No i super. Pokazuje tym samym, że potrafi wygrywać nawet przegrane mecze, czy też prawie przegrane, albo inaczej - przegrane w głowach swoich kibiców. Kiedyś przyzwyczaił nas do tego, że wygrywa z każdym, w dwóch czy też trzech na WS, setach. Kilka lat temu, jak stracił seta, to od razu połowa 'fachowców' głosiła teorie jakoby Roger był bez formy. Teraz wiadomo - nie gra jak kiedyś - a to, że wygrywa takie mecze jak ten wczorajszy sprawia że można podziwiać go coraz bardziej.

Panicz juz wyrownal chociaz przegrywal juz w 2 partii 0-2 z przelamaniem.

Murray - Benneteau 4/6 6/3 2/1*

Jak caly czas będzie tak wiało, to Nadal zgarnie spokojnie tytuł, jemu w najmniejszym stopniu przeszkadzają takie warunki.

Znamy pierwszą parę 1/2.

Klasyk tego sezonu : Murray-Federer.

Szkot niby trochę powalczył z Benneteau, a Roger zwyciężył bardzo pewnie, ale niestety nie widzę zbyt wielkiej szansy dla Szwajcara, raczej pozostaje się zadowolić nadrobieniem paru pkt w rankingu.

Ja natomiast widzę ogromną szansę dla Szwajcara. Jak się odrobinę przyłoży, a to też pewnie uczyni, nie chcąc po raz kolejny wdupić z Andym, to jest wielka szansa. Come on !

Lleyton, Ciebie też uwielbiam

August 21, 2009

R. FEDERER/L. Hewitt

6-3, 6-4

An interview with:

ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed like you were serving very well today. You won 89% of your first serve points and didn’t face a breakpoint throughout. Can you elaborate on that?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it didn’t actually come to my mind that I didn’t have to save any breakpoints. I think that definitely helps against Lleyton, who once he gets his teeth into your serve it can get quite tricky.

From this reason, you know, I’m really pleased the way it went. Conditions were difficult again with the gusty winds this time around, whereas yesterday it was a bit more predictable but stronger. It’s a good match to come through.

Q. You’ve won 13 matches in a row against him now. Obviously probably not lucky each time. What do you attribute your success to? That’s a pretty good run.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it is a great run. Well, obviously I’m surprised myself, because he’s a top?quality player. He’s beaten me so many time in the past that I didn’t expect myself to all of a sudden go on such a great run against him.

But I guess with the power I have in my shots and when I grew stronger, that maybe made a quite a significant difference in our games. And as I was going up, maybe he was coming down just a touch, especially the last few years. But it seems like he’s hanging in there.

I never really think going into a match with Lleyton that it’s for sure that I will win. That would be foolish.

Q. Do you feel that’s your best performance so far since Wimbledon?

ROGER FEDERER: It doesn’t really matter to me. You know, I’m happy the way I’m playing. That’s key. I still feel there are improvements I can make, and for this reason I hope I can show that tomorrow.

Q. Is there anything about Murray’s game that makes it more difficult for you to play him than other people? He’s one of the few players or tour that I think has an edge in head?to?head meetings with you.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, there’s for sure things that are, you know, things you might not like in a player’s game if he’s got a good head?to?head against him.

But it’s not like he crushed me every single time we played. For this reason, you know, you can see it the way you want: like maybe you should’ve closed out a few more; or maybe he should have won it more easy if he wouldn’t have had a bad start sometimes to matches.

But we’ve always had close matches, and good ones actually against each other. So for this reason I’m excited playing against him.

But he doesn’t have many weaknesses in his game. I think that’s what makes him so tough on all surfaces.

Q. It’s been such an eventful summer for you. Has it sunk in yet what you’ve accomplished in terms of two large career goals that you had in front of you three months ago are not there anymore?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, sure. I mean, it’s been an amazing summer in my personal life and also on the tennis court. So I guess it’s sometimes still hard to believe I was able to win Paris and Wimbledon back to back after already doing so many things prior to that.

It definitely sort of came at the right time. I think getting back to No. 1 with the Wimbledon win, with the way I was able to do it at the end against Andy, it was amazing. And then sort of being No. 1 in the world and having twin girls, it’s something that doesn’t happen every day.

It’s been quite something, and I’ve been enjoying it, of course.

Q. How strange or not does it feel to you that you’re going into a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup tomorrow and the other guy isn’t Rafa?

ROGER FEDERER: Look, I don’t even pay that close attention to the rankings, because I always said that No. 1 is sort of what I’m focused on. If you’re not No. 1, well then you’re a former Grand Slam champion, you know, in my case and Rafa’s case and so forth.

