One of the most astonishing displays of tennis I have ever seen by Rosol. I am not sure that I have ever seen anyone hit the ball that hard and keep it in the court.
You could have probably posted a "spoiler alert" in the title or something but I saw the match so I'm not upset! It was a great match by Rosol. It felt like everyone was just waiting for him to fade, especially after that 4th set. But he really pulled himself back together for the 5th. Monumental upset.
If Fed is going to win another major, he may never have a better opportunity. It's his best surface, he has a favorable draw into the semis, and he's looked really good so far. Beating both Novak AND Nadal is a tall order, but beating one is feasible, albeit still difficult. If Fed gets to the finals at Wimby, he actually retakes the #1 ranking. That is significant, because he has held the #1 ranking exactly one week fewer than Pete Sampras, who has the record. Roger wants this desperately. He has the heart of a champion and one of the most beautiful games in the sport's history. It will be interesting to see how he responds.
A golden opportunity, indeed. Roger is playing very well, but the top 2 play riskier tennis and pull it off. He may have a win or more left in him on grass. On clay, in particular, it would be very unlikely.
Even though he made the semis at the French this year, he never looked good doing it. He's looked fantastic the first two rounds at All England, so we'll see if he keeps it up.
Just got to watch the full match. Rosol should have won the first set. Glad he didn't because it forced him to play that ridiculous fifth set. He just decided to swing for the fences, and his ball striking was obscene.
It's an extremely disappointing day. Frankly, I thought Nadal was the favorite going into Wimbledon given how well he was playing and that Djokovic hasn't been on the same level he was last year. If Federer wins, he will not only add a 17th major title to his resume, but he will also become #1 in the world again. That means he will tie and then pass Pete Sampras for the most weeks at #1. Currently, Sampras is at 286 with Federer at 285. The draw is now wide open. All of a sudden, Andy Murray has a legitimate path to the championship. Tsonga has been playing exceptional tennis and had been in Nadal's quarter. Del Potro and Raonic have the ability to hit anybody off the court. Federer now has a chance whereas he really didn't before because he'd have to have gone through Nadal, who owns him. Maybe Rosol will win it all...just kidding, I think.
Roger lost the first 2 sets today but is still playing in the 4th. Down 6-5, he needs some great shots right about now!
I'll watch later on ESPN3, but yeah, it looks like Roger dug himself a bit of a hole. Reminds me of the 2009 French when Nadal went down to Soderling in the fourth. Roger was like, "Holy crap, if I'm going to win this thing, this the year to do it!" and then promptly had some mediocre matches that he just had to slog through. And although Benneteau shouldn't have given Roger this much trouble, he is a big step up in competition from the first two guys Roger faced. The past couple days' events are testament to how amazing a run Federer is on. He last missed a quarterfinal at the 2004 French Open. Dubya was still in his first term. New Orleans hadn't been hit by Katrina. Gas prices topped out at around $2/gallon. People still bought CDs. The Tennessee-UConn WBB championships tally was 6-5. The Patriots were winning close Superbowls rather than losing them. The Red Sox hadn't won a World Series since 1918.
