Wimbledon 2012

[Doctor MJ]

Federror is going to show up in the finals against Tsonga. Tsonga in 4.

Given that I just got both semis wrong I'm not going to claim to know better than you what would have happened, but I find it weird you'd be so confident in Tsonga given that Federer typically does very well against Tsonga. Are you just going off last Wimbledon's match?

[Raps in 4]

Federror is going to show up in the finals against Tsonga. Tsonga in 4.

Given that I just got both semis wrong I'm not going to claim to know better than you what would have happened, but I find it weird you'd be so confident in Tsonga given that Federer typically does very well against Tsonga. Are you just going off last Wimbledon's match?

It's only 4-3 for Fed since Montreal last year when Tsonga picked up his game. I like Tsonga's chances better than Murray's because I feel he's the more confident player of the two and can capitalize on any poor play by Federer.

[Hero]

Tsonga's offense is much better. Not sure Murray has the firepower to compete with a Roger.

[Doctor MJ]

Federror is going to show up in the finals against Tsonga. Tsonga in 4.

Given that I just got both semis wrong I'm not going to claim to know better than you what would have happened, but I find it weird you'd be so confident in Tsonga given that Federer typically does very well against Tsonga. Are you just going off last Wimbledon's match?

It's only 4-3 for Fed since Montreal last year when Tsonga picked up his game. I like Tsonga's chances better than Murray's because I feel he's the more confident player of the two and can capitalize on any poor play by Federer.

Am I confused? I'm looking at the head to head, and Federer appears to have won the last 4 matches they've actually played.

[Doctor MJ]

Tsonga's offense is much better. Not sure Murray has the firepower to compete with a Roger.

Well, I will say I always think Tsonga's wild card with the potential to really blow doors off on a level Murray can't quite get too, but he's never actually been as good as Murray over any significant stretch of time.

[Rich Rane]

I don't know who to root for. I definitely don't mind seeing Federer win another Slam (it's been a while), but I've been pulling for Murray all tournament for the home crowd. Either way, I expect some stellar tennis.

[Doctor MJ]

I don't know who to root for. I definitely don't mind seeing Federer win another Slam (it's been a while), but I've been pulling for Murray all tournament for the home crowd. Either way, I expect some stellar tennis.

Good point. I might pull for Murray because people are going to treat him ridiculously if he never wins a major, and for Federer, while the title is big, just beating Djokovic the way he did sends a bigger message than anything else.

[GQStylin]

Congrats to Serena for another Wimbledon title. You knew she wasn't going to lose to Radwanska and I'm happy that it at least went to 3 sets this time and Aggy won the 2nd to make it abit interesting. But yeah it was predictable that Serena was gonna win.

As for the men's final, damn I don't know who to cheer for. I'm happy with either winning. Either Federer wins his 17th grandslam title or Murray wins it for the Brits/Scots and becomes a national hero. Ahh can't decide who to cheer for! Just hope that its an epic match at least.

[Hero]

Wrong player Chuck!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yFqj27Mtr4[/youtube]


Seriously though , Murray is the heavy underdog....he does have a decent shot at the same time obviously but if Fed plays near his best he cannot keep up. Novak and Nadal can..not him/

[G R E Y]

WOW huge upset with Rafa out. He usually dishes out the mind games but got rattled by his opponent. As much as I like Murray and would love for him to have his name mentioned alongside Perry's, I still hope Federer takes it this year. His window is narrowing, so it would be great to see him tie Sampras's overall Wimbledon win record and add another slam to his trophy shelf. Bit of a scare there in the last round, though. It seems all the top men are being tested. Fans win with great tennis drama

Speaking of scary, Serena is so damn intimidating in every way - physical presence, mental preparation, execution - even after all these years.

