Wimbledon – Novak Djokovic defeats Rafa Nadal for The Championships title

So far this year, Serbian Novak Djokovic has won 48 of the 49 matches he has played this season. That goes even a little further if we take into account last year’s Davis Cup. He has won every tournament he has been into for the sole exception of the French Open, where he couldn’t outplay Roger Federer in the semifinals. Just for the sake of information, Roger Federer would eventually lose the final of the French Open to the King of Clay, one Rafael Nadal.

Back at Roland Garros I said on the subsequent blog entry that had Roger Federer not managed to defeat Novak Djokovic, it would have been Djokovic who would have won the French Open. Let’s consider that on three warm up clay court tournaments before Paris, Djokovic had won on each, including two wins in the finals against Rafael Nadal. The truth is that the Djoker had Nadal figured out, even when playing in his strongest surface. What Djokovic hadn’t figured out yet was how to defeat perhaps the greatest player to have yet to play the game, the Swiss Roger Federer.

Perhaps this is why when Djokovic finally got his chance to defeat Rafael Nadal for a Grand Slam tournament I couldn’t help but to feel extremely excited about the Djoker’s accomplishments this season. One must understand that by defeating Rafa on Sunday, Djokovic was certainly redefining his career. He was certainly taking his tennis game to a whole new level. Let’s consider that before this win, Novak Djokovic had never defeated Rafael Nadal on a Grand Slam. Certainly not when playing for a Grand Slam title. Neither had he ever won a grass-court tournament of any sort, let alone the Championships at Wimbledon. Before 2011, Novak Djokovic had been a great player. Now we can say he is quite phenomenal.

Novak Djokovic was faster, stronger, had a better swing and simply ran from side to side of the court showing his best defense up to date. This brilliant performance was enough to defeat the defending champion, Rafael Nadal by 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 at Central Court. This is his first title at the All England Club and third major championship overall. Many are already making of him the favorite to go on and win the US Open.

:Djokovic wins Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal
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NCAA – Duke defeats UNC for ACC Tournament

Only a week ago, the North Carolina Tar Heels went on to defeat the Duke Blue Devils in one thrilling, winner-takes-all game for the Atlantic Coast Conference outright regular season title. The Tar Heels made it look all too easy. But perhaps the Tar Heels took just too many chances against a very solid and well paced team.

This time around, the roles were going to change and the Blue Devils would show no mercy against the Tar Heels. The second-seeded Duke Blue Devils were up by 18 points by halftime, and truth be said, they never let the Tar Heels get even close in the second half. The Tar Heels had managed to rally their way out of a mess in the last three games of the tournament, but not against head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his brilliant Blue Devils.

Seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singer from Duke had a flawless performance at Greensboro, North Carolina. The two seniors who led the 5th seeded Blue Devils to the National Championship brought on their A-game and clearly overpowered the Tar Heels, not only to win the ACC Tournament but also to do it while crushing their biggest rival. Nolan Smith had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists and Kyle Singer had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist for the 75-58 win over North Carolina, securing Duke’s record-breaking 19th ACC Tournament Title.

The Blue Devils have now won their third straight ACC Tournament and 10th in the last 13 years, proving that Coach K. and the guys from Duke take this tournament just as seriously as they take the NCAA Tourney.

North Carolina’s fans were hoping that once again the Tar Heels would put together one of those amazing come-from-behind wins that had kept them alive in this year’s tournament. Check it out: North Carolina had rallied from a 19-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to beat Miami on a last-play layup in the quarterfinals. On their next game the Tar Heels rallied from 14 down to force the game into overtime and beat Clemson in the semifinals. This time, the Blue Devils were going to stop North Carolina on its feet, as the Tar Heels got no closer than nine after halftime.

Seth Curry had 20 points last week when the Tar Heels beat Duke. This time around Curry only had 11, including a 3-pointer after the Tar Heels had pulled to within nine. John Henson was the strongest Tar Heel of the night with 10 points, 18 rebounds and 2 assists. As for the rest of North Carolina’s squad, Harrison Barnes had a very hard picking up his tempo despite scoring a tournament freshman record 40 points on his previous game. Barnes finished the game with 16 points and Tyler Zeller had 14 but to be fair, we must say that North Carolina shot 34 percent (against 50 percent from Duke) and never looked like the team that had managed to win 19 of their last 21 games.

