Yeah santana57, Serena's win was all about her turning it on. Federer got it together, but did nothing special. Davydenko did everything but gift it to him with a bow. The minute the match started to turn, he stopped doing everything that was working, right down to fundamental things like grunting. It was pathetic.

Meh. Cilic is the only player left in the draw I like. Hopefully the quality of tennis will improve.

I didn't know NJ was injured. Well I grudgingly give him kudos for not quitting, in that case.

It was a combination of heavy breathing, unable to get air, followed by cramping. In other words, the usual stuff that gets to him. So he's either not fully fit, or he has some kind of medical condition underlying his gasping for air. The cramps are most likely fitness related. Having watched the last two sets early this AM, that's what it was. Not an injury, per se. Just the stuff he's had before.

Not an injury; not a medical condition. But status quo for Djokovic. Seems like this has gone on as long as he has been on the tour. Yeah what is really going on? How can a guy play in the top 5 in the world and have a chronic health issue?

Asthma?

Anyway, he's not the one with the lame retirement in this tournament.

Murray finished the win against Cilic in a manner that has me calling him the tournament winner. One of his winners in the last game was absolutely outlandish. I'm gonna try to ignore the mom (I love that Del Potro took it there with Murray) and the gross open mouth thing that he (and Federer) does and focus on the tennis. His time has come.

I'm a total fan of Cilic at this point. He showed such heart in this tournament and is a class act ALL the way. He first showed that kind of nobility in his loss to Djokovic at the 08 USO. He kept throughout this tournament, win and lose. Tonight was a bridge too far. I love it that he held his last serve though. There's plenty more to come from him.

Doesn't Venus have recurrent anemia? As to Djokovic, it sounds sort of like asthma but I've never heard it described that way. My brother has a sort of mild case of asthma. I think he was diagnosed as asthmatic as a child (I know my older sisters were), but he's never had an inhaler. I remember him saying that he did a VO2 max text for fitness and found that although his heart is in good shape, his lung capacity isn't very large...which probably explains why he's subject to altitude sickness, as well.

So Murray slogs his way into his 2nd Major Final. And his experience at this level is what seemed to carry him through, whereas Cilic seemed to really "feel" the occasion of a Major SF and mentally buckled. And speaking of feeling the occasion and buckling mentally...

... Federer was rather fortunate to get by gasping Davydenko, and owes his SF spot to the Russian's profound ability to choke his matches away to him. Davydenko blew Federer off the court in Set 1, and was up a break in the 2nd at 3-1, and had 15-40 on the Federer serve to go up a double break. He muffed a sitter shot at 15-40, and then the wheels didn't just come off - they exploded off to the side of the road for the next hour. Thanks mostly to Kolya's self sabotage by converting only 5 of the 19 Break Point Chances he had, Federer makes it 23 straight SF's in his career - truly remarkable.

Tsonga also owes his SF spot to his opponent's capitulation. He did beat Federer last summer when it seemed hopeless, down 1-5 in the 3rd Set and coming back to win the match in a tie break. It's not inconceivable he could pull that off again. Federer can get by Tsonga at 90% of his best stuff, and could win the whole thing if he is 100% and flawless. But if he manages to offer 19 Break Points to Murray in the Final, well...hopefully he won't cry again .

I'm in Twohander's boat of not really being a big fan of the remaining players, but I'm sort of pulling for Murray at this point, just to get the monkey off his back.

This isn't the first time Davydenko has failed to convert huge numbers of break points against Federer in his slam. I seem to recall a similar French Open match a few years ago.

VM I think Cilic's knees buckled, not his mind. To suggest otherwise discredits everything that led up to where he got. At this tournament he learned what it's taken Murray forever to realize - a series of long matches will catch up with you and wear you down. Still, 5 set wins against Del Potro and Roddick is nothing to sneeze at. His nerves prolonged those matches, but he proved that beneath the nerves he has a future champ's resolve. I actually prefer his game to Del Potro's, at least to watch - he has more finesse and speed.

Also, the quality of the Murray-Cilic match was high, much better than Federer-Davydenko and at least equal to the first two sets of Murray-Nadal. I give Marin huge credit for even hanging around the way he did when it started becoming apparent his tank was empty.

Semifinals here is a good place for him to continue to build from. And you can tell Bob Brett believes in him for real and doesn't think of him as his latest gig, let alone just a paycheck.

OK Two- fair enough. Cilic's got game for sure, although in all of the matches you mentioned he has clearly shown a tendency for his concentration to lapse from the task at hand, even when playing guys who were obviously less than their best in Del Potro & Roddick. You'd have to agree with that much, yes? Cilic had to sweat through the tension of squandering the 2-Set lead in the QF, not the kind of way you want to win a 5 setter. He collected in that one when Roddick's shoulder just gave out on him. And without his serve working at a premium, Roddick is on very precarious ground. That's what I meant about Cilic mentally. Like all great players say ad nauseam: the very best players in the game are the ones who can make their best shots count at the most pressure packed moments of a match. It looks like Murray is saddling up to that responosibility more and more; Cilic has yet to get there.

But true he has the opportunity to get better and better. We'll see if he seizes it. And agree the Nadal retirement was lame. Just stand there for three games, don't move and let Murray close the deal in 5 minutes at Love

Re Novak's "Health Issues", did you see this in Tsonga's press conference:

Q: Novak talked about his problems. He had some problems during the match. When did you first notice that he was having problems?

JO WILFRIED TSONGA: Five years ago.

Now thats hilarious


http://imgsrv2.tennisuniverse.com/wtaworld...ilies/rolls.gif

Meanwhile..I spotted this at TMZ. Yikes. Andy Legion

Tsonga had nothing for Rogelio who was just masterful. Lets see how Murray handles the pressure of this final.

Some AWESOME "Big-Dogging" talk from Federer to Murray in the per-Final press conference. You can tell Federer has little respect for Murray and can't wait to get his chance at winning another Major at his expense . Federer has become a Master at playing the right notes talking to the press.

"I know Andy would like to win this first title for British tennis in, what is it -- 150,000 years?” Federer joked during his courtside interview.

Later, Federer, who will be playing his 22nd Grand Slam final, said, "He's in his second Grand Slam final now and I think the first one’s always a bit tougher than the second one.

"Now that he didn’t win the first one, I think it doesn’t help for the second one around. Plus he’s playing, you know -- me, who’s won many grand slams and has been able to win here three times so I know what it takes and how to do it, which is definitely an advantage.

“I don’t feel the pressure’s really on me having to do it again, because I did it before. I think he really needs it more than I do, so the pressure’s bigger on him."

I take back what I said about him being charming now that he's back to winning. It's this kind of arrogance that makes me root against him.

Seems so empty with this slam. I guess I feel like I have no one to really root for.

With Henin's poor sportsmanship and Serena's outburst from last year, as well as many other poor sportsman like comments and actions, from the both of them, I just hoped the tennis was good. And it was, but I couldn't bring myself to root for either of them.

Same with the men, now. I'm not at all a fan of Mopey-Murray, and Federer's continuing conceit just makes him so unpalatable to me. I guess it would be easier to root for Murray after the Fed's self-praise and trash talk, but that's certainly not saying much.

#16....straight setted Muzza!!!!!

Awww.....poor Andy. Lets see who criticizes his tears the way Roger was criticized last year and previous times. That actually made me warm up to the guy.

I am SO disappointed with Murrays effort this morning. Chokes again in a biggie. The ONLY conclusion I come to, is the pressure gets to him. I expected so much more from him in this final. Majorly disappointing...

I don't think his statements were said with conceit. I think it was a bit of mind game and a lot of humour......and obviously with some reason given the results.

Oh Federer was definitely twisting the knife. I mean he was really throwing some jabs in there. He also said regarding his daughters that maybe they will be sitting in the box on finals day next year. So yeah...he has a confidence/arrogance about him but he's earned it the same way Serena has. I really thought that Murray was going to step it up a lot more in that match given that he had gone through one major final previously. I expected some tightness but not a straight set loss. By the time he stepped it up in the third set it was too late. Very disappointing.

I'll let Jon Wertheim respond to that B.S.:

3. Federer got a pretty good grilling here -- and, I gather, on American TV -- for his gamesmanship and "bulletin board material" before the final. Let's deconstruct Federer's "trash talk." A) The first set would be crucial for Murray. B.) Murray has beaten him in head-to-heads but there was a difference between tour stops and Grand Slams. C) Murray would bear significant pressure, shouldering the hopes of a nation and knowing he has yet to win a major. When do we get to the part where Federer was wrong?

