Mac redux?

The cruelest part of my childhood was watching the long slow decline of my hero McEnroe after his magical year in 1984. I became superstitious and jumpy from watching him lose to lesser players. From '86 to '88 I was convinced I was bad luck for him and would not watch him play.


I dread the possibility of having the same experience with Roger in the coming years. I hope it won't happen. Roger is a less tempermental champion, and I am a less tempermental fan. I have high hopes for him next year.

Gutting

A brutal weekend for Argentina, and their emotional top ranked player del Potro, who went down with an injury. Fuzzy sympathizes with his friends down there. It would have been stirring to see Nalbadian summon the heart to push all those extra pounds around the court and win it in a fifth match today, but it was not to be.

David

For those who wish that Nalbandian would live up to his talent more often, they should remember the satisfaction of days like yesterday when he destroyed Ferrer. It is much more exciting to see David at his incredible best -- Federer believes he has the best strokes in the game -- when we know that he is capable of his inexplicable worst at any moment.

With Del Potro injured, the Davis Cup finals would appear to rest on David's shoulders -- well rounded thanks to his Argentine love of red meat.

Having traveled down to Buenos Aires to slide around on their gorgeous red clay, it is a little sad to see David working his magic on carpet. But it probably helped him yesterday. Against a slicing, charging Lopez on Sunday things could be more interesting.

madrid

Its hard not to love the tournament in Madrid. The players have recovered from the long summer, and are ready to launch the indoor season on the right foot. Madrid has inspired Vince Spadea's best rhymes and it inspired Roger to some great play today as well.



Roger's left forearm is looking awfully skinny in that photo.

Where's Cristina?

Fuzzy thought that his fans in Argentina would like this photo. But where is Cristina? It would be nice if Willy's girlfriend had showed up too.

battle of the ponytails

Young roger vs. Goran. The last two points are amazing.

Religious experience

David Foster Wallace, one of the most eloquent to appreciate Roger's game, passed away yesterday. Its a good time to revisit his great article on Roger Federer as Religious Experience.

You can also hear Wallace talk about Roger on NPR. His description makes me all the more determined to see Roger play in person, maybe in Montreal next summer.

Roger and Nietzsche

It is so nice to hear people once again speculating on the sources of Roger's greatness rather than the reasons for his decline. Here is an idea from his first coach, Seppli Kacovski:

"I believe Roger is ambitious because he isn't 100 per cent Swiss. His father is Swiss, and the calmness Roger has comes from his father, but the ambition and willpower come from his mother [who is South African]."

Kacovski's analysis disagrees with the general theory of heredity offered by Friedrich Nietzsche in Human all too Human where he speculated that "the woman gives the child her intellect, and the man gives the darker quality of will."

Muller

While it may seem a little hard to get worked up for a match between Roger and a qualifier named Muller, it was an awful lot of fun to see Roger completely into his five-setter in the fourth round. Roger's fist-clenched screams of joy after getting a break in the fifth, and again after match point, were welcome after some desultory losses since wimbledon. He wants this tournament badly. The points are at about 4:20 and 8:20 in this clip (watch in high quality).

smack talk

Roddick has had an interesting tournament. He annoyed Santoro enough to sit out what might be the final point of his grand slam career. He has cracked raquets, cracked the ball and now he is talking some smack about Novak. Delivered in his trademark style, his comments imply to us that he is working himself up to play hard today no matter what Djokovic pulls.

Q. When asked about his injuries today, mentioning the right ankle as opposed to the left ankle, the other day ‑‑

ANDY RODDICK: Isn't it both of them? And a back and a hip?

Q. And when he said there are too many to count.

ANDY RODDICK: And a cramp.

Q. Do you get the sense right now that he is...

ANDY RODDICK: Bird flu.

Q. Lot of things. Beijing hangover.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

Q. He's got pretty long list of illness.

ANDY RODDICK: Anthrax. SARS. Common cough and cold.

Q. Got a lot of things going on with him.

ANDY RODDICK: Sure.