The Duke Blue Devils still lost their race for the top seed in the NCAA Tournament to the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Blue Devils are now seeded No.3 for the March Madness Tourney, following the Kansas Jayhawks who is second and just in front of Notre Dame, which is 4th.

NCAA Tournament- UNC-Asheville defeats AR-Little Rock in overtime

by Stephen Lars on Mar.16, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

The first game of the First Four went to overtime and despite not having the thrill of a Final Four game it certainly had moments of sheer March Madness. UNC-Asheville’s top player, Matt Dickey had a tournament-worthy performance to guide the Bulldogs into an 81-77 win in overtime with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Dickey was in charge of putting in together one heck of a comeback late in the second quarter. The Bulldogs had been ahead in the scoreboard for only 52 seconds before Dickey put himself together and began to play like a pro. He was responsible for signing in 14 of the Bulldogs 18 points in regulation. Not only that but he was the guy who finished off the Bulldogs comeback hitting a flawless three-pointer with ten seconds to go to tie the game and push it into overtime.

 Matt Dickey wasn’t sharp during the whole game, that’s for sure. In the first half, he only shot twice, and had it not been for the rest of his teammates, things wouldn’t have gone as well as they did.

Alex Garcia-Mendoza matched his career high record with 21 points for Arkansas-Little Rock. The guys had a 19-17 season and somehow still managed to make it into the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans played overtime without Solomon Bozeman, the Sun Belt’s Conference player of the year. The talented youngster got into foul trouble late in the second half and had to watch the overtime from the bench. Still, Bozeman finished with 18 points for the game, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Arkansas-Little Rock team alive in the single elimination NCAA Tournament.

There wasn’t much time to celebrate for the UNC-Ashville to celebrate the victory, as the guys from the team had a charter flight straight to Washington DC where they’ll have one of the toughest challenges of the season. The Bulldogs are certainly going to need more then what they showed last night if they are hoping to survive the No.1 seed in the Southeast, Pittsburgh.

NBA – Miami Heat defeats the Charlotte Bobcats

by Stephen Lars on Jan.04, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

Both LeBron James and Dwayne Wade put on an amazing game as they lead the Miami Heat to defeat the Charlotte Bobcats 96-82 last night. James scored 38 points for his 10th game hitting 30 or more points this season while Dwayne wade scored 31 to complete his 9th game of the season reaching such high marks. This is not unusual for such a high caliber team that includes the talent of not only these two players but also that of the lean and powerful Chris Bosh.  What it is particularly interesting about this game is that this is the first time that both Wade and James hit the 30

NCAA Football – TCU defeats Wisconsin on Rose Bowl

by Stephen Lars on Jan.04, 2011, under Football, Sports News

TCU lost last year’s Fiesta Bowl against Boise State by just a touchdown. The very interesting issue here is that this small bump would be the only negative mark in what has been an otherwise impeccable two seasons for the Texas Christian University football team. The TCU Horned Frogs managed to complete a perfect season ranked as the No. 3 team in the Nation with a 13-0 record that ended with a great win over the Wisconsin Badgers for the BCS Rose Bowl played at Pasadena, California.

Tank Carder, a defensive linesman for the Horned Frogs was able to jump in the right moment to interfere with Scott Tolzien’s last pass in a 2-point conversion that would have forced the game into overtime. The Badgers gave a great battle during the game, but it was just not enough. At the end, TCU claimed a 21-19 win over Wisconsin to win its first ever Rose Bowl.

There had been a lot of questions made in regards to TCU’s performance during the season. Sure, this win has secured this group of talented players (guided no other then by head coach Gary Patterson) a place in the programs football history. Not only is this a great win for the school but also for all the small programs that have had to deal with that sort of monopoly that comes from the bigger and more prestigious football programs in NCAA football.

The Badgers played a good game. That’s is something that not the rest of the teams in the Big Ten can say about themselves. On this New Year’s day the Big Ten Conference went 0-5. What we want to point out is that TCU won in the big scenario against a big school that actually played well. The Badgers committed no turnovers. They needed not to punt until the third quarter and although it was a close game, it was just not as close the Badgers fans would have liked it to be.

On the other hand, the Horned-Frogs did everything they needed to stay in control of the game. TCU’s quarterback Andy Dalton was brilliant. He was there when his team needed him most. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 219 yards and one touchdown. As a matter of fact he was responsible for 247 of TCU’s 301 yards. So yes, it was one heck of a game.

