Blog Flashbacks Saturday

On this weekend a year ago, in September 2010, I posted some information about the nature of my blog and published images of our home as it was then. It was interesting to see how much it has changed in just a year!

Our home called Kuantan, September 2010

In September 2009, I was, as I am currently, busy watching great tennis from the U.S. Open. I'm a Federer loyalist and he is looking good this year. A couple of years ago he had just beaten Djokovic in the semis to book a final meeting with Juan Martin Del Potro, who famously beat my man in 5 close sets. 

Roger Federer performing a "tweener" - a shot hit between the legs with his back to the court. This shot was a sensational winner, flying straight past Djokovic!

Federer's semi-final from 2009

I'm hoping that Federer can go all the way this year. He may be 30, he may have 2 young children, but he's still got the star quality!

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!

Federer passes Sod test

It is with added delight and pleasure that I announce the following result from the U.S. Open:


Soderling     4     4     5
Federer       6     6     7

Yes, Roger Federer, the 16-time Grand Slam champion, issued a timely reminder to the players remaining in the running, that he is very much in this competition to win it, and that any lingering thoughts that he's past his best can be discarded completely. With Soderling himself boasting that Federer is beatable by anybody, at least in the top 10, and commentator Luke Jensen, quite strangely backing Soderling to win this year's U.S. Open, the Swiss Maestro produced a performance to silence all doubters in their mumurings.

The gusty conditions were menacing in the Arthur Ashe stadium, and Soderling was clearly struggling to come to terms with them, his serve nowhere near the potent weapon that it usually is. In big games, we talk about big points, and boy was Federer sharp on the important moments of the match. He broke the big Swede's serve at the first time of asking in the 7th game of the opener, executing a delightful drop-shot to catch Soderling off guard.

At the start of the 2nd set the two players exchanged breaks in the 3rd and 4th games before Federer broke again in the 5th game. Soderling was 40-0 up and cruising only to miss a routine overhead smash, dumping it into the net with the court at his mercy. And he paid dearly for that horrendous error, as Federer went on to convert his 3rd break point out of 3 attempts. The Swiss found himself way out of court as he executed a wonderful slice backhand cross-court, and when Soderling sliced it back he made the forehand winner back into the far corner.

Federer was starting to play with more confidence and ease and looked every inch the champion he is. A little surprisingly though, it was Soderling who drew first blood in the 3rd set when he broke Federer at a critical time to lead 5-3 and serve for the set. But Federer rallied and immediately levelled when Soderling hit a forehand into the net at 30-40. Federer held serve with a string of 2nd serves and then proceeded to break the Swede's resolve again as a backhand drifted wide in the wind at 30-40. Five breaks out of six opportunities showed just how deadly Federer was when the chances came his way. The Great Man served out the match to my utter delight! He moves on to a semi-final showdown with Novak Djokovic.

When asked post-match how he was able to serve so well in the blustery conditions, he put it down to a lot of practice before remarking, "You can wake me up at 2 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the morning and I can hit serves." He hit 18 aces to Soderling's 2, a huge discrepancy in Federer's favour.

If he serves that efficiently and takes his break point chances with such precision in the following 2 matches, his legendary status in the game may just elevate even further.

Federer Smells The Bacon

Day 8 at the U.S. Open saw Roger Federer in 4th round action against 13th seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria. Federer was made to work by the Austrian who came out all guns blazing and kept them blazing for the entire two hours on court. Federer however, could "smell the bacon" and took the meal at the right moments, breaking the Austrian's serve but not his resolve.

To Melzer's credit, he kept battling and pushing Federer, in particular, with some excellent return of serves rushing the great champion, but to his detriment, his attempting to hit winners off every single ball, led to far too many unforced errors, and made him look rather unprofessional and inexperienced. Federer did what was required and won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.

Elsewhere, Robin Soderling survived an early setback against Montanes to win in 4, whilst Djokovic ended the American dream run of Mardy Fish. The impressive 'Ree-shard' Gasquet was beaten by compatriot Gael Monfils, surprisingly in straight sets, after which they hugged and kissed, and parted ways.

Monfils will play Djokovic in one quarter final while Federer will meet familiar foe Soderling in the other. Soderling is an extremely dangerous player and the Swiss must be wary and have a game plan prepared, but Federer is smelling the bacon, and looks set to progress to the latter stages this time.

The Ever-widening Gulf between Great Rivals Federer and Roddick

Day 3 at the U.S. Open

Janko Tipsarevic put on a magnificent performance to oust Andy Roddick at the 2nd round of the U.S. Open Wednesday night. After the American took the opening set, it was all Tipsarevic (Tipsy), as he overcame not only his fiery opponent, but a hostile Arthur Ashe crowd too. The combative Serb showcased all of his marvellous groundstrokes, court coverage and stiff mental strength to triumph in front of a packed American crowd.

The controversy which sparked Roddick to life came as he was serving at 2-5 in the third set. He was called for a foot-fault by the woman on the baseline, and this triggered an enraged Roddick into a lengthy rant against her. At first, as is typical with Roddick, it was hilarious, but when it persisted between every point of his service game, it became extremely distasteful, embarrassing, and, I hazard to say, terribly unsportsmanlike.