Q. Do you think he's bluffing?

ANDY RODDICK: No, I mean, I'm sure ‑‑

Q. The way you're saying it, almost means you feel like...

ANDY RODDICK: No, if it's there, it's there. There's just a lot. You know, he's either quick to call a trainer or he's the most courageous guy of all time. I think it's up for you guys to decide.

Little Rafa

Some people say that Nadal plays like a machine. Here at fuzzy we completely disagree. We love his fire and grit. But now that Rafa is being shadowed by an exact replica of himself, we are beginning to wonder. Note the kid's expression -- its classic Rafa.

voo doo explained

So apparently Stan was "on fire" and Roger was warming himself upon the flames. In Roger's own words:

"Ehm yeah it was really nice once again! We celebrated together on the court: He was lying on the court. He was so hot, like a fire! I had to warm myself on him.. no it was really fantastic! It was beautiful!... He was electrifying.. He was electrified. He is in such a good shape at the moment! Fantastic!"

Voo Doo

Roger and Stanislas Wawrinka have moved on to the finals of the doubles, which means they are sure to get a silver or gold medal. After their upset of the Bryan brothers, Stan lay on the ground so that Roger could perform some sort of voo doo routine over him.

It was great to see Roger so happy during a tough spell this year. And its terrific he will get the Olympic medal he has wanted for so long.

Can voo doo help him win in New York?

Kipketer?

So this is the best thing Novak has said in a while: listing the athletes he has bothered for photos this week in China he mentioned "‘‘Kipketer, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, all the top athletes in the world. I do ask them for pictures. This is a memory that is going to stay in my life forever.’’ Kipketer? Apparently Novak is a sucker for the middle distance. And Kipketer comes first on the list, and is the only one-namer in that group for Djokovic. Good stuff.

Kipketer was capable of some good stuff in his younger days as well.

sound of silence

Here at fuzzy we actually love Mary Carillo and John McEnroe (thats them around the time they won the French Open mixed doubles together). But they really do talk an awful lot, as Tennis Magazine recently commented.

To sample the alternative, NBC is offering high quality video of full matches at the Olympics with absolutely no commentary at all. Just the crowd, the squeaks and the groans. For us on the east coast its pretty easy to wake up, avoid any headlines, and watch the match fresh.

China

Roger was looking youthful and patriotic at the opening ceremony, and sharp against Tursunov. Plenty of shouts of "allez" and some vintage stuff from the backhand side. Rafa struggled a bit more and has a tough second round match against Hewitt.

The NY Times is using Roger's career as a metaphor for how to be eclipsed gracefully (predicting China will surpass the US in medals). Well, it certainly has been graceful, not least from Nadal, who said this the day his rise to #1 became inevitable:

“I never saw anybody play better than him. For sure, he’s going to continue to have a lot of chances to continue to be No. 1 and win Grand Slams. Roger is having a good season, but in the last four years, he did some unbelievable things. I think he’s going to be the favorite for the Olympics and the U.S. Open."

Roger is coming around to Rafa's way of thinking, it seems: “I just think more about, you know, being at the top for a long time. I mean, at the top doesn’t mean No. 1 in the world. It can mean deep into Grand Slams, being in the top five, top 10 for, whatever, 10 years, 15 years, just be up there and having a shot at Grand Slams.

face of things to come

Okay, it took a while to get over the Wimbledon final. But fuzzy is now ready to stare into the face of things to come. Rafa becoming #1 in the next few weeks is being treated as an inevitability. We here at fuzzy still believe that Roger can win Cincy, the Olympics, and the US Open and make things interesting going into the fall. Allez Rog!

But our hopes took a hit watching Roger hit four straight errors while serving to stay in the match against Simon.

