He'd better be careful. Those Furyans can be pretty fierce.

Damn, I want Federer to get the record but I'd like for Roddick to get a Wimbledon title. Either way, NBC will probably televise it 4 hours after it's over.

Just hand Fed the trophy now. Roddick's 2-189768 versus him.

Roddick has really impressed me this tourney, and is playing better than I have ever seen. That said, I will be doubly impressed if he takes a set off of Federer.

Consurfus: Just hand Fed the trophy now. Roddick's 2-189768 versus him.

I LOL'd. Sadly that's about right.

IN other news, I saw the Roddick/Murray match today. Andy played damn well. I was impressed. Andy Murray was playing a great game too. If Roddick plays as well Sunday, he might have a shot.

I would still like to see Federer win though.

Would like to see Roddick win - hope his serve is on tomorrow or else it'll be over quick. Don't come out tight Andy.

Andy played fantastically well again Murray and I think he has as good a shot at beating Federer as he's had in a long time.

/I would love to see Andy win Wimbledon - especially again Federer.

Hahaha... I love the English comments about Murray on Yahoo.

Fairly odious little man who doesn't belong at Wimbledon anyway. He was never going to win - Scots never win anything. If he had somehow luckily squeezed through, I doubt that he would have had the temerity to turn up to the final.
He would have got trounced by Fererer.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03072009/58/wimbledon-roddick-dashes-murray-dream s .html

Murray wasn't playing his best today - and Roddick made him pay. Really good match.

Given Federer's performance these past two weeks - Roddick doesn't stand a chance. He'll be lucky to take a set.

It would be nice to see Roddick win this one, but I would much rather see Federer cement his place in the sport's pantheon.

GratuityIncluded: Would like to see Roddick win - hope his serve is on tomorrow or else it'll be over quick. Don't come out tight Andy.

I always try to go for the US player, but Roddick comes off as such a spoiled little brat. Go Federer.

seabass242

Roddick comes off as such a spoiled little brat.

I would have agreed even six months ago, but he seems to be turning things around now. Remember that Agassi was also a spoiled brat for a long time. And there are others I could name.

kronicfeld: It would be nice to see Roddick win this one, but I would much rather see Federer cement his place in the sport's pantheon.

It certainly wouldn't be Federer's last chance at it; I would be shocked if he doesn't win the US Open next month. I'd like to see Roddick win, mainly just as another break up of the Federer/Nadal dominance of the majors these past 5 years. Plus, he's been playing his ass off lately. He did well at the French, has been solid all Wimbledon and that Murray match was awesome.

I would like to say FARK YOU NBC AND YOUR FARKING SHIATY TENNIS COVERAGE.

Fedex should roll as long as his serve stays consistant.

Murray was off today, His serve really let him down, had plenty of chances on Roddick's serve and took advantage of a few.

I will tip my hat to Roddick and admit he is a beast in tiebreakers.

Only conceivable way roddick has a shot to win is to win at least 2 of the 3 sets in breakers.

Federer does such a great job of neutralizing the big serve by just getting it back in, and making Andy run.

I had no idea how damn hard it would be to construct a 12-word sentence in which all of the words contain the letter 'R' and half of them start with it. And it apparently didn't even turn out to be funny. Or even noticeable. Damn.

In more important news, Simona Halep got her breast reduction surgery.

Before...



/ Weep.
After...

So I hear NBC is planning a riviting re-broadcast of last the Federer-Nadal Wimbledon match, only the twentieth time this week, so catch it now!

the biggest redneck here: I had no idea how damn hard it would be to construct a 12-word sentence in which all of the words contain the letter 'R' and half of them start with it. And it apparently didn't even turn out to be funny. Or even noticeable. Damn.

Hey, you got a tennis greenlight - that's a feat in itself.

/was expecting some brit tabloid style Murray bashing as the tennis greenlight of today

Roddick looked impressive today.
If he plays as well on Sunday he'll take Federer in 5 sets.

encybropedia

Murray was off today, His serve really let him down,

I agree about Fedex, but Murray's serve was hardly off. More aces than Roddick, and won a higher percentage of both first and second serves. Plus more winners and fewer unforced errors. He lost the match by TWO FARKING POINTS!


Roddick (U.S.) Murray (Britain)
1st Serve % 103 of 138 = 75% 76 of 146 = 52%
Aces 21 25
Double Faults 1 5
Unforced Errors 24 20
Winning % on 1st Serve 79 of 103 = 77% 63 of 76 = 83%
Winning % on 2nd Serve 18 of 35 = 51% 37 of 70 = 53%
Winners (Inc. Service) 64 76
Receiving Points Won 46 of 146 = 32% 41 of 138 = 30%
Break Point Conversions 2 of 5 = 40% 2 of 7 = 29%
Net Approaches 48 of 75 = 64% 15 of 20 = 75%
Total Points Won 143 141
Fastest Serve Speed 143 MPH 131 MPH
Average 1st Serve Speed 126 MPH 120 MPH

Sorry about the table, it looked good in preview. It's from here (new window).

seabass242: I always try to go for the US player, but Roddick comes off as such a spoiled little brat. Go Federer.

Roddick strikes me as pretty candid about his inability to beat Federer, ever. Sure, he's angry when he loses and can't do anything about it... but who wouldn't be?

Maybe he's tennis's Ulrich. Well, that's not perfect. He's not as talented as Ulrich was.

