For reasons aforementioned on the poscar thread, i've broken my silence.
This tournament has provided many talking points hasn't it?
Here are the main things IMO:

1) Federer is even more going to be the GOAT, especially after the drubbing of Roddick!

2) Serena still has tremendous fighting spirit, I know the draw in her half opened up for her great, with her avoiding the 'true' top players until the final, but she still had to battle through to the final and she did.

3) Nadal's wheels are beginning to fall off. Andy Murray exposed his game horribly and showed how one dimensional it is. Neanderthals died out in Spain about 30,000 years ago, but you wondered if Nadal had been left behind sometimes in the Murray match, no plan B!

4) Murray is going to win slams. The way he just fearlessly went at Nadal and blrew him to bits at times was awesome, not even Federer could do some of the things Murray did. You get a feeling that Murray has a touch of greatness, a feel, and extra gear, that all of the other 'young guns' (Djokovic, Gasquet, Monfils) don't have. He is also super smart, and if he can just mature a bit with his temperament he will be a great. Had he not felt the twnge in his side in the second set against Rafa, he would have won in straight sets! And he certainly did half the job for Gonzo! And his double handed backhand is an extraordinary shot at times!

5) Mats Wilander on Eurosport is possibly the most irritating commentator going, especially when he commentates on Federer and comes out with the same phrases 20 times!


Sorry this is on the ATP thread when there is a bit of both by the way!

Great post, I could not agre emore with the things that this slam has highlighted. I cannot comment on Wilander though, as I have not heard him.

Murray certainly has shown that he has so much potential, surprising even his most optimistic and faithful fans. I raved about Djoko being better, but I'm not thinking that now. I think Djoko will do well, but he will never have the variety and player's instinct that Murray has. And he shoudl have kept his trap shut before that Fed match cos he just drive Federer to show him who was boss. Serena certainyl has shown she is getting back there, regardless of who she played. She did come through toughies and all credit to her for that. The players she beat are no slouches and Peer and Vaidisova are two fo the stars of the future. In fact I think we can safely say we'll be seeign Nicole in the latter stages of slams a lot, whether she can win is another matter but I reckon oen day she will get there.

The wheels certainyl are falling of the Nadal cart indeed. It may be that he is trying to develop his game and good for him, but if he does I'm nto sure as he'll be as special as he was. he cannot keep up that old style of running everything down and wearign players out as he's going to have fatigue and injures. Also, i notice that people are starting to read and play him better, and what Murray did was great - chuck variety at him and he gets confused. Absorb his pace and dont; feed it back and he has no weapons. And players are starting to move faster - Gonzo was hardly slow. Of roddick, well his confidence is back with lesser players but when it came to the big one, Fed, it was a case of same old, same old. I think this AO coudl eb the start of something big for Gonzo, as he is pulling things together and has a lot of guts. That's good to see. :D

One thing is for sure, Fed is gettingn better and is taking the challenge of threats new and old very seriously, and scarily in his stride. And he really has no rivals, so much for Nadal's challenge. Methinks it will take him losing his legs to stop him being the GOAT. Go Roger, keep winning the slams and you'll be a GOAT in 2008. :ok:

Vaidisova has a lot of potential - too often still she is very erratic but hopefully she'll sort that and become my second favourite behind maria! :wub:
Peer i'm not sure about yet, she still has a bit to prove in my book, but she did push serena hard (though serena is not 100%).

Another thing with Nadal is this. His staple tactic, favourite 'exchange' is his high-bouncing heavy topspin forehand to the opponents backhand. Against Fed it is effective, although fed is getting better at countering it, that exchange puts rafa in control.

Or at least it did.

Murray hit his backhand so well off that exchange, time and again, that Rafa was lost. He had no safe ground to go to, and was being outplayed at 'proper tennis' by Murray. Gonzo also did the same against a fatigued rafa and won convincingly as a result. I actually think this dates back to when Davydenko played Rafa in the YEC. Davydenko, with his style of taking everything early, nullified Rafa, and Rafa just squeaked through. It looks, though, like Players now realise that if they adopt a positive attitude, go for their shots against Rafa, he struggles, even with his speed.

Where does Nadal go from here? On clay he will still be very hard to beat still, but I am going to stick my neck out and say that he won't be the #2 player in the world by the end of the year. He has so much pressure on his clay season now, it's where all his points are!

A year ago, when Roger won the title, everyone was saying this could be his Grand Slam year . Now, he's even better , and his main rivals Nadal and Roddick are looking between a rock and a hard place . Its hard to see Roddick troubling him ever again after todays performance, Nadal looking less and less of a threat except on clay. His loss this week could damage his confidence so much that he might not win even there. :)
So, hard to imagine Fed losing the final but Id expect Gonzo to get through and take a set at least.

Good point!

Nadal needs a really good buildup for the french like last year, if he loses his clay streak before the french he is going to struggle to retain it!

One danger for Fed's slam (I genuinely mean this) is Murray, if he grows through the year, he could be flying at wimby and the US open. Gonzalez may be the same for the US!

