Roger Federer Dances to the Final; Thin Skin Fells Del Potro

Written by: Tennischiro on 12th May 2012

Roger Federer Dances to the Final; Thin Skin Fells Del Potro

epa03216496 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer serves the ball to Bosnian Janko Tipsarevic during their semi-final match at the Mutua Madrid Open Tennis held at the Caja Magica sport venue in Madrid, central Spain, 12 May 2012. EPA/JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO |

When two of the biggest men at the top of the pro game, 6′ 5″ Tomas Berdych and 6′ 6″ Juan Martin Del Potro squared off today in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, few would have expected that the match would be decided by the thinnest of margins. No I don’t mean the number of points because in the end there was no difference, they each won 79 points. No I don’t mean the 3% superior first serve percentage or the 2% better service points won percentage, both for Del Potro. No I don’t mean the 3 fewer break points that Juan Martin allowed Berdych; they both broke twice.

This was a match of momentum swings. Del Potro won 5 or the first 8 games. Aside from the tie-break, Berdych won 5 of the next 6 games. Then the Tower of Tandil came back to win 6 of the next 10 before they played the tie-break. Even within the tie-breaks, momentum swung back and forth as Berdych jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set TB. At 4-1, Del Potro questioned a call on Berdych’s serve, but the umpire ruled the mark was touching the line. Juan Martin thought he had the wrong mark. Just then an overcome spectator in the crowd caused a significant delay in play. This could have been a good time for the Argentine to calm his nerves; instead he continued the argument with the umpire and appeared to be boiling about that call. Nevertheless, when they resumed, Del Potro played beautifully to even the breaker at 5-5. But then he had a momentary lapse giving Berdych the set point on his serve as he put a routine backhand in the net. The Austrian took full advantage of the gift and took that tie-break with a beautiful serve and inside-out forehand winner combo.

In the second set, Berdych broke in the first game to go up 2-0. Was Del Potro still stewing about the call on that 4-1 point? Del Potro broke back at 3-2 to even the match and looked like he had righted his ship. But both players held serve to take the set to another tie-breaker. When Del Potro slipped in a rally at 1-2, Berdych took the mini-break, 1-3. Ace – Del Potro. Backhand Winner Berdych to 4-2, Berdych serving. Berdych made his 4th double fault of the match to put them back on serve, 3-4. Service winner- DP, Backhand winner-DP, Ace-TB and it is 5-5 Berdych serving. This was a high quality tie-breaker. TB took it to 5-6 with a service winner and DP answered with an ace to 6-6. Juan Martin appeared to have another ace, but Berdych questioned the call and on examination of the mark, the umpire called it a fault. DP missed another key routine backhand in the rally that followed his second serve and TB was able to serve for the match at 7-6. Del Potro continued his harangue of the umpire as he prepared to return on match point. He got another look at a second serve, but he again let TB get the upper hand in the point and he moved to the net, ending the match with an overhead. Sadly, Del Potro refused to shake the umpire’s hand at the end of the match, thinking he had been hooked on key points in both tie-breakers. In fact, shot spot showed the umpire had been dead on in both cases.

What is lost in all the statistics that it is the smallest of margins that determine the outcome of a match. There is little that separates these two as the total number of points won clearly shows. Berdych may be the best hitter of a slow ball in the game and he is able to generate plenty of opportunities to execute that advantage off his first serve and his return of second serves. But the Argentine is the better player when he has to move and he handled Berdych 6-3, 6-1 earlier this year in Rotterdam. Of course that was on indoor hardcourts and this week the the “blue clay” has put all assumptions on “slippery” ground.

What is that thinnest of margins that I am saying determined this match? It is Del Potro’s thin skin. When you play a tennis match you don’t control much? You may have a bad day; you opponent may be “in the zone”; the weather could go against you; you might be fatigued and your body just won’t respond; and you could even get unlucky bounces or bad calls. There is one thing you can control: your attitude. For a professional of Del Potro’s stature (or any serious tennis player for that matter) to let a disputed call interfere with his composure, focus and eventually his performance, is absolutely unacceptable. When Del Potro sees the replays that show he was wrong about the calls, he will be upset with himself. But I hope his coach gets him to see that regardless of whether the replay proved the umpire right, Del Potro should never have allowed those incidents to take one ounce of energy away from where it needed to be. He may have lost those points anyway, but he certainly did not give himself his best chance to focus his energy fully on the task at hand.

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In the other semifinal, we have the opposite example, competitive attitude at its best. This week was Federer’s first tournament since losing his second match in Miami in March and his first match on clay since losing to John Isner in Davis Cup in early February. The “blue clay” presented a problem for everyone. Roger started out going to a third set tie-breaker with Canadian flame thrower Milos Raonic. After surviving that intense struggle, the maestro settled into a solid rhythm on the mysterious surface, serving better than 70% first serves in every match, allowing just 4 break points total and surrendering not a single one in three matches against Gasquet, Ferrer and Tipsarevic. In all likelihood, this is the last time Madrid will be played on the blue clay, but it is too bad. The surface requires the players to adapt and adjust; it makes them play more aggressively; it rewards balance and anticipation.

Roger Federer may or may not have the best forehand in the game. He may or may not have the most effective serve. He probably is not the fastest mover from point a to point b; more likely it’s Ferrer, Murray or Nishikori. He may not be the most flexible individual out there; leave that to someone like Djokovic hitting balls out of complete splits. But he is clearly the best mover. He is able to move to the ball and arrive in a state of readiness and balance that allows him to play this week as if he is running on a hard court. He slides around the court controlling his movement; he does not slip. The rest of the players look half the time like they are on ice; and they say that is how they feel. They can’t accelerate hard off their outside foot and muscle their way out of the unbalanced position their power-above-all-else style has gotten them into. In the meantime, Roger dances across the court, takes the ball early and glides into the finals. He takes the ball early and leaves his opponents gasping for air and grasping for a “skyhook” to keep them upright as he wrong-foots them.

Berdych brings the game to his terms with a big first serve and big returns on 2nd serves; when he gets to do that, he is one of the best ball strikers in the game. But Roger will not allow him to stand and hit. He will force the big man to move; if he has to, he will back way up on Berdych’s first serves to find some way to get into the point and make the big Czech play. If Roger drops his first serve percentage below 60% or if Berdych can keep his first serve percentage above 70%, the final will be a very tight match. If Berdych can make enough first serves, he can extend the match and it will become a question of who can withstand the pressure; who has the thicker skin to deal with the inevitable bad bounces, bad calls or even infuriating mindless unforced errors; and ultimately, who has the best attitude and ability to adapt and adjust. Isn’t that what we want to see in a great tennis match? In the end, there will be only one man standing on terra firma. You know who I think that will be.

10sChiro

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Topics: 10sballs.com, 10sChiro, Janko Tipsarevic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych