Before the Wimbledon final: Goran, Roddick, lots of rambling!

One of my all time favorite moments in sport was Goran Ivanisevic's amazing Wimbledon victory in 2001.


It was his fourth final and at least twice he had been desperately close.

In 1992 where he beat both Edberg and Sampras along the way, he succumbed in a very close 5 setter to Andre Agassi in the final.

With his huge serve and a game seemingly made for this era's game on grass I think most people thought that him winning Wimbledon was only a matter of time. Including probably himself.

In the following years at Wimbledon Ivanisevic did everything from badly underperforming to being the best player on grass not named Pete Sampras.

He was erratic but of course never boring and he was someone you always wanted to watch just to see what would happen.
From probably the most explosive serves ever, his all or nothing service returns, to his epic temper tantrums.

Most famously in a match against Hyung-Taik Lee where he smashed every racket in his bag and as a result had to default!

At that low-point he had slipped far down the rankings and the time where people seriously thought him winning Wimbledon was only a matter of time was far gone.

He was now seen as someone who had missed his chances.

In the 1994 final against Sampras he dropped the first two sets in tiebreaks, then fell completely apart and was humiliated 6-0 in the third.
At this point it was definitely becoming clear who the mentally stronger player was and it wasn't Goran.

Next year Sampras again was the nemesis edging out Goran in the semis in what was a great five set match.

In 1996, the year of the upsets, with both Becker and Agassi going out early and even Sampras losing in the quarters, he could maybe have had a great chance but was upset too, by Jason Stoltenberg of all people, also in the quarters.

Instead it was Richard Krajicek who brilliantly (especially when blowing out Sampras) grabbed the chance and with his powerful grass game beat Malivai Washington, of all people, in the final to win his only grand slam title.

A final probably best remembered for this moment:


The following year once more it was far less happy times for Ivanisivic.

He had been playing great and collecting ATP titles consistently for a while now.
Was the 2nd seed coming in, that was his highest ever, only to be knocked out already in the 2nd round, in an epic match against Magnus Norman. Losing 14-12 in the fifth!

By 1998 he was starting to slip down the rankings.
Wimbledon really seemed to be the only thing he truly cared about at this point, and from the 14th seed spot this time, he was able to reach yet another final.
His 15-13 five set win over Krajicek in the semis was extraordinary and this must have seemed like destiny to Goran.

Against Sampras (who else) in the final he started well and took the first set.
The second was very close and in the tiebreak Ivanisevic had a couple of set points to go up two sets to none.
Sampras being Sampras of course came back and took it 11-9 and eventually the whole match in five, for his, at that point, fifth Wimbledon title.

I remember feeling pretty bad for Ivanisevic after the match.
This was also the period were I was still always rooting against Sampras. Later there would be a dramatic turnaround. And I wasn't sure if I'd ever seen anyone so devastated following a tennis match.
He really looked like someone on suicide watch and I guess this old SI article, I found just now, from back then confirms it:

Ivanisevic, who possesses both a quick wit and a quick temper, was neither funny nor mad afterward.

He was devastated.

"It feels bad," the 6-foot-4 Croatian said. "I cannot describe it. It's the worst moment in my life.

"I've had some bad moments, you know, when you are sick or when somebody dies, but for me this is the worst thing ever. Nobody died yet, but it's tough."

Even the mention of Croatia's World Cup victory Saturday over Germany failed to brighten his mood.

"I cannot cheer anybody now," he said. "I can only kill myself."

OUCH.

It was probably at this point actually that I started seriously rooting for Ivanisevic but in the following years he kept slipping and was almost constantly struggling with finding form or with various nagging injuries.

What then happened at Wimbledon 2001 is of course legendary.
He needed a wild card to even play and when he ended up winning he was the first wild card entry to ever do so.

Generally my impression of him that year was that he wasn't the player he used to be.

His movement clearly was worse which of course is huge, but the touch was there and of course that incredible serve.
And I don't know if it's even correct but I remember my thinking at the time was that he was also going for his 2nd serve a lot more than he had in the past.
Out of need almost.
Recognizing that other parts of his game weren't what they used to be and now he had to maximize his one dominating strenght. The serve.
At times he was serving two first serves!
That's how I remember it anyway.

He beat both Roddick and Safin along the way. I don't really remember that much from those matches other than him serving incredible and coming up with those powerful service returns, just enough times in order to win.

The semi-final against Henman is of course now remembered as Henman's big lost opportunity and how rain interrupted when it seemed Henman had turned a very back and forth match into his favour.
Their shared nemesis now 7 time champion Sampras had of course already been knocked out by future Wimbledon ruler Roger Federer, who had then lost to Henman in the quarters.
So this was no doubt both men's golden opportunity and tremendous credit to Ivanisevic for being the one to take it, come back when the match once again was restarted, play great and turn everything around.

This time it definitely felt like destiny.

From another article from back then:

Goran Ivanisevic has crushed Tim Henman's dream of a place in the Wimbledon final by battling back from two sets to one down to win in five sets.

Henman had appeared on the brink of the final on Friday when he came from a set down to lead with some dazzling tennis.

