dinara Safina, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic (I detest her), Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick (hahaha!), Stanislas Wawrinka and James Blake are all now watching the remaining rounds on TV like me.

I was particularly delighted to see the back of Andy Roddick's latest challenge to win a Grand Slam. He had his chance earlier at Wimbledon and I'm sorry to say he'll never get a better one. He is destined to finish his career as a 'one-slam-wonder'. Maybe 'wonder' isn't the right word. With success being measured by the number of Grand Slam wins, I'm afraid he, Murray and Djokovic have miles to go in order to even be remembered in 10 or 20 years' time.

Novak Djokovic struggled through his 3rd round match with the unknown Witten, whilst Murray, somewhat disappointingly for me, eased his way past Taylor Dent this morning. It wasn't even worth Dent turning up.

I had a great time watching the walking circus known as Vera Zvonareva. Her emotional breakdown after failing to convert zero of six match points was extremely entertaining. She was shouting at herself, hitting herself on the head, smashing her racquet around, messing with these bandages on her knees, ripping it half off, then at the interval having a new one strapped on. Then in the following game off it came again, well part of it at least. Then she was covering her head with her towel, hitting balls against the back wall, and it goes on and on.

Teenager Melanie Oudin has caused quite a stir, eliminating both Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova in consecutive rounds with some blinding tennis that has caught many by surprise. She is one to watch for the immediate future, with another possible shock on the cards as she next takes on Nadia Petrova.

Nadal, Del Potro, Tsonga and Gonzalez all made it through and are placed in the same half of the draw along with Murray, making it terribly tough for all of them to fit into the one final berth.

And then we are left with the great man, Roger Federer. He laboured through his match with Hewitt and must have been glad to see Robredo defeat Blake, whom he will be facing tomorrow morning. Federer's half of the draw is much more straight forward though, with a possible QF against Davydenko or Soderling, with Djokovic or Verdasco as his most likely SF opponent, neither of which will give him too much trouble.

So it's looking good for Federer although he really must improve his performance and cut out the errors from now on if he is to triumph for the 6th consecutive time here. On the women's side, Kim Clijsters is in great shape, underlined by her victory over Venus Williams, although she is on course for a SF showdown with sister Serena. Svetlana Kuznetsova is the only big name left on the other side of the draw and must see this as a great chance to add to her Grand Slam collection.

All in all, it's been a great competition so far and I'm looking forward to the thrills yet to come. I'm confident Federer is able to up his game whenever he needs to, and I'm sure he will comfortably make the final. As long as he's not up against Nadal, I feel he will have no problems emerging triumphant again. If Nadal manages to control his knees and reach the final, we could be in for another epic.

Sit back and enjoy the U.S. Open!

Federer wins in Cincinnati

Roger Federer brushed aside Serbia's fourth ranked Novak Djokovic in a thrilling display at the Western and Southern Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, early this morning.

Federer has now beaten Nadal in the Madrid Masters in May, and both Murray and Djokovic in the last two days. They were all done in straight sets, and the Swiss has now sent out his warning for the upcoming U.S. Open in New York.

Federer cruised through the first set thanks to his precise, accurate hitting and perfect timing of his shots, in particular a laser-like cross-court forehand that gave Djokovic all sorts of problems. The Swiss was looking sharp and deadly, and made Djokovic's stunning performance against Nadal yesterday look very much like a one-off.

This was the fourth best player in the world, being given the run-around and a harsh lesson in tennis excellence.

Djokovic did up his game at the beginning of the second set however, racing into a 3-0 lead, only for the Swiss champion to haul him in immediately to level it up at 3-3.

It seemed Federer could break at will, and as Djokovic continued to miss first serves, it was inevitable that the Swiss would take advantage. It came in the 11th game, and Federer served out for a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

He is enjoying his tennis and looked relaxed and comfortable throughout. He is one-up on all of his major rivals going in to the U.S. Open, and I wouldn't bet against him sweeping everyone aside on his way to a 6th consecutive title at Flushing Meadows.

GO ROG!!!