Fed is just getting better and better. You can see he still wants it bad can't you. I was going to put a bet on Fed to win the GS this year and nver got round to it, I bet the odds have slipped after that perfromance today though and Nadal's exposed weaknesses. Mind you last year before the Fo I only got 6-1.

Last night I said that i saw Nadal losing the number 2 spot this year actually. Thing is though Nadal now has ages to prepare for the FO and get in the swing of clay again so he might just retain it. However, an injury or an upset could cut his practice for the FO short then he'll be vulnerable to other clay courters early on. hat aside though, I think Fed is going to be a much bigger threat on the red stuff this year than Nadal is expecting.

Yeah Id say Murray and Gonzo are real contenders for Slams esp. Wimbledon and the US . Both have improved so much !

Yes, both have improved dramatically and I think Murray can improve even more. Not sure how much more Gonzo can add to his game, but he is playing more consitently and patiently now and has that HUGE weapon fo a forehand. His confidence is well up to. I dont; mind Gonzo, not usually a power player fan but he has a bit more to him than the average type. And a nice on court persona:)

Gonzo could well be a big threat by the USO if he gets a roll on - Murray is a threat for wimby and the USO the way he's going.

This is so much better that last year - All we had outside the top two were guys like Ljubo, who weren't ever going to threaten at slams

Yeah Gonzo only seems to have a slice backhand, but that was one of the reasons he beat Nadal by mixing it up and then running around his backhand to hit that huge forehand !

Gonzo has a lovely proper backhand too - but he is getting smarted and realiseing he should play to his strength which is undoubtedly the forehand!

POSCARS HOST, spot on i reckon. The way Fed took Roddicks game apart, it's now hanging in tatters in the locker room. Had Fed not existed you can only speculate on how many slams A-rod would have by now, between 3-6 i i'ld guess-you've gotta feel a bit sorry for him.
And Serena's comeback, brilliant, she adds much needed spice and zest to the womans game, better than Russian potatoes any day.
Murrey, i'm still amazed at how good he is, should be a great year for him.

federer - grand slam grand slam grand slam :ok:
serena - we all knew she had it in her
gonzalez, murray and djokovic impressed
safin and hingis disappointed - but for two very different reasons
vaidisova is the real deal
and no complaint on commentators would be complete without a bitchslap to the threesome i have to endure - mary carillo pam shriver and mary joe fernandez :rolleyes:

Roddick has to start to try and play to his strengths and be brutal with them - Big Forehand, Huge serve. He should pour more effort into them , go for it more. Too many of Roddick shots look 'safe' to me

If you look at Roddick's serving statistics, they were good. One of his serves was 143 mph. Federer returned it! He has a monstrous forehand but Federer hits the ball to him in such a way as neutralise it. I think its wishful thinking that he needs to beef up his two weapons. He needs either more weapons or to avoid people who can tame the two he already has.

He's still a pretty fine player I think.

Hi Nick,

Roddick does not go flat out on that forehand, it isn't really in my top five of big forehands power-wise.

It needs flattening out. Also, That Roddick serve did not look that juicy, some of that is down to Fed of course, but the young smouldering Roddick used to wow people with the aggression he put into that serve!

EuroSport just cream Federer non-stop :wacko:

He deserves teh praise OB, but Wilander is just hopeless!

A bit of a 'flap' forehand perhaps? His feathers were severely ruffled! roflmao

He needs o rediscover his baste form that's for sure ;) roflmao

'baste' form, that's anew one! roflmao I've got visions of Jimmy Connors with a turkey baster now!

you wish roflmao

Roddick's forehand has become a little flatter again in the last few months, but as you say for the most part he's still not hitting through it consistently enough. That's bound to happen with his western grip, but in 2003 he was hitting his forehand with a little less topspin and it was more effective.

Totally agree LDF, how passive can the Roddick forehand be at times :rolleyes: So much topspin, and it never looks like he's hitting it that cleany as well. Also for me, the footwork is off, he runs around it too much, thus hitting the ball late. federer had nothing to fear when that middle of the court forehand was coming towards it. At times it can be ineffectual.

I do think Roddick's forehand has been slightly overrated, dont get me wrong its a heavy blow on that wing, but compared to Gonzalez, Blake, Safin, even Federer, it pales in comparison.

Roddick's forehand reminds me of Taz - lots of work on it for little end product in general roflmao

Btw where's my compliment? ;)

Begging for compliments now roflmao

well it was me who pointed out about his forehand, you tosspot with an oboe! roflmao

I agree. I'm not technically qualified to analyse it as well as you and LDF, but it does look pretty lame to me at times. I often watch Roddick and think he's all hussle and bussle and running about but with no action if you get my drift. I also cant; help but notice how messy he gets on court, his shirt is often half way up his back and his shorts look like they are going to fall down. roflmao

:o

oh dear!

you used that joke some time go as your SMM alter ego Sam!

:P

dl and LDF technically qualified? Dl can't even put a serve in roflmao

yeah when we were talking about drummer boy/girl SF! roflmao