The 73 year wait for a successor to Fred Perry will go on for another year.
As Paul Hayward wrote in the Guardian, "Henman was a possible. Murray is a probable".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/jul/03/wimbledon-andy-murray-andy-roddick
Unfortunately for British fans Roddick pulled off an improbable victory.
Roddick was a revelation. This was not the same player whose one-dimensional game the 17-year old Murray demolished in straight sets in the 3rd round in 2006. Roddick's serve & forehand have always been his big weapons. But he had showed in his last match against Hewitt how much his backhand has improved since teaming up with Larry Stefanki. His net play against Murray was also much improved, previously his volleying ability had been suspect.
Murray hit more winners, surprisingly more aces, & made less errors. But he lost the match, with the American winning two of his sets on the tie-break.Perhaps the most important stat was Roddick's 1st serve percentage of 75 %. Murray could manage only 52%.
British fans will hope Murray can make another strong showing at the US Open.
In the other semi, Federer comfortably took out Haas in straight sets. Incredibly, he hasn't dropped a set in any of his Wimbledon semis, & has only been broken twice.
With Roddick having won only twice out of 20 matches with Roger, Fed is 8/1 on to win the final with the bookies. Federer in four.
In the Womens semis, Safina was again a massive disappointment in a major, winning only one game against Venus to make a mockery of her no. 1 ranking. Dementieva v Serena was the best ladies match of the tournament so far, Serena saving a match point before winning 8-6 in the final set.
No comments:
Post a Comment