And it was also one heck of a game for non Automatic Qualification schools too. The record for non-AQ schools improved to 5-2 in BCS Bowls. Now, it is uncertain if the Horned Frogs win is of lesser or greater value then what Boise State did in 2007 with their 1-point win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, or what happened in the 2009 Sugar Bowl between Utah and the Alabama Crimson Tide in what certainly would be remembered as one the most epic upsets of BCS history.

What matters is that TCU has proved it deserved to be here. It has proved that they could have been worthy of a National Championship Game. Perhaps things will not change for smaller schools on the long run. But heck, if you have a sweet spot for underdog stories, then you’ll probably appreciate TCU’s effort as this is their second consecutive back-to-back BCS Bowl buster.

ATP World Tour Finals – Roger Federer defeats Rafael Nadal in Championship Game

by Stephen Lars on Nov.30, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Roger Federer has been working his way around this very complicated season. So perhaps this end of season win in the O2 Arena comes certainly as a big relief for the talented athlete. The season has been filled with ups and downs for the Swiss Maestro. He was brilliant at the Australian Open but things got very complicated in the other three Grand Slams. Federer was sent off before the French Open semifinals. Federer has always struggled in the clay courts of Roland Garros. What the fast paced courts of the Meadowlands in New York in the US Open is to Rafael Nadal, the clay courts in Paris where to Federer.

Federer then fell very early, in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He had been the most prolific and succesful player in the grass courts of Wimbledon during the last decade. And yet this year he had failed to make it into the quarterfinals.

In the US Open, Federer played one of the most intense games ever against Novak Djokovik in the semifinals. He really couldn’t overcome the pressure, and saw how his early exit in the US Open gave Rafa Nadal his Career Grand Slam and assured the Spaniard his position atop the ATP professional rankings.

Federer was not capable of making it back to his best shape. He went on to hire a new coach and for a moment gave signs of a very significant improvement. But still it was not enough for the King of the Slams to get as competitive as the biggest tournaments required him to.

But on this game, it all went for Federer. Rafa was really not able to play a very strong match. Sure, he managed to push the game into a 3 set game, but as the game kept evolving, little by little, it seemed as if Rafa was growing tired by the minute. This was the 22nd match between the two players. Still, Federer proved that he was the strongest player in London. With a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, Federer won his 5th World Tour Finals on Sunday and kept on his dominance on this Round Robin, top 8 ranked player in the world, season finale championship. So, yes, not a bad ending for Federer.

Nadal had never made it into the finals of this tournament. But he had to pay his duties to get here. Nadal spent over three-hours to bring down Andy Murray and that was a bit too much to deal with, 24 hours before playing no other the Federer on the final. We have to be since with you guys here. It really seemed that at the end, Nadal just gave up a little. He knew that no matter whether he lost or win this game, he was going to walk his way into the next season sitting atop of the ATP rankings.

Nadal also knew that he had had one of the most extraordinary years any professional tennis player has ever had or even dreamed to have. Sure, Roger’s win would cut down Nadal and Federer’s personal record down to 14-8 for Nadal. But it didn’t matter much. Federer was just outstanding. He was almost flawless, he hit 92 percent of his first served plays and lost only 13 points on serve in the entire match.

That’s it for the season. It has been a great year in the ATP circuit. There has been room for some exciting upsets and many record breaking moments. But that’s it. We might have a new king. Its now a matter of time to see if Federer is going to make a comeback and reclaim what is his.

ATP Tennis – Novak Djokovic defeats Thomas Berdych at ATP World Tour Finals

by Stephen Lars on Nov.23, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Novak Djokovic had a sore spot ever since he fell to Czech Thomas Berdych during the Wimbledon semifinals in July. But it is now payback time, as the talented Djokovic brought in his A-game to the 02 Arena in London in his first match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals round-robin stage to defeat Berdych in a 6-3, 6-3 matchup.

Djokovic knows his way around this tournament. He had a great tournament during the 2008 season when we went all the way to capture the season finale at Shanghai. In the 2008 final Djokovic went face to face with Nikolay Davydenko and won 6-1, 7-5. The following year, when the tournament made its move from Shanghai to London, Davydenko was able to step up and win the tournament playing the final against Argentine Juan Martín del Potro by 6-3, 6-4.

The ATP World Tour Final is certainly a very different tournament. Contrary to most any other professional ATP sanctioned tournament, the World Tour is not played based on a single elimination knockout stage. The World Tour Finals only calls in the 8 best ranked players at the end of the year.

