Bert only seemed to have trouble against Big Berd in the second set, and teased the ball basher into unforced errors. From the score it is pretty easy to see that Big Berd faded quickly in the third (61 76[5] 61). Bert will face Fed in a rematch of their US Open 2010 semis. Beware! The last time they met in an Aussie Open semi, Bert beat Fed and won the whole thing.
Bert had time to add a sponsorship deal for Petkorazzi.
Gotta supplement that meager income from being a professional tennis player.
If you're ever in New York on the Friday before the US Open officially begins, you really must make the final round of qualifying. For one, it's free. Second, it's amazing how great the players are who are competing to qualify for the main draw, and you get to see them compete up close and personal. Professional tennis is a cruel dog-eat-dog world and the difference between the fellow who makes it into the main draw of a slam, and those shut out is, well, pretty small. Lastly, all the top names are out on the practice court and you might get to see them prepare for free.
First, the first qualifying match I saw was Nicholas Mahut beat Uladzimir Ignatik to advance to the final round of qualifying (67 [4] 76 [5] 62). You heard that right: the fellow who lost the longest match in history (held in the 1st round of Wimbledon) had to schlep his ass to play the qualifying tournament. Why the French Tennis Federation chose to award their reciprocal wildcard to Guillaume Rufin (19 year old) who is ranked lower than Mahut baffles me? The best (and still lame) explanation is that they have some rule to award their reciprocal wildcard to their best junior player on the cusp of turning pro. Frankly, this smacks of a brainless failure to recognize Mahut's truly historic achievement.
At any rate, I don't know who Ignatik is, but it was pretty easy to figure out his game after a couple points: he's your plain vanilla baseline grinder who unleashes a few big serves to win free points. There's a truism in tennis: you're only as good as your second serve. Mahut's second serve compared to Ignatik is excellent. Mahut has an excellent kick serve that Ignatik had to return at shoulder height (despite standing several feet behind the baseline). Ignatik, on the other hand, was going for more on his second serve and hitting way too close for comfort to the lines (and double faulting a bit too much). That difference alone gave me the feeling that Mahut would be able to win the match.
In contrast, Mahut tries to be an all court player. While he has a pretty good one handed drive backhand, he will use slices to coax errors out of his opponent or run around it (often) to hit a strong forehand to take control of the point. You will see Mahut rush the net quite a bit. Overall, Mahut is a very entertaining player to watch simply for his shotmaking. On the other hand, I tweeted Mahut seems to be a tortured artiste: he will miss the most incredible shots when it's crystal clear he was in control of the point. Mahut really should have put away Ignatik a lot earlier but he had to gut it out.
Watching the top players practice was a highlight. Federer was playing a practice set with Monfils (he lost) on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Both guys were serving well, and Gael was ... there to entertain the crowd.
And the usual Federer slice and dice was at work to frustrate Monfils. The Annacone-Luthi brain trust was there to coach the Greatest Shanker of All Time.
Here are video samples of their practice section.
Nando and Kohli were on the Grandstand later to jerk each other side to side.
Then Curls and Big Berd were punishing balls as hard as they can.
One interesting take away I had: some of the rec players (NTRP 4.5+) I've played with can hit the ball as hard as the pros, but the huge differences are: it's a lot harder for the pros to miss; they can place the ball where their opponent least likes it; and they have phenomenal movement (i.e. the ability to get to a difficiult ball and still do something good with it).
As any tennis fan knows, Rafa got to bite the trophy and solidify his #1 ranking, possibly towards the end of the year. He was just too good for Berdych who couldn't convert on any of his break chances and went down with triple break points in the 1st and 2nd sets. And that was the match (63 75 64). Unfortunately a real sleeper after the epics in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
As usual, he fell to the ground after winning championship point.
Then he added a new twist to his victory celebration.
And he greeted ReeRee with a kiss at the Championships' Ball.
ReeRee looks pretty happy to be holding that dish and standing next to the Spaniard. She's made no secret of her admiration for the Rafinator.
Likewise ReeRee was just too good for Bepa triumphing over her in straight sets (63 62).
The Flower of England Scotland was bludgeoned by the Mallorcan Matador on Friday. Muzz did bring his A game, but Rafa bought his A+ game. The key was probably in the second set tiebreaker. Rafa double faulted to hand Muzz a set point at 6-5. But it was not meant to be as Rafa came up big on the big points.