Then our hopes took another hit watching Rafa take his freakish intensity and actually turn it up a notch in his semi against Murray.

advice

Marat Safin on how to beat Federer:

Q. You said in answer to the first question that you know the game plan, you know what you have to do to beat him. Can you describe that a little bit?
MARAT SAFIN: "Well, everybody says his best shot, so based on that. They need to build up the game plan against Federer. I mean, every time he has under pressure he puts the slice, short slice, for you to come into the net. So everybody's always just slicing back to the backhand, and he makes the passing shot down the line, which is a simple one. Or who has a better backhand, they try to spin it a little bit too much. Then of course the frame's coming in and then you missing on the let tape. That's what's happening. Nobody really give him a chance to pass you. That's what's happened today, because we were going a little bit for too much. That's the problem. But rather than that, he is pushing you on the forehand. Slice it to the backhand, you know, with a backspin. So you can't really attack it, you can't really do anything special with it. You can build up the point, but every time you touch his forehand, he start to push you around. So that's basically two free shots that you know that he gonna make it. And every time you have it you miss it. So it's too simple. It's really simple, but you can't do nothing about it. Because every time you have it, you frame it or you put it on the net. It is annoying, annoying. And every time you have a breakpoint and he's really under pressure, he serve the first serve, that's for sure. So it's simple, but disappointing."

Allez!

Tomorrow's final offers the opportunity for the sort of match that people will talk about for decades. Will we get it? Who knows. That depends on Rafa, of course, especially his serve.

But no matter what happens tomorrow we should appreciate having two players at the top of the game who are so exciting, so classy, and so consistently excellent that they meet this often in important finals.

I liked this from Rafa's blog for the Times of London:

Question: Who is your favorite sports man or woman in the world?
Rafa: Spain's National football team, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer.

Jumping

Here at fuzzy dunlop we have always been big supporters of the Williams sisters. They have played incredible tennis, changed the women's game, and dealt with a lot of strange moments and rude questions with class and dignity. Love those girls, and good luck to them for a great match tomorrow. That said, we don't love the way Venus keeps jumping up and down in the face of whoever she has just beaten in a big match -- thursday it was Elena Dementiava. If Venus does any jumping tomorrow we hope it is of the variety shown above.

Set Point

Andy Murray vs. Richard Gasquet. Gasquet up two sets to love. Set point for Murray in the third set.

surrenders meekly

Djokovic has developed the habit of offering up weak drop shots when he is down match point. Rafa put one away at Roland Garros and another at Queens. He also quits a higher percentage of matches than any other top ten player. Yesterday he found a new way to surrender, with two straight double faults to lose his second round encounter with a reborn Marat Safin.

These habits, along with his breathing problems (and the amount of talk he offers about his confidence in himself and the weaknesses he sees in Roger and others) appears to add up to an interesting case of mental fragility. Novak must talk himself into believing that he is the best, and when things go wrong for him it can kill that belief very quickly.

If you missed the match the best write up is from the BBC game by game blog.

Getting on

Roger took the court in a Mr. Rogers style cardigan this year. Patrick McEnroe thought it made him look professorial -- a great compliment to professors. While the sweater did not exactly help Roger's recent reputation for aging, it was another moment in the match that reminded us more forcefully of Roger's developing veteran status. When Hrbaty asked if he could sit next to Roger on the last changeover, it was because Roger is already a legend even as he is at the top of the game. But the fact that he felt comfortable asking, and that Roger clearly enjoyed it so much, reminds us that this is a different, accessible, relatable, lovable sort of legend we are watching. I don't think anyone would have asked Sampras if he was using the other chair.

moving on

Well the whole team here at fuzzy dunlop was pretty broken up about the final of the French on Sunday. Thanks to those who left comments to help cheer us up.

So the photo above hopefully captures what will happen in the next few weeks, with tennis transitioning from clay to grass and Rafa looking just a bit less sure of himself on the green side of things.

But I hope it does not symbolize another possibility: Rafa having moved on and Roger still stuck (mentally) on what happened on French clay. I doubt this will happen. I loved the funny, light and self-effacing way Roger began his speech after the RG final: "Oui, cest moi." At Wimbledon I expect him to make the same statement more forcefully with his game.

allez!

Tomorrow's final offers the opportunity for the sort of match that people will talk about for decades. Will we get it? Who knows. That depends on Roger, of course, especially his serve. The tingle his fans felt a year ago when, for one slashing and exhilarating set, he appeared to have figured out Rafa only made the disappointment of the last two sets all the worse.

