Well with a four week gap in between the next big tournament at the Rogers cup in Montreal for both the men's and ladies (well the women play the week before) I thought I would look at my favourite matches from the grass court season this year. So let's have a look as I've picked six of my favourite matches from the green grass...
5. Wimbledon championships 2nd round, Sergiy Stakhovsky d. Roger Federer 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6.
This year's Wimbledon has been full of upsets but none came much bigger (with the exception of Serena Williams of course) than the defending champion, Roger Federer suffering his earliest exist from a major in 9 years! The match itself was a thoroughly entertaining encounter and the very talented Ukranian player, Sergiy Stakhovksy really took it to Roger, and he showed he had an excellent grass court game, and after dropping the first set, Sergiy fought his way through to take a two sets to one lead which lead into a pulsating 4th set which saw Sergiy in the 4th set tiebreak that pulled off a mammoth upset in defeating Roger in the breaker 8-6 to see off the king of grass in his earliest exit at a major since the French Open in 2004. Well upsets were abound in Wimbledon for sure this year and this was one of the biggest in quite a while, and it also showed more of Roger's recent dip in form, after losing to Tsonga in the quarter finals of the French Open, Roger seems to be going off the boil in the majors this season,but perhaps its also a sign that age is finally catching up with him on the tennis court, but let's hope he can regroup for the US Open. And despite all that it was still a very entertaining match and Serigy Stakhovsky played the match of his career in order to battle past the greatest player to have played the game at his favourite tournament.
4. Wimbledon championships final, Andy Murray d. Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
While
you could say there is a bit of bias in this match as I'm a bit of a
Murray fan, I had to put this match in this list as while it wasn't a
classic contest, its historic meaning and good level of competitive play from both players makes it a worthy addition all the same. In this match Andy Murray
looked to become the first British player to end the 77 year drought of a
British Wimbledon champion with the world no.1 Novak Djokovic standing
in his way it was a tough prospect. However Andy came into this match
in inspired form as he was determined from the get go to make the better
start and he did as he broke Nole to move ahead and he nabbed the first
set. In the 2nd set Andy's level dipped as Nole got back into the
match with a break, but despite being 4-1 up, Andy fought back to get
back on serve, and he fashioned a break of his own at 5-5 to seal a two
sets to love lead. In the 3rd set Andy got off to a great start with an
early break, however he was unable to hang on to it and Novak broke
back and broke to move ahead. But Andy was still not done as he once
again broke back to make it back on serve and at 4-4, Andy broke Nole
once more and in an incredibly tense and thrilling last game, Andy
withstood a brave last attempt from Nole to get back into the
match as he saved three break points, and after a 4 championship points, he
eventually sealed the deal to claim his first Wimbledon title.
While
the match wasn't overall the best of the championships, it was actually a
pretty good solid final and both players played some terrific points and rallies, and the last game in itself was worth the admission price and was quite possibly the game of the tournament.
Nole admittedly looked below par in this match with fatigue possibly
having set in from his exhaustive long semi final against Juan Martin
Del Potro, but he made a brave stab at giving Andy a match, given the
circumstances, and despite the scoreline it was by no means easy. As for Andy well this was his match and his moment in
time to win the biggest and most prestiguous title in tennis, and make
tennis history by joining Fred Perry as a British Wimbledon champion for
the first time in 77 years, which will give Great Britain something to
smile about for quite some time. It also showed that Andy Murray was no
one-trick pony in winning the US Open, as he has backed it up
magnificently here and no doubt he will win more grand slams in the
future, which may yet see Andy become one of the all time greats in the
game.
3. Wimbledon championships 3rd round, David Ferrer d. Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-7, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
I've put this match in the list because it is one of the best of the tournament but not only that its a fav of mine simply because I was there! :-) Yep in this thrilling 3rd round encounter it was hard to know what to expect in such a line up between two very contrasting players but what we got was terrific. Although in the first set it was hard to tell what way it would go as it was a bit of a see-saw with Dolgopolov making all sorts of loose unforced errors and he went a double break down. However after a few errors from Ferrer it was even steven before we knew it and it went on serve into a tiebreak, which the Dog (Dolgopolov's nickname if you want to know) went on to win. In the 2nd set play was quite erratic as both players had breaks of serve but it went to another tiebreak and this time Ferrer pushed through to win it and level the match. However the Dog was far from done as Ferrer played some loosely again and the Ukraine player sped into a two sets to one lead. From here Ferrer dogged as ever took on the Dog (ha ha!) and levelled the match as he raced through the 4th set. And in the decider both men played some terrific tennis, although the Dog went down a break, he played a terrific game to try and avoid going down a double break, which alas he was unable to, and Ferrer went on to serve out a terrific contest to reach the 4th round.
From the start this match was very unpredictable and it had plenty of twists and turns throughout and both players delighted the crowd with their variety, particularly Dolgopolov, who was so unpredictable with his choice of slice, topspin, and acute weird angles, and for the most part he played terrific stuff, but ultimately he probably came undone by his own unorthodox and erratic style of play. Regardless of that though it was Ferrer to his credit that came through in the end, despite not being at his best, he proved he is one of the best competitors in the game today in this great match.
2. Wimbledon championships quarter final, Andy Murray d. Fernando Verdasco, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.
At Wimbledon you will get your fair share of dramatic matches and moments where the very best players are given a right scare. And no scare came bigger than this one for Andy Murray in his quarter final match up with the in form Spaniard, and the world no.54 (at the time), Fernando Verdasco. And in the match to start with it was Verdasco that came out firing on all cylinders as he took advantage of Andy's strange passive defensiveness in the rallies, as he outhit the British No.1, who flailed badly and soon found himself two sets to love down. In the 3rd set however, with his back to the wall, Andy started to fight back as he sped through the set with a double break to keep himself alive in the match, and he went on to level the scores by taking the 4th. In a thrilling decider, Andy came through a narrow scrape at 2-3 to level the scores, as he faced break points, which he miraculously saved to level the scores. And play went by serve until 5-5, where Andy made the vital break to move ahead where he finally served out a tense nailbiter and completed his great escape to reach the semi finals for the fifth year running.
Well comebacks don't come any bigger than this, and it was credit to Andy that he was able to turn around his early poor form and come back from the dead to win the match, and it marked the 7th time in his career he was able to do so. As for Verdasco well he put a tremendous fight and it showed he was back on form, and the match itself was reiminiscent to his semi final epic at the 2009 Australian open, which he lost to Nadal. So this match easily ranks as one of the best of the Wimbledon championships this year.
1. Wimbledon championships semi final, Novak Djokovic d. Juan Martin Del Potro, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
Although he came up second best in the final, Nole deserves the top spot for the best grass court match of the season as he took on the Argentine giant, Juan Martin Del Potro in a terrific epic semi final battle. From the start both players went at it hammer and tongs in front of the awestruck centre court crowd as Nole to a tight first set. In the 2nd however Delpo fought back and broke the Serb to move on to level the match at a set all, and in the 3rd play went by serve until a tiebreak, where Novak took the advantage and a two sets to one lead. However in the 4th set, despite Nole going a break up, the big Argentine fella wasn't done yet, as Delpo broke back and pushed the match into a thrilling tiebreak where he faced two match points and saved them both and went on to grab a set point, which saw Delpo level the match at two sets all. In the 5th set however, the rigours of the match started to take their toll on Delpo as his knee injury from earlier in the tournament started to hamper in and in the end Novak wore him down and broke Delpo to seal the match in just under 4 hours and 45 minutes to reach his 2nd Wimbledon final.
There is no doubt about the fact that this was one sensational match and neither player could have given more, and Del Potro really showed his fighting qualities throughout, even though he came up second best, you realise just how good Delpo is as a player, and it was a strong reminder of what the former US Open champion is capable of. And for me Del Potro has got it in him to go on and win another major as he got so close to Djokovic in this match, I'm sure when the US Open comes around he will be an even bigger danger than ever before. As for Nole well it was the perfect revenge for his loss at the Olympics the previous year to Del Potro but the match came at a price to Nole in the final, but that's another story. But for me this was the best match of the grass court season.
And that's it for my look at my favourite grass court matches on the men's tour of 2013.
More to follow later, until the next post, bye for now. :-)
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