TENNIS: Wimbledon - men's semi finals
Jul. 7th, 2012 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllHE DID IT!
First of all, I was not expecting Federer to beat Djokovic after what we'd seen so far in the championship. I was hoping for a five-set match, for various reasons. What I saw in the highlights programme was impressive (even if the quality wasn't maintained throughout the match). He looked imperious at times.
However, I think (rightly or wrongly) that Federer is more beatable now than Djokovic in a grand slam final.
I started watching the Murray vs Tsonga match with Murray fighting to keep the lead of the break in the first set. Which he did. The first two sets were almost eerie. Tsonga didn't look like the number 5 seed, he wasn't settled, he wasn't himself. But Murray was in control. His serving was phenomenal, so although he was taking advantage of Tsonga's inability to string things together, it didn't feel that Tsonga was going to get back. In those sets.
Of course, as we know, Tsonga went off for treatment, maybe Murray started to think about being a set away from the win and all that it meant. Certainly Britain and Mark Petchey were.
And there was that 'loose service game' - I don't know if that's adequate shorthand for what happened, but the result was that Tsonga was up a break just as his play really improved. Murray fought to come back, but couldn't.
In the fourth, I thought that Murray serving first was a real boon, because for all the tension, and thanks to the break points and what it meant, there was a lot of it, the score was not bad. At the business end, Murray was closer to winning than not. But feelings didn't seem to take account of the scoreline. Tsonga was being annoyingly good and the last two sets felt like much more familiar ground than the first two.
But in the last game, Murray got himself into a good position again. Would Tsonga battle out of this? And then that last point and all the Hawkeye drama, and bless Murray, his response said everything (if that ball had been out, how would he have come back? Although he said he knew he'd hit it well.)
So, yes, relief is a big part of the response. But hope too. Hope that Murray will at least perform better in this grand slam final. Hope that he's got enough left after that difficult draw for more. Hope that Lendl's coaching can get him to be more aggressive when he needs to be.
I also hope Radwanska's cold isn't too bad today for her to show up (and do better than Zvonareva did!) and shake up everyone who has been going on and on about Serena. It's totally perverse, because now that Serena has played herself into form, she is being amazing and dominating.
First of all, I was not expecting Federer to beat Djokovic after what we'd seen so far in the championship. I was hoping for a five-set match, for various reasons. What I saw in the highlights programme was impressive (even if the quality wasn't maintained throughout the match). He looked imperious at times.
However, I think (rightly or wrongly) that Federer is more beatable now than Djokovic in a grand slam final.
I started watching the Murray vs Tsonga match with Murray fighting to keep the lead of the break in the first set. Which he did. The first two sets were almost eerie. Tsonga didn't look like the number 5 seed, he wasn't settled, he wasn't himself. But Murray was in control. His serving was phenomenal, so although he was taking advantage of Tsonga's inability to string things together, it didn't feel that Tsonga was going to get back. In those sets.
Of course, as we know, Tsonga went off for treatment, maybe Murray started to think about being a set away from the win and all that it meant. Certainly Britain and Mark Petchey were.
And there was that 'loose service game' - I don't know if that's adequate shorthand for what happened, but the result was that Tsonga was up a break just as his play really improved. Murray fought to come back, but couldn't.
In the fourth, I thought that Murray serving first was a real boon, because for all the tension, and thanks to the break points and what it meant, there was a lot of it, the score was not bad. At the business end, Murray was closer to winning than not. But feelings didn't seem to take account of the scoreline. Tsonga was being annoyingly good and the last two sets felt like much more familiar ground than the first two.
But in the last game, Murray got himself into a good position again. Would Tsonga battle out of this? And then that last point and all the Hawkeye drama, and bless Murray, his response said everything (if that ball had been out, how would he have come back? Although he said he knew he'd hit it well.)
So, yes, relief is a big part of the response. But hope too. Hope that Murray will at least perform better in this grand slam final. Hope that he's got enough left after that difficult draw for more. Hope that Lendl's coaching can get him to be more aggressive when he needs to be.
I also hope Radwanska's cold isn't too bad today for her to show up (and do better than Zvonareva did!) and shake up everyone who has been going on and on about Serena. It's totally perverse, because now that Serena has played herself into form, she is being amazing and dominating.
