I still think Nadal is playing way, way better than last year. He’s still the favorite, but I think Soderling has a shot.
That’s actually kind of a head-slapper because he’s the only guy to beat Nadal at the French Open, period. But yeah, it shows that Soderling has finally put it together. Beating the two top dogs in consecutive years is very impressive, more so that he’s doing this on clay when he’s never seemed like a natural clay court player. Berdych is dangerous (he beat Federer at the Olympics in Athens many moons ago) but I don’t think he’s put it together like Soderling has. The chances of a Soderling-Nadal rematch are very high, Djokovic notwithstanding.
I just read the news a minute back. Federer’s semi-final streak is one of the greatest achievements in all of sports. I will be surprised if it’s broken in my lifetime.
Watched some of the women’s quarterfinals, in particular Schiavone defeating Wozniacki. Talk about a beauty and the beast match. Based on the number of closeups the producers kept showing of the Italian, I’m convinced they’re a bunch of sadists. Oofa.
Federer’s streak is like Gretzky’s points. Just on a completely different level than the rest of the sport. Second place is a tie between two players (Lendl and Rod Laver), and if you combine their streaks into one Federer’s still beats it handily. It is a nigh-superhuman streak.
Tip of the hat to you.
Who?
I know who he is, just a little commentary on how he’s been kind of out of the spotlight for a while now.
Wow, wow, wow. That was an awesome match. Soderling was en FUEGO! He had Federer running around like a madman.
I think Soderling had a clear advantage with the rain delay. Federer was talking to the TTC commentators in between the beginning and end of the match and he was looking very relaxed and upbeat, talking about how his life has balance now and he’s having a lot of fun. Meanwhile, I think Soderling was concentrating on how he was going to finally spank Federer. I don’t think Federer knew what hit him. Had he been able to have the entire match played at once, he would have had time to figure out how to regroup. He just didn’t have time because it was like playing two 2-setters, with a tiebreak in the middle.
Hats off to Soderling though. He looked as sharp as delPotro looked in the US Open last year. Of course, he’s going to have a tough match against Nadal, because Nadal is a master on clay, assuming they both make it to the finals. Nadal can get to balls that even Fed can’t.
On another note, did you see the awful behavior of Dementieva and Petrova? I’ve long expressed my frustration with this idiotic injury time out. If they think they have to keep it (because of the players’ union or whatever) TPTB really need to implement some sort of penalty for calling for a time-out, such as a lost game. To have back-to-back timeouts is so bad for the fans.
…followed by a warm-up! Heh, I was laughing my ass off. I knew I forgot something in my previous post.
I think both timeouts were bullshit, but I wasn’t paying close attention. Was Dementiava’s timeout legit, do you think?
Hers was the first one, correct? If so, I am willing to be optimistic and say hers was legit. Petrova’s on the other hand is blatant BS.
I thought I saw Petrova with a “this is bullshit” expression on her face as Dementiava first stood up to go to the locker room, but I didn’t manage to hear the announcers’ opinions on if it was legit or not. I did hear them endlessly crucifying both players during the warmup (HA!) but it seemed like they were blaming anyone and everyone for that, including the WTA itself.
[shallow NFM]
Oofa Indeed. Shudder. I was wondering why I had never seen this 29 yr old player before when the match started…and then a closeup. Mega shudder.
No idea about Shvedova who is playing Jankovic tomorrow. I hope she is a hottie.
[/shallow NFM]
Stosur took the first set off Serena easily. She went up 0-40 in Serena’s first service game in the second set and had two more break points in her second game. Stosur seems to be holding serve easily. Seems like Stosur should just get the one break and finish it off, but these things can turn around so fast. Nobody can hold serve in the Jankovic-Shvedova match, but Jankovic won the first set and they’re even in the second.
Getting close in the Stosur/ Williams game.
Jankovic made it to the finals. Serena pulled a real Serena: she did eventually lose her serve, but she broke Stosur when Stosur served for the match. The set went to a tiebreak and Serena won easily. Some opponents would wilt after that disappointment, but Stosur hasn’t. They’re at 4-4 in the third set.
Stosur breaks Serena at 6-6 in the 3rd. the last two points were remarkable. Wow.
Getting very exciting. Go Sam.
Stosur did it, 8-6 in the third. She did a great job of hanging with Serena and just by the score this looks like a terrific match. I like her to beat Jankovic in the finals. The first men’s match is now underway. Djokovic took the first set off Melzer.
Stosur has done far better than I ever thought possible (not that I really follow tennis). Great.
I blew that. I should’ve said Stosur gets Jankovic in the semifinals. But I think she’ll win play Dementieva in the finals and win the whole thing.
Being patriotic here, when was the last time an Australian lady went this far in the French Open? Was it Evonne Goolagong? (I saw her win Wimbledon on TV- no idea how she went in the French Open.)
Heh- I think it may have been Wendy Turnbull.