Go Roger! Hope for a great 2011 season from you!

December 29th, 2010 at 4:52 pm

C’mon Roger!

December 29th, 2010 at 7:09 pm

couldnt see well, but there is few backhand there that looks like rogers. fed likes to get these lower ranked player to practice with him.

just checked Przysiezny on ATP site. his full name is Michal Przysiezny, he is ranked 86, career high 76 in Nov 15, 2010 (not bad at all..why i never heard of him) and he is polish.

GOOOO Roger!

thanks Tom for the start date confirmation for abu dhabi, I thought it would be thursday as they need to be in Doha next week. Hope to catch some live streaming tomorrow!

Apparently bagdatis has been training a lot. lost some weight, build some muscles and endurance. watch out for baggy in 2011!

December 29th, 2010 at 7:31 pm

That person is defintely not Roger Federer.

December 29th, 2010 at 9:53 pm

“Federer will play the Soderling-Tsonga winner Friday while Nadal plays the Baghdatis-Berdych winner”

Tom – it is the other way round. I just checked the draw. federer will play the winner of berdych/baggy and Nadal will play the winner of Tsonda/Soderling

http://www.mubadalawtc.com/en/home.aspx

December 29th, 2010 at 9:56 pm

Does not look like or hit like Federer, sorry.

December 29th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

hmm, what a stir in my mind that herman and terry bring up. so, how well do YOU know your favorite tennis player. i think it looks like him. i will feel a little bad if im wrong, but i think im right.

December 30th, 2010 at 9:23 am

ah i missed the matches. apparently berdych beat baggy 6-3 3-6 7-5, so he will play roger tommorrow. have to set up my alarm clock for tommorrow. grrrr!

December 30th, 2010 at 10:03 am

ha-ha sorderling and tsonga still going on, at least i get to watch something..

soderling leading 6-4 4-5…c’mon tsonga we want the third set!

December 30th, 2010 at 10:08 am

Definitely is the Fed, it’s the Jumeirah in Dubai. Coach Severin Lutthi is the guy feeding the balls.

December 30th, 2010 at 10:26 am

Tsonga wins the tie break. what a lob to take the set point! We are going to the decider!

December 30th, 2010 at 10:27 am

soderling get the early break in the decider. i think thats it for tsonga in this match. he never threatens soderling serve the whole match, you could see it was just a matter of time for soderling to break again. tsonga looks undecided sometimes, a little slow…ah, a lot of catching up to do.

December 30th, 2010 at 10:46 am

soda breaks again. now serving for the match!

December 30th, 2010 at 10:57 am

game set match soderling 6-4 6-7 6-1.

he meets rafa tomorrow

December 30th, 2010 at 11:00 am

@Kimmi

Thanks for the comments on the Tsonga/Sod match, missed it :(. So its Sod vs Rafa and Fed vs Birdy tomorrow?

December 30th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

Venus made the list for one of the biggest fashion faux pas last year:

http://www.refinery29.com/2010s-biggest-fashion-faux-pas.php/slideshow/1/#image-3

December 30th, 2010 at 1:55 pm

Skeezer – we will see tommorow who plays who. i am confused on what is going on. the website says fed vs berdy and rafa vs soda but i was reading the BBC tennis blog, a bunch of people commenting on the matches said the official website got the draw wrong ?#$%^% what the?

So Tom could be right afterall. we will see tomorrow.

December 30th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

ha-ha now the website says soda vs federer and nadal vs berdych….their draw does not make sense to me..but whatever!

December 30th, 2010 at 3:43 pm

That is the weirdest draw I ever saw or maybe someone can help with explaining how this draw works. This is not an ATP official tourney, right? ( no ATP points at stake )

December 30th, 2010 at 4:29 pm

skeezer – no ATP points. it is an exhibition.
i hope the players know who they are playing next?

December 30th, 2010 at 4:54 pm

I heard 2 days ago in a Sport tv chanel saying Nadal will play the winner of the Berdy/Baghy match, and Fed the Sod/Tsonga.

By the way, it is clear the Fed, look how he walks on court and the termination of his back hand, plus somedoy mention Severin handing the balls.

December 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm

Yeah, Daniel. Ppl just putting doubts in my mind, but the way he follows thru on the backhand is giving it away, and really, the way he moves, walks is what is giving it away. And those pointed toes! severin ain’t the telling part cause, well, he is not who we are tying to identify!

December 30th, 2010 at 6:10 pm

@ Nik:

Yep, spot on. It’s obviously Fed practicing, and Lutthi is the guy feeding balls. Not sure why people are so certain it’s not Federer…

December 30th, 2010 at 6:41 pm

It is Roger and there is no doubt about it. He started training in Dubai at the Jumeirah in 2003 and has not changed that routine since. He practices on the same court every time as well. He is probably a little supersticous. The line-up for tommorrow is as follows.

