[Soadiassy]

Think it was more to do with his recognition that the crowd wanted Roger to win. He was asking, in a good natured way, for a little appreciation/support too.

That's exactly the way I saw it. And I don't think there was anything wrong with it.

[Soadiassy]

Patty Mac was a little critical of Roger for calling Novak's screaming winner a lucky shot. Which was funny because, had he read Novak's presser, he would have seen that even Novak called it lucky.

I thought calling it a lucky shot was fine. What troubled me a little was the way Roger prefaced it by referring to younger players who used that kind of shot as a substitute for working hard. It just seemed a strange way to reply.

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/int...692666313.html


Q. When a guy hits a shot like that forehand on match point, is that a function of luck, of risk, or is it a function of confidence that someone would make kind of...

ROGER FEDERER: Confidence? Are you kidding me? I mean, please. Look, some players grow up and play like that. I remember losing junior matches. Just being down 5 2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. It all goes in for some reason, because that's the kind of way they grew up playing when they were down. I never played that way. I believe in hard work's gonna pay off kinda thing, because early on maybe I didn't always work at my hardest. So for me, this is very hard to understand how can you play a shot like that on match point. But, look, maybe he's been doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal. You've got to ask him.

[finasteridonline]

I thought calling it a lucky shot was fine. What troubled me a little was the way Roger prefaced it by referring to younger players who used that kind of shot as a substitute for working hard. It just seemed a strange way to reply.

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/int...692666313.html

Roger was pretty pissy in the presser. But I can't really blame him. It was a heartbreaking loss. In his shoes, I'd be peeing on the reporters. And doing worse on those who asked questions I didn't like.

Of course, my forgiving attitude about post-loss pressers dates back to the days I was constantly defending Serena for the crap she used to dish out in post-loss pressers... Before she, like, almost died and became an adult.

[Switiespils]

Roger was pretty pissy in the presser. But I can't really blame him. It was a heartbreaking loss. In his shoes, I'd be peeing on the reporters. And doing worse on those who asked questions I didn't like.

Nice post Serena.

[hapasaparaz]

Roger was pretty pissy in the presser. But I can't really blame him. It was a heartbreaking loss. In his shoes, I'd be peeing on the reporters. And doing worse on those who asked questions I didn't like.

Of course, my forgiving attitude about post-loss pressers dates back to the days I was constantly defending Serena for the crap she used to dish out in post-loss pressers... Before she, like, almost died and became an adult.

Must be a relief that with Serena 2.0 you no longer have to do that

[envenonearo]

Nelslus a lot of Roger's fans are very ticked off about Djokovic's behavior when Roger was serving for the match. What was the reaction in Ashe?

And did Djokovic really dance on court after the match was over?

As you might imagine, the reaction on Ashe to Djokovic's WAY over the top reactions while serving for the match depended on if you were a Roger or a Novak fan- albeit the crowd was clearly more pro-Roger throughout. IMO, this clearly involved gamesmenship. But, just the same goes for a lot of players- and, Roger obviously still should have been able to win this regardless.

As for the delightful dancing- to be fair, Mary Jo egged him on to dance. However, whether or not he did I can't tell you, as I had to gouge my eyes out just at the suggestion of a Novak Happy Dance.

[Soadiassy]

I've been a big Novak fan for quite a while, so that's the point of view I'm coming from. Why shouldn't he be excited about fighting off a match point with an explosive great shot? Why shouldn't he expect the crowd to appreciate his fight and willingness to put it all out there on one improbable shot? We all know Roger is the Grand Old Man and the 5-time Champion and the GOAT and he's getting older and does he still have a chance and we love him, etc, etc, etc. But if I were the #1 player in the world with one of the best season records in history and I'd been playing my heart out for 5 sets, coming back from 2 sets down, with the crowd rooting for my opponent, well, I think I'd put my arms up and say, hey, for one shot at least, how about a little love?

