Tennis Thread

[sarah_lennon]

Roger Federer's long reign as world number one is looking perilous after he crashed out of the Toronto Masters in his first match since Wimbledon.

Federer, who had a first-round bye, lost 2-6 7-5 6-4 to unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round.

Nadal, however, had a 6-4 6-2 win over Jesse Levine and is getting ever close to Federer's number one ranking.

Federer led the rankings by 1,445 points in January but if Nadal wins in Toronto it would be less than 300.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7523031.stm

[Leinster Zulu]

Year to forget or what?

He has the game to come back from this, but does he have the mental strength?

[sarah_lennon]

Or the focus. No coach, pop stars in his box at Wimbledon. Needs someone to take him by the scruff of the neck!

[Mauler]

Or the focus. No coach, pop stars in his box at Wimbledon. Needs someone to take him by the scruff of the neck!

You volunteering?

[sarah_lennon]

Or the focus. No coach, pop stars in his box at Wimbledon. Needs someone to take him by the scruff of the neck!

You volunteering?

Hahaha no! Now Nadal......

[BlueArmyOriginal]

What surface was the Toronto masters?

[sarah_lennon]

It's hard court

[sarah_lennon]

Nadal's win in Canada closes him right in on number 1


1st Federer , R. 6605


2nd Nadal , R. 6305


3rd Djokovic , N. 5055


4th Ferrer , D. 2945


5th Davydenko , N. 2925


6th Roddick , A. 2065

[BlueArmyOriginal]

Federer seriously needs to get himself a coach and get his head in order. You have to question whether tennis has been his top priority this year. He's in every second shaving advert and turning up to Wimbeldon with popstars in the family box didnt send out the right signals IMHO.

[Leinster Zulu]

Nadal's win in Canada closes him right in on number 1

If Federer doesn't defend his Cincinnati crown this week then he's up the swanny. If he does win this week then he'd just be delaying the inevitable anyway.

[Sea_point]

Nadal's win in Canada closes him right in on number 1


1st Federer , R. 6605
2nd Nadal , R. 6305
3rd Djokovic , N. 5055
4th Ferrer , D. 2945
5th Davydenko , N. 2925
6th Roddick , A. 2065
7th Nalbandian , D. 2005
8th Blake , J. 1980
9th Murray , A. 1835
10th Wawrinka , S. 1685

Good week for Andy Murray too with a big first win against Djokovic and very solid performance against Nadal, up to 9th and he's only 230 points behind Roddick in 5th....

[Leinster Zulu]

Roger, Roger, Roger - a shame to see him not give up his top ranking without a proper fight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7536417.stm

Federer loss opens door for Nadal

Roger Federer's reign as world number one is under serious threat after he lost to 16th seed Ivo Karlovic in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters.

The 6-7 6-4 6-7 defeat by the big-serving Croatian was Federer's 11th loss of the season and his first against his opponent in seven matches.

World number two Rafael Nadal will usurp the Swiss at the top of the rankings should he win in Cincinnati.

The Spanish Wimbledon and French Open champion faces Tommy Haas on Thursday.

Federer has been ranked as the world's number one for a record 234 consecutive weeks but his second-round loss to France's Gilles Simon in Toronto last week meant that Nadal had a chance to overtake him coming into this week's Masters tournament.

Having beaten Federer at Wimbledon and Roland Garros, Nadal could lay claim to being the world's best player but he can make it official should he win Sunday's final.

The Olympics in Beijing represent Federer's next taste of action and he could compete in China as the second seed after failing to get a grip of his opponent's serve with the Croat sending down 22 aces.

"It's not easy coming from slower conditions to fast ones," said Federer. "But I have played Ivo on all surfaces and he actually gets a greater play on the slower ones.

"But what are you going to do today if he serves like that? Maybe if I got the first set I would be sitting here and it would be different, but that's not the case."

