Strange Famous

Murray Monday!

Bring on Rafa Nadal next!

What a comeback!

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anyway, the women's draw is wide open, but in the Men's can anyone beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon?

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Cross-Over

That was a great comeback by Murray. He was amped and animated throughout the last set, though I thought it was a bit silly for him to flex his bicep after the match. In his post-match interview he mentioned it was in reference to his oft-criticized fitness, but it was still lame.

Nadal came close to beating Federer at Wimbledon last year, so he is definitely capable. Hopefully, it will be another 5 set match.

highthief

Nadal will whip Murray in 3 straight - and then the announcers can stop talking about another lame British player.

I think Rafa will take Federer this year - Federer is off form and Nadal is looking very, very good. It's his time.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Cross-Over

My gut tells me the same, however, I don't quickly discount the thought that Federer will be extremely focused to dispel the notion that his dominance is over. As cliche as it sounds, all great champions do have a refuse to lose mentality. Federer is just as dominant on grass as Nadal is on clay, and he will be defending his title and legacy to a certain extent.

Strange Famous

Murray is a top 20 player with several tournamount wins alreay - not sure that its fair to decribe him as "lame".

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

highthief

Given the hype that surrounds him every time he steps on the grass, I'd stand by the lame statement. When he actually achieves something in a major, he and all of British tennis can ditch that label.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

Lets hope Rafa comes into the game with that kind of arrogant attitude and underestimates Andy too then.

Rafa might be the top boy on clay, but on the hallowed turf of Murrayfield, its a different matter.

Just got back from football so havent seen today's results but from the time he finished yesterday I guess Safin didnt play today. He's a dark horse you know... he might be a couple years past his absolute best and maybe he spent most his career saying grass was only good for grazing cows on - but if he's in the right mood he can turn over any one in the game, Federer included. The problem is when he's in the wrong mood he could lose to any top 200 player, mens OR women's game.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

highthief

"Murrayfield" - are we playing rugby or tennis?

Seriously - this is the problem with British tennis. The guy has done exactly squat in majors yet you and much of the British media want to rename the place.

If the guy achieves something (that is to say if he wins the thing not falls valiantly before Rafa or Roger) I'll be happy to cheer him. But I don't think he has the game.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

there's no way back now.

Rafa's just been too strong, too relentless - taken the fire out of Andy Murray.

Be interesting to see what he can do against the great Roger Federer, on grass.

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And Murray is 21. He might not be the finished article yet, people develop at different stages. Rafa was a great player at 18, Roger got great around 21/22

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

highthief

Buh-bye, Andy.

He had nothing for Rafa - couldn't win a point off Rafa's serve let alone get a break.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

Rafa was imperious today. He is so defensively strong, and has so much power when he see's an opening... he's a tough player,

The next couple of years will be interesting... can he emerge as a real threat to Roger on other surfaces than clay

At 22 he is already in my opinion the greatest clay court player in history - and the next few years will show if can be one of the greatest ever full stop.

But the difference between Murray and Henman is at least Murray looks like he fucking cares when he loses.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

highthief

Actually, I'd say the difference is that Henman - who did not have all the physical skills - punched above his weight on numerous occasions. So far, Murray has not demonstrated that ability.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

I think Murray may have won more tournaments already than Heman did in his career...

EDIT

I was wrong

Heman - 11 wins in career
Murray 5 wins, by age of 21

not counting "challenger" events

... but I think it shows that Murray is as I said - not right at the top yet, but a serious player. You dont win 5 ATP events in 2 years because youre a mug.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Cross-Over

I think you completely misinterpreted what I wrote. I wrote that I thought his flexing of his bicep after the win was lame. I never called Murray lame. I like Murray fine and was rooting for him in the match. My comment is not out of dislike of Murray; rather, out of what I thought was silly/lame gesture.

Strange Famous

no, you didnt describe him as lame, but highthief did.

"anothere lame British player"

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Cross-Over

Yeah, thats my bad. There was no need for clarification.

dlish

rafa will win. but im rooting for roger.

what do u guys think of the williams sisters making the final yet again?

i think it shows the lack of depth of consistant players in the womens draw.

gone are the days of graf, evert, sanchez-viccario, navratilova who would dominate in huge blocks. kinda like the mens draw

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

highthief

I'm in the same boat - I like Federer better but I think this might be Rafa's time to win the big one.

As for the women - yeah, it's a shame that a couple of part-time players with great talent in the Williams sisters can still walk into the Wimbledon final while all the rest showed how mentally vulnerable they are.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

Safin had a punchers chance, but it wasnt enough I guess. He did enough to remind us of his reckless genius though... in any other era (ie - no Federer and Nadal) he would have had a lot more than 2 grand slams

The final will be interesting, but I think Roger will be just too good. Roger in 4. Rafa is stronger, faster, probably hungrier, hits the ball harder - but I still think Roger is operating with six gears and the rest of the world with five.

Other than against Rafa on clay (and Rafa is the best clay court player in history in my opinion) Roger is still utterly dominant on every other surface and it is considered an big upset every time he loses other than in France against Rafa.

Personally I think Serena and Venus prove the exact opposite about the women's game - it shows how much depth there is that there are players of their calibre outside the top 4.

And come on Laura Robson!!!

14 years old against a 17 year old opponent, the Slovak tried every piece of gamesmanship in the book - serving underarm, fake physio breaks - and was drubbed in two sets.

England Expects, etc.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

dlish

id have to disagree strange. "in any other era"?? what era? sampras/courier/agassi era?
becker/lendl/edberg era?
mcenroe/bjork/connors era?

he wouldnt have had a chance to two trophies in any of the last eras in the last 20-25 years. hes more of a loose cannon. remins me more of ivanizavic than any other player.

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Strange Famous

All Ivanisavic ever really had was a serve though... to me Safin was (and maybe still is) capable of performances that would beat anyone in the world on his day - whether its Federer, McEnroe, Borg, Becker or whoever else - Safin when it all clicks is unplayable - the problem always was it didnt often click two games in a row.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

dlish

yeah..just like ivanisevic...

except that one time in wimbeldon against phillipousis if memory serves me correcty... then again The Poo had a similar game to ivanisevic.

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy