Tennis

US OPEN AROUND THE CORNER

What happened since Wimbledon: Nadal won a tournament! Hambourg, a 500 on clay... and then, while playing decent tennis, he lost to Nishikori in Canada and to a very inspired Lopez in Cinci. Djokovic, World N?1 and Wimbledon Champion, played some topsy turvy matches in Canada and lost in the final to Murray in three sets. He then went and played some topsy turvy matches in Cinci and... lost in the final to Federer (who else?). The win allowed the swiss to secure the N?2 seeding at the US Open. It should be noted that Federer did not play in Canada (making him a bit fresher than the others in Cinci), but also that he brought to the official matches, something he did for time to time as a joke in training: half-volleying 2nd serve returns.

Let that sink in for a moment...

Half-volleying 2nd serve returns. That means exactly what it means: he rushes forward, plays the ball ridiculously early and even if the quality of the return is so-so the server his barely done with his motion that he has to do a passing shot... When he did that against Bautista Agut in the first round people where like... "wat?", but he did it the whole way through to the title, including wins over Murray and Djokovic


Another two things about Cinci: 1) That was the first time Federer won a title by beating the World N?1 and World N?2 - not that surprising as he spent most of his careeer ranked 1 or 2! - 2) He won without losing his serve and facing just 3 break points in one game against Lopez - so, yeah, he beat Murray and Djokovic without facing a break point.


Murray and Federer scoring wins against Djokovic just before the US Open is good for the suspense, but a repeat will only take place in the final since Murray is on Federer's side of the draw.

Less good for the suspense is the fact there are question marks over the head of a good number of the top players (not playing well or back from injuries), but the last two master 1000 showed us some surprisingly in form players such as Dolgopolov who made winners come thick and fast in Cinci, while youngster Thiem won back to back titles in lesser events.

Tune back tomorrow for a look at the draw!

Well... better nate than lever. After 2 hot and humid days (that played a part in a sad record of 10 retirements), the first round is complete.


SEEDICIDE:

Last year finalist and N?4 seed Nishikori had the misfortune of an early exit. It was already a bit unlucky to draw unpredictable frenchman Paire in first round, because if he had not been injured for a big chunk of the season, Paire would probably be seeded too. With Paire serving well and the japanese playing a loose game, the first set fell in the bag of the underdog and then normalcy resumed as the clean efficiency of Nishikori dealt with the flashy up and downs of Paire. At the end of the third set, that he was about to lose just like the second, Paire was furious with himself and the play conditions, shouting at a change of ends that he never played so poorly in his life and that despite being on site for two weeks he still is unable to have any feel on his shots.

At that point it felt like Nishikori's early wobble would be just that and that the match would proceed to its natural conclusion: a four sets victory for the 4th seed. The thing though is that Paire served very well, saved some match points in the fourth set breaker and forced a fifth set. That was not in the script, but apparently no one told Paire and Nishikori was not ready for it. Struggling a bit physically, he could not prevent Paire from taking and early lead and defending it.

Seeded 11, the constant fenchman Simon was leading america's former future champion Young by two sets to love and 3 love and somehow it all went tits up and the match turned into a breakaton (10 breaks in 20 games in sets 4 and 5!) that Young managed to win.

Seeded 14, the brainless showman Monfils had to retire against the modest ukrainian Marchenko. After comfortably winning the first set, the frenchman took a tumble in the second while attempting to save a break point. As a result, he injured himself or worsened an existing injury in his back. A handful of games later, he called it quit.


THE TOP DOGS:

DJOKOVIC[1] lost just 3 games to brazilian Souza.
Next stops:Haider-Maurer, Seppi[25], Goffin[14]

NADAL[8] got very lucky that youngster Coric started by playing two terribly nervy sets. From the 3 set on, it was a much closer contest, but despite a shocking number of unforced errors Nadal won in 4. He better find a gear or two sooner rather than later.
Next stops:Schwartzman, Fognini [32], Raonic[10] / Lopez[18] / Fish [WC] / Verdasco.


