C'MON!!!! :)

I think we cant predict this match exactly . It depends on first serve of them and which player play better in important moments and points . If Roger convert his break point chances . He will win .
50% - 50%

Another bhind the sofa jobbie alas. Expect Fed to want revenge big time, but if Andy brings the level of play that beat Sod and his serve is firing, he will WIN!
COME ON ANDY!

COME ON FEDERER!

Play well and win!

GO GO GO ANDY!!!

This one comes down to federer's forehand. If he is clicking off that wing,he will hit murray off the court. If not, Murray wins. This has potential to be a barnburner.

AndyM, please play good tonight. Just like Rafa who have beaten Roger for 5 consecutive times in one stretch, I'll be rooting for you to beat Roger for 3 consecutive times.
Vamos Murray !!!

tj: I c u r putting this on Fed's racquet. I beg to differ, if Andy's serve is humming, he will win.

up for grabs. tennis candy!

@deuce
Ah, and I see you r putting it on murray's. I disagree. If federer's forehand is at its deadly best,I expect him to win.(irrespective of what Murray does.)

Go muzz - do it in 2!

tj - hate to sound beligerant, but you're wrong :)

sorry, that's about as balanced as I can be at the mo.

This match will be highly contested. I hope Federer finds his range and clinch this one out.

Federer says he will win because has the upper hand over Murray in GS, but this is not a GS is it?

Looking forward to the match, because I can watch it without the need to hold my nerves.

Fed's forehand can break down, as shown in the AO 2009 final, by Rafa. Rafa has the flat and lethal cross court backhand to break down Fed's forehand. Murray will have to think of a way to break down that forehand or try his best to avoid it. I think the match don't depend solely on anyone's racket. It takes two to decide the outcome - if Fed is firing at 100% and Murray did his superb defence at 100%,, the match will be decided by a few points here and there. It will depend on who is more gutsy and take chances. I hope it will be a competitive match, and I think it's hard to predict the winner for this match.

Fed's forehand may well be firing for one set, but three? Unlikely IMHO. But we shall see what we shall see.
luckystar: I still think it's all about Andy's serve, if that's over 70% he can beat anyone, and I mean anyone. :)
If it's 40% then he can lost to anyone, and I mean anyone. :(
What I hope for 2011 more than anything is for Andy to find ways of winning when he's not playing so good. Like Rafa in fact.
Alex: have you seen, there's rumours flying round that he will be working with Cahill during the off season?

I love Federer-Murray matches. There is no love lost between those two; it's always kind of fun to watch how they deal with each other.

I think Feds wins this one.

This will be a high quality match but I think you've got to go for Federer in three tightly contested sets..

as much as i would love to say a staright set win for Federer .. I think Murray is playing very well, it will be Murray with a 60-40 edge over Federer .. but come on Federer .. good rehearsal for the finals .. make it 8-7 head to head by the end of the finals :)

justtennis -

How does 10-5 sound ? :-)

deuce -
no, that's the first i've heard re- cahill. interesting. did muzz not sound that one out before and give up on it?

Looks like the doubles is going the distance ... (Sorry guys but) Yawn .

alex: Cahill won't travel and has media commitments but Andy will be in the USA and can get to him. Cahill is part of Andy's sponsor's team of course.
In other news Andy has paid for 4 promising tennis youngsters to fly from Scotland and meet him at O2. He doesn't want any publicity about this, as per usual, but one of the kids' relatives has talked to the media. How lovely is that?

deuce - thanx 4 that.
Fed says, "Murray is tough to beat and he's on home soil" - could have fooled me, Fed gets the bigger welcome. 'Home advantage' goes to fed again.

ooh alex, Andy's first serve is c**p and he's looking slow......am way bhind the sofa...:(

Murray playing poorly

Stream is down, can't watch. How does Murray look, bad scoreline aside?

ooh alex, Andy's first serve is c**p and he's looking slow......am way bhind the sofa...:(

deuce , 11/23/10 3:44 PM


It's too early for you to be behind the sofa, look what happened after Rafa lost is serve at the first opportunity yesterday!!

I thought Murray took Corretja on for claycourt advice, what does he know about h/c?

No longer behind the couch ... in another room.
Muzz to take this one in 3 ???

Deuce: I'm off to find the tranquillisers :-|

alex: have now left house and am scurrying down the street...
nadline: alas our boy does not have Rafa's mojo, but then who does?

It's only one break guys, calm down.

Federer is not even breaking sweat, he turned the towel down.

one sided contest till now.
Fed has only dropped one point on his service

Corretja might be up for the chop.

dear oh lord, awful so far from Andy.
nadline: it's the "curse of Corretja" whenever he's there Andy loses! When it's just Dani around, Andy wins!