Roddick is going to have to play the match of his life to beat Federer on Sunday. Roger's in the zone right now, plus he's played a few really big servers thus far and beat them easily. Roddick will do well to take a set, especially considering his track record against Federer. Even Roddick knows how badly he has been dominated in the past, so it's hard to get that out of your head. I will say he did play a great match against Murray today.

oldebayer: seabass242

Roddick comes off as such a spoiled little brat.

I would have agreed even six months ago, but he seems to be turning things around now. Remember that Agassi was also a spoiled brat for a long time. And there are others I could name.

As recently as this tournament Roddick was biatching at a judge about something completely stupid, and the judge put him in his place. McEnroe might have been loud, but Roddick gets downright personal on them.

When he wins, he comes off as completely humble,but when things aren't going his way, he throws a tantrum.

It was always said Pete Sampras had no personality, but Federer is no better. Good luck to Roddick, I hope he beats him.

If not then I would settle for Nadal winning over Federer in the next few tournaments.

Nadal is only twenty-three years old, but he already has tendinitis in both knees bad enough to force him to withdraw from Wimbledon. So unless he eases up on his brake-neck style of play, get a better conditioning coach, play fewer matches or does some combination of all three real soon, he's not going to get the chance to play against Federer let alone beat him.

apistat: kronicfeld: It would be nice to see Roddick win this one, but I would much rather see Federer cement his place in the sport's pantheon.

It certainly wouldn't be Federer's last chance at it; I would be shocked if he doesn't win the US Open next month. I'd like to see Roddick win, mainly just as another break up of the Federer/Nadal dominance of the majors these past 5 years. Plus, he's been playing his ass off lately. He did well at the French, has been solid all Wimbledon and that Murray match was awesome.

In my opinion, the correct sentiment. Good post.

I hope it's a good match. Could care less about the Ladies side with it being a Williams sisters match. I was hoping Dementiava would take Serena out, but noooo.

I would also like to comment on the GREAT NBC coverage. Oh wait, it wasn't live, so I had to find streams online and watch point tracker..... In other news, congrats to Andy. It seems like he has really turned the corner on his fitness and this year is looking up. While I don't think he can win, I am going to cheer my hardest. It would be amazing to have all 4 champions be american (go july 4th!!!) Roddick, Bryans and the Williams.

I'm not sure if this is American bias or not. But I never had an issue with Roddick. Sure he yelled at the umpire the other day about a call (which led to him calling a lines person a liar/ umpire that is) Roddick is always great with the media, can make fun of himself if need be. I had a bigger problem with Djoko last US Open when he whined about being picked on.

oldebayer: encybropedia

Murray was off today, His serve really let him down,

I agree about Fedex, but Murray's serve was hardly off. More aces than Roddick, and won a higher percentage of both first and second serves. Plus more winners and fewer unforced errors. He lost the match by TWO FARKING POINTS!
(new window).

Good points,

I guess it just looked worse (on a streaming crap connection) than the numbers really showed.
the double faults just really surprised me.

tbh, I thought all Murray needed to do was chip that roddick serve back in and make him move, but Roddick did a very nice job of keeping the points short.

IMO, I think Fedex will be able to do just that, and get more to the net than Murray, and maybe even throw in some droppers.

(very biased though, am a huge Federer fan, and have a rather sizable wager on Fed winning the entire tourney)

I might consider hedging if I can get over 6/1, most likely will ride dirty.

Roddick seems to be much more composed these days. It's like he's finally realized he's a one-dimensional player, so he excels at just that and has ceased worrying about the rest of his game.

Hence the ridiculous number of tiebreaks he's had this year, which may very well be his neo modus operandi: Hold serve at all costs, and squeak out tiebreak wins. Whatever works, I guess.

The fifth set at Wimbledon does not go to tiebreak, though.

Ishkur: Roddick seems to be much more composed these days. It's like he's finally realized he's a one-dimensional player, so he excels at just that and has ceased worrying about the rest of his game.

Hence the ridiculous number of tiebreaks he's had this year, which may very well be his neo modus operandi: Hold serve at all costs, and squeak out tiebreak wins. Whatever works, I guess.


That's the Karlovic way. Federer beat him in straights in the quarters.

I don't mind Roddick that much--I think he's got a good perspective on the game, and his self-deprecating sense of humor is refreshing, even if it's balanced by his petulance and tantrum-throwing. I hate his game, but I do hope that he gets a second major some day.

Just not tomorrow. I'd like to see Fed take several more.

Ishkur: Roddick seems to be much more composed these days. It's like he's finally realized he's a one-dimensional player, so he excels at just that and has ceased worrying about the rest of his game.

Hence the ridiculous number of tiebreaks he's had this year, which may very well be his neo modus operandi: Hold serve at all costs, and squeak out tiebreak wins. Whatever works, I guess.

He actually didn't play like that yesterday though. That was as complete a match from him as I've ever seen -- he was at the net something like 5 times as much as Murray, threw in drop shots, and mixed up his serves well so Murray, who is a great returner, never seemed to get comfortable with them. He came up with the big shots when he needed them most. It was a good all-around performace.

Roddick has also played Federer pretty well recently, although none of them were on grass where Federer is king. Didn't beat him but usually took a set off of him (in three set matches at the regular tourneys).

It will still be a monster upset if Roddick wins. Hell, it's a monster upset if he manages to stretch it to a fifth set.