NISHIKooooh wait a second...

FERRER[7] the resilient spaniard won in four after a length injury break.
Next stops:Krajinovic, Chardy [27], Cilic [9] / Dimitrov [17].


WAWRINKA[5] played possibly the worse you can play and still win in straight sets. Ramos-Vinolas was a break up in all three sets.
Next stops:Chung (promising korean youngster), Sock [28], Troicki [22] / Ram (american attacking veteran).

MURRAY[3] was sailing smoothly against a Kyrgios more interested in ending in the highlight and blooper reels of Sport Center than in winning a tennis match. For some reason the focus of the young australian came back for the 3rd set that he won, but a poor game in the begining of the fourth sent him off the rails.
Next stops:Mannarino, Bellucci [30], Anderson [15] / Thiem [20].


BERDYCH[6] was not troubled by american sorta youngster Frantangelo.
Next stops:Melzer, Garcia-Lopez [31]/Mahut, Gasquet [12] / Tomic [24] / Hewitt.

FEDERER[2] explained before the match that he was a bit worried about facing Leonardo Mayer against who he had a close match in Shanghai. Well... he dropped just the five games; the almost roofed, windless, Arthur Ashe stadium offering favorable conditions for some good old fashioned attacking tennis.
Next stops:Darcis, Kohlschreiber [29] / Rosol, Isner [13] / Karlovic [21] / Youzhny.

Day 4: Round 2 is done and dusted!

SEEDICIDE:

In a match I did not see, the 17th seed Dimitrov found himself two sets to love down against the underrated Kukushkin. The bulgarian forced a fifth set, but lost it 6-4, continuing to eat the long shit sandwich that is 2015 for him.

Karlovic, the 21st seed, got stopped in his tracks in spite of his very good form of the moment. He had the very dubious honor of joining the portuguese player Sousa a the very select club: the guys who lost 7-6 in the fifth! Yep: Remember that the US Open is the only slam with a breaker in the fifth set.

The american Sock, 28th seed, was actually leading two sets to one against Bemelmans when the grueling heat and humidity combo at work these days in New York got the best of him. In a scene reminiscent of Azarenka a few years back at the Australian Open, Sock got dizzy to the point of not being able to stand and he had to be carted off court.

There is a lot of talking about the play conditions as a lot of player had to retire, end up cramping like crazy or just could not deal with the heat, especially in a context where the WTA's heat rule was in effect (if the matches go to a 3rd set, there is a 10 minutes break before it to allow the players to cool down). I really enjoyed what french marathoner Mahut had to say about it after his loss to Garcia-Lopez. He said, I paraphrase: "I enjoy that there is this added physical dimension to best of 5 sets, that's part of what makes the format special. It means it's not always the guy with the best tennis who wins, but it's the stronger guy, the one best prepared and I think it's ok. I lost to Garcia-Lopez today, but I am fine with it, the strongest man won."


GOOD-BYES:

The first round defeat of Nieminen, the counter-punching leftie from finland, was his last match at the US Open. The guy made a career out of great work ethic, clean ball striking, superior fitness level and great court coverage. Even with limited abilities to generate his own power, be it from the baseline or when serving, his skills earned him a junior US Open title, 2 atp titles and a best ranking of 13.

The second round also saw the last US Open of Hewitt. In his typical scappy style he fought from 2 sets to love down against young compatriot Tomic to force a fifth where he ended up having two match points on the Tomic serve. He then served for the match... and then served to force a fifth set breaker and, well, he lost 7-5 in the fifth against a Tomic forced to slap the ball around because he was cramping. Hewitt stop his career after the next Australian Open.

