Yeah, I have an impression of Anderson as South Africa’s Isner. An Anderson-Isner final could be funny. You’d get good odds on it being the longest ever! I haven’t checked the draw to see if this is actually a possibility.
Shame about Federer. I thought he would retire after winning last year, but he clearly loves the sport, and Wimbledon in particular, so much. Will he want this to be his last appearance, or will he try for one more (which also risks an earlier and less memorable farewell)? If I were him, I think I would have already quit to spend more time with my children, but I guess he manages a fair amount of time with them already.
Any sport that wants to take anti-doping seriously should have random tests. I believe tennis does, but not sure. I assume there is info on the ATP site somewhere.
I’m sad that Fed is out. Rafa used to make me mental with tics and water bottle rearranging but I’ve grown to love him. I really dislike Djokovic so don’t want to see him in the finals.
It was a year ago, I was there for the final and the match was competitive enough but yes, what you remembered was the serve because of how loud it sounded in the stadium. Today, although he did not venture that much toward the net, he played some great angles. I heard a commentator say that part of his improvement is because he has gotten some help in the mental department which would explain how today he did not give up even when down.
I think they have reigned in Brad Gilbert (ESPN commentator). Last week he was talking through the points but not today. Personally, I thought it was rude of the players to keep playing while Gilbert was talking, and talking, and talking…
Head to head, it’s 6-2 in Serena’s favour, however the last two matches Kerber won, so hopefully it’ll be a close one this weekend.
Pissed whenever Feds gets eliminated from a draw. Only two points from taking the danged match, only to have to go through another three humiliating sets for the loss. And a first for everything!: in his previous match against Mannicone, Feds dropped a surprisingly loud f-bomb:eek: right near the end of the match.
Nadal/Delpo was a fine battle. (yeah Raffa’s infamous for dicking around on serve with his OCD running his index finger along his hairline, bouncing the ball shitloads like Roanic or Djokovic, and, most unwelcome - self-goosing AND Italianing the front) Never seen Raffa doing the drop shot thing as much as he did this match, and quite effectively, too.
No Joker love? Is it because of that goofy little pre-serve stutter-step walk he did when imitating Sharapova? I’m always just plain agog at how his dad had apparently dealt with murderous loan sharks to further his son’s career as Novak was growing up.
Funny - yeah, he can go off a bit. I regard his observations, though, more than anyone else’s - I feel like I’m learning more from him than any of the others. Chrissy Evert’s good, too. When McEnroe first started commentating he was really bad for yakking too much into the rally.
And yes - the long, narrow shape of Kevin Anderson’s face/head is conducive to one making comparisons to Beaker. Hopefully at post-matches KA refrains from going “meee meee meee” into the mic.
Isner-Anderson about to start. My prediction is that this match goes to tiebreak for at least 3 sets, with less than 4 breaks in the entire match, and Isner wins in 5.
The last several Isner service games have been very close to break for Anderson, but the same isn’t true for Anderson’s service games. I had thought Isner was the more well conditioned player, but these last few games make me think it’s the opposite.
I know there is a roof on center court. I guess that means lights? Its 7:35 pm in London, which I think means about 1.5 hr of good daylight left in London. Probably not enough time for a Djoker/Nadal match and it is getting unlikelier.
Never EVER been a fan of the two-game tie-break.
Yeah yeah tradition and all that stuff - whatevs.
Sure, players’ conditioning is always improving, but that in now way precludes the fact that I’d way rather see Beaker play a final that he reached by winning in a fifth-set seven-point tiebreak, not a 988-game tiebreak.
Surprised it doesn’t turn to be one anti-climactic men’s final. Rafa has the 5-0 lifetime edge. Streaks are made to be broken, but not Sunday.
Quite a testament to Serena if she takes it Saturday - she hasn’t played that many tourneys since having the kid.
The Queen.
All-time.
Stupid 11 pm curfew. (really? Because some ticket holders needed to catch the last trains? OH those darn Brits!) (heh - reminded of a Gang of Four song).
Should be interesting, with Joker up two sets to one and resuming play this Saturday, just before the Williams/Kerber final.
Surprised the two have met more than Nadal and Federer have met - a record 52 times.
This should have been the men’s final.