Q. When he hit that the double‑fault in the tiebreaker, I mean, it as a bit of a shocker. Did it throw you off?
ANDY MURRAY: No, not at all. I mean, not if you look at the next point he played. No, it didn't at all. He played a really good point. He hit a big forehand. Hit a good pass. He hit a great angle volley on the next point. Hit a let cord passing shot on the next one.
You know, there's nothing you can do about it.
Of course, the usual floggings of Muzz have already begun (only here thus far). Then again, it's not Muzz's fault.
Rafa will face Big Berd who is having a great year: reaching the finals in Miami and the semis in Roland Garros. He's beaten the Djoker and Fed to get to the final. Big Berd has long been heralded for his potential showing a big hitting game when he beat Federer in the 2004 Olympics, but has always been known as a bit of head case. This year he seems to have gotten his act together mentally, not letting bad breaks in a match bother him. On top of this, he is playing more consistently. He's definitely an opponent that Rafa will not understimate.
But then again, Rafa is at the peak of his powers. Besides his ground game, Rafa is hitting bigger on his serve, showing variety with his slice backhand, looking to come forward, and taking the ball early. In the mental toughness department, Rafa is probably the GOAT in my opinion. And, he's won this event before.
Big Berd hit Fed off the court (6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4) showing that his victory in Miami was not a fluke. It's a typical pattern: a big tall flat hitter gets a nice look at Fed's kick 2nd serve and hits a forcing shot into the corner to immediately take control of the point. Over the course of the match, Fed has to start going for safer 1st serves to protect his second serve and hit more aggressive 2nd serves. Then the big hitter starts getting chances to break Fed. Props to Big Berd for executing and closing it out. He faces the Djoker for a place in the finals. With this loss, Federer will drop to #3 in the world.
As a Fed fan, I'm trying to be rational about it. Yes, he's heading toward the end of his career and it's obvious that God-mode Federer ain't coming back. The stretches of effortless wins that we're accustomed to seeing from Fed won't happen. But if anything is clear from watching him struggle at SW19, he's not going to go quietly. We're going to see more and more of Fed the fighter, which is apparently a shock to folks like Bozo.
Of course, Fed haters jumped on him for his press conference, but read in toto, it make sense. If you won Wimbly five times and just got beaten by a player you've owned most of your career, would you be happy? In a way, I'm kind of glad Fed was surly.
Q. Difficult moment, but what couldn't you do that you wanted to do? What let you down?
ROGER FEDERER: Uhm, well, I mean, I don't think I played poorly. But, uhm, I think he went after it. I mean, I know Berdych. I think I've played him 10 times already before. That's the way he plays, you know.
I think he's been able to play more consistent last year or so, and I was just not able to defend well enough and I didn't come up with the good stuff when I had to. So it was disappointing, you know. Yeah.
Q. You beat him almost every time you played him. Was he any different?
ROGER FEDERER: Like I said, I think he was a bit more consistent than in the past. I lost to him in Miami this year, where it was a really tight match as well.
But from my end, obviously, you know, I'm unhappy with the way I'm playing. I couldn't play the way I wanted to play. You know, I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn't quite allow me to play the way I would like to play.
So it's frustrating, to say the least. Looking forward to some rest anyway.
Q. How do those physical things affect you the most?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, when you're hurting, it's just a combination of many things. You know, you just don't feel as comfortable. You can't concentrate on each and every point because you do feel the pain sometimes. And, uhm, yeah, then you tend to play differently than the way you want to play.
Under the circumstances I think I played a decent match, you know. But I've been feeling bad for the last two, three matches now. It's just not good and healthy to play under these kind of conditions, you know.
So if there's anything good about this it's I'm gonna get some rest, that's for sure.
Q. Some of these big, flat hitters seem to be having an effect on you. Do you need to alter your game to adjust to that?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, if I'm healthy I can handle those guys, you know. Obviously it's a pity that Del Potro is not around, because I think he would have a run at world No. 1 or a run at another Grand Slam. It's unfortunate for him.
But, you know, he's been playing well, and these guys do play very well. I played these guys 10 times. They're not going to reinvent themselves in a year, you know.