It just blows my mind that he's getting any criticism at all for that. What was he supposed to do - say to himself, Well, it's Roger, so I'd better just surrender?

[envenonearo]

I've been a big Novak fan for quite a while, so that's the point of view I'm coming from. Why shouldn't he be excited about fighting off a match point with an explosive great shot? Why shouldn't he expect the crowd to appreciate his fight and willingness to put it all out there on one improbable shot? We all know Roger is the Grand Old Man and the 5-time Champion and the GOAT and he's getting older and does he still have a chance and we love him, etc, etc, etc. But if I were the #1 player in the world with one of the best season records in history and I'd been playing my heart out for 5 sets, coming back from 2 sets down, with the crowd rooting for my opponent, well, I think I'd put my arms up and say, hey, for one shot at least, how about a little love?

It just blows my mind that he's getting any criticism at all for that. What was he supposed to do - say to himself, Well, it's Roger, so I'd better just surrender?

Getting very excited over an incredible shot is understandable. IMO being there, it was just WAY too over the top is all- which also includes his too frequent macho chest/heart poundings. I'm not a fan of this in-your-face stuff against opponents- including players I like who do this such as Serena. I just prefer seeing players play is all. IMO at least part of Novak's agenda was to rattle Roger in this circumstance- and clearly he did, so more power to him. (Roger should be able to learn how to get players OUT of his head by now.) Mind you, I don't think Novak should get too much crap over this- and it ultimately doesn't IMO take away from a great win on his part.

[envenonearo]

MEANWHILE, this damned crap hotel internet yet again ate what I had been writing here- AHHHHHH!- even though I swear I had been saving what I had been writing. So, I'll try to recreate some of what I had been writing:

*Happy for Lisa and Huber (some GOTTA think, neck-ball-choking-history drama and all, that Huber had a break coming to her, having lost the US Open doubles final last year after having a match point with Petrova)- but I was also very bummed to watch King and Shvedova blow it. Shvedova served for the match at 5-4 in the second- and proceeded to play a chokey, nervous game- and they were never really quite the same again- albeit if I recall this correctly they got to two points away from winning at some point in the second set. Up until then, they had been playing such lovely, free and fun tennis- pretty close to the high quality level of the mens doubles winners. None of the players played at their best consistently- although of course there were some very great and fun points. LOVE doubles quick net exchanges. Still, amazing accomplishment for Raymond and Huber.

*While it was great to start off first row Center Court again for the women's doubles final (and then second and then third row, as of course the hoity-toity came in to claim their seats around the end of the doubles match), I had pre-internet-screwing-up posted a long bit about an ick encounter I had with this crazy large woman and a truly snotty couple. But, I'm too tired now to repeat this- so, let me just say, thank goodness for once I had the right response when presented with a couple of snot-bags (such situations where people are being mean- this time to someone else- yep, the large crazy women- too often leave me speechless.) AND- I guess I'm just meant to be among the riff-raff is all.

*SO!!!!! excited for Sam, and so happy that I was wrong that Sam had blown her one chance to win a Singles Slam title. IMO it all was a perfect storm for "How Sam Stosur Could Manage to Beat Serena Williams in a US Open Final"- she played incredible, and Serena, due to (take your pick) her health/possible injury/having to play so late the day before/nerves/"aging" player status, played below her gifts. In particular, Serena just could not rely on her serve to bail her out- although Sam was SO smart to very often kill Serena's second serves throughout this match. I am so happy for Sam- that she didn't let her demons run her down this time, played a great match throughout (we'd seen Sam play great first sets three times, only to lose her way in the second set during three matches- I suspect Sam had to realize that she could not have afforded a second set letdown against Serena, the way she could survive this against the others), and she was able to put any Serena drama aside. SO happy to be there to see this. Live, it was all the more impressive how Sam played- REALLY hitting the hell out of the ball, then slicing, running Serena all over the court, moving the serve all over the place. What a concept- having a plan and sticking to it for a Slam final.

