Wimbledon 2012

[MegaBob]

Or Hantuchova... don.

 

[BORK]

Amidoingitright?

 

[MegaBob]

 

[Doctor Feel]

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Federer 53 from 68 at the net went a long way to winning the match. If he didn't produce those brilliant drop volleys at the end of the 2nd set, he probably would've been down 2 sets and basically gone. I hope John McEnroe was watching very closely

 

[Andronicus]

Any time a williams wins, the rest of the world dies a little.

 

[BORK]

We saw the difference when the roof was shut. Also notice his Djokovic victory was under the roof. He may have another Wimbledon in him on a rainy day against Nadal or Djokovic.

 

[jod23]

Amazing by Federer. I got home from work to pick things up after the rain delay. Apparently Fed was a bit off and Murray was playing well in the first two sets. But then Federer just went to that other level that nobody really has. He was playing some ridiculous shots. Literally ridiculous. The drop shot from deep, the half volley down the line from behind the baseline and then the fake dropshot/deep volley that totally fooled everybody including Murray. The guy is a freak.

Im made up for him though. The last couple of years have been tough, hasnt won a major since the AO in 2010. Everybody thought he couldnt win another one. To end one short of the Wimbledon record and one week shy of the most weeks at No1 record aswell. All these things seemed beyond him. But then here he is, Wimbledon champion again. World number 1 again. G.O.A.T. No doubt about it. Love the bloke.

On Andy, felt for him, he will be back though. Plus I cant feel too bad when he gets to go home with his GF who UNBELIEVABLE!

 

[jod23]

Also, im team Kate. Easily over Pippa.

But id also rather Andy Murray's gf over either of the Middletons. She is smoking!

 

[JolyV]

Quality match, love those Fed drop volleys

 

[rose jam]

Fed was on top before the roof shut. If it was going to help anyone it would have been Murray because his energy was going down and Fed had the light court movement going. The flow of the match basically continued after they recommenced.
Murray doesn't have the look of a winner yet, he can't work himself out of a bad patch against these guys.

 

[red+black]

You guys are crazy. Mirka is where it's at

 

[Macca19]

I feel sorry for Murray, but at least he won a set this time. Fed though.....a true legend and should rightfully be considered now the greatest.

 

[Plugger35]

I felt a bit sorry for Murray as well, poor bastard must get sick of always being the bridesmaid to Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. He is a good tennis player but just not quite as good as those three guys and unfortunately for him one of them always denies him at the pointy end of grand slams.

Didn't care much for Murray's crying afterwards though, seemed a bit fake to me. The Poms will probably love him more for that but the Scots won't, I could see them watching that and saying "stop ya blubberin' Murray ya big weak jessie"

 

[Caesar]

Lendl has turned Murray into a much better player. FH is a bigger weapon, first serve more consistent, second serve more dangerous. Much better body language, more mentally together. Seems like he has finally found a coach he is willing to listen to, and who knows how to improve his game.

Although he sort of fell apart a bit in that third set, I'm more convinced now than I was before the match that Murray has what it takes to win Slams.

Actually tempted to go out and put some speculative money on him to win the Olympics, depending on how the odds are. Think he's grown a lot during this tournament, and he is a much better player over 3 sets than 5.

 

[Starlin Castro]

http://www.isandymurraystillbritish.com/

 

[crowsarethebest]

Lendl has turned Murray into a much better player. FH is a bigger weapon, first serve more consistent, second serve more dangerous. Much better body language, more mentally together. Seems like he has finally found a coach he is willing to listen to, and who knows how to improve his game.

Although he sort of fell apart a bit in that third set, I'm more convinced now than I was before the match that Murray has what it takes to win Slams.

Actually tempted to go out and put some speculative money on him to win the Olympics, depending on how the odds are. Think he's grown a lot during this tournament, and he is a much better player over 3 sets than 5.

