"Crazy good day" puts Federer in last 16

All the hype preceding the highly anticipated "supermatch" between Federer and Marat Safin in the third round of Wimbledon was all for naught as the latter didn't have one of his "crazy good days" as the four-time defending champion had feared.

It took Federer only three sets (6-1 6-4 7-6(4)) to beat the clearly frustrated Safin who took out his anger on his racquets as usual but was surprisingly not issued a warning for doing so by the chair umpire. ("He [the chair umpire] probably knows that he's [Safin] in enough trouble as it is", said the commentator.) The poor racquets most probably cringe in terror while waiting in Safin's bag during every match wondering which among them would be the next victim of an on-court tantrum. The top seed seemed in a hurry once again to get the match over with as he breezed through the first set in just 19 minutes. This, by the way, was slightly less than what it took Jelena Jankovic and Lucie Safarova to complete a tug-of-war game at 3-3 in the second set of their third round match earlier. Safin was however at least successful in breaking Federer's serve in the second game of the second set, only to lose his serve--and a racquet or two--in the next. And he did put up more of a fight in the third which went to a tie-break. But Federer was just too good as he won the tie-break 7-4. Even John McEnroe seemed so impressed by Federer's performance as he commentated the match for BBC that he hinted at taking back the remarks he made during his acceptance speech at the recent ITF awards:

"I'm not sure Federer has to win the French Open to be considered the best of all time. His class is undoubted in the modern game and, anyway, with the amount of time he has on his side, who's to say just how many titles he might go on to win...

Sheer, sheer quality from Federer, who was really tested in that final set but still came through. He's favourite for another title here for a reason, and tonight he showed us why."

Amen!

A half century milestone and Safin up next

Number one seed Federer continued his relentless march toward a fifth-straight Wimbledon Men's Singles title as he overcame 18-year-old Juan Martin del Potro 6-2 7-5 6-1 in the second round. In another rain-delayed match, Federer grabbed the first two sets and was leading 2-0 in the third when rain came down once again to disrupt proceedings at the All England Lawn Tennis club. After play was eventually suspended three hours later for the rest of the day, a ruthless Federer returned to court on day four to win the third set in just 11 minutes (for a total of 93 minutes match time--one minute longer than it took him to win his match against Gabashvili),and his 50th consecutive match on grass.

The dangerous but unpredictable Marat Safin will be Federer's opponent in the third round. The former world number one had denied Federer the 2005 Australian Open title by edging him in the semifinals in what many consider a classic five-set match. He also proved a challenge in their last match on grass in Halle in 2005 where Federer needed three sets to win. But grass is apparently Safins' weakest and most hated surface--if we are to recall his memorably bitter "grass is for cows" comment when he lost in the first round a few years ago. So unless Safin suddenly musters the brilliant form that he had two years ago, he would most likely at best grab a set from Federer in their upcoming and highly anticipated match.

A stylish start at Wimbledon

Federer eased past Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in straight sets 6-3 6-2 6-4 as he opened the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England. Play at the All England Lawn Tennis club was actually delayed for nearly two hours due to rain but once play commenced Federer got down to business immediately by wrapping up his first-round match in a mere 92 minutes.

This was his 49th straight victory on grass and his commanding performance pushed aside fears that skipping the Gerry Weber Open at Halle had jeopardized his chances of winning a fifth straight title here at Wimbledon.

Although Federer was clearly back to his winning ways on his favorite surface, things were slightly different this season at SW19. For one, Centre Court was missing its roof making for a brighter but more blustery conditions on court that Federer with his delicate but deadly artistry had to deal with. Hawkeye was making its first appearance at Wimbledon as well and Federer used it to his advantage by challenging a couple of calls and showing that he was correct both times.

Then there was Federer himself who on the verge of making history by tying Bjorn Borg's record at Wimbledon looked dressed for the part by showing up on court in a new suit designed by Nike: a white customized dinner-style jacket with a gold crest on the breast pocket and retro long white trousers. He even wore a light vest emblazoned with the same gold crest for the early part of the match.

Federer seeks 5th straight Wimby title

It's Wimbledon season once again, as humorously observed by Matthew Pritchett in his cartoons for the Telegraph below, and, like any other Federer fan, I'm all excited!

World tennis number one and four-time Wimbledon men's champion Roger Federer opens his campaign for a record-tying fifth straight Wimbledon crown tomorrow, 25 June, when he opens the prestigious tennis tournament with a match against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. The match is scheduled to start at 1:00pm, London time.

According to the men's single draw, Federer may next meet another Russian, the 26th seed Marat Safin, in the third round. Also in Federer's quarter of the draw is Australian Open finalist, Fernando Gonzales, who if I recall correctly, gave Federer quite a challenge in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2005. It is also possible that Federer will face this year's Queens champion and two-time Wimbledon finalist, Andy Roddick, in the semifinals. Other potential opponents of Federer at that stage of the tournament are Queens runner-up and surprise finalist, Nicolas Mahut (the played a brave match against Federer last year, by the way); Ordina Open title-holder Ivan Ljubicic and British hope Andy Murray.

