As comfortable as they come for Federer
July 3, 2005Federer disposed off the number 2 ranked Hewitt in the semis with comfort and the final, if any thing, looked a much more of a comfortable win for Federer. Now Roddick has not lost a single match in the past two and half years on grass except the 3 times on grass including today. So he is the indisputable no. 2 on grass.
What is astonishing is how much of a gap there is between the number 2 and number 1. Roddick certainly reckons the same :
He’s become such a complete player, even since he beat me in the semi-finals two years ago. He’s improved so much since then.
Federer is calm, he is relaxed and has all the strokes. There are already murmurs of comparison between Sampras and Federer. Sampras had to deal with great tennis players on grass – Becker, Ivanisevic, Agassi (no muck on grass), Rafter, Krajicek and others I might have left out.
Federer has had Hewitt, Roddick and no one really. Safin hasn’t ever been comfortable on grass but he showed some comfort level this time around atleast. Maybe he can improve. Ancic is a better hope but till he or any one else does show the required mettle, every thing is speculation.
McEnroe rightly says that the two may be compared after Federer wins as many Wimbledon titles as Sampras. Amritraj is more generous and says that he should win atleast half the titles. So we lay the comparisons to rest.
Coming back to this year’s Wimbledon, BBC Sport has an article on wheel chair tennis in Wimbledon this year. Certainly a positive addition.
From BBC Sport:
Although there have been exhibition games at Wimbledon over the past couple of years, this is the first competitive wheelchair tournament at the venue and the first grass-court tournament in the world
And the rules are the same except a slight alteration the ball can bounce twice - although the first bounce must be within the court confines.
The roof will be set in Wimbledon finally in 2009. Amritraj points out that the roof should be allowed on all courts or to all matches in a specific round. Else it is different conditions for different people which easily isn’t the way to go.
Wimbledon is not over yet as Bhupathi and Pierce have won their mixed doubles match and are playing the final in a center court far more empty obviously. So if you have not managed to get a seat in center court all fortnight and still wish to do so, now is probably the easiest opportunity. It is also one of the last times you will be able to see proper doubles rule scoring in a tennis match. The scoring system changing to reduced games in sets and reduced matches is madness.
