Originally Posted by Ellis Dee View Post
Personally, I think Serena knew Kim was going to win and decided to take the penalty point instead of letting Kim beat her fair and square. Then again, I very much dislike the Williams sisters, so I’m biased to view Serena in the worst possible light.
While Serena is not my favorite person, I don’t dislike her with the venom most people do.
I have no way of knowing what was going through her mind last night, but I highly doubt she took the penalty instead of letting Kim beat her. Serena is a fighter. She goes on the court always believing she is the better player and she is going to win. They even commented during the match how many times she has been down match point and managed to come back and win. I would be surprised if Serena didn’t still believe she was going to win even at 15-40.
Serena was playing like crap, and she knew it. The foot fault call was the straw that broke her.
Serena’s behavior towards the linesperson was inexcusable and Serena knew it. There was no point in arguing the point penalty, there was nothing she could do about it, so she did the only thing she could do at the point and go congratulate Kim on the win.
Personally, I think Serena should keep it up. Johnny Mac managed to parley his rotten behavior into a nice post tennis commentator gig. Serena is getting near then end of her career…
Man this is a complete demolition job by Del Potro. I am struggling to think of a player,past or present, with this kind of power game: searing ground strokes backed by a big serve. If he plays this well in the final, I can’t see even Federer beating him.
Del Potro’s match today was the best performance of the tournament. His winners and unforced errors were about even, with a small positive differential, but they don’t tell the story of how dominating his ground strokes were, at how he managed to construct his points so well, at how cleverly he chose his shots. It was as dominating as Tsonga’s win against Nadal in that semi-final last year, though Nadal wasn’t at 100% here.
Even against Federer in a Grand Slam final, I’d give Del Po a straight 50/50 shot. Against Djoko, I guess it would depend on how he beat Fed; a 5-set win by Djoko would definitely give Del Po the edge.
And I really like the class Nadal shows in defeat. First of all, as a losing player, he stays and talks to the interviewer right after losing! Then he mentioned his injury, but he gives credit to the superior performance of Juan Martin, and basically just sums it up with “Congratulations”. Then, despite having suffered the worst dismantling in his majors career, he stays and signs some autographs! I love watching him play, and I think he shows himself to be a truly classy guy. Such a stark contrast from a certain top woman’s player who also lost a semifinal match… I’ll be rooting for the Spaniard heavily next U.S. Open.
I wholeheartedly agree. We went to the US Open this year and our son quickly learned not to try get the autograph of the loser. And in this group I am looking at you, Sam Querry; I know it is disappointing to lose but especially when playing in your home slam, you could make more of an attempt to connect with your young fans. Kudos to Robert Kendrick and Janko Tipsarevic, who did sign after losing.
Everything I see and hear about Nadal shows him to be a great and humble person.
I agree that Nadal is a class individual. But he plays too sloooooowww for me to like him. his constant fidgeting and picking his wedgie is just something I don’t want to see on every point.
At first I was going to say no. Then Novak broke Roger, so then I was thinking, “Okay cool, he might actually have a chance.” Now of course, Novak donated his serve to Roger so I’m back to my original thinking. No, no chance for Novak, as much as I do like him more than Roger.
There’s definitely a chance for Djoko. He’s 4-7 against Federer, one of the best records against the champion on tour. He even beat Roger this year. Djoko’s just inconsistent at times, but if he’s totally on, he can definitely do it. Unless, of course, Roger pulls out his red and blue cape…
They look pretty even so far, with a few more errors than you’d expect from both men. I’d still give the edge to Federer, of course, but I’d put it at a not-overwhelming 65% or so, in my tradition of random numbers out of my arse.
Boy I’m really glad Djokovic held that game, after that silly ruling from the umpire. If he’d been broken, I could see him losing his focus just enough for Fed to get way ahead. Fed’s magic is starting to show up, and Djoko is also starting to hit some impressive, difficult shots, both on offense and defense.
Into the tiebreak we go… This has the potential to be a classic.
On serve at 5-6 in the second set, Djoko will serve to stay in the set. These two are playing some great tennis, especially that crazy point where Djoko finally had to submit at the net as Fed had him dead center. Great stuff.
EDIT: I think he knew that his chances of winning that point with the gimme ball for Fed right in the middle of the court was virtually nil, so he used it as an opportunity for a bit of a laugh, to loosen up and get more crowd support.
Holy mackerel, that Federer passing shot to set up his set point was truly magical, both in ability and luck. And Fed up two sets to none, at which point his record is 148-0.
What a fantastic set, and I hope Djoko keeps up the fight. He’s playing very, very well, too.
I’m very impressed by Djokovic in this third set. A lot of players would have given up at this seemingly impossible wall of Federer, but Djokovic is still hanging tough with great tenacity, playing some inspired points, and keeping his poise, even hitting some very key drop shots. If only Roger takes off his cape and gives some sort of opening…
