Djokovic had to work a bit to get by a charming Raonic. I almost titled this post "I was Raonic" since that seems to confess my error in overlooking the Canadian as much as I generally do. He played a nice brand of tennis yesterday, mixing-in the slice quite well. The FH broke-down, partly because …
Category: Marin Cilic
The Present and the Future
When Federer was coming-off his spring (clay) break last year, you might recall I was pretty skeptical of his plan. Losing to Haas in 2017 Stuttgart meant he had Halle to get his shit together and that looks to have been what happened (if he even needed the warm-up). Winning #19 and #8 happened at …
AO Final: Federer Denies Cilic, Claims 20th Major Title
How would you describe this final between Federer and Cilic? Better than 2017 Wimbledon? Illustrative of both mens' tennis character, Federer the best at managing a less-than-stellar form and Cilic so close, so strong at times, but a little clumsy in the end? Erratic. Uneven. I saw someone else describe it as "lumpy;" not bad. …
Continue reading AO Final: Federer Denies Cilic, Claims 20th Major Title
Other Pre-AO Final Ramblings
Here's an article with five reasons why Cilic can beat Federer tonight:The first reason concerns the fact that Cilic has beaten Federer at a grand slam, and then it narrows the point down to having beaten him in a GS SF. As the logic goes, if he's already done this, I will do it again. …
2018 AO Final: Federer v Cilic Preview
As hard as this is to believe, I don't have much to say. Federer should win this match v Cilic for a number of reasons. His level, variety, history, career confidence, H2H with the Croatian, the players' friendship (it's genuine), the night match conditions, his staying power helped by his reduced draw rigor, possibility of …
AO QF: Nadal’s Loss and Federer’s Win
The Nadal loss is. . . stunning for some, predictable for others, symptomatic of the plague of injury, somehow an injustice . . . My crap detector condemned the premature ejaculation over Nadal's championship form against this or that also-ran (I sound pretty disrespectful in these over-generalizations of ATP talent, but I think my point …
Federer Routines Cilic for Eighth Wimbledon Title
You probably watched the final, at least heard about what happened or didn't happen. We could blame the blister, I guess. Quite unfortunate for the aspiring ATP threat with one major and one Masters. Cilic looked solid through the first four games, had the BP, missed, was broken in the next game, lost the first …
Continue reading Federer Routines Cilic for Eighth Wimbledon Title
Wimbledon Men’s Final Storylines
There are several. Brainstorming these kinds of elements (adding to the overall perspective of the match) can help one see either a strategy or a theme that may help clarify the outcome - which is often coincidence. But there could be irony, logic, tragedy and beauty (emotion) that all come into play in such …
Cilic and Federer Set 2017 Wimbledon Men’s Final
The only tennis I missed this morning was the first set TB of Cilic v Querrey and the third and final set of Federer v Berdych. I replayed the final frame of Fedych and learned via news source that Cilic let slip a 4-1 lead in that first set TB. His ability to regroup and …
Continue reading Cilic and Federer Set 2017 Wimbledon Men’s Final
WB Eve of the Men’s Semi-finals
Roger I think covered it all here. He's been reading my blog. Sam is dangerous, so is Cilic and Berdych. I brought all of this to light in my QF preview and elsewhere. Also, Roger points-out, good luck to Novak and Andy getting healthy. In my Rant, I clarified how important player health is to …
