Wk.24- Congratulations Roger Federer

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Former World No. 2 and 15-time ATP World Tour titlist Tommy Haas has announced he will miss the rest of the 2014 season following arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.

Dimitrov has arrived. I look forward to picking him to do well at Wimbledon. I think he and Raonic will both make quarterfinals unless they have a nasty draw. Dimitrov's seeding only protects him until the fourth round, don't forget. I think Gulbis will have a best career performance at Wimbledon but he will not make the quarterfinals. I also think Lopez is due a Wimbledon quarterfinal. He will definitely be one to watch out for. Murray will not make the final but he will do very well indeed. I think the big four will slowly stop winning majors. I also think one of the big four will retire before the 2016 Australian Open, but we shall see.

Queens was fantastic, as always. It actually feels more elite than Wimbledon. It is a lot more 'upper class' as it were. It is in a leafy suburb of London, just on the very outskirts. I am surprised I was let in as I am definitely not in the upper echelons of any society. Despite the feel of an elaborate social 'do' it is always a must see event if you happen to be in London.

Yes, I was at Queens. I had to leave early, however and only saw a couple of matches. Around the grounds, I heard or saw the following things:

1) Tomic warming up by playing soccer. He is not as ripped as you may think.
2) Berdych hitting. He was handsome and attractive in a striking way. He was wearing a shirt from his collection.
3) Hewitt hitting, and then hitting with Guccione, who is massive. Surprisingly massive.
4) Dolgopolov hitting with Gulbis.
5) Someone in the crowd said winning the first mini-point in a break means you have a 70 per cent chance of winning the breaker. I saw three breakers that day. The person who won the first point won it just once.
6) I also saw Layani the umpire and chatted to him.
7) I saw Pospisil have a set to with the umpire. Those 'incidents' are so entertaining when seen live. He won the match anyway.
8) I also read an interesting article and here were the closing paragraphs with the link.

"The odds of Nadal finishing at precisely 16 titles and Federer at 17 are a little under 15 percent. That’s also the most probable of the individual scenarios. Overall, there’s about a 61 percent chance that Federer ends his career ahead of Nadal, and about a 17 percent chance they end in a tie. It looks like somewhat of a long shot for Nadal to pass Federer (close to a 22 percent chance), but if he were to have a strong summer and win two of the three majors remaining in 2014, he’d greatly improve his chances. Then again, failing to win even the French would be a serious blow — especially if Federer could pull off another win this year. This French Open, along with the remaining majors this year, will tell us a lot about who eventually ends up atop the leaderboard. The conversation as to who’s the greatest of all time doesn’t end there, of course. It probably starts there, though, and whoever of these two ends up on top is likely to hold that title for many years to come."

Right. Enough of my talking, lots of other stuff happened this week.



*Week 24 CHAMPIONS*
HALLE, GERMANY
S: Roger Federer def. Alejandro Falla 7-6(2)/7-6(3)
D: Bergmann/Knowle d. Chuidinelli/Federer
LONDON,ENGLAND
S: Grigor Dimitrov def. Feliciano Lopez 6-7(8)/7-6(1)/7-6(6)
D: Peya/Soares d. J.Murray/Peers


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: FEDERER, SUI
...I got reasonin' behind this one folks. Federer, like Dimitrov, played both disciplines but he lost just two sets (three total). He lost two in the doubles final, one being 12-10 in the final set. He and his partner Chiudinelli got a bye in the first round when their opponents [Seppi and his partner] withdrew. Next they dismissed an all-Colombian pairing to make the semifinals. Federer is actually a strong doubles player but there are only a handful of events where he does play in the doubles. Halle is one of them and that may have something to do with the surface it is played on. Next, Fed beat Struff/Brown [who also had a cracking tournament] with his compatriot. Federer likes to pair with his compatriots. I think he and Nadal would also make a good partnership. Well, not good but interesting. Can we have Federer and Nadal versus Murray and Djokovic somewhere please? I would love to see that match on a neutral court like Indian Wells or what have you. Anyway, the Swiss pair won the first set of the final but lost 1-6/7-5/12-10. None of the top seeds in the doubles won more than a match. They all lost in the opening round or withdrew before the completion of the next round. In the singles just two reached their seeding.

