*Official* Tennis Thread

[Anil]

henin beats venus...the "revenge" idea didn't work out... , wonder where these sisters get the idea that winning a tennis match is about upholding family honor, they sound so ridiculous when they say stuff like that...anyway let's see if henin suffers a similar emotional meltdown like what happened at wimbledon...

 

[Anil]

henin beats kuznetsova pretty easily and wins her 7th slam...the men's final should be a cracker...djokovic should be able to push federer further than he has been pushed in the past two weeks...

 

[Johnners]

Fantastic stuff from Henin, she really is a class above the rest at this point in time. Djokovic to win the mens in 4 sets.

 

[Jono]

Gotta hand it to Henin, fantastic tournament from her. She is actually the first ever woman to beat both Williams sisters in a Grand Slam and then go on to win the tournament.

Djokovic played ordinary against Ferrer at times, and yet still won in straight sets. He could really push Federer to the limit ala Nadal at Wimbledon.

 

[Jono]

Federer wins in 3 sets.

Djokovic had bloody 5 set points in the first set, and 2 in the second, and Federer saved all of them.

Great effort from the great Federer, but this will be a stepping stone for Novak. He's already beaten Roger, and he knows in a Slam final he can take it up to him.

Btw, why was Sharapovai in the crowd chanting Novak at the end of the match?

 

[Anil]

Federer wins in 3 sets.

Djokovic had bloody 5 set points in the first set, and 2 in the second, and Federer saved all of them.

Great effort from the great Federer, but this will be a stepping stone for Novak. He's already beaten Roger, and he knows in a Slam final he can take it up to him.

Btw, why was Sharapovai in the crowd chanting Novak at the end of the match?

supposedly they are good friends and sharapova was there to cheer for him...at least that's what the commentators were saying...

federer didn't play anywhere near his best, he just played well on crucial points and djokovic's inexperience on the big stage did the rest...

 

[irfan]

Man, you gotta to hand it to Federer, upped the ante and played brilliantly at all the crucial points. You can just sense that whenever Djokovic had a decent look in, Federer would just find a way to overcome him.

Federer clearly wasn't playing at his free flowing best and when he's not hitting winners from every angle on his racket he plays a great defensive game which is underrated mainly coz he doesn't have to rely on it very often.

Whenever Djokovic looked like he gained the ascendancy, Federer will just pop him a few slow backhand slices as bait for Djokovic to overhit, very subtle and very clever. I think we will see Federer's defensive game more often now as the Nadal's & Djokovic's improve and push him to the limit. I don't think it will matter though as Federer will keep winning (unless its Nadal on clay) mainly cause he's icy cool at all the crucial points, that what separates him from the rest.

Go Fed ur a F'kin legend & I hope you beat/equal Sampras's record by beating Nadal in the French next year !!

 

[Johnners]

Fantastic stuff from Henin, she really is a class above the rest at this point in time. Djokovic to win the mens in 4 sets.

Haha, awesome prediction that...

He'll be back though, tipping him to win one of the hard court slams next year.

 

[Anil]

Haha, awesome prediction that...

He'll be back though, tipping him to win one of the hard court slams next year.

are you predicting that federer will win less than three slams next year? bold prediction that!

 

[Jono]

Happened in 2005. Not that bold considering the fact that Raf and Djokovic are slowly closing the gap a little. 12 months from now, who knows how much better Djokovic will be?

Obviously Federer still favourite for all 3 non-clay Slams, but I'll be chucking a tenner on Djokovic before the Aus and US Open next year just in case.

 

[Anil]

Happened in 2005. Not that bold considering the fact that Raf and Djokovic are slowly closing the gap a little. 12 months from now, who knows how much better Djokovic will be?

Obviously Federer still favourite for all 3 non-clay Slams, but I'll be chucking a tenner on Djokovic before the Aus and US Open next year just in case.

i agree...i was more or less kidding there, probably should've used a different smilie....

 

[Sanz]

are you predicting that federer will win less than three slams next year? bold prediction that!

He will not wil less than 3, unless he is injured.

 

[Anil]

He will not wil less than 3, unless he is injured.

he should still be the favourite at the australian, wimbledon and the open but djokovic could improve enough to upset him if he is not playing at his best especially on the hard courts as also nadal at wimbledon based on what he has accomplished there the past two years...but who knows, he could also turn around and solve the nadal riddle at roland garros...

 

[Sanz]

Exactly. BTW, I watched Djokovic in the US open and he needs major help with his serve before and his game overall before one can take him as a serious challeger to RF. He couldn't beat (couldnt take a set) Roger on a day when Roger wasn' t 50% of what he actually is normally.

 

[Anil]

Exactly. BTW, I watched Djokovic in the US open and he needs major help with his serve before and his game overall before one can take him as a serious challeger to RF. He couldn't beat (couldnt take a set) Roger on a day when Roger wasn' t 50% of what he actually is normally.

federer wasn't playing that badly in montreal when the djoker beat him in 3 tight sets, also he is now definitely the best player in the world after federer and nadal...he might certainly need to improve to beat federer and nadal consistently but the guy is only 20, barring injuries, he certainly has a lot of time on his hands to do it...

 

[Jono]

Exactly. BTW, I watched Djokovic in the US open and he needs major help with his serve before and his game overall before one can take him as a serious challeger to RF. He couldn't beat (couldnt take a set) Roger on a day when Roger wasn' t 50% of what he actually is normally.

Look, you're right, and in reality Roger is the far superior player, but just watch the Montreal Masters Final. Djokovic outplayed Federer, who didn't do much wrong. I couldn't believe it myself. Federer had set point after set point in the first set yet Djokovic won it. Federer then dominated the second set, and then in the third broke back after being a break down which SHOULD have crushed Djokovic's spirit resulting in a Federer win. Instead Djokovic KILLED Federer in the tie-break (just like the first set) and won the title. He just was the better player, with Federer simply having no answer.

Djokovic lost to Federer in the US Open because it was his first grand slam final (and obviously because Federer played the bigger points better, and is a better player etc.), but Djokovic's inexperience played a very large part. 12 months from now, it won't be the case.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Looks like Federer has mastered the art of saving himself for the big money makers.

 

[Jono]

Put so much money on Federer to win the Masters Cup after he lost to Gonzales.

Federer isn't as safe a bet as he used to be, but he's still clearly the best in the world, and he showed it again in the Masters Cup.

 

[Anil]

Put so much money on Federer to win the Masters Cup after he lost to Gonzales.

Federer isn't as safe a bet as he used to be, but he's still clearly the best in the world, and he showed it again in the Masters Cup.

the guy wins 3 majors, is in the finals of all 4, wins one without dropping a set, wins the masters, wins 8 tournaments for the year, but he loses 9 matches for the year and people are already speculating that he is vulnerable..., hard to believe that his 2007 season is actually worse than 2006...just goes to show the astronomical standards he has set for himself and for tennis fans all over...

 

[Jono]

Agreed, but that little patch he had with losses to Nalbandian and Gonzalez were very different to what we've seen from Federer in the past 3-4 years where he'd lose the odd random match (Canas, Djokovic etc.) but that patch was a little weird.

Its only natural, as you say, for people and the media to speculate about Federer not being that good anymore when he loses a few matches.

Btw, gotta love Nalbandian's come-back to the top 3-5 tennis players going around. His matches vs. Nadal, Djokovic and especially Federer near the end of the year were brilliant. Hopefully he has a great 2008. Love him and tennis needs at least one of Nalbandian, Safin, Ferrero or Hewitt (as much as I hate to admit it) back to the top 5.