Kick Some GrAss!!!

Roger Federer won Halle! And fans all over the world let out a collective happy sigh after holding their breath for the duration of the match. Even though Roger won in straight sets, it was tense from beginning to the very end with both sets needing tie-breaks to settle the result. In each set Roger broke first only to get broken back and then neither player was able to break the other till the tie-breaks. The first tie-break was relatively simple, the 2^nd one much tenser but finally as Falla committed an error at championship point, and we had our champ raising his arms in victory.

This title is significant for many reasons. First, the records:

• This is Roger’s 7^th Halle title which is obviously a record
• This is his 14^th grass title, he held the record before too so he extended it with this win
• This is his 79^th career singles title. He is 3^rd on the all time list behind Lendl and Connors
• It is his 22^nd ATP 250 title which puts him at 2^nd place ahead of Andy Roddick with 21. He is still behind Thomas Muster who won 26 titles
• He has now played 1,179 career matches
• He has now won 957 career matches
• This win was also his 125^th win on grass out of 143 grass court matches
• His winning percentage on grass, 87.41%, is a record
• By winning the tie-breaks in Halle he is now back at the top for the best record in tie-breaks. He has now won 64.77% or 353 of the 545 tie-breaks he has played in his career. John Isner is a very close second with winning 64.47% of the 343 tie-breaks he has played.

This title was important for several other reasons too. Last year we only had Halle to celebrate. This year, Halle is his 2^nd title which means that 2014 has already been a better year than 2013. This was also his first successful title defense since he won the World Tour Finals in 2011 when he defended his 2010 title. Furthermore, except for last year, in previous times he has generally played well at Wimbledon after a good run at Halle. He played 3 tight matches at Halle which was good grass match practice. Sousa, Nishikori and Falla all gave him decent fights. Plus, for good measure, he also evened up that H2H with Nishikori to 2-2. This was also his first title as the father of four! 😀 Fitting that Leo and Lenny’s first title came on grass 🙂

Of course the grass season is ridiculously short which means the Maestro is now already at Wimbledon. He has been practicing aplenty, with both coaches present and has been enjoying the rare London sunshine while tweeting on the side 😉 The draw came out which you can check out here. His first opponent is Lorenzi, a new opponent he has never faced before. As usual, I will take my lessons learnt from 2013 to heart and not focus on anything beyond the first round. I am hoping for a better result than 2013 and I think Roger will be much more alert and focused in the early rounds as well this time. Roger kicks off his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday, June 24^th. This is a clip from Roger’s pre-Wimbledon presser and a clip of a preview interview.

At the end of Roland Garros, I had written a post where I said that I couldn’t wait for Halle to start and bring me back to tennis. Halle delivered with Roger winning another title. But there was another reason why I was so excited about Halle. It’s a joy to watch our champ play on grass. The Halle conditions were quick and low bouncing which allowed for creative shots and quick net points. More importantly, you can tell that Roger enjoys playing on grass as well. Given that we have just a handful of matches on this surface, I will try my best to focus on enjoying our champ playing at Wimbledon and not get too caught up with the draw. Well, to be honest I probably won’t be entirely successful, but I’ll try for sure! 😉

Meanwhile, before signing off, I would like to vent a bit. I’ve been seeing the media and some fans hyping up this Wimbledon as his last chance to win another Grand Slam and I don’t like it one bit. Maybe he will win, maybe he won’t. If he doesn’t, I still don’t think you can say he no longer has any chances. People have been saying this since 2008 and he’s won 4 more Grand Slams since then. Yes, I know he’s getting old; he’s now the father of 4 children and blah blah blah. I know all that. But I don’t watch sports because I already know the answer. I watch sports because every once in a while something happens that defies predictions, logic and expectations. That’s the thrill. And Roger Federer didn’t get to where he is without defying expectations time and time again. So in my opinion, no, this is not his last opportunity to win a Grand Slam, you cannot say that with 100% certainty. On the other hand, if he does not win any more Grand Slams that will not diminish the 17 he already earned either. He deserved each one and we were blessed 17 times in the process.

In light of that, I will simple conclude with this: 1. Every tournament Roger plays is an opportunity for him to win a title. He still plays at a level where he is a legit contender. So of course he has a big chance at winning the title. 2. Whether he wins or not, you don’t want to miss Roger Federer gliding on grass. It is a beautiful sight and one that won’t be repeated for years to come, if ever. That combination of grace, elegance, artistry and athleticism is only meant to be admired, never emulated. I hope he goes deep into the tournament. If not to win the title, then at least to give us tennis magic only he can conjure. So sit back and enjoy the performance as the Maestro conducts a wonderful tennis orchestra on the most hallowed grounds in the history of the sport. Wimbledon, here we come!

