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This is a hard one. Federer played a great match against Djokovic, but Del Potro was on fire against Nadal. I'm a big Federer fan, but I have a feeling that this will be Del Potro's day. I think Del Potro will win in 4 sets.
no way, Federer is too strong right now, both mentally and physically. I think he's going to make quick work of it.
Last edited by jbl1120 (Sep. 14, 2009 3:12pm)
I am totally torn about who to select. Del Potro looked unbeatable against Nadal, but how can anyone doubt Federer? The man has won 5 in a row!!! I might have to flip a coin for this decision.
I am completely torn as well. As much as I love Federer, del Potro blew me away at the French Open and I have been dying to see him play since then, so I want him to win this final more than Federer.
However, Fed has got such a strong mental position in a final.
Still, I will stick my neck out and say del Potro. Feel free to laugh and point at me later if I end up being completely wrong
Last edited by SophieG (Sep. 14, 2009 12:48pm)
Incredibly excited, but cant see a second of the tennis cos of where I am. Oh well, hoping internet and friends will keep me informed! Go on Fed!!
I am absolutely stunned right now. As a diehard Federer fan, this stings. I never thought I would see Roger Federer lose a Grand Slam title because he played poorly. Roger came out of the gates looking exceedingly sharp, and Del Po looked a little tense. For the rest of the match, the roles were reversed. Del Po started looking pretty sharp, and Federer's game dropped from what I would grade as an A in the first set to no better than a C for the rest of the match. All credit in the world to Del Po though. He did not play his best tennis either (I believe he had more errors than winners), but he was on point with his forehand.
What gets me more than anything was Roger's inability to do anything with his serve, and his inability to attack Del Po's serve. Roger served at something around 45% for the entire match with 11 double faults. With such a poor percentage, he should have spun more serves in to get more comfortable, like what Del Po was doing. Del Po usually serves in the high 120's to low 130's, but I believe his average first serve was around 118 MPH for the match. Because he was taking pace off the serve, he was around 65% for the match I believe, but this conversely should have allowed Roger to attack the serve (and he did at times, but he just chipped most returns back). Roger had plenty of chances to break (24 or something) but he would just choke them away in the big moments.
Anyway, congrats and much respect to Del Potro. Federer blew him off the court in Melbourne, rallied to beat him in Paris and he got down in this match, but he didn't go away. He certainly has the game to win on any surface and he should win a couple more Slams by the time his career is over.
Aiur, I feel the same way. It was a tense match because I could see it slipping away from Federer and I wanted him to win, but del Potro was the better player and deserved to win. Del Potro's forehand was awesome to watch, and he served much better than Federer. But Federer had a great year - a better year than any other player on tour. That's nothing to be upset about.
Ecstatic for del Potro, and not just because I stuck my neck out and say he would win!!
Im so glad he took the title; Federer didn't play his usual towards teh end of the match. del Potro pulled something out of the bag. Amazing play from such a young and so far unexperienced guy.
Wow. Go him.
And I did not like Federer at all during that match. He was so bloody petulant! Going on and on about the line call, thats just not Federer. Swearing at the umpire, that's not like him either. He was good enough to say that best man won but then went into his post-match conference to say, basically, it didnt really matter to him anyway, it would have been nice but oh well I dont NEED it. Ok, maybe the truth, but still. The whole match looked like he was throwing his toys out of the pram.
Fed went down in my books today. Ok he was pretty high so its not too far to drop, I stil admire and respect him as a player, but I didnt like him in this match. Weirdly enough, it looked like he was the one that needed to grow up and DP was the elder player.
Last edited by SophieG (Sep. 15, 2009 12:45am)
Ecstatic for del Potro, and not just because I stuck my neck out and say he would win!!
Im so glad he took the title; Federer didn't play his usual towards teh end of the match. del Potro pulled something out of the bag. Amazing play from such a young and so far unexperienced guy.
Wow. Go him.
And I did not like Federer at all during that match. He was so bloody petulant! Going on and on about the line call, thats just not Federer. Swearing at the umpire, that's not like him either. He was good enough to say that best man won but then went into his post-match conference to say, basically, it didnt really matter to him anyway, it would have been nice but oh well I dont NEED it. Ok, maybe the truth, but still. The whole match looked like he was throwing his toys out of the pram.
Fed went down in my books today. Ok he was pretty high so its not too far to drop, I stil admire and respect him as a player, but I didnt like him in this match. Weirdly enough, it looked like he was the one that needed to grow up and DP was the elder player.
Fed has gone on record plenty of times saying he hates the challenge system with a passion, and it's not irregular to see him complain about calls that get confirmed by the challenge system in favor of his opponent. He complained about it many times in the 2007 Wimbledon Final against Nadal.
The umpire situation was ugly, but the umpire escalated it. The umpire gave Del Po way too much time to challenge, and Fed was asking the umpire why he allowed it. The umpire told Fed to shut up, and Fed took offense to that. They were both out of line, but it would have been easily avoided if the umpire would have followed protocol and not allowed Del Po to challenge.
The thing that most people don't seem to understand about Federer is that he is very gracious and whatnot when he is in the limelight, but he has had an attitude problem since he joined the tour. He may not say directly that he is the greatest player ever, but it is my belief he certainly thinks he is. Anyway, here's some stuff you may not know that would question Fed's graciousness:
1. He seriously dislikes Novak Djokovic. He is never shy when talking about Novak retiring in matches, and when Novak was just starting on the tour and people were talking about him Federer said that he would be nothing special.
