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Federer Pulls Another Excuse Out of his Pocket in Loss to Murray

October 17, 2010 by Charles Bricker

“That’s at the end what maybe cost me the match, potentially.”

Roger Federer is not beyond finding rationalizations or excuses for some of his losses, including claims of injury, but this one Sunday following his 6-3, 6-2 loss to Andy Murray (in one hour and 25 minutes) really left me scratching my head.

Federer had been victimized by an unfortunate bad call by the baseline linesman on Murray’s side — a call that was exorcised by the Hawk-eye replay challenge system that Federer passionately hates. But we’ll get into that later.

Let’s first set the stage for this semi-controversy.

Federer was serving at 30-40, trailing 3-6, 1-2 when he stroked a swinging forehand volley that, while nicking the baseline, left Murray a play on the ball. That was key. The linesman called out — not loudly, but he did make a call. A bad call.

Murray heard it because after he threw up a short lob off Federer’s swinging volley, he looked right at the linesman. Federer, however, apparently did not hear the call. He slammed Murray’s lob for a winner and thought he had gotten back to deuce.

2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters - Day Seven — Roger Federer

When it became clear to him that there was an out call, he dropped his racket in disgust and called for a challenge, which showed his swinging volley touching the back of the line.

Murray’s play on the ball was key because if he hadn’t had a play on it, Federer would have been awarded the point outright on the successful challenge.

And so, in this situation, he had to defend the break point again and lost the game. Afterward, he tried being gracious to Murray, calling him “a good player” and deserving of the title. But that little bit of irritation that seems to affect so many of his losses crept into the press conference.

“It was a classic bad mistake by the linesperson,” Federer said. “Kind of one of those moments you don’t want to happen so you don’t have to defend a break point twice. That’s at the end what maybe cost me the match, potentially.”

Cost him the match? Had he held serve, Murray would have been up 6-3, 2-2. How does this turn around the match completely?

Murray then came in for his press, and brought a little more common sense to this controversy.

“I felt that has happened to me a lot as well. I mean, if I was him, I would be annoyed, of course. But it didn’t. So, you know, you’ve just got to . . . I mean, as a player, you just have to kind of try to put it to the back of your mind.

“But that’s where the Hawk-eye system at least gave him a chance. Because, if not, it would have been called out and that would have been the game, done.”

The minor irony here is how often Federer has railed against Hawk-eye. While he didn’t hold serve, Hawk-eye gave him the opportunity to salvage that game.

So, was Federer so exasperated by the bad call that he lost his edge and, eventually, was broken to go down 3-1 in the second? We’re talking about one of the game’s finest players. He’s been in these situations before. Maybe it wasn’t a bad call. Maybe it was a net-flopper that left him at break point.

The great ones, as Murray said, put it behind them and move on. I have no doubt Federer refused to let himself be affected by the bad call. Why don’t we just give credit to Murray for eventually breaking (OK, with the help of Hawk-eye).

For you stat freaks, the 85-minute loss by Federer isn’t his quickest in a long time. He was taken down in 82 minutes on clay by Albert Montanes earlier this year.

MEADOWS OF BLUE PAVEMENT WERE STAGES FOR NEW CHAMPS, AND ENOUGH U.S. OPEN DRAMA TO THRILL THE FANS

September 21, 2009 by WTM

Rushing from Flushing, 15 days at the Billie were quite enough. But there were plenty of indelible memories of a very good Open…

Amazing how the USTA stretches a tournament that used to take 10 days in a time before floodlights and tie-breakers. Obviously more days mean more money, but slimmer second week programs. Yet Wimbledon gets it all done in 13 days, without lights and with the middle Sunday off. Moreover the men are properly given a day off between semifinal and final – as at the other three majors. Will the U.S. ever get that right?