He came out all cylinders firing, agressive, flattening out his forehand and crushing the ball in the first set. However after that I felt he fell into his old habits a bit more. He was pushing the ball back a bit more, was a lot more passive etc. He let Federer dictate play. I'm certain Lendl told him to stay aggressive and go for it but with so much on the line, after winning the first set and with the momentum in the 2nd he got a sniff of victory he went back into his shell a bit- not as much as he used to but enough to hand Federer the ascendency. In the 4th his serve fell apart and his 2nd serve got exposed. He still needs to work on it, his first serve is massive, his 2nd is lollipop, especially since it's not that fast and he doesn't get a huge amount of kick/spin on his serve. Still lands short a fair few times as well. He's improved though, but slowly. I think he'll definitely be challenging in the next couple of years still though. Winbledon his home slam is his best bet. I've just got a hunch that next years Aussie Open might be his time. Dunno why but every new year things change a bit and in a new year he'll be primed and even more determined.

 

[bombermick]

The biggest difference between Murray and the big 3 is that the later can themselves out of tough spots, particulary Rafa and Nole. Fed dug himself out of a hole, but when the momentum swung, Murray couldn't dig himself in and let the pressure get to Rog.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Massively disagree. Pippa has never looked that good, let alone remotely in the same league as her sister.

She did today. As long as her large forehead is covered up, she looks alright.

But mostly because Kate just didn't look that good in the head on shots.

 

[Spitta09]

Actually tempted to go out and put some speculative money on him to win the Olympics, depending on how the odds are. Think he's grown a lot during this tournament, and he is a much better player over 3 sets than 5.

The men's final is still played best of 5 sets though

 

[Caesar]

In the 4th his serve fell apart and his 2nd serve got exposed. He still needs to work on it, his first serve is massive, his 2nd is lollipop, especially since it's not that fast and he doesn't get a huge amount of kick/spin on his serve. Still lands short a fair few times as well. He's improved though, but slowly.

I think his second serve is underrated. Prior to the final, he had the best % for points won on 2nd serve of anyone at the tournament.

For me, the problem was simply his 1st serve %. No matter how good your 2nd serve is, if you keep giving someone like Federer a look at it then they're going to punish you. You simply can't beat the top guys without getting around 75% of your first serves in.

I am really keen to see how Murray goes at the USO. For all the talk of him being a pusher, I really feel like he is most dangerous on faster courts. Maybe because it encourages him to be aggressive and makes use of his versatility. Despite his historical results, I somehow feel he has a better chance there than on the dead Plexicushion at Melbourne Park.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

As much as I dislike the English and Murray, I felt sorry for him in that speech. He is still 25 and has plenty of time to win a slam.

 

[Paranoid]

As much as I dislike the English and Murray, I felt sorry for him it that speech. He is still 25 and has plenty of time to win a slam.

Funny how Lendl also lost his first 4 finals. I think he was also around 25 when he won his first grand slam final. And he went on to win 8 or so. You'd think Murray will snag 1 or 2 sooner or later.

 

[Caesar]

He is still 25 and has plenty of time to win a slam.

Agreed. On the other hand... that's what we said about Philippoussis when he lost the 1998 USO to Pat Rafter as a 21 year old. He looked sure to win one if not multiple Slams at some stage... ranked top 30, youngest player in top 50, regularly giantkilling and well on his way to top 10. We all know what happened there.

To take a more extreme example - Jim Courier. July 1993 he was 22, world number one and had been in 9 of the last 12 Grand Slam/WTF finals. He'd won 4 Grand Slams in less than 2 years and had just become the youngest man ever to make the finals of all 4 majors (a record he still holds).

If you had told me then that poor old Jim would play for another 7 years and never make the final of another Masters event, let alone a Grand Slam, I would have laughed in your face.

Point being, you never know what's around the corner. Hope Murray's career continues to improve.

 

[Mint Condition]

Well you can't say for sure whether or not Murray will win a slam but I think he's already proved to be a much more consistent player than Philippoussis ever was. What he has in his favour is that the current generation of 19-22 year olds aren't really challenging. There doesn't seem to be any big standouts coming through. I think he should have at least another 3 years or so in at least the top 5 and in that time he'll get chances where the draw will open up for him. The strangle hold of the top 3 will undoubtedly loosen. I actually believe he'll win multiple slams...it's just getting the first one that's going to be hardest. The final last night will help him somewhat because even though he lost, he played pretty well. If he'd wilted under the pressure again it might have been too much mentally. I think he'll win next year's Australian Open.