Federer, Roddick Advance In Basel; Murray Bummed Out; Serena Visits Panic Room

Funny article Sean – bizarre story about Serena indeed. I, too, thought those “panic rooms” were in the movies only, not RL!

November 3rd, 2011 at 1:08 am

Panic rooms? I thought all Americans had nuclear bunkers and huge supplies of canned hamburgers …;)

November 3rd, 2011 at 1:59 am

Canned hamburgers, hilarious margot

I know a couple people who have panic rooms in their homes, they don’t call them that though, they call them SAFE room

November 3rd, 2011 at 5:37 am

I don’t have words for the Murray situation, just get it healed soon!

November 3rd, 2011 at 5:38 am

I like Mongolian food…so I have a supply of
“Yak in the box” instead of canned hamburgers.

November 3rd, 2011 at 6:33 am

Right on cue, Rafa withdraws from Bercy:)

November 3rd, 2011 at 8:09 am

Excellent decision by rafa. He says that he wants to give his best at the WTF and then just prepare for the 2012 season. What rafa needs is time off court to work on his game and mind, and I think that does seem to be the case here. He doesn’t want an off season like he had last year- promoting products, and then being fatigued and with a virus right at the start of this season.

November 3rd, 2011 at 9:21 am

It probably is good for Rafa that he withdrew from Bercy, but I miss watching him play! I also worry that he’s going to be verrry rusty at the WTF. We certainly don’t want a repeat of his 2009 performance.

November 3rd, 2011 at 9:28 am

Folks,

Do you think I am going to withdraw from Bercy and practice for WFT…That is what I am sayng, WTF?
I have given up on the season. I plan to lose every match in London, and end up as No. 2.

Too bad I am playing the mens’ tour. If I lose every match at WFT in the women’s tour, I will be number one. Just getting stuff off my chest.

To the Lady Forehand aka King of the Minor League..Andy Murray. You won’t win WFT, no matter how hard you try. You are a choker.

November 3rd, 2011 at 9:37 am

@humble rafa: LMFAO, “To the Lady Forehand aka King of the Minor League..Andy Murray. You won’t win WFT, no matter how hard you try. You are a choker.” Thats cruel, but funny. There is a element of truth in what you say there. I also feel until andy wins one of the top 5 titles (4 slams, WTF) then such statements, whilst harsh and maybe mean, have an undeniable element of truth in them. He needs to show up on the big stage, when the big boys do and win. So far he hasn’t done so. But who knows: rafa’s taking time out, nole’s returning from injury and rogers also coming back from a long lay off. The oppurtunity is there for him to win the WTF. But such is andy’s rotten luck that at this very moment rather than capitalising he’s nursing a sore behind. OUCH!

November 3rd, 2011 at 10:09 am

Doesn’t Rafa have Davis Cup too? Maybe he is thinking about that?

November 3rd, 2011 at 10:45 am

@Jane:

Yep, he does. As far as i know, its on clay in spain, so it really shouldn’t be too taxing on rafa.

November 3rd, 2011 at 10:51 am

Rafa probably wouldn’t have done that much in Paris anyway. He has been away from the game for a while (and he’s the person that needs to play a lot). Plus, from what I heard about the Paris surface – it’s the fastest on tour.

November 3rd, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Federer is really a master piece in tennis. Just love watching him play. He is really in a different league. For federer fans:Federer is the only reason why i watch tennis: http://bit.ly/sPzObf

November 3rd, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Paris is a fast surface – Nadal doesn’t have a shot, with a well rested Djoke and a well rested Fed.

But yes, he hasn’t played much since the USO 6-1 4th set whitewash by Djoke. and has lost a few matches to lesser rivals. I don’t think he has much of a chance at London on the fast indoor courts – even last year, when he was on his best streak, he didn’t win it.

Just as we have watched Federer fade away the last couple of year, Nadal’s fade phase starts now, earlier than others.

November 3rd, 2011 at 2:25 pm

And people forget – in addition to 16 slams, Fed has 5 WTF victories – which is sort of a semi-slam. Nadal has 10 slams, but not a single WTF. If anyone is making GOAT claims for him, it just doesn’t fly. Clay GOAT, certainly.

November 3rd, 2011 at 2:39 pm

Paris is a fast surface – Nadal doesn’t have a shot,
—
Moonball

November 3rd, 2011 at 4:02 pm

trufan i myself am a rafa fan,but unlike some of his fans,im not obsessed with him been the goat,winning more slams than roger etc etc,although i would love him to win a wtf,before his career is over i certainly dont see it as been the end of the world if he doesnt,but then again just because he hasnt already doesnt mean that he never will who knows,why does he always have to be compared to roger,why cant he just be given credit for what he has achieved,instead of critisism what he hasnt,then again as a rafa fan you get used to it i suppose.

