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Coric played a decent first set, served well. He's being more aggressive off the ground than usual. Long way to go yet and Roger only has to raise his game a bit to make life difficult for Coric.
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Federer has a cold. It is 11 AM start time for him...he is used to playing the night matches. He is feeling all of his 36 years of age. Everything is fuzzy to Fed. Doesn't look too promising.Originally posted by stotty View PostComment
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Federer digs deep and breaks back. On serve...4-5 Coric serving. He has faced break points the last three service games.Originally posted by don_budge View PostComment
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He didn't do a lot Roger. Just served a bit better and defended well and popped some extra balls in play. Coric's first serve went missing in that second set.
It's so rare when Roger isn't feeling the ball as well as usual. His basic form rarely alters these days. He's either at his best or just 5% from it.StottyComment
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He did quite a lot. He adapted. Federer didn't have an A game. He didn't have a B, C or D. So he just threw the kitchen sink and everything else at Borna and ended up winning by keeping the ball in play and living to play another day.Originally posted by stotty View PostComment
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Roger at least played 'somebody' today. Stotty really enjoyed that. Great defending and parrying from Roger pulled him through that one, just making Coric play that one extra ball did it for him in the end.
Roger was bonkers playing to Coric's backhand so much. It's Coric's better wing by quite some way. Still, that's Roger for you. He rarely has to worrying about playing to another players strengths because he can still win anyway.StottyComment
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That was a cliffhanger. Roger wins even in windy conditions and with his game off.Comment
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I watched Roger play Raonic last year at Wimbledon. It was the best Roger played throughout the tournament. I think it's the best tennis I have ever seen, not just in terms of standard, but also sheer spectacle. What separates Roger from everyone else is not just his talent and movement (though those qualities are immense), it's his feel. He has the most incredible feel. The only other player comparable is McEnroe, who also had exceptional feel.
It's a wonderful thing to watch and no-one else in the world has it in the same measure, or anything like it.StottyComment
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[QUOTE=stotty;n69751]I watched Roger play Raonic last year at Wimbledon. It was the best Roger played throughout the tournament. I think it's the best tennis I have ever seen, not just in terms of standard, but also sheer spectacle. What separates Roger from everyone else is not just his talent and movement (though those qualities are immense), it's his feel. He has the most incredible feel. The only other player comparable is McEnroe, who also had exceptional feel.
It's a wonderful thing to watch and no-one else in the world has it in the same measure, or anything like it.[/QUOTE
Certainly concurLast edited by stroke; 03-18-2018, 03:00 AM.Comment
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Roger Federer versus Anybody (Borna Coric)
Originally posted by stotty View PostOnce Roger Federer decides to hang 'em up we enter into a new era...sans "The Living Proof". There isn't another player currently in the field, injured or healthy, that has the showmanship, the game, the charisma that our Roger Federer has. You have to wonder how did he ever get to this point. Was it fate or was it fortune? Destiny or luck? So it is with human kind...the inevitable question. Is there a God?Originally posted by stotty View Post
Well it seems that every so often God decides to make one just a bit better than the rest. Sometimes it is a lot better. stroke mentions Micheal Jordon. I would say Larry Bird. But it happens every so often. We are very fortunate indeed to have him. Otherwise what else would we have to talk about? See what I mean. It sucks.
Last night here and yesterday in Indian Wells the Swiss Maestro once again validates little old don_budge and his musings. I have been saying all along that it is Roger Federer versus Anybody that is the match to watch and yesterday it certainly validated this with an exclamation point. Borna Coric is not going to go down in history as a charismatic player. After yesterdays match he is going to be the subject of much hype...much ado about not too much I think. He is currently ranked #49 in the world of professional tennis players and surely that number will rise. Great for him and he deserves it. He elevated his game to give us one of the best matches of this year. Certainly the best two out of three set match so far. But let's just see what happens to him next. In Miami. My prediction is another player of his ranking will take dead aim and take him down just as the rest of the Next Generation find it impossible to separate themselves from the herd.
It was all about Roger. Otherwise who gives a flying fuck? Did anyone watch Borna against Kevin Anderson? Against anyone else? He's not that watchable. Sure...nice two handed backhand that just might be as strong or stronger than his forehand. But neither side held up against an even vulnerable Roger Federer who was plum for the picking. All Borna had to do was get the horse in the barn but he couldn't manage it. His nerves kicked in. The wind started to gust a bit. He was looking to his box for something that they couldn't give him. The belief that he could actually defeat this all-time legend on an off day. Early in the desert morning. Federer has only twice played that early in his career and he was heard to joke that eating pasta at 9:15 in the morning was...yummy. What a card. stroke is right again. It isn't hard to agree here. He is as good or almost as good in the interview as he is on the court.
Roger said all of the right things about Borna. He has a great future. He played a wonderful tournament. He put a lot of pressure on him. But in the end it was left up to Roger to dictate how the game was going to be played and it was a simple solution. He couldn't match Borna on this particular day in the consistent power game. Federer looked out of sorts. The unshaven look contributed to this. But he was surly and grouchy. Staring and glaring. Muttering under his breath. Where the hell is my game? He was asking himself the inevitable questions as he struggled to find any kind of form that would endure the entire match. He never found it.
What to do? He starts heaving the kitchen sink into Borna's court. Nothing else seemed to work. The much ballyhooed backhand was lost in the wind. Federer couldn't get a bead on the ball. The forehand was not the usual bang stick it normally is and worst of all...it was the serve. A combination of not having his legs in the match and not having his head in the match entirely, Borna was rising to an occasion that he has dreamed of ever since the last lesson Federer gave him. Well he got another one and this time it entertained the hell out of all of us because he was playing nearly to the best of his ability and he had the old man on the ropes. But the wily veteran did what he was trained to do. He sliced and he diced. He kept the ball in play. On the forehand he was aiming for the middle of the court at times not daring to tempt the lines. He kept the ball in play. Amazing! Over and over it is the sliced backhand that bails him out. He is pounding the drive and like a magician he gets every one to take their eye off of the ball because it is the change of spin, depth, speed and placement of the slice that he throws his opponents rhythm out of whack. In the end he served it out. Just as he so often routinely does. Only the look on his face was different this time...he couldn't quite believe it himself. He surprised himself.
He deserved it of course. It was a crappy day for the star. He didn't have his "feels" as Tiger Woods was heard saying the other day. He was saying he does have his feels he said. stotty tells us that from watching him up close and personal. I would have loved to seen this up close and personal. Because this is what playing tennis is all about. When you don't have the A game...what the hell do you do? Roger Federer showed us what to do. You try the B game and you go through the alphabet. Once the Z game is in the crapper you start heaving the kitchen sink back into the court over an over and just hang in there to be patient and not miss. You say to the other guy...ok, you want to be beat me. Come on...bring it. But I'm not going to hand it over. Not over my dead body. Yesterday we saw a different Roger Federer but one that is just as admirable and I say even more so than the one that was playing Milos Raonic at Wimbledon that day when stotty so him...so sublime. Here was this wonderful tennis player who has been playing so immaculately for so long...playing like crap. Just fucking loving it too. That look on his face at the end said it all...he was so proud of what he had accomplished.
Now it is time to get ready for Juan Martin Del Potro who had a rather easy time of it yesterday. This might even work to his disadvantage. If Roger Federer can find a way to make it so.
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By the way stotty...how are the women doing? Earning their fair share? Ahem...Comment
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No, not much to see over there either right now.Originally posted by don_budge View Post
My wife, who is Italian as you know, says if a match doesn't entertain enough, then it should as in Roman times (in the movies that is); an emperor not entertained points his thumb down to the ground and...well, you know what happens next.
Last edited by stotty; 03-18-2018, 08:26 AM.StottyComment
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Not a great start from Roger. Basically he's playing like yesterday...maybe slightly worse, but against a better opponent...worrying.StottyComment
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Very comfortable so far for Del Potro...playing well....6-4StottyComment
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Roger doesn't look too bothered...bit like yesterday against Coric. He can't seem to get up for it. Something isn't quite right temperamentally....unusual for him.
3-2 up thoughStottyComment
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