Did anyone see that foot fault called on Marat Safin today? I’ve seen a lot of bad calls in my tennis-viewing life, but never one that bad.
I hope the video of it goes up on youtube. He was called for a center line foot fault, the linesman claiming his foot went too far left while serving. Upon TV review, it wasn’t even close to it!
Needless to say, Safin went ballistic. Frankly, he ought to. Horrible, horrible, call.
I’m watching the match but missed it. They keep talking about it, but they’re not showing the replay. The commentary seems to be implying that the call was good, but the rule is bizarre/obscure, and never enforced.
I have never heard of this rule.
Safin’s foot was slightly and partially left of the line(half of his heel basically). Then he tossed the ball and went through his motion, all the way right of the line.
They are saying that if you start any part of the motion with even an inch across the line, this is a fault.
Bizarre, rare, and stupid.
I walked in just as they were bringing Safin back on the court after the incident. I didn’t get to see the replay of it. If he didn’t step over the line or even touch it, then there was no fault, but you can’t step on or over the center line when serving. That technically is a fault.
I am just glad Safin has pulled his head out of his butt and started playing some decent tennis again. I think he is jealous of his sister’s success and that is what motivated him to quit chasing skirts and take tennis seriously again.
I’m probably in the minority but I’ve really had enough of Federer/Nadal. They are both likable guys, but I would LOVE to see someone like Tommy Haas come out of Nowhere. I’m not sure either Nadal or Federer will be in the final anyhow. Nadal never plays well at the US Open and Fed is off this year.
Here’s my picks:
Djokovic and Murray in the final…Murray takes it. (just to piss off the media…)
Murray has a few more years of growing up before I can get behind him. I don’t care for his spoiled brat persona.
I want to see Fed break Sampras’ record. I think Nadal is a nice guy and all, but I don’t care much for his style of play. Yes, he is fast and he can hit the ball hard, but there is just no variety in his play. I miss the old s&v guys.
I think Djokovic will get to the final, he seems to do well on the hard courts.
Haas looked good today, but it wont last.
Did anyone watch McEnroe & the other announcer talking right before Federer’s match last night? If so, did you happen to notice the Red Sox/Yankees game was playing on a monitor right behind them during their entire segment? I thought that was pretty funny.
I agree with your first point. Federer is cool and talented and probably the best of all time. He should(and probably will) beat Sampras’ record and I want to see it.
Nadal does have style, however. He can get to just about any shot and return it in amazing ways. Again, he seems like a nice guy and he genuinely is playing better than Roger. He isn’t better than Roger, however. He’s just playing better now.
I guess we will have to just agree to agree and disagree.
I completely agree that Nadal is fast and tracks down shots he has no business getting to, but I still maintain he has very little variety. He comes to net only if he is forced to, only slices on the defense, never hits an offense lob, never changes the pace of the ball.
Having said that, I have to admit I do have huge respect him for being able to accomplish what he has given that he isn’t really an all court player.
Did anyone else watch the Ana Ivanovic/Julie Coin match today? What an upset!
I was pretty thrilled to see Coin beat Ivanovic. I’m not vested in either one, but I like seeing the #188 player beat the #1 player.
I wasn’t all that surprised to be honest. She hasn’t played well at all since wimbledon and the theory is that she had a cyst on her thumb or some such thing and hasn’t played in a while. I never saw her winning this thing.
I’m disappointed to see her go, nonetheless because if there’s a more beautiful woman in the world, I’ve got no idea who it might be.
About that…they keep saying that 1967 was the last time a #1 seed lost in the second round but not who it was. Does anyone know who the players were in that match?
The #1 seed in 1967 was Maria Bueno but I don’t know the other player.
Bringing this thread back after some excellent matches yesterday. Federer was off his game against Andreev, but the crowd was squarely behind him and he cut loose more than you’d expect. I really liked seeing him come to the net that often. He fought off a tough challenge to hold for (I think) 5-2. Now he’s got a rematch with Gilles Muller, who beat him earlier this summer.
Djokovic looks really gassed, and he’s got Roddick next. Normally I’d bet on Djokovic there, but I don’t see him surviving that one, with his energy running low and the crowd in Roddick’s corner.
Minor correction: it was Gilles Simon who beat Federer a few weeks ago, not Gilles Muller.
Anyway, the Williams sisters played a hell of a match last night. I thought it was disappointing that Venus couldn’t close out either set, especially when she had so many chances in the second, but it was an intense match with a lot of great shotmaking and compares very favorably to any other match they’ve played.
Djokovic-Roddick should be very exciting tonight.
Federer just took a tight first set from Muller. His shotmaking looked as good as I’ve seen in a while - in the last few games and the tiebreak, there were two or three shots Muller appeared to miss just because he couldn’t believe Federer had returned the previous ball. Federer did miss two or three makeable shots, but only by inches, which indicates to me that his timing was closer to the on position than it had been in his last few matches. The court coverage looked good, too.