Running Aussie Open Thread...

I've followed tennis closely for more than 25 years and that might have been the best I've ever seen it played. I'm stunned at what I just saw. The only match that comes to mind, from a holy shit perspective, was when Safin beat the hell out of Sampras in the finals of the U.S. Open.

How many rackets do you think Roddick has broken back in the locker room?

 

And Enberg-Carillo put it well: Roddick's not playing poorly, he's just playing Federer.

 

If the over/under for number of Slams won by Federer this year was three, what would you take? I'm thinking over, given the way he just destroyed arguably the world's second-best player (seeing how Nadal hasn't made a final since Wimbledon, while Roddick had been playing great before tonight).

 

Wow I'm sorry I didn't get out of bed to enjoy the last few pages of this thread. Roddick got bitchslapped worse than most. Not sure if Federer finally considered him a challenge and decided to bring his 'A' Game or Roddick was getting a little too confident and Federer wanted to put him in his place. Bottom line is he did SOMETHING to get embarassed that badly on TV. Lucky for Roddick it happened at 3:30 a.m. and I hope Roddick cherishes that fake win he got against Feds a few weeks ago because it all but guarantee him several more ass kickings this year.

This is more proof that Federer has been half-assing it this tournament just to let guys win 3 and occasionally 4 games in a set. He's basically playing club tennis against the rest of the schleps out there. The only guy that's really worthy of him playing tournament tennis is Nadal and I think this has to be the year he takes Capri Boy down in Roland Garros too. Federer and Tiger Woods are the premier champions in all of sports right now.

 

Capri Boy's confidence has taken a beating lately, and he's got a groin thing going on which, for the amount and type of tennis he plays, probably isn't going away.

This could be the year.

 

Did anyone see the Roddick presser after the match? I love when an athlete can have some fun with himself. He was clearly pissed off, but took some time to mess around with the media. Funny stuff.

 

Best line: Q. How are you going to sleep tonight?

A. Depends on how much I have to drink.

 

Simply amazing performance by Federer. I turned it on when it was break point at 4-4 in the first set. I watched from then until the end of the second set. I saw Roddick win six points, I think.

 

Links for post-match interviews:

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/index.html

Roddick's was pretty good and Federer was his usual humble self.

 

Federer starting to play the way Sampras would in the early round matches. Sampras knew he wouldn't lose his serve, so he'd get his one break when he felt like it, let the guy win 3 or 4 games in a set, and walk off after 90 minutes. It's so much smarter to play that way than it is to kill yourself for a 20-point game just trying to win a set 6-1 instead of 6-2.

 

Yep, they play that one early in the day for some reason.