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. FARTAY LAVE.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:20PM

  2. CARRACTION, THA SARVE WASH GUD.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:20PM

  3. LAT FARST SEVEECE.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:19PM

  4. WARNANG, CODE VIALATION MISTAR MARRAY.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:18PM

  5. JUICE.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:18PM

  6. FARTAY FAFTHTEEN.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:17PM

  7. TEEM.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:17PM

  8. KNEW BALS PLASE.

    From Donney, on Sat 4 Jul 3:15PM

  9. @ Hatsutking - than you for you kind words ! maybe to­ kind..
    I really don’t want to debate about this,­ because it would be a never-ending story !
    sorry if I­ hurt someone’s fillings about Roger, he is fantastic­ player of course !
    ..but my filling that everything­ easily could have been completely different for Fed­ this spring, is still pretty strong..
    Not saying this­ is undeserved, of course not.. he fought bravely with­ opponents he had on his way ! but luckily he didn’t­ meat some others that he should, by any case..­ definitely ; -)
    ..but of course some knows to grab luck­ strongly, other’s don’t ! he was walking on knife blade­ during RG .. but he made it ! maybe I should prize him­ for that !
    …for instance Bobito you are totally wrong­ with your prediction about what could happened in the­ Semi final.. time will show … this "best ever­ player” will continue to have negative record against­ others from top four.. that is what makes absurd the­ title of “the best ever player” for me.. kapish ;-)

    From Igor K, on Sat 4 Jul 3:13PM

  10. Understand Yiannis's impatience with Igor, who has­ it in for Fed and has been proven wrong, but can't­ believe his total endorsement of Ashit's cr*p.­ Gulbis is rubbish, Wawrinka is rubbish, Ferrero has no­ grass-court skills and the draw was fixed! You sure you­ want to copy and paste that and have it read as your­ opinion, Yiannis?

    From rhymes450, on Sat 4 Jul 2:58PM

  11. Igor, your argument seems to be that Federer cannot be­ the greatest because he hasn't beaten those players­ who weren't good enough to make the finals or, in­ Djokovic's case, the semi-finals. You're not­ making a great deal of sense I'm afraid. Had Nadal­ or Murray been good enough to reach the finals of­ Roland Garros or Wimbledon then we might have known for­ sure. But they weren't and Federer was. Consistency­ is part greatness.

    As for Djokivic, had he made it to­ the semi-final, Federer would have beaten him 6-2, 6-1,­ 4-0 (Djokovic retired with period pains).

    From Bobito, on Sat 4 Jul 2:55PM

  12. People like Reed & some other british press makes­ alot of tennis fans dislike Murray unnecessarily...

    From gboyega o, on Sat 4 Jul 2:39PM

  13. Loc L, post 289. Finally! You are the perfect fan for­ Simon Reed! I know he must be thrilled to read your­ valuable remarks and earthy praise. To match Reed's­ logic, mastery of language, and dignified integrity so­ perfectly as you do and to share it with the world is­ thrilling for us, too.!!! Congratulations, and may your­ receive the Nobel Prize for Analysis in 2010!

    From Hatsutking, on Sat 4 Jul 2:38PM

  14. Hi e-body!
    Simon Reed you are the biggest joke that the­ world of journalism has ever seen!
    I am an Djokovic­ & Murray fan, but I think Mr. Reed should be a lot­ more tempered when it comes to his­ "analysis",and Eurosport must be have to get­ someone else to write this article before they lose­ their credibility.
    Das anybody know what is Reed­ talking about?
    Shame on you Mr S.R. for your Eu sport­ comment!

    From srb.andrea, on Sat 4 Jul 2:33PM

  15. Eat @#$% Reed. Federer is a true sportsman, i doubt he­ will be "dancing around with joy". He would­ have ripped Murray apart in the final.

    From christoffercirillo, on Sat 4 Jul 2:33PM

  16. Yannis, post 290. I enjoy reading most of your post­ about my favorite sport and look for your name to see­ how your logic runs. But you lose it with Igor when you­ call him "stupid" etc..instead of clearly­ explaining your point of view to him. From his posts,­ one sees that he is a great tennis fan, is working with­ his command of English, is passionate (as most of us­ are) about certain players and ideas. Normally, you are­ quite articulate about expressing your point of view so­ that readers can appreciate your thoughts even though­ not always in agreement. Forgive me, I'm a­ professor on vacation and I can't help myself when­ I see one like you who could benefit a great tennis fan­ like Igor if you would give him a break and debate with­ him rather than condemn him. Cheers...and keep posting­ interesting, thought-provoking remarks.

    From Hatsutking, on Sat 4 Jul 2:22PM

  17. The truth is that Murray is one of most overhyped­ tennis players ever.This is a tennis player who has­ never won a grand slam title.His so called young age is­ not an excuse because Nadal is just a year older and he­ has won several grand slam titles.Federer and Murray­ are not in the same class.Both players are incomparable­ and Murray's fans should face reality that Andy­ Murray is no way near being a grand slam champion for­ now.

    From Oyebisi A, on Sat 4 Jul 2:05PM

  18. Transinc - post 164. What a relief to finally hear­ another voice sanely acknowledge that Murray's past­ success in defeating Federer perhaps had to do with The­ Fed's health problem then. Not many people read my­ posts..my fingers are tired from repeating the same­ message over and over. I can rest now because I am sure­ many fans have seen your post and may reconsider their­ own logic. It's unfair to Murray to have such high­ expectations of him at this time if those expectations­ are based on his defeats of an unhealthy maestro of­ tennis. Now that Federer seems to have regained his­ strength, I doubt that even Nadal could have defeated­ him this year on "Federer's Magic­ Carpet," the Wimbledon turf. Having said that, if­ Roddick is in top form Sunday, Federer will have his­ work cut out for him, as he knows.

    From Hatsutking, on Sat 4 Jul 2:00PM

  19. Murray may well become number 2 or 1 in the world but­ that is only secondary,what realy matters in tennis is­ the number and variety of majors that one has­ won...geddit????

    From stavros h, on Sat 4 Jul 1:54PM

  20. Igor....what can I say, you must be one of the more­ naive people that have ever walked on this planet...you­ are making such a fool of yourself man. Maybe­ you're 13years old, that would make it a bit less­ serious, you'd still have time. But if you're­ anythng above that then what can I say..good­ luck.

    Last time Federer played Murray that­ "doesn't suit his game" was less than a­ year ago (which according to you, Federer was already­ finished, Jesus, what stupidity) and he took him apart­ in straight sets. Is that too difficult for you to­ understand and accept? Yes, I know it is...you're­ pretty hopeless.

    From YiannisP, on Sat 4 Jul 1:50PM
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