Tennisers of the World, Unite! The topspin blog

DID YOU SEE THAT? Is all I can say about The Shot from Federer to set up match point yesterday. What was really special was that, several games before, Fed had hit an impossible looping cross-court forehand that had Johnny Mac commenting on how THIS was what you get from Federer: Shots never before seen or imagined on a tennis court. This is why I've loved Fed for so long: not the beauty of his game, his dominance or demeanor, but the fact that he can surprise, something so rare in sports. I used to think of Guga as my real life Bacon O'Rourke player, but Federer has far surpassed that.

Shortly after the forehand which earned that comment, Fed hit an overhead from almost ten feet behind the baseline, hitting it like a kick serve, bent way over backward and spinning it to the outside line of the deuce court. Then The Shot. brilliant.
Djokovic played a good match, and his net play is noticeably improved through his work with Todd Martin, though not as much as he'd like- he bobbled a few easy volleys.

I called Wimbledon a retro tournament with the success of the Generation of 2003, Hewitt, Roddick, Ferrero, Haas, and of course, Fed. This tournament is retro in a different way: Fed has returned to his 2006 form, and I think Nadal has too.

Which brings me to the other semi. Nadal was whumped by DelPo. The loss itself wasn't a surprise, DelPo has beaten Nadal twice on hard courts this year, and Nadal was nursing an ab injury. But the whumping was shocking. I believe one of the reasons is that Nadal had returned to his 2006 form: the extreme topspin, the play from ten feet behind the baseline, the defensive serving... we've all heard of how much Nadal has altered his game in the last 2 years to move beyond Clay Court Monster status- flattening his forehand, moving in to the baseline, and adding to his serve. None of that was in evidence this tournameny, nor in Cincy or Montreal. I think since Nadal has come back after a couple months off, he's returned to his comfort zone, the style he grew up with.

That wasn't going to be enough for Del Po.

I've said before that I think DelPo is the future for men's tennis. He is improving by leaps and bounds, physically and skillwise. This should be a GREAT final!

Let's enjoy some TENNIS!