That was one of the most entertaining tennis matches I've ever seen, and when Nadal won the 4th set 6-2 it looked like a replay of 2 of his early matches at 2010 Wimbledon (vs 151-ranked Haase and 41-ranked Petzchner) on his way to the title-

Round 2: Robin Haase 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
Round 3: Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3

Instead, the match referee walked up to Nadal and said "Rafa we have to close the roof now, will take 30-40 minutes" (the roof closing takes less time than that but the air conditioning takes a while to establish the right temperature).... and according to commentators there was 30 minutes of good light expected but the referee thought the 5th set might take longer (even though the 4th set only took 32 minutes...). So they have 40 minute break and Rosol comes out, breaks Nadal in the 1st game and hits 20 winners and 2 unforced errors



True, Serena is only going to get bigger and more testy as the years go on.

Hmmm, that bump and complaints to the chair ump was uncharacteristically unsportsmanlike from Rafa. He got rattled, and sometimes the way he expresses his frustrations on and off the court make him come across as a bit petulant. But I guess with the stakes being so high and the early loss so unusual, he'd have to be superhuman not to get aggravated.

Speaking of unsportsmanlike, yeah, Serena's had some ugly explosions. There's just no sugarcoating it as being 'competitive'. It's just downright rude diva behaviour. Congrats to her on the win today, but even though I think the talent is once a generation, the attitude unfortunately is as well. Makes fans want to jump ship regardless of results.

[G R E Y]

Fascinating and a spectacular match. To me, Fed just made the most of the opportune moment. He played about as well as he possibly can at this point in his career, on his best surface, and perhaps with some help from the weather, made Nola look like a grass court n00b.

It was a under a closed roof, so the conditions should have favoured the better player, Novak, but Federer simply schooled him. This was their first time against each other on grass here, I think, and Novak still has some things to learn on this surface. He couldn't get his footwork to work for him what with all the slipping and mistimed shots. Fed, on the other hand, was beautiful to watch - great balance, footwork and shot variety. If you look at his head it stays so still with the shot, and he almost never takes his eye off the ball, cheating to where he'd like to hit it.

I also thought Novak would put up a bigger fight, but I hope people don't start with the injury question for Rafa (who pulled out of a tournament recently) or Novak (who looked ordinary at times against Fed). They were beaten by better players on those days.

So now Fed does the improbable and overtakes the #1 spot. Quite a remarkable achievement, really. Although I like Andy and hope he wins Wimbledon some day, I hope tomorrow is not that day.

GO ROGER!!!

[Hero]

So excited for later today.! Hope both players play their best.

[G R E Y]

Totally irrelevant to the topic, but Becks is looking sharp in the crowd today

Electric atmosphere!

[Andre3822]

The atmosphere is indeed scary good.
I think we'll see rain, and a roof. Certainly something which should favor Federer.

GO ROGER

[Doctor MJ]

It was a under a closed roof, so the conditions should have favoured the better player, Novak, but Federer simply schooled him. This was their first time against each other on grass here, I think, and Novak still has some things to learn on this surface. He couldn't get his footwork to work for him what with all the slipping and mistimed shots. Fed, on the other hand, was beautiful to watch - great balance, footwork and shot variety. If you look at his head it stays so still with the shot, and he almost never takes his eye off the ball, cheating to where he'd like to hit it.

Unless I'm missing something here, it sounds to me like you're underestimating the complexity of the situation quite a bit. Frankly, I'm sometimes guilty of oversimplifying (because even the pros tend to be unsure of specific weather effects), but I see more complications than you do.

Assuming by "favoured the better player" you mean that the better grass court player should win, what you need to understand is that a surface changes when it has moisture on it. Not so much hard court because it's so dangerous that play is stopped quickly, but clay's characteristics get damped by moisture while grass's gets exaggerated. Why?

Well, damp clay court weighs the ball down and muddies the surface which makes the ball bounce less high, which means that it hurts someone like Rafa who relies on getting massive ball bouncing. This is why during the French final I said "Nola's never going to get a better day to beat Rafa at Roland Garros", but long story short, he kinda blew it.

A damp grass court on the other hand makes the grass more slick which makes the ball move faster, and it also makes the ball bounce less high, and both of those traits are already grass court traits. So it can make the court like a more extreme grass court. A grass court, frankly, which seem a bit more like grass courts used to play more like. Federer's really never relinquished the title of world's best fastcourt player, so Djokovic was driven even more on to Fed's home turf. So quite possibly, analogously to what I said about the French, Fed was never going to get a better day to beat Nola at Wimbledon, and he nailed it.

