There was no-one happier than me that Roger Federer defeated Ivo Karlovic in straight sets earlier today.
One of my friends is a massive Karlovic supporter and two years ago I bet him £250 that Big Ivo would not reach a grand slam semi final in his career and my goodness, he came a little bit too close to achieving this feat for my liking.
Federer, who has reached his 21st consequtive grand slam semi final, thankfully tamed the big serving Croatian in style breaking him twice with relevant ease.
Breaking the 6′10 giant was particularly significant as he had not been broken in a match since he arrived in England for the grass court season a month ago!
It’s not that I’m not a fan of the Croatian, in fact I love watching him hit aces past everyone, it’s just that if a rally develops he will lose the point 8 times of out 10.
I generally thought he had a chance against Federer today however the Swiss master picked off his massive serves brilliantly. This was seriously a returning clinic and a pleasure to watch from the five-time Wimbledon champion.
But Karlovic will be very pleased with his overall performance at Wimbledon as he has made his first ever quarter final appearance in a grand slam taking out two top ten players along the way in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco.
If you have been won over by the Croatian giant’s massive serve and dodgy ground strokes join this Facebook group – ‘Ivo Karlovic – The King of Tennis’.
On paper, this looked to be fairly straight forward encounter for Nicolas Almagro.
Ranked 95 places higher than what turned out to be a formidable opponent in Karol Beck, he arrived on court first and looked ready to progress. That looked the case from early on, as he used his powerful forehand to devastating effect.
Rallies were scarce in the first set as both players struggled to come to terms with each others high percentage of first serves which were proving critical to each game. However, the world number 48 and clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro finally got the break he desired and took the first set with relative ease 6-4.
Beck, who dropped to a ranking of 927 in the world after a two year drug ban in 2005, seemed somewhat dejected as he failed to make any real impact in the second set especially on Almagro service games, and even though it was tight there only seemed to be one outcome as the Spaniard took the set 7-6 (7-2).
While the crowd assumed the match was a formality from here on, Beck most certainly did not and looked to turn the contest around by upping his level and introducing a more skilful approach to his game in the third set. He hit the ball flatter and with more slice which didn’t allow Almagro as much time to get his forehand into play which had been so effective in the first two sets.
The Slovakian also started to hit a number of clever drop shots throughout the games which caught the Spanish number 8 off-guard. This gave him a lift and through determination, skill and adaption and a little help from Almagro’s ongoing argument with the umpire, Beck managed to take the next two sets 6/3 6/4.
Moving into the fifth Beck was full of confidence as he had steam rolled through the third and fourth sets and an almost impossible comeback was now very much on. However Almagro started to improve causing the world number 148 to tense up which was seen early on in the contest and the momentum switched once again. Almagro’s class and superior fitness levels shone through and after a gruelling five set match, Almagro finally took the victory to a standing ovation. A truly entertaining match.
This was the perilous position Roger Federer found himself in yesterday against Tommy Haas who had been bossing the match.
This break point seemed like a virtual match point for Haas as he had been serving like Karlovic and Federer had been really struggling to make any sort of impact when returning.
Federer missed his first serve and nervously spun in his second and I think at this point everyone around the world watching this match was biting their finger nails off.
A short rally commensed before Federer, flirting with destruction, attempted a low percentage inside out forehand.
He slapped the ball as hard as he could in a desperate attempt to win the point as Haas has been playing unrealistically well.
In a heart in mouth moment the ball flew over the net seemingly in slow motion and caught the very outside edge of the line and from this point forward the match completely turned.
Federer held his serve, broke Haas in the next game, took the set 6-4 and then the German crumbled winning just two more games in the contest.
I wasn’t surprised Haas lost his way because after coming so close to serving for the match his confidence was bound to drop significantly.
Something that amazed me in this match was the fact that Federer did not drop a point on serve for the first SEVEN games.
Haas is surely the first man to win a set having not managed to rack up a single returning point leading up to the first set tie break.
Read the full match report on the ATP website here.
I always find myself moaning about how the supposed best women players always seem to lose in the early rounds of grand slams, however at the French Open this year it has been the men who have suffered.
Two of the ’big four’ have lost before the quarter finals and I am truly shocked in the fashion they have bowed out.
A friend text me after the Nadal match claiming he thought the result was predictable which is ridiculous. Nadal’s loss to Soderling is simply unbelievable considering he hasn’t lost a set at the French Open since the 2007 final and the Spaniard really looked second rate today.
He did not hit with enough length throughout the match and Soderling punished this fact.
From start to finish the Swede hit every ball as hard as he could which worked perfectly as Nadal surprisingly couldn’t cope with the power he was generating.
I and everybody else watching this match thought that Soderling would have a dip sooner or later and Nadal would then gain control but it just never came. Take a look at Nadal’s demise here.
My immediate thought is that Nadal’s schedule has been too rigorous this year considering he has been to the final of every tournament he has played coming into the French. However he shot down this type of suggestion from journalists in his press conference but I reckon deep down he knows he is physically and mentally tired.
By the way I thought Nadal’s French Open attire was quality. Check out my review.