A similar scenario happened to veteran american Fish. Playing brilliantly, he served for the match against 18th seed Lopez in the 4th set, but he was not able to and from there the match just escaped him. First because of his nerves and then because his tank lasted only for 5 sets. While still highly competitive, that was Fish's last competitive tennis match. For a summary of his career and an explanation of his mental health issues that push him to stop it, I recommend you check whatFish himself has to say.


THE TOP DOGS:

DJOKOVICdealt with Haider-Maurer to the loss of only 7 games.
Next stops:Seppi [25], Goffin [14] / Bautista-Agut [23].


NADALdid a Wawrinka and managed to win in straight sets after being the first to lose his serve in all three sets. Considering how labarious things are against Schwartzman, I don't see the spaniard going much further.
Next stops:Fognini [32] (the italian beat the spaniard twice on clay earlier in the year, but just lost to him in an electric match where niceties where shared), Raonic [10] / Lopez [18] (Lopez just beat Nadal in Cinci).


TSONGAis the best ranked player in the Nishikori section of the draw and it has been smooth sailing for him so far.
Next stops:Stakhovsky, Paire / Robredo.


FERRERwon in three tight sets against serbian Krajinovic.
Next stops:Chardy [27], Cilic [9] / Kukushkin


WAWRINKAwon in three tie-breaks against korean youngster Chung in a match I regrettably did not see.
Next stops:Bemelmans, Troickiy / Young.


MURRAYfelt the wind of the bullet as he found himself lead two sets to love against the very awkward Mannarino. The french leftie has a very strange technique with almost no take back on the forehand, he hits a very flat ball and has very good hands which give him a very broad array of surprising shots. On a personal note, I must say I also like Mannarino a lot, because he tends to play in monochrome T-Shirts and without sweatbands, so he looks like a spectator that walked on court and grabbed a racket, instead of being a guy [wearing the uniform of / disguised as] a tennis player. Watching the match, it felt like from the start of the 3rd, Murray was able to turn the match into a physical battle, a duel in which Mannarino unsurprisingly ended second best. Oddly though, in the post match intervew to a french sport channel, the frenchman said that he felt he played poorly during the first two sets and that it kind of helped him, because he was able to junk-ball and surprise Murray with his shots and that's when he gained confidence and started to play better that he played a more traditional brand of tennis, which allowed Murray to find his rhythm and set his teeth into the match. Nevertheless, considering the play conditions, playing 5 sets in the 2nd rounds was not ideal for Murray.
Next stops:Bellucci [30], Anderson [15] / Thiem [20].


BERDYCHemerged ahead in a tricky first set against veteran Melzer, but lost only four games after that.
Next stops:Garcia-Lopez [31], Gasquet [12], Tomic [24].


FEDERERfaced Darcis for the first time. A bit odd considering the belgian has been on tour for ages. Not very tall nor powerful, he compensates with a very sound game and a full repertoire of shots. He played a pretty good match really, but against a very inspired and light-footed Federer, he seldom found ways to hurt the swiss. The World N?2 gave no quarter and scored an absurd 46 winners in the 22 games of his 6-1 6-2 6-1 victory!
Next stops:Kohlschreiber [29], Isner [13] / Vesely.

Day 6: 3 down, 4 to go!

SEEDICIDE:

Ferrer[7] got overpowered by a surprisingly consistent Chardy [27].

