Well, bummer, bummer, bummer, bummer. Four matches. Four losers. We sure know how to pick them. The first match today is the semi-final between Raphael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro. We are hoping that del Potro wins. He’s had a long road back from wrist surgery over a year ago. Now he is just coming back into form. He used to be able to beat all the top players with his amazingly hard-hit forehand, his down-the-line backhand and a big serve. But he’s not quite there yet. Nadal wins in two sets.
I like this picture of Nadal because he always looks so concerned when he’s about to serve. He goes through a long routine of knicker picking, hair fixing, ball bouncing, and lip biting. His serve is not the strongest part of his game and he is always nervous about it. He used to serve about 95% first serve in but his mph was in the 90’s. Now he’ll serve up to about 130 mph but his first serve percentage is much lower.
The second match is the semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Djokovic is on a winning streak since he led Serbia to the Davis Cup Championship at the end of last year. He is playing really well. Federer is getting older and can be brilliant and then, well, not so brilliant in the same game. Nonetheless he is beautiful to watch and can produce some astounding tennis. Unfortunately, he only was astounding for one set today. Djokovic wins in three sets.
So we are bummed that Roger lost. But we hang arond because he will be playing the doubles final later tonight. In the meantime we watch the women’s doubles between Americans Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy and Indian Mirza and her Russian partner Vesnina. The match is pretty unexciting. The Americans come out as the losers.
Our last hope for the evening is the men’s doubles final between Federer/Wawrinka and Dolgopolov and Malisse. All hope is dashed and we head home with heavy hearts. Every one of the players that we hoped would win has lost. Sigh.
