It has worked out quite well that the two quarter finals that I was most interesting in watching happened to be both on the same day, which worked out well, one in the day and one in the evening.
The first one was the Nalbandian vs Santoro match: This one I thought Nalle would win as long as he could remain patient and focused for long enough, then he would win this match, but not getting frustrated with Santoro if playing against him isn't the easiest thing to do.
Nalle has to get over the Aus Open quarter final jinx and this is Santoro's first ever quarter final, so the first set was the key to this match. It was a tight and tough first set, but once Nalle had got it with 7-5 and it was a strategic battle, not just mindless and brainless power that is so commonplace and Nalle was patient and took his chances.
Then the next two sets was an exhibition of Nalle's talents and this in addition to Santoro losing the 1st set, then the tiredness got to him and he was run ragged and if Santoro got the 1st set, then he would have found the extra energy, but it wasn't to be and Nalle mixed up the play very well and exposed the lack of movement from Santoro and while Fab tried, he had played too many matches and it told on him in the end.
One thing that pissed me off was that they began the interview with Nalle on court before Santoro had left and I thought that was ordinary that they did this. It's more than likely going to be the last time he plays on a stage like this in singles and he deserved a proper ovation and I know the people I was with appreciated his tournament and were a bit sad with the ending, but that's pro sport and more on Fab later.
Now Nalle has the beaten the QF jinx, he has to step up and be ready to take it to the next level and win a Slam that his talent deserves. I mean the main thing I dislike about him is that he benefitted from money given to him by the Argentine Federation, where they didn't give a crap about the other players like Chela, Cañas, Gaudio, Zabaleta and Acasuso, but that's not solely his fault.
The second quarter the Ljubicic/Baghdatis match. Personally I have nothing against Ljubo and I have some respect for him, but I was firmly in the Baghdatis corner in this match and the build up was pretty funny at times. I had plenty of time to kill and met up with some people went to have a few beers. Just like Gravity the great MTF moderator who was too good to drink with the masses, love you man, a hero to us all.
Saw a bit of the Screecharova match on TV, man that was fucking garbage tennis, it's just Petrova's rubbish was worse than Sharapova's rubbish and gives me more reason to dislike the WTA. Come to think of it there are only a few I can tolerate and there is a reason for this and I admire the guys who coach the female players, it's hard work.
As the Marcos match was starting late, the Baghdatis fans came to the beer garden and were having fun and then some Croats decided to show up as well and they were outnumbered inititally and of course there was a security presence there, but it wasn't overbearing a tall.
The Greeks started chanting, some of it was political and a bit cheeky as well. I mean when the Croatians started chanting Turkey and Macedonia, then the Greeks chanted Serbia and there were some chants about Cyprus as well, but most of it was in a festive spirit and that was good.
Marcos opened up very well and both players were playing quite well with Marcos being slightly more aggressive and was returning well again and was able to take the 1st set and then the second set was fantastic from Marcos, he was on fire, only made 2 unforced errors and was serving well as well as dominating from the baseline and that forehand was working very well and takes the second easily.
Ljubo digs in and keeps fighting and has to be a bit more aggressive and Marcos can't keep that level of tennis up and starts to make some errors into the net on shots he wasn't missing before, which suggests he isn't moving his feet as well as before, but Ljubo finally gives the Croat fans something to sing about by taking the next 2 sets and they congregate together as people leave to form a block just above the Ljubo Players Box. The irony is the Greeks are above them and they are going chant for chant, and while some of the people are getting pissed off, it gives the place some atmosphere and that's good.
The last set well Ljubo doesn't have a good record in them and every Marcos 5 setter I have watched live, he has won and hopefully he could keep that good record up. Marcos starts feeling it again and moving well and taking control of the play and as for Ljubo he wasn't playing that badly, though I know my man Sammy will disagree. Marcos gets the break and the Greeks are just making so much noise now and he rides the wave home and continues the great run into the semis.
This was a lost opportunity for Ljubo, but he has shown something for future in the Slams, this where he needs to step it up a level and perform at these events on a consistent basis.
Some people have seen this already, but since it's my blog I am going to post this observation on Baghdatis.
Yes, there is a bandwagon for him and that is something I can't do anything about.
The simple version is I remember last year when he had the elbow problem after the AO, then he had to have some more work done as the bone was growing the wrong way and it had to be detected when it was or a very long time out of tennis.Basically, there was hardly anyone around when he was going through the problems and struggling when he came back and yes the ones that were know who they are, but now he is winning, people want to know about him, when nothing in reality has changed, except he is winning more matches now.Still the same cheeky player he was then, just older.
