Tuesday, July 7, 2009

5 Random Thoughts About The Wimbledon Final...

1. What can you say about Roger Federer. After starting the season without a single tournament win except for Madrid, the man proceeds to win the French and Wimbledon. He cements his claims for GOAT by surpassing Sampras's haul of 14 Grand Slam titles.

2. Federer was somewhat fortunate to win on the day, where he clearly didn't have his forehand. Thankfully, his trusty serve didn't desert him and that kept him in the game. One wonders whether that would have been enough against a fit Nadal in the final.

3. Federer was nervous for much of the game, and couldn't get loose with his strokes. I initially thought the lack of power was due to his desire to be conservative and draw Roddick into long rallies rather than going for riskier outright winners. But as the game progressed, it was clearly nerves. What ever happened to the comment after the French win: "I will never feel pressure again."

4. People rave about Roddick's serve and while it is clearly faster, the precision that Federer obtains with his is remarkable. He served almost double the aces that Roddick did although that was also partly attributed to Roddick using the body serve to great effect throughout the match.

5. Roddick has improved his game immensely over the past year. He definitely didn't come across as someone with a 2-18 record against Federer. He had Roger on the ropes in the 2nd set tie-breaker but the Swiss somehow wiggled himself out of that predicament. I wouldn't bet against him coming back from two sets down but with the way Roddick was serving that day (almost 80% 1st serves for most of the game??!!), I'm sure he wouldn't want to attempt fending off Roddick for the next 3 sets.

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