Tennis Weekly Series- Edition 1

What a week this has been.
'Grand Slams have been too predictable for the last few years.' This has been the line for quite a while now.
Well, as a Nadal fan, I can safely testify that this is not the case anymore. Well not this week anyway.

Shock of the Week:
Roddick vs Ferrer.
Only kidding
Rafael Nadal (2) vs Lukas Rosol (100)-
The biggest shock in a major tournament since French Open 2009 when a certain Swede stunned Nadal and broke his unbeaten record at Roland Garros.
I had the pleasure (or upsetting experience in my case ) of watching this match live on Centre Court. Before the match I, and the majority of tennis followers, were confident that Nadal would be able to defeat the World Number 100 and progress through to the next round. But, almost incredibly, it was not to be.
The match started with both players holding comfortably on serve, before exchanging breaks. As a tie-break approached it was Nadal who was more troubled- having to save a few set points before eventually taking it to a breaker. The breaker itself was a topsy-turvy affair with both players having to save set points on their own serve, before a netted forehand from Rosol gave Nadal the key mini-break and the opening set.
Match over, right? Nadal had never lost at Wimbledon before after winning the first set. Rosol had other ideas though. Nadal played a sloppy service game at the start of the 2nd to hand Rosol the break. Rosol served superbly and did not give Nadal a sniff and closed it out 6-4. The 3rd set repeated the 2nd. Ouch. So here we were Rosol on the brink of a famous victory, 2 sets to 1 one. Would this be a Nadal comeback, like against Hasse in 2010, or a Soderling defeat. Well if the 4th set was an indicator then it seemed like the latter. Nadal raised his game while Rosol wobbled slightly as Nadal sealed the 4th set 6-2. It appeared Nadal was back in the driving seat.
But the light was slowly fading on the green grass of centre court. The authorities had no option but to close the roof. This took 25 min, but to me in the ground it felt more like 5 hours. Finally the players came back out. They warmed up, and Rosol strode to the baseline first. There was a cheer from the crowd. Then Nadal (after sorting his bottles to perfection) sprinted to the baseline. This time there was a huge deafening roar from the crowd. This was it- a winner takes all shootout set.
Nadal wilted immediately, and found himself BP down straight away. A huge point. He delivered his first serve and took control of the point. I still remember it vividly now, although it seems slightly surreal. Nadal came forward eager to win this crucial point. He hit his approach shot straight down the middle, to not give Rosol room. But Rosol found it. He darted to the side and smashed the ball straight back at pace. Nadal could do nothing. He stuck his racket out, the ball meekly bounced on his side and Rosol had the break. The crucial break. From then on it was a question of whether Rosol could control his nerve. And he did. Every service game he hit huge serves one after the other. And then eventually it came to 5-4 with Rosol serving for the match. Would he collapse now? Surely the pressure would get to him, no?
Ace. Huge Forhand winner. Ace. Ace. Game Set Match Rosol.
A historic upset, a sensational performance from the underdog, and an early exit for the 11 time Grand Slam Champion. What a match.

Match of the Week:
Originally I was going to do the Rosol-Nadal match but have already covered this in Shock of the Week. So I shall have to report the 2nd best match of the week- but still an awesome match no doubt.
Roger Federer vs Julien Benneteau-
Lightning never strikes twice. One day after Rosol's shock win it was the turn of Frenchman Julien Benneteau to try to create an upset.
Federer was the better player in the early stages but could not get the crucial break. And suddenly serving at 4-4 Federer played a terrible service game to leave Benneteau serving for the 1st set. The tall Frenchman did what he had to and sealed the set 6-4. How would Federer respond? Well the 2nd set was an even affair, with both players having Break Point chances but not converting. Eventually it went into a 2nd set tiebreak- with everything to play for. Federer made an immediate Unforced Error and gave up a minibreak. From there Benneteau served big, kept his cool and took the tiebreak 7-3. Centre Court gasped. Surely not another upset?
This time Federer knew he was in big big trouble and had to act quickly. That's exactly what he did. He broke early in the 3rd set to cruised after that to take it to a 4th set. But then Benneteau stepped it up with some great hitting ensuring Federer did not run away with it. Like the 2nd set, the 4th was to be decided by a tie-break- a penalty shootout. Federer twice held a minibreak advantage, twice Benneteau pegged him back. After 12 points the score was tied at 6-6. Federer was 2 points away from going out. But then it was Benneteau he erred on his Backhand, giving Federer a chance to win the set on his own serve. Some clever hitting from Federer left Benneteau chasing shadows set point down, and Federer took it to a 5th and deciding set. The roof was already on so neither player would get a break. And it was a cramping Benneteau who dipped his play, as a Federer surged on to seal the 5th set 6-1. As he sealed the match Federer heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had escaped.


Statistical Oddity of the Week- Shvedova winning a set against Errani without losing a point.

Normally I would do 'Player of The Week' but the description of Rosol's match answers this, if you know what I mean

Quotes of The Week:
Serena Williams: (On Simon's comments about equal pay) 'Definitely a lot more people are watching Maria than Simon. She's way hotter than he is.'
Dr. Ivo Karlovic: (on his 11 foot faults against Murray) “I feel cheated. On a Grand Slam, Centre Court. “It was outrageous. It's Wimbledon and they do this. This is BS.'

