Wimbledon 2008 men’s final - end of an era for Federer
July 7, 2008
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Rafael Nadal was out to steal the Wimbledon crown from Roger Federer as the pair met for the 2008 men’s Wimbledon final.
Things started well for the young upstart as he got an early break in the first set. Federer had chances to break back but missed the shots that mattered and Nadal went on to take the first set 6-4.
In the second set Federer did break Nadal however the Spaniard fought back and again it was a case of Federer just not playing the big points well enough to get the match back on level terms. Nadal fought off many break points to claim the second set 6-4.
2 all in the fifth and another rain delay sends the players into the changerooms.
At one point in the match Nadal fell at the back of the court and appeared to slightly twist his knee. A trainer was called and spent a few minutes treating the no. 2 seed. Getting back into the match it did not appear to affect him.
Going deep into the third set just after Federer had gone ahead 5-4 the covers were pulled out onto the famous centre court and a rain delay saw the players leave the court for around an hour. Nadal would have been thinking the trophy might have been his if he converted at 3-3, 0-40 on Federer’s serve.
When play resumed Nadal quickly jumped out to a 40-0 lead only to see that come back to duece after he double-faulted. Federer could now see his opportunity to get back into the match however Nadal did not budge and he levelled the match at 5-5.
Two more service games followed that both players won comfortably and we entered a tie-break. Federer opened with an ace. 1-0. A Federer error as he hit long made it 1-1. Good serve and deep following shot forces a Federer error, 2-1 Nadal.
Hawkeye saves Federer as he correctly challenges an out call, followed by two aces 3-2 to Federer. An average second serve by Nadal is creamed by Federer and he goes out to a 4-2 lead. Change of ends.
An inside out forehand winner by Federer gives him a 5-2 lead. Huge rally at 5-2 ends with an out ball by Federer that he challenges unsuccessfully, 5-3. Good serve gives Federer some set points at 6-3. One saved, 6-4 Federer. Rafa serving. Good wide serve 6-5, Federer serving for set. Serves an ace out wide to the forehand and it is 7-5 to give Federer the third set.
The fourth set was a dog fight and both players stayed on serve. Federer’s service percentage had dropped however he hung in there. At 4-5 down he fell behind 0-30 but fought back to make it 5-5.
Both players held and once again it was a tiebreak. In the previous one Federer served four aces to pull it off.
The first point was a mini break for Federer after an exciting first point that saw Nadal at the net. Nadal hit back with good play then came a Federer forehand miss out wide. 2-1 Nadal with him serving. A huge lefty swinging ace made it 3-1, the pressure was building.
Another great serve that licked the line to make it hard for Federer to return. 4-1 Nadal. Federer serves well and follows it with a huge forehand deep to Nadal’s backhand corner for a winner. 4-2.
Nadal goes to 5-2 after a long rally and a Federer error hitting wide to the backhand sideline. Nadal steps up to serve just two points away from his first Wimbledon title. He throws in a double fault. 5-3. The serve was just 83 kms. Was he getting nervous? He loses the next point and it is 4-5 Federer. In a blink of an eye Federer makes it 5-5.
Good serve down the T is shanked wide by Nadal to give Federer a set point. Nadal serving. Into the net, the crowd murmurs. A second serve goes in and a long rally follows. Federer hits wide to lose the point, 6-6. The next rally sees Federer hit long by inches to fall behind 6-7.
A big serve by Federer is not returned to make it 7-7. Federer serves a good serve which he follows into the net only to see an awesome down the line pass by Nadal for the point to bring up match point.
Nadal serves and is keen to take the point, he goes to the net only to see the pass whiz by, match saved for now. Great shots by Federer pushing Nadal wide and then hitting to an open court to give him the point. 9-8 Federer. The set is won by Federer as Nadal hits long.
After having a match and Championship point it now was going to be fascinating to see how Nadal would handle the fifth set. What a match!
Another rain delay forced the players off at 2-2 in the fifth. When play resumed it was Nadal who got his nose in front by breaking Federer in the 15th game. This time he was able to complete the job and he won his service game to win 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7.
A classic match to signal the end of a stunning run for Roger Federer where he reigned supreme on the Wimbledon grass. Nadal of course has now completed the difficult French Open - Wimbledon double, something not often done.
