Right so now time for the men's semi finals matches from this year's Wimbledon so let's see how they went....
MEN'S SEMI FINALS
FEDERER vs RAONIC
Right so first up we had Roger Federer the seven time champ take on the big serving Canandian, Milos Raonic for a place in the final in a match that promised to be quite a barnburner given that Raonic has much improved thanks to coaching of John McEnroe over this summer's grass season.
And the match itself proved to be just that as both men played out a terrific contest for the centre court crowd which started off with Raonic making the stronger start as he broke Roger's serve after Rog served a double fault to drop serve and Raonic went on to serve for the 1st set. In the 2nd set however, Roger showed his champion spirit as he pushed play into a tiebreak where Raonic finally blinked and it let Rog level the match at a set all. In the 3rd set, Roger went on to take control of the match as he broke Raonic again and he soon grabbed the two sets to one lead with his victory looking inevitable. However in the 4th set Raonic hung tough as he staved off break points on his own serve and he managed to convert a set point of his own on Roger's serve at 5-6 to level the match.
And in the 5th set, Roger's fitness started to hamper him as he took a dive at 1-1 on his own serve that gave Raonic a break point and the trainer came on to tend to his thigh and after this Raonic converted the break point to move ahead 3-1 for the first time in the match since the 2nd set. And from here Raonic held his nerve and serve to go with it as he caused another big upset which saw the 17 time major champion, Roger Federer go out of the Wimbledon championships as Raonic won in 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first grand slam final.
MATCH ANALYSIS
Well this was quite a stunning result and I myself wouldn't have predicted that Roger would have lost but I did somehow think that an upset by Raonic would be possible and right enough it was. And this was a great performance by Milos Raonic who deserves all the credit for being able to fight and compete with Roger and tough it out in the tense moments especially in the 4th set when it looked like Roger had victory in his sights. And it also sets up a dream prospect for Milos with a chance to win his first grand slam title at the biggest tournament in the sport itself.
As for Roger well this will be a bitter disappointment for him as he came so close to potentially to closing out the match in four sets as it looked certain that the match would go to a tiebreak in the 4th set before Raonic grabbed his set point chance. And in the press conference after the match, Roger was quite emotional and frustrated over how he missed his chances to win and how he double faulted twice in the one game to allow Raonic to create the break of serve in the 4th set.
However it did show that the match had started to take its toll on Roger physically as it went on as he had the trainer out to look at his leg in the 5th set. And given that Roger had underwent knee surgery earlier in the year and had back problems too left him at a disadvantage as he was not as match tight at that point as he may have liked particularly when it came to playing grand slam matches, his matches with Cilic and Raonic were his first five setters for well over a year. So no doubt Roger will be hurt by this loss but I'm sure he will bounce back and could yet still have more chances to win at SW19 in the future.
MURRAY VS BERDYCH
Right so next up was the second semi final which was between Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych and Andy went into this match as the clear favourite given that he had dominated the Czeck player in their last four meetings.
And the match itself proved to be more of the same as right from the start Berdych had no answer for Andy's return game, speed and movement around the court. And the match started with Andy immediately breaking Berdych before the Czeck player managed to break back, however Andy went on to break again and served it out for the 1st set lead. In the 2nd set it was more of the same although there was a close game where Berdych had his chances to break but was unable to take them and he soon went on to broken himself and it saw the 2nd set go Andy's way. And in the 3rd set, Berdych simply had nothing on Andy and could do no more as the mighty World No.2 broke Berdy's serve and his heart with it yet again as he sealed the deal and with it his place in his 3rd Wimbledon final courtesy of a commanding 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win.
MATCH ANALYSIS
Well there really isn't too much to say about the match itself other than Andy was simply too good for Berdych and right from the start you could see that Berdych had nothing he could threaten Andy with. And Berdych most likely would have preferred (and prayed) that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would have put Andy out instead as it might have given him a better chance of reaching the final instead. Andy also appeared to even toy with Berdych at times in the match as he rarely put a foot wrong throughout despite the odd dip he had on his serve but despite that one break in the 1st set, Berdych never got another chance.
And in a way you have to feel sorry for Tomas Berdych given that Wimbledon remains the only slam he reached the final at in his whole career and from here he most likely will never win a grand slam title. So in this respect you could almost say that Berdych is the Charlie Brown of tennis given that his is so unlucky in the face of all the top players he is unable to beat to get to the big titles.
As for Andy well this was a stunning performance and it really shows that he is in the prime of his career right now and playing the best tennis of his life and right now its tough to not see him with a strong chance of lifting his 2nd Wimbledon title. But will he??? Let's take a look...
FINAL PREDICTION THOUGHTS
Well that's the final set then for the men's singles Wimbledon championship that will see a rematch of the Queens club final between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic. So this all begs one question....who will win it???
Well this is actually quite a tricky one as there will also not only be two players but also two supercoaches involved here as Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe will be effectively going head to head here as Andy and Milos play one another. So this will boil down to obviously who plays better on the day but also a battle of wills and how wants it more and given that McEnroe has installed alot of belief in Raonic, this will make him a very dangerous opponent in the final.
Not only that Raonic has improved alot of areas of his game not just his serve that include his movement, return game and his volleying and he is coming closer to becoming a more complete player. Raonic also pulled off an amazing achievement by beating Roger in the semi final on his own favourite court and that will give him a tremendous boost of confidence going into the final and if he can beat Roger then surely he can beat Andy especially if he has a hot day on serve.
And there is no doubt that Raonic will be a big danger to Andy on grass given how tight their Queens club final match was and not only that there will also be memories of Raonic's match against Andy at the Australian open earlier this year when Raonic pushed Andy the distance to five sets before losing. So there is still a possibility of an upset here on the cards for the British No.1 if he isn't careful or if Raonic plays the match of his life.
Andy however will still be a formidable opponent for Raonic though especially as they have already met on grass this year in the Queens club final where Andy edged Raonic in a tight three set match. The only difference however this time round is that both men will be playing for an altogether bigger title than Queens so there is much more at steak and given Andy's extensive experience in the major finals this gives him an edge over the younger Canadian.
FINAL PREDICTION...
So for my final prediction......(drum roll!) well I have to go with Andy on this one, simply because he has been the best player at this tournament and has played at such a high level throughout having only dropped two sets going into the final and won five matches in straight sets. And Andy will be absolutely determined to win a 2nd title here given the position he is currently in that he will be for once in a major final facing someone ranked beneath him. Andy will also no doubt harness the energy of the home crowd and use that to his advantage during the clutch moments which is something he did very well during his match with Tsonga.
And hopefully Andy will also be able to use his return game to neutralise some of Raonic's big serves and keep him on the move but he will need to be on top form to cope with the devastating power of the Raonic serve. And if Andy's game is slightly off or he has a bad service day (which he also can't afford here!) then he could come off second best but let's hope not!
So I think for the result Andy will win this one in four sets to claim his 2nd Wimbledon title but it should be a very tough match and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if an upset happened or even if Andy was pushed all the away to a decider. However given Andy's experience in the slams and the fact that he has already won two, this will hold him in good stead and should see him through again and the way I see it is, this is very much Andy's title to lose. But whichever way it goes it should be a cracking match.
Right so that's it for now and I will be on here again once the finals are over and we know who will be the champions down at the All England Club.
Till then its bye for now!
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