Australian Open R3 - The GOAT v Roger Federer

[joeri888]

Originally Posted by jwjh

JC: 2nd set tiebreak 4-1, how did u turn it around?

RF: erm, not sure. i kept on trying the whole set. thought i had a few more chances than he did and thought the tiebreak was gonna go his way coz the set played out the way it did. just gotta keep on believing. well switch sides at 4-2 and i was on the side with the wind to maybe that help. it was a crucial tiebreak and maybe key to the match. thought we both played a great match. well he had a great run now and i wish him the best.

JC: were u surprised by his overt aggression. he played very aggressive the whole match. was that something u were expecting?

RF: i mean u gotta expect the unexpected right? and bernie has the tools to do that. i think the court plays a touch faster than last year so it allows you to play a bit more aggressive. Big guy so he has got alot of power and a good serve and he uses it well. but it is nice to see that he can move the ball around but then also u need the power in this day and age and he did a great job tonight. obviously it is something he needs to get used to and he did excellent tonight and he'll be hard to beat in the future.

JC: well u played him last year so you're in a pretty good spot to see how he has improved. what was the jump do u think if anything?

RF: i think another year of experience. years on tour go by quickly. and you improve extremely quickly at his age. it's his 3rd 4th year on tour now so it is more of the details really. impt to take the right things out of a loss coz usually u learn more when u lose. when u win u take the confidence. he's been extremely confident coz he's been on a good run but overall i just think he's a better player, bit more mature, hard to explain, the whole package is just a bit better.

JC:U've only lost twice to players playing in their home slam. why do you keep beating down on the hometown heroes? not smart man.

RF: i know definitely not smart. but u guys sorta invite me every year and enjoy me playing. but it is not my favorite part of the job.

JC: next up u've got another one of the rising stars, milosh. what are your thoughts? another tall powerful player

RF: right, they're not gonna get smaller these guys. and he's gotta monster of a serve so i'll try my best. we've played what 3 times maybe 4 times. i'm not sure anymore, i start forgetting matches these days. everyone of them was extremely close so looking forward to a tough one.

Much appreciated.

[Rocky89]

Tomic said he felt intimidated by Fed when the announcer was calling the players onto court.

He seems pretty gracious in the conference. If only he was like this in the pre match interview

[idioteque]

Originally Posted by Rocky89

Tomic said he felt intimidated by Fed when the announcer was calling the players onto court.

He seems pretty gracious in the conference. If only he was like this in the pre match interview

Yeah, he did really well in the presser. He's definitely made some changes. Good for him.

[nadal_GOAT_king]

Originally Posted by idioteque

Yeah, he did really well in the presser. He's definitely made some changes. Good for him.

I imagine he'd be defiant if it were a proper beatdown handed out today.

Anyway, I'm beginning to enjoy watching the kid play. Found his weird forehand rather mesmerising.

[Sentinel]

So now Fred faces another GOAT -- two in a row, that's unfair !

[Zildite]

Originally Posted by boramiNYC

putting a lot of topspin on a fast and flat shot like that is not easy. That's how soderling beat nadal. hard flat hitting against nadal's high bouncing balls. Apparently tomic can generate enough pace (70 to 90 mph) with a very small backswing and he seems to handle high balls pretty well. as long as he can slide and move well on clay his flat shots will be very effective on clay.

Clay is his worst surface, heard about it a few times last year. See how he does this year with his improved level.

[natalia]

From Rogi's presser - gotta love those questions :

Q. Certain shots or points that surprised even you?

ROGER FEDERER: By him?


Q. By yourself?

ROGER FEDERER: By myself? No. I've seen and felt myself playing before so many times that I feel I didn't come up with a shot that I never hit before in my life. But we had some great ones and I had to be able to bring the whole repertoire, I guess, to the court today, defense and offense, which I enjoy. Then when you do win those kind of matches, it's a good feeling afterwards.

[aimr75]

Originally Posted by Rocky89

Tomic said he felt intimidated by Fed when the announcer was calling the players onto court.

He seems pretty gracious in the conference. If only he was like this in the pre match interview

I watched the fed / paire match live and the announcer went through every major he won individually and other titles. Was a bit ridiculous and at the time I thought what a way to intimidate the opponent. Not surprised when I watched Bernie's post match interview and said he felt intimidated.

[Goosehead]

Originally Posted by aimr75

I watched the fed / paire match live and the announcer went through every major he won individually and other titles. Was a bit ridiculous and at the time I thought what a way to intimidate the opponent. Not surprised when I watched Bernie's post match interview and said he felt intimidated.

wow..must have taken the announcer ages

[powerangle]

a brilliant display from the fedexpress

[Clarky21]

Originally Posted by Rocky89

Tomic said he felt intimidated by Fed when the announcer was calling the players onto court.

He seems pretty gracious in the conference. If only he was like this in the pre match interview

He got fed a large piece of humble pie so now the tune has changed. He needs to learn to control the big talk before matches lest he be made to look like a fool when he loses.

[Love all]

Originally Posted by Feather

What a screwed up day! Star Sports and Star Cricket are showing Cricket. Why would they both telecast the same match in two channels? It's tough if you are living in India. All these channels show the same match

They used to switch any other event to espn. But they didn't this time. Cant understand why?

[TennisFan436]

That tiebreak was truly epic. Differentiated the man from the boy. Hope I get to see the replay on TC.

[Sid_Vicious]

Originally Posted by Rocky89

Tomic said he felt intimidated by Fed when the announcer was calling the players onto court.

He seems pretty gracious in the conference. If only he was like this in the pre match interview

Agreed. He is just a normal guy who was trying to remain confident before facing Federer. People should not be so hard on him for that.

[Russeljones]

Easy win for Grandpa Dimitrov

[forzamilan90]

Originally Posted by Russeljones

Easy win for Grandpa Dimitrov

Haha you sir have just made a great quote

[Surecatch]

Originally Posted by smoledman

I'd peg him for 6-7 slams.

Wow, that's quite a prediction. Despite obvious improvement, I still think he's a long way from even consistently contending in slams. I'll be very surprised if he wins six, even if he does improve to the level of slam contender/winner.

[Masayoshi]

Originally Posted by Surecatch

Wow, that's quite a prediction. Despite obvious improvement, I still think he's a long way from even consistently contending in slams. I'll be very surprised if he wins six, even if he does improve to the level of slam contender/winner.

I'm pretty confident saying Tomic will win at least 2 slams. In 3-4 years, the current top 4 will have dropped their level or retired, and Tomic will then be in his prime. I expect him to keep improving (his serve has gotten so much better than what it was), and he's among the best of the new bunch. Sure a new Federer may emerge out of nowhere and hoard all the slams, but I suspect that there will probably at least be an interim period that Tomic can capitalize on, à la Hewitt.