So I never looked at Rafa as, for instance, No. 2 in the world, you know. I always saw him as the great champion he is, you know.

The same might happen with Murray, because Djokovic already has slam, for instance. But I’ve played No. 2s in the world in the past in semifinals as well. At the Masters Cup, for instance, I’ve played Rafa twice there.

It just tends to happen here. The draw was already done before he won in Montreal.

Q. Has there been any change to you in terms of the number of years you’re gonna play left to play in the game? You have the career Grand Slam, the number of slam wins, you’ve got the record there. What’s left for to you accomplish in the game?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, that’s up to me to sort of decide how much more I want to do. For the moment, I’m very eager to play much more and much longer. I don’t see anything changing because of the twins, you know. But that definitely, you know, has an impact on my life. So far it’s a very positive impact and it’s not pulling me away from the game, you know.

So I’m positive about my tennis future.

Q. Does evening up your career record against guys like Murray and Nadal enter into your mind or motivate you at all as you look towards your legacy?

ROGER FEDERER: Not really. I’d love to beat them more than they beat me, but it’s not really a priority, to be quite honest.

Q. Is there psychological stress that comes with a tournament like this with five straight days where you don’t get a chance to catch your breath, or is it markedly different from a Grand Slam experience?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, it’s different just because it’s like a blur. You go from one day to the next and you always have the same schedule. It’s sort of a touch boring sometimes. You know, you wish you had maybe an off day so you can sort of regroup and focus.

But it’s just like you’re jumping from one to the next match. You have to try to take it in your stride. So when you’re doing really well it’s great. If you’re not doing well, there can be some tough weeks, you know.

This is where I hope I can, you know, take as many wins as possible as I’m winning.

Q. Do you prefer a day or night match for the semifinals and? And looking ahead, if you were to win, for the what’s better for you in terms of rest and all that stuff?

ROGER FEDERER: Doesn’t matter. I’m not very particular about when I play and who I play and how I play. All I care about is that I hopefully win the match, you know.

I love playing at night, for instance, in New York in front of sort of the electric crowd and everything. I know I can request a night session every time. If the tournament likes to put me night session, that’s great. If they choose otherwise, I am okay with that, too.

Q. So it wouldn’t bother you to play a night semifinal tomorrow, and then if you won that, go to the final in the afternoon the next day?

ROGER FEDERER: No. That’s why I work really hard, so I don’t have to hope that I play during the night.

Q. We see you very relaxed now. Is it because you’re where you wanted, and now the pressure is on the other players to complete their goals and dreams?

ROGER FEDERER: Not really. I’m a relaxed person, you know. I think that sort of maybe relaxes you, too. I mean, I hope so. I’ve always been, you know, that type of person.

People then sometimes make things up that when I wasn’t winning all the slams and losing in finals that I wasn’t relaxed anymore and too crazy about maybe winning. That’s completely untrue.

You can’t take the tour sometimes too serious, either. It’s a lot work and a lot of traveling, and you need to be relaxed. I think that’s what I am, so I have a good balance.

Q. And do you enjoy playing Andy, or is there a different dynamic, a different edge to how you approach the matches with Andy now?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, yeah, I mean, playing against a fellow top player is always a thrill. I think we work really hard in the off?season so we can either play the top guys or we’re deep into a tournament. You know, this is the two things we’re sort of looking for.

With Andy, you definitely have that type of a matchup. I’ve played him several occasions now the last few years now. It’s not his first year on tour anymore either, so he’s become much more experienced. He’s won, you know, not only just a handful of tournaments now, but over 10 or almost 15 now.

He’s getting up there in the tournament count, and that makes it more exciting to play a player like him, especially him being on the run like he on right now after winning in Montreal. It’s definitely a good matchup.

Murray & Federer Set Blockbuster SF

World No. 1 Roger Federer claimed his 13th consecutive win over Lleyton Hewitt Friday, but now must overcome a four-match losing streak against Andy Murray to reach the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters final. Since beating Murray in the 2008 US Open final, Federer has taken four straight losses to the Scot, whom he trails 2-6 in career meetings.

Looking ahead to Saturday's semi-final, Federer said: "It's not like he crushed me every single time we played… We've always had close matches, and good ones, so for this reason I'm excited playing against him. He doesn't have many weaknesses in his game.  I think that's what makes him so tough on all surfaces.

"Playing against a fellow top player is always a thrill. I think we work really hard in the off season so we can either play the top guys or we're deep into a tournament. He's become much more experienced, he’s getting up there in the tournament [titles] count, and that makes it more exciting to play him, especially him being on the run like he’s on right now after winning in Montreal. It's definitely a good matchup."