But I'm definitely struggling at the moment. That's a bit disappointing.
Q. When did you first start feeling the problems?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, the leg came in the finals of Halle. That kind of never really quite got away from me. Came back a little bit after the first‑round match, and then went away again and just kept creeping back sometimes during the matches.
The back's been feeling stiff the last five days, six days really badly. Also in the finals of Halle. It's just something that's been lingering on the grass. It's normal that the back tends to get stiff, you know, in the grass court season because you have to, uhm, go for many more lower shots.
I've had that for many years. I think many players have it. But it's not just not nice when it doesn't go away and you can't play freely. That's what I was missing today.
Q. Did it affect your level of motivation or anxiety about the match before the match or in the early stages of the match?
ROGER FEDERER: No, it wasn't that bad, like that I was just hoping to get to the finish line. I mean, once I enter the court, I am there to battle and to try to win with what I got. You know, otherwise I'm not going to walk on the court like I did once in my life prior in Bercy against Blake.
But it's nowhere close to being that bad. It's just uncomfortable. Yeah, like I said, you can't play freely. When you can't play freely, that's the kind of performance you get.
Q. Obviously he's going to come at you. Did you feel like you were as aggressive as you wanted to be in the match? You had some chances in the fourth set, Love‑40 on his serve.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, his mistakes and my mistakes. You know, he played well when he had to. It was brutal for me. Every time he had a chance, he took it. On the breakpoints, he played great on those.
Then when I had chances early on, I was actually not too bad. I just felt like I got the unlucky bounce once in a while, you know. 30‑All he got it on the line over and over again. I just felt like I couldn't create enough chances to really get the breakthrough.
When I did have chances, I played poorly. It was just a frustrating match the way it all went.
Q. Timing issues for you out there on the ball?
ROGER FEDERER: No.
Q. A number of shots were sailing out and the crowd would groan and then they would suddenly curl in. What role do you think technology had on today's result, strings in particular?
ROGER FEDERER: I don't know what you mean. What do you mean, balls were flying out and they came back in?
Q. No. It looked like he was hitting balls that were going to land 10 feet behind the baseline and then they would curl in.
ROGER FEDERER: No, no, he didn't play like that. You saw a different match.
Q. Will this make you hungrier to make you come back and show you can lift this title again?
ROGER FEDERER: Sure. God, I can't wait for Paris and Wimbledon to come around next year again, that's for sure. So, uhm, because they've been frustrating tournaments for me, even though it wasn't too bad.
Quarters is a decent result. Obviously people think quarters is shocking, but people would die to play in quarterfinal stages of Grand Slam play. It's not something I'm used to doing, losing in quarterfinals, because it's not something I've done in the last six years.
So I am winning my matches. Today was a different story than Paris. I mean, I think in Paris conditions were tough. Robin played fantastic. Today was different. You know, I was struggling with my own game and with my physique.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to a rest, and then attack again in North America.
Q. What concern do you have that the injuries will linger?
ROGER FEDERER: Not much of a concern.
Q. Do you feel you can get back to a position of domination in tennis?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I do think that. That's why I'm here.
Q. Obviously a very disappointing day for you personally. Who, in your opinion, do you think will go on to win this competition now?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, let's wait and see who gets through today. But as we don't know, I can't answer. What a pity (smiling.)
Q. Which leg is the one bothering you?
ROGER FEDERER: The right one.
Q. Do you think the return was the most difficult part of your game today? Because sometimes you were returning a little slower and he was hitting a lot of winners.
ROGER FEDERER: That's his game. He took a lot of chances, you know. I tried to slice it; I tried to play aggressive. You know, first you just want to try to make the returns.
But, you know, I mean, I had my chances. I don't think I needed to change much. The way I returned, this match I could have won as well, you know.
But, uhm, I was just not playing well enough. And when he had to, he was able to come up with some good stuff, you know. But I definitely gave away this match, I feel.
Q. Will you shut yourself off from tennis totally now?
ROGER FEDERER: Yes. Two weeks' vacation.
Q. The prospect of a men's final without Roger Federer seems a strange one. Will you tune in on Sunday to see how it goes on?
