Aussie Open mens semis

Sheddie · administrator

Aussie Open mens semis

Sheddie · administrator

Post-match quotes:

"It was frustrating. It was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible."
Andy Roddick describes what it feels like to be thrashed by Roger Federer in a Grand Slam semi-final.

"It was just one of those days for me to remember and for him to forget."
Federer with some less than comforting words for his American rival.

"Excellent."
Rod Laver's verdict on Federer's performance.

Sheddie · administrator

How do we see Gonzo-Haas going tomorrow in the 2nd mens semi ?

They've played just once before, in the 2004 World Team Cup on clay. Gonzo won 6-4, 7-6. He has to be the favourite given his form so far in this tournament, as the pundits said, it;s slam-winning stuff. Just 2 ues in 2 sets against Hewitt !

Haas will be tough though, he's knocked out Nalbandian and the undertaker in the previous two rounds, saving a match point in his marathon 5 setter with the undertaker. Haas got a similar game to Gonzo, big hitter based around a powerful forehand and big serve. This will be his 3rd AO semi after losing to Kafelnikov in 1999 and Safin in 2002. In 2002 he led Safin by 2 sets to 1 before rain came and disrupted his momentum. The Rebound Ace really seems to suit him, he's done much better down under than in any of the other slams.

I reckon Gonzo in 5

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

ultimateshedman wrote:
Roddick won just 9/30 net pts which reflects how incredible Federer's passing shots were today, Roddick volleyed superbly against Safin in rd3 but Federer seemed to be able to find unbelievable angles time after time.

Does anyone agree with me that Roddick tends to come into the net too much against Federer ?

I agree, much as I love Roddick (and I really do

) he seems unable to change his game plan mid-match in a way he needs to against players like Federer. The passing shots Federer came up with today were amazing, they always made Roddick look silly and in the wrong place which I know wasn't always the case.

I think Roddick will beat Federer one day, he seems to have made it a personal crusade, in a good way (some may argue in a bad way) and I had hoped today would be that day but I guess not. Hopefully the form he's shown this week continues for the year, if so I think Roddick will be knocking on the door of Nadal in time, unless he (Nadal) remembers how to win tournaments away from the red stuff.

As for Roddick's post-match comments, the guy never fails to make me laugh.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

ultimateshedman wrote:
How do we see Gonzo-Haas going tomorrow in the 2nd mens semi ?

To be honest I don't know all that much about Haas, I don't think I've ever watched him play. Didn't he beat Federer on the Rebound Ace last year though?

I did, watch Gonzo/Nadal for the final set though and based on that, I can't see past a Gonzo win in 3 or 4 if he keeps that form up. Gonzo's always been a dangerous player hugely lacking in consistently but it seems that he's found that consistently, leaving him just a very dangerous player! I would love to see a Gonzo/Federer final, I think it could be a thrilling match.

Sheddie · administrator

imoen wrote:
ultimateshedman wrote:
How do we see Gonzo-Haas going tomorrow in the 2nd mens semi ?

To be honest I don't know all that much about Haas, I don't think I've ever watched him play. Didn't he beat Federer on the Rebound Ace last year though?

I did, watch Gonzo/Nadal for the final set though and based on that, I can't see past a Gonzo win in 3 or 4 if he keeps that form up. Gonzo's always been a dangerous player hugely lacking in consistently but it seems that he's found that consistently, leaving him just a very dangerous player! I would love to see a Gonzo/Federer final, I think it could be a thrilling match.

I don't know particularly much about Haas' game apart from that he's got a powerful forehand and a pretty big serve. I've only seen one match of his and that was against Agassi back in 2004, can't really remember much from that. He was one of the world's best upcoming players at the start of the new millenium and was regularly listed among the contenders for slams for quite a while, made the world's top 3 I think. He was rated higher than Federer back then, beat him quite a few times I think. Unfortunately he got injured in 2002 and has never hit those heights since. Yeah he beat Fed last year but it was in Kooyong.