 

***The Halle photo is from http://www.news.at/ and the Wimbledon photos are from the tournament’s facebook page.***

Grass season is here!

As a few twitter followers might know, I’ve been bogged down with the flu so forgive me if I’m still a bit slow with these posts. I had figured I would write about Roger Federer’s R2 and QF matches at Halle in one post but lo and behold, he got a walkover for the QFs which means he’s played just one match to reach the SFs. That match was against a new opponent, Portuguese rising star João Sousa.

The match started with our champ serving very well with quite a few love holds. But no matter how much he pushed João, he couldn’t break him. He had 5 break points but couldn’t convert any of them and ultimately the first set led to a tie-break. Even though he went down a mini-break early, Roger got it back right when João had set-point. Then Roger had set-point on João’s serve but missed it. Finally, Sousa took the tie-break 10-8. Despite playing clinical service games, Roger’s returns produced many shanks and went long, particularly off the backhand. As such he couldn’t break Sousa when he had his chances and paid for those missed opportunities when he lost the tie-break and the set.

On to set 2, and it started with João getting pushed yet again, but holding serve nonetheless. Roger held serve with relatively more ease, just like in set 1. This pattern continued till 3 all. Then the Portuguese lost a bit of focus and made a few errors to go down multiple break points. The Maestro finally capitalized and broke to take a 4*-3 lead. He wasted no time in consolidating the break by holding to love. The break must have shook up João for he held to love as well, keeping the difference to one break and forcing our champ to serve for the set. Thankfully Roger did just that and served it out with minimal fuss. 1 set all and we went into a decider.

Set 3 started with an immediate break for the Maestro. But before we could celebrate, he was down 2 break points on his own serve while trying to consolidate. Nonetheless, Roger dug deep, saved those chances and held to go up 2-0*. João got back on track with a comfortable hold followed by an easier hold for the Swiss as well to get to 3-1*. Then in Sousa’s next service game Roger really pushed him to get from 40-15 to deuce. Roger got a break point but missed it, then got another one again. This time a wonderful forehand winner from the Swiss sealed the double break for Roger to go up 4*-1. The Maestro held well making Sousa serve to stay in the match at 1*-5. Despite going 0-30 down, João held and Roger had to serve for the match. He got pushed to 30 all but in the end he served it out without any drama. Game, set, match, Federer. Here are the match stats.Roger’s serving was very good but his returns weren’t great. He really should have won that first set; he played much better than João that entire set but lost the big points. This seems to be happening as of late, the past few months. However, it should also be noted that despite losing that set, Roger remained focused and started to play better and tighten the screws for João as the match went on. The Portuguese, for his part, played a great match, especially in the first 2 sets but couldn’t sustain that intensity and the level of play required, especially as Roger continued to improve his own performance set by set. It was a tougher than expected match but I hope the hard-fought win will give him more confidence and inspiration going forward. Here is a clip of the presser and an excerpt of what Roger said:

“It was slightly frustrating at times clearly, but nevertheless I served well and kept on doing my thing. It was important to stay calm and actually I think it gives me more confidence winning this way. I had to stay calm, fight through the match and find a way and then the last set and a half were much better. So, I’m actually pretty happy now.”

Next up is the SF where Roger will face Kei Nishikori. Kei is one of the few active players to have a positive H2H ratio against the Swiss, winning their 2 most recent matches in Madrid in 2013 and Miami this year. Kei is super-fast and returns very well so Roger will definitely need to have his A-game especially in his own service games and then actually capitalize on any break points he gets. Kei is at his most dangerous in 3 setters where there is less chance of fatigue. Plus he is not in awe of Federer at all. Roger has never underestimated him so I doubt he will for this match. A win over Kei would not only help Roger’s confidence in his grass court game but would also balance out that H2H and ensure that Kei does not become a mental block in his head.

I am expecting this to be a tough match going to 3 sets. But it’s not all gloom and doom predictions though. For one thing, Kei has never faced Roger on grass and the surface seems to be quite quick and low-bouncing from what I saw. It gives Roger much more opportunities to unleash his creative arsenal of shots. Also, the João match was Roger’s first grass match with his new, bigger racquet. I’m sure a little adjustment was needed. Since then he has played a doubles match with his childhood friend Marco Chiudinelli which they won. So by now he probably does have a bit more feel for the grass than he did before his opening match at Halle.

Roger’s SF match is scheduled as the 2^nd match of the day so the start time will be around 2:30pm to 3:00pm local time. Here’s hoping for a great match win from our Maestro. Good luck Roger! Allez!

 

***Photos from http://www.digisport.ro/ and http://www.atpworldtour.com/.***