But no matter what happens tomorrow we should appreciate having two players at the top of the game who are so exciting, so classy, and so consistently excellent that they meet this often in important finals.

Over at tennis.com the rafa fans and the roger fans get along as long as Djokovic is in the draw, and then the knives come out. The saddest part is Federer fans who are just hoping he does not get embarrassed. I for one am hoping for much more.

If you want to see an approximation of what it will look like at my place cheering for Roger over breakfast tomorrow, watch this video of young Hewitt fans. Folks at tennis.com, this is how its done.

dreamy semi

It would be hard to imagine a more appealing semi-final for the men then friday's matchups of Nadal/Djokovic and Federer/Monfils. On one side is a rematch of the great encounter between Rafa and Nole in Hamburg -- once again with the #2 ranking on the line.

On the other is Roger and the freakishly charismatic home favorite Gael Monfils. There has been a lot of talk this week about the 2006 US Open 1st round match between Monfils and Djokovic. In the fifth set a very tired Djokovic (having lost the 4th 6-0) stretched the rules of tennis as far as they could go to stay with his friend: bathroom breaks, multiple "injuries," and at one point simply laying down on the court and not moving for 10 minutes. You can read about it here.

Despite having arms a bit like Nadal's, you rarely see Monfils put his full strength behind the ball. His shots to Ferrer today seemed to float toward the corners, inviting the tired Spaniard to hit errors. Those floaters should give Roger plenty of time to line up his shots and fire away, especially if the conditions continue to be wet and slow.

clean the lines

Order was restored today on the Hamburg clay. The Nadal-Djokovic semi was more riveting, and occasionally gutting, than one could have hoped for. Classy tennis and great hitting from both.

Djokovic fought hard, even when he was way down in the third, which should improve his reputation among fans. In particular his tenacity in trying to break Rafa in the long final game was impressive. But did anyone else think his persistent drop-shots in the last 15 minutes was a sort of surrender? Particularly that weak last effort, with Rafa inside the court already, was a plea for the match to end.

I expect Roger to hit a few drop shots of his own tomorrow, but they will be for the kill, and not to surrender.

breathing problems

Tomorrow's semi between Djokovic and Nadal might be the match of the year so far. Were Nadal to lose he would drop to #3 behind Novak. But Nadal has always responded very well to pressure in the past. Djokovic, on the other hand, is prone to breathing problems, wasted set points, and dizziness.

Still, Novak's incredible ability to hug the baseline on clay, and his powerful backhand (less vulnerable than Roger's to Rafa's high kicking lefty forhands) should put Nadal under a lot of pressure. I just hope the boys play well and remember to breath. Should be a good one.

steadfast

Federer fans have really been indulging their impending sense of doom lately -- especially with Djokovic possibly days away from a #2 ranking. They should not worry. The next 7 months will produce the sort of exciting and competitive tennis we have not seen in years, and Roger will remain on top.

As he put it after Rome:

"The more I lose, the more they believe they can beat me. But believing is not enough, you still have to beat me."

And a few days later:

"I have the feeling that I still have so much ahead of me and so many possibilities in tennis. I just love the sport. It would break my heart if I had to stop."

new tricks on clay

Anyone who would like to see Federer win at Roland Garros has briefly wished that Roger had a two-handed backhand. Then he might, even just once, take one of Nadal's high-kicking shots early and on the rise and use all of Rafa's pace against him. Based on this footage Roger has had the same idea.

Or Roger could run this little car into Rafa's bad foot.

the greatest?

Now that Rafa has won 99 point-somthing percent of his matches on clay in the last four years, it is time to consider whether he is the greatest ever on crushed tile. If he is, the man he would replace is Borg, who won the French Open six times.

Rafa is better. But in the meantime, Borg is considered bold to have predicted that Nadal will win his first Wimbledon this year. Borg won five Wimbledons to go with his six at Roland Garros. During the years that Borg dominated the European grand slams he did not even bother to travel to Australia for the open.