4 comments:
Thanks for that report. I saw both matches but it's always good to read your insightful comments.
Fab, well, he fulfilled a dream on that day. He was aware it might be his first and last chance to play at such a level in a GS, and he really wanted to win that 1st set. In after match interviews -French tv hasn't deserted him!!!!- he explained he knew he could win it and was knocked down by the fact he lost it. Then, his body reminded him he wasn't 20 anymore....his legs became his opponents. The mind wanted but the legs just couldn't obey. And Nalle kept focused. We all know about the rest. I stayed up very late at night to watch that match. The score was severe, but yet, I'm proud of Fab......
What can I say about Marcos? That was amazing. I know what you mean about the bandwagon jumpers and, in a way, I feel and consider myself like one. But, how could it have been different since I NEVER got a chance to see him play before Basel last year? I only knew the name and what I had read about him. Which is obviously not what turns you into a fan. You need to see him play to be seduced. I can be blamed for that, I don't care. Blame Eurosport and other sport chanels for that. Anyway, I've been supporting him ever since I saw him for the 1st time, and I won't turn my back on him when things go the wrong way. I've never done it for Gaudio, I'm gonna stick to my principles. Sorry if I sound like a rant, though it wasn't my intention, but things needed to be said. Feel free to delete if you consider it crappy or not worth being read. :)
It's rare indeed to get two quarter-finals in one half of the draw where you like all four players; I wonder when that's going to happen again....
It's surprising that Santoro had that 2-1 record over Naba going into this QF since it seems like a pretty bad match-up for him, but I always thought he would be up against it here considering how well Nalbandian has played in this tournament. I was immensely surprised that Santoro took out the Frog in the previous round, I was expecting another battle between Froggy and Fatty like last year and had a hunch that Ferrer would get yet another win over him.
Nice to see a battle of Santoro's variety vs Nalbandian's baseline craft and precision, even if the last two sets were so one-sided. Up till now this was Nalbandian's most consistent Grand Slam but also his least successful, since he's always made QFs but never progressed beyond them... he's lost to some pretty good players, though. Him and Federer have shown for several years now that they're the best at adapting to different surfaces, and I wonder whether anyone else of their generation will be able to match their SF showings at the four majors.
I recorded all of the Ljubo-Baggy encounter but haven't had time to see it yet. Obviously you can't be anything other than happy for the Baghman's achievements, but I am worried that Ljubicic in a 5th set is becoming a sure win for his opponent now - I'm pretty sure that's four five-set losses in a row, and five out of the last six he's played dating back to the US Open (the only win being against Youzhny in DC). Still, Top 5 is nothing to sneeze at, and hopefully one more good showing at a Slam this year will stop people bleating on MTF that he doesn't deserve to be ranked where he is. Might have to wait until New York, though.
I had a feeling Baghdatis would take this beforehand, considering the way they match up. I noticed that croat123 said that unlike Roddick, "Ivan attacks relentlessly", but that isn't always true; the backhand is obviously much stronger than Roddick's, a real weapon, but both of them can play very passively from the baseline at times with loopy strokes and Baghdatis is clearly a superior groundstroker to both of them. And one hell of a returner, too!
Now that Baghdatis is the second coming of Yannick Noah on MTF, I'm glad to say I was behind him from the first moment I saw him play, which was against Federer at the 04 US Open. I was actually expecting him to be a rather sour and over-earnest character, just because I knew he was a junior no. 1 and when you see juniors on TV at the Slams they're not exactly renowned for their joyous, carefree personalities, but boy what a refreshing change Marcos is. I don't think I'll ever see another player cross himself and look up to the heavens in gratitude after double-faulting on matchpoint as he did at the end of that match.
Hehehe! I'm one of those bandwagon jumpers. I missed his match vs Federer last year, thus, never watched him play and when you were singing his praises when he hardly played at all, I had my reserve.
And honestly, look at his plays in this year AO and it's reasonable that he has so many bandwagon jumpers. So, don't be so hard on those jumpers. *wink*
The whole bandwagoning issue, well I think that might be a seperate blog entry for that.
Well Marcos is different and just hope he doesn't lose any of that, as he becomes older.
The problem is that hype always overshadows thing, like Nadal had been around for 3 years and then what went down was over the top, but there all kinds of fans.
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