Arena Federer/Nadal/Djokovic Era - Now 1/3rd Over

nadal looking really good leading up to the u.s. open. tsonga pulls out with a knee injury.

 

I'm pissed I got called into work today. Was planning on watching all morning!

 

i'm stuck at work too. looking forward to night matches though, and i have friday through tuesday off and i'm going to watch so much tennis.

 

James Black announced this would be his final tournament.

 

*facepalm* Sometimes I think my fingers are far faster than my brain.

 

monfils/isner just got very interesting.

 

this del potro/hewitt match is pretty great, though delpo is clearly not on his top form.

 

yeah, really happy for him.

 

one round stands between the inevitable nadal/federer quarterfinal. amazingly, if it happens it will be the first time they've ever faced each other at the u.s. open. both players have cruised through the first three rounds, and barring an injury or something shocking happening on monday should be really fresh heading into wednesday night. can't wait.

 

yeah, i watched the isner match and he was just very inconsistent and seemed to fold a bit under the pressure of the bigger points. kohlschreiber did play well and was able to elevate his game when he needed to, but nadal has to be breathing a bit easier knowing he doesn't have to play the big fella.

 

i didn't think vika was that shaky. she didn't play her best, but still pretty much cruised in the last two sets agains a quality player. ivanovic had an even tougher time against a weaker opponent. i would be shocked if she challenges azarenka. serena against sloane is much more interesting to me.

i really liked watching giorgi beat wozniacki tonight. i'd never seen giorgi play before but she has a lot of game. she also has a really favorable draw and could easily make the semis, which considering that she had to win three matches in the qualis just to make the make the main draw would be amazing.

 

If Federer had finished off Djokovic in 2011 like he should have, it would have happened in the final (and most likely been another title for Nadal). When their careers are over, that will be one of the bigger "What if?" moments between them.

 

yeah, true. and federer even had a match point in that match. seems ridiculous to say that anyone "should have" beaten djokovic in 2011 though. that was one of the most dominant years of tennis that anyone has ever had. the blame for them not meeting sooner in the open lies mostly with nadal i think. falling to lower seeded players in the semis in '08 and '09 when he would have met fed in the finals, and suffering a lot of huge early round upsets in previous years. fed has for the most part been incredible at the u.s. open. nadal not so much. hope he can change that this year.

edit: 2 match points. and maybe it's not that ridiculous to say he "should have" won. he did make a couple unforced errors in crucial moments. and a huge double fault on break point. but he was playing the best player in the world at that time. i had to look up the footage because i didn't remember him tightening up like that, but he did. here it is, judge for yourself.

 

I hate to see a great champion like Federer run over like he was today by Robredo. But, father time catches everyone and at 32, perhaps it's time for Fed to think about hanging up the racquet.

 

might be time to change this thread's title at least.

 

Federer lost only a round earlier than he would have otherwise, and in any case I wasn't looking forward to seeing Nadal humiliate Federer in straight sets. It's almost better to see someone else do it. I still think Fed could change his training and adjust his game so that he could compete into the quarter finals for another few years. Fed as a fourth round loser is still interesting to watch for the most part, although I hate the unforced errors.

 

Federer's game has never adapted though. He thrived on just pure talent rather than a grinding, methodical approach to the game. He's as brilliant a player as we'll ever see, a true candidate for GoaT but still..he needs to adapt and recognize his limits to thrive at major tournaments.

And yeah, Rafa would have just humiliated Federer on Ashe if they had played.

 

i would be inclined to agree if they hadn't just played a fantastic match two weeks ago in cincinnati. federer didn't look great earlier in that tournament either, but he clearly got up to play rafa. i think we could have seen the same on ashe.

youzhny and hewitt playing a great match on armstrong right now. hewitt up two sets to one.

edit: may have spoke too soon. youzhny looks deflated now.