Thursday, January 25, 2007

The Aftermath

I am not eating my words. I am devouring a McChicken with Fries instead; and thinking which one of those overused clichés to use. I could say - Roddick was blown off court. OR Roddick did not show up. OR Roddick did not know what hit him. I could go on and on. But none of that would convey the reality of yesterday's "marquee" match-up. Like I predicted, it was Federer in 3. However, to be honest, I did not foresee a blowout. It was humiliating for Roddick; more so after all the talking he did throughout the fortnight. Andy, actually, is a very fair guy on court - at least most of the times. He gives a lot of respect to his opponents and usually has no excuses for defeat (something for Nadal to learn). And mind you, he was not indulging in any trash talk. He has shown a lot of respect for Federer in his interviews and even manages to be humorous despite all the frustrations he has accumulated during their 13-1 head-to-head. However, by being vocal about his chances and overstating the "narrowing gap", he was always putting a lot of pressure on himself. You can at least expect Jimmy Connors to know better after all these years. All I can say is that Roger Federer sure was listening! Good thing for Andy is that this match must have enriched his "lessons learnt" list. And he can only get better from here. Most importantly though, he should not get demoralized with this defeat and instead stick to his statement that he will "take it like a man as much as possible". Just like his last few matches with Federer did not give any pointers (far from it, actually) to what happened today, this match also does not mean that he is going to get a rough beating every time. With age and time on his side, Andy should go back to the practice courts like a man on a mission. And we can keep hoping that someday he will fulfill the promise of a rivalry.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

the thing for me is- I dont think Roddick played that badly. He gave it all he had, and he can be bloody good (keeping the fedex aside)...but even then, Federer just mopped the floor with him.

It was an astounding display of really high quality tennis.

7:11 PM  
Blogger The Sports Prick said...

Hey fellas,

Sorry for the "spam", but I couldn't find your contact info on the main page. I just started a new blog over at www.sportsprick.com. We're focused on quality, entertaining, content. Can you take a look, and if you like what you see, we can exchange links?

Thanks!

5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My name is Alan Moloney and I am working on a programme that the BBC is planning on running during the Cricket World Cup-


The Cricket World Cup will soon be starting - and the BBC are looking for cricket fans with to appear live on BBC World TV during the tournament.
To take part, you'll need to have a passionate opinion about cricket and the impact of the World Cup in your country.
You'll also need to have a PC, a webcam and a reliable broadband connection.
We want to hear your views on the events in the West Indies.
My Cricket World Cup will be broadcast live on BBC World TV during March and April.

Each show will feature panels of ordinary people from all around the globe talking live on TV using webcams. We'll be discussing a wide range of issues - not just the cricket itself, but the impact of the Cricket World Cup around the world.

We are looking for passionate cricket fans and are currently trying to get in contact with fans from all over the world who would love to air their opinions and share their love of cricket on the show. I hope you might be interested in taking part. And maybe you know of others who share your passion for the game. I look forward to hearing from you and hope that this project might interest you.

Many thanks for your time,

Alan Moloney

alan.moloney@bbc.co.uk

4:54 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home