Wimbledon Day 13 - Ain't got time to oil the Hingis, nor to mend the window Paes...(lyrics from This Nole House)

Order of play
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/schedule/schedule21.html

 
After that effort, Julius, I'm demoting Federer's semi final to being only the second best performance of the week.

You lose marks for putting that song in my head though!

No pun on Betterer, but this is as HMM says.

It just struck me that if Novak loses today, his post-AO12 slam record will be 10 finals played and only 3 won.

An alarmingly low stat for a player in his peak years who spent most of that period as #1.

It would move him to 8 wins v 9 losses for his career.

Very impressed that you kept up such a high standard throughout the tourney JHM  

Having Fed us so many clever puns over the two weeks, I was worried you might struggle for the big Final. But by going for the Mixed Doubles you managed to play a great Djoker.

I'd be delighted to see Fed win this afternoon. But I don't think it will happen. Djoko is just too solid, serves too well, retrieves too well to allow Fed to dominate as he did in the Andy semi.
And yet. Few would have foreseen Djoko losing to Stan the Man in the French final, especially after Nole had taken out Rafa in the q-f. So it would hardly be a surprise if Rog won. But Djoko is favourite.

On the way home from the airport - hoping to be in by the time the match starts, but in the meantime:

Good luck Roger!

If rain is forecast, close the roof!!

Roger

Roof or no roof, the five to ten degree drop in temperature, in comparison to Friday, is great news for Novak

Nerve levels at unprecedented levels. Probably up there with shorthand results. Bucket at the ready in case I need to hurl. C'MON FEDS!

Nobody posting?!

2 set points saved by Novak.

Tiebreak.

Frame ball after frame ball

Not looking good for Fed.

Stunning from Djoko in this tb. Running everything down and responding brilliantly.

Ouch!

That was brutal.

Djokovic the master of getting the break of serve back so early.

Federer has played a horrific breaker. He'll be very, very annoyed with himself losing this set. He was the better player for most of it. Such a poor game in the seventh to get broken after breaking himself in the sixth. Two set points missed as well, albeit they were on Djokovic's serve.

Think Federer needed that first set. Hard to see him winning from here in my opinion.

Forget about Murray, Djokovic's return of serve is head and shoulders above all others in the game.

LOL, exactly as I expected.

Straights, with each one getting progressively easier.

Fed not playing anywhere near as well as on Friday. Djokovic was not even in top gear for most of the set yet he was able to take it.

Incredible tiebreak from Novak. Dictated throughout and didn't give Roger a sniff. Just when he really needs it, Roger's serve has really dipped though. Barely got any in during the tiebreak.

Novak looking so solid bar that love break.
Feds serving worse, more Ue;s but most down to novak's returning and retrieval.

Well fed won't be happy. I didn't see but losing the set a break up is bad news.  Rain coming though. Maybe the roof will help

This was the fear. The come down from Friday and it's quite a come down

I feel for bb. This must be agony

It's because the Novak return puts more pressure than any other player. Forces federer to go for more

Even though Fed has been getting to more BPs than Novak, the match to me currently feels to be largely in Novak's control. It looks like he knows he can step it up if really needed while Fed I think is playing as well as he currently can (which happens to be not as well as he played on Friday).

As I said, Novak is able to draw Fed into some long rallies and then wins the points, with good serving and returning.

Roddick made an interesting observation, that Novak didn't serve like those big servers yet Fed struggled to return his serves. Perhaps Fed has to change the way he returns those serves, say be more aggressive instead of blocking back?

Horrible performance from Federer so far.

FH all over the place. Serve below average.

Djokovic comfortable with the slice too.

Played the tie break like a champion

All in all a rubbish match.

Guest82 wrote:Played the tie break like a champion

Djokovic did not play all that well for most of the first set, then stepped it up in the TB and took it comfortably. That I think reflects the fairly large gap between the two of them today - Nole is able to play on even terms without even trying that hard.

Novak is in a good place, he knows he can win the rallies, can get good returns off Fed's serves and at the same time serves well to get himself out of troubles.

Constant close ups of Beckers ugly mug is enough to turn anyone against Novak!

He does look like a blowfish doesn't he..

Federer with a bit of luck could have been two sets up already.

It's been so tight. Federer needs to win this Tie break. Otherwise the third may become a procession.

Mini break already for Federer

2*-1 Djokovic. Fédérer lost both serves.

Poor tiebreak again so far from Roger.

2*-3 Federer serving

2*-4 Federer serving.

4*-3 Djokovic serving

Amazing.

Did to Novak what he did to him on the first point of the TB in the first set.

Federer treating set points like Pac-Man does power pellets...
#ChowsThemUP

Fed could use a first serve!

Djokovic with SP on his serve...

Federer does what he's been doing...

#MunchmunchMunch

Federer set point.... on his own serve

Wow. His second serving was fantastic!

Yes! Vamos Federer!!!

Ok, I take it back, this is becoming a classic.

Real quality stuff now.