2019 Miami Final: Federer [4] vs Isner [7]

Champion


  • Total voters
    103
  • Poll closed .

Towser83

G.O.A.T.
Hopefully Fed but he keeps blowing these finals so I have a feeling isner will win something like 7-6 4-6 7-6 with fed blowing set points, possible match points in one of the tiebreaks
 

2011

New User
Feds form fluctuates so much in one single tournament ( now even in very next match) that their is no favourite in F, I rather fear that losing 3 ms1000 F prior to this one might affect fed, isner in 3 ????
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
5th final in Miami for Federer (previously 2002 l.to Agassi, 2005 b. Nadal, 2006 b. Ljubicic, 2017 b. Nadal), 5th Masters 1000 final for Isner (previously 2012 IW l. to Federer, 2013 Cincinnati l. to Nadal, 2016 Paris l. to Murray, 2018 Miami b. Zverev).

Combined ages of the 2 finalists is 70, making them the oldest finalists In Masters 1000 history.
When Isner plays a M1K final vs a slam champion he loses.

fedr in 2 unless Isner really raises his game bcoz fedr will not choke twice when serving out sets. Sorry, Félix...those are the facts.
 

Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
Federer is looking very good here, in IW not playing Nadal IMO hurt him. Here he is playing all his matches and seems to be enjoying the court now.
Hitman, I always root for Fed. I'm sort of a closet Fed fan. :)

There is something going on right now that I don't understand, but I'm enjoying it. His return game earlier this year was so bad, it was on about a par with something like 1999. It was truly awful, and I thought he was done. But his return game has gone through the roof in Miami, and he's suddenly playing like 2017, at the beginning of the year. There is something frightening about a guy almost 38 reaching two finals at the Sunshine Double and being very likely to win the second one.

I think we have to be really careful about predicting. Novak looked done at the beginning of 2018, then for awhile he looked like he was back to winning like in 2011 or in his NCYGS run. Not sure what is going on right now. Is he tired again? Losing his hunger? Or is he conserving energy, getting ready to pour everything into this clay season, hoping for RG #2 and then some? How much longer can Fed be this healthy and strong, no back problems, at nearly 38?

I think for all of us who have enjoyed the Big Three, this is a year to just sit back, enjoy and let it all play out!
 
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Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
Yeah but if it comes to a TB shootout, none of that helps. Isner is playing a final too, he'll be plenty confident behind that serve.
I disagree. Fed has the highest % all time in winning TBs on all surfaces and is the leader among all active players on HCs. A bit over 65%. Isner is a bit over 60%. If they get to two TBs, it's a toss up. Isner can win two, though he has never won two in a row against Fed. I'd say that if there are TBs, all Fed has to do is to win one and he'll prevail. Right now Fed is again at around a 30% return game winning level (this started in Miami), and Isner is winning almost no return games. Edge has to go to Fed, unless he has an off day and one of his BP nightmares.
 

mr tonyz

Professional
I disagree. Fed has the highest % all time in winning TBs on all surfaces and is the leader among all active players on HCs. A bit over 65%. Isner is a bit over 60%. If they get to two TBs, it's a toss up. Isner can win two, though he has never won two in a row against Fed. I'd say that if there are TBs, all Fed has to do is to win one and he'll prevail. Right now Fed is again at around a 30% return game winning level (this started in Miami), and Isner is winning almost no return games. Edge has to go to Fed, unless he has an off day and one of his BP nightmares.

Uhm , almost every match quite recently Fed is blowing bps left & right. This is typically true throughout his career during important matches .

He creates a lot , is good @ defending & not giving up too many bps on his own serve . But that dastardly bp conversion really does hurt him in big matches ...
 

Enceladus

Legend
Djoko can sure make it far at RG. That may not be a good thing for Wimb though.

KAndy and Tsitsipas are guaranteed to be “fresh” for Wimb.
Whenever Fed lost in the IW final, Djoker won Wimbledon.

Grass is a heavenly abode for good servers.

Regarding Djoko, RG15 and Wimb 15 comes to mind. But he is 4 yrs older now. So it’s not going to be the same. Djoko can prove me wrong.
That's your wish. If there will a Djoker-Fed final at this year's Wimbledon, we all know who would be the favorite.
 

True Fanerer

G.O.A.T.
Fed is one of the best ever at blocking back returns from big servers like Isner. It's going to depend on how well Isner can hit his spots. That's basically what the match will come down to because Federer will eat him up in rallies and probably doesn't have to serve all that great himself to win the match. Fed in 3.
 

mike danny

Bionic Poster
It will most likely be difficult. Isner must be serving very well so Fed May not get many looks and then even if he does, Break Pointerer has not gone away.

I’ve just got a horrible feeling that Isner gets it done in 3, winning two tie breaks. :eek:
FAA broke Isner twice. Fed will have his chances.
 