Nadal[8] was leading Fognini [32] by two sets and a break. At that point I suspect many people went to bed as it was already pretty late. I almost did, and it was a good idea that I didn't because the italian managed to break back and then win the 3rd. Fognini is not exactly known to be the best of competitors and often offers uneven performances with huge lapses of focus to the point that, mixed with his strange technique (very straight upper body, minimalist and late take-back on the backhand side, a slap of a forehand), makes it seem like he does not care about this whole tennis thing. But, as Wilander said before the match (in one of is rare pertinent comment): "There is something about Nadal that makes Fognini want to play tennis". In fact the italian beat the spaniard twice in his previous 3 meetings in 2015. On paper, this is not extremely surprising, because 'Fogna' has the weapons to hurt Nadal: he can hit big on both wings, is extremely fast and has a very good backhand cross court which is the key to the anti-Nadal tactic (make Nadal play backhands in his backhand corner and then attack his forehand). What is surprising is that Fognini kept a very high level of play through the whole encounter and that, despite playing extremely well also (it was his best match of 2015 by far), Nadal could not find a way to regain control. It was all on Fognini's racket as he was making the winners and the unforced errors. Deep into the night, it climaxed in a supremely strange fifth set with 7 breaks of serves out of 10 games where Fognini hit no less than 20 winners to Nadal's 6. End result: For the first time in his career Nadal lost in a grand slam match that he lead two sets to love and for the first time in a decade he will not win a grand slam title.

Raonic[10] found his match ad then some against Lopez [18], who won in straight sets!

Goffin[14] who battled during 5 sets in round 2 was glad to hear his 3rd round opponent, Bautista-Agut [23] had to do the same. But leading 2 sets to 1, it's not the heat nor exhaustion that forced the belgian to retire: it was a stomach problem.

Troicki[22] lead 6-4 6-0 against Young, but, just like in the previous round, the american underdog managed to turn things around and grind his opponent down.

Robredo[26] could not contain Paire's flashy style for more than a set.


THE TOP DOGS:

DJOKOVICgot tested by Seppi, but still prevailed in straight sets.
Next stops:Bautista-Agut [23]. Considering the spaniard's strength is his consistent base line play, I doubt he can do much of anything against Djokovic.


NADALlost. An intriguing Fognini vs Lopez will decide who will face Djokovic in the quarter final.


TSONGAis still trucking and beat Stakhovsky in straight sets.
Next stops:Paire. The bearded frenchman backed up his first round upset of Nishikori with two very good matches. That all french duel has the potential to be a classic.


FERRERlost. Defending champion Cilic is still around as he survived a 5 sets battle against Kukushkin. He'll face the very much in form Chardy.

WAWRINKAplayed another craptacular match and somehow won in straight sets.
Next stops:Young. The american has a very real chance here, because he is pretty consistent. He will never be able to overpower the swiss, but he might very well give so little free point that Wawrinka will beat himself.


MURRAYrecovered well enough from his five sets battle against Mannarino. Without bringing his A game, he found a way to beat Bellucci in straight sets.
Next stops: Anderson [15]. The south african hits a big ball, but his stereotyped play will probably be derailed by Murray's variations.


BERDYCHis not making a lot of noise, but he is still around with relative ease.
Next stops:Gasquet [12]. The frenchman is playing well this week and the head to head is poised at a nice 6-6.


FEDERERdid not play his best match in the slightly cooler and windier conditions of the day and he even lost serve! Still, by playing the big points well, he beat Kohlschreiber in straight sets.
Next stops:Isner [13]. They faced each other only 5 times in the past 8 years, with Isner's only win coming on a terribad temporary clay court (bad bounce galor) in a Davis Cup tie. Still, playing Isner in North America is always a big challenge and, obviously, the quality of his serve guaranties that he has a shot against anyone.


At this point of the tournement, the Top 16 players are supposed to be the ones left standing, but "only" 9 are. The draw became very bottom heavy because 7 of the 9 are in Federer's half, while just two are in Djokovic's: him and Cilic. That does not mean that Djokovic will have a free ride to the final though as the surprise guests (Lopez, Fognini, Paire, Tsonga, Chardy) come with a decent arsenal.

Day 8: We have our quarter finals!

DJOKOVIC[1] was a bit passive against Bautista Agut [23]. Not the greatest of idea against a guy that barely misses a ball from the back of the court and who is very able to built offensive patterns with his no non-sense brand of tennis. As the spaniard was in good form, that ended in a fiercly contested 4 sets battle, but the World N?1 still prevailed. 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3
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LOPEZ[18] continued to play very well his super aggressive brand of tennis and was barely troubled by a Fognini [32] who probably did not fully recover physically and mentally from his hard fought battle against Nadal. 6-3 7-6(5) 6-1

The spaniard never beat Djokovic in 5 meetings, but most of these matches were eons ago. Lopez is playing some of the best tennis of his life, but can it be enough against one of the best returner ever?


