I am as excited as the next person for this one.
Two tennis players with similar extroverted personalities go head-to-head tomorrow.
Make no mistake; they both have a tremendous sense of humor…sarcasm, self-deprecation and outlandish yet logical responses to questions. They both can easily fit the role of a ‘Jester’ in King Arthur’s court. They both entertained the crowd on Arthur Ashe Kids Day.
As the evening sun sets tomorrow, under the bright elegant lights of Manhattan, Roddick and De-Joker will go to work in the Open quarters.
De-Joker is not the fittest bloke going around any day, and he has spent significantly more time than ROD on court the past week. He went to five with Robredo and won an air-tight four against Cilic. He must be tired, at least more than Roddick, but exceptional players get up for the big occasion. Tomorrow undoubtedly is one.
ROD looked down and out against Gulbis, but he clung on to survive in a four-setter scrap. I was impressed with the way he dismantled Gonzalez. I do agree with him, it was as much as Gonzalez not playing well as much as ROD not allowing him to. Those two factors are not independent on most occasions.
Given his indifferent form coming into the tournament, the most significant factor that has stood out for me with ROD has been the way he has served throughout the tournament. Exemplary: he got something like 75 percent of first serves in. When ROD reaches that percentage with his pace and pop on the serve, the opponent is going to have a long yet fruitless day at the office.
- B/R Ticket Guide
ROD has played with plenty of passion this tournament too. He in fact has loosened up after smashing some Babolat’s on the court.
So what do I think will transpire?
I think fitness will play a factor. It is immaterial how many hours Rafa Nadal spends on court, he will still be just as fit as the bloke across the net, but De-Joker is NO Nadal. So, ROD has the edge on that front.
They both are bipolar on how they serve; ROD plays FAST, De-Joker on the other hand takes time to bounce that round optic Wilson on the ground. The bigger the point it is, the more the number of bounces and, longer the inhalation of oxygen before serving. But both of them don’t have a problem with each other’s way of playing.
I think De-Joker has a better ground game by virtue of his backhand being better than ROD. Their forehands are equally penetrating. I also think De-Joker moves the ball around better than ROD, which is crucial. ROD has a tendency to hit mid court short balls sometimes; if that happens, De-Joker will dine, wine, and feast on it all evening long.
What’s the KEY? Serve, it all comes down to what sort of a serving day ROD has tomorrow. He has a better serve than De-Joker, I’ll give him that. But tomorrow will come down to how ROD serves, how much De-Joker can get into ROD’s serve games and the number of breaks he can get.
Equally important is ROD’s return game; the number of times he breaks serve is also crucial. Once he secures a break, except for when he plays Federer, he is confident of winning the set.
For ROD to win, he has to serve BIG, mercilessly and relentlessly. There might at least be a breaker or two, and I give the edge to ROD on those. They both play a brand of tennis in which there is going to be some heavy ground games involved, so no easy points (fitness?).
The X-Factor: the NY crowd loves them both, but they’ll unabashedly take ROD’s side tomorrow, he is the underdog going in. ROD is excellent in feeding off the crowd’s energy as he did against Gulbis. He is playing fearlessly, and win or lose he will go down bombing.
For De-Joker to win, he needs to be minty fresh and needs to have a dream day for his return game. The former he is not, the latter is not entirely under his control either. That seals the deal.
Overall, I think De-Joker has a better game. But ROD’s good old thunderbolts and the Manhattan crowd will see him through in an air-tight four…or a 6-3 or 6-4 five.
Don’t miss this one, either way the energy inside Arthur Ashe will be electrifying.
Cheers!
PS: A shout out to both Murray and Del-potro…what a performance from Andy tonight. Brilliant! Rafa next for the Scotsman…go to work, Andy, I like your chances if you play medium-high risk tennis.
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2 months ago
Why do you have to make this game sound so exciting?--I am trying to be a one sport woman and again you are tempting me to stray. I may have to call my old tennis instructor during the game to torment him just like he used to torment me with that damn 100 hits on top of the racket to get to play!
from 2 months ago
I KNOW you like personalities
may be its time for you to switch USA network and catch some tennis tomm again ... watch it tomm night for you wont be disappointed
am a huge fan of ROD and De-Joker .... they are interesting an wonderful tennis players
the tennis world does extend beyond rodge and rafa
are you gonna watch the game D? .... it will be wonderful
from 2 months ago
Honest, I will try to remember to watch.
from 2 months ago
D
let me make this easy for you
the game starts by 20.15 EST (8.15 pm), so recalculate for where ever you are
and - if previous matches run long, the start time might change
but here is tomm's schedule
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/schedule/index.html?promo=topnav
from 2 months ago
You are even more persistant than my husband!
from 2 months ago
and am guessing -
that is really saying a lot ...
from 2 months ago
Exactly. He wants me to watch NASCAR, but guess what?
2 months ago
lets hope for the best. hope we can enjoy a good match. i m in support of andy roddick.
from 2 months ago
i think its too close to call .... but i think ROD 51-49
from 2 months ago
try and predict the scoreline ?
from 2 months ago
CANT BELIEVE he got broken - when he served for the 4th ... arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
2 months ago
i will not predict anything today my all guesses are going just opposite.
just hoping for the best.
from 2 months ago
fair enof
let me put forward mine
7-6 3-6 6-4 7-6 for ROD
2 months ago
hey u predict ur prediction are far better than me today i m still feeling bad how i predict so wrong.
from 2 months ago
no-don worry about it, it gets better with time
2 months ago
roddick's serve just sounds diferent
love the crack of it
from 2 months ago
YEAH, it absolutely sounds like that, you are perfectly right ... in the fact the sound of the ball hitting his racket just sounds absolutely beautiful-especially when he serves
2 months ago
i always thought it souded a bit like a golf ball coming off the clubface accept louder?
from 2 months ago
I CANNOT agree more - cannot agree more
2 months ago
andy played so bad that he was serving for the set in 4th set and he can't hold his own serve double fault ! i don't know y to except with him.
from 2 months ago
yeah
2 doubles at 30-0
come on
and whats with all the negative energy bitchin talk from Nole in the end
like the crowd needs one more reason to root for rodge in the semis
2 months ago
well i don't know much more about crowds. well the player who played better is in the semis but i m much disappointed with roddick performance in quarterfinal he never uses his potential up to his level but still i m his big fan. novak deserve to be in semis of us open 2008 and he deserve to win.
from 2 months ago
yeah - i agree with you on that one
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