Thankfully Tipsy kept his cool and subsequently served out the set for a 2-1 lead to silence the crowd. That was only after Roddick began shouting "C'mon" after Tipsy netted a forehand at love-all and 5-3. That demonstrated no class at all.

Tipsy took the match on a tiebreak in the 4th, and I was delighted with Tipsy's great mental strength and real top class performance.

As I've said on a number of occasions, Federer broke Roddick's career in the 2009 Wimbledon final. The American will never recover from that heartbreak and it's only downhill for him from now. However, Roddick has been one of Federer's greatest opponents and rivals over the years, and they have played each other numerous times in the latter stages of Grand Slams.

And so we come to the comparison between these two players who have entertained us with so many top-class duels. There are so many differences between these two great competitors which explains why one of them is a "one-slam-wonder" and the other is the greatest champion to ever pick up a racquet.

Federer is the more natural player with fantastic natural talent, the sort of guy you can imagine holding a tennis racquet in his mother's womb, whereas Roddick's play has been engineered over the years. This is one of the main reasons why Roddick needs matches under his belt and plenty of practice to have the momentum going into a Grand Slam (GS), and Federer doesn't. Federer is one of the few blessed athletes where the talent is completely natural. He can go through a few poor smaller tournaments yet still turn it on at the GS stage. At any given time he can perform on the biggest stage.

Unlike Roddick, Federer has every shot in the book and possesses so much variety in his play. Forehand down the line, cross-court, backhand, overhead smash, efficient serve, backhand slice, forehand slice, top-spin, drop-shot, volley, even 'between-the-legs'! He just knows when to play the right shot - and even grander - how to execute it exquisitely too. Roddick has an awesome serve, but not too much else to worry anyone.

Next, and one of the most glaring differences between the two, is mental strength. Roddick has far too many moments where his emotions get the better of him, and he becomes more worried about patronising umpires and linesmen than getting his game together. However, these rushes of adrenaline don't tend to be long-lasting. On the other hand, Federer is a master of the mind. How he remains so cool in the tensest of situations is beyond me. He doesn't give anything away and his face always stays the same. He doesn't allow himself to get "too high" or "too low" mentally. Roddick is all about a saga of ups and downs, the mindset constantly shifting.

As a result, Federer is one of the best players who, after a bad point, can immediately hit back with a great play. This is because he trusts himself completely. He has a consummate trust and belief in his own ability and talent, a supreme confidence in his shots, that he doesn't have to change the way he plays, or deviate from his natural style. He's so good at blocking out the last point and focusing on the next. Roddick, however, is prone to allowing a bad shot or a faulty call to frustrate him and affect his performance.

While Roddick has improved over recent years, you just have to feel that the Wimbledon final of 2009 was a career-defining moment for both the American and the Swiss. For Roddick, he performed to his absolute peak and still somehow managed to end up losing. It was a shattering moment for him, and it's arguable that he has reached the pinnacle of his powers and can't really play any better than that. It's only downhill from here.

For Roger, it marked a history-defining instant, breaking Sampras' record of GS titles and really, coming full circle, after winning his very first GS title at Wimbledon in 2003. After becoming the owner of the most GS titles in history, he cemented his place as a legend of the game. His legacy, right there, was completed, from 0-15 GS titles in exactly 6 years. 6 years of tennis changed over 100 years of history. Whatever he achieves now is just an added bonus to a truly astonishing career. He has nothing left to prove to anybody. Deep down, he probably would love to beat Nadal in one more GS final, but the quest for Gs titles however, doesn't centre around one opponent - there are many threats to Federer in today's game.

When considering Federer's glittering career, there is a magical, mystical feeling wrapped in the word 'destiny' that occupies my mind. It's hard to describe in words. He was destined to reach 15 GS titles. Now he stands at 16. How much further can his enchanting career take him? He certainly has superior levels of fitness and health to carry him for another 3 or 4 years at the least.

It's a great wonder what pushes Federer on, now that he has achieved everything possible. Certainly it's not money. Having amassed over 50 million pounds in prize money, he could live his life several times over on the interest alone. So when money is not the motivation, what is? It's a real conundrum. He needs one more week at the top of the tree to equal Sampras' record of total number of weeks as the #1 player in the world. He doesn't possess an Olympic gold medal in the singles event. (He did win Olympic gold with compatriot Wawrinka in Beijing 2008 in the doubles tournament).

So there are not really too many more records of note to claim either. Perhaps it's about protecting his spot at the top of the GS table from a certain Mr. Nadal. The more Federer can snatch now while Nadal is at his peak, the less likely it will be for Nadal to catch him in the future. Or anybody else for that matter, because after Nadal, there is nobody even close to him on the GS ladder:

*Roddick: 1 GS

*Djokovic: 1 GS

*Del Potro: 1 GS

*Murray: 0 GS

*Soderling: 0 GS

*Berdych: 0 GS

Certainly nobody in this generation will cause Federer to shift uncomfortably on his throne at the head of history.

