OT: Wimbledon 09 (Spoiler Alert)

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:44 pm

wow...what a match. Anyone else watching?

I hope Andy can pull it out. He has played almost flawlessly.
It's 8-8 in the final set right now.

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:53 pm

The final that won't end.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:54 pm

Awesome match. Who cares how long they play. This is tennis at it's best.

edit: 10 games all.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:03 pm

nervous moments there......tied again 11-11

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:05 pm

how is Roddick ever going to break Federer's serve? Seems impossible.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:15 pm

13-13

wow

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:36 pm

I'm exhausted!

Both those guys are just unbelievable. Federer withstands Rodick's best and wins. He's a robot. What a great match.

I am off to play Top Spin 3!!!!

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:56 pm

that was great.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:43 pm

At least Pete still has Billy Madison's teacher.

I know its tennis but that was epic s***. Grats to Rodick on showing up in a big way. Grats to Federer on cementing his place in history.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:45 pm

I was going to dedicate a thread just for Roger, but this one will do. Federer the best Tennis player that ever played the game. Period. Add that to his class act personality, well respected by the players and media alike, and there's just no limits for the great Swiss.

Kudos to Roddick, because the way he served throughout the match today, I thought that if he was going to win Wimbledon one day, this one would be it. He's as matured and solid that I've seen him play for awhile, his down the line backhand has improved and so has his overall ground strokes. Credit goes to his new coach L. Stefanski and if he keeps playing like this, he'll be one of the favorites at the US Open. The problem for Roddick is that he belongs to the same era where Federer and Nadal are just ahead of the pack.

Now, Rafa had to withdraw the tournament because of his wonky knee (something to be mildly concerned at age 23) and it'll get tougher at the Us Open because of the surface. That opened the doors for the Swiss to win the most Majors ever surpassing pistol Pete.

The match wasn't as epic as last years' final, but it did have lots of drama and exciting moments to remember. Especially the fifth set. In the end, it was the experience and solid serving that won it for Federer, but it was surely tough to break Andy's serve today.

Federer was in my book as the greatest player of all time already when he won the French Open last month and one can argue that the only thing missing in his resume is winning all GS in a single calendar year.

But who are we kidding, he's only 27, he's been injured free for most of his career and the most complete player that I ever' seen. He can hang out with the best in the long rallies department and he can serve and volley if he wishes to.

A historic win for Federer, well deserved, and here's hoping that Rafa gets better soon and bring the best in each other again.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:47 pm

Federer is unbelievable. Roddick played out of his mind and still did not win. He was absolutely crushed after that loss, yet handled it with a lot of class. The level of talent shown today was simply off the charts at times.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:51 pm

toonarmy wrote:Federer is unbelievable. Roddick played out of his mind and still did not win. He was absolutely crushed after that loss, yet handled it with a lot of class. The level of talent shown today was simply off the charts at times.

As Bill Simmons said in his twitter...at least he's still worth 50 million and gets to go home and bang a swimsuit model. Could be worse.

That was an epic match to be sure.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:12 pm

another thing that was amazing was how Federer seemed like he could still play anothet few hours. Dude's conditioning is just unreal. Roddick was spent, sweating and looked like he ran a marathon and Federer looked like he only played for 20 mins. Amazing how he conserves his energy and has no wasted movement.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:17 pm

I don't think Federer is that great on serve and volley. He lost points coming to the net.

But he really doesn't have to, because his forehand is so explosive and his serve is just too accurate.

I haven't seen Roddick play in a long time. I don't think he's improved his groundstrokes that much.

Even early in the match, he either had to get service winners or easy points set up by his serve. If he had to get into rallies, it was sketchy.

But it seemed like he was bound for disappointment in the tie-breaks, because Federer was giving up fewer points in his service games than Roddick was.

He was sweating a lot even in the first set. Probably had to do with nerves or something, not just pure conditioning.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:52 pm

wco81 wrote:I don't think Federer is that great on serve and volley. He lost points coming to the net.

Have you watched him earlier in his career when he was dominating the big 'W'? You don't just win six times on grass staying in your backyard.

wco81 wrote:I haven't seen Roddick play in a long time. I don't think he's improved his groundstrokes that much.

No you haven't. He's much more solid and confident from the back, especially his two handed backhand.

wco81 wrote:But it seemed like he was bound for disappointment in the tie-breaks, because Federer was giving up fewer points in his service games than Roddick was.

A key momentum swing was in the second set, when Roddick was up 6-2 in the tie-breaker. You don't choke that lead away if you want to win a Major as he did, and Federer was fortunate to win that set.

For me that was THE key of the match. If Roddick goes up two sets to love and the way he was serving today, it would have been a very tall order even for Federer to come back in five.

Another key mometum swing for the Swiss was when the game was tied 8-8 in the fifth set and Roddick has not one but two break points. He wins them and he would have served for the match.

