Federer Grabs Record Grand Slams At Wimbledon But Roddick Steals The Show
Well, quite an afternoon we had at Wimbledon.
We all turned up expecting a smooth ride as we hailed the most successful male player of all time in terms of Grand Slams (overtaking Pete Sampras) as Roger Federer came to pick up the prize and get himself back to World No1 (overhauling Rafa Nadal).
What nobody expected was the chalenge from Andy Roddick (the man who had won just 2 of the pairs 20 previous meetings).
His form was very good going into the final with impressive wins over Lleyton Hewitt & Andy Murray, but still no one gave him a chance against Federer.
In reality what we saw was a match where Roddick was at least the equal of Federer for most of the match with more to his serve than just speed and groundstrokes that had a consistency & purpose we had probably never seen before.
He looked every inch the all-court player we never thought he could be.
In tennis circles the feeling about Roddick was: Serving level – Top 5, Groundstrokes – Top 100, Volleys – Top 250.
Now with game plans in place, a focus and discipline to execute them, the extra fitness and no doubt the thousands of repetitions on the court to improve and deliver the shots he has for me and many others put himself back in the mix of things at the top of the game.
I am not saying “I told you so” but check out my post from last week…….HERE
I keep saying to you, to get better at playing matches – get some matchplay strategies in your head and get fitter!!
Only then will the technical work you do begin to pay off.
This is exactly what Roddick did.
Quick note – my package of Matchplay Report & Fitness Planner are still reduced until later on when I get back to put the price back up so get over HERE if you want them and save $20.
What if – Roddick would have made that easy volley at set point in the second set tie-break??
What if Federer had served 5-10% less well in the match (he tied the record no of aces in a match – 51).
What if………………….???
A small word but often makes a massive difference.
I don’t want to ignore Federer because what he has done has been/is fantastic, but it needs to be said that Roddick has been the one to re-invent himself as a serious Grand Slam contender and must be looking forward to the US Open.
Here is some inside info that pretty much nobody knows – so don’t tell!!.
Roddick came off court after the match yesterday with the feeling…..”I’ll never lose to him again”
He knows he was close and for once can see the light – not at the end of a very distant tunnel but right in front of his face.
For more info on the 2 reports I mentioned above -
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you right but if you saw the match before the last two games federer didnt have any idea how to close the match.
Then he found a little opening when the sun showed up.
If you are a good analyser then you must know what im talking about. Let me know if you know what im talking about.
Def, I think Fed got a bit lucky with Roddick in the sunlight.
You could see that the ball was coming out of the shade into the bright light and along with the sudden drop in footwork speed forced the two shanks off the frame that cost him the match.
I think Fed was happy to just hold serve until Roddick cracked, using the advantage of serving first as the pressure builder.
What do you think??
If you watch closely the last two games, you can see how Federer after he noticed that the balls between the sun and the shade affected Roddick he started to direct his shots to that area.Maybe luck or he looked for the luck.
ummm…I gave him a chance
I believe that the reason why so many people thought it would be a blow out by Fed was b/c of all the publicity.
Way too much of the spotlight was on Murray and the expectations were way too high. Federer closing on his record breaking title was the sister story of Wimbledon, with much attention being spent to that as well.
I managed to see Roddick’s quarter final match against Hewitt and they “both” played excellent. Either winner of that match could have went on a serious run for the title.
At that point Federer and Murray were not really challenged and would have had to find the next gear for either Hewitt or Roddick.
-Nick
Yes but think back a few months he was playing nothing like that!!
Also, Hewitt beating Nadal in the warm up before Wimbledon suddenly doesn’t look so bad for Nadal now as it did at the time!!!
I feel bad for Andy R., in my opinion he has spent the past few years rebuilding his game to challenge Fed with quite a few setbacks to lesser players along the way. Fortunately, he never gave up and now has to be considered in top 4. 1 Nadal if healthy, 2 Fed (the greatest of all time), 3 roddick over Murray bc Andy has played Fed more tenaciously. Then Djokavic or Vedasco.
I like your reasoning and kind of agree!!
Don’t forget, they change sides. Federer was on that side of the court in the previous game (they changed sides @ 14/15). Match play is not just about shots, its about everything out there. All elements of weather, surface etc. Roddick looked good only because of his servers. While rest of his game has improved, it was Roger who hit the winners when it mattered. As for the 2nd set tie-breaker, look at that shot again. Andy was a good 10 ft behind the net (see the side shot, the net is not visible at all), not a sitter by any means. Fed stayed the course by winning his two serves and that brilliant backhand flick of wrist.
Roddick has to win six matches before going to the next Finals. Murray, Djokovic, Nadal, Del Potro are not going to make it any easier for him to meet Federer in the finals.