Despite this(or perhaps because of it), I do consider this the golden age of tennis. Those four guys are just so much above the rest. Good on Ferrer, Del Potro, and Soderling for even cracking in once in awhile.
It’s a remarkable time for tennis. Next year shouldn’t be any less interesting. Murray has a Slam victory to build on, there’s the mystery of what Nadal’s comeback will look like, and I think del Potro is still getting better.
Very interesting final. It’s on ESPN2, folks.
Novak wins the year-end final. Good for him.
Federer had a chance to extend that one to a third set, but Djokovic turned it on at the right time. Great last point, too. That firms up his lead in the rankings going into next year. Don’t blink and miss the offseason!
No kidding. The Aussise Open is in two months. This is about all the break these guys get.
I watched most of last night’s match and it really was some incredible tennis. If Djokovic wasn’t so good you could almost say Federer choked - he gave away a winning position in the first set with unforced errors, and in the second set I felt his heart wasn’t really in it - it was almost like he was burned out already, and thinking that he really didn’t quite want to take it to a third. After he won that amazing point where he tracked back and hit a cross-court pass where the ball was almost behind him when he struck it, he should have moved on and won that game and the set. The difference was that when Djokovic broke back at the end of the second, he smelled weakness and realised that if he took a little bit more risk, he could capitalise and kill the match there and then - and he duly did so.
But I am loading very high expectations on to Federer, of course. I think you can easily make the argument that at this level, there is virtually no such thing as an unforced error (Djokovic’s volley that went out by a yard with almost the whole court to aim for excepted :)) - you know that unless your groundstrokes are within 2 feet of the baseline and 2 inches over the top of the net, the other guy will capitalise, possibly with an immediate winner. As such, is clipping the top of the net or being out by an inch really an unforced error?
Also, I do appreciate the schedule is punishing, but having two months off (well, probably one month if you want to be in decent condition for Oz) doesn’t sound too bad to me for the amount they get paid. I’m not saying they don’t deserve their pay, just that I find it hard to be sympathetic!
I wonder why they don’t move the whole calendar forward by a month so that the players can relax and enjoy Christmas a bit more? I guess it would be too difficult now to change the dates of all the events.
This year’s winner of the Davis Cup?
The Czech Republic
Gotta’ love that. Good for them.
An update on Robin Soderling, who hopes to get back on tour but accepts that it might not happen. Earlier this month a player a little younger than Soderling, former doubles world #1 Gisela Dulko, announced her retirement.