TSONGA[19] asserted his authority against Paire, a newbie at this level and it showed as he was unable to find anything close to his best tennis. 6-4 6-3 6-4.
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CILIC[9] is still around! In a battle of hard hitter he dominated the 3rd set tie-breaker to take a 2 sets to 1 lead and from there Chardy crumbled. 6-3 2-6 7-6(2) 6-1

Tough to pick a winner. Tsonga has been very solid and Cilic surprisingly found enough of his 2014 form to reach the quarter final stage. Will he go Super Sayan like last year?


WAWRINKA[5] delivered another topsy-turvy performance, but against a Young who did not do enough he managed to find some of his tennis and play reasonably well in sets 3 and 4 (that he incidently won 6-3 6-4). 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4
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ANDERSON[15] somehow found it in him to upset Murray [3]. Helped by a very good serving performance on the slightly faster Armstrong court he edged past Murray in the breaker of the first set and thanks to a number of quality returns found himself with a double break up in the 2nd set. There is a reason why Anderson, a big guy with big weapons does not have a lot of big upsets to his name: he is a bit frail between the hears. While some great competitors would be able to surf the wave of confidence that come from such a sizable lead, Anderson just tensed up. When you get nervous, the legs slow down, so you are not as well positioned to hit your shots and the arm slows down, so you can't put enough spin on your shots to control them. As the unforced errors on seemingly easy shots were creeping in Anderson's game, Murray sensing an opening raised the level of his game. That was not enough to save the 2nd set, but that planted the seed of doubt in Anderson's mind who still, somehow, managed to reach a breaker in the 3rd... that he promptly lost. The south african was still 2 sets to 1 up, but with the momentum firmly in Murray's favor and Anderson shaking in his boots, undoubtedly haunted by the memories of his Wimbledon match against Djokovic where a 2 sets to love lead turned into ashes, the scot certainly was back as the favorite at this juncture. Still, Anderson somehow found a way to recover and painstalkingly reach another breaker. And there he said: Nope. I am not losing another of this close match against a top player on a big stage. This time I will be the one reaching the quarter finals. And he went on to win the breaker 7-0! Final score: 7-6(5) 6-3 6(2)-7 7-6(0).

The Anderson victory is not the best of news for Wawrinka, because the tall south african won their last 4 matches. A lot of 7-6 or 7-5 matches in there, but still. I guess the regularity with which Anderson is able to execute his big-serve big-forehand play and the fact Wawrinka blocks a lot of his returns, allowing Anderson to have a comfortable first ground stroke behind his serve explains why Anderson dominated their head to head in the past couple years. It should be noted though that the Murray vs Anderson match, while only lasting 4 sets, lasted more than 4 hours, so that's also something you pay in the end.


GASQUET[12] had a nervous start against Berdych [6], but then found a way to take the ball earlier and be the aggressor, surprising Berdych by mixing effects and with sudden changes of directions. 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-1
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FEDERER[2] kept things interesting against american N?1 Isner [13]. Hitting way too many second serves for the heart of his fans and not being able to do much in the return games against a very on point Isner, the swiss still forced a breaker in the first set. But then he activated beast mode and won that 7-0! In case you wondered how rare it is for Isner to lose a breaker 7-0, well, it was the first time it ever happened to him. From this point, Federer relaxed a little, served a little better, and took the measure of Isner's delivery, putting more and more meaningful returns in play. A fierce competitor, Isner fended off break point after break point with some great serves, great forehands and also some very good volleys. Going for his shots in the return game, the american even got a triple break chance, but once again Federer found that extra gear to avoid what would have undoubtedly been a costly loss of serve. The 2nd set breaker was a much tougher battle than the first and it's Isner who started it better. But once again, the Federer magic came to the rescue and a handfull of incredible shots later, he found himself leading two sets to love. At that point, the end result seemed like a foregone conclusion, but with Isner still unbroken for more than 100 service games at the US Open (as he lost in 2014 without dropping serve), it would have been foolish to relax. Federer did not make that mistake and continued to press until, finaly, Isner cracked at 6-5 when trying to reach a third breaker. 7-6(0) 7-6(6) 7-5

