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I picked Coco to win Wimbledon and she flamed out against Pavyluchenkova with a pitiful performance. She lost five straight matches to end 2016 in a streak that started before the U.S. Open. She was two games away from losing to Vinci in the first round here.
So although she definitely has the game to beat Kerber, I absolutely did not see this coming. She'd never really done anything of note on anything but grass, but Fuck Uncle Kiki, she has now.
Of the eight men's quarterfinalists, I think Federer, Raonic, Wawrinka, Nadal, Dimitrov and Tsonga all have a chance to win it. That seems extreme, but in a tournament where Djokovic and Murray lost to journeymen, anything is possible. I know this: although Nadal has not looked great, I will be sick in the stomach if he and Federer both reach the final because I will be convinced Federer cannot win. It's probably not true in reality, but having sat through all of their grand slam meetings, I have zero belief in Federer winning the important points against Nadal.
On outdoor hard courts, Nadal is 8-2 against Federer. Fed's last win was at Indian Wells in 2012.
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Holy God Almighty!
Coco's second set against Muguruza was the greatest display of power tennis I've ever seen from a woman. I'm not saying that lightly, either. What the hell is going on?
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Don't see how Federer can beat Nadal in the final even though this is not vintage Rafa, but that's what makes sports special. There's no script. Things happen all the time that I don't foresee, like Coco getting the semis. And then finally remembering who she was and losing to Venus after winning the first set.
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funches wrote:
I know this: although Nadal has not looked great, I will be sick in the stomach if he and Federer both reach the final because I will be convinced Federer cannot win. It's probably not true in reality, but having sat through all of their grand slam meetings, I have zero belief in Federer winning the important points against Nadal.
funches wrote:
Don't see how Federer can beat Nadal in the final even though this is not vintage Rafa, but that's what makes sports special.
The funches commentator curse strikes again! Though I think you're probably pretty happy to be wrong.
I think it's also worthy of note that of the men's semifinalists, three of the four play with a one-handed backhand. If courts played faster, would it cause a resurgence of the one-hander?
18 slams. Wow. And Serena at 23.
Contest results will be up later today.
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The contest was decided before the finals. But the finals result made a lot of space between us.
The final score:
Forehand_lob: 85
funches: 52.5
You picked more quarterfinalists (7 to my 6), but had a total of 0 correct semifinalists (I had 3). My heart-over-head pick of Federer pushed me to the end.
It wasn't entirely heart-over-head, Murray has problems with Federer that Djokovic doesn't have. Wawrinka was a more recent champion, but his hardcourt game is a bad match to Federer's. Picking against Djokovic was kind of a whimsical choice, but it happened to be a lucky call.
Thanks for participating! See you for the French Open contest!
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I couldn't be happier. I still bear scars from watching Federer lose to Nadal in the 2009 Aussie Open final, which for me was even worse than his Wimbledon defeat in 2008. I still remember Federer running to his chair after winning the fourth set, then running out of bas in the fifth even though he had an extra day of rest and Rafa had played 5 hours in the semis against Verdasco.
Watching Federer dig deep and rally in the fifth was one of the 10 best sporting viewing moments of my life.
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I now fully expect to see the Djokovic resurgence. The way all of the commentators talked about Federer and Nadal in their match to decide the GOAT, you'd think the last two years had never occurred.
To me, the gap between Djokovic and Nadal is smaller than the gap between Nadal and Federer. And if Djokovic wins Roland Garros again, the gap will be gone. He'll be one slam behind Nadal and be the first player in the open era with two of all four while also having more weeks at No. 1 and owning a slight edge in their head-to-head record.
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Watching the men's final, something I think Serena mentioned her mother telling her came to mind. Her mother told her to "get out of Melbourne" because she was hanging back where it was written on the court. Nadal was hanging around Melbourne during the match, and while he might have needed the extra time, it also allowed Federer to hug the baseline. Just something that played a role in the match.