On the Djokovic front I have no idea how he managed to lose in straight sets to Kohlschreiber. Don’t get me wrong, the German is a masterful player on his day but his performances fluctuate so much it’s untrue.
I would put a hefty amount of money on whoever ‘Kohly’ is playing next because despite his immense talent, he is always liable to play like a complete donkey.
For example at the Australian Open earlier in the year he started with a decent straight sets win over Sam Querrey and then got himself into a right mess against old boy Fabrice Santoro losing in five.
Fernando Verdasco was the surprise package of the Australian Open and I am now wondering if he can follow up this performance in the coming year.
How many players do you see who have a brilliant run in a big tournament and then fail to bring their best form to any other event afterwards.
For example Kohlschrieber, Nieminen and Tipsarevic in the 2008 Australian Open and how about Rainer Scheuttler and Arnaud Clement at last year’s Wimbledon.
The Spaniard, despite being a top 30 player for the last four years, has never really lit any tournament alight with only two singles titles in his career. Two.
The other surprising fact is that the last of his title wins came in 2004 in Valencia so to summarise he is currently ranked ninth in the world and hasn’t won a title for five years.
The one thing to Verdasco’s credit that I have noticed through looking at his results is that has delivered consistent performances reaching the last 16 and quarter finals in a number of events throughout his time on the professional circuit.
He played quite simply unbelievable tennis in Australia to beat Tsonga and Murray and then he came so close to upsetting Nadal. His shot making was at a level I had not seen before and against Nadal, although he fired around double the amount of winners, his legs would carry him no more and the more resilient (hacker!) Nadal prevailed.
For me Nadal was always going to win the final as he now has Federer’s number. The main fact being that Federer has a definite weakness in the backhand side and Nadal exploits it brilliantly.
Federer wants to be known as the best player ever and he needs to win two more grand slam titles to prove this and I have my doubts as whether he will achieve this goal.
A very interesting article appeared on The Tennis Times website recently. It featured Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian commenting on the venue of the Davis Cup final.
Take a look at the headline and then check out the picture of Juan Monaco which was strangely used to accompany the story!
Credit for this spot goes to a member of the Talk Tennis forum who goes by the name of ’Love Game’.
The picture has now been removed on the website however the headline typo still remains in all its glory.
This match will be no walk in the park for Andy Murray like his previous two rounds.
If Haas hadn’t been injured so much over the last couple of years he would be a top 10 player so his world ranking of 38 can be cast aside.
They currently have a head to head record of 1-1 with Haas winning the last encounter in March in a tight three set encounter.
The German is masterful from the back of the court and can hit winners from both wings as well as being gifted at the net. Murray as we know has a range of shots available to him also so this match will be very even.
Its difficult to pick a winner here and although I want Murray to win I think Haas could steal a win in five sets.
Andy Roddick went out in the second round of Wimbledon yesterday which isn’t a big shock in my opinion. His preparation for the tournament wasn’t brilliant as he had only played two competitive matches since a back injury sustained on May 5th ruled him out of Hamburg and the French Open.
As a result he simply wasn’t match tight against a very talented opponent. As I said in my predicition Tipsarevic was going to cause him trouble as the Serb is a better player from the back of the court.
It seems strange when people act like this result was an un-thinkable shock. Tipsarevic has had a string of good results this year after his five setter against Federer in the Australian Open which seemed to make him believe he could be one of the best players in the world.
This year Tipsarevic has beaten Fernando Verdasco, James Blake, Mikahil Youzhny and Paul Henri Matheiu which tells everyone he is some player.
It is fair enough to say Roddick was not at his best today but the Serb took advantage of this and got the job done.
Novak Djokovic’ loss to Marat Safin on the other hand is a bit more of a surprise. Again similar to Roddick’s case, you could say Djokovic wasn’t at his best but Safin didn’t give him a chance to play and get into his stride.
Safin put pressure on the Serb constantly and instead of responding in his typical impressive fashion, Djokovic on this occasion wilted under the barrage of power and precision from the strong Russian. It was like watching a heavy-weight versus a light-weight.
Djokovic couldn’t come up with any answers during the match but he did reveal he was mentally tired after the match. Nadal has won three tournaments in a row and is currently on a 19 match winning streak. Shouldn’t he be playing a poor match soon then where he does two double faults to lose the match? I’d put my bank on the Spaniard not losing as easily as this during Wimbledon.
I’m afraid Djokovic just didn’t show up for this match and was outclassed by a past master who may just have re-found that winning feeling.
I must add that James Ward, the British Number 8 who blogs for this website won a set off Marat Safin at Queens, something Djokovic could not do!
I was hoping this shot would pop up on Youtube. I happened to be watching it live and I could not believe my eyes.
Had a better known player hit this winner, it would have been talked about for years.
It happened in the first round match between Dominic Hrbaty and Roger Federer. Hrbaty is lobbed by the world number one and from nowhere he comes up with something really special.
Two sets down.
I always find myself moaning about how the supposed best women players always seem to lose in the early rounds of grand slams, however at the 
