Let Them Eat Pizza

This is very immature of me, so humour me for a minute:

SUCK IT, NOVAK DJOKOVIC! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I know that, as far as 2010 goes, the victory will be seen to be Djokovic's over Federer, because, like, US Open and stuff, but it makes me so happy that Federer has managed to tag Djokovic twice since, and in pretty sweet fashion too. And at Basel, which is not only Federer's home tournament but had Djokovic as defending champ... ohhhhhh yeah.

There's nothing too much I can say about this win except that Roger played great for most of the time, made more of his opportunities than he has in some other matches, and played an absolute cracker of a third set. After Djokovic equalised you weren't quite sure which way that was going to go, but Roger absolutely put the hammer down, and it was totally satisfying.

And he fed the ballboys pizza. And his twins were there. And it was just lovely.

I won't subject you to any more of my celebrating - gush quietly among yourselves. And, oh yeah, HOPP SUISSE! GO ROGER! FEDERER IS BETTERER!

...and stuff.

History And Stuff

So, as suspected, That Wimbledon Final The Sequel turned out to be no big deal. Despite getting broken (and, indeed, facing his first break points) of the tournament, Federer cruised to an easy win in this one. I suppose you could say that it's proof that he really did break Roddick in That Wimbledon Final, but when the record stands at 19-2 I think you have a little more history than one match to back it up.

Anyway. Djokovic beat Troicki (who, once again, proved his complete inability to win anything after failing to close out a set after being 40-0 and three set points up) and so he will face Federer in the final. Now this could be an interesting match. Djokovic will want to retain his title, Federer will want some revenge - and the shades of the US Open are still hanging over them. I don't know how significant it will be in the greater scheme of things, but in the world leading up to the World Tour Finals, I think it will be very interesting indeed.

Speaking of the WTF, apparently David Ferrer is in qualifying contention. Um, really? He's having a gun of a tournament in Valencia at the moment, but I seriously cannot point to one major result he has had all year. This may not necessarily be his fault - I guess it's proof that the Big Four (plus maybe Soderling) tend to skew proceedings - but I seriously would not have picked Ferru as a contender. Hope he does well in Valencia, though. That would be an awesome result for him, and I do have a bit of a soft spot for him in my heart.

And oh yeah, Bali - aka the tournament I completely forgot was happening. Apparently Ana Ivanovic is in the final. What's up with that? Since when has Ana been in the final of anything? I mean, good on her and stuff, but I read that someone is now putting her on their list of major contenders for the Australian Open. I think I speak for a whole lot of people when I say HELL NO.

That Wimbledon Final II (Electric Boogaloo)

Here is one thing that I did not realise - the semi final match up of Federer and Roddick tomorrow will be the first time they have met since That Wimbledon Final. I could have sworn that they had played since, but since I can't put my finger on when it was nor find any record of such a match, I have to believe it.


It could have been a very significant match, if it took place a little closer to That Wimbledon Final. As it is, I don't think it will mean that much - certainly not to Federer, though he will obviously want to win very badly, because it is his home tournament and all. And as for Roddick? If he wins, it will be a big thing, but if he loses, it will be just another loss to the man that has beaten him nineteen times already. If it had been closer to That Wimbledon Final, then it would have been the cherry of torment on the top of his sundae of despair. But now... not so much.


It's been a good week for both men so far, and if Roddick loses now, it will still have been a good week. He had a good win over Querrey and an even better win over Nalbandian, and considering that he really hasn't had a great time of it since That Wimbledon Final, semis in Basel is a good result for him. It'll give him some valuable points towards a possible qualification for the world tour final (even more likely now that there is a bit of question mark over Rafa, who has just withdrawn from Bercy) and a bit of confidence. If he loses to Roger, well - there's no shame in that.


Roger, however, has been playing like a ninja all week and I imagine that he will really want to win this, particularly after he lost in the final to Djokovic last year. Though it won't crush him if he loses, it will be very disappointing for the tournament, and he won't want that. This is one of those rare occasions when he sort of needs the win more than his opponent.

So it's going to be an interesting match. I'm backing Roger (surprise, surprise) but I really don't think that the memory of That Wimbledon Final will help him too much. It's been too long and too much has happened and it's taken its toll on Roddick already. But you never know...

Not So Mighty

Oh, Marin Cilic. You started the year so mightily. And the truth is, that single semi final appearance in Australia was nearly enough to send you in the world tour finals.

But no. And that is how it should be, really - that semi final did not make a year.