These eight players are then divided into four players groups. Players in group A and Group B take on a round-robin first stage where they play 3 matches against the other contenders in their group. The two best record holders in each group then make it to the next phase of the Barclays World Tour and into the semifinals. The Winners are awarded up to 1500 ranking points and there is over a 4.5$ million purse.

Djokovic has been very successful this year over hard court surfaces in the ATP circuit. This is his 40th win in hard courts. He has only fallen 10 times in the fast paced hard courts this season. And that surely was evident in the court. Djokovic clearly dominated the 25-year-old Czech throughout the whole match. Berdych committed 19 unforced errors, and from early in the first set, it was evident that he was in trouble. Berdych suffered two double faults in the opening game. From there on there was very little hope for Berdych.

Djokovic arrives to the 02 arena as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. He is really experiencing one heck of a season. He has won 26 of his last 33 games and it really seems as if he might just be able to keep on crunching his opponents.

If you are looking for some wagering on Tennis action, then you probably don’t want to miss on the action on November 23rd. Roger Federer will play Andy Murray while  Robin Soderling will take on David Ferrer. As of press time, Federer is a favorite to win at ML-130 with a comeback of ML

NCAA Football – Oregon struggles but defeats California 15-13

It not only takes a great team to be ranked on the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Football betting season; sometimes you have to get a little luck to make it pass a powerful team and clinch on to the top spot of the BCS ranking for yet another week. This was certainly a good chance for the Oregon Ducks defense to step up and show that the Ducks are not working their way into the BCS National Championship game exclusively on the prowess of its offensive team. The Ducks defense can also walk the walk.

Oregon had to struggle in the road as the California Golden Bears, 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the PAC 10 division, found a way to stall and bring down the Oregon’s offensive end, which this year has been the best in the Nation. The Golden Bears brought Oregon’s offense to a season low 317 yards. And that’s not all, not only did they kept the team from scoring more then one touchdown, they also kept the Ducks scoreless during two quarters. Now, to really get things into perspective, you need to consider that the Oregon Ducks have been hold scoreless on three other quarters so far this season. But California’s defense did the trick and kept the usually pouring offense from shinning.

And then there was the luck factor. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, California had a great chance to complete a 24-yard field goal and get ahead in the score by one point. Even though the junior kicker Giorgio Tavecchio completed the field goal, the Ducks were able to get a huge break in an illegal motion by the Golden Bears’ kicker. Tavecchio took a stutter step forward before the snap and the play was cancelled. As if that was not enough, he then missed a 29-yard try on the following play.

The Bears could have won this game, and they could have really hurt the Oregon Ducks chances of getting into the National Championship Game. They played the game well. To get California’s performance into the right perspective you need to consider that the Golden Bears kept Oregon 40 points beneath their season average. That’s a lot. California had been quite dominant when it came down to defending their home team advantage. But it was just not the case.

Oregon took the win. But it was evident that this was the closest game of the season so far. The Ducks had not won a game by fewer then 11 points this season, and that 15-13 was a clear proof that the Ducks where struggling and just barely managed to win. Sure, they were far from covering the spread, but hey, the Ducks are still a very reliable wagering option. They are 6-4 ATS for the season.

Oregon will now play Arizona as the team tries to keep leading the BCS standings. They shouldn’t struggle that much, as they Ducks are a -19

ATP Tennis -Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer in Shanghai Masters

by Stephen Lars on Oct.18, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Things are not looking too well for the great Roger Federer. And his recent debacle at the Shanghai seems to be the latest prove. Andy Murray went on to defeat the Federer Express in straight sets this Sunday. Murray who has been quite effective against a player that gives such a hassle to most every other player in the professional circuit, managed to defeat Federer by 6-3, 6-2.

Andy Murray not only won the tournament without dropping a set, but he also broke Federer’s serve four times and managed to fight back six break points while outperforming Federer from the serve, with six aces against Federer’s three. In their personal record, Murray has now won 8 of their 13 meetings, making him quite efficient against the player who for so many weeks dominated the ATP rankings.

And truth be said, it is quite uncertain what happened with Federer during the final match. Don’t get us wrong here, Murray played an amazing match and he deserved to win the tournament. But it is hard to understand how his performance dropped the way it did because, let’s face it, the Federer that played and defeated Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals was not the same Federer who went to on to play the final match.

Murray has had somewhat of an irregular season filled with ups and downs. First, he defeated Federer in August, where he won his first tournament of the year. But then he failed to make it pass the third round of the following four tournaments, including his early exit in the third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows. It has been a long season in the ATP tennis. We’ll keep you updated at it comes to and exciting end in the following month.

NCAA Football – Oklahoma defeats Texas in Red River Rivalry

If you have ever set foot on either Arlington, Texas or in Norman, Oklahoma, you can help but to notice what a huge part of these two towns, particularly Norman, are truly devoted to their College Football teams. If you do make it to the outskirts of the Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium you would notice that everything is Crimson and White, and be it from the LiqOUr Store in the eastern corner, to the College-Sports Bars at Main Street, everything has to do with Football. That is why, when the Red River Rivalry hits in every year, the tickets to the Cotton Bowl stadium are as hard to find as Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.

Now, Texas has been the dominating team in the last  5 games in the series, so it is nothing but short of exciting for both players and fans to see such a strong team as the Sooners come in and give the Texas Longhorns their second consecutive defeat of the season. After what we say in Arlington, Texas, last week, the expectations for the Longhorns to put on a big show against the Oklahoma Sooners were very high. Their unexpected 34-12 lost against UCLA last week, was nothing short from surprising and a bit disappointed for any fan of the Longhorns.

Let’s not forget for a second that despite their woes, the guys from Texas have been a dominant force in the last 10 years not only in the Big 12, where next to Oklahoma they have shared their domination over the rest of the teams.  But the Texas Longhorns have also been a very strong team nationally. As a matter of fact, despite its ups and downs, the guys from Texas have managed to sit in the Top 25 Nationwide AP Poll for a whopping 162 weeks. Just to but things into perspective, that is almost twice as many weeks as the second place in that regularity list: Ohio State with 89 games.

Actually this is the first time since 2007 that the Texas Longhorns lose two consecutive games. Back then it was both Kansas State and Oklahoma State who delivered the consecutive defeats. So does this victory come fitting very well to the guys from Oklahoma? Heck yes: The Sooners had not defeated Texas since 2007 and that is almost unacceptable in such a fierce rivalry.

Now to the game: Garret Gilbert completed 27 of 41 attempts and went for 265 yards in his Red River Rivarly debut. But there was not much help from his teammates. Three of Oklahoma’s four drives that ultimately ended up with a score were extended because of Texas’ penalties in third downs. And that was not good news for head coach Mack Brown, who knew that they had the game, but missed because of little mistakes, each and every chance his team had to turn the scoreboard around.

On the other hand, Landry Jones went for 24 of 39 with 236 yards. Just a tad behind Gilbert, but Jones managed to find two players inside the end zone and ultimately touchdowns are what make the difference in any football game. As of press time, the Sooners will try to keep up with their flawless mark in the NCAA football odds against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday October 16th. The Longhorns on the other hand, will go face to face against the Nebraska Cornhuskers that same day.

US Open – Kim Clijsters defeats Venus Williams in the Semifinals

The defending champion, Kim Clijsters made an impressive comeback to take over a very strong and aggressive Venus Williams and keeps her 20 games won streak at Flushing Meadows. It took Clijsters three sets and a very solid and relaxed state of mind to put down the last American standing in the tournament with a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 Friday afternoon.

Unforced errors. If you take a look at what happened in the game, it all came down to the many unforced points that Venus Williams gave up on the court. Clijsters had to deal with a very impressive serve that at moments was just a tad below the 200 kph mark. Serena was able to connect 9 aces. Still, with many well-placed shots, and keeping her almost stoic-like focus, Clijsters was able to complete the upset.

Venus had not played many of the preparation tournaments that are played previously to the US Open over very similar curses because she was resting one of her kneecaps. We were a bit uncertain if Venus was going to have a good performance in the tournament. But she certainly came back and gave no signs of trouble as she walked straight into the semifinals without dropping a single set.

Serena Williams, Venus sister and No. 1 ranked player, was sitting among the many spectators that filled the Ashe Stadium. She would have been a favorite to make it into the final had she been able to participate. In a very unusual incident in a restaurant, she cut her foot with a broken glass and had to get surgery. She is currently resting and recuperating from the injury.

On the other semifinal, it was Zvonareva who pulled an amazing game against the favorite Caroline Wozniacki in the other semifinal. Most of the US Open fans were expecting a remach from last year final and see both Wozniacki and Clijsters take a go at the championship game. But Zvonareva got in the way. She was far more consistent and was able to push Wozniacki into 33 unforced errors that gave her the victory.