On paper, Federer is the very heavy favorite. He leads 14-2 in the head to head (with one of the Gasquet win being their first meeting back in 2005) and if you look at the sets, it's 33-6 for the swiss, with 4 of the 6 sets Gasquet won being 7-6 sets... If you consider the game of both players, it's also difficult to see a part of the frenchman's game that is superior to the swiss'. The only thing I can see is that Gasquet can put a lot of top spin on his backhand, so if he manages to pepper the Federer backhand with high bouncing backhand cross court it can put him in a favorable position in the rallies. But this to happen, rallies need to be played and you know Federer will try to limit their number. Both are in good form, so that should be interesting at the very least.

Day 10: We have our semi finals.


DJOKOVIC[1] started his quarter final match against Lopez [18] in a frenzy. In less than 20 minutes, he was leading 5-0, putting in play meaningful return after meaningful return in play, alternatively finding the baseline, the feet of the serving and volleying Lopez or killer targets like mid-court on the sidelines. On his service game, he was controlling the rallies with ease, so at this point the question really was: Will Lopez lose with a triple doughnut? But the leftie spaniard just calmly acknowledge the situation and found the best answer: he lifted the level of his game. He found some more efficiency with his serve, he made some very tough volleys and in the return games he want for some returns, followed some returns to the net, mixed paces and spins in the rallies, following to the net some vicious low slices or flat forehands, just to make things uncomfortable for Djokovic, to ask him questions: Can you pass me? Can you deal with that shot? This remarkable competitive spirit got rewarded. Lopez squeezed some errors out of the World N?1, got an early break in the 2nd set, and fought tooth and nail to defend that lead and bag the 2nd set. This is where I cannot get behind a player like Djokovic: instead of wrestling the offense out of Lopez's hands, the serb was just happy to return as well as possible, stay in the rallies and try to counter Lopez's attacks. Sadly, this extraordinarily passive tactic, this total lack of panache, paid dividends in the third set and in the fourth set breaker. 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6(2)
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CILIC[9] prevailed in a very strange match. I guess the two important factors were who would make the most dumb errors (Tsonga's backhands, Cilic's volleys) and who would make the most good serves. As Tsonga was a bit lethargic at first, Cilic secured a two sets to love lead. This stung the frenchman who started to be a little more forceful and as he managed his backhand a little better, he found a way to win sets 3 and 4. The fifth set was not that much of a climax as Cilic broke realtively early and summoned some of his 2014 form to shut the door on Tsonga. 6-4 6-4 3-6 6(2)-7 6-4.

With an additional day of rest between the quarters and the semis in the top half of the draw, I don't think Cilic will really pay for the additional time spent on court. A bigger question mark is the fact that he twisted his ankle in the previous round against Chardy. That did not bother him in the Chardy match, but these things can be ok while hot and a mess once they cool down. Apparently, Cilic was a bit limping before his quarter final match, but he played with an ankle protector and his movement really seemed ok. Now, maybe he played on pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs so, as I write these lines, his ankle looks like a pineapple... wait & see. If he is fit to play, that could be an interesting semi, because if Djokovic let Cilic play like he let Bautista and Lopez play, that could take a turn for the worse against the defending champion.