Williams sisters wow fans in Wimbledon ladies final
July 6, 2008
Going into the ladies Wimbledon final for 2008 some of the cynics were saying the final would be decided not on the court but in the Williams family discussions. They had the audacity to insult the competitive spirit of Venus and Serena Williams and say the winner would be hand picked.
Thankfully after watching the final it was clear that the title was on the line and it would be decided by the better player on the day.
Right from the first game Serena was out to show she was the one to take the 2008 title. She broke Venus in the first opening game and then maintained that advantage until Venus hit back at 3-4 to break her little sister to level the scores at 4-4.
Watching the game was a treat. Both players were hitting the ball unbelievably well and the court cover of Venus was a feature. When she is fit and healthy there probably is not a better mover in the women’s game.
Venus was now playing at a high level and Serena had to work hard to stay with her. If Serena was playing anyone else on the tour she probably would have been winning comfortably such was the level of her play. Her one problem was that big sis was not giving in.
At 5-5 in the first set Venus made her move. She broke Serena’s serve to move to a 6-5 lead. She was now serving for the first set. A few errors had now crept into Serena’s game and this helped Venus to set point.
We then saw an interesting thing as Serena conceded a point to Venus to give her the set. Serena had hit a shot she thought was going wide. She let a scream that distracted Venus. She then decided to just concede the point.
The first ended with Serena hitting 19 winners and making just 6 unforced errors. Venus had 14 winners to 6 unforced errors. It would have been hard for Serena to imagine playing so well yet still losing the set.
The second set started with Serena having a chance to break early. She could not convert in that game however in the next service game from Venus she pushed hard to get the break. It was a huge effort that took 7 break points before she converted. In the end it took a fall by Venus to get the break.
We were seeing some great tennis. The Williams girls were going all out to claim the Wimbledon ladies title for 2008.
Venus was not letting Serena get ahead in the match and broke back immediately to level the scores at 2-2. From there she slowly worked her way to the moment where she had match point. Another break came and then at 5-4 she was serving for the match. A wide shot be Serena and it was over.
Venus took the match 7-5, 6-4. Her celebrations were subdued out of respect for her little sister. Venus had now claimed Wimbledon ladies title no. 5 to be third on the all time list in the open era. Martina Navratilova leads the way with 9 singles titles, Graf has 7.
To make her day even more memorable Venus Williams later teamed up with Serena to easily win the ladies doubles title winning 6-2, 6-2 over Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur.
The Williams girls are back. If the draw works in their favor I can see another all Williams final at the US Open later this year.
Before then the next big event on the tennis calendar will be the Beijing Olympic tennis tournament. I am lucky enough to have tickets to this event and can’t wait to share this experience with you.
Will Rafa dethrone Roger in the Wimbledon final?
July 5, 2008
The two men’s semifinals at the Wimbledon tennis tournament have been played. As expected Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have booked their spots in Sunday’s final
Federer was first up against Marat Safin. Once again Federer did not get broken on serve. He was mostly in control throughout and the closest Safin got was in the tie break that decided the second set. The final score was 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4.
Federer now has the chance to win title no. 6 in a row. His opponent in last years final and his recent conquerer at the French Open, Rafael Nadal is set to face him in the final.
Nadal defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-4. The world no. 2 player actually did get broken in this match however it did not hurt him as he broke his German opponent on 5 occasions.
Now the tennis world will watch with interest to see if the young upstart from Spain can end the run of five for Federer, just as John McEnroe did to Bjorn Borg.
Another all Williams Wimbledon final
July 4, 2008
Venus and Serena Williams wrapped their semifinal matches in straight sets to setup the third all Williams ladies final at Wimbledon.
Both matches had an easy first set win for the Williams girl and then a tiebreak to decide it. Venus was fist up agains the no. 5 seed Elena Demenitieva. She took it out 6-1, 7-6(3). If the Russian made less errors in the tiebreak it may have been a different story.
Serena had to wait a while to complete her win as first rain and then some Chinese resistance stretched things out. In the end she was too good for the wildcard Zheng Jie and won 6-2, 7-6(5).
I wonder how many new tennis racquets will be purchased in China following the good run at Wimbledon of Zheng.