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OH, SISTER, THAT NAUGHTY LEFT FOOT

Too bad that Serena was too bad. I was saddened to see such a great player disgrace herself. It was definitely a foot fault – her left foot touching the baseline — regardless of the critical situation. The same rules apply in the last game as anywhere else in a match. Good officials in any sport pay no attention to the score. Imagine how that poor line judge, a tiny Japanese lady, Shino Tsurubuchi, felt after making a routine call, only to be threatened verbally (profanely) and menacingly with upraised racket by enflamed Serena? She must have gulped, “Why did I ever get assigned to this match?” [She was because of her international stature as a match official.]

Even the greatest do dumb things. Had Serena forgotten the warning received when she fractured her racket after losing the first set to Mighty Mama, Kim Clijsters? The second infraction, drawing a point penalty, happened to be match point. Th-th-th-that’s all, folks.

Had she not tiraded, Serena might have retained her title. Protesting the foot fault was silly. How would she know? You don’t look at your feet when you serve. Then the semi got ugly, and a bewildered Clijsters didn’t have to take another swing. She may have thought it was Christmas. Nobody in the women’s game has earned a defeat so flagrantly.

Still, I wonder if the tirade had occurred earlier and the penalty point not costly, would the umpire and referee have had the nerve to rule Serena off with a default? We’ll never know.

The $ 10,500 fine is a pittance to a millionaire. A meaningful suspension is more in order, and may yet be given. I was surprised that Serena was permitted to play the doubles final (won by her and Venus) the following day. In 1995 Jeff Tarango’s acting up at Wimbledon resulted in his being barred the following year from the Big W. Might that happen to Serena in 2010 at Flushing? Unlikely that the USTA would value sportsmanship that highly – and, of course, Tarango was expendable with no marquee value.

Now here’s the kicker: Serena’s just-out memoir is called ”On the Line.”

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DELPO – NEW PARAGON OF THE PAMPAS

Anyway the fallen (at least for a day) nonpareil, Roger Federer, also didn’t keep his lip buttoned. Hardly noticed was his $ 1500 fine for rotten language during the loss of his championship to the new Paragon of the Pampas, Juan Martin Del Potro.

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THE OLD PARAGON VILAS CELEBRATES

The old Paragon, Guillermo Vilas, 57, was on hand to celebrate, recalling his 1977 upset of defender Jimmy Connors, the last championship match in the Forest Hills Stadium before the move to the Meadow. It was wild. Jubilant Latinos invaded the court to carry Guillermo about the arena like a triumphant matador while Jimmy sulked, running into the night and avoiding the presentation ceremony.

Even though Juan Martin was woozily nervous in the first set – it took him 11 minutes to blow the second game, 4 deuces, of the match, clunking 10 first serves – he overcame the jitters and remembered Paris. There he nearly beat Federer in the semis (6-4 in the 5^th), and the memory warmed him, blocking out his 0-6 record against Roger. Although the substantial number of Latinos in the full-house of 24,821 didn’t rush the court as in Vilas’s day, their singing of soccer fight songs, and loud urging encouraged him. He fed off them, and by the 4^th set the big Argentine with a big, big forehand was feeling bigger than his 6-feet-7 inches while the champ was feeling the heat, and wilting. The outcome: 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in 4:06.

Federer entered in his championship black outfit, which made him seem Death-on-the-hoof to the last roundup victims of 2004-05-06-07-08. However, so did Del Potro, the first of them to look down on favored Roger.

“Delpo,” as his amigos call him, is the third of his land to conquer the U.S. We must not – how could we? – forget the Divine Argentine, Gabriela Sabatini, who lifted the title from Steffi Graf in 1990.

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FOR BUENO A GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

From neighboring Brazil, slim, effortless Maria Bueno, the Sao Paulo Swallow, was saluted on the 50^th anniversary of her U.S. championship. You don’t see her like in this era of baseline-bang-bang-bangers. Maria seemed to float across the court, but delivered winning serve-and-volley punch.

