Semi Final Day - 10/09 Day 12

First topic message reminder :

Here it is guys.

Straight shootout

Federer v Djokovic

Murray v Nadal

Where was this Murray in first two sets?

Weird, after his back problem started his ground-strokes got much bigger. Decent forehands.

Murray isn't done yet. What a point.

Done now, sadly.

Liam_Main wrote:Done now, sadly.

Unlike Roger, Rafa does not choke from a winning position.

It will be interesting to see how Nadal fairs against Djokovic on Monday. If Novak wins he'd emphasize the belief that he is now out there alone ahead of the rest having beaten Federer and Nadal back-to-back. If Rafael Nadal wins he will rekindle the belief that he can go on to chase down Fed's slam total.

Three things you can be sure about in life;

Death
Taxes
and Andy Murray sucking the life out of tennis in big matches...

Result was never in Doubt... poor quality from Murray with his attitude..

Andy another solid performance in the Slams. 4 Consecutive Semi's. So near, yet so far.

Tonight has frustrated me, but seeing what he can do still makes me believe he can be a slam winner.

It's in his head. Nothing wrong with the ability. You can change a mental approach, you can change an attitude. Sadly he was his own enemy for 2 sets and by the time he believed he could do it it was too much.

Well done Rafa.

legendkillar wrote:

Andy another solid performance in the Slams. 4 Consecutive Semi's. So near, yet so far.

Can you be any more patronising with that.....

Night all.

A battling performance from Andy but as I thought his sporadic form at this slam has caught up with him. Rafa was great tonight and looks like he has rediscovered his mojo. Should be a great final.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

legendkillar wrote:

Andy another solid performance in the Slams. 4 Consecutive Semi's. So near, yet so far.

Can you be any more patronising with that.....

Not really.....

I am counting the days I can say it for Dolgopolov

Rafa will be a sittting duck. Andy has tired him a lot and this late finish is not going to help either.

TBH, Andy didn't play very well tonight, yet it was still a competitive match. He has to keep working hard and believing. This was his best year on tour; if he continues along this road I predict a slam in 2012.

BTW both my predictions were spot on. Novak to edge Roger and Rafa to win in four.

SO MY CHILDREN HAVE FAITH; GREAT THINGS AWAIT THE MUZZA IN 2012.



emancipator - Oracle.

Now it's time for Super Serena

emancipator wrote:TBH, Andy didn't play very well tonight, yet it was still a competitive match. He has to keep working hard and believing. This was his best year on tour; if he continues along this road I predict a slam in 2012.

BTW both my predictions were spot on. Novak to edge Roger and Rafa to win in four.

SO MY CHILDREN HAVE FAITH; GREAT THINGS AWAIT THE MUZZA IN 2012.



emancipator - Oracle.

do you have a "Murray wins a slam dance" in your repertoire?

Seriously, Murray got his tactics about right tonight, though would have liked to have seen him come into the net more in the first two sets, but those UEs made all the difference in the end. 15+ in the sets he lost, just 6 in the set he won. Those stats (more than first serve percentage) speak for themselves IMO...

I think it's more he found a set of tactics eventually that worked, rather than actually going in with the right tactics.

socal1976 wrote:That return on match point 40-15 was a thing of beauty for all you people who think that Djokovic lacks tennis talent what you think about that return? Is there another player on tour that would have hit that shot right now on Roger federer in that situation. Tremendous ball striking, not to mention the clinical display he put on in sets 3 and 4 just blasting his groundies for winner after winner.

To me this sums up the match that I could only partially watch. But I think the shot that Roger made against Tommy Hass was of a similar calibre at FO.

I have to say, that cross court shot from Nole when Fed had the first match point on serve was simply immense. One of the best shots I have ever seen and paved the way to send Nole into the final.

This shot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EGz8AeqAPY

Federer needed that tiniest bit of luck just to get over the finish line yesterday and he didn't get it...when you're having the year Djokovic is having things just tend to work out your way. That return could easily have gone miles wide/in the net; the same for the next point, where Federer missed a routine forehand by clipping the tape. I would say 4 times out of 5 Federer normally wins one of those two points based on how they played out (ie Djokovic misses the return/Federer makes the forehand), but unfortunately (for Federer) he didn't get the rub of it yesterday.

Amazing shot. I'm still not sure if his laughter afterwards was because he thought the game was gone and he was glad to finish on a high or whether he just wasn't feeling the pressure and it was enjoying the drama of the moment!