But the rain delays which caused the semi-final to be played over the course of three days broke Henman's rhythm and worked to Ivanisevic's advantage.

After his win, Ivanisevic said: "This is destiny.

"God wanted me to win this game - he sent the rains."

And it was Ivanisevic's patience which was rewarded as he secured a fairytale fourth Wimbledon final appearance.

"I don't want to lose again - that would kill me," said Ivanisevic.

"Tomorrow's the biggest day of my life, I don't want to get that plate for a fourth time."

Asked about his opponent in the final, the Croat said: "He's a great friend and a great player - it's going to be tough."

I actually caught a replay of the final the other day and predictably ended up sitting through the whole thing and it was still very intense as well as still very moving in the end.

Both before he won, when he was struggling so immensely with his emotions and how much this meant to him clearly was there for all the world to see, as well as the pure joy in the end when he finally had done the seemingly impossible and achieved his lifelong dream.

The last game alone was incredible drama and throughout really, helped by the best atmosphere ever, cause it was monday and everyone could get tickets, the match was so close and so back and forth that you were nonstop at the edge of your seat.

After Goran, Rafter was probably the player I most wanted to see win Wimbledon and he was severely missed when he reitred, but for this one I was solely on the Ivanisevic side of things and him ending all the suffering and doing it from the most unlikely stage, rock bottom, of his career was just too great of a story not to root for.




Enter Andy Roddick:



Now I'm not saying it's the same. The stories are very different.

But even though I love Federer and I think he is the best ever, tomorrow I'll be rooting for the great upset. The "better" story.

Roddick has never been down and out like Ivanisevic was. He already has a major, even if that win seems like forever ago at this point.
But like I talked about in the Roddick-Murray post a few days ago, he is certainly someone who has been counted out. He has been much maligned and made fun of.
Been called the worst good player and stuff like that.
He will also probably, if he doesn't win another grand slam, be seen as a great underachiever.
Yet with him being surpassed by other more talented players in recent years, no one expected him to even reach finals anymore.

With his 2 wins out of 20 record against the best player ever, he will be a monumental underdog but he will also be the greater story and to win would without a doubt mean the the world to him.

Federer he just confirmed his all time greatness by winning the French.
He doesn't NEED this. If anything he needs to beat Nadal at Wimbledon not poor Roddick one more time!

He very likely will of course, and I'll be left with some degree of disappointment.

What would help that though would be, and the rumours are flying, if Sampras shows up and presents Federer the trophy.
Actually him showing up and then ending up presenting it to Roddick wouldn't be too bad of a moment either...

But he has said in the past that he would like to be there whenever Federer would break his record, and THAT would certainly be a great moment.



Even greater than that!

Wimbledon semi-final: Roddick beats Murray!

I wil admit that I didn't think Roddick would ever reach another grand slam final.

And in the post match interview a few hours ago, after brilliantly beating the much favored Andy Murray, he strongly hinted that following last season, he didn't even think so himself, but after deliberation with swimsuit-model-wife Brooklyn Decker, decided making a full commitment:

Q. You said when you came off the court that you weren't sure, it's been a little while since you thought you'd make a Grand Slam final. Did you ever really seriously doubt that you would be back here?

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, yeah, yeah. Last year after I played here, I mean, that was a hard, hard couple of weeks.

You know, Brook and I had a lot of talks on where I thought ‑‑ if I still thought I could play and at least be, you know, towards the top of the game. I definitely openly questioned it at that point. You know, then the rest of the year I was kind of hurt.

So this off‑season, we said, You know what, if you're not gonna be up there, let's at least not wonder. Let's prepare yourself and give yourself every opportunity.

You know, I did work real hard and, you know, was committed, and have been committed, you know, from everything to diet to sleep to everything. So, you know, I certainly gave myself every opportunity to succeed.

Q. Back to the conversation you had with your wife at the end of last year of whether you could play or not. What side did you take and what side did she take?

ANDY RODDICK: It was a year ago here. I was probably leaning towards not really playing that well. She didn't really know much about tennis, so she thought I was playing real great (laughter).

Q. And she convinced you?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, she thought I looked cute in the shorts.

Part of that commitment was hiring coach Larry Stefanki who previously in my opinion quite clearly helped lift the games of extremely talented enigmas such as Marcello Rios and Fernando Gonzalez.

As well as an already very accomplished player like Yevgeny Kafelnikov at a time when he was going a little bit stale.
Stefanki tuned him back into winning tennis, resulting not least in a second grand slam.



During a great Australian Open interview by Mats Wilander this year I was so impressed with Stefanki's thoughts and comments about the work that he had done with Roddick that I thought it to be a possibility even that Roddick could upset Federer in their scheduled match there.
Which I might add is really saying something!

Federer of course once again blew Roddick off court but I still had Stefanki's words printed in my brain and thought there was a chance at least that Roddick could have a great year.
I will touch more upon what Stefanki said in my final's preview tomorrow, since a lot of it was what Roddick would need to do to have any chance against Roger.

