Wimbledon 2010: The King and Queen of the Ball

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).

Wimbledon 2010: Teammate Love

Lots of love got exchanged between teammates today.

Petz and Melzer won the gentlemen's doubles championship at SW19 over Lindsteadt and Tecau (61 75 75).




Vania King, gamer gal, and her partner Yaroslava Shvedova came back from a break down in the first set against Bepa and Vezzy to take the ladies doubles (76[6] 62).

Rafa must surely have yelped and danced for joy. In the World Cup, Spain's David Villa scored the sole goal late in regulation (83:00) despite the Paraguayans clogging the middle for most of the game to neutralize the Spanish passing attack. Props to Casillas for saving a penalty kick. They'll play the Germans in the semifinals, who stomped all over La Pulga and Company (Argentina).

Wimbledon 2010: Gentlemen's Final Preview

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.

Prediction: Rafa in 4 sets.

Wimbledon 2010: Ladies' Final Preview

ReeRee got off to a slow start and then steamrolled over Petra (76[5] 62).

No, this picture is not of Bepa melting down. Even though she was flummoxed by Tsveta's serve, backhand and slice forehands, she kept her head and started to figure out her opponents variety to get to finals (36 63 62).

Bepa and ReeRee will square off on Saturday morning for the Venus Rosewater dish. ReeRee leads their head to head record 5-2, with Bepa's last victory taking place in the semis on the hard courts of Cincinnati in 2006. But as we all know, ReeRee is a different animal at a Grand Slam. ReeRee will have to be seriously off in order for Bepa to have any chance of beating her, and Bepa will have to avoid any meltdowns. I just hope Bepa keeps it competitive.

Speaking of her meltdowns, I love how the commentators have pointed out that something about Wimbledon's staid/traditional atmosphere keeps players (like Bepa) on their best behavior.

In Charleston 2010 against Stosur, she destroys her racquet in a tribute to the greatest racquet smasher of all time: compatriot Marat Safin.



The list could go on and on (e.g. US Open 2009 against Pennetta). Funny, how in her presser, the journos politely tried to address this:

Q. Have you worked with a professional on the mental side of your game? Is that just poise and maturity, or have you worked with a sports psychologist or performance coach?

VERA ZVONAREVA: I always believe in myself. I always know that, you know, I can do anything. For me, I think it came with an experience and I know better how to handle different situations.

But, uhm, I don't care what people say around. And when they do, I can get ‑‑ I can break the racquet, but it doesn't mean I'm not there in the match. I'm trying all the time.

But I think right now experience helps me a lot. I've been in a lot of different situations in the past of my career, and I think I know how to turn the matches around much better now.

Even if something is not working, I think I know in my head that I just have to take it one point at a time and just keep trying. In the end, we will see what's going to happen.

Wimbledon 2010: The King is Down! Long Live the King

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.

@ptbodo Roger Federer can be surly. Who knew?

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.

Wimbledon 2010: Manic Monday

One of the consequences of Wimbledon taking the middle Sunday off is that all the 4th round matches took place on Monday, which makes for lots of great tennis.

The Greatest Forehand Shanker was kidnapped by aliens and replaced by TMF who returned beautifully and put on practice match against Melzer (63 62 63)

Belgian text-buddies promised to meet each other for the biggest exho since BJK beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. Mum Train's chance of winning a Wimbly before she has another kid were kept alive and JuJu has another year to work on her serve (26 62 63).

Ears were split at Centre Court by Shrieka and ReeRee. Unfortunately for fans of rose petal dresses, Shrieka double faulted in the tie breaker to set up set point to gift the match to ReeRee (76 [9] 64).

Vee her sister also hung in there to win a tight straight setter over Groth (64 76[5]).

The Djoker overcame an "illness" to do his Incredible Hulk impression to overcome Rusty (75 64 36 64)

ARod played not to lose and lost to Asia's best tennis player, Rendy Lu (46 76[3] 76[4] 67[5] 97). Oh, BTW, his interview is a gem where he takes stupid media questions apart.