So there you have it, the defending Champion will be aiming for title no. 5 and her 7th grand slam singles title overall. Little sister Serena will be playing for her third Wimbledon ladies title.
The Williams sisters are also in the semis of the doubles where they will meet Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua.
Remember when Marat and Roger…
July 3, 2008
Three of the four semifinalists for the 2008 men’s Wimbledon tournament have been decided. One semifinal will see Marat Safin face Roger Federer.
Who remembers the classic semifinal they contested at the 2005 Australian Open? A lot has happened since then. Federer has gone on to win eight more grand slam tournaments. Safin has seen his ranking fall from four back then to outside the top 100 before getting back to his current ranking of 75.
To reach the semis Safin defeated Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-3. After a slow start Safin rolled the no. 31 seed to reach his first ever Wimbledon semi.
In the other two quarterfinals completed on day 9 Federer and Nadal won in straight sets over their opponents. Federer was first to win with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Mario Ancic. The five time defending champion did not offer a single break point to his opponent. It was Ancic who last defeated Federer at Wimbledon.
Nadal snuffed out the challenge of local hope Andy Murray. Like Federer he won in straight sets and also did not give a single break point to his opponent. Nadal was never really troubled by the no. 12 seed and continued his march towards a possible finals matchup with Federer. Nadal is still waiting to see who he will meet in the semifinal as the match between Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement was held over until day 10. The match is tied at one set a piece.
It will be interesting to see how Safin plays against Federer. Just looking at recent history you would give him no chance of upsetting the world no. 1. You should however remember that Safin has knocked out the world no. 3 Novak Djokovic on his was to the semis and that he is playing some good tennis on the Wimbledon grass.
I am still expecting a Federer versus Nadal final and I think that the five title winning streak will come to an end as Nadal claims his first Wimbledon crown.
Can Zheng or Dementieva stop an all Williams Wimbledon final?
July 2, 2008
Venus Williams and little sister Serena have stormed into the women’s semifinals at Wimbledon. Both won convincingly in straight sets. It remains to be seen if Zheng Jie or Elena Dementieva can stop an all Williams Wimbledon final.
Zheng continued her dream run breaking records along the way. By defeating Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 the popular Chinese player becomes the first ever Chinese player into a singles grand slam semifinal and also the first ladies wildcard to go this far.
Zheng earlier in the tournament defeated the top seed Ana Ivanovic and has now made the most of that win by reaching the semis. Quite often after a lesser known player defeats one of the top seeds they lose in the next match. There has been no such problem for Zheng as her march continued.
Against Vaidisova, Zheng the doubles champion in 2006 was too solid from the back of the court. After losing the first set Vaidisova adjusted her game and tried to keep the ball in play for longer. This worked as Zheng made more errors and the Czech player levelled the match.
In the decider Vaidisova handed her Chinese opponent the match as she hit too many unforced errors. The final game was a good indication of why she lost. Vaidisova hit four unforced errors to give her opponent 3 match points. On the third match point Zheng saw Vaidisova hit the ball into the net to give her victory. Her win no doubt will give tennis a huge boost back home in China.
Zheng’s oppponent in the semi will be Serena Williams who easily accounted for Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-4, 6-0. This will be a classic David and Goliath confrontation. Zheng has shown she can mix it with the best so she cannot be ruled out in this match.
The defending champion Venus Williams also won in straight sets. After a closely contested first set against Thailands Tamarine Tanasugarn the four time champion grew in confidence and wrapped up the match 6-4, 6-3. Early in the second set she sent down four thunderous serves that were as good as aces as she did not have to play a single ground stroke to take the game. Venus will play Elena Dementieva in the other semi.
The number five seeded Russian overcame countrywoman Nadia Petrova and her nerves to move into her first Wimbledon semifinal. Dementieva looked to be cruising to a straight sets win. She had taken the first 6-1 and was cruising to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Then it all changed. Throw in some doubles faults from Dementieva and the match was turned around and we had a tie break. Once again the highest seed left in the tournament was looking likely to win as she held two match points. She didn’t and the match was level after Petrova took the breaker 8-6.
Now you had to wonder what would this do to Dementieva’s confidence. Was she going to crumble and hand the match to her Russian opponent? She was a bit shaky but in the end she kept it together long enough to take the third set 6-3. This made the final score 6-1, 7-6, 6-3.
