Wimbledon - Reed: Federer will be dancing with joy

Eurosport - Sat, 04 Jul 20:52:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Simon Reed expects Wimbledon finalist Roger Federer to be ecstatic after Andy Roddick beat Briton Andy Murray.

TENNIS andy roddick (usa) having beaten andy murray at 2009 wimbledon's semifinal. NOTxINxCHN - 0

Right now, I expect that Roger Federer will be dancing around in his hotel room because Andy Roddick beating Britain's Andy Murray represents the perfect result for him.

Of late, Federer has enjoyed good matches against Roddick, which the Swiss has invariably won; and Federer crushed the sixth seed in both of their previous meetings in a Wimbledon final.

I expect the five-times champion to win the final pretty easily now, and that is a real shame because a Murray-Federer final would have been enthralling.

The atmosphere of the final is clearly not going to be as big as it would if Murray had won the semi-final, and Roddick-Federer matches rarely make for good contests - but at least the American will not go down without a fight.

I think that Federer will feel more pressure in this final than in other years because he is attempting to overhaul Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slams.

On the other hand, Roddick has no pressure at all because he will view whatever happens in the final as a bonus.

I really feel that having no pressure may well suit Roddick, and he will be able to go out on Centre Court and swing freely.

In the semis the pressure was all on Murray and, although I felt that the Brit coped with it well, Roddick simply had nothing to lose.

The match was on a knife-edge, and could have gone either way, but Roddick had just enough aggression to take him through.

I think Roddick over-performed, producing a very mature performance to out-think Murray.

Murray's second serve was pretty vulnerable at times, and Roddick attacked it at every opportunity.

Normally when the match reaches its defining moments, Murray steps up his intensity and becomes more aggressive, but not in this match.

In the tie-breaks he was quite tentative, and in the games leading up to them he struck me as pretty passive in his approach.

Murray paid the price for his hesitancy at times, but credit to Roddick for seizing the initiative.

Roddick completely surprised me with the manner of his performance, and he always found a way of responding to Murray's advances and countering them.

This will go down as a pretty big shock, as I never really saw Roddick as someone who could reach another Grand Slam final.

It was an outstanding effort from the American, and a lot of credit must go to his coach Larry Stefanki, who got such a good performance from his player.

The feature of Roddick's game which surprised me the most was the quality of his backhand, which was magnificent today and put Murray on the back foot.

I think Murray will have been pretty content with what he did out there, but there are a few things he probably would have done differently in hindsight.

When he looks back on the match, I think he will feel as though he was not attacking enough when it really came down to the crunch.

Murray will rue the fact that he was not aggressive enough, and he played a few of the key points with too little venom.

People will write off the Scot at their peril, because his performance graph in Grand Slams is only going up and up.

I would certainly not be surprised if Murray was knocking on the door to be world number one before too long.

I think he could well be the world number two very shortly, and the number one in a year or so - do not doubt that he can achieve that.

Simon Reed / Eurosport

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    rAFA IS A LOSER!!!HEHEHEHE RAFA IS OUT!

    From Bratu, on Sat 4 Jul 5:11PM

  2. A HOV TAY SAY SIMON REED AS WARSE THON PAUL PERKAR. NOS­ ABSALATLAY FACK AL ABOOT TANNAS. I OM AN ANDAY MARRAY­ SAPPARTER CAZ A OM A SCOTTASH BTYE BAT A FINK WEE ANDAY­ WAD HOV BEN RAPED OP THA BAM BAY RADGAR HOD A GOT FROO.­ RADDACK STONDS A BATTAR CHONCE BAT NAT MACH AV WAN.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 5:05PM

  3. Yes, it's easy to put the thumbs down and the­ thumbs up. I do it sometimes. Unfortunately we all got­ only one chance per post, even in a tiebreak.

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Sat 4 Jul 5:00PM

  4. Reed is an idiot!

    From Joe, on Sat 4 Jul 5:00PM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    WANNA meet your clas sy ha lf?
    you can log on __C­ lassyMingle c om___. many nice and sing le people you­ will meet. Do not miss the love in your lifetime

    From Click F, on Sat 4 Jul 4:57PM

  6. Amazing.Federer is going to win two grand slams in a­ row without having to play another player inside the­ top four.

    From hollowlands65, on Sat 4 Jul 4:49PM

  7. cero, I think we can expect other expressions than­ words of (as I am quite sure we all can understand Reed­ meaning joy to be malicious joy paired together with­ the word dancing) from a professional columnist. Relief­ then would be the proper word, although I think that­ Federer would have liked to meet Murray as he would­ have liked to meet Nadal as well. After all, the goal­ of a contender is not to challenge those already beaten­ 100 times before, but the opposite. As an example: Why­ else would Sampras have wanted to challenge Federer?