Nails kept enough balls in play to hit Aggie off the court (63 62).

So did Petra Kvitova to Aggie's best friend, Caro, who really needs to learn to win matches without on court coaching (62 60).

Lady JaJa had to retire with a lower back injury against Bepa (61 30).

In other news,

• Rafa steamrolled Mathieu (64 62 62)


• Sod hung in there against Ferru (62 57 62 36 75)


• Ali danced after triumphing over Benneteau his compatriot (61 46 63 61)


• Samurai couldn't hit through Muzz (75 63 64)


• Big Berd triumphed over Brand (46 76[1] 75 63)
  
• The Hamster lost to Pironkova (64 64)


• Kanepri cruised over Zakopalova (62 64)

Wimbledon 2010: the Queen in the Royal Box

As you all know, Queen Elizabeth II visited Wimbledon for the first time since 1977 when Briton Virginia Wade won the ladies championship.

At Member's Lawn, ReeRee got to show off her curtsy in a greeting line of tennis players for the Queen.

The line included Vee her big sister, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Lady JaJa, Caro, ARod, Nole, Sir Shanksalot as well as Brit lady ballers Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Heather Watson and Laura Robson.

Sir Shanksalot and Vee then had lunch with Her Royal Highness. What was for lunch?

• Salmon millefeuille with Wye Valley asparagus


• Chilled orange and honey marinated chicken on fruity couscous with roasted vegetables


• Kentish strawberries and blackberries with Cornish clotted cream and mint Syrup


• English cheese plate and orange chutney, coffee and chocolates


• Wine List: Meursault, Joseph Drouhin, 2006 and Barolo, Giovanni Corino, 2004

The Queen gave the royal wave from the Royal Box.

These two gentlemen (Muzz and Nieminen) bowed back, following the tradition.

After Muzz clinically dispatched Finland's finest (6-3, 6-4, 6-2), they exited with a royal box and paid their respects to HRM who had indicated that one match was enough for her to see at her age of 84.

Wimbledon 2010: The Longest Match Ever

In the 1st round, Tree and Mahut have been playedthe longest professional match ever in tennis history (6-4 3-6 7-6 [7] 6-7 [3] 70-68), stretching out over 3 days, clocking in at 11 hours and 5 minutes for a total of 183 games. Sadly, it had to end. Tree finally broke Mahut's serve, hitting two consecutive passing shots winners from 30-all to secure the match.

This match shattered a number of records. The first 4 sets took a mere 174 minutes (2 hours 54 minutes). They began playing the unimaginable fifth set on the second day, as Wimbledon does not allow tiebreakers to determine the winner. The match time exceeded Hawaii Ironman men's course record (8 hours, 4 min). The fifth set alone (8 hours and 11 minutes) lasted longer than the Borg vs. McEnroe Wimbledon final of 1980.

• The longest professional match ever played (11 hours and five minutes; the eight-hour fifth set alone ran longer than the previous mark of 6 hours, 33 minutes set by Clement and Santoro at the 2004 French Open).


• The longest set ever played (70-68, with the previous mark being a puny 25-23 when John Newcombe beat Marty Reissen 4-6 6-3 6-4 25-23 in the 1969 US Open).


• The most games ever played (183). This is well ahead of the previous record of 122 games in doubles (1973 Davis Cup tie between the US and Chile: Stan Smith and Erik Van Dillen beat Patricio Cornejo and Jaime Fillol, 7–9, 37–39, 8–6, 6–1, 6–3) and 112 games in singles (Pancho Gonzalez v. Charlie Pasarell at 1969 Wimbledon
  


• The most points ever played (881), winners ever hit (490) and longest scorecard ever printed (eight pages). (No one has checked these, exactly, but it's a pretty sure thing.)


