Woman's semis are over but there was still a lot of residual talk about Federer's loss Wednesday. And the key stat: 11 unforced errors. To the Fed Lovers, this means that their man played well and was simply beaten by a player in the zone. To the more skeptical, it means that Federer was too passive and didn't go for his shots.
Most surprisingly Federer did not change anything in his game to come up with some solutions of his own,chip and charge and most importantly attack his backhand as Joe was doing to him.
I remembered one time in US open 2007, he was playing Lopez , Lopez won the first set, Federer was still going on his forehand, his(Lopez's) strength, Federer did not care, FED is stubborn sometimes, he wants to beat you with his strength only but sometimes you need to play opponent's weakness.
Yesterday mostly he was mesmerized by level of Joe's play and probably was thinking Joe can not keep this level whole match. But you need to change your game plan, somehow all this happened too quickly for him.
Anyways Fed is playing real well and is in good form and he might get a shot at US open, where he might get good breaks and players from this continent only for his matches in that sense.
I don't think anyone was beating Tsonga the way he played yesterday. Those last 90 minutes comprised a tennis clinic. Sensational serving complemented by strong play in the rallies, strong returns and largely successful ventures to the net. But I can't help think: where were these "zone" matches against Federer in 2004-08? OK, the competition has gotten better and bolder lately. But how come Federer seldom, if ever, looked on helplessly as an opponent played lights out? He always seemed to have an answer. He also seemed to be able to ride out a hot set before prevailing. Yesterday, he seemed almost resigned that it wasn't his day.
The big question is whether he'll win another Slam. I still say it's possible. You don't have to beat everyone in the field; you only have to beat the seven guys in front of you. Plus you can catch some real breaks. Look at Federer's 2009 Wimbledon draw, for instance, and tell me he wouldn't go through those opponents today. But it's looking like more and more has to go right for that to happen.
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