Happy Being A Hippo

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, Marat Safin was asked whether he fought with himself on court. His reply?

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'I'm not fighting with myself. Oh, my God. That's how I am. You know, the story of the hippo? The hippo comes to the monkey and said, listen, I'm not a hippo. So, he paint himself like a zebra. He said but he's still a hippo. He said but look at you, you're painted like a zebra but you are a hippo. So then he goes, you know, like I want be a little parrot. So, he put the colours on him and he comes to the monkey and said but, sorry, you are a hippo. So, in the end, you know, he comes and said I'm happy to be a hippo. This is who I am. So, I have to be who I am and he's happy being a hippo.'

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Well, I, for one, am very glad that Marat is happy being a hippo - because I have never loved him so much in my life. Day #3 at Wimbledon was pretty much my ideal day of tennis. I could not have asked for better results. An impressive yet comfortable straight sets win for Federer over a potentially tricky opponent, and an absolute drubbing of Novak Djokovic by Safin the Hippo. It was... ah, it was beautiful.

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Who knew Maratski still had that kind of tennis on tap? Djokovic did not play his best, certainly, but I would certainly be happy to put money on the fact that Safin would have won even if he had. Marat has been so scratchy lately - he said himself in his post match presser he can't really remember the last time he won two matches in a row - that although I was hoping for it desperately, I didn't really expect much of him. But hey, hey, hey. There's some tennis in the Safinator yet.

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Seriously, some of the tennis he played was vintage stuff. Some of the shots were reminiscent of the semi final he played against Federer at the Australian in 2005, which I think is easily the highest quality tennis match that has been played in the last twenty years, if not the whole Open Era. Safin's game has always been unusual in that it is based around a sweet backhand rather than a heavy forehand, and he hit some beautiful shots off his favourite wing in this match. For example, take that one he hit to go up 15-40 in the last game of the match, that sick, SICK backhand down the line (aka 'the Lily O'Dwyer.') That one drew a 'phwoah!' (spelled phonetically) from me - and I've seen so much tennis in my time that there's not much that does that any more. The player that hit that looked like the Safin of yore. It was great.

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Safin will play Seppi next, and if plays like this, there is no doubt he can win. Of course, with Marat, playing like that is never a certainty... but he was very impressive against Fognini in the first round and now against Djokovic here. C'mon, Marat. Go for three in a row! Davai!

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Safin conducted his press conference in his usual laconic smile - Marat is, as he as always been, still a hippo. The strawberries are still too expensive, he says. There is still not enough dessert. He would have gone to Dinara's final in Paris, but she didn't send him the charter. And he didn't let Djokovic get away with much, and I respect that. Djokovic said this in his presser, when asked whether this match was a case of him playing badly or Marat playing well:

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'It was mostly me.'

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And sure, Djokovic did not have his best day. His double faults in particular hurt him badly. But how dare he try and take the credit away from Safin? Marat had this to say, when told that Novak had said that he had played badly as opposed to Marat playing well:

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'Yeah, well, he's a nice guy, a great answerer and great for you guys. I think he scored some points over there by saying that, yeah, he played well and everything. But he had small chances. He didn't take them. Whenever I had a chance I went for it, and I just played, like I said, solid, took my chances.'

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Just to clarify, because I think the way I've phrased things might be a little unfair to Djokovic. He did say that Safin played well. He didn't say that he didn't. But he did say that the result came about because he played badly.

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Hmph.

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Compare this to the guy that says, and says repeatedly, that you can't take anything away from the other guy, because he was trying his best. Guess who.

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Federer, of course, and while we're on the subject, his win against Soderling was very impressive. He wasn't in top gear, nor was he playing God Tennis (tm), but then again, he didn't to. He did exactly what he had to, and he dismantled Soderling's game with ruthless efficiency. Soderling had a brief rebellion in the third set when he broke the Federer serve after a lackadaisical game from Roger, but Roger wasn't having any of that. I'm convinced that he waited till he was set point down to launch his charge just to see if he could. You know, like chess players that let themselves get into bad situations just to see if they can get out of it.

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And so it was very very good. Remember Soderling's match last year? The one against Rafa that started on the middle Saturday and didn't end till the second Wednesday, by the end of which the two guys thoroughly hated each other (and still do, by all reports.) That match went five days. Today? Federer dismissed him in two hours. Soderling has a good game on grass so it's a shame for him that he had to be drawn so close to the Maestro. But these things happen. Just like it happens that Safin got drawn so close to Djokovic.

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Federer didn't let Djokovic get away with much in his presser either. He said this (translated from Swiss German):

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'If Novak says he’s tired then it’s most likely that the pressure is getting to him – I’ve played as much as he has recently. He’s automatically going to be under increased pressure, but when you lose, you just have to accept it. I wasn’t as consistent as he was when I was 20, 21 – he’s been incredible. And somehow you expect him to lose early at some point, but all credit to him for being so consistent in Grand Slams up until now.'

