Madrid Final

First topic message reminder :

Hello, welcome to the final.

Federer vs Berdych

Head to Head:

10-4 (Federer)

Current ranking:

3-7 (Federer)

ATP Points Race:

2,865 (Federer)
1,545 (Berdych)

2012 Win/Loss

26-3 (Federer)
22-6 (Berdych)

Good luck, and play fair!

Federers 2nd serve is like Murrays:(

Man another tough hold from 0-30

This stream is so smooth though, the one positive of this Sunday.

Fed unusually poor on 2nd serve .......

JM - give it a rest re Murray comparisons

What a game from Fed: three glorious winners. Come on Fed time to break.

0-40... :D

0-40 this is it

lags72 wrote:JM - give it a rest re Murray comparisons

Banned

Wow, thats clutch from Berdy. 3 aces

and then a DF

4th break point... yesssssssssssssss BREAK!

Followed by a DF to give away the break.

You kinda felt that was gonna happen.

The story of Berdy's life

Did I just hear the sound of Berdych choking?

Incredible serving from Berdy. But you gotta make it count ........

15-30 tension, brace yourself.

Oh no.. he breaks back

Weird match !

oh god felt Federer was going to flop it up.

He now has to break again to make my prediction right.

Mental battle from now on.

seriously cannot see Federer getting in control of this now.

Seems like the Djokovic semi at USO all over again.

It's been a high quality match. Few errors, quick points

Have hope.. remember Fed is the greatest TB player in the history of the sport.

What a winner!

Great return. 0-15

Triple match POINT!

oh yes magical stuff from Fed 0-40

Deuce. Well well well.

Amazing clutch from Birdy, gotta hand it to him. He's been so tough

GSM TMF GOAT

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!!!

What a match. Sums Federer up!

3-6 7-5 7-5

Wow !

Hangs super tough. Another MS for the Fed CV.

Great match

Bad luck Birdy

How will Berdy feel after this .....??

What a dodge from Rog!

Fed wins it! Was tough....!

Fed, new World No.2 from tomorrow!

A close match but Fed is winning them now....lucky it didnt go to a tie breaker...!

Federer's worse match of the week, still just did enough.

Berd has been slick each match, hope he does well in Rome and RG now

You could see nerves kicked into Fed's game today, just look at how Fed was behind on his own first three services in the final set! He still held on though, it did feel like the semi against Djokovic @ the USO last year but the difference here is that Fed eked out the win in a very tight match!

Put it this way, Fed won just 2 points more than Bird during this whole match, out of over 200 points, that's how close it was! This will go a long way to helping Fed win that No.1 spot back again, forget the #2 spot (even though it helps and will most certainly help in the medium term to get to No.1 [if he holds onto that place]).

Clutch play from TMF, he's won two matches this week that he maybe shouldn't have.

I agree BB, I'm sure many Fed fans will agree, that just a year ago, these are the sort of close matches he lost but now he's winning them (he lost one to Roddick this year but even that was on the back of good victory @ IW). It certainly gives hope further on in the season @ USO if he plays Djokovic (either in the semi or final)!

It might be pushing it to expect Fed to get the final of Rome (or even win it), but given his previous record there and from the draw he's got, getting to the semi final there would be a very respectable run. Although knowing Fed, if takes part, I think he'll want to go for it and beat Djokovic if he meets him there.

Federer does seem to be making a more determined effort this year. Let's hope he can translate this into mounting a serious Grand Slam challenge. I think he should focus on Wimbledon and US Open, but if the draw opens up for him at the French - well why not also give that a proper go too.

True. It's not impossible for him to be #1 going into Roland Garros. Very, very unlikely, but not mpossible.

I often wonder about the sort of conversations many of the guys ranked outside the top four must have with their coaches just ahead of these match-ups with Federer.

"Your game's in great shape.... be aggressive ......now's the time to take him .... yours to win....he's getting old and slow. You won't be getting that many more chances before he retires...."

And then somehow it just doesn't happen. Not for powerhouse Raonic ; and not for Berdy - who hadn't been in the least bit troubled en route to this Final

Far from vintage Federer in so many ways but, as others have said : still good enough when the going gets tough.

Surely his W/L ratio of the past eight months or so is better than anyone's ...??

I still have my doubts as to what he can do at the Slams when it's 7 x Bo5. But ..... for now .....credit where due.

Congrats on a 20th Masters RF

BB, I heard Rome points from last year already dropped off this week. Not 100% sure but I would look into that.

It's all very well Federer clutch winning tights matches against players outside the top 5, but can he do it against Djokovic or Nadal. That is the question.

I don't think that's happened, the points don't look to me to reflect that.

Agree on the second point, not Nadal on clay for sure. I think Djokovic looks shaken now, not anything like the man from last year.

Looking at the ATP rankings website, the Rome 2011 points will be coming off monday (The Madrid 2011 points came off last monday). This is due to the tournaments being shifted by 1 week, and the points for any tournament only count for 52 weeks. So Federer cannot catch Djokovic before the FO

But this isn't all bad for Federer, as he would still be #3 if the Rome 2011 points still counted tomorrow. Nadal would be 185 points ahead, instead Federer is up by 325.

Yes he can catch him. Nole has to fall before the semis and Federer win it.

Rome coming off tomorrow just means Fed will be closer tomorrow than otherwise.

EDIT: if Madrid came off the other day you're right. Are you certain about that?

Lets see how fresh Fed is going to be for Rome. Otherwise my dead grandma can win tournaments if she plays every second one.
In any case, love to see other players getting Fed in their draw from now on. This all works for Nole.

I agree Henman Hill, how Fed does against Djokovic and Nadal, his two main rivals, is what remains to be seen. The real point though is that these are exactly the sort of tight matches Fed was losing last year, it wasn't just to Nadal and Djokovic, it was against Berdych, Tsonga, even Gasquet & Melzer.

There are the freak losses Fed has suffered in the last few years, but by this time last year, it was becoming all too frequent a habit, it was only a matter of time before it happened in a slam, and then it did @ Wimbledon last year, 2 sets up and from nowhere, Tsonga comes back and beats the winner of 6 Wimbledon crowns! That's why Fed's win today is a return to form of the player many Fed fans remember. Naturally, Fed does need to play his big rivals more, but let's be honest, had Djokovic played the way he had and had somehow met Fed in the semis, he would have lost, it's actually good for his H2H that he lost just a round before meeting Fed than actually losing to him.