Random Fact of the Day:
Roger Federer is 178-1 when up 2 sets to love in a grand slam match. The only loss was suffered to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon in 2011.
Federer v Tsonga is slated to start in a few moments at 7 pm ET and I still feel Tsonga has a great chance to pull the upset again. I doubt that it happens if Federer takes another big lead as he did at Wimbledon. However, I also feel that Tsonga now knows he can hang with Federer and will come out fired up. Tsonga is a powerful player and should punish Federer with his first serve. So long as he can avoid mental mistakes and not try to outplay Federer, he can win. My guess is Federer will still win this match, probably in four sets, but if Tsonga can hold serve, even if he drops a tiebreak in the first set, he can break Federer. Federer has not shown the mental fortitude this past year that was expected of him throughout his run at the top. The fact of the matter is, no longer can he win points based on reputation, when players would over-hit trying to outsmart or land a passing shot against the great Roger Federer. Federer has been exposed as merely another great (maybe even the greatest) tennis player and can be beaten without divine intervention.
Guess for final score (as futile an exercise as that may seem):
Federer 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In other news, Roddick made a stunning upset over Ferrer to move to the Quarterfinals. In terms of talent, it was hardly stunning, Roddick is a very good if not great tennis player with an elite serve and Ferrer was not a particularly intimidating 5 seed (same upset over Soderling? not likely). On the other hand, in terms of Roddick's continual disappointment when asked to live up to lofty expectations, it was stunning that he could put together a great game on the big stage one more time. I'm more interested to see how he responds in the next round against Rafa. I don't think he can beat Rafa (unless injuries become an issue) but if he can make it a 5 set match, I would be quite impressed - too bad Federer isn't the 2 seed, this is the year Roddick could beat him.
Donald Young did not pull out the match against Andy Murray, and was routed in straight sets instead. For the young kid there's always next year!
John Isner also had a great upset over Gilles Simon, leaving the Americans with two men left standing going into the quarterfinals. My hunch is that neither will make the semis.
Semi predictions: Federer, Rafa, Djoker, Murray. Boring, but oh so likely.
In college football expansion news, I came across a discussion in which Texas and ND were rumoured to have approached the Big 10 with conditions for their joining the league. Hopefully more will come to light on that tomorrow.
Until then, enjoy the match, should be a superb one.
- Jabari
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