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Ah, Roger. Polite yet pointed all at the same time. A genius on and off the court.

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There were some lovely articles on the Wimbledon website today that I would thoroughly recommend - Drew Lilley (of blog fame) wrote one about Federer's fluency on and off the court, discussing how great Roger is for conducting his press conferences in about ninety different languages; and a lovely match report from Alix Ramsey. Both seemed to me to be a little more true than some of the other stuff the media has been saying. Alix Ramsey wrote an article after the Hrbaty match the other day that directly addressed this media phenomenon of the vulnerable Federer, and it finished with this brilliant sentence:

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'Yes, there must be a lot of men sitting nervously in the locker room who would love to be as vulnerable right now as Roger Federer.'

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Perfection.

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The loss of Djokovic - and of LameDave Headbandian the round before - has really opened up that section of the draw, as they were the big seeds in that quarter. So now I have to pick a new semi finalist! Oh no! I am distraught! Feel my pain and agony!

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(That was a joke, in case I haven't made my loathing of Djokovic clear enough.)

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I don't think you can go past Marcos Baghdatis. Even with Djokovic and Headbandian still in the quarter, he was a legitimate threat, because his grass court game is very very excellent. I would put good money on him reaching the semis now, repeating his run from 2006. The only two players I can really see challenging him are Safin, if he keeps up this sudden regression to 2004-05, and Wawrinka, if Stan has a good day. Beyond that... let's just say I would be very, very surprised if anyone that is not one of these three reaches the semi.

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So we're going to have TWO random semi finalists now... if random means someone that is not Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. It's not like A-Rod and the Bags, my picks for those spots, are rubbish players - it's just that tennis is such a dominated game at the moment. It'll be nice to see the two big boys, providing they get through, which I'm very sure they will, playing some different guys.

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And I can't not say anything about that Ivanovic match, at the risk of totally forgetting women's tennis exists again. She was so, so lucky with that let cord. She's a nervy player traditionally, and I think the pressure might have got to her a bit. However, in the end, I think this kind of marathon match will be good for her. She knows she can dig it out at the end when it counts. So on the whole, I think the Dechy match will be a positive experience for her.

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I don't like her tennis dress, though. Not a fan. It's better than Sharapova's little see through tuxedo ensemble, but it's still not good. I do like Serena's coat, though. I don't know if I'd wear it on a tennis court, but I like it. And I like Roger's cardie, too - not as much as the blazer of the past two years, but I guess there's only so many other things you can do!

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Also on women's tennis - go Casey. The young Miss Dellacqua had a great win over Pauline Parmentier, and here's hoping she can back it up again against recently scratchy Nicole Vaidisova.

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Well, I think that might be enough of a ramble from me for the day. To summarise: Federer good (very much so.) Djokovic bad (extraordinarily so.) Ivanovic lucky (ridiculously so.) Safin...

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...hippo.

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Wimbledon Results - Day #3

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Robin Soderling, 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Marat Safin def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

David Ferrer def. Igor Andreev, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-2

Marcos Baghdatis def. Thomas Johansson, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Lleyton Hewitt def. Albert Montanes, 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 6-2

Tomas Berdych def. Victor Hanescu, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 6-2

Mischa Zverev def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4 6-4 2-1 retired

Marc Gicquel def. Ilia Bozoljac, 4-6 5-7 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-0) 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Olivier Rochus, 7-6(7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-1

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Juan Martin del Potro, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-1 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 4-6 6-3

Andreas Seppi def. Florent Serra, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-4

Simon Stadler def. Thomaz Bellucci, 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 8-6

Feliciano Lopez def. Roko Karanusic, 6-3 6-3 6-4

Simone Bolelli def. Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-4)

Bobby Reynolds def. Frank Dancevic, 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 6-3

Ana Ivanovic def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 10-8

Jie Zheng def. Elena Baltacha, 6-2 7-5

Anna Chakvetadze def. Edina Gallovits, 6-4 6-2

Serena Williams def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-4 6-4

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Francesca Schiavone, 3-6 7-5 9-7

Nicole Vaidisova def. Samantha Stosur, 6-2 0-6 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Marta Domachowska, 6-1 6-3

Agnes Szavay def. Monica Niculescu, 5-7 7-5 6-2

Evgeniya Rodina def. Elena Vesnina, 6-1 7-6 (7-0)

Marion Bartoli def. Tatiana Perebiynis, 6-2 7-5

Amelie Mauresmo def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 4-6 6-1 6-1

Bethanie Mattek def. Vera Dushevina, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Li Na, 6-2 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3

Casey Dellacqua def. Pauline Parmentier, 1-6 6-2 6-3

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-3 3-0 retired