November 3rd, 2011 at 5:45 pm

delpo did a much better job with anderson this time. the draw opened up a little bit. he plays querrey next.

great win by querrey defeating tsonga on his come back.

November 3rd, 2011 at 6:21 pm

trufan realistic,fare and unbiased rafa fans,do not claim rafa is the goat,those fans like myself give credit to roger and nole,and only ask that rafa gets treated farely too,it works both ways.

November 3rd, 2011 at 6:22 pm

talent of nishikori is starting to show. love his game, he looks so young though, his profile shows 21 but he looks 15 or 16 to me. I think he is ready now, next year should be interesting to see how he will fare up..

November 3rd, 2011 at 8:37 pm

The picture of Delpo at the ATP site is good.

November 3rd, 2011 at 9:24 pm

I am very curious to see Fed and Roddick this time. I know Fed has always had Andy’s number, bad match up, etc, but Fed’s a bit rusty a.t.m., so it might be more of a battle this time. What do others think?

November 3rd, 2011 at 11:04 pm

I’m a big Rafa fan and I agree with alison hodge — Rafa is not the GOAT. I used to have ambitions about him surpassing Fed’s slam count, but I think Nole burst that balloon! Now I just want him to play his best, beat Nole on occasion, and hopefully bag a few more slams.

November 4th, 2011 at 12:07 am

Not only will Fed/Roddick be interesting, but Nole/Baggy will too. Marcos gave Nole a run for his money at Wimbledon; their matches are usually close.

November 4th, 2011 at 12:46 am

Roddick beats Federer once every 5 years. 2003, 08. So, no he’s not beating Federer tomorrow. Unfortunately for a-rod, he does not have the match-up advantage against fed like his peers hewitt/nalby/ferrero had before fed became The Mighty Fed nor does he have the advantage of a 5/6year age gap that murray/djoko/nadal have [a-rod actually has a winning H2H against novak even now and has a resepectable H2H against murray/nadal. he even creamed nadal in USO 2004. i remember a serve that rebounded off nadal’s racket and hit him on his mouth and nadal started bleeding, ofcourse nadal was a rookie then]

That said, after wawa/murray, gasquet/tsonga a-rod is 5th on my list of players I dont mind fed losing to. [though fed does need this win and title badly]. I hope fed gets through in straights without tiring himself as he has to get some serious results these last 3 tournaments to make sure he doesn’t have a mountain to climb in 2012. at his age, he could climb a hill, but a mountain would require some miracle, LOL!

Go Rogi, keep up your sizzling indoors record!

November 4th, 2011 at 12:52 am

Swiss Maestro: gr8 post, made me smile :)

November 4th, 2011 at 2:14 am

thanks lulu rafa will still go down as one of the greats,and nothing will ever change that,even if next year is a repeat of this one.

November 4th, 2011 at 6:24 am

alison, of course he will, and certainly one of the very greatest on clay.

November 4th, 2011 at 6:57 am

thanks margot,rafas great, hope our little red devils ok for next week too.

November 4th, 2011 at 7:01 am

margot i have to agree and say along with grendel, swiss maestro is the funniest blogger on the forum,certainly doesnt take any prisoners,tells it like it is, honest but very fare,and only ever asks that people do the same in return,and i dont think you ask for anymore than that.

November 4th, 2011 at 7:15 am

With Roddick and Fed it seems to be more about match up than anything else: i.e., age, or matches prior to dominance etc. For some reason, Roddick’s serve has never affected Fed too much. Fed’s either been able to break the serve, returning firsts right back to Roddick, or he wins in tiebreaks. And he’s simply a more rounded player. The ATP says Roddick just hit the 20 mill mark in earnings for his career.

November 4th, 2011 at 11:19 am

thank you for your sweet words alison. appreciate your nice words.

margot : i am glad my post made you smile. i am sure murray will give you much more reasons to smile this coming season!

jane : federer reads a-rod’s serve too well. a-rod’s serve is the best of this decade (eliminating non-top 10 players) and fed reads it like a college student would read a pre-school rhyme ;) too bad for a-rod. he would have been a multiple Wimbledon champ, but for RF!

November 4th, 2011 at 6:29 pm

i agree with everybody i think roger is in a.rods head too much,a.rod was once quoted as saying,i wish i could hate roger but try as i might i cant,he must be really pissed off to loose 3 wimby finals to the same guy,the closest been that fab final in 09,even then history was never gonna stop roger,rafa lost twice in 06,07,but at least made it 3rd time lucky in the other fab final in 08,bad luck for a.rod as he want able to do the same,sadly i think hes missed his chance,shame i think he deserved a wimby title.

November 5th, 2011 at 3:17 am

like jane said a.rod has a fortune of 20 million,i know its not about the money ,its about winning titles,but that must take the sting out of the dissapontment.

November 5th, 2011 at 3:27 am