WAWRINKA[5] saw his match against Anderson [15] postponed and moved to the Armstrong court because the rain messed with the schedule of play. I thought it was a double curse. A curse for Wawrinka, because the faster Armstrong court served Anderson well against Murray and a curse for the spectators, because both quarter final ended up being played at the same time. As a result I only got to see the begining of the match. For the little I have seen, Wawrinka was playing better than in his previous matches and Anderson, in spite of the confidence a 4 matches winning streak against the swiss should bring, felt tense and not able to dictate play as he did against Murray. The final score seem to indicate that this tendency continued and even increased as Wawrinka won 6-4 6-4 6-0.
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FEDERER[2] was the favorite in his match against Gasquet [12], and he made sure to show why. He was clinical on serve, hitting his targets with an alarming regularity. He was extremely aggressive, trying to take the ball early, attack and move forward on every opportunity. He missed some, made a lot and, more importantly, never allowed Gasquet to settle into the match. Kept under constant pressure, the frenchman did not get to build points and work rallies, as anything short or even just neutral was instantly punished by the ruthless swiss. It's just a terrible match-up for Gasquet, who played a very good US Open but still ended up looking a bit foolish out there tonight. 6-3 6-3 6-1.

Wawrinka played an excellent match against Federer at the French Open earlier in the year. Unlike Gasquet, Wawrinka was able to use his tremendous power to dictate play and make it very difficult for Federer to stay close to his line and turn the rallies around. Doing that on hard court is a tougher proposition though, because a more reliable bounce and faster conditions certainly help the World N?2. But again, Wawrinka also made Federer's life extremely difficult on the fast indoor court of the Master's Cup last year, so...


Fun fact: It was the first time Gasquet lost a Grand Slam quarter final match as he won the previous three he played. His record is now 3W/1L. Federer's record in Grand Slam quarter final matches is... 38W/8L. Yep. And remember you can only play 4 in a year...

Hopefully the 2 matches you watched were not last night's Men QFs, because they were fucking terrible.

Aaaaand Serena loses to an unseeded Italian.

Well... Vinci has a career Grand Slam in double and has been ranked 11 at her best, so she can play tennis. I thought her lack of power would be a deal breaker but... apparently not. I just saw two highlight points (constructions followed to the net for drop volley winners), so I am not sure what happened in this match.

I love Venus but I loathe Serena and I'm glad she lost.

Day 12: And only two were left standing.

DJOKOVIC[1] played a decent, solid match, but Cilic [9] certainly did not. Bothered by his swollen ankle and missing a lot, the defending champion meekly sent the World N?1 to the final.
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FEDERER[2] looked at first like he had a tough day at the office ahead of him, as Wawrinka, unlike Gasquet, was able to hit some big shots early in the points to contest Federer's domination. The older of the two swiss ended up being a little more of an opportunist in the first set and things were nicely poised at 3-3 in the second with both players having to recover from love-40 down... and then Federer broke to love, held to love and broke again, still to love, to bag the 2nd set. Wawrinka, who already was a bit struggling with his first serve percentage and the length of his shots (he felt the balls were a bit flying on him in the night session), did not recover from that. Worse, leading two sets to love, Federer started to relax and played better and better, warping around the court, hardly ever missing.

In his post-match on-court interview, Federer mentioned that he tries his best to play positive tennis. Will Djokovic do the same on Sunday or will he try to derail the Federer Express with the negative tennis that carried him up to the final? We'll see. One thing is certain though is that Federer will arrive to the final pretty confident and fresh, as he only left crumbs to his opponents in his opening 6 matches.

I hate that the men's final is always on the first day of the NFL season. They need to change that shit up.

Roger breaks to win set 2! It's tied up 1-1 now!

RIP Roger, down a beak on his first serve in the 4th. =(

This managed to be even more frustrating than the Wimbledon final.

