Spoiler ahead:
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No great surprises in the Federer v. Nadal match. Federer simply doesn’t believe he can beat Nadal.
I wish Azarenka would lose because she abuses my ears.
ETA: Well, looks like Sharapova is in the finals, too. Honestly, I wish the crowd would start mocking them in between points. Just start shrieking like banshees. I wonder if it would fluster them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t he just beat him in the championship series a few months ago? That is a really big setting, too.
Having said that, I am disappointed. I really wanted to see Fed in the final vs.(I assume) Murray.
I didn’t expect the semis to be played so soon (as in both the US Open and Wimbledon they play the final on Sunday, semis Friday night or Saturday morning).
Yes, it’s a big setting, but the gap between the majors and the ATP 1000 events is huge. The Big 4 are the ones that the players covet. The Big 4 will put them in the history books.
Cincinnati hosts an ATP 1000 event (which I have great seats for, BTW :)), which is as big as they get except for the majors, and I can personally testify that the very top players do not take these titles very seriously. Some, like Serena, make a token appearance so that they don’t get fined, and then deliberately lose in the early rounds. She did that just this past August, feigning a toe injury two days before she was photographed dancing at Kim Kardashian’s wedding. In high heels.
Others, like Nadal and Djokovic, whose competitive spirit makes them unwilling to just throw a match, may make it to the latter rounds, but it’s obvious to everyone that the longer they stick around at the warm-up events, the less fresh they will be for the major one. And the more likely that they’ll do something stupid, like tear a knee. So they might give it 70 or 80%. And they won’t grind through the pain like Clijsters just did in Australia.
The sheer number of mandatory tournaments is one of the reasons that many players want to shorten the season. They simply can’t give it 100%, make it to the finals on Sunday, and then have to report to the next tournament in a day or two. It’s a compete disadvantage to the better players.
The second men’s semi-final is proving quite riveting. It seemed quite certain that Murray was in for a thrashing early in the second set, and yet he’s just pulled it back and it’s now one set a piece.
Murray two sets to one up now.
Yes, it’s a real nail-biter, isn’t it? Unfortunately I need to be up early tomorrow morning, so I’m going to have to go to bed now.
This is the first time I’ve got to see Murray play the entire tournament because US coverage is so US-centered. Why show Murray’s match when we can watch Andy Roddick, who has been on the downslide for years, retire from a match? It drives me nuts.
I love watching these two play each other. They both are so talented – they can serve, play from the baseline, move in, take overheads, drop shot, slice, dice, cut, drive. Such high quality tennis and a great mental challenge, too.
Hope the final is worthy after these awesome semis.
I guess the battle of the shriekers is tonight. Sigh. An Aussie commentator is asking the crowd to walk out in protest of the shrieking. I wish they’d take another tactic: stay and mock them after every point. Just have the crowd go crazy with shrieks in between points. Give them a taste of how obnoxious it is.
Murray played an incredible match…and still lost. Murray is well on the way to becoming Djoker’s Roddick. Its like watching Fed 7 or so years ago. A player would play out of his skin and still lose as Fed would raise his game.
Djokovic looked pretty vulnerable in a few places. It would be interesting to look back at the scores when Fed was in his prime to see if he ever had 5 set matches in his finals. I recall him being unbeatable, but I don’t remember if he had a lot of challenges except for a few notable ones (v. Roddick and Nadal).
It. Is. Going. To. Be. AWESOME!!
SKREE! Wooooo! SKREE! Wooooo! SKREE! Wooooo! SKREE! Wooooo! SKREE! Wooooo! SKREE! Wooooo!
Seriously, it is going to be hilarious. At least if you are in the right frame of mind :p.
I recall one defeat to Safin (also at the Oz) and a couple of 5 sets semis.
I wasn’t expecting it to be funny, but it really is distractingly hilarious. It’s like bird-song.
I was wondering what woke me up out a deep slumber very early this morning.
Congratz to Victoria, new number in the world.
Wozniacki falls from #1 to #4. behind Azarenka, Kvitova, and Sharapova.
That final was astonishing, nearly 6 hours long and brim full of great tennis.
I was amazed that Djokovic lasted so well. After that mammoth encounter with Murray two days ago I was expecting him to wilt. Not a bit of it.
He is no.1 and he played like no.1. He fully deserved it.
The men’s tournaments are throwing up such astonishing games with amazing regularity. It is such a contrast with the women’s game which, if anything, is going backwards. As I understand it, the women’s final wasn’t even sold out.
Wow, what a match, I have only watched the last two sets, the last set was remarkable tennis.
The trophy presentation was almost painful. Novak and Rafa were obviously cramping up. Finally, someone came in and brought chairs and water for the players. I was fully expecting one (or both) of them to fall to the ground writhing in pain.
Off the court, I really like Novak. I just wish he wasn’t such a drama queen on the court.
This was great, but I can’t help thinking that if I were Nadal, I’d stop trying to beat him at his own game…from the baseline. He has to go to the net, hire pete Sampras to give him some kind of a serve and volley game. At his best, Sampras could have shortcircuited Novak’s game by finishing the points at the net.
Kudos to Novak – that was some display.
Rafa, keep at it. 
[Was at the Rolex hence missed this]
I wish someone would inspire a renaissance of serving-and-volleying.
