Well, my worry about the rematch with Julien Benneteau was definitely for nothing today. I guess, in retrospect, to think that Benneteau could match the performance that he had against Roger at Wimbledon a few weeks ago is kind of crazy. He really didn't have a lot to offer today in his meek 6-2 6-2 loss today and Fed sailed through nicely without having to expend much energy. The next opponent up on Wednesday is Dennis Istomin. Though he can be a pretty hard hitter, I would think it would be a match without too much anxiety.
The doubles match between Federer/Wawrinka and Nishikori/Soeda was a lot of fun! Though Roger and Stan lost the first set in a very close tiebreak, they came back in the 2nd and were strong to finish it off. The parts I got to see had some really great plays. I also have noticed Roger shows more emotion on the court when he's playing doubles, smiling sometimes, letting out some big yells when he's excited and and showing a little more disgust with himself for messing up. I'm sure, since Stan the Man lost to Murray in singles, that Roger will want to do his best to keep Stan in the competition.
Here's a video clip of an awesome point in the 3rd set, best point of the tournament according to Justin Gimblestob.
There weren't any big upsets for once. Caroline Wozniacki played a 20 minute game with, I think, 13 deuces that turned out to be very important in her win today. It was great that she was playing more aggressive tennis, hitting many more winners than normal. And the Americans all did well today. The Djokovic Roddick match will be interesting tomorrow, as well as Tsonga Raonic. Lots to look forward to this week, that's for sure!
The first day of Olympic tennis started with some upsets. Tomas Berdych went out meekly in straight sets, slipping and sliding around on the newly planted grass on Centre Court. Other upsets included Fernando Verdasco, Li Na and Sam Stosur, to name a few.
Roger Federer looked like he was going to have a relatively easy straight sets win against Allejandro Falla. However, already up a break in the 2nd set he squandered three match points on Falla's serve and then got broken trying to serve for the match. Committing quite a few unforced errors, he somehow managed to hand over the 2nd set. Then, though he broke early in the 3rd set he was broken again. My blood pressure was rising at that point, knowing that anything could happen on a grass court in a best of 3 sets match. However, though nerves must have a played a part for Roger in letting his led slip away, he was able to hold onto them to gain another break and this time put things away. He seemed quite relieved in his post-match interview.
His next match doesn't get any easier, having to come face to face with the guy who almost beat him a few weeks ago. Hopefully being tested early will be a help rather than a hindrance and give him more confidence going into what could be another tricky match. And hopefully the desire to have a singles gold medal around his neck will push him to his best in the upcoming matches rather than causing him to tighten up and give away important points. Come on Roger, you can do this!
Just to clarify once again, though I love watching all kinds of tennis matches and players, my #1 is Roger Federer. So even though I'm an American and maybe should be cheering for guys like John Isner or Andy Roddick to win medals, Roger is my guy and I want gold for him above anyone else. Now that we got that straight, a short look at his draw. While I was happy to see that David Ferrer would be his projected semifinal opponent rather than Andy Murray, and that Berdych, Tsonga and Raonic were all on the other side of the draw, I was a little distressed to see his first two rounds. As most know by now, his first round opponent, Falla, was up two sets and a break on him two years ago at Wimbledon. His potential second round opponent, Benneteau, was up two sets on him a few weeks ago. In both cases, if it were the Olympics, he would have been out. Obviously he is well aware of this and he knows he has to come out of the blocks strong. Hopefully the fact that he just had great success on grass will carry over and get him through these first couple matches. I feel like if he can win those, his chances for a medal, hopefully gold, are very strong.
The bottom half of the draw is quite challenging with all those big hitters I mentioned earlier. No one has an easy ride to the finals, that's for sure. Nothing is a sure thing even for the very strongest and highest ranked players, so it should be a very interesting week-and-a-half. I'm curious to see how Novak Djokovic plays, as he certainly hasn't been the Djoker of 2011. I'm sure he is anxious to remedy that.
And, sweet guy that he is, Roger has given his doubles partner Stan Wawrinka the opportunity to represent Switzerland by carrying the flag in the opening ceremony. This also works out well for Fed given that his first match is tomorrow. It's really too bad they choose to have the opening ceremony late at night, which prevents many of the tennis players from even attending. Don't understand why they can't do it earlier. But the reason they are there is to compete to their best ability athletically, not to go to a big ceremony, so Roger is making the right decision to skip the big event and be prepared for tomorrow.
Hopefully he and Stan can do well in doubles again this year too, but the focus, in my mind and I'm sure his too, is on getting a singles medal. Go for the gold, Roger!