Just how much higher he can ascend is essentially up to him.

Federer's touch of class

Day 1 at the U.S. Open saw Lleyton Hewitt exit at the expense of Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in a five set fight. Robin Soderling, the 5th seed, also endured a five set battle whilst Roddick and Davydenko also made it through.

But it was the night session that really spruced up the crowd. Roger Federer enjoyed a relaxed win over Brian Dabul, but one point will live long in the memory. If anybody thought that his stunning bewteen-the-legs winner against Joker-vic in last year's semi-final was possibly a wild fluke, they were most definitely silenced this morning.

The Swiss Master, at the net after hitting a slice forehand to the corner, soon found himself running back past the baseline chasing a lob from Dabul. With astounding hand-eye co-ordination and dexterity, he pulled off a remarkably difficult 'between-the-legs' (or should I say "tree-trunks") volley which sailed over the net and down the line for a winner, leaving a bewildered Dabul shrugging his shoulders in a helpless gesture to the crowd.

The difficulty in even making contact with the ball in this situation is high, never mind managing to hit it between your legs, missing your legs with the racquet, achieving a clean hit on the ball. If that were it, that feat in itself would be quite remarkable. But Federer managed to hit the ball between his legs with his back to the court, just over the net, and inside the right tramline for a winner. Twice in two years - twice in two attempts! No fluke!

I really enjoyed the great commentary on Starsports, they described in great detail the various shots and strategies, but the best line of commentary came in one of the plethora of lines about Roger Federer. In describing the fact that Federer has the ideal body for prolonged tennis fitness, the voice offered: "If you look at his legs, he's got some real tree-trunks!" I loved that line! He does have some good calves, I must say. Thanks commentary team for the awesome coverage!

This is not quite the best angle, but I believe these are the 'tree-trunks' in question!

Federer in his prime

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.

U.S. Open Men's Singles Final

Well, I must admit that I wasn't going to bother writing a piece on the U.S. Open Men's final. I was prepared to just feel bitter, drown my sorrows with some silent treatment for half a day, and keep replaying in my mind where it went wrong.

Yes, Juan Martin Del Potro caused a major upset by overcoming Roger Federer in this morning's U.S. Open final. It went the distance to 5 sets, the Argentine coming from behind to prevail 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

It was pretty hard to take defeat, as it always is, although not quite as difficult as Federer's loss in the Aussie Open final earlier in the year while he was still chasing Sampras' record. Now he's the Grand Slam outright record holder, it's not as bad. After mouthing some negative remarks about Del Potro and Argentinians being cheats, I realised that he really did play a great game, was nerveless and handled the pressure well. Maybe Rog had other things on his mind, his daughters perhaps; maybe he's the tiniest bit more relaxed or complacent now that he's over the Grand Slam record hill; or it might just be that Del Potro took his chances and played better today.

Congratulations to him, but he'll find it tough to keep up these sort of performances and win more Grand Slams. (Look what's happened to Roddick and Djokovic).

For Federer, he must now analyse his defeat and assess what went wrong, and come back better and stronger for next year's Australian Open. The tennis world is becoming increasingly intriguing, with more young players rising through the ranks to emerge as top challengers.

Just as a footnote, 5 of the top 6 players in the world now hold Grand Slam titles. Federer has 15, Nadal 6, Roddick 1, Joker-vic 1, Del Potro 1. But who's missing from the list? Yes that's right, Andy 'cannot-win-a-major' Murray. He must be feeling pretty down after this morning's events. He is not part of the current elite group. How many more chances does he need to win one? How many more times will he be hyped up only to easily fall each time? Del Potro has made the breakthrough at the tender age of 20.

We look forward now to the end of season Masters Series in London where the top 8 ranked players will battle it out to finish as 2009 champion.

I wouldn't be surprised if Murray wins it. The others have got to let him win something, although what would it prove about him as a player or about his season? Absolutely nothing.

So long.

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...

Falling Stars?

Is Andy Murray even a star in the first place? Anyway, more seeds continue to fall in the early rounds at Flushing Meadows. This time it's Mr. Predictable, Andy Murray who is so good at talking up his chances, yet so awful in delivering.

It was hilarious to hear the news of his thrashing by some Croat most of us have not heard of. 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 is a comprehensive beating, and all this idle talk that Murray is finally ready to win a Grand Slam can finally be put to bed again. I really don't know where these supposed tennis experts get all this rubbish from. What has Murray done on the big stage to merit him being ready to win a Grand Slam?

Nothing.

That's one tricky player out of the way for Federer. I'll just be looking for Nadal to run out of steam in one of his next three possible matches against top players, and then the title will surely be going to Federer yet again.

In Andy Murray's case, the media hype most probably doesn't help, especially when he is only an average player who wins the small tournaments but can't handle the big time.

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's Fabulous Fifteen

Here is the amazing Roger Federer with his 15 Grand Slam titles. The greatest tennis player in history with the trophies to show it.