Best match of the year though and for that both players deserve enormous credit.

Chazfazzer wrote:Federer needed that tiniest bit of luck just to get over the finish line yesterday and he didn't get it...when you're having the year Djokovic is having things just tend to work out your way. That return could easily have gone miles wide/in the net; the same for the next point, where Federer missed a routine forehand by clipping the tape. I would say 4 times out of 5 Federer normally wins one of those two points based on how they played out (ie Djokovic misses the return/Federer makes the forehand), but unfortunately (for Federer) he didn't get the rub of it yesterday.

I'm sure Djoko was as surprised as we were that it went in. The way he executed that shot tells me he already accepted his loss. It was a 10% shot, in terms of success rate. Anyway, it went in and will be remembered for a long time. It had the same devastating effect as the Fed-Haas shot at RG 2009, although that shot was no where near as risky

Chazfazzer wrote:Federer needed that tiniest bit of luck just to get over the finish line yesterday and he didn't get it...when you're having the year Djokovic is having things just tend to work out your way. That return could easily have gone miles wide/in the net; the same for the next point, where Federer missed a routine forehand by clipping the tape. I would say 4 times out of 5 Federer normally wins one of those two points based on how they played out (ie Djokovic misses the return/Federer makes the forehand), but unfortunately (for Federer) he didn't get the rub of it yesterday.

I disagree, there is one guy that returns like that on the tour, that wasn't a second serve that was Roger Federer's first serve and he blasted it by federer. Any time you take risks in a tennis match there is always a chance of failure and some luck factor. But the only guy who has the cajones and the immense technical skill to make returns like that is one Novak Djokovic. Best returner in the game, no question. Serving out Novak Djokovic isn't like serving out anybody else on tour, at least this year.

HM Murdoch wrote:Amazing shot. I'm still not sure if his laughter afterwards was because he thought the game was gone and he was glad to finish on a high or whether he just wasn't feeling the pressure and it was enjoying the drama of the moment!

Best match of the year though and for that both players deserve enormous credit.

Agree completely with murdoch, Novak seems to get tight when playing fed at times and when he relaxed in the match and seemed to accept defeat he loosened up and played better. Clearly the best match of the year, there real isn't another one to compare to it. But it wasn't a lucky shot, it was a calculated risk from by far the best returner on tour.

socal1976 wrote:But it wasn't a lucky shot, it was a calculated risk from by far the best returner on tour.

What Roger said:

I didn't hit the best serve. But it's just the way he returns that. It's just not -- a guy who believes much, you know, anymore in winning. Then to lose against someone like that, it's very disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go.

What Djoko said

That forehand return, I cannot explain you because I don't know how it happened. You know, yeah, I read his serve and I was on the ball and I had to hit it hard, and it got in, luckily for me.

But go on Socal, keep fooling yourself, again and again and again

gallery play wrote:

socal1976 wrote:But it wasn't a lucky shot, it was a calculated risk from by far the best returner on tour.

What Roger said:

I didn't hit the best serve. But it's just the way he returns that. It's just not -- a guy who believes much, you know, anymore in winning. Then to lose against someone like that, it's very disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go.

What Djoko said

That forehand return, I cannot explain you because I don't know how it happened. You know, yeah, I read his serve and I was on the ball and I had to hit it hard, and it got in, luckily for me.

But go on Socal, keep fooling yourself, again and again and again

Exactly. If Djoko is so talented to return like that how come he did not win in 3 straight sets? Clearly Djoko was in teh ropes and this is why he picked his side before Fed served even.

It requires as GP says great execution and technique especially late in the fifth but even at a ratio of 50/50 Djoko would systematically try to return like but we know he doesn't even try the rest of the time, cause the cances are probably 1 in 5 at best. He goes for safer returns. He played that one as a desperation shot even and it worked. Good on him.

Yeah, and he pulled it off, if you don't buy a ticket you can't win. He took a gamble and a risk, but if he wasn't a great returner he wouldn't have pulled it off. Not to mention the clinical display of immaculate ball striking in sets 3 and 4 where he hit winner after winner. He had as many winners as fed and way fewer errors, that is controlled aggression at its best.

Reading from Djoko's quote the only thing lucky about it was that it dropped in as he did say he read his serve (which he did to have his racquet there) and he hit it hard so it was 50-50 it would go in I'd say so not a complete fluke or anything like that.