Roddick vs Fed

[airforce1]

Could be interesting.

No pressure for underdog Roddick who is looking more comfy than he has in years. He's dropped his ego on the court and is willing to work hard and let the matches sort themselves out. I think mentally he is in a place where he can be a winner regardless of the final score. I'll be very surprised if he is not playing hard on the very last point of this match. Also he has expanded his skill set considerably, without going out on a limb of riskier play that is beyond his level.

Fed on the other hand has already been crowned and folks are talking about Pete giving him the trophy. That can be tricky even for a GOAT to handle against a very worthy opponent.

[CraigC]

Fed vs. Roddick

Forehand-Fed
Backhand-Fed
Slice-Fed
Volleys-Fed
Serve-Roddick although Fed is serving amazing
Return-Fed
Footwork-Fed
Strategy-Fed
Experience-Fed
Intangibles-Fed
Past Results-Fed
History-Fed

If Roddick finds a way to pull this off, Fed should call Mike Tyson and ask what the hell happened.

[airforce1]

Excellent post CraigC and I agree with your scoring there, but that is the odd thing about tennis scoring. If you can hold, you have a Great Chance to win any match and if your mind is in a good place, all the better. You can pretty much change the name from Fed to Murry and you would have nearly the same thing in your post, but Roddick prevailed over Murry anyway.

I like where Roddicks mind is right now and he is serving very well.
Also their matches have been much tighter than Andy gets credit for in the past, even when Roger's skills had a better margin of superiority than they currently do. Andy has improved in each of those categories more than Fed has, when compared to the last Wimby Final where they met and that one had some very tight sets.

I'm staying with my Fed pick ( picked him even before he won FO and before Nadal dropped out), but I do think this match has some real potential beyond what is expected.

[airforce1]

predictions

So, no one wants to go out on a limb and pick a winner ?
Other than Craig C of course.

[CraigC]

Stupid!

If Roger gives Andy another forehand I'm flying to London to take his racket away.

[airforce1]

Forehand-Fed
Backhand-Fed
Slice-Fed
Volleys-Fed
Serve-Roddick although Fed is serving amazing
Return-Fed
Footwork-Fed
Strategy-Fed
Experience-Fed
Intangibles-Fed
Past Results-Fed
History-Fed

As I said before, I agree with your assessments here, but isn't it amazing that with all of that, it comes down to 16-14 in the 5th.

[CraigC]

Questioning the Path to Success

It makes me think all this searching for great athletes is a waste of time. Maybe we should just go steal the best pitcher from the major leagues and teach him how to wield a tennis racket. Scary to think Roddick can hit 135 consistently even after 4 hours.

Honestly though, Andy played outstanding tennis( 80& first serve percentage for two sets, are you kidding me!) I don't think Fed played great aside from his serving, but Andy was on fire with the backhand, moved well, and focused extremely well for the entire match. It was a great effort, but in the end, still not enough to overcome a slightly sub-par Federer who probably shook a little bit at the thought of history.

On to number 16 for Fed and Andy can go give Larry a bonus for doing a great job with him. With Rafa back and Murray pissed off, the Open should be awesome.

[airforce1]

Yes, serving was huge in this, but it should be for grass, right?
Sort of cool to see the guys who took care of their serves well, end up in the grass ct final and duel it out.

I thought Fed was sharper this year than last, and the UE count supports that. Roddick made those amazing dtl passes that Nadal made last year off the Fed inside out mid ct attacks. Nadal left more soft mid ct balls last year for Fed to attack than Andy did this year, but maybe that was due to longer rallys more often.

All in all this was the final I was expecting given the upgrade to Roddick's play and what he showed working up the the final. A couple more subtle adjustments to Andy's game and he may just be unbeatable on grass. He only needs to make about a third as much improvement as he maded this year to get there.