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BIG BILL TILDEN’S GHOST GLOATS

Was Big Bill Tilden smiling in his Philadelphia grave or wherever his ghost hangs out? Maybe the ghost muttered, “Muy bien jugado, gracias!” in Del Potro’s direction. Delpo had protected Tilden’s 84-year-old record: 6 straight U.S. championships (1920 – 25) as well as 42 consecutive match wins up to a quarter-final loss in 1926 to Frenchman Henri Cochet. Roger came close to catching up, folding by a set, settling for 5 straight, which seems almost ghostly in itself. Like Tilden, Roger has all the shots – and the shorts, surely more comfortable than Big Bill’s white flannel trousers of that day.

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HIGH FIVES FOR DENT IN TERRIFIC WIN

Probably the most entertaining match of the tournament was qualifier Taylor Dent’s second round victory by a whisker over Spaniard Ivan Navarro, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, 7-6 (11-9). Lucky were the folks in the Grandstand who witnessed a shotmaking smorgasbord. How sweet it was for Californian Dent, who hadn’t played the Open for 5 years. Beset by injuries, 2 back surgeries, he was told he was through. Nevertheless, he was back with his daring serve-and-volley style. Since Navarro had the same ideas, they were constantly at each other’s jugular’s, ever attacking, a singular gambling style seldom seen that worked for both.

Taylor, ducking a couple of match points in the hairy concluding tie-breaker, finished it with a brilliant winner, a backhand return down the line. He was so excited that he grabbed the umpire’s microphone to thank the onlookers, then made 2 victory laps, high-fiving just about everybody. Hadn’t seen anything that feel-good since Vilas’s 1977 coronation.

CAN I PICK ‘EM OR WHAT?

So much for prognostication. My picks, Andy Murray and Elena Dementieva, were gone not long after they arrived. Andy was a bust, seemingly wandering in a trance, so bad that he even startled foe Marin Cilic. Maybe last year’s finalist succumbed after all to the pressure of the United Kingdom on his shoulders. But he has time.

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ELENA: FALLS IN OUDIN’S RUSSIAN WAR

Elena was a victim of the war on Russia waged by Melanie the Menacing Maid of Marietta (Georgia). She was the first week’s pheenom heroine, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin. A mere teeny of 5-feet-5 and ranked No. 70, she brought down four higher-ranked Russians – Nos. 26-4-29-13 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova – wowing the fans by rebounding from a set behind in the last three. There she was in the quarters, which lacked an American man for the first time in tourney history, and pushing Sharapova to a female tournament record. It was one you wouldn’t want: 21 double faults.

Eventually the aged (19) Caroline Wozniacki sent Oudin back to Georgia, and became a tough final round adversary for Mighty Mom, 7-5, 6-3, who trailed 2-4 and 5-4 in the first set, but broke to 5-5, held through 2 break points to 6-5, and broke again to keep a lead never relinquished.

What’s going on? Kim, away from the game for over 2 years, producing an heir, plays a couple of tournaments – then beats both Sisters and claims a second title four years after her first, on the loss of 2 sets! How do you figure that? Sneaking in the back door as a wild card, unranked, the lone unseeded

woman to wear the U.S. crown, she was only sensational. Is she a miracle worker or has the female opposition declined?

I go for the former. It was as though Kim had never left the office. Her Meadows winning streak is 14. A wrist injury prevented her from defending in 2006, whereupon love and marriage took over. Thus charming little Jada’s old lady, 26, became the 7^th mother to win a major singles after childbirth.

Most recent had been Aussie Evonne Goolagong, Wimbledon, 1980. The list: Englishwoman Dolly Chambers, 7 time Wimbledon champ between 1903 and 1914; American Hazel Wightman, U.S., 1919; American Sarah Palfrey Cooke, U.S., 1945; American Margaret duPont, U.S., 1950; Aussie Margaret Court, U.S., 1973.

Nice to have Mighty Mom back.