In the singles, Fed opened up with a 6-7/6-4/6-2 win over Sousa and then benefited from a walkthrough over Lu. He looked shaky. He looked beatable. Then he decided he he wanted to win, he decided to one up Nadal because he so rarely gets to do that these days. He dismissed Nishikori 6-3/7-6 to make the final. Federer now has 79 titles, including number seven here at Halle. More to come?
=============================
RISER: STAN WAWRINKA, SUI
...This is the right way to rebound. There are more than 3 billion men on the planet. Stanislas Wawrinka is the third best at tennis. In fact, overall, he is probably the fourth best on the planet at this time. Yet he lost in the first round of the French. Ain't tennis funny?
Baghdatis won Nottingham last week, his first title since 2010. It is kind of between a challenger and a 250. A 125? I think that may even be a real thing. Anyway, Bagman [given a Wimby wildcard] won his first match but did not have the fitness [fight that flab Bagman!] to compete in his second match. He retired without even playing half a set. Wawrinka didn't mind and, anyway, he had to focus on his next match. It was a doozy, well, at least it looked it on paper. The match was played on grass, obviously, and not paper. Maybe Querrey would have done better on the white stuff. Wawrinka dismissed the American 6-2/6-2 to make the quarters. There the top seed knocked off Matosevic 7-5/6-3 to advance to the semifinals. He looked very good, but surely the fourth seed would be able to test the red hot Stan. He did more than just test him, he ended the man's run. He did it in some style too and won 6-2/6-4. He didn't just knock Wawrinka out, he gave him a knockout blow within the first five rounds. And that gives me a chance to use this even though we will see him next week...


=============================
SURPRISE: Stepanek and Falla (TIE)
...I will nominate here Stepanek and Falla. You can then choose which one was the most surprising. Honestly they both surprised me. Falla beat Kubot [a quarterfinalst at Wimbledon] in three sets to open his campaign. He broke Kubot's big serve a couple of times to come through. He played Haase next. He had conquered fifth seed Gasquet in the first round but lost in straight sets to the Colombian 7-6 [1]/6-4. He played Gojo next. Gojo is, of course, famous for having caused some trouble for big guns and having a name that is impossible to consistently spell right. Next Falla downed Kohl in an epic match 5-7/7-6/6-4. He beat the grass court specialist in the semifinals to earn his place in the final against the goat. He didn't disappoint, but lost 7-6/7-6. I was surprised, but were you? Stepsy opened by dismissing Kukushkin 4 and 1. He then beat Tomic in a pair of breaks, 7-4 and 7-5. That was particularly impressive considering the grass court pedigree of the young Aussie. Next he completely outclassed Murray, much to the chagrin of the British contingent. He had to fight past an inspired Anderson but did so 1-6/6-3/6-2. Lopez was too good for him but it was still a very impressive performance. He had chances to nick that first set but lost the break 9-7 and then was broken in the second set as he lost 7-6/6-4 to the big-serving lefty. Grass courts often give us many fun surprises and why should Queens be any different?
=============================
FRESH FACE: DIMITROV, BUL
...It is a first title on the lawns for the very talented young star. Is he still young? Well, anyway, the inevitable has now happened. He has won a grass court title. He will win Wimbledon one day. If he is not injured he will one day win Wimbledon, though perhaps not in the year he is the top seed. That year is also going to come. He made his maiden grass court final with panache and daring. He served big and knew exactly how to play those big points the commentators love to talk about. His opponent Lopez has made the Wimbledon quarters in '05 '08 and '11. I think that streak may continue. He has lost to Hewitt, Safin and Murray and pushed one or two of them to four. Dimitrov has very few points to defend and if he performs big here, he will crack the top ten. If he wins it he should crack the top eight. He may not be a favourite, but he is somewhere between a dark horse and a contender. Of course if he draws Fed in the fourth round we could have a 2001 changing of the guards moment just like Federer did when he took the reigns off Pete Sampras. The match I most want to see is Nadal/Dimitrov in the fourth. If the draw falls that way and the match lives up to its magnifcent billing, it will please all and sundry.
=============================
VETERAN: LOPEZ, ESP
...Nadal. Well, look who should have withdrawn? Nadal is getting too old for this game now. He is getting to the stage where he needs breaks, needs rests. In the loss to Brown he looked out of ideas. He looked utterly outclassed. Federer has 14 grass court titles. I do not think that will be beaten. Nadal has only three. I think he might be one of the most overrated grass court players in the Open era. I will now say something controversial -- Federer is better on clay than Nadal is on grass. Anyway, Rafa is now at the stage where he must look after his body instead of taxing it further. He must now save what is left. I would not be surprised if he elects to just take a three week break between the French and Wimbledon. Every time I say he looks old, he goes and takes back the number one but I can't see him getting the number one back if he loses it this year. I think we are starting to come to the end of Rafa's time. And he will now prove me wrong by winning Wimbledon.
=============================
DOWN: MURRAY, GBR
...You come off your best performance on clay in your career. You are the defending Wimbledon and Olympic Champion. And then you lose to Stepanek. How is this acceptable?
=============================
UPSET: BROWN, GER
...Nadal should have pulled out. He did not and he has paid the price. Since losing to Rosol in that match, he has not won a match on grass. The last man he beat was Bellucci and he won 7-6/6-2/6-3. Brown played all the right shots and gave Rafa no rhythm. It was too much for the slightly fatigued Brown.
=============================


