Tennis

[Lei Tong]

"Any reason you weren't hitting well in those first three sets?"

"Well, if I knew the reason, I would have done something about it, wouldn't I?"

"When you wake up tomorrow, are you going to be pissed?"

"No, Matt. I'm going to be thrilled."

My buddy theorizes that Roddick would actually be a decent guy if not for the fact that he's been deal with soul-crushing failure for the better part of a decade. Hell, he might actually still have most of his hair.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Klijsters and Venus lost today. Serena's probably all but guaranteed to win this thing now. Lame.

 

[Lei Tong]

Meanwhile, on the Real Tennis side of things, the men's quarterfinals are completely stacked, featuring 6 of the 10 best players around, plus Berdych (who's been playing girthy tennis of late) and Lu.

 

[Psycho Penguin]

Down goes Federer

 

[CanadianChris]

Down goes Federer

To #3 in the world. First time in 7 years he'll have been that low.

 

[Red Baron]

Bye bye Djokovic, as he also lost in straight sets to Tomas Berdych

 

[Psycho Penguin]

and bye bye Andy Murray (as usual)

 

[Lei Tong]

Figured I'd bump this back up...

Today's most notable happenings: Serena goes down to Dumpy Stinkpussy, and and Mardy Fish's desire to actually be in shape pays off in his win over last year's finalist Berdych, en route to his first quarterfinals birth.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Venus also lost today.

 

[Lei Tong]

Every time I see Venus in the stands for one of Serena's games, it always takes me a second to realize she's not some random homeless woman.

Wozniacki's also out, but then her ranking is pretty preposterous anyway.

 

[CanadianChris]

Wozniacki wouldn't be ranked nearly that high if she didn't play basically every week of the year.

I've lost total track of what's going on with the women. I know Wozniacki's #1, the Williams sisters show up occasionally, Sharapova's lurking in the top 10, and Clijsters is back. That's about it.

 

[Czech]

Vujacic sits ramrod straight and taps his hands on his knees. After she ices a point or a game, he raises his right fist and keeps it in the air in case Sharapova glances at her box.

 

[Lei Tong]

Tsonga comes back from 2 sets down to beat Fed, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. It's weird to be at a point where Federer isn't a lock for the semis, but I think everyone anticipated the slowdown.

 

[Red Baron]

But at Wimbledon though? I could see that at the French.

 

[Gert]

This match today reminded me a lot of the US Open Final against del Potro. Roger seems too passive at times and when that snowball starts to roll he doesn't react well. It's pretty much a blueprint to beat Fed lately is to get a service break in one of the first four games and he'll drop the set.

I think he needs to try to make points shorter and flatten out his BH at times.

 

[Lei Tong]

But at Wimbledon though? I could see that at the French.

Ironically, Federer is pretty much the second best clay court player of his generation after Nadal, who might be the best ever, so it's really just as much of an upset what Soderling did to him last year at the French.

 

[Lei Tong]

Djokovic takes his first Wimbledon title over Nadal, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. It's his third overall, and there's likely to be more where that came from since he and Nadal are obviously so far ahead of the pack in the post-Federer era.

 

[CanadianChris]

Djokovic >>>>>>>> Nadal >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fed > everybody else

 

[MFer]

Djoker/Rafa played a near 6-hour classic that no one watched.

 

[muzzington]

Being the Australian Open everyone on my Facebook did and loved it.

 

[Gert]

Nice article today on Grantland about the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic triumvirate.

It was a great match, I think it will be remembered fondly due to the time elapsed. Nadal getting broken at 4-2 will haunt him for some time. The shots they were hitting at 4-4 in the 5th is what I'll remember.

 

[Rendclaw]

That was a hell of a match. Rafa wilted after he missed an easy shot down the line. Credit to the Joker, now if he can beat Federer a couple more times for a major, his place in history is secured.

 

[MFer]

Sharapova and this other chick are p. hot.

 

[MFer]

Federer and Djokovic were pushed to the brink, but they both survived.

 

[Urban Warfare]

time after time i'm absolutely blown away by novak's resolve. he is literally unbeatable on the big points and come crunch time i can't think of a more clutch athlete. to face that many match points in any big moment is impressive, but to do so at the french, against a frenchman, is, well.... yeah. the australian open final w/ nadal is one of the greatest sporting events i have ever watched and while i am not expecting the same tomorrow, i certainly think we'll see some brilliant tennis. if he can take down nadal on clay for his fourth straight, he's well on track to be the greatest of all time in my mind.

thrilled for sharapova hitting her career slam, and pretty tired of her getting dogged for 'not playing anybody' as if it's her fault serena choked. she'll be the clear favorite at wimbledon, though i anticipate a rematch between either her and kvitova or azarenka for all the marbles. should be a great few months of tennis.

 

[Cuban Linx]

Djokovic/Nadal at the Australian Open was pretty much as good as a tennis match can possibly get, if the French final is even half as good it'll still be something special.

 

[MFer]

Looks like Nadal is gonna roll to another French title (a record 7, actually) after this delay. Tired of this fucker denying us history year after year.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Denying what history?

 

[MFer]

Well he always prevented Federer from completing the calendar Grand Slam. If Djokovic comes back here, he'll have the Djoker Slam (4 straight Grand Slams, but not in the same calendar year). Only been done 3 times before I think.

 

[MFer]

Wow, Nadal gets upset in the 2nd by a no-name Czech. I mean, this dude was throwing some serious haymakers for forehands out there, just straight bombs.

Also, Venus went out earlier this week in the 1st on her best surface. Time for her to hang it up.