Wozniacki has become a genuine contender, the only Dane to go so far in the U.S. since Jan Leschly lost a men’s semi to Clark Graener in 1967. (Incidentally, Graebner, losing a 1966 quarter-final, saved American men from being shut out of the last 8 for the first time, a fate avoided until this year’s embarrassing Zero).

Does any gal hit balls harder than the other Belgian in the semis, 19-year-old 6-footer Yanina Wickmayer? She was another surprise, ranked No. 50. A bit of a screamer, too, but it’s soft and amusing, coming out “Whoopee!”

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A ROOF, A ROOF, MY KINGDOM…

Naturally there was much talk about a roof after the second Friday’s rainout, and a wet 8 ½ hour delay on Saturday. Unfortunately the USTA bigshots apparently slept through their visit to Melbourne in 1988, the year the Australian Open grew up, debuting a principal stadium with retractable roof and 15,000 seats, ideal for viewing. Instead of copying the plans, the USTA-ers built that monstrosity, Ashe Stadium. It is too big to add an affordable roof.

What to do? Do as the Romans did when they built the Colosseum a few centuries ago. They beat the rain with a canvas lid that opened and closed with a system of ropes and pulleys. (Slaves, perhaps difficult to find these days, pulled the ropes.)

Forget Wimbledon and Australia. Look to Rome for an inexpensive solution, and here’s hoping that the 2010 Open will be as eventful as this one.

Clijsters comes through again, reaches Open semis

September 8, 2009 by WTM

Kim Clijsters pulled off another upset that didn’t really look like one. Now, she’s only two wins from a U.S. Open title hardly anyone could have seen coming.

The mother of 18-month-old Jada, Clijsters dismantled 18th-seeded Li Na, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals Tuesday, punishing China’s top tennis star with deep, stinging groundstrokes that were part of a game that looked about like it did when Clijsters retired two years ago.

Or maybe better.

The 26-year-old Belgian is back at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2005, when she won the tournament, and now has a winning streak of 12 matches at Flushing Meadows. Her next match will be against the winner between No. 2 Serena Williams and No. 10 Flavia Pennetta.

Clijsters has already beaten No. 3 Venus Williams and two other seeded players, and nothing seems like too big a stretch at this point.

“I’m glad I got through it again, stayed focused on my game,” Clijsters said. “I wanted to be aggressive and I think that’s what helped winning those important points today.”

The few important points there were in this one came midway through the second set, after Clijsters had lost a break to turn a 3-1 lead into a 4-4 tie. Li responded with four unforced errors to give away the ninth game and the match was over a few minutes later.

Clijsters became the first unseeded player to make the U.S. Open semifinals since Elena Dementieva in 2000. Clijsters was unranked because she hadn’t played enough tournaments in her comeback to get on the board, but she’ll be in the low-50s or better when the next rankings come out.

As efficient as she has been—moving better now than she did when she was constantly battling injuries toward the end of her last stint—her run through this tournament might also be seen as a statement about the state of women’s tennis.

Serena Williams is the only top-five seed left. Three of the players on the opposite side of the draw—the “Melanie Oudin side”—are ranked 50 or higher, joined by No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki. All are playing in their first major quarterfinals.

“I saw her when she came back in her first tournament,” Li said, referring to Clijsters. “I knew she was at a high level. She’s much stronger than other girls, so I knew, if she was going to come back, it must be a strong comeback.”

The men’s tournament, meanwhile, is going much more to form.

Roger Federer breezed through his fourth-round match Monday with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 14 Tommy Robredo for his 38th straight win at the U.S. Open. The world’s top player is going for his sixth straight title at Flushing Meadows.

Clijsters’ match was followed by one between No. 2 Andy Murray and No. 16 Marin Cilic.

Third-seeded Rafael Nadal, winning less impressively so far—possibly because of an abdominal injury that caused him to call for the trainer in his last match—had a match against No. 13 Gael Monfils later Tuesday.