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Sat 4 Jul 4:46PM

  8. why are people so angry to Reed? Is he saying something­ wrong right now? Nomally,I wouldn't agree with this­ thoughts but this time,he is true in my­ opinion.

    whoever thinks that Roger isn't happy to­ face Roddick in a GS final doesn't know much about­ tennis in my opinion.Just look at their matches and­ decide if Roger would prefer Murray or Roddick.I have­ no doubts that Roger is really dancing with joy in my­ opinion.I would be happy to be proven wrong and see­ Roddick win his second Grand Slam but that's not­ gonna happen...

    From cero, on Sat 4 Jul 4:34PM

  9. The Federer questioning, again...
    Sometimes it seems as­ if there is a lack of understanding here: Things could­ have been different if Federer hadn't been winning­ his matches and tournaments. Of course they would. And­ things could have been different if Federer hadn't­ been losing the other matches and tournaments.­ Federer's participation in the last 6 year's­ semifinals and finals (including mononucleosis and back­ injuries) speaks his own language and that language­ nobody else can speak.

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Sat 4 Jul 4:26PM

  10. Simon Reed: You are nothing but just a simple joke..I­ am glad that ugly Scot was knocked out by AR...Andy­ Murray will go down and down from now­ on...Sımon, would you like to go back to the­ basics? What does the book say?

    From donmusto, on Sat 4 Jul 4:26PM

  11. hhhmmmm
    reverse psychology...
    Mr. Reed wrote negative­ write ups which is not very true...
    so that Federer­ supporters will got angry...
    and pay the attention to­ Murray who he refer to be the only one can beat­ Federer.
    Maybe... he just want to put down Murray by­ using Federer and his supporter...
    because the Scot and­ Brits issue.

    From oj m, on Sat 4 Jul 4:20PM

  12. Who gave this Reed guy a whole colunm ,any way?

    From Human Nature, on Sat 4 Jul 4:16PM

  13. And you wonder why people just find brits­ distastefull?

    Yeah,Federer would have shaking in his­ pants had Murray made it to the final and not Roddick.­ He would have been frightened to face the lesser player­ that is murray as oposed to Roddick who is the better­ player.

    If Roddick could move Murray left and right of­ the court to the point that Murray could barely move by­ the end of the match,just Imagine what Federer could do­ to the same Murray.

    From Human Nature, on Sat 4 Jul 4:12PM

  14. 313-NO NAT A WURD.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 4:02PM

  15. I FANCAY THA PANTS AF SUE BERKAR. GAWD SHE MAKS MAY­ HARNAY.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 4:01PM

  16. Glad that scottish @#$% lost now we can have a­ good final

    From jjmalone, on Sat 4 Jul 3:57PM

  17. DONNEY .. DO YOU KNOW ENGLISH?

    From ozlenhakan, on Sat 4 Jul 3:43PM

  18. who is this stupid reed ?? simon
    shame on him
    yes­ federer is gr8 player will not dancing if a a hard­ player went out no
    federer from the begin wanted rafa­ (who is better than murray ) to play with
    what is ur­ problem people ??
    if sampras and agassi are good­ players he beated both of them
    he did that again with­ murray in us open
    did u forget that ?
    what waht what is­ ur problrm with federer ?
    federer has 14 G.S and all of­ them that means he is better than agassi and sampras­
    so what ? murray was not able to beat verdasco in­ australlia open ?
    so who r u to talk about federer ?­ like that
    i am sure that federer know roddick is­ better than murray only in this ground
    so if he is­ dancing
    that is because he will face a player with G.S­ not a player still dreaming of one
    please simon u r­ nothing in tennis
    federer will be in the history of­ tennis but u no on1 will remeber u hahahah
    so shut up­ ur mouth and stop crying over murray
    he is only 22­ years old and maybe 1 day he will be able to take any­ G.S

    From maia, on Sat 4 Jul 3:33PM

  19. SERENA WALLIANS LEEDS BAY FREE GAMES TAY 2, SACAND SAT­ OND BAY WAN SAT TAY LAVE.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:22PM

  20. SACAND WARNANG CODE VIALATION MISTAR MARRAY. MARRAY:­ ' FACK AFF'.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:21PM
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