And that’s it.
Federer loses to Berdych.
Federer made a lot of unforced errors.
This match against Tsonga is going to be a tough one for Murray. He’ll have to be at the top of his game today.
And after an insane streak of consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, Federer has missed the last two semi-finals.
And Berdych did close out the match in the fourth set. Suddenly this is becoming a very surprising tournament! Soderling also came out guns blazing against Nadal and took a 5-0 lead in the first set. He eventually won the set, but Nadal is serving for the second set. The Bryan brothers are also in trouble. They lost the first two sets of their match before winning the third. The fourth is about to start. Murray and Tsonga are tied 4-4 in the first set.
Murray drops his first set at Wimbledon, 7-6.
It didn’t take long.
Yeah, Nadal looked really strong for most of that match.
I think he’s the favorite at this point.
Wow, Federer is now ranked 3 in the world for the first time since 2003.
Nadal polished off Soderling. He definitely took over after that bad start. Tsonga and Murray split the first two sets in tiebreaks. Murray is up a break early in the third, but Tsonga is threatening and just had a few break points.
As far as Federer goes… yes, people have been looking to throw dirt on the grave for a long time. Some people in the sports press were looking for the next big thing four or five years ago. But the game passes everybody by at some point, and if that time for Federer is now, it wouldn’t be that surprising. He’s almost 29 and he’s been on top of the game for a very long time, and lifespans in tennis are short. He obviously resents the idea that he’s done, and I think most people agree it’s possible he could win some more big titles. Is he going to dominate the game the way he did a couple of years ago? No. I don’t know if he’d admit it but I think most observers agree he’s not on that level at this point.
And if it remains that way, there would be a possible Nadal/Federer matchup in the US Open Semi-finals.
Yeah, that would be weird.
Poor Juan Martín del Potro. Won’t even be there to defend his title.
Fair weather friend that I am, I no longer care about the men’s singles. Soderling, Federer and Tsonga are all out. I don’t like any of the remaining players. The only positive is that I missed the Fed match because I was out on the court kicking the crap out of the biggest cheater I have ever played!
Is it too soon to say “Le Rog est mort?”
I’m telling you, Rog has lost his confidence. Tennis is such a game of confidence and the sharks have gotten a whiff of his blood. I’ve never seen such phenomenal tennis as the likes of Fed’s* opponents *lately – del Potro at the US Open or Soderling at the French – when they have roused themselves to oust the king. (Haven’t seen the Berdych match yet.) I also wonder how long Federer will stay around if he has to play on court 6 again.
Nadal looked good, but not as good as he did before his 8 month slump. He lacks some of his confidence as well, though he’s still hungry, and that is keeping him going. It doesn’t hurt that his opponents have been folding like a pup tent.
Oh, and another thing about Fed. He needs a better PR manager. His recent NetJet commercials where he hoists around his trophies leaves me cold. Had they shown him carrying a pack-n-play (portable crib) and a case of diapers, I’d have thought it was cute. But hoisting around a wagonful of trophies just looks smug.
You’d think the NetJet folks would have remembered Roddick’s similar ad. campaign a few years ago, showing him buying a seat on a plane for his big trophy. It backfired when he got his ass handed to him in the first or second round. Oh, and I hate, hate, hate Fed’s white and gold Wimbledon outfit. Yeah, we get that you’re “royalty.” Now put your racquets in your big white man purse and go on home.
Rafa, although I agree w/Lisa that’s he’s not in '09 form, to take it all.
And I won’t rag on Fed much as I respect him much as a player, but I’ve been hating the Metro-sexual Wimbledon look Nike fashions for him for quite some time. then again, I doubt they design it without his approval. The Liberace of tennis is certainly not a good way to go IMHO.
Rafa’s looking great for year’s end #1. Vamos studley!
no Wimbledon updates today?
It will be Serena vs Zvonareva on Saturday morning in Womens finals.
Zvonareva did an impressive job of coming back after losing the first set to Pironkova. She’s going to be a huge underdog against Serena but maybe she’s mentally prepared. Nobody expected Zvonareva to make the final but Pironkova would have been the most surprising women’s finalist in a while. Maybe since Bartoli in 2007. But I still think Serena is going to win in straight sets.
Both men’s semis should be interesting. If Berdych can keep it together he has enough power to play with anyone, and Djokovic hasn’t played anyone like that so far. His toughest match by far was against Rochus, and the only other challenge he faced was Hewitt. With Nadal and Murray you get the big-stage questions about Murray, the health question about Nadal, and the possibility of Britain going crazy if Murray has a chance to win.
It’s not too much to say that the English will forget all about the World Cup if Murray wins, even if he’s a Scouser.
I’m not 100% certain, but I think Murray will push Federer into the #4 position if he makes the final.
I think all this king-is-dead stuff is a bit premature, though- he just won the Australian, fer chrissakes. Everyone was saying that after Wimbledon 2008, too, remember…
Fed barely lost Wimbledon in 2008. In an epic final match. and IIRC didn’t lose a set before the finals.
This year, Fed struggled mightily in his first two matches.
Big Difference between 2008 and 2010.
And back then I told them they were wrong. Like I said, people have been expecting somebody to shove Federer aside since about 2005. Nobody expected him to stay on top this long even after seeing how good he could be at his best. I do think this is a little different even from 2008. For starters he’s two years older, and losing to Soderling and Berdych in the quarterfinals is not the same as losing to Nadal in five-set finals. At times in these matches it looked like he couldn’t find his top gear.
He’ll also be 29 next month, so in tennis terms he’s getting up there, and it’s that much harder to be on top consistently at that point in your career. It doesn’t look like he is where he has been the last six seasons. That doesn’t mean he can’t win any more big ones, but it’s hard to see him competing at every single major. Everybody runs out of time sooner or later and even the best players usually don’t win too many more big titles at that point in their careers. Sampras’s last couple of weeks at #1 in the world were a couple of months after he turned 29. He made three U.S. Open finals after that and won the last one, so it’s not like I’m saying Federer is washed up. Just that you probably can’t expect him to make the finals or semifinals of every major for the next two or three years.