*It was AMAZING that the tennis did not end up really getting rained out these past two days- especially today, when it looked like it was going to pour all day. There was a brief rain delay period yesterday and today- AND it actually was raining a bit while Sam and Serena were warming up, and I felt a minor drop of rain here and there during the match. But, I sure got to see a LOT of tennis- which I am thrilled about.

*Unless the US Open Ticket Exchange option can produce a REAL cheap ticket offer, I'm not going to the men's final. Gonna spend a lazy day in NYC tomorrow, and maybe catch a show, before returning to Chicago on Tuesday (when I extended this vacation, I figured with the weather that this upped my chances of getting to see all of the matches I had paid for.)

*Got to see a bunch of bits and pieces of junior and wheelchair tennis these past two days (although I only got to see Esther during her awards ceremony .) Watched the first few games of the Grace Min/Caroline Garcia final, until I had to go to the women's doubles final. Both have solid games- although I never have any idea of whether or not juniors will succeed in the pros. Garcia clearly needs to learn to not over-hit during tight situations. I had seen Grace win the Wimbledon junior doubles final thanks to the internet (and I got a DVD copy), and John and I managed to see Grace play in Lexington- so, I'm so happy that she won. Sure hope she can grow some though. Also got to see Taylor Townsend and fellow African American partner Gabrielle Andrews just win their second set, and then lose the third set tiebreaker to Demi Schuurs and a VERY! feisty teeny-tiny Russian (who let's just say, ahem, TRULY wished to win this damned thing, trust me- if folks had seen her, they'd not be so critical of Novak) Irina "She Needs to Grow Taller Too" Khromacheva. Wish I could have seen more of this- some well-played tennis, albeit with a few too many junior-esque moon balls in that third set tiebreaker.

*No photos this time, I'm afraid. John's the photo-taker in this family. And, I just tend to find that if I focus too much on taking photos, it takes me out of experiencing all that I want to experience, especially with Slam matches.

[Clilmence]

Patty Mac was a little critical of Roger for calling Novak's screaming winner a lucky shot. Which was funny because, had he read Novak's presser, he would have seen that even Novak called it lucky.

I was surprised Roger was so direct about it, but then, both Murray and Nadal said something similar, although without using the word "luck". I think describing it as these two (who are obviously a bit less emotionally involved - ok maybe not Rafa but you get the point - ) is probably a bit more diplomatic:

ANDY MURRAY: I have seen Roger and Rafa hit some unbelievable shots over the last four or five years. I mean, I don't know what Novak said about his shot, but it's one of those where he just went for it. You know, out of ten you'll probably make two or three. Yeah, I was watching the end of the match. He looked like he started shaking his head. It was more out of frustration than anything. He caught it clean and hit an unbelievable shot and managed to turn the match around. I have seen those guys that are at the top of the game hit some unbelievable shots the last few years.

RAFAEL NADAL: I think he play fantastic later. The beginning Roger I think was playing very well. His serve was working really well and he was playing aggressive with his forehand. Was a little bit of mistake for Roger in beginning of the third, in my opinion. But after, he was very unlucky in the fifth, no? Matches like this, you lose one every lot of, lot of matches, and he lost one two in a row in this tournament, last year and this year. Probably was worse this year, because last year he had the match points but on the return. This year he had the match points with the serve. The return from Novak with the 40-15 was -- I don't have words to describe, because, you know, you hit a shot probably without thinking because you see the match total lost with 40-15 and serving for Roger. Is not a normal serve. Is one of the best serves of the world. He returned the ball with eyes closed. The ball went to the line. After, one mistake from Roger and the match changed completely. Hats off to Roger. I think he deserves to be in the final because it's hard lose two years in a row with a similar situation. But Novak this year is playing fantastic level mentally obviously, and he won few matches that in normal conditions he's supposed to lose. That's, yeah, big confidence.