The OtherArena

[DalyCityTrain]

Federer goes down, 2 sets to 1, to Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

[guren]

Absolutely stunning result. I agree with Jon Wertheim of SI that Federer's loss is more surprising than Nadal's.

Roger Federer stunned in the second round at Wimbledon

glenn

[jdw]

He's 32 in little over a month. 1 title out of the last 14 GS, and just a total of two *finals* in that run.

He's won 15 titles total titles since then, GS and other included. But finals wins over the top guys:

2- Djokovic
2 - Murray
1 - Nadal

5 of 15 against the top 3, and the other 10 against Other Guys. I'd have to dig deeper into the tournies to see if he knocks one of those two off in the SF, but...

Is winning 6 titles last year a false illusion? Does anyone want to see Roger go from as high as he was to this level?

I'm surprised he's still playing. I always thought he would go the way of Borg: walk away when he couldn't be #1. I thought 2011 would be it.

[DalyCityTrain]

The Wimbledon Semi between Djokovic and Del Potro was in the **** to ****1/2 range.

All the matches are archived on the ESPN Free site.

[jdw]

And it looks like Murray dropped the first set of his semi after that comeback in the QF.

[jdw]

Djokovic-Murray in the Final. 2012-13 big matches:

2012 Australian Open (SF): Djokovic 6–3, 3–6, 6–7 (4–7), 6–1, 7–5
2012 Olympics (SF): Murray 7–5, 7–5
2012 US Open (F): Murray 7–6 (12–10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2
2013 Australian Open (F): Djokovic 6–7 (2–7), 7–6 (7–3), 6–3, 6–2

The also met in the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals, but in the Round-Robin rather than the Finals or SF so I didn't list it as a "big" match even if the tourney was a big one. That one was tight as well, though.

They went 4:50+ in time in their 2012 Slam meetings, and 3:40 in the Aussie this year. So be prepared for a potential long one. :)

Full history is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djokovic%E2%80%93Murray_rivalry#Singles

[Tomer]

I'm honestly impressed with the Bryan Brothers marching towards (potentially) becoming the first Open Era men's team to do a calendar year grand slam. Here's hoping they pull it off in Flushing this August/September! :D

[DalyCityTrain]

Janowicz did start really well against Murray in their SF. Instead of a tight, memorable match or a Murray blowout, it was something almost as cool: a long, slow burn into the middle of the 3rd set where Janowicz appeared to have an edge and if anything had been dictating the match, and then Murray completely turned the set and momentum around in ten minutes. Especially with the Wimbledon crowd behind him, it was really neat to see.

Still, I'd have to favor Djokovic in the Final. Murray's two wins last year at The Olympics and in the US Open Final came when he was playing the best tennis of his life, and he seems to have come back down to Earth just a little since then. The crowd being on Murray's side could be a factor, but Djokovic seems pretty indomitable, like even when an opponent plays great it isn't enough.

I hope it turns into another great 5 set match. Any Wimbledon final that gets past 6-6 in the 5th set is almost guaranteed to be an all-time classic. Djokovic and Murray are either at or near the point in their careers where they're suited for a clash-of-the-titans match like that, especially if Murray can find the "higher level" that he hit late last year.

[jdw]

Super impressive.

[Tomer]

With Murray getting his second championship and becoming the first UK player since Fred Perry (in 1936) to win Wimbledon, he's secured himself along with Djokovic as the new rivals, replacing Federer and Nadal. There's a chance that Federer and Nadal may win a few more titles combined (although I think if either of them will, Nadal will probably win 1-2 more at the French, securing the all-time French champion status over Max Decugis and possibly hitting 10 French Opens, which would be one more than Martina Navratilova's Wimbledon's singles wins in terms of all-time singles championships wins in a single tournament).

[jdw]

The was an super gripping 3rd set. Can't remember being that tense about a straight set match. Djokovic coming back from the break, Murray looking gassed and gimmpy, I was feeling that if he rolled over in that set he'd get roasted in the 4th before trying to rally in the 5th. Then he stormed back, Djokovic looked rocked all the way to the final game and 40-Love. Then Murray looked to tighten, Djokovic made an epic stand as the crowd was going bonkers for Murray... and once again it felt that if Djokovic would take that game that Murray would tailspin for a long stretch. Instead he fought off break points, some great play and blew the lid off the joint with the win.

Pretty amazing. Glad I got up early for that... very much one to remember. :)

[guren]

With his quarterfinals loss to Nadal in the Western & Southern Open, Federer will drop to #7 in the ATP rankings, his lowest ranking in 11 years. I watched the first set of the match and Federer looked great. He was beating Rafa from the baseline with excellent forehands in all directions. But, apparently Rafa picked it up from there as he is wont to do.

The U.S. Open looks to be wide open this year. It would be hard to pick a winner out of Djokovic, Murray and Nadal. Del Potro is also playing well and I wouldn't be surprised if he won it.

glenn

[guren]

Wow. It's the 3rd round of a major and there will be no Roger and no Rafa. I could probably call myself a young man the last time that happened.

Rafael Nadal pulls out of French Open with wrist injury

glenn

[guren]

Roger Federer will sit rest of season, OIympics due to knee

Unfortunately, I think it is now more likely than not that Roger will finish his career with 17 major titles. It would be great if he could win at least one more before he retires. I thought it might happen this year at Wimbledon after Djokovic was beaten, but Roger couldn't finish it off against Raonic in the semis.

glenn

[guren]

Hey John, were you able to watch the Djokovic vs Monfils match? If so, any comments about the way Monfils played? Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch it, but obviously Monfils has caught a lot of heat for a perceived lack of effort.

glenn