Remember, Federer only could break his service on the last game of the match. Andy had his chances, he could not execute at key times of the game.

Nevertheless, a great final.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:53 pm

BTW Jack, it's spelled Wimbledon.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:35 pm

Federer doesn't go to the net aggressively like Sampras did, because he can win points from the baseline with his forehand.

That's still his bread and butter.

He does it once in awhile but he doesn't have the range or the anticipation that the best serve and volley players had.

Again, it's not something that he's had to develop.

As for Roddick, his serve was broken only once in that final game. That's what kept him in the game. But in the last game, he mis-hit the ball at least twice. Sure after 4 hours, that's to be expected. But Roddick had to work for his points because Federer had almost double the aces.

Not sure who had more service winners. It may be that Federer got his racquet on the ball more whereas Roddick didn't attempt to return some serves.

That may also explain the number of winners. How many were set up by strong serves? While Federer was getting 50 aces, Roddick's serves were returned more frequently, resulting in some easy winners.

Again, Roddick hasn't developed much beyond his big-serve game. He's gotten tougher mentally. But Federer really hasn't changed his game much either, maybe a more proficient server (that's one thing, Sampras wasn't always that consistent on his first-serve percentages).

In fact, how many tennis players really change their games drastically from the way they broke in? Often it's about efficiency. The Williams sisters gave away a lot of matches early in their careers with unforced errors. Now they don't do that as much and they still hit harder than most of their opponents.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:23 pm

wco81 wrote:Federer doesn't go to the net aggressively like Sampras did, because he can win points from the baseline with his forehand.

That's still his bread and butter.

I mentioned that Federer can play from the back and serve and volley among the best, but he's not the best at the net. Besides Pete, I would even rank Johnny Mac as the best net rushers. Both his forehand and backhand are lethal, it's not so much his power but the tremendous accuracy he has with both shots.

wco81 wrote:Not sure who had more service winners. It may be that Federer got his racquet on the ball more whereas Roddick didn't attempt to return some serves.

That may also explain the number of winners. How many were set up by strong serves? While Federer was getting 50 aces, Roddick's serves were returned more frequently, resulting in some easy winners.

I gather that just watched the latter part of the match. For the first half of the game, Roddick had a much higher serve percentage and winners than the Swiss. Around 70%, which is outstanding.

wco81 wrote:Again, Roddick hasn't developed much beyond his big-serve game. He's gotten tougher mentally.

Disagree. His ground strokes are much deeper and penetrating, especially his backhand which is much more solid.

This is the game that Roddick could have had. Those two keys momentum swings I mentioned earlier, were the gamebreakers for him. This is the best that I've seen him play in awhile and he's been in the finals in the big 'W' three times already.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:24 pm

10spro wrote:BTW Jack, it's spelled Wimbledon.

And also, 'spoiler.'

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:43 pm

webdanzer wrote:
10spro wrote:BTW Jack, it's spelled Wimbledon.
And also, 'spoiler.'

yes, I know. I do that a lot...switching letters around.
you know what I meant!

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:39 am

For Sampras, there is no debate.

"He's got everything," Sampras said. "He's a legend. Now he's an icon. He's got 15 majors , that's a lot of majors. That's a lot of work."

"Greatest? I have to give it to him. The critics say Laver, and Nadal's beaten him a few times, but in my book he is."

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:57 am

10spro wrote:For Sampras, there is no debate.

Yeah, Sampras isn't even in the conversation anymore. It's either Federer or Laver (only because he could have won 10+ more in those ~5 years he didn't play in majors).

I'm happy for Federer, but I cringed a bit during the on-court interview when they asked him about records and he said the standard cliched thing about how they aren't important yada yada yada, then he turns around to show the "15" on the back of his track suit jacket.

I guess Nike really pushed him hard to wear that, I kinda thought it was a little tacky.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:51 am

jondiehl wrote: I guess Nike really pushed him hard to wear that, I kinda thought it was a little tacky.

Serena did something similar in the interview she did right after she left the court, she said something like "I had a G-moment", which I'm guessing is a Gatorade thing? I'm not sure, neither was the interviewer. It seemed pretty tacky to work in a plug at that particular moment.

But I did like the "Are you looking at my titles?" tee shirt she wore in a later inerview.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:39 pm

How can Federer be the best ever when he is 7-13 against Nadal? He is definitely one of the best but you can't say hands down Federer is the best of this generation let alone all-time.

You can't judge major tournament wins either as today's players play in far more tournaments than players did in the 70s and 80s. What about Lendl? Borg?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:51 pm

Back in the 80's Ivan Lendl was machine. It was pretty much automatic when he stepped on the court. Quote from Wiki:

"Lendl's game relied particularly on strength and heavy topspin from the baseline and helped usher in the modern era of "power tennis". He himself called his game as "hitting hot", a relentless all-court game that was coming to dominate in tennis."