Federer, Dimitrov, Ivanovic Collect Grass Titles

Congratulations to all the winners especially to Roger who relishes success so much despite the magnitude of his achievements, his hunger for success has just refused to die away.

June 16th, 2014 at 12:58 am

Yep, the Federer players reign this week. Congrats to both!

June 16th, 2014 at 1:57 am

Attention seeking disorder…

June 16th, 2014 at 1:58 am

Happy for roger for his 79th career title….but his game still needs a lot of fine tuning like,
break point conversion rate, holding serve at crunch points of the match, his return game has diminished remarkably after 2012, his tie-break record of late is also not encouraging esp. against top players.

May be I m exaggerating….but I hope, he fixes these bugs by the start of wimbledon. And I also hope, he plays some aggressive tennis right from the start rather than hogging the baseline. I m sure he is pretty aware that he no more possesses legs of a 25 yr old.

Wish him all the success at the SG19 :)

June 16th, 2014 at 5:20 am

Hey, Fed……. Just try to control ur Unforced Errors and then it will be easy to win against top players…… Nadal wins bcz he plays safe game without unforced errors…..

June 16th, 2014 at 9:24 am

Nadal winning against Roger is not only due to Nadal’s power game……But its more due to Fed’s Unforced Errors….. U can check all the statistics…. Fed gives away points easily…… Thts wht Fed need to control……

June 16th, 2014 at 9:28 am

But how does he “control” his unforced errors? Don’t you think he already would if he could? If he thinks about it too much while he’s playing, he’ll lose concentration and fail anyway.

As I keep saying, he and other greats are great, not because they can do marvellous shots (any top 50 guy can do that SOMETIMES)but because they can do those shots reliably. Best example is Fed’s serve. Time was, if he faced break points, you just knew he’d fire down two or three aces. Now you can’t take it for granted. It happens to everyone, however great they have been over the years.

June 16th, 2014 at 10:40 am

I agree with Colin. Further, the UE counts have to be higher against Rafa because ROger has to go outside his comfort zone to have any chance against Rafa. Rafa is a bad match up for ROger everywhere, not just on clay, and not just since ROger has aged.

But to the real subject at hand, which is grass, ROger and Grigor: Both these lads needed these to get their groove on. Fans needed these to believe in these two for contenders (at their respective levels). I think if Fed had bailed here, we wouldn’t be able to hold the Big Four together in our minds.

But Fed’s most recent success has been on grass, albeit two years ago. His win over Falla is not a big deal, of course, but beating Kei is. That’s a (practically) top ten win. It confirms he hasn’t dropped off precipitously at least. Nonetheless, Rafa’s grass record on grass the last two years has been terrible (despite a Halle trophy). So I don’t think you can pick Rafa as a favourite over Fed.

I have a Rafa Wimbledon Paradox: I really believe Novak, Andy and Fed are favourites here, with Rafa a shade below. But I think Rafa could take down all 3 if he gets to those match-ups.

I think Rafa’s clay wave will break over the shoals of a Rebel: a Wawrinka, Raonic or Gulbis.

June 16th, 2014 at 10:56 am

I can also see non-Fed fans shaking their heads at the blind faith of a player who hasn’t made a Slam finals in two years, and honestly, I can’t remember his last Slam semi- 2 or 3 ago?

I don’t know if there’s logic to it, but I see flaws in everyone, and fancy Roger has a shot.

June 16th, 2014 at 10:58 am

@Colin

You are right in stating that lots of top fifty guys can pull off some amazing shots…..even in the top 100. You tube is full of them. But they are not consistent. I always wished Rafa could fire off aces when in a tight spot like Roger. That ability missing from Rafa’s game with the exception the USO when he hit 2 or 3 in a row, can’t say for certain. Yes, Roger was very solid when facing breakpoints. I think confidence waning a bit because of age. Same thing with Rafa. Good post!

June 16th, 2014 at 11:09 am

I’ve said to a friend of mine that no player gets all aspects of the game. Each has strengths and areas of relative weakness. Federer, it appears, was the closest to not having a technical or mental weakness. Didn’t see Laver play much but I think he may fall into Fed’s realm as well.

Of course, when you compare Federer to Nadal between the ears, Fed’s mental game looks weak which really isn’t the case. Nadal is just an awful match-up for Roger.

June 16th, 2014 at 12:37 pm

And the truth is, only rarely does Nadal really mop the floor with Roger. Even with the bad match-up Federer can usually hold his own until things get tight.

June 16th, 2014 at 12:39 pm

1. Lefty against a one-handed backhand
2. 5 years age gap
3. Most matches early on on clay (when Fed was not THIS old).

Largely explains Fed vs Nadal. This has been discussed ad nauseum.

As for wimbledon, Fed does have a small chance of winning, but it will depend on the draw. He needs a bit of luck on his side.

Nadal, Djoke, Murray – don’t think either of them will win it. We COULD see a new champion, which would be great for tennis!

This is a oldest top 10 in a long long time, since no great young player has come up after Djokovic (and a litle bit Murray – Delpo phased out win constant injuries).

Sampras never even won Wimbledon after turning 29. Age has a HUGE effect on every part of the game. It is quite amazing that at almost 33, Fed is still ranked No. 4, can still win a title here and there, and can still compete with most of the top players. On grass, where points are quicker, bounce is lower, perhaps he can win one last one – who knows?

June 16th, 2014 at 1:06 pm

Watching the athletic and elegant Dimitrov dive for tennis balls is mesmerizing to this fan. Does remind me of watching beach volleyball the way he plunges fearlessly and naturally into the grass.

F-Lo was spectacular on grass in his own way too. Hope both guys and Federer get good draws for Wimbledon and stick around until the final week.

June 16th, 2014 at 2:14 pm

@tennisvagabond his last semi was this years Australian Open.

June 16th, 2014 at 10:11 pm