It really is interesting these distinctions:

Fast-court: Fed
Slow-court: Rafa
Middle-cout: Nola

In the old days the bulk of matches were played on grass or carpet, Fed would probably have looked even more impressive generally. Instead they've both been phased out a good deal (for very understandable reasons), which shifts what we want our ideal tennis player to be.

[Andre3822]

Huge Federer fan, he is looking very nervous to start this game, missing easy shots and not being aggressive enough. Murray has come out with the right mentality so far and it seems as if he makes it to every seemingly dead point.

Better service from Federer now though, hopefully he can break back and we'll start from 0
Would be very stupid to give the 1st set away this easily. CONCENTRATION IS KEY, ROGER

[mjba]

fugg yeah, tennis board!

^
he seems to have regained his composure, have you? haha. awesome forehand at 40-15 there

[G R E Y]

It was a under a closed roof, so the conditions should have favoured the better player, Novak, but Federer simply schooled him. This was their first time against each other on grass here, I think, and Novak still has some things to learn on this surface. He couldn't get his footwork to work for him what with all the slipping and mistimed shots. Fed, on the other hand, was beautiful to watch - great balance, footwork and shot variety. If you look at his head it stays so still with the shot, and he almost never takes his eye off the ball, cheating to where he'd like to hit it.

Unless I'm missing something here, it sounds to me like you're underestimating the complexity of the situation quite a bit. Frankly, I'm sometimes guilty of oversimplifying (because even the pros tend to be unsure of specific weather effects), but I see more complications than you do.

Assuming by "favoured the better player" you mean that the better grass court player should win, what you need to understand is that a surface changes when it has moisture on it. Not so much hard court because it's so dangerous that play is stopped quickly, but clay's characteristics get damped by moisture while grass's gets exaggerated. Why?

Well, damp clay court weighs the ball down and muddies the surface which makes the ball bounce less high, which means that it hurts someone like Rafa who relies on getting massive ball bouncing. This is why during the French final I said "Nola's never going to get a better day to beat Rafa at Roland Garros", but long story short, he kinda blew it.

A damp grass court on the other hand makes the grass more slick which makes the ball move faster, and it also makes the ball bounce less high, and both of those traits are already grass court traits. So it can make the court like a more extreme grass court. A grass court, frankly, which seem a bit more like grass courts used to play more like. Federer's really never relinquished the title of world's best fastcourt player, so Djokovic was driven even more on to Fed's home turf. So quite possibly, analogously to what I said about the French, Fed was never going to get a better day to beat Nola at Wimbledon, and he nailed it.

It really is interesting these distinctions:

Fast-court: Fed
Slow-court: Rafa
Middle-cout: Nola

In the old days the bulk of matches were played on grass or carpet, Fed would probably have looked even more impressive generally. Instead they've both been phased out a good deal (for very understandable reasons), which shifts what we want our ideal tennis player to be.

I understand the complexities fine, it was just a summation. The best overall player up to that point was Novak. Fed is the superior/far more experienced grass player. Closed roof conditions favoured Novak. Johhny Mac said so. Commentators also mentioned that the difference in humidity closed/open roof was slight, but I think depending on the conditions the open roof had potential to make court more damp, especially of course if the ever present clouds were hovering. I'll go with their expert opinions, but thanks for taking the time break it down.

Murray off to a hot, adrenalin-induced start. Really took it to Fed who looked nervous. Fed slowed it down with slices, making Murray generate his own pace. And the seesaw continues with Fed almost breaking Andy, only to be broken himself. My heart can't take this!

[Hero]

Why does this guy have a set

Grr

[Andre3822]

I feel as if Federer gave this set away with clinical unforced errors...
Andy is playing well, but Federer has been below par so far. Expect a lot more of him in the 2nd set, needs to win this because I don't see Federer climbing back down 2 sets, not at this stage of his career.