Nadal and Soderling still battling away in the fifth - Nadal saved 1 break point at 5-5, and Soderling's saved 4 match points at 5-6.

Pretty inconsequential in terms of the tournament I think, the incompetent organisers have ensured that Nadal has to complete mission impossible in order to defend his points from last year.

Nadal finally through on his 5th match point. :clap:

Kiefer and Djokovic locked at 5-5 in the 4th, Djoko 2-1 up in sets.

:yahoo: Nadal - i'm really pleased he won that one! He looked pretty pleased too i think.......

I really do feel for him though - like Wise said, it's gonna be a bit of a mountain for him to climb (or Djokovic/Kiefer for that matter) to get to the final. Fed's had 5 days off now....... :blink:

and the Tsonga vs. Gasquet match has just started with Tsonga breaking in the first game :yahoo:

YAY!!! Roddick won in straight sets, battling back from 2-5 down and then 3-6 in the TB....say what you want about the manbut he has got gumption....

18 straight Tiebreak wins in a rown and all 4 of his matches have been won by him winning in a third set TB.....


YAY!!!

I'd better get that on the BBC today or I'm going to stick their licence fee somewhere unpleasant. :angry:

Mathieu blew his chance and uninspriing A-Rod is through. :angry:

Gotta feel sorry for Soderling, I bet he is gutted. :( Is Rafa on course for Hewiit? I'm so wantign to see that. Go Lleyton. :D

:angry:

Gasquet has to win this match. Tsonga will fold against Roddick and we'll have the boring prospect of Federer easing past Roddick to reach the final - and given the scheduling pileup in the other half, the eventual finalist there is going to be at a distinct disadvantage.

Gasquet, on the other hand, is 10 times the player Roddick is, and if he can get to the semis he'd give Federer something new to think about. It'd be nice to think Federer had to earn his 5th in a row, as opposed to strolling through a pathetically easy draw.

Edit: Gasquet broke back, and is 3-2 up. :D

ooooo Nadal was so lucky, dicing with death at 5all with break point to Soderling. :o :o Think Soderling was the better player to be honest, but hey a wins a win. :phew:

Nadal v Hewitt...now that could be mouthwatering. :yahoo:

Gasquet is a lovely player to watch, but he too has lots of bad moments and bad matches. Myabe though if he can actually progress deep into the draw here he will get confidence and find sone kind of consitency and form. I do admire Tsonga though for doing so well on grass as a virtual unknown, but Gasquet is probabaly the best man for the job of going through here.

The match looks good so far. Some good points.

Dunno about you Tenez, but I see little difficulty for Gasquet here. Playing against a fellow Frenchman will take the pressure off him somewhat - we've already seen him destroy the fancied Mahut (and the less fancied Vasselin), he should ease through in straights again today.

Hey Mo :D

Yes poor Soderling, but he will surely take confidence from such a great performance. He actually reminds me of that dodgy two timing bloke Rob off Eastedners who was married to the psycho doctor :D

I want to see Hewitt v Nadal on grass, I think it woudl be an intriguing and possibly explosive match with their similar styles and pumped up personalities. I'd be rooting for Llleyton though. :D I'm a serve volley fan but I can take a baseliner like Llleyton with hsi fighting spirit and never say die attitude. A bit like Connors, who I remember only too well. Watchign all these golden oldies in the rain breaks has reminded me that I really am over 40 even if I prefer not to think so.

for some reason, i now predict a Tsonga victory......probably in straight sets...... :P

Well done Nadal...a tough match to get through. Mathieu as expected choked against Roddick, and good on Djokovic for getting through an extremely tricky match against Kiefer.

Gasquet and Tsonga seem to be trading service breaks a lot - is the service percentage low or is the returning good?

This is really spot on WA. This is what annoys me with Gasquet. When he is facing his French peers he has less pressure and plays very well but when faced with a higher ranked player like Roddick, he could freeze.

Having said that Tsonga plays really well atm, so it might not be so easy for Gasquet here.

he breaks back fortunately.

:D Hi SB. I agree haven't the golden oldies films raised smiles this damp Wimbers. Martina Navratilova's last night was fascinating too. Anyone seen Borg at the championships yet??? I understand he will be there this week and would love to see an interview with him. Maybe he hasn't arrived yet.

Cheering for Leyton over Rafa ehh :tsk: Hope it is a great encounter, but not TOO close for Rafa as I think he needs some confidence building after this tight match with Soderling....who does remind me of someone :shrug: but can't think who (Not Rob from EE though) :unsure:

Cilla in Corrie had one of the funniest lines ever on Monday night saying to Fizz, John, Roy and Hayley, that .....'"Roy doesn't drink anymore, not since he woke up beside Tracy the murderess'" ! Classic I tells ya. roflmao roflmao roflmao

Gasquet a set and a break up :P

Hope Gasquet makes it thru the SF. Dont want another exhibition type match between Federer and Roddick like the AO.