SF1: Federer vs Soderling
SF2: Nadal vs Berdych

P.S,
The website has had it that way from the beginning, but others who just type without thinking confuse everybody.

December 31st, 2010 at 12:53 am

The advantage of being up early for new years eve travel is that I am just in time for a little fed-sod action in abu dhabi time!
Still on serve, fed leading 3-2, but each man has had his hances in breaking. Fed just won five straight to come back from 0-40 and win his service game.

December 31st, 2010 at 6:37 am

federer playing awful tie break right now. 6-1 for soderling. 5 set point ouch

December 31st, 2010 at 7:03 am

the sun on this one side of the court seem to be troubling Mr. Fed but not soda as the aces are flowing as usual.

Second set now..federer needs to take those chances

December 31st, 2010 at 7:05 am

another break point..can he break here

no..duece

December 31st, 2010 at 7:14 am

i’m a little tired of the fed-sod match up. seems like they are always running into each other.

December 31st, 2010 at 7:16 am

c’mon, another break point..woooo he breaks on the 6th break chance at last :))

December 31st, 2010 at 7:16 am

federer gets another break to seal the second set 6-3

we go to the third

December 31st, 2010 at 7:36 am

third set still on serve 3-3

December 31st, 2010 at 7:59 am

breeeeak! 5-3 federer. :)

serving for the match

December 31st, 2010 at 8:07 am

2 match points and an ace to finish

game set match federer 6-7 6-3 6-3

December 31st, 2010 at 8:09 am

nadal with the bright orange t-shirt. hmmm not bad!

December 31st, 2010 at 8:39 am

forehand lethal as always….VAMOS!!!

December 31st, 2010 at 8:43 am

nadal struggling to close out this 4th game. great serves to serve 3 break points

4th break point

December 31st, 2010 at 8:57 am

duece

December 31st, 2010 at 8:59 am

game nadal. 4 break points went begging for T-berdy

December 31st, 2010 at 9:00 am

banana shot to break berdy boy…..VAAAAAAAMOS!!!

December 31st, 2010 at 9:25 am

woooo..what a shot for nadal to break first. great get!

December 31st, 2010 at 9:26 am

and a quick game to seal first set 6-4

December 31st, 2010 at 9:29 am

0-40 and rafa breaks..again! this match is over.

December 31st, 2010 at 9:43 am

breaks to love….vintage rafa

December 31st, 2010 at 9:43 am

so, the commentetor said berdych has not won a set over rafa for 4 years..ouch! guess he is not winning one today

December 31st, 2010 at 9:45 am

2 more break points..c’mon berdy wake up

December 31st, 2010 at 9:51 am

ah rafa breaks again

December 31st, 2010 at 9:52 am

i wish rafa played like that at the wtf finals too

December 31st, 2010 at 9:53 am

3 break points for the czech

December 31st, 2010 at 9:55 am

spoke too soon…berdy breaks

December 31st, 2010 at 9:56 am

well well well 0-40! berdych a chance to get one break back.

guess what..rafa double faults!

berdy breaks

December 31st, 2010 at 9:57 am

vrael- like what, he just got broken! :)

December 31st, 2010 at 9:58 am

like wat he was playing before he had that crappy game obviously..

December 31st, 2010 at 9:58 am

and berdych holds in one minute..gulp! he is still one break down though

December 31st, 2010 at 9:59 am

he says nadal steady the ship :)

one more game for rafa

December 31st, 2010 at 10:04 am

berdy serving well now but tooooo late. rafa to serve it out

December 31st, 2010 at 10:06 am

nice win….

tomorrow will be a battle…not an exhibtion…VAAAMOS!!!!

December 31st, 2010 at 10:09 am

3 match point

game set match rafa 6-4 6-4

December 31st, 2010 at 10:09 am

not too keen on fedal matches. aaaag! c’mon the fed

December 31st, 2010 at 10:11 am

These exhos do have significance. For Berdych to be able to beat Nadal in a slam, he must at least think he has a shot. Or he is beaten before he starts, and both players know it. You can be certain, 100%, that Nadal was keen to beat Berdych today simply to keep him in his place. This is elementary jungle law, and the beasts understand it perfectly.
The Fedal match is more complicated, but even so, both will be keen to win and not just because winning is in their genes. Whoever wins carries a slight edge into the AO (assuming Doha doesn’t render it irrelevant) and at this rarerified level, sometimes a slight edge is enough.

December 31st, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Kimmi, you better get keen on fedal matches! They can happen any time! We need to embrace them and start thinking of them as a chance for roger to assert himself as the best tenista. Cause he is.
Buen suerte manana for roger, and happy new year to ALLLLL!

December 31st, 2010 at 2:12 pm