Djokovic started the match very well and with a mind set that was way more aggressive than in his previous matches of the tournament. Federer, on the other hand, had a nervous start. Maybe feeling the pressure of the moment and of Djokovic's returns, his first serve percentage was well bellow his standards and, perhaps even more importantly, the efficiency of these too rare first serves was not satisfactory (possibly not getting much help from the damp and cooler conditions of the day - the final was delayed by 3 hours because of showers). The length of shots maintained by the World N?1 and the respect that imposes the quality of his shot production when under pressure, prevented Federer to go to the net as frequently as he did in the previous rounds. As a result, Federer's service games were a struggle, Djokovic broke first and early and even if the swiss found a way to break back (well helped by a nasty tumble by Djokovic who left a fair bit of skin on the coarse surface of Arthur Ashe's stadium), the inevitable happened: Djokovic broke again and won the first set.

The reaction of Federer was quite extraordinary. Out of some invisible bag only champions can draw from, his first serve percentage raised markedly, the efficiency skyrocketed, and, with this, confidence and aggressiveness flowed back. Suddenly it was Djokovic who struggled on his serve. He miraculously survived an extremely long game to stay in the set at 5-4, thanks to a couple poor choices and untimely mistakes by Federer. As the swiss missed a gimme on a set point with a mid court forehand that flew wide (or long? or both?), it felt like the momentum could switch, but the ability to let go of what is done is critical in tennis and mastered by Federer. In spite of the huge opportunity squandered, the swiss marched on, held with ease and manufactured for himself another set of opportunities at 6-5, one of which he finally converted.

After winning a set with that level of quality, having all the opportunities and offering none to your opponent, it's clear that the wind was blowing in Federer's sails. As Djokovic's level dropped a tad, making some uncharacteristic backhand errors, it felt like the swiss was in very very good shape. Sadly that's when he chose to play a very loose game, offering Djokovic a break out of nowhere really. Even if the swiss rapidly broke back, the debates no longer were one sided. Djokovic resisted on his service games and Federer, for some reason, got a little less aggressive than in the 2nd set. This costed him dearly, because a very opportunist Djokovic broke late in the 3rd to lead two sets to one.

That was the match right here for me. Federer was 1/9 on break points in the 2nd set, but in the end it did not matter since Djokovic was at 0/0, but in this 3rd set, it was 1/5 Federer and 2/2 Djokovic. The serb played the big points better (he actually won one less point than Federer in the set) and at this level, in such a tight match, that makes all the difference.

As the momentum switched again, a repeat of the 4th set of the Wimbledon final was in the cards and indeed Djokovic found himself with a 2 break lead, serving for the match at 5-2. Not wanting to go out meekly and pushed by a crowd that was at 99% for him the whole match through, the swiss resumed his all out attack mode and... it worked. Federer broke Djokovic, held with ease and suddenly the outcome was a lot less clear. Federer even reached 15-40 on the following Djokovic serve, two break chances to even the set at 5-5. He pushed for it, 20,000 people in the stadium pushed for it, an untold number of people in front of their TV pushed for it, but once again Djokovic proved too solid, too strong on the big points on the day. He closed the match to win his 2nd US Open and 10th Grand Slam title.



So yeah, if Federer was 3 points away from a straight sets victory in Wimbledon, here he broke Djokovic once in each set and still lost in four. He got 23 break points and made just the 4. Eight of those really did not matter as they happened in a set he still won, but if you look only at sets 3 and 4, he is at 2 out of 11 while Djokovic is at 4 out of 5. This is more than a little bit shit.

Bah.

As a thing Hingis has been crushing the various Doubles events recently.

Sterling_sl said:

As a thing Hingis has been crushing the various Doubles events recently.

Click to expand...

She must have scored some grade A blow.

The big 4 era is no more. There is now a clear-cut best player in the world (Djoker), a freak of nature who is playing some of the best tennis of his life despite the fact that father time is undefeated (Fed), a great player who may have had the chance to dominate if he didn't play during Djoker's era (Murray), and an all-time great whose body let him down...or maybe it was the PEDs (Rafa).