Queen's Club! And a bunch of musings...
It's been a great week of tennis, particularly at the Queen's Club in London. The first and second seeds, Nadal and Djokovic, will be playing in the final tomorrow afternoon, after Nadal saw Roddick off in an exciting match that I sleepwalked through, 7-5 6-4, and Djokovic steamrolled Nalbandian, 6-1 6-0.
Oh, what can I say about that second semifinal? Nalbandian was dreadful throughout, with an abysmal first serve percentage and occasional moments of brilliance completely overshadowed by Djokovic's inexorable consistency.
My predictive powers on my paper bracket are in splendid form this week, to my own surprise. I only got 16 out of 24 first-round results and 14 out of 16 second-round results correct, but did excellently in later rounds for 77.8% overall accuracy. To compare with previous showings, I'd take having 60-67% accuracy on a bracket filled in pre-tournament as being a decently good showing. 77.8%? Unprecedented. The breakdown:
R64: 16 of 24
R32: 14 of 16
R16: 7 of 8
QF: 3 of 4
SF: 2 of 2
F: TBD
About tomorrow's final. I believe Djokovic won't have as easy a time as he did today, but in the end he should probably prevail over Nadal. Don't know why; just a gut feeling.
I also got a sense, over the course of this tournament, that there's perhaps been a changing of the guard. I mean, people have been saying this since a certain semifinal match in the Australian Open early this year, but I mean this in a more general, non-Federer-related sense.
In the draw this week are two of the outstanding grass court players of the past decade, Roddick and Hewitt, who have 8 Queen's Club titles between them, and who once fought over the #1 spot in the game.
Roddick, whose serve has got him out of many a fix, is currently just after rehabbing his right shoulder from an injury sustained in Rome.
Hewitt, once reknowned for his quickness and never-say-die attitude, no longer has his twenty year-old's legs and is in fact playing despite a hip injury; his admirable competitive attitude remains, but his footspeed paled in comparison to Djokovic's yesterday as he succumbed in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.
It's like a cosmic joke. It's as if, at the age of 26/27, the players' bodies start throwing in the towel, robbing them of their games' most admirable attributes and spitting out the bones.
Hewitt and Roddick are still going strong, but look at the names in the final: Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal is 22, Djokovic 21; Hewitt is 27, Roddick 26. The tennis generational divide is becoming clear right now, the young legs outrunning the old legs, fresh bodies brushing aside sore, tired ones. Nadal and Djokovic will be playing each other for the third time in as many tournaments, and I think that as they fight for ascendancy in the highest echelons of the sport, this will become another memorable rivalry.
Even more significant than old champs/rivalries vs. new champs/rivalries is the emergence and/or increasing maturity of yet more of the young guns. Just in this week alone: Nishikori, ambitious, calm and steadily rising through the ranks. Gulbis, inconsistent but delightful when in good form. Murray, back on a surface that suits him, with his high hopes for the grass season. Gasquet - well, we're in choppy waters here, but he seems to have got over his clay-season funk here with some good results, including a win over Ancic, before succumbing to Nalbandian in a tight three-set match.
These are exciting times for men's tennis. Hope Wimbledon will bring some great matchups. I'm also looking forward to tomorrow's match.
Oh, what can I say about that second semifinal? Nalbandian was dreadful throughout, with an abysmal first serve percentage and occasional moments of brilliance completely overshadowed by Djokovic's inexorable consistency.
My predictive powers on my paper bracket are in splendid form this week, to my own surprise. I only got 16 out of 24 first-round results and 14 out of 16 second-round results correct, but did excellently in later rounds for 77.8% overall accuracy. To compare with previous showings, I'd take having 60-67% accuracy on a bracket filled in pre-tournament as being a decently good showing. 77.8%? Unprecedented. The breakdown:
R64: 16 of 24
R32: 14 of 16
R16: 7 of 8
QF: 3 of 4
SF: 2 of 2
F: TBD
About tomorrow's final. I believe Djokovic won't have as easy a time as he did today, but in the end he should probably prevail over Nadal. Don't know why; just a gut feeling.
I also got a sense, over the course of this tournament, that there's perhaps been a changing of the guard. I mean, people have been saying this since a certain semifinal match in the Australian Open early this year, but I mean this in a more general, non-Federer-related sense.
In the draw this week are two of the outstanding grass court players of the past decade, Roddick and Hewitt, who have 8 Queen's Club titles between them, and who once fought over the #1 spot in the game.
Roddick, whose serve has got him out of many a fix, is currently just after rehabbing his right shoulder from an injury sustained in Rome.
Hewitt, once reknowned for his quickness and never-say-die attitude, no longer has his twenty year-old's legs and is in fact playing despite a hip injury; his admirable competitive attitude remains, but his footspeed paled in comparison to Djokovic's yesterday as he succumbed in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.
It's like a cosmic joke. It's as if, at the age of 26/27, the players' bodies start throwing in the towel, robbing them of their games' most admirable attributes and spitting out the bones.
Hewitt and Roddick are still going strong, but look at the names in the final: Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal is 22, Djokovic 21; Hewitt is 27, Roddick 26. The tennis generational divide is becoming clear right now, the young legs outrunning the old legs, fresh bodies brushing aside sore, tired ones. Nadal and Djokovic will be playing each other for the third time in as many tournaments, and I think that as they fight for ascendancy in the highest echelons of the sport, this will become another memorable rivalry.
Even more significant than old champs/rivalries vs. new champs/rivalries is the emergence and/or increasing maturity of yet more of the young guns. Just in this week alone: Nishikori, ambitious, calm and steadily rising through the ranks. Gulbis, inconsistent but delightful when in good form. Murray, back on a surface that suits him, with his high hopes for the grass season. Gasquet - well, we're in choppy waters here, but he seems to have got over his clay-season funk here with some good results, including a win over Ancic, before succumbing to Nalbandian in a tight three-set match.
These are exciting times for men's tennis. Hope Wimbledon will bring some great matchups. I'm also looking forward to tomorrow's match.