ROGER FEDERER: I don't think so, no. I'll be on vacation, like I said (smiling.)
Q. Andy Murray is playing a critical match at the moment. Nadal has been having some trouble. What do you think of Andy Murray as a player and do you think this might be his year, given some of the great players are not doing so well?
ROGER FEDERER: The end was what?
Q. I wonder if you think this might be his year, given some of the really threatening players haven't been doing so well this year.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, true, Rafa played terribly lately; Soderling is not a threat either. He's got an easy ride to this victory, that's for sure. Djokovic can't play tennis anymore it seems like.
Got to make your own work, please. Respect the players. Obviously Andy is a fantastic player and he's got all the chances to win here. We all know that.
So, beware! Fed might give himself to the dark side and channel his anger. Darth Federer will be on the loose.
Meanwhile, this blog has discovered that the mysterious power outages that have been appearing all over Western Europe are due to the British hype machine as Toothface advanced to the semis to face Rafa.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Roland Garros will bring you Sodal.
Sod took five sets to defeat Big Berd as fuzz littered the red clay (6-3 3-6 5-7 6-3 6-3). The statistical difference seems to be that Sod got more of his first serves in, where it was more likely that he would win the point. It was pretty obvious that Berd lost his legs in the fifth set as he could not put in a first serve in his last two service games.
As would be expected from two big hitters, the unforced error count and winner count was high.
Soderling
Berdych
Unforced Errors
63
41
Winners
62
42
1st Serve %
91/145 (63%)
75/150 (50%)
Aces
18
21
DF
8
5
1st Serve % Pts Won
69/91 (76%)
56/75 (75%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won
27/46 (59%)
35/70 (50%)
Break Points Won
6/13 (46%)
4/12 (33%)
Net Approaches
12/17 (71%)
4/10 (40%)
Total Receiving Points Won
59/150 (39%)
49/145 (34%)
Total Service Points Won
96/145 (61%)
91/150 (66%)
Total Points Won
155/295 (52%)
140/295 (48%)
As expected, Nadal cruised over Melzer (6-2 6-3 7-6 [6]).
It's fairly obvious from the stats that Rafa was all over Melzer's serve and that Melzer could not get much of a toehold into Rafa's serve.
Melzer
Nadal
Unforced Errors
32
24
Winners
29
37
1st Serve %
72/99 (73%)
65/85 (76%)
Aces
3
4
DF
2
4
1st Serve % Pts Won
41/72 (57%)
49/65 (75%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won
10/25 (40%)
11/16 (69%)
Break Points Won
2/3 (67%)
5/8 (63%)
Net Approaches
19/35 (54%)
13/19 (68%)
Total Receiving Points Won
25/85 (29%)
48/99 (48%)
Total Service Points Won
51/99 (52%)
60/85 (71%)
Total Points Won
76/184 (42%)
108/184 (58%)
From the way Rafa has been playing, the only question is how long Sod can slow him down from walking away with the La Coupe des Mousquetaires.
Caro wore down Flavs with her usual brand of Golden Retriever tennis (7-6 [4] 6-7 [5] 6-2)
She'll face another Italian: Franny, who frustrated MaKiri by keeping a billion balls in play (6-4 6-4)
JuJu survived Shrieka's ice stare and fireballs to play Sam for a place in the quarters to take the 3rd set after play was suspended last night (6-2 3-6 6-3).
BTW, Tigs noticed Masha's new tic. Instead of combing her hair before she serves, she clenches her fist before she receives serve.
Demy had a relatively easy match over Scheepers (6-1 6-3).
She'll face Nads who demonstrated improved defence to "upset" Vee (6-4 6-3).
In the battle of big fast guys who are supposed to be the future, Sod handed a beatdown to Cilic (6-4 6-4 6-2).
Sod will try to get his first official career win over the Greatest Shanker of All Time, who beat his friend and compatriot Wawa (6-3 7-6 [5] 6-2)
Big Berd feasted on Muzzard who has not had a great clay court season.
He'll face Head Banger who advanced due to the retirement of Jo Willy because of a hip injury.
A wedding anniversary gift for his supermodel wife, BDecks. It may not be paper, but it certainly can makes a great flower vase.
