⇒ tennis roundup

So Federer won Wimbledon '09...feels totally wrong though, especially given Roddick's amazing form and incredible improvement all over the court and draining effort. Matter of fact, without Federer's 50 aces, he would have been destroyed by Andy. I'm sure Andy feels cheated and I do too--he really should have won that match/championship. His all-court improvements, fitness, gameplan and patience only offset by Federer's unreadable serves. Federer didn't win so much as Andy lost. Pretty good write up of the match here, particularly the last 2 paragraphs.

The reasons I used to trash Andy are now the reasons I trash Fed--way too much ego. Add to that, the ego is now unjustified as his play level and style are nowhere near the peak form which carried him to the top.

He's all gold man-purses and monogrammed sweater vests now--he's losing me as a fan. He needs some serious thrashin' by Rafa/Murray/Djoko/Roddick to keep him in check.

Andy on the other hand has matured and improved in ways I'd never imagine from the player I saw in the past. He's basically become Agassi--from young American jackass to American ambassador, great competitor and classy guy. Furthermore, he continually reels in Djoko when his unjustified ego and showboating get out of hand.

The match itself was okay-'08's final was better. The whole match was mostly watching the guys hit aces or unreturnable serves. Only in the last two sets did the overall match improve.

Fed got back his #1 ranking BUT, Rafa's on his way back, and next year Fed will have to defend his French Open and Wimbledon titles, while Rafa will only need to exceed the 4th round of Roland Garros and first round of Wimbledon to pick up extra points.

btw, 'Rocket' Rod Laver, commenting on 'greatest of all time' hype, postulates a 'greatest of their era' title is more appropriate, given the playing field, equipment, courts and rules have changed since. I agree, but I prefer a 'best since...' list:
Rod Laver, best since Open Era started
Roy Emerson, best Aussie since Rod Laver
John Newcombe, best Aussie since Roy Emerson
Jimmy Connors, best American
Bjorn Borg, best Swede, best clay court player, best grass court player, most consistent
Guillermo Vilas, best clay court player since Borg
John McEnroe, best American since Connors
Mats Wilander, best Swede since Borg
Ivan Lendl, best Czech, best workhorse, most consistent since Borg
Stefan Edberg, best Swede since Wilander
Boris Becker, best German
Pete Sampras, best American since McEnroe (tie), best grass court player since Borg
Andre Agassi, best American since McEnroe (tie)
Gustavo Kuerten, best Brazilian, best clay court player since Vilas
Marat Safin, best underachiever, best Russian
Lleyton Hewitt, best Aussie since Newcombe
Roger Federer, best Swiss, best since Laver, Borg, Sampras, most consistent since Lendl
Andy Roddick, best runner-up, best American since Sampras/Agassi
Gaston Gaudio, best 'worst' player
Rafael Nadal, best Spaniard, best clay court player, best since Borg, Vilas, Federer
source: wiki

I would still rate Borg higher than Federer--he got 11 slams (4 consecutive French, 5 consecutive Wimbledons, did the 'difficult double' 3 times) and finished with 63 titles (or 100, depending on how you count it) by the time he retired at 25. Then of course time's gonna tell with Rafa (6 slams by 23 compared to Fed's 3 slams - Wimbledon '03, AO '04, Wimbledon '04).

full federer-nadal rivalry thus far | borg's pre-wimbledon 2008 thoughts

I don't follow Women's tennis closely enough to comment--there's an Aussie Women's champion drought at the moment. Also, their ranking system is critically flawed--Serena Williams is the current champion of 3 of the last 4 slams, yet she's only #2? GTFO! However, I am in awe of the achievements of the following women's champions:
Margaret Smith Court, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Sharapova made the list purely based on her dream run to the title at Wimbledon, and her dominance at one Australian Open.

Picks for future grand slam champions:
Juan Martin Del Potro, Bernard Tomic, Grigor Dmitrov, Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Wozniacki


Three last things about tennis (I'm paraphrasing the first two):
1. "everybody is an underachiever" -Safin
2. "every grand slam could be your last" -Nadal
3. Federer should go back to the Steven Seagal look. If be a dick, at least play off it.

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