This means that Borg essentially won two-thirds of the grand slams for a remarkable five years. It is a record that makes Sampras's efficiency in the slams look mediocre. It makes you think that Borg's name does not come up enough in the debate over who (Federer, Sampras, et cetera) is the greatest of all time.

whoo hoo!

As good and as telling as Roger's "be quiet, okay?" in the semi was his "whoo-hoo!" in the final.

it happened at 4-0, with Rafa serving at 30-15. It was a moment that ended up being the turning point of the match.

Roger's reaction seemed to indicate just how much he was enjoying the match -- varying his shots and fighting back from a tough first set. Part of enjoying it was appreciating just how hard it is to get a point off Nadal on clay.

Steve Tignor offers a great write-up of the match, and appreciation of Nadal's mastery of the dirt.

post sov

It was a very strange final today in Monte Carlo -- with its surplus of service breaks and wild swings of momentum. It resembled a match between the sort of mentally fragile (but technically sound) women from the old soviet bloc that have lately dominated the WTA more than a match between the two best players of the new millennium.

Still it was lots of fun to watch. At least until Roger's collapse at the end. His brilliant run to 4-0 in the second was the highlight of the year thus far. His collapse was disappointing. But it also brought to mind what is so interesting about the clay season in this era of unbelievable winners. Both Roger and Nadal had many more errors than winners today -- just like the typical club player. And Rafa dug his way back in today in just the way we do on courts all over the world -- hit it as deep as you can to the backhand over and over again.

Matches like today offer some great tennis. But they also remind us of what we have in common with tennis players everywhere, even Roger and Rafa.

God bless whoever this Justin is who runs "Justin TV." It offered a free stream of passable quality today and saved a lot of us a frustrating morning.

Okay?

On a second viewing, Roger actually followed his "be quiet!" with a sort of conciliatory "okay?"

he is still a softie after all.

Be quiet

The best moment in Roger's win over Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semi today was when Roger testily told Novak's camp to quiet down.

It was not Roger at his best, exactly. On the other hand, he snapped just as he was offering the sportsmanlike gesture (typical of Roger) of conceding a replay on a point when a close line call had gone against his opponent.

It highlights what Novak's ascent has meant to the game. Djok has made tennis more interesting, certainly. But he does so by trying to end what has to be considered one of the great ages in tennis history. Roger and Rafa have dominated the sport and at the same time treated the game and each other with complete respect and class. These two set a tone that lower ranked players strove to meet. One example is Roddick. He seemed like a punk when he was young. But he seemed to mature into a classy adult precisely through dealing with his string of losses to a #1 that he respected so completely.

It is only from this perspective that the typical tennis fan's growing annoyance with Djok can be understood. His antics (conveniently timed injuries, the interminable ball bouncing, his impression of rafa, annoying comments from his camp, questionable retirements like the one today) are minor compared to much of what we saw in the 70's, 80's and 90's. But when compared to Roger and Rafa, his behavior seems much worse.

The way Djok, despite his incredible game, veers from total confidence to a sudden amalgam of mental and physical fragility is disconcerting. But it reminds us how fragile greatness can be. Suddenly Roger's own mentality has become the subject of constant speculation. His snap towards Novak's camp today was galvanizing. But it also calls to mind the whininess that he was capable of early in his career -- which also emerged briefly in the last two sets of the Wimbledon final last summer.

On the other hand Roger has never retired from an ATP match, even way back when he whined his way through some terrible losses. Tomorrow it is certain they will battle to the end.

Roger

For tennis fans without cable television it is hard to stay on top of what is going on in Europe this time of year.

One of the best alternatives is to follow the comments posted live by the tennis obsessives who go to tennis.com.

It was a great read this week when Roger was down 5-1 to Hidalgo in the third. Sometimes the instant analysis of Roger's game, always emotional, occasionally paranoid, can suddenly become profound.

One example is this gem from Hiram, in the heat of the match during the tiebreak:

Hiram

04/23/2008 @ 8:25 AM

Roger believes his gift for tennis is almost magical, thus he fears that it can vanish. He once said that for him it was like playing roulette and choosing the right numbers. Think about that.

Fuzzy Dunlop

This is a blog about tennis.