Murray, the defending champion at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, was the first to advance to the semi-finals when he toiled for more than two hours Friday before rallying from behind to beat French lucky loser Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

On the day when it was announced that he had become the third player to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Murray won his eighth successive match and closed on his seventh ATP World Tour Final of the season.

The Scot captured his fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Rogers Cup in Montreal last week – rising to a career-high No. 2 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings as a result – and had been largely untroubled on his way through to the quarter-finals this week before meeting a sterner test in Benneteau.

Murray squandered an early break advantage as he struggled to find his rhythm at the beginning of the match and was made to pay as Benneteau hit back to win four of the next five games from 2-3 and clinch the one-set lead. The Frenchman, who earned his place in the draw courtesy of Juan Martin del Potro’s withdrawal, looked set to claim a big scalp as he broke to lead 2-0 in the second set.

However, the turning point in the match arrived as Murray immediately broke back after a gruelling 53-shot point that tasked all the Scot’s defensive skills before he reaped the reward as Benneteau miss-fired on a smash.

"It made a big difference," said Murray of the point when he broke back. "It was tough conditions out there.  I played a really, really poor first set. I served really badly, and then I was obviously down there and ran all over the court. I think he was very tired after that rally as well. I managed to stay strong after that and I only lost two more games, so obviously made a big difference."

Geared for the fight back, Murray’s tenacity came to the fore as he broke twice more to level the match against an increasingly fatigued Benneteau. The No. 55-ranked Benneteau held strong to deny Murray on four break points in his first service game of the final set, but was not able to hold off the Scot for long as Murray broke to love to lead 3-1 and went on to close out the victory after two hours and 11 minutes.

"These are the matches that when you play badly and you don't feel great and you're not hitting the ball well, when you can come through matches like that's it's a lot better," commented Murray. "Everyone can win when you play really good tennis. It would have been easy to sort of mentally let him beat me. It's good for the confidence. I think the other players see that you're fighting.  It was a big, big match."

The 22-year-old Murray is looking to become the first player to defend his title in Cincinnati since Andre Agassi won back-to-back titles in 1995-96. The Dunblane native won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title last year in Cincinnati with victory over Novak Djokovic and has gone on to claim three more of the coveted shields at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (d. Simon), the Sony Ericsson Open (d. Djokovic) and the Rogers Cup (d. del Potro).

In the semi-finals Murray will face World No. 1 Federer, who eased past old rival Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-4 after 70 minutes with one break of serve in each set. Murray takes a 6-2 career lead into the clash with Federer, having defeated the Swiss in each of their past four meetings. Federer’s last victory over Murray came in the final of the 2008 US Open.

“It's a great experience obviously,” said Murray. “To get the chance to play against him is special most times you play against him. I've beaten him quite a lot of times, and I enjoy playing against him. I understand it's gonna be a very difficult match. I just look toward forward to the challenge of playing one of the best ever.”

The 28-year-old Federer reached another career milestone as he clinched his 200th win at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level. The Swiss’ record is second only to Andre Agassi’s, who retired with 209 wins. Federer also trails Agassi by 15 Masters 1000 titles to 17, a gap he will hope to close this week as he bids for his third title in Cincinnati - having previously lifted the trophy in 2005 (d. Roddick) and ’07 (d. Blake).

Since the beginning of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in May, Federer has lost just one match – hitting top form as he broke Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam record with victories at Roland Garros (d. Soderling) and Wimbledon (d. Roddick). The right-hander made his return to the circuit last week in Montreal, following a five-week break when his wife, Mirka gave birth to twin girls, and was upset in the quarter-finals by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Hewitt, who now sets his sights on the US Open, where he won the title in 2001, said that he was happy with his week in Cincinnati, which included wins over Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling and Los Angeles champion Sam Querrey. "I'm happy. I didn't play this time last year [due to a hip injury], so everything is a bonus right at the moment.  Up until now it's been more trying to get into that routine of playing a lot of matches.  I've been able to do that this year and been able to play well and push the top guys on all surfaces. The US Open is somewhere I've played extremely well in the past. I'd like to think if things fall my way I've got an outside chance there.  Hopefully I can get deep in the second week."
"[Today] I didn't get as many cheap points [from my serve] as I would have needed.  Against a guy like Roger, you've got to get a high percentage of first serves in just to take the pressure off him dictating off the second serve. He served well throughout the match and didn't give me too many looks."

atp.com

Nadal pewnie w 2 setach. Rafa zagra dziś o finał i jeżeli pokona Nole Djokovicia to zostanie 1 zawodnikiem w historii, który zaliczy finały 9 różnych turniejów z serii Masters. Jedynie w Cincy nie dotarł jeszcze do finału. W Półfinałach zobaczymy 4 najwyżej sklasyfikowanych zawodników:
Federer [1] - Murray [3]
Djoković [4] - Nadal [2]

Djokovic Faces Nadal For Spot In Final

World No. 4 Novak Djokovic is one win away from his second consecutive appearance in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters final after defeating Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Cincinnati.