The outcome of the match was never in doubt once ARod broke serve once in each set: 7-5, 6-4. ARod admitted he had to use a different game plan against Big Berd, who hits flatter than Rafa.
Q. Do you feel you played two different matches against Nadal and Berdych?
ANDY RODDICK: Definitely.
Q. Up at the net a lot and only three times serve and volley in this match today.
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, for sure. You know, against Rafa, when you get two feet under you and you’re not being bullied from the baseline, it’s time to take some cuts.
With Tomas I can get away with my slice a little bit more. I can get away with changing paces a little bit more without the angles of the court being utilized as much. He hits the ball straight through a little bit more, so I can kind of rely on legs a little bit more without the court growing this way and becoming tougher.
So, yeah, it’s definitely a different match.
The match was never entirely characterized by the surf n turf style both guys are known for (big serves and big forehands), as they exchanged several slice and dice rallies. Kudos to both fellas for having a great tournament.
In his last tournament at Indian Wells, Fed felt he never be in a tiebreaker, as he's more comfortable winning the set outright. To be sure, against Bags, he had a 4-1 lead before he went into a breaker. Against Big Berdy (4-6 7-6 [3] 6-7 [6]), the Greatest Shanker of All Time decides to get tiebreak practice and comes out on the wrong side of tennis karma. With a close match like this, the stats indeed showed it was a crapshoot with the total points won evenly split.
Federer
Berdych
Aces
5
6
DF
2
3
1st Serve %
55
56
1st Serve % Pts Won
42/57 (74%)
51/76 (67%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won
25/46 (54%)
32/59 (54%)
Break Points Won
2/10 (20%)
3/4 (75%)
Winners
40
26
UFEs
61
45
Total Service Points Won
67/103 (65%)
83/135 (61%)
Total Points Won
119/238 (50%)
119/238 (50%)
The most revealing stats were the failure to convert break point opportunities (a theme in Fed losses) and the ghastly number of unforced errors. Time and time again, Fed's forehand would sail past the line, or his backhand slice would clip the netcord. The errors were so horrendous, that it stunned spectators like Boom Boom.
Fed looked totally frustrated out there and I was almost expecting him to give Bozo the satisfaction of a racquet smash. In his post-match presser, Fed was acknowledged that he was in a slump.
Q. Obviously backhand was off tonight. A lot of errors. Unusual for you. What was the problem out there? He was playing well, obviously.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it was a tough match. Look, it's no secret I've struggled the last, what is it, five matches I've played here in the States. It's disappointing, I think, my performance overall, if I've got to analyze right now after the match. But I fought as much as I could under the understood circumstances with my game having issues at the moment. Definitely lack timing. I don't know where that comes from because I played so nicely in Australia. So it's disappointing to not be able to back it up. Maybe the sickness did take it out of me more than I thought. Maybe the break was quite long. I'm kind of used to those things, and I still, you know, think I could have done much better. I was a couple points away this week and then also in Indian Wells had my chances. It's disappointing having had a chance to move on. Maybe I had a chance to sort of turn around my game. But, you know, we'll see how it goes forward.
Given that his timing was off, Fed knew he had to hang in there and tough it out.
Look, I never felt great the whole night. I just fought with what I had. I knew it was gonna be a tough third set, because thank God he wasn't in too many of my service games in the second set, which made it a bit easier for me to relax and concentrate on the return games. But, look, I had tons of chances at the end. Match point was my serve, I mean, what more can I do? I tried everything I could. It's just not happening for me at the moment.
It's admirable how he stays in the moment and focuses on doing what he can to win when he's playing like crap. So to the rumor among FedKads that Fed doesn't care about Master's, that's bollocks! He's a competitor like anyone who has dragged his ass out on court. He wants to win and hates losing, especially when he has a chance to close it out.
Even when Fed plays like crap, he does hang in there by hitting one more ball to give himself a chance to win the point.
Definitely not one of his best points ever, but fun to watch how both players kept their composure.
Still it's hard not to believe that at some level Fed's mental focus at a Masters is less than at a Slam. Whatever the case may be, he's not beating himself up over this loss and using his practice time to get his game back on gear.
UPDATE: even though he didn't say so, Roger is ready to move away from the hard court season and to begin defending his Roland Garros title. He posted this picture of his practicing on the clay courts the day after his loss.
