Well I will do my bit to support Tim please feel free to join in!

So far although fed broke Tim ealry, some super grass court tennis and great play from both guys really. Henman is looking agressive and playing soem great tennis. The level is high, he is certainyl going for it big time and takign his chances. Just missed a forehand to make it 5-3 Federer, but at least he challeneged him.

C'mon Tim :bigwave: :bigwave:

Good hold by Henman 5-4 Federer.

Federer's passing shots are awesome, big problem for Tim.

Well first set fed 6-4. Tim sadly broken in first game of second set. Bit of luck for Fed on a net cord, and his serve did not help.

Federer's a double break up in the second set, with 2 points for 4-0...

And he seals the game with an ace.

I know LDF, Tim is 5-0 down now and could face a bagel! Well Fed is playing so well really I am nto sure what more Tim can do. He's already had to play soem of his best to simply hold serves. I also think he is tired, he is nto covering the court so well and I really feel he shoudl have played tommorrow. Or played later tonight and finished tomorrw. Not sayign he woudl win like that, but he clearly looks tired.

Oh bugger, Tim get's bagelled. :(

What is Fed on out there? He is so fired up it is unreal.

And Federer breaks with another superb backhand pass...

8 games in a row :blink:

Federer leads 3-0 in the 3rd with a double break...are we heading for another bagel? :(

Hope not. Do you think they were silly to schedule this match today? I se eno urgency, and it woudl have benemore competitive.

Yeh, McEnroe also made that comment, and I agree - Tim had a tough 5-setter yesterday, and an extra day would have given him more time to recuperate. I'm not saying he would've won, but I agree, I think it would've been a bit closer...

Precisely, I just wanted Tim to be able to show his best and see a great match. I always knew Fed was a tall order, and I think his early form in this tournie is amazing. Th eignorant public will call Tim a failure if he doesnt; take Fed to 5 sets and lose 11-9. You know what they are like and it is not fair.

:(

1st set was great :(

Quite frankly i dont think it would've really made a difference that the match was scheduled today. Federer was just supreme, i mean some of his passing shots from a different stratosphere, just meddling the ball so well. Tim's only real chance was to break back for 4-4, but Federer is just so good at saving the breakpoints especially when he has such a high first serve percentage as he did today.

Tim just couldnt match Federer at all, and it didnt help that Henman was both off-form and fatigued. Hardly great omens when pitted against probably the best player this century. Tim just looked out-classed from the start, and he couldnt do anything really, even his best volleys were just being passed at will by federer.

Tim has to look at this match and think it was inevitable, i dont think anyone could've lived with Roger today, the standard was just too hard to match. So the scenario is the defending champions today have only dropped 7 games between them.

Federer's serving was extremely good today; her varied it well on both sides, and had a high first serve percentage. And some of his passing shots were just spectacular...he was just too good in all departments.

Yeah some great kick serves to the forehand today by Federer, really showing an impressive variety on serve. henman at peak-form would probably still have floundered, Federer was electric.......

I took a look at the Beeb.

It's unbelievable all the WUMs who have come.

I thought that the board would come back to life at Wimbledon...

I was wrong. It's the worst time of the year for the boards.

Many posts, yes, but too much Henman bashing.

I still think that a less tired Henman would have done better than that, but Federer was unstoppabel today, and Tim shoudl nto feel disgraced. The onyl discgrace is that he ended up playign Fed so early on, as his form shoudl have carried him through to the fourth round I beleive a t least, but that is the draw.

No one could have beaten Fed on grass today. Not Ancic who has the best shot. Certainyl not Nadal, woudl have been made to look a complete idiot. People who are sayign on the BBC that Tim played crap seem to forget that Tim is 31 or 32 whatever, and past his peak. They also seem to forget what an idiot Roddick has been made to look by Federer, even when Roddick was young and highyl ranked. Ditto Hewitt and many other good players in their prime.

There is no disgrace in losing to Fed on that form, who seriously has a hope of beating him if he plays like that?

I've just watched the Fed Tim match.. recorded the thing.

The thought that occurred to me was that the way that Fed was playing was an indication of how he felt after the French Open. The guy seems to have dusted himself off after RG, and said: 'Right! Noone is going to get near me at SW19!' The guy is so focussed it is scary, and his game is jaw-droppingly good at the moment. Backhand weakness?? Where????

Tim's result is no disgrace to him whatsoever. For me, put anyone else on the draw on the other side of the net and the result would have been more or less the same.

I'm glad that he's definitely coming back to SW19. Am also watching today at Wimbledon just now, and they're interviewing people on Henman Hill about his legacy already!! :yikes: Just daft, get some sort of context, people!!

I had thought that if Fed gets past these 2 rounds then he will take some stopping for the title. Can't see Ancic doing it, in spite of people talking him up. Somehow I think Fed wants to redress the SW19 head-to-head balance with him too.

Agreed about the tennis-ignorant media probably behaving like vultures on this one. Thankfully it'll be just the one day of nonsense before they scurry off back to the great behemoth that is the world cup.

Hiro, the beeb board is one big fat mess at the mo. Lots of very mean-spirited people, with precious little tennis discussion.

It's a bashing board: mainly Fed, lots of Murray (the nationalistic bile leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, and football has a lot to answer for), and anyone else at whom people wish to take a cheap & nasty potshot.

And the mods are doing sweet fa about it.

I can't access centre court at work and have only the beeb board for company. Makes for an unsatisfactory lunchtime companion these days, sadly.

I agree with you. It was hard to find any decent threads at all today and there was so many. So I started my own thread. I post as Twig on the BBC. I defended Henman the best I could as did S.B. He had an extremely cruel 2nd round draw. The worst. When you look at Murrays draw, Bjorkmans draw etc. etc. All unseeded but all with very good draws.
He was never going to beat Fed. He never will . I predicted a similar result to the 2004 U.S open semi final or at very , very best a 4 set defeat. It was definitely not going to be his year as soon as the draw was announced. Next year hopefully he will be seeded. He is NOT retiring he said