Federer Defeats Gulbis
Roger made quarterfinals in Halle today when he expectedly defeated Gulbis, 6-3, 7-5. Gulbis is quite a poor player these days having fallen to #86 in the rankings. His forehand also remains a huge liability that can easily be exploited. So one can hardly draw any conclusions from this match. One surprising thing that happened is that Roger served more doubles faults than aces(4-3). That is something extremely rare. Roger now plays Mayer who defeated Johnson.
The head-to-head there is 5-0 and it promises to be another routine win for Roger. Things may not be so simple in the semis though because Berdych smashed Coric 6-3, 6-2 today and now plays Karlovic who had a tougher match against the other youngster Zverev.
So it seems Stan is back to his old ways after losing for a fourth consecutive time to Anderson, 7-6(4), 7-6(11), and now trails the head-to-head 3-4 after winning the first three matches in the head-to-head. He also made an Anderson-like play when he missed a shocker in the second set tie-break serving for the set at 11-10. It is quite impressive to out-choke a choker. That said, Anderson obviously likes something about Stan’s game and he is a good grass-court player with his big serve.
I’m sure Stan can still go deep at Wimbledon, but it is yet to be seen if he can find consistency. You would think that would be the case after winning a second slam. Surely he has proven himself enough now not feel the pressure of expectation so much. Anderson now plays Garcia-Lopez who defeated Nadal’s conqueror Dolgopolov in straight sets today. But that is Dolgopolov for you. Another inconsistent player. The winner of Anderson and Garcia-Lopez will play the winner of Simon and Raonic for a place in the final.
Recently Becker said some things about Roger in his new book which wasn’t too complimentary. Here it is:
Roger responded today:
Quite interesting. I think the game needs more of this to spice things up in the era of boring PR bots. Becker is quite right when he says players maintain a fake friendliness. And I don’t like that. If they are going to compete and do whatever it takes to spoil the other guy’s day then I’d prefer they are honest about it. It’s no secret that for years Roger treated the Djoker with disrespect and disdain. That is not just gonna go away by Roger saying: today he behaves wonderfully and extremely fair. I have no problem with Novak.
And, by the way, I hope Fedfans take note of those words. I think Becker would know a thing or two about how the Djoker feels too, being in the Djoker’s camp and all. Things are clearly better between the two these days, but I always wondered why Roger showed such disdain for the Djoker when he was the one stopping Nadal from catching Roger’s slam count. I mean it’s not like he could ever do it himself. But I guess after a while he started to appreciate that fact and started showing the Djoker more respect.
And even more so now after he called Nadal the favorite to win the French and the Djoker destroying Nadal in straight sets.
Thoughts?
The
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