Mighty Marin (or not-so-mighty, as he is at the moment) was knocked out of finals contention (and, indeed, the tournament) by David Nalbandian. I mean, sure, David is a pretty tough second round draw, but it was a really tame loss. It wasn't pretty. And much as I applaud this Nalbandian comeback (because Tennis Needs Nalbandian) I wish that Cilic had put up more of a fight. I wish he'd made a match of it.

I don't know what Cilic's problem is - whether he's been injured for a bazillion years or he has mono like everyone else or what - but if I'm him, I'm wrapping up my year now. I'm taking some extra time for R&R and getting myself back on track. He has a bucketload of points to defend in Australia and he will plummet down the rankings like a big rock if he doesn't make at least the quarters (I would imagine - I'm guessing). So he needs to go sort himself out.

His loss, however, has set up a tantalising clash between Nalbandian and Roddick. I can almost forgive Roddick for beating my beloved Andrey Golubev, so intriguing is this match. Roddick is also in finals contention (though I really can't put my finger on anything he's won this year... maybe the memory of Wimbledon last year is still overshadowing everything else in my mind) and Nalbandian is hungry for points. And this is his favourite surface. Should be an absolute screamer!

Day of the Disappointing Dudes

Wow. Tomas Berdych. I know you've been disappointing ever since your run to the final of Wimbledon, but I couldn't have realised this level of disappointment.

I've sort of vaguely maybe heard of Tobias Kamke, but I couldn't tell you one thing about him. And yet he put an absolute beatdown on Berdych. I didn't see the match, so I don't know if it was closer than the scoreline or whatever, but dude, DUDE. 6-4 6-1? That is craziness.

Berdych is in the running to claim one of the last three spots for the world tour finals, and this must have hurt his chances big time. Well, at least medium time. Time is running out and he's not the only one after a spot.

...though considering one of the other people after a spot is Fernando Verdasco, who also took an utterly miserable loss, maybe Berdych doesn't need to try so hard. I know Gilles Simon is having some of Awesomeness Renaissance, but 6-1 6-3, Nando? Yowza.

Speaking of miserable losses in Valencia - oh hiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Andy Murray. I know you've already made the WTF so you don't need to try so hard, but dude, come on, Juan Monaco? Really?

But you know who's not disappointing? Roger Federer. That was a nice win over Tipsarevic. It maketh me smile. And also Robin Haase! He beat John Isner. You keep on with your bad self, Robin.

Disappearing David

I'm never quite sure what this weird Bali tournament the week after Doha is for the women - like, you didn't get into the year ending championships, so nice try, you can be the postscript? - but whatever, I'll roll with it. There's usually some reasonably interesting matches going on there... and it would be hard to be less interesting than Doha turned out to be. Looking forward to watching it, in any case.

Now, over to the dudes.

Daveeeeeeeeed! You are back! You are beating some twobit journeymen again! I had almost totally forgotten you existed! Remember when you were all up there in the favourites for the US Open and then you somehow disappeared off the face of the earth? me too! No more of that! You are a fun guy to watch! You keep on with your badass Jan Hajek-beating self!

...I apologise for all that unnecessary exclamation.

Seriously, though, I had totally forgotten about Nalbandian. I had no idea he was playing in Basel and I'm glad he is. He's been conspicuously absent for a while now and - well, not conspicuous, really. I forgot about him. But now I realise how much I subconsciously missed him.

I hope he has a good run this week - not a title winning run or anything, because, hello, Roger, but maybe a nice semi or something. That could be nice.

Oh, and Marin Cilic won a match. Seems like a long time since that last happened.

Basel O'Clock

You know who hasn't been around for a while? Robin Haase, that Dutch dude. I think of this, of course, because he suddenly is around again, beating Stephane Bohli in Basel, and he's popped his head up a couple of times this year, but mostly... not so much with the being around.

He was one of those young guns a few years ago who was supposed to be heading big places - I remember him taking Lleyton Hewitt to five in the first round of Wimbledon in an awesome match. He reminds me a bit of Gulbis, but I think he just looks like him more than actually being like him.

Anyway. That's all I have to say about that. I hope we see a bit more of Haase playing. I remember really liking his game.

And we cannot talk about Basel without talking about the Basel guy himself, one R Federer. He spent less than an hour on court dismissing Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr and he was smoking. And then Dolgopolov retired one game away from the finish line, which I thought was pretty poor form - how hard is it to play one extra game and give your opponent the win proper? - but it was still all sunshine for Roger. Keep it coming.

...oh, and why is Stan Wawrinka playing in Valencia and not Basel? Are he and some Swiss tennis figure or organisation or something having a fight?