Madrid Masters SF: Murray v Federer

Andymonium · Satellite level

RE: Madrid Masters SF: Murray v Federer

Andymonium · Satellite level

smon wins

nice match up in fianls

James · Satellite level

Simon wins - after hawk-eye ruled a Nadal passing shot to have gone long.

What a match..

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

[...] lets not seriously entertain the possibility that Simon beats Nadal - he won't even get close to getting a set off him unless something horribly goes wrong

Er, you were saying, FD...? Simon beats Rafa 3-6 7-5 7-6(6)!

That makes Andy, as the seeded player, the favourite for the title now, I suppose, & I suspect he plays that little bit better when he's the underdog, at least at the moment! Simon's definitely not to be underestimated. I only hope the fact that he had to play for about an hour & 14 minutes longer in his SF means that he's been softened up a bit!

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Stircrazy wrote:

ForeverDelayed wrote:

[...] lets not seriously entertain the possibility that Simon beats Nadal - he won't even get close to getting a set off him unless something horribly goes wrong

Er, you were saying, FD...? Simon beats Rafa 3-6 7-5 7-6(6)! That makes Andy, as the seeded player, the favourite for the title now, I suppose, & I suspect he plays that little bit better when he's the underdog, at least at the moment! Simon's definitely not to be underestimated. I only hope the fact that he had to play for about an hour & 14 minutes longer in his SF means that he's been softened up a bit!

Only saw a bit of the match, but still can't believe that Simon actually won, although Nadal didn't look to be playing too well from what I saw.

Nadal just had nothing on his groundstrokes at all, and spent the match hitting nothing returns, and Simon played the match of his life.

Murray would have been the favourite against Nadal in the final anyway (maybe not the bookie's favourite, but the favourite to anyone who knows about tennis), so it's not that much of a difference

TimG · Junior player

What a performance from andy today truly is now a top 4 at the top of mens tennis. I can see andy going 3rd by the time novaks Aussie open points come off.

Who was the last brit to go 3rd in the world i can not for the life of me think who?

steven · Tennis legend

TimG wrote:
What a performance from andy today truly is now a top 4 at the top of mens tennis. I can see andy going 3rd by the time novaks Aussie open points come off.

Who was the last brit to go 3rd in the world i can not for the life of me think who?

No British man has reached no. 3 in the world since the ATP rankings started 35 years ago and I believe the highest a GB player has ever reached in either the ATP or WTA/VS rankings is no. 2, which Virginia Wade reached in the mid-1970s.

Sue Barker, Tigger, Greg and Andy (so far) all peaked at no. 4 and Jo Durie at no. 5. (edit: Wikipedia and various other sources say Sue peaked at no. 3, ITF says no. 4)

Whatever happens, Andy will be the first British man to finish the year in the top 5 since the ATP rankings began in 1973, Greg and Tim both having peaked at no. 6 in the year-end lists.

I imagine the last British man to have been considered to be in the top three in the world was Fred Perry or Bunny Austin in the mid-1930s.

Given the depth these days, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to call Andy the best British male tennis player ever.

-- Edited by steven at 22:45, 2008-10-18

-- Edited by steven at 23:12, 2008-10-18

indiana · Tennis legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Stircrazy wrote:

ForeverDelayed wrote:

[...] lets not seriously entertain the possibility that Simon beats Nadal - he won't even get close to getting a set off him unless something horribly goes wrong

Er, you were saying, FD...? Simon beats Rafa 3-6 7-5 7-6(6)! That makes Andy, as the seeded player, the favourite for the title now, I suppose, & I suspect he plays that little bit better when he's the underdog, at least at the moment! Simon's definitely not to be underestimated. I only hope the fact that he had to play for about an hour & 14 minutes longer in his SF means that he's been softened up a bit!

Only saw a bit of the match, but still can't believe that Simon actually won, although Nadal didn't look to be playing too well from what I saw.

Nadal just had nothing on his groundstrokes at all, and spent the match hitting nothing returns, and Simon played the match of his life.

Murray would have been the favourite against Nadal in the final anyway (maybe not the bookie's favourite, but the favourite to anyone who knows about tennis), so it's not that much of a difference

Seems like Simon managed to have the luck that Andy has so often supposedly had in the past. i.e. opponent just not playing well against him or game suddenly crumbling on that day

( or is that kundalini that says that, maybe both, I sometimes get confused smile

)

Just a friendly dig, FD,. And thanks very much for your commentary. Since I didn't see the match at all, it was really good to able to read through the drama as it unfolded.

steven · Tennis legend

To take up FD's points, it would have been fascinating to see what the odds for the Final were if Rafa had got through. For me, Andy would have been the favourite at least 60:40, but I wonder if Rafa would have been the favourite with the bookies. As it is, they give Muzza a 75% chance of winning. Still if I were a betting man, it would have been tempting to put some money on him at that level, but we'd have probably given Simon a 5-10% chance of beating Rafa and look what happened!

-- Edited by steven at 13:59, 2008-10-19

indiana · Tennis legend

I'm almost certaim Rafa would have been the bookies favourite, but like you Steven, I am not convinced that that would make sense logically.

I say that bearing in mind surface, current apparent fitness level ( or rather wear level, noone would dare call Rafa unfit ! ), and the psychological effect of Andy getting that win at the US Open.