I think there will be quite a few tiebreaks with both players having massive serves and big
2nd shots, could come down to a few pts here and there. I think that Gonzo's extra firepower and variety will tell eventually though, in 5 I think. Like Bethan, I also want him to win as I think he could give Fed a better match than Haas.

Gonzo's shot selection has improved massively since working with Stefanki and he's got more variety now, backhand slices, he attacks the net a fair bit and he's also added extra shots to his repertoire - bh down the lines for example, he comes over the ball a lot better now on that wing

eblunt · Club Coach

Does anyone agree with me that Roddick tends to come into the net too much against Federer ?

Yes, and I also think he runs round his backhand too much, Fed was just loving it having a really huge gap to hit the winner into.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Hey, I'm a Federer fan, but that was just embarrassing.

Roddick looked totally clueless out there, when brute force didn't work he just didn't know what to do. If he and Connors had agreed he should come to the net more often, Connors needs to work on just WHEN he should come to the net; he was coming in at inappropriate times and Fed was just passing him as though he wasn't there.

Like others, I have never actually seen Haas play. I thought Gonzo was really impressive against Nadal, if he gets through I could see him taking a set off Federer, but I doubt if he can take three.

steven · Tennis legend

Since I'm limited to German Eurosport, I've seen quite a bit of Tommy Haas in the USO and during this AO.

He's got a very good serve and a powerful forehand, as USM said. He's a Bollettieri protegé, but not as boring to watch as most of them are.

He never looks like a world-beater to me, but he's much more reliable than muppet-man, the German who reached the semis here last year (indeed, had Kiefer played Gonzo, they could have billed it as the Muppet Show Tennis Special), not to mention a much nicer guy (though it's not hard to be more pleasant than muppsy) and boy, does he hang on in there when the going gets tough!

If Gonzo keeps on playing like he has done up to now at this AO, Tommy is going down, but if the Chilean comes off the boil a bit, Tommy is more than capable of taking advantage.

john · Top national player

ultimateshedman wrote:

I think there will be quite a few tiebreaks with both players having massive serves and big
2nd shots, could come down to a few pts here and there. I think that Gonzo's extra firepower and variety will tell eventually though, in 5 I think. Like Bethan, I also want him to win as I think he could give Fed a better match than Haas.

Not quite sure why you guys think that. Federer has a 9-0 record over Gonzo, all of them since 2004, including 4 matches last year in which Gonzo only took 1 set. Overall, Gonzo has taken 2 sets off Federer in 9 matches. One was 5-7 and the other was a tiebreak.

Haas also has a bad losing record against Federer. 7-2 with his last win coming in 2002. However, and these are they key points:

2002 Australian Open Australia Hard R16 Haas 7-6(3) 4-6 3-6 6-4 8-6

2006 Australian Open Australia Hard R16 Federer 6-4 6-0 3-6 4-6 6-2

Yes, that's right. Australian Open last year, Haas took Fed to 6-6 in the 5th set at this very tournament. One of his wins over Federer was also at this very tournament. Haas's other win over Federer was back in 2000, so maybe slightly irrelevant but guess where it was. Yep, Australia. At the Sydney Olympics though, no idea on the surface.

So in summary, Fed and Haas have met 4 times in Australia, Haas winning in 2000 in Sydney, 2002 at Aus Open, 2006 at Kooyong and lost in 5 very close sets only 12 months ago at Aus Open.

Gonzo has met Fed 9 times winning only 2 sets in all of those matches.

Why would Gonzo give Fed a better game than Haas????

-- Edited by john at 22:18, 2007-01-25

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

john wrote:
So in summary, Fed and Haas have met 4 times in Australia, Haas winning in 2000 in Sydney, 2002 at Aus Open, 2006 at Kooyong and lost in 5 very close sets only 12 months ago at Aus Open.

Gonzo has met Fed 9 times winning only 2 sets in all of those matches.