The semis are going to be intriguing. Can Zheng pull off the fairytale win and go all the way to the final and not only reach the final but win it? Will nerves get the better of Dementieva and see her crash out against Venus?
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Where did the top 4 women’s seeds go?
July 1, 2008
Svetlana Kuznetsova seeded at number four at the 2008 Wimbledon tournament lost her match to Agnieszka Radwanska. The Polish player rallied back from 4-1 down in the third to beat Kuznetsova, 6-4 1-6, 7-5.
The loss of Kuznetsova means that for the first time in the open era all of the top four seeds have fallen prior to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.
First to go was third seed Maria Sharapova who lost in the second round. Next to go was the top seed Ana Ivanovic who lost in round three. In round four we also saw Jelena Jankovic exit the Wimbledon tournament.
With the top four gone the number 5 seed Elena Dementieva is the highest seed left in the draw.
The quarterfinals matchups are below.
(7) Venus Williams (USA) vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) V.Williams leads 6-0
(WC) Zheng Jie (CHN) vs. (18) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) Vaidisova leads 2-0
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) vs. (6) Serena Williams (USA) S.Williams leads 1-0
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs. (21) Nadia Petrova (RUS) Petrova leads 7-4
My tips are in bold.
For a full preview of the Wimbledon ladies quarterfinals you can visit the WTA site.
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Murray, Lopez and Ancic take five to advance
July 1, 2008
In men’s round four action at Wimbledon the top two seeds advanced in straight sets. For Andy Murray, Feliciano Lopez and Mario Ancic it was not so straight forward.
Roger Federer (1) overcame 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt 7-6(7), 6-2, 6-4. Rafael Nadal (2) was too good for the 17th seed Mikhail Youzhny winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Andy Murray delighted centre court and Henman Hill, or is that Murray Mound fans as he battled darkness and last years semifinalist Richard Gasquet to win a stunning five set match. The local hope came back from two sets to nil down to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4. The reward for Murray is his first ever grand slam quarterfinal where he is drawn to play Nadal. The Spaniard leads the head to head 3-0.
Spains Feliciano Lopez defeated 2006 semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), 8-6. The win takes him into his second quarterfinal at Wimbledon after having gone that far in 2005. Lopez will play Marat Safin in the next round.
Safin advanced to the quarters after his win over Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. It is the first time Safin has gone this far since the 2001 Wimbledon tournament.
Mario Ancic defeated Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11. The match lasted for 229 minutes. The last set alone took 95 minutes. Ancic was serving for the match when leading 7-6 in the fifth. Verdasco broke back after hitting some good returns. Ancic now plays Roger Federer.
2003 Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. Asked about how he made his way into a Wimbledon quarterfinal Schuettler said “Because I’m healthy. Because I enjoy playing tennis. Because I work hard”.
Arnaud Clement setup a meeting with Schuettler after he defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. It is the first time Clement has reached the quarters at Wimbledon.
Day eight action is ladies quarterfinals day.
Jankovic latest of the top seeds to tumble at Wimbledon
July 1, 2008
Jelena Jankovic has joined the casualty list for the seeds at Wimbledon. The no. 2 seed lost to Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-2.
Tanasugarn has earnt a spot in the quarters where she will face the defending champion Venus Williams.
Jie Zheng and Nicole Vaidisova will meet one another in another quarterfinal.
With the top three seeds now out of the tournament it is now looking likely that there will be an all Williams final at Wimbledon. Both Williams girls are playing well.
Federer ends Hewitt’s 2008 Wimbledon campaign
July 1, 2008
After a tight first set which Federer won in a tie break he has gone on to defeat Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets. The final score was 7-6(7), 6-2, 6-4.
Hewitt had many break points however he did not convert on any. He had 8 compared with Federer’s three. Federer converted all three. This was pretty much the difference today.
Hewitt actually made less unforced errors than Federer however as mentioned above Hewitt did not win the points that mattered.
Federer marches on in his quest to win his sixth straight Wimbledon title. Next up will be the winner of the Fernando Verdasco - Mario Ancic match. Ancic is the last player to defeat Federer at Wimbledon.