There's a big difference between the way he handled his emotions and the way Federer didn't handle his.

I thought his words in the ceremony were great and sincere. I'm not a fan, but the Irish in me wants him to win for non-England UK one of these days.

Federer played great. Murray's serve/nerve let him down from start to finish. It's like he could never muster the confidence that brought him there. Great final tiebreak.

Tennis Guy, I feel -- or better put, don't feel much of anything at all -- similarly about the winners.

I've been ignoring the interviews etc. but from the ceremony and what I've just read here it sounds like nothing has changed, or it's gotten worse.

That's my thought with Federer. He actually gives insightful comments/analysis. Unlike the banal comments so often given. Nothing wrong with those, of course. But Federer has been willing to make those comments prior to the matches. Of course, if you think he's arrogant, then you'll hear them coming from arrogance.

And, perhaps they are. But they might also be intentional, not from arrogance, but to work on his opponent's mind. Bill Russell used to do that back when he was the greatest winner ever in team sports. He'd say things to his opponents to plant seeds of doubt or confusion. And, so often he'd watch his opponents get psyched out.

I think that's one of the reasons Rafa has had such success against Roger. Rafa has not seemed to be vulnerable to the doubts or pressures that Djoko, Murray, and others carry. In fact, several times Fed felt the pressure against Rafa.

Or they might simply be his honest assessment. Some people are analyzers. Or some combination of the above.

Either way, Murray is one who has to learn how to take that big step. I actually believe he will at some point, like the USO. But for now, Roger earned this title. Congratulations to him.

Ugh! that pretty much guarantees that all the respect I lost for Federer when he cried like a pussy last year won't be returning. What a self-absorbed dolt. I didn't watch a minute of the Australian Open this year, mainly because I can't stand watching the poor sportsmanship, vanity and preening of players like Federer and the equally repugnant Serena.

Federer 's comments were terrific. He knew there was no way Murray was going to beat him, especially over 5 sets. So he had every reason to be confident. I don't get the impression Federer has all that much respect for Murray as a player, and even less for his junk balling heavy handedness. You knew Federer was feeling uber-confident, and a bit of "rub it in your face" when he started to drop shot Murray - the King of Overuse of the Dropshot .

The question now is - how will Murray perform in the rest of the Majors over the next two years? He could hardly have played any better going into a Major Final than he did here, and he already had the experience of being in a Major Final. And it still didn't prevent him from getting drubbed in straights. Murray has no real weapons on the court; he has tactics. His basic strategy is to try to undermine the other guys game instead of mounting his own offense. It's a Diffusion Game he plays. And it works - so long as nobody's got that Power Money Shot that can overwhelm him. In the last 7 Majors he's lost to Nadal, Federer, Verdasco, Gonzalez, Roddick, Cilic and Federer again. All of these guys have at least one Power Money Shot in their arsenal, and when they have those shots firing Murray has very little chance. The deeper he goes into a major the bigger hitters start to emerge, and he has to hope other guys lose to him.

It'll be interesting to see how he comes out of all this mentally. Given he was hyped so strongly to win this, and given how he was playing through the draw, you'd have to say this was a great disappointment.

Murray can continue to remain a counter-puncher, with emphasis on counter. Or he can evolve into more counter punching...with more aggression in his replies. That's why I think he still has ups. He can take more chances himself...and if he's able to do that without significantly increasing his errors, then he can be successful against the best.

It is a different game at the majors. And yet, Murray hasn't beaten all these guys several times each with stringed cheese. Passive Murray will not likely win a major. Controlled aggressive Murray can beat any of them on hard courts, even at a major. Jimmy Connors managed to do quite well at majors back in his day. As did Agassi. Whether Murray can handle the expectations and pressure remains to be seen, of course.

I'm on the road and haven't been able to watch the matches, but it sounds like same old same old: Novak fell apart physically, Rafa's knees gave out, Andy M fell apart mentally, and Roger won the whole thing. I don't particularly like this pattern, but there's no denying it.

Damn, that would feel like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.