Roger, had to put up the fight of his life but in the end he was just good enough to pull out the Wimbledon championship in a nail-biting five set match, which lasted over four hours. I felt bad for Roddick at the end, you could tell how badly he wanted to win. After-all that might have been his last chance at winning a major. If anything Roddick, played a better match today then he did on Friday. He did almost everything right and still lost. What impressed me most about his game was his consistency and ability to hold his own against Roger, even in the extended rallies. Something which he could not have done 4 or 5 years ago. Roddick, has developed a really nice shot with his backhand down the line. He scored quite a few winners against Federer by using this in the important points during the match. Both guys served great but Roger, was far better. He had 50 aces against Roddick's 27 and only 4 double faults. He hit an astounding number of winners (107) and kept his errors down to 34. Compare that to his semi-final match against Djokovic in Miami. When he had 17 winners and 49 unforced errors. WOW.8O If Roger, keeps playing like this for the rest of the year, he will be almost unstoppable.
Roger, made some great tactical decisions against Roddick and I thought it was particularly clever of him to slice the ball low to Andy, knowing that his topspin heavy forehand would struggle with a low bouncing ball. Andy, rarely had an answer for these and netted most of them. Despite Roger's great strategy he was mostly over-whelmed by Roddick's serve and wasn't able to break him until the very last game of the fifth set. In this match Roddick was Roger's equal and from the way that they played you would have never guessed that he had lost to Roger 18 out of 20 times.
In many ways, this could be the start of something new for A-Rod. He's now with-in a few hundred points of being #5 in the world. I would love to see Roddick make a resurgence and I think it's likely that he will. The US Open is his favorite tournament and he plays his best tennis when he has his confidence and the support of the crowd. If Andy, was able to come with-in a point of winning Wimbledon, then there's no reason why he shouldn't be a valid contender at the US Open.
Now that Roger has regained his #1 ranking and won his 15th grand slam, fans are beginning to speculate on how many more he'll be able to win before he retires. There is no accurate way to predict this because it mainly depends on his rival, Rafa Nadal's physical condition. I hope Nadal comes back to the US Open feeling better, makes it to the finals and plays Federer. It's the only major title that has eluded him and if he wins it, he'll have completed the career grand slam. It's too early to know if he can do it. We'll have to wait and see how he's playing when he makes his return to the tour.
Roger, made some great tactical decisions against Roddick and I thought it was particularly clever of him to slice the ball low to Andy, knowing that his topspin heavy forehand would struggle with a low bouncing ball. Andy, rarely had an answer for these and netted most of them. Despite Roger's great strategy he was mostly over-whelmed by Roddick's serve and wasn't able to break him until the very last game of the fifth set. In this match Roddick was Roger's equal and from the way that they played you would have never guessed that he had lost to Roger 18 out of 20 times.
In many ways, this could be the start of something new for A-Rod. He's now with-in a few hundred points of being #5 in the world. I would love to see Roddick make a resurgence and I think it's likely that he will. The US Open is his favorite tournament and he plays his best tennis when he has his confidence and the support of the crowd. If Andy, was able to come with-in a point of winning Wimbledon, then there's no reason why he shouldn't be a valid contender at the US Open.
Now that Roger has regained his #1 ranking and won his 15th grand slam, fans are beginning to speculate on how many more he'll be able to win before he retires. There is no accurate way to predict this because it mainly depends on his rival, Rafa Nadal's physical condition. I hope Nadal comes back to the US Open feeling better, makes it to the finals and plays Federer. It's the only major title that has eluded him and if he wins it, he'll have completed the career grand slam. It's too early to know if he can do it. We'll have to wait and see how he's playing when he makes his return to the tour.