It was very funny to hear Tsonga scream "j'en peux plus!!!" after a nice winning FH from Gasquet.

Possible transl: "I can't cope with it anymore!"

Here we are Wise (or should I call you Impartial_Lion)..If FED is reaching the final this year it is due to a "pathetically easy draw"..Two remarks:

1. I did not notice that when the draw was published in the first place you was pointing out how "easy" it was for FED compare to the one of Rafa, for instance..I miss that part..My souvenir was more that you pointed out the threads represented by Del Potro and Safin as well as others later one (but OK you are telling us that Ferrero is nothing more than an "average clay courter"..This explains everything, i.e. how biased you can be when you are discussing nowadays Tennis and FED Tennis in particular..:e.g. Safin was a threat at the beginning now it is part of the "easy" draw..Fed clearly did nothing to win properly that match :wacko: )

2. Last year at the beginning of SW19 you pointed out several time that the Fed draw was difficult..to change your mind at the end of the event by telling us how easy it was for him..Your credibility of analysing and discussing FED draws as well results has the same value that a 1 Litter of salt water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, i.e. zero: you are biased, as I said you do not pay credit to FED so you behaviour is a troll one no more no less .

BTW: I really hope Gasquet win this one and we have a great match in the quarter tomorrow between him and AROD...Not so sure he can win that one though :P

Tennisveritas,
Two things:

1. Federer does have an east draw compared to Nadal's. And the prospect of playing 5 matches in 5 days makes it even harder for Nadal. Federer is right now enjoying a vacation right in the middle of a slam with 5 days off. This is biased advantage given to Federer. However I still think of one person can win 5 matches in 5 days including beating Federer in the final, it is Rafa. Dont be surprised if he manages to win the title.
2. Last year Federer's draw looked a lot harder on paper but in reality he was playing against players wo didn't know what grass is (except maybe Henman who decided to become a baseliner).

I still think Nadal may make the final. What a great achievement it'll be if he wins it. The All england club should award him 2 titles for his effort.

And Gasquet wins the second set ..

Gasquet just gets the 2nd set under his belt, before the rain comes down.

No.
Its a holiday in the US and was hoping to watch the Serena-Justine match.
Why hasn't the river (cant remember the name) that flows beside London overflowed with all this rain??

It is called the Thames.
Are you American, Chet?

I can't stand the constant rehashing of last year's draw and would be happy to not see it anymore, and obviously you're just trying (and failing) to be outrageous; but I can't help but reply to point out how exceedingly daft it would be to claim Gasquet, Berdych, Ancic, and even Mahut and Bjorkman (who played the most hopeless semifinal ever) can't play on grass. Berdych and Bjorkman were coming off grass tourney finals (the former losing to Federer himself), Gasquet and Ancic off successfully defending grass titles, and Mahut obviously demonstrated his potential on the surface this year with his Queen's run (and was the only player to push Federer to a tiebreaker before Nadal). Not to mention Berdych did win Halle in Federer's absence and earned a Top 8 seeding in the process.

I do think however that being a surface 'specialist' be it clay or grass is useless against Federer. Look at the woeful results of Ferrer, Roddick etc on their preferred surfaces against him. It comes down to having the kind of game that causes him trouble regardless of the surface and the mental edge to succeed. Only one, possibly two players fit that bill now.

*Scoff.......


Let's compare their opponents through each round shall we.....each round had 10 points going, I'll split them accordingly.

1st Round
Federer played Gasquet #50, well Richard was coming back from injuury and was playing at a much higher level than his ranking.

Nadal played Bogdanovic #135, don't even try to suggest Alex can rival the frenchman.....

Federer difficulty-9 points, Rafa 1 pont.

2nd round
Federer played Henman #64, a 4 time SF player, a recent SF in Queens, Tim was on a renaissence and yet Fed destroyed him.

Rafa played Kendrick #237 and nearly got beaten, KEndrick hasn't done anything of note since that match,

Federer 7 points, Rafa 3 points (Because Kendrcik did play the match of his life....


3rd Round
Federer played MAhut #77, Roger playing a good S& V player, Mahut made the final at Queens thois year despite being lower ranked than last year.....

Rafa played Agassi #20, a tough match for NAdal but he came through easily, hoiwever at this point Andre was struggling to run in matches.....

Fed 4 points (20), Rafa 6 points (10)

4th Round
Federer played Berdych #14, a recent finalist in Halle and established top 20 player, Fed had yet another tough match.

Nadal played Labadze, a clay courter who hadn't won a match on the main tour until Wimbledon outside of qualifying...

Federer 9 points, NAdal 1 point

Quarter Finals
Federer played Ancic #10, a SF at Wimbledon, a top 10 player and a great S & V player.....

Nadal played Nieminen #18 okay Jarkko's alright but he's not ancic standard.


Federer 7 points (36), Raf 3 points (14)


Semi Finals
Federer played Bjorkman #59, the best volleyer around at the moment and enjoying a huge uplift in his career.

Rafa played Baghdatis #16, okay the Cypriot was a harder match and Rafa dealt with him well....

Fed 2 points Rafa 8 points....


Total Fed 38, Nadal 22


Now read tha and tell me again NAdal had a harder draw.....

Chet or I should you call mouseinlionsclothing..two remarks:

1. Rafa draw was certainly more difficult than last year and from that perspective this simply represents a compensation to the easy one of last year IMO...Moreover, the guy had a match point during the tie break in the third against Soderling..If he would managed to do his job at that stage, he would have spent quite a bit of time doing nothing as FED ... So...

2. You do not know anything about Tennis are you? In a GS event, one of the worst stuff you can have is to spent several days (in the case of FED it will be almost a week) without playing..During a Slam you needs to acquire a rhythm, you have to enter in the event. IMO, I am quite sure that FED will pay the absence of this rhythm tomorrow..So tell us that he is only a great advantage for FED to stay out of the courts all these days is quite pathetic and show simply how ignorant on Tennis you are..

But OK coming from you..This is just your (normal-troll) standard.

YAY GASQUET IS THROUGH TO THE QF!!! :yahoo: :yahoo:

He now faces A-Rod :rolleyes: Hopefully Richard can cause an upset :D

Chet, it is hardly Fed's or the organisers' fault that Tommy Haas decided to pull out AFTER defeating Tursunov. If he had retired from that match, then Fed would not have had five days holiday, as he would have played Tursunov in the 4th round. Nor is it fed's fault that his matches are played before Nadal's. Fed won the championship last year and the champion always kicks off. So please stop making it sound as though Fed is receiving preferential treatment: he isn't, it's just the way the cookie crumbled. Also, I would have thought Fed would have preferred to play rather than just practise - much better preparation...

What a shame they did not make use of the middle Sunday - now whoever is the finalist from the bottom half of the draw will have to have played 3 best of five matches in 3 days to get there. If there are too many 4 or 5 setters (and there are some pretty tough match-ups in that draw) the person from the top half is going to enjoy a very big advantage over that from the bottom half with only 2 best of five matches in the same time.

That does not feel good at all.

I would have thought Fed might have preferred to play a match rather than have a 5-day break in the middle of Wimbledon - especially after not playing at Halle.

Hi Barry & scolios..Fully agree with your point: Fed is certainly far from being happy: Spent all this time outside a court ...I am sure the next round will be very difficult from him IMO...

In any case, as usual, Chet and W_A (the most knowledgeable members of any discussion board about Tennis World wide :bs: ) are thinking just the contrary ...Surprise ..Surprise... :whistle: :whistle:

Some excellent posts from chet on this thread, sadly clouded by the usual wayward ramblings of Tennisveritas. This post in particular is one the most amusing things I have ever read on a messageboard (along with that hilarious "analysis" by Scotsguy which isn't even worth responding to):

Federer pulled out of Halle, and his form translated seamlessly onto the grass at the start of Wimbledon. If he had a serious opponent in the next round, your point may have some kind of validity, but it's Ferrero, who not only is average on grass, but couldn't beat Federer if he was given a whip and Fed bent over obligingly. To be so fresh before an easy QF match is clearly a huge advantage.

The fact remains that unless Gasquet can beat Roddick, Federer's only test is likely to be in the final. However, with the absurd scheduling, the two opponents most likely to provide an interesting final (Djoko and Nadal) will be either extremely tired by the time they get that far, or knocked out by inferior opponents like Hewitt, who will roll over tamely to Federer.

Firstly, I agree that Federer can't have been happy at his enforced "rest" - he needs to get into his game and find his winning strokes; an almost week long break is not good for him.

Secondly, if it hadn't been for "unforeseen circumstances", I think Federers draw was actually more tricky than Nadals. Safin is an opponent who can never be taken lightly, Gasquet AND Roddick are both on flamboyant form (though how long this will last is not a safe bet!)

The organisers have behaved with extraordinary ignorance with their scheduling and dealt Nadal a most unfair hand, however. The rain and a good many bad decisions have, sadly, spoiled a part of this Wimbledon!