If only bloody Andrew Hardcastle would shut up. I swear he's a Fed groupie, as is Sue Barker. Tim is sitting on the fence.

Tim is definitely a Fedfan and I don't think he and Andy get along, but being British he can't be seen to be against Andy.

ed: can't stand Andrew Castle either! He is David Cameron's hitting partner, apart from everything else!
As I said hours ago, if Andy's first serve doesn't work, he doesn't win, end of :( But today he looks sluggish and out of sorts and SO many unforced errors!
How can u be so brilliant against Sod one day and SO rubbish the next? he's not even giving Fed a match! I could shake him!

Murray seems to lose the plot here. He looks half dead to me! His inconsistency continues...

Fed is hitting his forehand so well today and there's no way Murray can avoid that forehand! It seems everywhere! As I mentioned on another thread, Murray wasn't playing as well as in Shanghai and Fed playing better than in Shanghai. It seems Fed really likes this O2 arena, he certainly likes the indoor courts.

ditto. angry bad. another 'gonna-suffer-don't-care' day plucked out of the murray enigma. pitiful.

Feel sorry for the 17,000 people who paid to see a match, not simply a masterclass from TMF.

Thank god Andy's at least got on the scoreboard. It looked horribly like it could have been a bagel from RF.

re- the fed forehand. muzz recently pointed out that as long as he keeps fed on his backhand he has him where he wants him. so against muzz, it shouldn't be a matter of how strong his forehand's playing but how well his backhand's holding up.

well, looking like a complete reverse of the sod score. now won 18, lost 18. lick wounds, brush down, beat ferrer and move on ... and hope you meet fed in the final.

What a terrible day at the office for Andy and what a disappointing match.
However, congrats to Fed and his fans on a well-deserved win, don't think your man broke sweat today!

Pathetic display from Andy...
Ridiculous really. Awesome display against Sod and then pathetic 2 days later.
exactly what happens to him when he plays Fed in the GS finals. He loses it in the head

Deuce and Alex: I could shake the silly boy. >8-O

Perfectimo! Go Roger! thanks for the exhibition of some awesome tennis!

yes ed, i despair. looked feeble and without punch, timing, accuracy or pretty much anything else today. 44% 1st serves in against fed, i mean to say ...
hard to say, but well done fed, you were class today (grrrr!).

lopsided match, fed will be pleased with himself.

Hope Nadal finishes 2nd in his group coz Fed is fore sure going to top his group
That ways there could be a Fedal SF's. Not too confident of a Fedal final. It seems jinxed this year

Now they are presenting ATP World Tour Year End No. 1 Ranking award to Nadal... He delivered a crisp short speech thanking Fans & fellow players...
A short video showing his achievements in this year was shown...

An exceptional Year for Nadal... and Sportsmanship Year Award too... first for him..

Well too bad for Murray, lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2 (still Murray's win over Fed at Shanghai has a slightly better scoreline of 6-3, 6-2).

I don't understand Murray at all. What happened to him? I'm sure he can play better than this, regardless of how well Fed has played today. He seems lethargic, not too interested in the match. I'm sorry if I seem to be accusing him of not trying, maybe he did try but not enough to trouble Fed at all.

I was looking forward to this match and hope to see a competitive one but I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Fed played very well today, no question about that.

no u r quite right luckystar. infuriating to watch him on these days, losing in slo-o-o-o-ow motion. waiting for the turnaround that doesn't come, as if he's decided mid-way 'O well, i'm gonna lose this one ...' and everytime he misses he says to himself, 'see, told you, that confirms it'. something big-time needs done up top.

luckystar: two things I guess, firstly, for whatever reason, I don't think he can have been that great physically. If he doesn't feel good about that, everything goes. I can't remember when he had such bad timing. His bread and butter back hands even, were going out. Secondly as we all know that first serve percent was 35 at one stage and that knocks your confidence and you have to work so much harder to get the point. . You can't win with that kind of %. In the first game he didn't get one first serve and straightaway I had a very bad feeling about the match. But as I said above, Andy must learn strategies to win in these circumstances.
ed, and alex all together now, let's give him a shaking he won't forget!

Once again, Murray has left his fans down...I wonder why he is so terrified of playing at his home soil...he was brilliant with Sod, although Sod was nowhere near his best at that match...but today, Murray looked helpless...I also give credit to Fed for playing perfectly...very focused, motivated almost with no UEs...great match for Fed, indeed! On the other hand Murray has helped him be this great with his poor, poor performance...

all that said, i'm picking muzz to beat fed in the final now cos judging by last night i don't think rafa's is quite back at his best yet.

many congrats to rafa on year end #1 - more than deserved.

I didn't put too much store on Andy's win over Nadal and Federer in Shanghai really, simply because they were both rusty, coming off long breaks. Sometimes we have to look behind these matches to really assess the situation, moreover, Soderling was so under par on Sunday that the easy win by Murray didn't really tell anyone where his game is at.

Soderling served just 2 aces in that match which for him is dismal, so it would have helped if Andy didn't get too carried away with that win, because he wasn't really tested, and in a way it may have done him more harm than good by allowing him to be in a fool's paradise and not working more on his game for today, and I would go as far as to say the Shanghai win may also have hampered his preparation for the USO.

Only Roddick and Nadal have been tested so far in myopinion, and they may both benefit from their tough opening match in the long run.

nadline - fed wasn't rusty at all in shanghai. steamed all the way to the final without dropping a set, including sod and djoker, everyone saying how he was back on top of his game and pundits tipping him over muzz who had got the 'cupcake' route to the final.

i actually thing the shanghai win was very significant win for muzz, beating fed in a second consecutive masters final encounter and in similar fashion. i'd rather him head into next year's slams having won that won than lost it. still better, if muzz beats fed again before the week's out.

alex: that's so right. Fed has really tough draw, which should have got him well oiled for the final, while Andy supposedly living in a "fool's paradise" of a cupcake draw should have been easy pickings...Reverse happened Toronto where Andy had "difficult draw" and Andy still wins. Just consoling ourselves here boys 'n girls ;)
don't think nadline's logic works.

deuce @5:31pm, I think you're right. But today's result shows that you can expect anything of a player from day to day. Different day, different circumstances. Andy was magnificent on Sunday - but that was Sunday. People remarked on Roger's UE count against David and felt he'd be there for the taking today - but this is today. A personal h2h of 8-5 in his favour suggested that Andy would not buckle this afternoon - not least when one of these wins came in this event two years ago. And of course Andy is currently consulting with Alex Corretja, who knows about winning this event, too.

One thing: Andy usually enjoys meeting Roger on faster surfaces (I know, I know - USO 2008 and all that!), and everybody has remarked on how slow the O2 court is. Of course this doesn't explain everything away. But maybe Andy will have another crack at Roger this week, and of so, that might place today?s result in a different light.

BTW Andy did not beat Rafa at Shanghai, or perhaps I misread nadline at 5:18pm.

^^^ It was in Toronto.

Andy was very uncomfortable and tentative today against Feddy. He was a bit nervous as was Feddy at the start and they wanted the rallies to be short rather than long. Both were defensive and coservative and did not play an attacking game and if you do not attack Feddy you will end up with his old and time tested cat and mouse game and give a break or two which is enough for Feddy to take the games and sets away. Feddy played an awsomely simple game doing nothing except serving well, returning well when possible and then outpacing Andy when required. It was intelligent on Feddy's part and foolish on the part of Andy- look at those missed drops at the wrong moment, the double fault and inconsistent service all throught. It was disaster from the word go.

Good performance by Fed, happy with it. Really better than the ferrer match which means he's improving. What I liked today about him was using that wicked backhand slice shot that bounces low on the court. He mixed it up really well today.
Andy on his own didn't play well at all, dismal 1st serve percentage (same goes for fed in the 1st set) and shanking strokes. Good luck for him against Ferrer.
Hope Fed gets 3-0 in RR.

cool! very cool Rog! :)

newfangle: completely agree but Andy was missing bread and butter shots today! God knows how he'll do against Ferrer but as luckystar said, that's another day.

Exactly, deuce. But I expect Andy to emerge immediately behind Roger in this group.

bolbol, I wouldn't place too much store by a given day's performances. See my earlier post at 6:09pm. The fact that a player does well today means precious little. Roger can lose here this week - perhaps not on Thursday, but he has no guarantees, not even if he has the pleasure of entertaining Andy again in the title match come Sunday.

Any player can lose on a given day. Nobody has a perfect h2h over another player here. As matters stand even My Guy is almost in double figures in terms of overall losses in 2010, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he dropped at least one match here this week. That's part of the cruel beauty of my favoured sport. Right?

@ gorafago,
You are absolutely right, I was just talking about today and making a wish for the upcoming nothing more.

Justtennis comes .. reads all posts, does a jig .. Fed won, moves on .. hey i need to post .. Fed played a tighter game, was more patient with his trokeplay.
Murray was off boil and playerd Federeresque brand of tennis, trying to hit too many winners .. it looks good when you can pull it off, now tone down the talk ("I am not afraid of playing Federer .. i can defeat him anytime ...") and PLAY. Hope Ferrer does not give hin a hiding, Ferrer has already done that twice ;) and is 3-1 H2H.
I still feel it will be a Murray Vs Federer final. Hope Fed wins that also .. and @ Alex .. keep an eye on the H2H .. it can never be 10-5 :D

hey justtennis that's just spreading garbage about our Andy! He's never, never said anything of the kind. What he always says is that he's got to play his best tennis against him and if he does, he's in with a chance. Who could argue with that? If he said, whatever I do, I'll always lose, we'd all be thinking WTF? I also think he probably DID hate coming out the favourite in front of a UK crowd, as someone above suggested. Tough, he's gotta start coping with that. In an interview he's confessed to being very "immature." Yep.
I myself think tonight's match will be crucial as to who'll be in the final, NOT putting any money on Andy myself :(

Predicting the outcome of most tournaments is part form, part hunch, and a large dollop of luck.

The dynamics and RR format of WTF make predicting the winner 100% luck.

So I'm going for Soderling as the potential winner - well why not? He has an evil glint in his eye and nothing to lose. Roger, as we have seen quite a few times, can lose his nerve at the crucial moment. Rafa wants it badly but will stop short at risking his body. Andy has already lost his nerve. Djokovic, well I wouldn't count him out but his mind is on the DC next week. Roddick, Ferrer and Berdych are the fodder to make up the numbers.

ed, I do not think Sod can make it to the finals...even if he ends up second in his group he is most likely to meet Nole in the semis and we all know Nole is like ?penicillin? for Sod, he can destroy him any time...in my scenario the WTF final may as well be a repeat of the USO final: Nole vs. Rafa...why not? :)

justtennis - yeah, grrr:(
But it can still be 12-6 ! So enjoy the little comeback as long as it lasts :)

natashao , 11/24/10 12:40 PM Actually I would be totally gutted if Sod were to win!!

gosh,ed, I would be too...:(

Something that has not been suggested as a possible (minor?) influence in muzz?s underwhelming performance yesterday. NOT an excuse - fed fully deserved his win and would have had every chance of beating an on-game muzz - and not the only factor, BUT ...
What must it be like to show up in your home city and the capital of your home country, all keyed up for one of the biggest tennis occasions and, arguably, the most hyped event of the calendar, and enter the arena to deafening applause ... for the OTHER GUY? How thick-skinned, insular and crowd-resistant does a human being have to be not to care that a greater number of ?your own? are supporting the foreigner than you?
If it were me, I?d find it a bit of a stumbling block to say the least. And journalists speak of ?home advantage ... home crowd ... etc...?! Lol. If I were muzz, I?d find playing in an empty arena more uplifting than the 02 last night.
One thing?s for sure, when muzz wins that first slam - and should he ever win Wimbie - he won?t, and shouldn?t, be doing it for Britain, and certainly not London. They're just not worth it. He?d be better commuting between Miami and Madrid.

Mohamed Lyhyani is a human hawkeye, his over-rules are so accurate.

alex: I hope he doesn't hear the BBC coverage of that match or he will feel even more beleaguered. Sue Barker, talking before the match, was positively drooling over the wonders of Fed. To be fair Andy didn't give much cause for Andrew and Tim to get excited for him, and Federer didn't even need to play at his best to get the better of Andy, but they never stopped using words like 'amazing' 'incredible' 'brilliant' etc. for Fed

alex: this just tells you that crowd is more english oriented than british. its time for independent scotland.

alex, (3:17 PM)
so true!

reasonably speaking the message to British and Scottish press and public should be "enough already! Let the lad breath..." but alas that's not going to happen.

More than anything else what I wish for Andy is to become more consistent in his game... oh! so easy to jot down in words... so hard to accomplish for most players, for lots of reasons, even for those near the top... but if somehow he does he will get various trophies he is fully able to win, including some majors...

rfzr - yep, had it been glasgow last night, there really would have been a home crowd/advantage - ice cool fed would have been reduced a sweating, quivering wreck before lifting a racquet - lol!
That said, altho I wouldn't attack your view, I didn't post the above to re-ignite the old british-scottish-english thing which I find a complete and instant turn-off, as it turns the conversation instantly away from tennis/sport ... and not why I watch tennis.

Maybe someone can help me out here, but has fed ever been subjected to a less-than-enthusiastic crowd? In the pre-supreme days, when he could be a bit petulant/stroppy at times maybe? I couldn't imagine him being booed anywhere, but it'd be interesting to see how he handled it:)