Federer Roddick AO 2009

So Roger won 62, 75, 75. Despite the scoreline, it wasn't that close. It was all Andy could do to hold serve, and many times, not even that. Roger was not broken once, and not even a good threat from Andy.

The first 2 sets was just miserable. Andy couldn't keep up with the pace of Roger's balls. He had an altercation with the chair umpire over line calls. I'll get back to that in a moment.

The third set shows much better skills from Roddick. He was hitting winners, less UE's, but also doublefaulted twice, once to bring him back to deuce, where he ended up being broken. But (and I'm sorry to all Roddick fans, should you find yourself wandering here) he really is no match for Federer, new coach or no. Against Roger I find it hard to see all the hard work he's done all season. Roger is just too good. He was unflappable, kept his cool, and played relaxed tennis.

Coming back to the altercation in the first set. Andy was down 3-1. Roger's serve was called out, twice in a row. He challenged both. It was both in. The first one, they were to replay the point. The second time, the point was given to Roger. Andy was uncool with that. He went over and said "did you think I wouldn't have been able to hit that ball?". The umpire at first was unresponsive, saying it is what it is. Andy kept pushing, and finally he said yes Andy, I don't think you could have hit that ball. And Andy, well he just couldn't leave it well enough alone. He kept yapping about it on and on and on and on until the next break, until the next set he was still talking about it. Sometimes I really wish he would just accept that some things will not be changed, and play on. I think it would do him a world of good. I do not believe exerting that much emotion will not affect your game, but maybe that's just me.

To tell you the truth, I think Andy could have hit that ball, but he would've lost the point on the next shot. Roger was doing the serve-ripping forehand routine the whole match and Andy didn't have an answer for it.

If anything, Roger was the one who deserves to be angry. His serve was called out many times and the four times (FOUR!) he challenged, it was all in. By the third one you could see he was trying real hard not to roll his eyes. Andy even waved his hand in front of the line judge. Tell you what, this year's AO is a mess. The indecisiveness about the roof (closed? no? open? no?), the controversial closing of it in the midst of Serena-Svetlana match, the line calling, down to what the  line judges/umpire/ball boys are wearing. Long sleeves? In that heat? Hello?

One heartwarming moment was when Andy got one of his few winners against Roger, and his coach Stefanki let out a smile so wide I'd have thought he was Roddick's father.

That was nice to see. And Roger got catcalls while he was changing his shirt.

Well. I did not hear catcalls curing Rafa's shirtchange yesterday. The only plausible explanation was that every single one the Rafanatics in the audience passed out when Rafa took off his shirt.

Anyhoo. Roger is through to the final. Rafa/Dasco will be waiting. 

Match Stats