But Djokovic will not find easy passage to the final; he next meets World No. 3 Rafael Nadal, whom he trails 4-14 in career meetings. Nadal ensured that the top four seeds all reached the semi-finals when he defeated Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in the feature night match. Djokovic took out Nadal in the Cincinnati semi-finals last year but has since lost five consecutive matches to the Spaniard, including in the semi-finals of the Beijing Olympics.

With World No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Andy Murray facing off in the top-half semi-final, the top four players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings will feature in the semi-finals of the same tour-level tournament for just the 13th time in the past 25 years. The top four have made the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament just twice before: in Monte-Carlo in 2008 and Cincinnati in 1999.

Chasing his third title of the year (Dubai, Belgrade), Djokovic recovered from being down an early break in the second set to win his third match in four career meetings with Simon, who reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in January. The 22 year old did not face a break point in the first set and won 83 per cent of first-serve points during the match. He converted his first match point at 30/40 on Simon’s serve at 5-6 in the second set to close out the match.

Djokovic has already reached three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals this year, finishing runner-up in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome. The Serb has a 52-15 match record on the season (27-7 on hard) and is second on the ATP World Tour in match wins (behind Murray’s 53). Last week he reached the quarter-finals in Montreal (l. to Roddick). Since opening the year with a first-round loss to Ernests Gulbis in Brisbane, Djokovic has reached the quarter-finals or better in 14 of his next 15 tournaments, falling early only at Roland Garros, where he bowed out in the third round.

Djokovic, the reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champion, will meet the winner of Rafael Nadal (4-14 record) and Czech Tomas Berdych (2-0 record) in the semi-finals.

Nadal, who last week reached the Montreal quarter-finals in his first outing since Roland Garros, said that he was delighted to be in the semi-finals.

"I think I improved every day a little bit more, so today I played very good match," said Nadal, who had been sidelined for two months with knee tendinitis. "Winning against Tomas on this surface is a very good win for me, so I'm very happy for that. When I arrived here, I didn't expect to be in this round... anything can happen right now.

"After two months outside, the second tournament, playing two matches like this, like against Mathieu last night and against Berdych today, it's very good news. In normal conditions I am coming here with the goal play a good tournament and try to win the tournament.  But in this conditions, being in semi-finals is perfect for me, because I think that's more confidence for the US Open. For sure it's very important, this tournament."

Early in their head-to-head series Berdych led Nadal 3-0 in meetings, but the left-hander has now won the past four battles to lead their series 4-3.

Nadal improved to a 150-39 match record at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level and he now is one match away from becoming the first player in history to reach nine different Masters 1000 finals. He has won 15 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, tied with Federer and second only to Andre Agassi’s record 17 shields. (Federer has also reached eight different ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals, missing out only in Paris.)

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis … es-SF.aspx

"Jeszcze Nadal to wygra ..."

Robertinho, skąd te  nerwy ?.

Jak dla mnie zwycięzcą może zostać każdy z tego składu. Andy wydawał się być mocno zmęczony i poirytowany we wczorajszym meczu, więc Roger ma szansę na poprawienie wyniku.  Rafa wygrał dość pewnie, ale do bardzo dobrej formy jeszcze sporo brakuje. Novak trochę w kratkę, ale na kortach twardych umie grać.
Wyniki trudne do przewidzenia - nareszcie. Będzie ciekawie.

Nadal wczoraj grał całkiem nieźle i wygrał mecz dość pewnie.Moim zdaniem zagrał zdecydowanie najlepsze spotkanie od swojego powrotu.Miał więcej piłek kończących od swojego rywala, w asach za bardzo nie odstawał(choć tylko 2), jednak nie dał Berdychowi ani jednej szansy na przełamanie swojego serwisu, a kilka piłek zagrał genialnych w swoim starym dobry stylu.Widać było również w pewnych momentach skłonności do zaryzykowania, płaskiego uderzenia.Rozrzucał Tomaśka po korcie, grał dość kątowo.Przy siatce miał 8/8, a poziom 1 serwisu w końcu na poziomie 70 kilku procent.Z resztą sam Rafa pewnie jest zadowolony ze swojej gry, bo bardzo się ucieszył po swoim zwycięstwie.
Ja osobiście cieszę się z gry Nadala i moim zdaniem jego zwycięstwo w tym turnieju nie byłoby żadną ujmą dla rywali, bo widać że forma wraca i z meczu na mecz gra coraz lepiej.Myślę, że Djokovic jest dzisiaj do ogrania i Nadal zamelduje się w finale.
Vamos