FEDERER BEATS MURRAY AND PLAYS AS IF IT WAS A DREAM MATCH TO GO INTO WIMBLEDON 2015 FINALS ON SUNDAY

Written by: Global Chick on 10th July 2015

FEDERER BEATS MURRAY AND PLAYS AS IF IT WAS A DREAM MATCH TO GO INTO WIMBLEDON 2015 FINALS ON SUNDAY

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Andy Murray of Britain during their semi final match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 10 July 2015. EPA/GERRY PENNY |

Global Chick’s Wimbledon Diary – Champions in the making?

Today was going to be all about the men – as the mighty ATP warriors made their bid for a place in the Wimbledon final. We would see if the valiant Richard Gasquet had anything left in his legs after his thrilling quarter-final against French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, and whether Andy Murray could repeat his feat from the London 2012 Olympics and slay Roger Federer in his ultimate throne room.

But for my money a moment must belong to a quietly well-spoken challenger for tomorrow’s final – Garbiñe Muguruza. As well as being utterly charming in press yesterday after her win over Agnieszka Radwanska, it struck us how very similar and yet different she was to last year’s finalist Genie Bouchard. We had seen the Canadian bizarrely wearing a kimono to press and deal with the ensuing interest as she made her first Slam final with an impressive sense of confidence, verging on hubris.

Garbine Muguruza of Spain celebrates her win over Agniezska Radwanska of Poland in their semi final match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 09 July 2015. EPA/GERRY PENNY

It was a different story when she lost to Kvitova in a quite devastating beat-down which has since seen her struggle to find form, herself and to be honest at times the court.

That is not to say Muguruza can’t have the wobbles – she did against the ninja magician that is Radwanska, but the quietly confident Spaniard basically charmed the socks off everyone. There was no brashness, no throwing down of gauntlets, but just a quiet sense of belief in her game (she beat Serena Williams last year in the French Open on the way to the quarter-finals) and reiterating that in her dreams she pictured herself in a final with Williams. She did decline to let us know what the result of that dream was!

While we are talking about dreams, defending champion Novak Djokovic ended the run of Gasquet in straight sets. There were some moments of sheer brilliance from the Frenchman, and acrobatic feats a-plenty from Djokovic, who also had the trainer out a couple of times for his shoulder, but the Serbian will have been relieved to have taken charge of the first set tie-break.

Almost immediately, though, there was a feeling of impeding doom (or in reality early Davis Cup practice) for the Frenchman as he was broken right at the start of the second set. But like a good French Onion soup with the melted cheese that can land you in hospital for first degree burns, Gasquet stuck with Djokovic, giving away just that single clove of garlic – sorry, we mean break.

In fact in fairness to Gasquet the end was nigh but he made a jolly good baguette of things, saving two match points, before finally surrendering as Djokovic made the final 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4. It was probably closer than a lot of people suspected it would be, and if anything it makes Monsieur Gasquet a very dangerous proposition for the Brits next week at the Davis Cup, where your intrepid Global Chick is headed straight after this!

Talking about his partnership with Boris Becker after the match, Djokovic said: ““It’s about the mental approach, I think, especially when you’re in the big tournaments and you’re facing different adversities on the court, especially in the later stages of Grand Slams when things are getting tougher from every point of view. It’s where I think his contribution is the biggest to me and to the team.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Richard Gasquet of France in their semi final match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 10 July 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“Ever since he came to our team last year, obviously for me, it’s a pleasure to have a legend of our sport next to me who is mentoring me and is giving me advices to be better.”

But before that there was the small matter of the second semi-final. And no disrespect to the defending champion and all, but this was the one that everyone was waiting for. Were they entertained? I think so. The blistering pace that was set by the pair, with Federer serving at a blistering 81% of first serves.

It was just the merest of lapses by Murray that let the first set slip away, as Federer clinched the first set 7-5.

It was imperative that Murray held on to his serve straight after the break, and there was just the feeling that it was a pivotal moment, especially given the depth and speed of Federer’s returning. Still nether were giving an inch, but in almost an exact reply of the first set, another loose game at 5-6 but Federer in the driving set for the match, after taking his sixth set point.

We were watching peak Federer – although is first serve percentage dropped a little in the second set, Murray just could not capitalize. It was not as if he was doing anything wrong, it was just that he was outplayed – something that Murray admitted readily as he came into press immediately after the match.

“I don’t feel like I played that badly. There’s a few things maybe at the end of the sets that I could have done a bit better. You know, some of those games at the end, I mean, the game at 4‑All or 5‑4 in the second set, I think both of us played some unbelievable points. It felt like every point was getting finished with a winner.

“But then, yeah, I don’t know if it’s the best I’ve played in a loss or not. It’s tough to know just now. But I definitely don’t feel like I played a bad match.”

But there is no denying that the moment belonged to Federer.

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Andy Murray of Britain during their semi final match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 10 July 2015. EPA/TOBY MELVILLE

He said: “The thing is you can’t compare different days, different opponents, different surfaces. At the end you’re just happy you’re able to do it many times in a career or a few times in important moments. Again, one set doesn’t make the difference. If you play one great set and end up losing, it wasn’t worth anything.

“Today I was clearly able to play very well from the start. The beginning was always going to be an important part of the game. I had to save breakpoint first, then I was able to start rolling on my serve. Played a great game to break.

“So, I mean, definitely one of the best matches I’ve played in my career. I don’t know, the first set, I don’t remember point by point, but it was definitely really, really solid.”

· We have two mouth-watering finals on offer now – on Saturday Serena Williams faces Garbiñe Muguruza and we could see one of the most competitive matches here in a while – and we deserve that

· We have a rematch of last year’s final – will it be Roger’s time?

Topics: All England Tennis Club, Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Garbine Muguruza, global chick, Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon Championships, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

July 10, 2015 at 1:51 pm

-@rogerfederer BEATS @andy_murray AND PLAYS AS IF IT WAS A DREAM MATCH TO GO INTO #Wimbledon2015 FINALS ON SUNDAY- http://t.co/7hosCbe39V
BarrickJoan says:

July 10, 2015 at 3:54 pm

RT @TennisNewsOne: FEDERER BEATS MURRAY AND PLAYS AS IF IT WAS A DREAM MATCH TO GO INTO WIMBLEDON 2015 FINALS ON SUNDAY http://t.co/dfpi5IH…