less nervous

Soderling will almost certainly be less nervous and play better today than he did when he met Roger a few weeks ago. It could be a tough match. I hope Roger is ready to get back into the warrior mode that helped him win tough five setters in New York and Paris in the middle rounds of his last two grand slam victories.

Maybe the new relaxed-French-Open-champ-now-tied-with-Sampras Roger will start giving his fans less reason to be nervous all the time. It might take a while to sink in, and with his first backhand shank today Fuzzy will feel a twinge, for sure.

Meanwhile Djokovic's quarter is looking like the smoothest right now. Probably means he will lose today.

Gulbis!

The best part of last year's Wimbledon, before the final, was Safin taking out Djokovic in round 2. It was the beginning of Novak's long slide from being considered a possible #1 last year. Now Murray is the hot player. Can a very streaky Ernest Gulbis put it together for a match and beat him tomorrow? It would be memorable.

Fifteen?

It was a shock to hear Nadal was out. Here at fuzzy we are nervous about the way many are treating a 15th slam for Roger as inevitable at this Wimbledon. Djokovic in a semi could still be very tough, for example. But Roger has looked graceful in the first two rounds, especially once he takes off the silly jacket and vest.

A fifteenth would be great to watch. And it would make for a more pleasing graphic if Roger's wins could be stacked in three rows of five rather than two of seven.

that was good

Really nice to see Roger win the French! Boy did he want it. He earned it too, with that perfect tiebreak when the match might have turned, and with his consistently gutsy play all week, punctuated by artful, lilting dropshots.

There is a lot of talk that now that the pressure is off him he will play with greater freedom and begin to beat Murray, Djokovic and Nadal. Here at fuzzy, we buy it! Think of it this way: Roger was one set from both Wimbledon and Australia in the last year. At Wimbledon it was two points, as Rafa served at 6-7 30-all. If Roger wins those he has four straight slams, his most dominant run ever.

But without getting caught up in what-ifs and what-may-comes, a great day for Roger and his fans. He seemed to be crying during the entire last game. Crazy. But its good that he cries both for wins and losses.
And Soderling won us over with his play all week, his speech, and especially his obvious concern for Roger after that strange incident.

On to the grass! Lets hope Rafa is fit, I already miss seeing the guys together on the second Sunday.

a pain

Monfils on why its hard to play Roger:

"I think the difference is based onthe fact that his game is really a pain in the ass, you know, more than any other player... When he hits the ball just after the bounce, I don't really know where to place myself on the court."


"He's one of the only men who, you know, when he is an attacker, when he attacks, I'm like anybody else. Others can be attackers and I know I'm going to run, no problem. With him, I will try and slide on one side. He hides his shots, you see. You know, his short chips are a pain in the ass, a real pain in the ass. At the end of the day, it gets on my nerves... It pisses me off. I can't do anything. "

Killer

Monfils offered his own reflections on Roger's gutsy winner on break point against Haas:

"But, you know, the way he did it, it was like, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. He was like incredible. A killer."

All the Assets

Things were looking a little sideways for Roger for most of three sets. Both he and Haas agree it was break point at 3-4 in the third that turned the tide. Roger had the instinctual confidence to step around a floating return to hit a risky inside-out forehand. It was beautiful from there.

Haas said: "That's why he's Roger Federer, you know."

Roger on the turning point: "I was in a very tricky position, I must say this. But that's when I thought 'I have all the assets in my hands to change this match,' and that was the case."

Monfils looks inspired this year, and it should be a great match.