Sounds like a pretty tough draw to me. I can only hope and pray Federer does well and will be able to defend his title. I'm a little anxious since he didn't have the opportunity to warm-up at the Gerry Weber Open at Halle this time around which means he lacks some matchplay. On the other hand, grass is his favourite surface and Federer seems determined and confident about his form and about switching from clay to grass after a good rest. Why, he has even admitted that he's got his eye on Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon crowns!

Borg on Federer again

Eleven-time Grand Slam champion Bjorn Borg is clearly an admirer of Federer and is reportedly looking forward to seeing the current world tennis number one match his five consecutive titles at Wimbledon when he returns to the All England Club for this year's championships.

I can't wait to hopefully sit down on Centre Court on the second Sunday and watch Roger win. That would be wonderful, I really hope that Roger does that as he's such a great guy.

Wow! That's ultimately a compliment to Federer since it's well known that Borg called up Federer in 2001 to thank him for stopping Pete Sampras in the fourth round and essentially preventing Sampras from matching his five-title streak:

I decided to call Roger up, to congratulate him, yes, but also to thank him for keeping my record intact. That was a great win for Roger, and it was a pity that he didn't go on to win the tournament that year. But records are there to be broken, so if he matches me this year, I'll be pleased that it's Roger who has done it. ... Maybe Roger will win six or seven times, who knows?

This will be only the second time Borg returns to Wimbledon after playing at his last finals there (he lost to John McEnroe) in 1981.

Federer withdraws from Halle

Four-time champion Federer will not play for a fifth successive title at this year's Gerry Weber Open tournament in Halle, Germany. While saying that he doesn't want to risk getting injured, he plans to be back in 2008.

I think this is understandable considering how fatigued he must be after that three-hour epic of a match he had with Nadal at the French Open. But I hope skipping what is traditionally his warm-up event for the grass season will not disrupt his preparations for Wimbledon where he hopes to win for the fifth straight year.

What if Roger beat Nadal at the French Open ...

Here's an interesting perspective of the Federer-Nadal rivalry given by Greg Garber at ESPN which only magnifies Federer's achievements in the world of tennis. And I don't think the same can be said of Nadal.

Almost single-handedly, Nadal has prevented Federer from making a complete mockery of the men's game.

Consider this: Going into this final at Roland Garros, Federer had put together two of the three longest Grand Slam match win streaks in the 39-year existence of the Open era. After losing to Nadal in the semifinals here in 2005, Federer won 27 straight matches -- and the next three Grand Slams (Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open). And then it happened again. After losing to Nadal in the 2006 French Open final, Federer won another 27 consecutive Grand Slam matches -- and three more Grand Slam singles titles.

Remove Nadal from the equation, and you have a rather frightening prospect. It is not a great stretch to imagine Federer beating Mariano Puerta in the 2005 final and, clearly, he was the second-best player here in 2006 and again in 2007. For laughs, give Federer Nadal's three French Open titles and you have a ridiculous run of nine consecutive Grand Slam titles -- 63 consecutive major match wins -- with the valid prospect of two more, 2007 Wimbledon and the 2007 U.S. Open.

Nadal beats Federer for 3rd French Open title

History was made at Roland Garros today although not the kind we Federer fans were hoping for.

Nadal won a rare third straight French Open title as he ended Federer's bid for a career Grand Slam with a four-set victory in the latest chapter of the rivalry between the top two tennis players. In a way, Nadal was right in saying that Federer had much more at stake with that match: Federer had a career Grand Slam to aim for while he merely wanted to win his third Grand Slam trophy.

If there was one positive thing (from Federer's point of view at least) about the match, it is that Federer prevented Nadal from matching what he accomplished in this year's Australian Open: winning a Grand Slam tournament without dropping the set. He managed to win the second set 6-4 after breaking Nadal's serve in the seventh game by successfully coming to the net and shortening the points to his favor. He had not used that tactic in the first set which he lost 6-2 after losing his serve twice and failing to take advantage of numerous opportunities he himself had to break Nadal's serve. However, he didn't follow up on that great second set in the subsequent sets in which Nadal clearly dominated 6-3 6-4.

Poor Federer. He clearly looked disappointed after Nadal converted on his second match point and during the trophy ceremony. I'd say Nadal didn't really play his best but Federer just seemed to lack the fire and consistent brilliance that he usually displays in other tournaments. Even Federer graciously acknowledged--as he always does when he loses a match--that his opponent was the better player of the match:

He's the toughest guy on clay. So I knew that I would have to take my chances. There is one way, you know, to create chances, but then you have to convert them, too. But I couldn't get them done in the first set, especially, and then that maybe in the long run hurt me.

