The U.S. Open is underway at Flushing Meddows in Queens, NY and on the first day of play for the legend that is Roger Federer he was showing that while he might now be the dominant ace he once was, he still has a few tricks up his sleeve, or in his racquet if you will, when he needs it.
If you’re a Rafael Nadal fan then you will probably disagree with me when I say that this years Wimbledon was somewhat uninspiring. Maybe it was because the World Cup was on at the same time or maybe because I just didn’t get the chance to see a lot of it, but for some reason the tournament seemed to come and go without too much of a fuss. Murray reached the semi-finals which was a fine effort but there wasn’t the same drama and muscle flexing we seen in recent years and Federer missed out on the final for the first time since 2002 ending an epic sporting streak, but the story of the tournament wasn’t Nadal winning the crown again in any kind of a dramatic final, but the match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut which went on for what seemed like forever and ever. That was the high point of Wimbledon 2010 for me and once that was done I just couldn’t maintain my focus.
A bizarre day indeed. An earthquake struck Toronto this afternoon though I was one of the few that I have talked to that didn’t feel it. Perhaps I was too busy steadying myself from the shock waves coming out of Wimbledon were a game between two players I had never heard of was into the fifth set and tied at forty games a piece. It was about that score when people started running around talking about the quake just north of Ottawa that was powerful enough to shake the building I was in, but the Tennis action was distracting me more than enough and by the time all was said and done with light fading for the day John Isner of America and Nicolas Mahut of France were tied at 59 games a piece having played exactly 10 hours of the match and over six hours in the fifth set.
The photo to the left is Roger Federer wiping his brow in relief rather than exhaustion after he came one shot away from being on the wrong end of one of the great Tennis upsets in the first round at Wimbledon 2010. Down 5-7, 4-6 to 60th ranked Alejandro Falla, Federer got himself together in the nick of time to win the third set, overcome a match point in the forth and win the final tsets 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 to progress. Losing the six-time champion this early in the tournament would have been a disaster for Wimbledon coverage, but it would have been one hell of a story. Federer is the reigning champions at Wimbledon.
It’s a new decade and many in Britain hoped it would be a new era to come with that new decade in British Tennis. Andy Murray was playing in his second major final of his young career but was again coming up against the undisputed master of men’s Tennis, Roger Federer.
The game was on in the wee hours of the morning so I hit record last night and got up this morning to watch it before the Football game. The first shot that came in from the live broadcast was of the two players standing in the tunnel before the game and one look at their body posture and their eyes and you could tell who was going to win. Murray looked nervous, perhaps even worried, while Federer had a look of a many wondering how long it would be before he picked up yet another trophy. Even in the stands the comparison was so different. The Murray family were leaping up and down with every point their boy scored while Federer’s wife sat there and simply applauded his each and ever point with an expression of ‘been there, done it and just another trophy to be won.’
It seemed that before I had even finished my breakfast that the first set was over and that by the time the kettle was boiled and I was sipping my first tea of the morning that the second was down as well. Murray was in a hole having dropped the first two sets and it was only a matter of time. Falling behind at all to Federer is a huge problem but never has the great man blown a two sets to love lead in a major final and lost.
Murray was clutching at his leg from time to time, wincing with pain at something at appeared to be hampering, but how refreshing it was to have a non-British commentator calling the game when the American in the booth duly noted that it’s interesting how players often pick up these little injuries when trailing in a game.
Murray fought hard in the third set, trying desperately to get something from the game and delay the inevitable. He took it to a tie break which seen Federer fail to take a couple of tournament winning chances as both players held serve and followed a break on one with a break on another to keep things level. Finally Federer took his serve and broke Murray and the announcer called what I could see coming from the first moment I seen the players in the tunnel before the match, “Game, Set, Match, Tournament Federer.”
Andy Murray, the great Scottish hope of British Tennis is just one win away from his first Grand Slam title, an achievement that will ensure his victory as British Sports man of the year 2010. Considering no British man has won a singles grand slam in 70-years and you get an idea of the pressure on Murray!
A final of a Grand Slam though isn’t a new experience for Murray who reached the final of the US Open in 2008 were he lost to Roger Federer. Murray has got to the final of the Australian Open by going through Marian Cilic in the semi-final and will play either Roger Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday’s final.
I must admit I have seen very little of the tournament due to the time it is on and being in work but I will be sure to set the PVR and record the final if I cannot put aside time to actually watch it.
Until a few months ago I had barely even heard of Juan Martín del Potro. I knew he was a Tennis player but as far as I knew he was just another guy who makes up the early rounds of the big tournaments. Then he beat Roddick in the Toronto Open a month or so ago and I took note that this 20-year old indeed might be a player for the future. But I stress, the future. Never in my wildest predictions would I have picked him to go all the way in the 2009 US Open and when he managed to oust Rafa Nadal from the semi-final I put it down to Nadal’s comeback from injury and court rust and I still give him little chance against the machine that is Roger Federer. But last night I sat for about three hours and watched this new kid on the Tennis block wear down the master and steal a crown he has been wearing as US Open Champion for the past five years.
The photo to the left is Roger Federer wiping his brow in relief rather than exhaustion after he came one shot away from being on the wrong end of one of the great Tennis upsets in the first round at Wimbledon 2010. Down 5-7, 4-6 to 60th ranked Alejandro Falla, Federer got himself together in the nick of time to win the third set, overcome a match point in the forth and win the final tsets 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 to progress. Losing the six-time champion this early in the tournament would have been a disaster for Wimbledon coverage, but it would have been one hell of a story. Federer is the reigning champions at Wimbledon.