Why would Gonzo give Fed a better game than Haas????

I'm basing my comments purely on what I've seen of Gonzo this tournament, he has been on sublime form. Although his loses to Federer are all since 2004 I would say the Gonzalez who has been playing this tournament is a much much better player than the Gonzalez who finished 2006 ranked 10. When playing against Nadal he made him look ordinary, was spraying winners from all over the court and had cut down on the ues he always used to make. It was exciting tennis to watch and if he played like that against a Federer playing as he did against Roddick it would be a match to remember. As I said before though, I don't know Haas at all so perhaps he would be equally exciting against Federer. I guess we'll just have to hope that the best one wins tomorrow!

steven · Tennis legend

There's an interesting interview with Tommy Haas on eurosport.de athttp://www.eurosport.de/tennis/australian-open/2007/sport_sto1065071.shtml - translation below, hopefully not too bad (my tennis-German has come on lepas and bounds in the last couple of weeks LOL)

Tommy Haas talks in an interview about his QF triumph against Nikolay Davydenko and his chances in his third SF in Melbourne.

Tommy Haas, apart from the victory, what will you take with you from the match against Nikolay Davydenko?

Tommy Haas: Simply the way in which I played in those sets that I was able to win. I really wanted to avenge my QF defeat against him in the US Open, because these matches mean a lot more to me now than they did eight or nine years ago.

The defeat at the US Open really hurt me for a couple of days. When I was a break behind in the fifth set, I remembered about that. I wanted to simply stay out there, to force him to have to win the match on his own serve. They I saved a match point. It could not have gone better for me.

How does your form compare to your last AO SF five years ago?

Haas: That's something I don't know. In 2001, I was no. 2 on the world ranking list and was playing very solid tennis. But I believe one can't compare. I haven't watched any of my matches from that period again.

During the match, you were giving yourself a severe talking to. Davydenko said that he thought you had gone crazy. Was that the case?

Haas: No, not crazy. I thought that I had played really well in the first set and a half. After the break for 4-2 in the 2nd set, I lost my nerve a little. Davydenko had a real run. Then I had problems with my eyes, they became watery and teary. The shadow came over the stadium, pigeons were flying around. There were therefore a couple of things that distracted me.

The start of the fourth set was very important for me. After the early break, I felt like the match was back in the first set. So I knew that there was something in it for me.

When was the last time that you played as well as that in a fifth set?

Haas: I had actually played a couple of good fifth sets at the USO. Before that though, I had had many five set matches that I had lost.

Do you believe that thus far in the tournament, you have been a bit underestimated?

Hass: Yes, that feels good. It is wonderful to see the rising young stars next to Roger Federer getting so much attention. I can absolutely live with that. I get away from it, concern myself with my own game and try to improve myself. I believe I still have many good matches in me. If I remain injury-free, I can play for many more years at this level.

Can you take something from your two previous runs to the SFs in Melbourne?

Haas: Finally I have won an important match against a Russian here. I lost to Kafelnikov and Safin in the 1999 and 2002 SFs. We'll see. I obviously have a bit more experience. I am happy, more experienced and hopeful about the situation I now find myself in. I will do my best, That is all I can do.

Gonzalez has beaten very strong players like James Blake and Rafael Nadal here. How do you view him?

Haas: He is a dangerous player. He has been very good for the last few years. I believe he has recently even reached the finals of three indoor tournaments. He has a very hard serve with a lot of slice, which is difficult to return. If you play him and let him dictate with his forehand, you are really in trouble. He has one of the fastest forehands on the tour.

On top of that, he does not make many mistakes on the backhand. His new coach Larry Stefanki has made him into an intelligent player. I have to force my own game on him, be aggressive and not lose my nerve. Then we'll see ...

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Gonzo currently leads 6-1 4-1

johnnylad · Tennis legend

6-1 6-3

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Gonzo breaks for 1-0 third set...