But, you know, I came back, and played okay in the second set, but had a bad start again in the third set, which kind of killed it for me. But, after that, I think, you know, he served better, made less unforced errors, and I couldn't really play the way I wanted from the baseline.

So it was tough, but I think he played an excellent match and deserved to win in the end.

Oh well. At least Federer also remains motivated:

Yeah, obviously, if I would have won today -- again, same thing happened last year--I would have had not many other goals to chase in my career. Like this, it always stays open. And eventually, if I get it, the sweeter it's going to taste.

As for the rest of the year, Federer can always look forward to the coming tournaments in Halle and Wimbledon--where the grass is definitely greener for him--and to the hard court season with the US Open afterwards.

Rooting for a Roger Slam!

It's 3-6 4-3, Federer serving. The crowd is definitely behind Roger. I have a feeling that they came not to watch Federer and Nadal play each other but to see history being made. And they won't settle for anything less. You can do it Roger!

ITF honours Federer for 2006

Federer was recognized as the the men's World Champion for 2006 by the International Tennis Federation during a dinner held in honour of other outstanding tennis players last Tuesday, 05 June. Last season, Federer won a total of 12 titles, had an amazing 92-5 win-loss record and extended his already huge lead at No. 1 in the rankings. Federer also had won the award for his accomplishments in 2004 and 2005.

However, it was John McEnroe, who received the Philippe Chatrier award, who bestowed the greater praise on Federer by saying during his acceptance speech that a French Open title this year would establish the current world tennis number one as the greatest ever to play the sport.

Federer vs. Nadal again at French Open finals

A decidedly lackluster Federer eked out a straight-sets win over Nikolai Davydenko at the semifinals of the French Open, 7-5 7-6(5) 7-6(7). He had to fight back from a break down in each set as Davydenko seemingly would not believe that he could defeat the Swiss world tennis number one. One commentator even jokingly noted that Davydenko had changed to an orange shirt in the third set perhaps in order to blend in with the court and make it difficult for Federer to see him. Nevertheless, a visibly relieved Federer was satisfied with his performance:

"It was tight until the end. I could have lost in three sets but I won. He's an excellent player and that was a good test for me before the final."

What's more is that he managed to set yet another record along the way by making his eighth consecutive appearance at the finals of a grand slam tournament.

He will once again face world tennis number two and second seed Rafael Nadal who defeated a feisty Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 6-2 in a much more scintillating match in the other semifinals. Nadal is now the only man who stands between Federer and the only grand slam title to elude him as well as the distinction of being only the third man to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.

Federer in French Open semifinals

Tonight I witnessed Federer drop his first set in 12 matches in a Grand Slam tournament on his way to a victory over Spaniard Tommy Robredo, 7-5 1-6 6-1 6-2 in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros a.k.a. the French Open. Despite the hiccup, Federer still set two records:

• by winning the first set, he won a 36th consecutive set at a grand slam tournament, and
• he made it to a record 12th consecutive grand slam semi-final.
  

He will be battling Nikolai Davydenko for a place in his 8th consecutive Grand Slam finals. Davydenko defeated the dangerous Argentine Guillermo Canas in his quarterfinal match, 7-5 6-4 6-4.

While I was gone...

I haven't posted in nearly two months, having been out of the country for a month's vacation. Before that, I was busy wrapping up things at work so that I could pass them on to whoever would be taking up my duties while I was gone.

Now that I'm back, quite a lot has happened since that last post about both Federer and Nadal getting into the finals at Monte Carlo:

• Nothing new at that finals as Nadal won his third straight title at Monte Carlo 4-6 4-6.
  
• Yet another honor was bestowed on Federer: he was named by TIME magazine as one of 100 most influential people in the world today. According to the magazine, these are the men and women "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world". The write-up about Federer who was classified under "Heroes and Pioneers" was penned by no less than tennis legend Rod Laver.
• Then the Rome AMS was not kind at all to Federer when he lost in the third round to Filippo Volandri in straight sets 2-6 4-6. Oh well.
• Federer unexpectedly split with Tony Roche, his part-time coach for two-and-a-half years, blaming a "lack of communication"--and not his recent slump--for the decision. Federer has stated that he intends to go it alone until at least Wimbledon this year.
• Finally Federer made a very crucial breakthrough at the Hamburg AMS where he defeated Nadal at the finals to win a fourth title there. More importantly, he halted the clay court specialist's winning streak on clay at 81 matches! Way to go, Roger! Federer had a very poor start at the match, dropping the first set 1-6 before he came back in the second winning it 6-2. Better still, he won the deciding third set 6-0, another bagel from the prolific Federer's Bakery--and on Nadal's beloved clay no less! Loved the exciting rally with Nadal serving during the third set at 0-3, 15-0. One could see how much the win meant to him when he let out an almighty roar to celebrate match point. I also loved the scene where Mirka came down to courtside to congratulate her man. So sweet!