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it.
Your views and opinion would be appreciated

Cheers,
IMBL

Very good read. Well done.

Murray-Karlovic and the Cilic-Querrey matches were pretty good, too. The X Man has two seeds in Simon and Verdasco.

Some very good matches outside the Top 4 contests.

Danny_1982 wrote:

Very good read. Well done.

Thanks Danny

laverfan wrote:Murray-Karlovic and the Cilic-Querrey matches were pretty good, too. The X Man has two seeds in Simon and Verdasco.

Some very good matches outside the Top 4 contests.

They were indeed.

I was spoilt for choice this week

good stuff IBML.

I think the Robson/Schiavone match deserves a mention. Not because of the British interest, but because that match was theatre watching. It was really some back and forth momentum going on in that match and it does deserve a special mention.

I have to say that the highlight of the week was how well British tennis finally fared at Wimbledon. All participants did themselves justice and I can only hope that British tennis can now build on that foundation.

Rosol is such a weird player, Petzschner completely annihilated in the AO 1st round 6-0 6-0 6-2 then somehow turns it around to reach a slam 3rd round he seems to be another player who only truly cares about his game when playing the big seeds, a bit like Troicki.

Statistical Oddity of the Week (might be hard to do this every week) - Shvedova winning a set against Errani without losing a point.

legendkillarV2 wrote: good stuff IBML.

I think the Robson/Schiavone match deserves a mention. Not because of the British interest, but because that match was theatre watching. It was really some back and forth momentum going on in that match and it does deserve a special mention.

I have to say that the highlight of the week was how well British tennis finally fared at Wimbledon. All participants did themselves justice and I can only hope that British tennis can now build on that foundation.

Thanks LK
Yes Robson-Schiavone was a great match- shame Robson couldn't pull off the upset

JuliusHMarx wrote:Statistical Oddity of the Week (might be hard to do this every week) - Shvedova winning a set against Errani without losing a point.

lol I'll add that on this week anyway

It Must Be Love wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:Statistical Oddity of the Week (might be hard to do this every week) - Shvedova winning a set against Errani without losing a point.

lol I'll add that on this week anyway

Kinduva 'never been done at a slam in the Open Era' oddity. Perhaps Danny_1982 has picked out a more suitable weekly stat of Murray's 2nd serve % points won?

Nice article IMBL.

Best comeback...Fish from a long time out after cardiac ablation ("heart surgery" is pushing the descprition of what he had) which took cojones given he doesnt know if the condition (SVT I think, same as Tony Blair) might arise again under strain.

Worse dresser...Goffin looked abit of a chump when he had to tuck his Tshirt in after it was deemed "Un-Wimbledon-like". He still looks 12 though, and so amateur, that you can forgive him his naivety.

Worse moments...everytime Sharapova hits a ball...its rumoured SW19 is now surrounded by 2500 dogs who have tuned and come running to the 12,500HZ and 125db frequencies she been emitting.

Best reaction time....that line judge who almost literally dodged a bullet when a 135MPH serve came roaring towards his pate.

Best zone-like state...Rosol, with that distant stare he had throughout the 5th set. He was so far in the zone he was still playing Nadal in his mind when he was facing Kohlschreiber!

Biggest shock....Mr Giggs standing up on Centre Court on Saturday expecting a warm round of applause from a reserved British public who were sat there thinking we know all about your scoring Ryan!

lydian wrote:Biggest shock....Mr Giggs standing up on Centre Court on Saturday expecting a warm round of applause from a reserved British public who were sat there thinking we know all about your scoring Ryan!

I missed that, how classic. It reminds me of Will Carling who lost the Twickenham crowd completely when his sh$tty behaviour was revealed.

He deserves every plaudit that's going in a footballing context for sure, but away from that walk of life it's nice to see people refrain from treating him as a 'national treasure'.

Carling deserved credit for sha@@ing a national treasure!

I always thought Julia Carling wasnt half bad myself...

True.

But least with a royal notch on the bedpost would mean a best seller should you lead a boring life

True. Too.

Maybe Giggs was thinking similarly post-ManU (scandal as opposed to royalty). Apologies OP for this minor digression.

Well when the story broke, it wasn't that surprising in fairness. Normally if one is approached by a former BB housemate that in itself has 'Heat' magazine written all over it. I can't think of a bigger caution label than that!

lydian wrote:True. Too.

Maybe Giggs was thinking similarly post-ManU (scandal as opposed to royalty). Apologies OP for this minor digression.

lol Perhaps we can have a scandal of the Week, if we have any scandals that is :whislte:

legendkillarV2 wrote:Well when the story broke, it wasn't that surprising in fairness. Normally if one is approached by a former BB housemate that in itself has 'Heat' magazine written all over it. I can't think of a bigger caution label than that!

I know what you mean, I need a sh$tty stick to beat off the parade of former BB housemate glamour girls throwing themselves at me.