Federer Looks for Nadal Revenge Today at Wimbledon

Posted on July 9, 2006

Mauresmo Waylays Demons, Henin for Wimbledon Crown

Formerly one of women's tennis' premier chokers, until this year reaching the No. 1 ranking without a Grand Slam title, Amelie Mauresmo put the choker tag to rest Saturday in the Wimbledon final, holding her nerve to come back from a set down and defeat Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Mauresmo had won her first Slam title in January at Australia, but the title was suspect after Henin-Hardenne, her opponent in the final, retired trailing in the match citing stomach pain.

With a determined look and a bounce in her step Saturday, the Frenchwoman convincingly held serve at 5-4 to quell her personal demons and win her second Slam.

"I don't want anyone to talk about my nerves anymore," Mauresmo said.

The handshake after the match showed their is no love lost between the competitors, and when in her acceptance speech Mauresmo speculated the Belgian could have been tired after winning the French Open and the grasscourt title at Eastbourne, television cameras caught Henin-Hardenne in her sideline chair shaking her head and glancing at her coach as if the conditioning comment was an affront.

Mauresmo climbed into the stands after the win to hug her support team, and the non-compromising lesbian later donned a t-shirt stating: "2006 Wimbledon Champion. I am what I am."

In the end Mauresmo's new mental-toughness resume included three three-set wins during the fortnight against former Slam champions Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Henin-Hardenne. The win also denied Henin-Hardenne the coveted "career Slam," with Wimbledon still the only major to elude her.

"Two Grand Slams in a month, it's pretty hard," Henin-Hardenne said of her French Open title then run to the Wimbledon final.

The wind also played a part in Henin-Hardenne frequently suffering from the "shanks" during the match.

"I wasn't playing my best tennis, far from that," Henin-Hardenne said. "That's the kind of day that happens."

The doubles final will be contested between No. 4-seeded Chinese Zi Yan/Zie Zheng and former No. 1s Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez.

Bryans Win Wimbledon, Complete Career Slam

Bob and Mike Bryan completed the "career Slam" Saturday, in the Wimbledon final defeating Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to capture the only Slam that had eluded them.

"We saved the biggest one for last," Mike Bryan said. "This is the one we've dreamed about our whole lives. We've been thinking about this career Slam since we won the US Open and the Australian back-to-back. This was the last one to get...If someone would have said when we started out that you're gonna have all four Grand Slam titles by the time your career is over, I would have said you're a pathological liar. It's so hard to win one. To have all four, it's pretty cool. Especially to share it with your twin brother."

It was the third title of the year for the American brothers, one behind the teams of Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi, Paul Hanley/Kevin Ullyett, and Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor who have four titles in 2006.

The brothers have one final dream to catch, with father Wayne Bryan saying the twin's two major goals have been winning all four Slams and winning the Davis Cup for the U.S.

Nadal Does Borg Impression in Wimbledon Final
 
World No.1 Roger Federer and World No.2 Rafael Nadal will meet in a final for the fifth time this season at Wimbledon.

Three-time defending champion Federer stormed past Sweden?s Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 in 77 minutes to advance to his fifth consecutive Grand Slam final (a record in the Open Era), while Nadal booked a spot on Sunday's final by defeating Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours, 26 minutes.

Federer, who notched his 450th career win today, has reached 16 consecutive finals dating back to Halle 2005. He is bidding to become the seventh player in history -- and third in the Open Era -- to win four consecutive Wimbledon crowns (first since Pete Sampras 1997-2000).

If Nadal defeats Federer on Sunday he will become the first player to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980. The Spaniard became the first Roland Garros champion to reach the final at Wimbledon the same year since Andre Agassi in 1999.

The 20-year-old is the first Spaniard to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era. He is also the fourth youngest player to accomplish such a feat.

The Swiss star, who had not lost a set to Bjorkman in three previous career meetings, fired nine aces and won an incredible 84 percent of the points in his first serve.

Federer has yet to drop a set at this year's Wimbledon Championships. The top seed, who has now won 47 consecutive grass court matches, will become only the second man in the Open Era to claim the Wimbledon trophy without losing a set (Bjorn Borg in 1976) if he wins Sunday's final in straight sets.

The Spaniard hit 43 winners (compared to 38 from Baghdatis) and only 16 unforced errors while winning 82 percent of the points at the net (31 of 38).