But one of the things he said, and we all know that by now, was that he had Roddick lose some weight.
15 pounds is what is being reported.
He convinced Roddick that he was a "big body guy" and that he had to lose weight if he wanted to improve his movement.

In order to have any chance whatsoever of playing the great all-court game he managed today against Murray his movement had to be much improved and it really was, whether it was sideways or well timed forward movement to the net.

Improved movement probably also helped him getting in great position to Murray's still weakish 2nd serve, which he unusually for Roddick, effectively took advantage of.
The usual clumsy return errors just were not present in this match.

In the Wilander interview Stefanki was very open about it and said, what we all know, that Roddick's return game just had not been good in 3 or 4 years now and improving it was top priority. Job well done I say!


Another focus point was what he saw as nervous energy always coming from Roddick and how he thought that was something to work on as well.

Something like that is of course difficult bordering on pointless to try and tell from an outside observer's point of view, but with a grain of salt I will say, especially given the unique environment, that Roddick came across as more calm and collected than what we've seen often in the past.
No frantic walking around between points, the obsessive shirt pulling or general signs of impatience.
Just focus focus focus.

Then yesterday there was this interesting article on BBC SPORT. These are the most interesting parts:

BBC 5 Live's tennis pundit Jeff Tarango says the outcome could depend on how aggressive Roddick is with his returns and feels he must take a chance by going for a winner whenever he can.

"With the first serve, you have to give Roddick the tilt. Then again, Murray could have the more successful winning percentage because Roddick's returning isn't as good as Murray's. That will be the number one key factor, and it will be close.

"The second factor is the second serve return. You have to remember that Andy Roddick's second serves are around 120mph - Andy Murray's second serve right now is between 75 and 90mph.

"But we don't know if Roddick is going to be too nervous to go after the second serve on a regular occasion, or just see that thing as a big beach-ball and crush it.

"If Roddick completely crushes every second serve he sees - and he is capable of it - then Murray is in a lot of trouble. If he doesn't attack, or get the chance to, Murray has a huge advantage and can win easily."

They last clashed in Doha in January, when Murray easily came out on top 6-4 6-2.

The memory of that defeat led Stefanki to suggest on Wednesday that Roddick could try less aggressive tactics this time in a bid to upset the Scot's rhythm.

Tarango, however, feels Roddick must ignore that advice if he is to have any chance.

"I think that would be absolutely terrible coaching," added Tarango. "If Roddick plays less aggressively against Murray, Murray will work him round the court, keep him on the run and wear him out - then he won't be serving as well.

"If his coach told him that, that might have just cost him the championships."

Tarango believes Roddick is now a better overall player than he was when he was world number one and was particularly impressed with the way he came through his marathon five-set quarter-final win over Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday.

"I saw something in the Hewitt match that I have been speaking about to Andy's brother John this week," the American added.

"He started hitting his backhand better than he's ever hit it in his life. He was turning his hip a lot, poking that shoulder down and walloping it - and that's really what pulled that match out for him.

"If he is able to keep that shot up against Murray then he has got a fantastic chance."

But Murray's form this year makes the world number three the favourite to progress and Tarango still believes he holds the edge.

"Roddick has the best first serve in the world but Murray serves a little bit smarter," he explained.

"He's also a little bit better in terms of scraping balls out, grinding points out and adapting his game. Andy Roddick is kind of a cookie-cutter player - every single point, he's playing the same.

"It's very difficult to predict how this one will go but I think Murray will edge it in four sets."

After especially the first set today it was tempting to take Tarango's rather harsh dismissal of Stefanki's call for patience and make fun of it.

In that first set through his improved movement, as well as the backhand Tarango is talking about, Roddick played patient, mixed it up and just didn't give Murray, the great defensive player, anything real to counter.
And by not playing overly agressive of course he greatly reduced his number of unforced errors.

Common sense, like Tarango says, would suggest that this wouldn't give Murray much trouble and that his superiour hands and backcourt game would take control and move the usually somewhat clumsy Roddick around almost at will.
But Roddick throughout was right with him and in control.
No doubt helped along by an 80+ 1st serve percentage but still, he stayed with him in most backcourt rallies. Even controlling a lot of them.

If you can blame Murray for anything this match it was probably not adjusting more quickly there, and not keep waiting for Roddick to move in on bad approach shots or try for low percentage winners, cause that just wasn't happening today and Murray probably in that first set should have looked more for the initiative.

To his credit Murray did play more agressive the rest of the match and to be honest there really wasn't much between them at all.
It's easy to say Roddick's serve was just too dominating but arguably Murray with his improved 1st serve gave Roddick as much trouble as Roddick gave him.

One biggie like I touched upon earlier, and to his credit Tarango predicted this, was Roddick's demolition of the Murray 2nd serve.
I remember Patrick McEnroe already on I think Roddick's first year on tour declaring Roddick's 2nd serve one of the best ever and the incredible bounce he gets on it out wide is still great to watch.

All in all this was probably Roddick's finest match since the Gilbert days and huge credit to Stefanki as well for the work he's done with a player who had gone very stale and unlike all his rivals disastrously not improved for a long time.

Today the improvement was there for all to see and it was great!