2. In February of this year he commented on the WTA rankings and how you should not be able to attain the #1 ranking without winning a Slam. I believe Jelena Jankovic was #1 at the time, because she took offense and responded.
3. Roger is usually quick to dismiss his rivals and any of their accomplishments. After Nadal and Djokovic played that classic 4 hour, 3 set match in Madrid, Roger said something along the lines of the match time was misleading because both guys take so much time on their serve.
- He had a 4 match losing streak to Murray and 2 match losing streak to Djokovic and when he played them at Cincinnati he was asked if there was any sense of urgency to break the losing streaks. He basically just shrugged it off and said if he wins it would be great, but if he loses it really doesn't mean anything.
- I didn't watch the post-match comments because I was too frustrated, but if that's what he said I would not be surprised at all.
4. This is just me, but I believe he refuses to make adjustments mid-match because he believes that he is just that good and his opponent is inferior. I will just use this match as an example. His first serve % was atrocious, and instead of taking pace off or even moving the ball around he would try to hit his usual speed of around 123 or so while serving exclusively to Del Po's backhand. He also chips almost every single return, just content to get into rallies. Del Po was dictating most of the rallies, and even though Del Po was only serving around 118 MPH for the match, Fed was still content to chip the return instead of getting a nice swing on it. On the 3-4 times he ran around the backhand on the second serve, he hit the ball right back to Del Po and Del Po just blocked it back for a winner. He also hardly ever mixes up his game. He rarely does any serve and volleying, and he only seems to employ the drop shot once in a blue moon when not on clay. He just believes he can sit back on the baseline and nail forehand winners or induce errors from the opponent (his backhand is exceptionally average, and he only hits a backhand when absolutely necessary).
Anyway, despite all this, he is my favorite player. He is the reason I started watching tennis when I happened to see him beat Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001. I really only exclusively followed Federer up until about 2004, at which point I started watching more and more. Nowadays I was any men's match that is on TV, but Fed is still my guy.
I completely agree. His attitude to the game is the only one a champion can have, and it has a public face and a more private face. He never usually behaves like that after a match goes wrong. He let the private face came out today in public, and it didnt suit him.
I agree that he is still one of my favourite players out there. I respect and admire the guy, he brought my interest towards tennis at the very beginning too.
Still, his entire attitude smacked of sour grapes, and as much as I like the guy, you can't help but think he would be a bit nicer to a young rising star as he once was, rather than being so sour. It was a frustrating situation with the umpire, but not every umpire is going to be out there to be your best friend. Roger Federer knows that.
del Potro is a young guy with a lot of game potential left in. He has a wolloping forehand but he does so much with it. His angle, his reach, its amazing. He doesnt chip and volley and scamper around the court too much, but with legs and arms that long he probably has a lot of wind resistance to do that kind of thing! Hes not built to be that kind of player. He could make himself that kind of player, using his height as advantage, I know it's not an excuse, but he obviously feels happy in the way his game his played right now.
Maybe he will mix it up more in the future. Who knows.
Again, I know that Federer is still a champion of champions and a great guy. But still, he was a bit of an idiot in this match and considering he has won five times there he could have been a tad less bitter-sounding.
p.s. oh yes, I know all too well of his dislike of Djokovi 
. He doesnt like the impressions, his injuries, yadda yadda yah. Theres always going to be one guy on the tour another doesnt get along with. tennis players never get to confront each other physically in a match (hand to hand, so to speak), so they know how to have a good cat fight in their post-match interviews.
Last edited by SophieG (Sep. 15, 2009 3:25am)
As far as Federer being sour is concerned, I completely understand where he is coming from. He knows he lost the match more than Del Po took it away from him. Right after the match I was thinking to myself that Roger should go back to the hotel and realize he choked away a Slam. I highly doubt it at this point in his career, but a terrible loss like this might open his eyes and make him realize he has to make more adjustments mid-match (I've been saying this since the 2007 French Open final against Nadal, but again he just believes he is invincible).
All in all, this year proved that Roger is back. He will never regain the form he had 2004-2006, but he is back to showing no doubts that he is indeed the best player in the world. When he plays his best tennis he has shown that only Rafa can complete with him. I know it's extremely early, but as long as he doesn't get injured I believe he has a real shot to win all 4 majors again. He is the best hard court player in the world (despite what Andy Murray's record may say), the best grass court player in the world, and is at worst the second best clay court player in the world.
Federer did act a bit badly in the match, but this is the US Open final and the emotions are very high. The chair ump acted like a complete unprofessional idiot - you never tell a player to shup up when they have a legitimate complaint. Especially when it is the greatest player who ever played the game. So I forgive that outburst.
As to Federer choking, I disagree. He did not play his best, that's for sure, but as the match went on Federer's level of play was the same and del Potro got much better. How does anyone handle a 110mph forehand that hits the line? Unbelievable stuff. I would not call this a great match, but it was very entertaining up till the 5th set when it became obvious that Federer would lose.
Del Potro's reaction to winning was very nice, and his emotion he showed I think won him a lot of fans. I hope he can keep up this level of play - so often someone can play like that for a year or so and then they disappear, so let's hope he is for real.
I love Fed and I am a huge fan but he was outplayed. Im even surprised he won the 3rd set the way del potro was playing. Its hard to play in your 1st slam final against the best ever, and Im impressed with how del potro kept his composure and played his game at such a high level. Fed will win at least 2 or 3 more slams, so I dont feel that bad for him. no one can win every tournament, and getting to the finals 6 years in a row is a HUGE achievement in itself.
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