• The most aces ever hit (Isner's 113 and Mahut's 103 both beat the previous record of 78 set by Dr. Ivo in a Davis Cup tie in 2009 against the Worm).

The only match that this hasn't exceeded is an amateur one in the Guinness Book of World Records: in Nov 2008, Bolter v Rostan in USA lasted 31hrs, 35mins, 30secs!

The match stats were:

	Mahut (FRA)	Isner (USA)
Unforced Errors	60	62
Winners	244	246
1st Serve %	67 %	74 %
Aces	103	112
Double Faults	21	10
1st Serve % Pts Won	284 of 328 = 87 %	292 of 361 = 81 %
2nd Serve % Pts Won	101 of 161 = 63 %	82 of 130 = 63 %
Break Points Won	1 of 3 = 33 %	2 of 14 = 14 %
Net Approaches	111 of 155 = 72 %	97 of 144 = 67 %
Total Receiving Points Won	117 of 501 = 23 %	104 of 510 = 20 %
Total Service Points Won	406 of 510 = 80 %	384 of 501 = 77 %
Total Points Won	502	478
Fastest Serve Speed	128 MPH	143 MPH
Avg 1st Serve Speed	118 MPH	123 MPH
Avg 2nd Serve Speed	101 MPH	112 MPH

Oh, BTW, props go out to Mohammed Lahyani the umpire for staying out there the whole time.

Now for some epic tweets:

@JamesLaRosa Isner/Mahut could kick Chuck Norris's ass

@TomPerrotta Federer on Isner-Mahut: "I don't know if I was crying or laughing, it's too much."

@andy_murray: This is why tennis is one of the toughest sports in the world, this will never ever be matched again

@Emma_Golding John McEnroe, regarding the match: "I'm very proud to be a tennis player right now." Damn straight.

@SvetlanaK27 can u imagine thay play this match untill the end of wimbledone???lolo never will finish

A TV interview was done at the end of the 2nd day and both players were complimentary of each other:

Isner: "Nothing like this will ever happen again, ever."

Mahut: "He's just a champ."

When it was all done:

Mahut: "We played the greatest match ever in the greatest place to play tennis"

Isner: "The guy's an absolute warrior. To be able to share this day with him was an absolute honor."

Wimbledon 2010: Fashion Grades (Gentlemen)

The gentlemen, as usual, have less room for improvisation.

After last year's blingey kit, His Royal Goatness promised that this year's kit would follow the theme: "Less is More". For his warm up kit, he showed up in a mock turtleneck.

And then he narrowly avoided the curse of the tuxedo in his 1st round comeback against Falla.

Kudos to Nike for coming up with a kit that won't make a club player feel like a total wannabee (just a partial one).

Grade: A

The Mallorcan Matador usually tones down his florid kits for SW19. The only hint of color is the hot pink for the swoosh and the neck line. Surely the all-white rules of the AEC are more permissive, no?

Grade: B+

ARod has returned to the tri-colored polo in which he won Miami

While Lacoste is a fairly small fish compared to Nike and Adidas, it's a shame that with its heritage, it can't do more.

Grade: B+

Big Berd's swan-like polo is way too basic. His checkered Back Spin polo (white w/flat pewter) from Roland Garros would have worked better.

Grade: B-

The Djoker cannot be serious with his Sergio Tacchini kit with green piping. I don't think it fits his personality. ST has a white polo with a bold red stripe across that would have bought back the ghost of JMac.

Grade: B+

Despite his new Dunlop contract, Play Station still looks like he rolled out of bed, and has painted his old Prince sticks.

Grade: C

Le Monf's skin is the only color or texture in this sleveless KSwiss kit.

Grade: B-

For his compatriot Ali, why doesn't Adidas prohibit color photos of their player?

Grade: B-

Adidas chooses to obfuscate the pink line under the arms of Britain's hopes for a Slam winner. I'm not sure whether Muzz's pressers bore me more than his kit.

Grade: B-