1. QUEENS Final - DIMITROV d.LOPEZ
...6-7/7-6/7-6. What a way to win your maiden grass court title. He saved a match point and won 8-10, 7-1, 8-6 in breaker scores. There were only five break point opportunities the entire match and they took one each. This was a two and a half hour grass court classic. About the length of a play and just as dramatic. Couldn't you just see Lopez and Dimitrov as the leads?
=============================
2. HALLE QF - KOHLSCHREIBER d. BROWN
...6-4/5-7/7-6. 18-16 in the final set breaker. Dustin Brown should have won this match, but so should have his opponent. This really should have been a draw. They played a big serving match with plenty of variety and a lot of ridiculous shots, too. They also won the same amount of points with the total being in excess of 300 points. Kohl would go through and play another long three setter. Poor guy.
=============================
3. QUEENS 1st Rd. - ESTRELLO BURGESS d. BENNETEAU
...6-7/6-3/7-6.. Drop shots, serve-volleying and chip 'n charging. This played like it was 1979. There were also long rallies thrown in. The crowd were wild and I should know -- I was in the cowd. It was a great match and it even had an upset.
=============================
4. HALLE 1st Rd. - FEDERER d. SOUSA
...6-7/6-4/6-2. Nadal and Murray went out on the same day Fed lost the first set of his first match. He went down 10-8 in the breaker and it looked like a day for shocks. Federer slowly took the reigns and then dominated the last two sets before closing it out in three. The scare would be the last for him in Halle.
=============================


*ROSMALEN, NETHERLANDS*
=SF=
Ferrer [1] d. Rosol
Verdasco [2] d. [7] Mahut
=FINAL=
Ferrer [1] d. [2] Verdasco

...In a slightly weaker draw, Ferru stands out. He is better than every single player in that draw. He should win this tournament.

*EASTBOURNE, UK*
=SF=
Gasquet [1] d. [4] Garcia-Lopez
Lopez [3] d. [2] Dolgopolov
=FINAL=
Lopez [3]d. [1] Gasquet

...Lopez is on dangerous form, but Gasquet should be good enough to find his way through to the final.


Thanx all and visit WTABACKSPIN please.

Read more!