Tsonga comeback stuns Federer in 5
"There's nothing Federer can do." Never has former world number 4 Tim Henman be more right. That was the case when Tsonga sealed the 4th set against Federer to level the match. The crowd, strangely, rooting for the Frenchman against their own beloved Swiss maestro. It was an odd feeling as the fans loved the fight back from Tsonga but when he immediately broke Federer in the deciding set, the 15,000 onlookers began to realize that it was actually about to happen. Federer was going to lose for the first time from 2 set up in a Grand Slam. One thing that must be pointed out was Federer's comments after the match. He said "It wasn't as if I played a shocker of a match. Jo was just playing the best tennis of his career". 100% right. Tsonga used the crowd to pump himself up (especially his serving which was out of this world). "Ali" is his unofficial nickname, due to his striking resemblance and, today, Tsonga lived up to that name. Federer was the great George Foreman, coming out strong and fast, battering the nervous Tsonga for the first 2 sets. Then, "Ali" woke up. Even after winning the 3rd set 6 games to 4, everyone watching thought Federer had a slight lapse in concentration and that in the 4th set he would seal the win. Then Tsonga broke him again. And again, to deliver, most likely, the biggest upset since Soderling dumped Nadal out of the French Open those many moons ago.
Murray sweeps aside one Spaniard to book a semi with another
Oh Feliciano. Never, ever, flirt with your opponent's mother on Twitter before you play him, especially in his own back yard. You know what happens? You get beat. Badly. 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Nothing more to be said. Clinical finishing from Murray who will be glad he didn't have any hiccups against Lopez since he knew that Nadal would be waiting in the semis, most likely. One thing Murray would have enjoyed today would have been the 3 sets of practice he got with Lopez's left hand. Perfect preparation for Rafael Nadal, also a leftie (well atleast in tennis, he is). Nadal, in his match, had little trouble against the American number 1, Mardy Fish, who has never beaten Nadal. Nadal will be satisfied that he got through but he won't be happy with being broken a few times and losing that 3rd set that he had wrapped up. Credit to Mardy for the effort and the taking of a set against the world number 1.
Djokovic survives against a future star
I remember watching Bernard Tomic play against Marin Cilic at the 2010 Australian Open. He was coming of his second junior Grand Slam title win (at the US Open) and, in front of his home supporters, played the best match of his young career. Yes, he lost to Cilic in 5 amazing sets of tennis but I remember telling myself that if any youngster had the potential to win Slams, he was the one. I was pleased to see Tomic get through qualifying for Wimbledon, this year but I gave him little chance of getting past the 2nd or 3rd round (mainly because Soderling would mostly likely be his opponent in R3). I looked on my Blackberry one evening to find Tomic down two sets against Andreev and I honestly felt for the kid. Then 2-3 hours later, I saw his name beneath Soderling's on the main draw. I, naturally, applauded his fight back against Andreev but I was certain Soderling would knock out his second Australian in a row at a GS (poor Hewitt :-( ). Never had I been more happy for young talent then when Bernard knocked out a (be it slightly ill) Soderling to reach R4 of SW19. After destroying Xavier Malisse, I really believed Tomic could give Djokovic a run for his money. I didn't think he would win but I hoped for a tough 5 setter. And that nearly happened when Tomic was up 3-1 in the 3rd set with each player owning one set. Good Afternoon Novak Djokovic, welcome to Wimbledon. 7 games in a row and the Serb took the 3rd set 6-3 and was up 2-0 in the 4th. I believe the whole of Australian must have been hoping and praying that Tomic would make some effort to prevent a 4th set slaughter, and he did. He got the break back and played superbly to stay level with the world number 2. Then, Novak shifted into top gear and broke Tomic before serving for a 4 set victory. Nothing to be ashamed off from the 18 year old. I think I would give everything I own and more to lose to the world number 2 in the quarters of Wimbledon. Chin up, Bernard. There are plenty more quarters, semis and finals waiting for you, son.
Summary
To keep things simple, it's obvious that, before the day began, everyone was expecting the top 4 to reach the semis...and 3 of them did. Poor Roger was a victim of something beyond him today as Tsonga played like the Heavyweight Legend that his nickname incurs. 6 Grand Slams have passed since Federer beat Murray to win his 16th GS in Australia. 3 quarters, 2 semis and 1 final. To any body else, that is tennis paradise. To Roger, its actually quite pathetic. Before then, he had made 18 finals in 19 Grand Slams. Think about that for one moment. 18/19. 95%. FINALS. The other 5%? A semi (oh how awful(!)). Federer was definitely one of the favourites for this Wimbledon and many thought he would equal Pistol Pete's record of 7 Wimbledon titles. From now on, I doubt he will ever be favourite again. Yes, Roger is still amazing and could easily be a top 10-20 player for the next 10 years of his life, in my opinion. But that is not good enough for him. It has come to that point in time where he needs to ask himself is it worth it trying to get another 1, 2 maybe 3 GS titles whilst having Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and other top 10-20 players beat him more and more often. If I was Roger (if!), I would hang my racket up after the US Open or World Tour Finals this year. Hopefully winning one of them to go out on a high. He has achieved so much, made tennis the sport it is today and helped/inspired so many people worldwide. He has his millions, his wife and twin daughters. Time to enjoy the beauty of Switzerland. It's just inevitable that Nadal will pass his record of 16 GS titles so there is no need to try and fight that off. There's a greater chance that Nadal's body will give in and force him to retire then Federer winning a few more titles to hold Rafa off.
All Federer has to do now is pray Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, Nadal's body and future stars (such as, perhaps, Tomic?) slow Rafa down or even manage to stop him (if that's at all possible).
Thank you Roger Federer but please, no more.
P.S. Nadal to beat Djokovic in the final 3-1.
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