Federer and Nadal faced each other four times this season (all in finals) with the Spaniard winning all of them. In their most recent encounter, at the Roland Garros final, Nadal won in four sets. In the final of the ATP Masters Series Rome, the Swiss star held match points before succumbing to the hard-hitting left-hander.
-- ATP

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Amelie Mauresmo has won two of the last three Slam titles...Justin Henin-Hardenne has won five Slams, losing two finals -- both at Wimbledon...Before Amelie Mauresmo, Suzanne Lenglen was the last French Wimbledon winner back in 1925...Like Roger Federer, Justine Henin-Hardenne also gets turned away this year for a career Slam...Amelie Mauresmo is the first top seed to win a Slam on the women's tour since Justin Henin-Hardenne did it at the 2004 Australian Open...Roger Federer has been on court six hours less than Rafael Nadal...The last player to win the French and Wimbledon on the men's tour in the same year was Bjorn Borg in 1980. Borg was the last player to win a Slam without losing a set, that was also in 1980 at the French Open. Borg was also the last player to do it at Wimbledon (1976)...Roger Federer has reached 16 straight tour finals...Rafael Nadal has won his last 14 tournament finals (four over Fed)...Roger Federer has lost only 52 games this year at Wimbledon, the fewest for a finalist in the Open Era...This is sixth time in history that the French Open and Wimbledon will have the same final and first time since 1952...For the first time the Australian Open winner will play the French Open winner in the Wimbledon final...Roger Federer is the first player to reach five straight Slam finals in the Open Era...If Rafael Nadal wins Sunday he will win Wimbledon at a younger age than Roger Federer or Pete Sampras ever did. Federer has was 47 straight on grass, 27 straight at Wimbledon...From Brand Republic: "Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova star in a new television ad for Sony Ericsson to back launch of its K800 and K790 Cyber-Shot camera phones. The latest in the 'Never miss a shot' campaign is part of a global marketing push created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty. The ad, with a script written by John Hegarty, features a tennis match between the two female stars using the roof-tops of tall buildings as their court. The Slovakian Hantuchova is seen sunbathing when she hears a tennis ball being hit by the Serbian Ivanovic on an adjacent rooftop. She leaps up, grabs her racket and runs to return the ball as they jump from building to building to continue the match. A man in an office block sees Hantuchova leaping down from the building above and captures the shot on his Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot phone. Tom Hooper, the ad's director, said: "This ad is about freedom to do what you want in life, taking away the rules and living it to the full. Tennis is a game normally constrained to a court. We took away those boundaries and let the game go where it wanted."...Will it now be: Rafael Nadal, grasscourt specialist?...Who at the USTA will answer for the U.S. players bailing on the Fed Cup semifinal vs. Belgium? Will captain Zina Garrison, who can't convince good buddy Venus Williams (or even sister Serena, who is reportedly healthy now) to play?...TennisWorld's Peter Bodo's picks to win the women's and men's Wimbledon finals: Justine Henin-Hardenne, Rafael Nadal -- either 0-for-2 or looking like a genius...Is it odd that Roger Federer, on his hallowed lawn, before the final has to go out of his way to clarify he is not scared of Rafael Nadal and also confirm that he can beat him?...From the AP: "It didn't take long for French President Jacques Chirac to congratulate Amelie Mauresmo after her 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win (over) Justine Henin-Hardenne in Saturday's Wimbledon women's final. Mauresmo is France's first women's singles champion at the tournament since Suzanne Lenglen won the last of her six titles in 1925. "France is proud to share your emotion," Chirac wrote in a letter released by his office less than an hour after her win. Handwritten on the margins were the words: "Bravo! It was magnificent! What a performance, and what elegance!"...Mike Bryan on the Roger Federer smoking-jacket-and-shorts look: "Now, not too many players would be given a free pass by the guys in the locker room to wear a sports coat out to play a match. But when it comes to Roger he can pretty much do what he wants because 1) he's Roger and 2) he is such a humble champion and friendly guy nobody thinks he has a big head just because he's wearing a jacket...First, he never takes it out of his locker except for when he's about to go out to play and he doesn't even put it on in the locker room. I suspect someone has it dry cleaned for him after each match because it's always hanging in a type of brown suit cover."...Tracy Austin writing for the BBC: "Amelie Mauresmo can go on to win more Grand Slams now -- she will have the confidence to do it because of the way she's done it at Wimbledon." -- Wait, didn't she just win Wimbledon because of the confidence she had from winning the Australian Open? We're confused...Justine Henin-Hardenne's coach Carlos Rodriguez speaking with TR.net: "She is known as a fighter, but she did not fight at certain moments. She did not really want it. Amelie wanted this title more than Justine. Amelie deserves the title, She wanted to win the tournament more than Justine."...Mike Bryan after winning the Wimbledon doubles title: "Yeah, actually, the first three guys that called were Andy [Roddick], Mardy [Fish] and James [Blake], which was pretty cool. They all watched it back at home. They're excited. Could kind of tell Andy's fired up to get back on the court. Kind of watches it and he wants to be here. And I'm like, What are you playing? He's like, I'm playing everything this summer. I'm playing Indy, LA, Washington. He wants to just beat up the summer."...Andy Ram of Israel and Russia's Vera Zvonareva won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title Saturday, beating Americans Venus Williams and Bob Bryan 6-3, 6-2.

See also:
For Federer One Match Could Change Everything
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