I was thinking this morning about the song by Kelly Clarkson "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" in relation to Roger Federer. Think back to the last two majors of 2011. First there was the quarterfinal loss to Tsonga, his first time ever being up two sets and losing. Very disappointing. After the usual misery for a few days I was able to get past that one, though, and think positive thoughts for things to come. Then came the devastating semifinal loss to Djokovic, first being up two sets, losing the next two, but up a break, serving for the match, two match points, only to lose. Depression set in for a while after that one, that's for sure. Then came his six week break to think things through, and the results he has had since coming back speak for themselves.
As hard as it is to say, I think he actually needed those difficult losses. There were times during 2010-11 when it seemed like he was just kind of passing off his losses, maybe not quite taking them seriously enough. After his U.S. Open loss, after talking about it with Mirka, he realized he needed to do some thinking about what was happening in those moments when he wasn't coming through like he used to. We will never know what things he changed in his thinking or playing that made the difference, but he has shown himself once again to be an incredible champion to be able to learn from the difficult moments, turn things around and come back stronger than ever.
We all know the concept of learning from adversity (though I know I certainly don't like it!). In Roger's case I'm pretty confident in saying that he actually needed the adversity to push him again to the next level. To come back from those difficulties to once again win Wimbledon and especially to get back to #1 in the world has been a joy to participate in as one of his committed fans. If he could add a gold medal to the accomplishments, well, I can't even think of a strong enough word to describe the emotions. I'm so proud of him for the way he has fought through the tough times and I hope with all my heart he and all his fans are listening to the Swiss national anthem next Sunday.
The London Olympics are getting close now! The tennis players are arriving at Wimbledon and beginning their practices. Local hero Andy Murray got the opportunity to carry the torch today:
I'm sure that was a special moment for him. He then got to pass the torch to Venus Williams, which has to be a triumphant moment for her with all she has been through!
Here is a picture of friends-rivals Novak Djokovic with Murray, who both have to feel their medal chances are pretty good:
And, of course, Roger Federer is back at his beloved Wimbledon grounds, looking pretty hot in more ways than one:
It was announced today that although Federer had been granted the privilege of carrying the Olympic flag for Switzerland for the third time, he deferred this time, wanting another athlete to have the opportunity (isn't he a sweet guy?!!). How awesome that the honor was given to his good friend and gold medal partner Stan Wawrinka!!
And I can't let the day go by without saying happy 3rd birthday to sweet Myla and Charlene! Amazing it has been three years already since the exciting news was announced that Roger and Mirka had not one, but two new babies! I'm sure they have some special plans for their little girls today. It won't be long before they're old enough to actually sit and watch Daddy's matches in the player box.
There are actually quite a few tournaments going on right now, and I have been catching some of the action. Enjoyed watching the first Japanese ATP quarterfinal with Go Soeda playing some amazing tennis, and looking forward to watching Andy Roddick play against Michael Russell tonight.
But while it's fun to start getting into the U.S. Open series, the Olympics at Wimbledon is the drawing card right now, and I can't wait to see how Roger Federer is going play after his amazing 17th Grand Slam win and his climb back up to the #1 ranking. So while we wait, I though I would post one of the many You Tube videos of his out-of-this world shots:
This video was made before his latest win, so the info at the end is outdated. But the shots sure aren't and can't help but amaze.
Ok, I can't help but put one more - how about some of his tweeners:
Wow, it was rather shocking to hear the news this morning that reigning gold medalist Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the Olympics, claiming he is not in condition yet to compete. "I've waited until the final moment of my preparation and my training, but I cannot do it." "It is one of the saddest days of my career. You can imagine how difficult it was to take this decision." Nadal fan or not, you can't help but feel bad for him to have to miss such a huge event as this, not to mention no longer getting to have the honor of carrying the Spanish flag in the opening ceremonies.
While neither Federer or Djokovic would wish this for their co-competitor, they would have to admit this makes their road to the gold easier. Granted, they each still have to get through the early rounds to be in contention, and that can be one of the most difficult parts. There aren't many easy matches in this 64-man draw, and things can get away quickly in best of 3 matches, as confirmed by Roger Federer not yet having any medal in singles in his previous visits to the Olympics. However, this new development will, I'm sure, put even more fire into each of them to make sure they are on the podium listening to their national anthem. And not to mention the number 1 ranking again is on the line, with Federer only 75 points ahead in the race.
Of course, this doesn't even address the upcoming hard court season. Likely this is related to Rafa's continued issues with knee tendinitis, and hard courts are the worst for this condition. Makes things even more interesting, being that he has a lot of ranking points to defend from last year's final at the U.S. Open.
In the meantime, though, anticipation is building and I am anxiously awaiting next Friday's opening ceremonies in London!