This is Zvonareva’s second chance at a Grand Slam title. She managed to make it into Wimbledon’s final this july, but Serena Williams got in her way. Now it would be a matter of time to see if she is going to be able to pull-off an upset against the now favorite Clijsters.

Team USA defeats Spain in preparation for Turkeys FIBA World Championship

Team USA had to go into overdrive and count on a bit of last-minute luck to barely make it pass Spain in their warm-up match before the FIBA World Championship begins this Saturday. Kevin Durant was a key-player in this game, managing to block shots by both Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez in the final seconds. If you want to talk about suspense and excitement, you should have seen this international affair’s last quarter. It was as dramatic as it gets. Spain managed to lead a couple of times, and the margin was never more then two points. At the end, it was Durant who saved the day for team USA.

Jim Boehiam, the Syracuse University coach, made a last minute change in Team USA tactical scheme and went for his classic Orange System. The 2-3 zone game plan paid off as the North American team was able to clench an 86-85 victory over Spain. Changing to zone-defense instead of going one on one in the last play, really caught the Spanish offense off-guard. This quickly gave the advantage to Team USA despite the fact that it was Spain who held the last possession and had two last chances to shot. Both blocked by Kevin Durant.

The United States had to really push hard in the fourth quarter, as the team rallied after Spain which closed the 3rd quarter 13 points behind. So, yeah, if you do the math, the last quarter was very intense. Team USA had won the Olympic Final back in 2008 against Spain. And you could tell that the Spaniards were hungry for revenge.

And they were very close. Spain took the lead for the first time in the game with 90 seconds to go. Then Rubio, made a nice play in the flank and was able to serve Felipe Reyes for an easy shot to bring up the advantage of the Spaniards 82-80. Kevin Durant, who closed the match with 25 points answered quickly after and managed a three-point play after a double free throw play.

The FIBA World Championship begins Saturday

Tune in for some of the finest basketball. Sure, the NBA is in its off-season, but the Miami Heat begins to gather all the sports reporters attentions, take a moment or two and check out what the rest of the globe is doing with the great game of basketball. Turkey is going to be hosting its first FIBA World Cup, and everything is ready. The teams are already arriving at the distinct cities where they will play in the group stages. The FIBA World Championship betting lines are already up.

Team USA is a 23-point favorite over Croatia. Spain on the other hand has a 12

ATP – Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer in Rogers Cup final

by Stephen Lars on Aug.19, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Andy Murray had a great weekend. Not only did he defeat Roger Federer in the final of the Rogers Cup at Toronto, but he defeated both Federer and Rafa Nadal while defending the tournament he won last year.

Murray has had two previous chances at a Grand Slam final: the US Open in 2008, and the Australian Open earlier this season. On both ocassions, he fell slightly short to Roger Federer. So this one feels quite good for the Scottish player. Andy Murray was able to put down Roger Federer in two straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

It seemed as if Roger Federer was just unable to pick up the pace and somehow find his rhythm. This was the Federer Express’ first tournament since was eliminated on the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Just for the record, he had been the most dominant player in the recent years to play in the All English Club. But truth be said, there had been somewhat of a drop in his performance ever since he won the Australian Open, his 16th grand slam, early in the season. This was also Federer’s first game since joining his new coach, Paul Annacone.

Anyhow, it was not a bad result at all for Federer, who still did not manage to win, but certainly showed an improvement over the previous months. Andy Murray, on the other hand, had one heck of a tournament. He has always excelled in the hard courts, as his game is most efficient on fast courts. Murray kept playing from the base with his usual, reserved and cautious game. He is not a risk taker. Lets be frank, Murray is quite a defensive player. He relies mostly on his good counter punch, ad his very solid groundstroke.

Despite Federer’s efforts to brake, Murray was simply too quick, to good at anticipating his opponents shots that it was clear that he would not allow Federer to close in on the 1 point gap he held out even when the Swiss was pushing him the hardest. Then there was also a whole new deal with the weather.

The game was constantly suspended for rain delays. As a matter of fact, from the beginning to the end, the game was stopped by the officials at least three different times. Roger Federer has said that Murray deserved to win the Rogers Cup. He commented on the very little chances that Murray gave him throughout the day. Still he also made a remark concerning the rain and the weather.

In the press conference Federer said: “The rain delays completely kind of shut it down for me to get any kind of rhythm.” Later about the continuity of the match he said the following: