Well this is my second last post on the men's matches at Wimbledon this year as I will cover the men's semi finals from today at SW19 and will find out who made it into the final this year.
So let's have a look at how they got on....
OK to kick off we first up had Novak Djokovic take on Richard Gasquet in what was billed to be a pretty one-sided match given that Novak leads their head to head 11-1. But what is it one-sided??? Well kind of but Gasquet put in a good account of himself particularly in the first set which saw Gasquet recover an early break from Nole and went on to push him into a first set tiebreak however it quickly went the way of the World No.1 and the first set along with it. And from the 2nd set onward Djokovic dominated Gasquet as all he needed was a single break in both sets 2 and 3 to seal the win even though Gasquet continued to battle on valiantly before he finally fell to the world's best player who reached his 4th Wimbledon final with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
Well it has to be said that while this wasn't Novak Djokovic at his very best he still played more than good enough to take down Gasquet in a convincing fashion to reach his 17th major final. And again its an indication as to just how good Novak Djokovic is as a tennis player that he is able to time and time again to reach these major finals. And I'm sure Novak would have jumped for joy when he found out that Gasquet had beaten Stan Wawrinka as really did ensure his safe passage into the final. As for Gasquet well despite his inevitable loss he acquitted himself very well in this match and he played some really nice points for the crowd and he utilised his terrific one-handed backhand very well in the match to let rip some great winners. But in the end there was never any doubt who would win this one and in the end there always going to be only one winner.
So after that we had the second men's semi final in what was one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament ever since the draw was announced which was between Andy Murray the former 2013 champion and former seven time champion Roger Federer. This match promised to be a real cracker and had much riding on it with even alot of pundits claiming that Andy could win it in five sets. But........ it didn't work out that way sadly and instead what we got was an absolute masterclass in men's tennis from Roger Federer who rarely ever put a foot wrong throughout. But to quickly sum up both men did serve pretty well in the first set and there wasn't much to separate them on serve until 6-5 when Andy made an error which cost the set and saw Fed take the lead. In the 2nd set play went by serve until 4-5 with Andy serving he was put under the severest of pressure by Rog and he had to save several break points before going on to hold in one of the games if not THE game of the tournament lasting 14 minutes. However Andy was unfortunately yet again broken again at 5-6 and this saw Rog nab the two set lead and take the match by the scruff of the neck. And in the 3rd set play went by serve again until 5-4 when Andy serving to make it 5-5 blinked again and it saw his hopes of winning a 2nd Wimbledon title go up in smoke for another year as the majestic Swiss swept into his 10th Wimbledon final with a very convincing 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
Well it has to be said this wasn't quite the result I would have expected and while I always figured Roger could win the match I didn't realise he would win it in such an emphatic fashion as he did here. And this match really did roll back the years for Federer as he played like his old self from years ago when he really dominated the game. And really it has to be said this was one of the finest performances of Roger's career bar none and he served up an asbolute masterclass as he was virtually flawless on his own serve and only faced one single break point in the match on his own serve, which shows just how good he was in this match (and that is frighteningly good at that!). And if Roger continues this form in the final I can easily see him lift his unprecedented 8th Wimbledon title as no one could live with him in that form today (well except maybe one man).
As for Andy well this was a very disappointing end to his tournament, which saw many people tip him for the title after his very impressive run at Queens club but in the end he came up against a guy that was just too good on the day. And the fact of the matter was that Andy actually played a pretty good match himself and if you look at Roger's form here it was actually similar if not even better to his form against Andy at the o2 last year in London where Andy managed to win only one game and this time he managed 14 so that's quite an improvement! And at the end of day I think you just have to look at a match like this and say that your opponent was the better player on the day and realistically there wasn't much Andy did wrong in the match and ultimately there wasn't much more he could have done.
So even though Andy's Wimbledon has come to an end his grass court days aren't quite behind him yet this year as next he has the Davis cup tie and he will play for Great Britain against France at the Queens club in London. And this should promise to be quite a tie and hopefully it might see GB in with a chance of reaching the semi finals but given the strength of the French team which will include Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon it will be far from easy for team GB to get a win over them. However victory over France will not be impossible and with Andy on the team as well as an excellent doubles team of Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot and given that James Ward always plays his best tennis at the Davis cup they might have a fighting chance to make it through so it should be a very interesting tie.
And on a further note to the Davis cup I read Andy's last BBC column on his Wimbledon where he said how he was disappointed by the defeat to Roger but he felt he deserved to win as he served so unbelievably well throughout which was never in doubt. And Andy then went on to say that he loves to represent Great Britain in the Davis cup, which is something Roger Federer has the exact opposite attitude towards because as soon as he won the Davis cup for Switzerland last year he pretty much disowned the team this year for the first tie and as a result they lost the title. So I don't mean to sound like I'm getting at Roger here but at least Andy is willing to show his commitment to the Davis cup which is something Roger can no longer be bothered to do as he always saw it as a burden rather than a privilege. And similar to Andy, Novak holds the same opinion as he has always been proud of his country and more than happy to play for Serbia, yet this is an attitude that is totally unsupported by Roger.
As for Andy moving ahead onto the hard court swing after the summer well he should still be in a very good position to do well in the North American hard court tournaments prior to the US Open given that he has won both of those warm up Masters tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati in the past. And regarding Andy's chances at the US Open despite this loss I think he still has a very good shot at winning the title there also and if you look at Roger, Novak and Rafa the first slam title they won was the one they went on to dominate. And while I don't think Andy can dominate the US Open I do still think he can definitely win it again this year as there will certainly be less pressure on him to win it again unlike there is at Wimbledon. So I wouldn't be surprised if Andy was the one to lift the champion's trophy at Flushing meadows in a couple of months time there. But that's a good way away yet so in the meantime we will see how the season goes for Andy before that.
Sooooooo that's the Wimbledon final set, its a repeat of last year's final again between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, the world's two best players going at it once more. And it all begs that question once more: who will win it???? Well this is a tough one to predict given that Roger's form is even more red hot this year than before as this gives him an excellent chance to win the title for the first time in three years. And never before has Roger served so well at this tournament than he has this year and so far he has only had his serve broken once going into the final! Now that is a frightening stat! And if he continues serving like that in the final against Novak then I find it hard to see him lose to the World No.1.
However it has to be said that Novak can never be underestimated and while he appeared to be suffering a hangover from his tough loss at the French open at the start of the tournament he soon got over that after he defeated Kevin Anderson in five sets. And if there is one guy who knows how to solve a problem gamewise on a tennis court then its this man. And even at below his best Novak can work his way into any tennis match and find a way to win it. So its going to be hard to say how exactly how this one will go also given that both men have such a close head to head 20-19 in Roger's favour and one more win for Novak will see this being the closest head to head of all time.
Sooooo my feeling as to who will win it is this......I think this time Roger will win this one and I picked Roger last year and despite his defeat last year I'm still picking him again this year. And the reason why is because I think he is playing even better than he did last year and his serve throughout the championships has been immaculate and if he serves like that in the final then not even Novak will have a chance against him. However you can never ever write off Novak's chances as he is not the No.1 for nothing and a case in point was when he was two sets to love down against Roger at the US Open four years ago and he fought his way into the match and won the last three sets to reach the final. But I just wonder if Novak is truly over his French open hangover as he still showed a few signs of rustiness in his semi final against Gasquet, which he cannot afford against Roger in his current form. However I still expect this to be a very entertaining and competitive final similar to last year's one. Also for Sunday the weather forecast is supposed to be for rain and this might also favour Roger as they may have to close the roof and if they do then this could allow Roger to take full advantage in the match as he will have better control over the ball with no outside elements to deal with if they play indoors.
Anyway as for my prediction I will go with Roger in four sets as he really has been magnificent in these championships but I can definitely still see Novak briefly halt the overwhelming barrage of sublime serving and attacking game that he is likely to face and grab a set. And Roger will want to make up for his loss last year where he came so close when Novak froze in that fourth set and had two break points in the 5th when he was serving at 2-3, which pretty much would have been the end of Novak in that match there and then. But this time Novak really will be up against the Roger of old and from the days when he really dominated the game and this event. I don't think Roger can quite get back to that form for the US Open but as far as Wimbledon is concerned I think its his for the taking.
And so that's it for my look at the men's semi finals and all that remains now is for me to give the update on the ladies and mens finals so I will be back in a day or two to post on that.
Until then bye for now.
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