The key moment of the first tie-break came when 16th seed Karlovic stopped mid-point to challenge a line call, with Hawk-Eye showing Federer had pushed his shot long.

That gave Karlovic set point on serve and the Croatian took full advantage to wrap up the tie-break 8-6.

Undeterred, Federer earned two break points in game three of the second set, an while Karlovic saved them both with aces, the Swiss then broke in game five to take the set 6-4.

Neither player could gain the upper hand in the third set and Karlovic claimed the first two points of the tie-break - the second of which came on Federer's serve - allowing him to carve out three match points.

And although the Croatian pushed the first two long, Federer then hit a long return of his own to lose it 7-5 and hand the match to Karlovic.

[sarah_lennon]

And so it continues. And barely a break now almost straight into the US Open

Roger Federer's disappointing season continued as his hopes of Olympic gold in the men's singles was ended by an inspired James Blake.

The American had not beaten the top seed in eight previous attempts, but comfortably outplayed the world number one for a 6-4 7-6 quarter-final win.

The crowd was shocked to silence when Blake deservedly broke in the 10th game to take the first set.

And Blake then held his nerve in the second set tie-break to progress.

Federer, who will lose his world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal on Monday, made a number of unforced errors and will need a dramatic reversal in fortunes if he is to successfully defend his US Open title later this month.

Blake, the world number seven, had won only one set in his previous matches against Federer, but at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre he unnerved the Swiss with a near faultless service game.

BBC

[BlueArmyOriginal]

Federer, who will lose his world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal on Monday, made a number of unforced errors and will need a dramatic reversal in fortunes if he is to successfully defend his US Open title later this month.

....And a coach, and a kick up he ar$e and about a year away from the game to get his head right, I could go on. Has any top level professional sports person had as bad a year as Federer has had this year?

[Mauler]

Federer, who will lose his world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal on Monday, made a number of unforced errors and will need a dramatic reversal in fortunes if he is to successfully defend his US Open title later this month.

....And a coach, and a kick up he ar$e and about a year away from the game to get his head right, I could go on. Has any top level professional sports person had as bad a year as Federer has had this year?

True, but I reckon Danny Cipriani might have something to say about that. Firstly in his youth he was rejected by MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 for not being ‘hunky enough’. Then the News of the Screws broke the story of his ex-girlfriend, Larissa Summers being born a man. Then he is dropped by Brian Aston for being in a night club a few days before an England International and then the poor fecker goes and breaks his leg and is out for 6 months. So not a good year for him either I suppose.

[CRAZYDAVE]

Federer, who will lose his world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal on Monday, made a number of unforced errors and will need a dramatic reversal in fortunes if he is to successfully defend his US Open title later this month.

....And a coach, and a kick up he ar$e and about a year away from the game to get his head right, I could go on. Has any top level professional sports person had as bad a year as Federer has had this year?

True, but I reckon Danny Cipriani might have something to say about that. Firstly in his youth he was rejected by MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 for not being ‘hunky enough’. Then the News of the Screws broke the story of his ex-girlfriend, Larissa Summers being born a man. Then he is dropped by Brian Aston for being in a night club a few days before an England International and then the poor fecker goes and breaks his leg and is out for 6 months. So not a good year for him either I suppose.

Sounds like the storyline for a Country &Western song

[BlueArmyOriginal]

In fairness to Cipriani, at least he broke into the international side this year so he has something going for him, Federer's had no real good news this year at all.

[Hickiefan]

In fairness to Cipriani, at least he broke into the international side this year so he has something going for him, Federer's had no real good news this year at all.

I don't know about that...

Year to date prize money for singles: $3,061,341

I know the slams are what it's all about for players of his calibre but if that's failure....

[Hickiefan]

So Murray V Federer in the US Open - anyone giving Murray a chance?

[sarah_lennon]

I do. A small one. His head to head is in credit against Federer. Push comes to shove I think it'll be Federer, and better for the sport if it is.