Zardoz7/12

Hall of Fame
Isner off to Room 101 and Federer will keep the balls low (That doesn't sound right) and Goliath will be stretched out. Federer knows how to deal with the giants, bring them to the net and return their serves to their feet.
 

yokied

Hall of Fame
Jisner shouldn't have ever won it last year let alone defend it this year. Fed needs to save tennis here.

Of course]

He's gotta be drinking for this one, meaning even weirder posts with weirder typos. The anger and booze must flow like waves across the keyboard. Some days, it seems he has beaten some keys much harder than others. Really, he doesn't actually need to type anything legible at this point. We're all still getting the anti-Fed message.
 

TearTheRoofOff

G.O.A.T.
It really depends on which Fed shows up. Roger can easily lose to Isner here.

On the other hand, his return game has been excellent. If he brings it, then he will break Isner once each set and win the match.

If it comes down to tie-breaks, I am less confident. He will invariably drop some points on serve, and if Isner serves well it can be pretty tough.

I mean, Isner hasn't lost a set here. Of the 10 sets, he won 9 of them in tie-breaks (and one set 7-5). That's just insane.
A tough challenge indeed. There's some encouragement to be taken from FAA being up a break in both sets played yesterday (if I remember correctly).
 

moonballs

Hall of Fame
Have a bad feeling Isner 7:6 7:6 win is not out of question. Fed could not convert the break points Shapo was giving him at the beginning of the match. I think that ability comes and goes at the afdvanced age and is out of Fed’s control.
 

PeteD

Legend
Hitman, I always root for Fed. I'm sort of a closet Fed fan. :)

There is something going on right now that I don't understand, but I'm enjoying it. His return game earlier this year was so bad, it was on about a par with something like 1999. It was truly awful, and I thought he was done. But his return game has gone through the roof in Miami, and he's suddenly playing like 2017, at the beginning of the year. There is something frightening about a guy almost 38 reaching two finals at the Sunshine Double and being very likely to win the second one.

I think we have to be really careful about predicting. Novak looked done at the beginning of 2018, then for awhile he looked like he was back to winning like in 2011 or in his NCYGS run. Not sure what is going on right now. Is he tired again? Losing his hunger? Or is he conserving energy, getting ready to pour everything into this clay season, hoping for RG #2 and then some? How much longer can Fed be this healthy and strong, no back problems, at nearly 38?

I think for all of us who have enjoyed the Big Three, this is a year to just sit back, enjoy and let it all play out!
I think both Roger and Novak are looking at RG 100%. They are going at in in two different ways.
 

Rubens

Hall of Fame
Isner devotees unite!

giphy.gif
 

Thundergod

Hall of Fame
I think Fed's the solid favorite, but he seems to donate all the big finals nowadays. I hope it's different this time.
 

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
You know, this might the absolute worst time for Fed to play Isner. Roger's been in the best baseline groove we've seen from him in years. Normally he wants to keep the points short as possible, but the long rallies have all been going his way this week. Isner is going to take the racket out of his hands and force him to go back to 1-2 tennis. It's going to be hard for him to maintain the flow he's been in when he's not even getting looks for minutes at a time on the Isner serve.

He would actually be better off playing Thiem in this final and Isner back in IW.
 

Cfidave

Professional
If there is any Justice in the world, Isner will lose. The guy was gifted both sets yesterday. He was outplayed in both sets until the tiebreaks.
Very, very lucky to still be in the tournament. I don't think Fed will donate both sets to this guy. He did nothing to get both breaks back, maybe hit
one decent shot. His luck will run out on Sunday.
 

Yugram

Legend
Dal fans, I swear...

New rule: If your guy doesn't even show up to a tournament or crashes out, you can't talk sh*t about other players still in it
Honestly, I don’t care about your rules. It’s not Fed appreciation thread or something.
 
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ChrisRF

Legend
You know, this might the absolute worst time for Fed to play Isner. Roger's been in the best baseline groove we've seen from him in years. Normally he wants to keep the points short as possible, but the long rallies have all been going his way this week. Isner is going to take the racket out of his hands and force him to go back to 1-2 tennis. It's going to be hard for him to maintain the flow he's been in when he's not even getting looks for minutes at a time on the Isner serve.

He would actually be better off playing Thiem in this final and Isner back in IW.
I don’t like a final against Isner as well, just because of his kind of tennis. But look at the positive things: Federer will beat him easily, and after that he will move on to clay, so everything will be different anyway. He won’t lose his rhythm only because his last hardcourt match for a while is against a servebot.
 

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
I don’t like a final against Isner as well, just because of his kind of tennis. But look at the positive things: Federer will beat him easily, and after that he will move on to clay, so everything will be different anyway. He won’t lose his rhythm only because his last hardcourt match for a while is against a servebot.
I'm trying not to get ahead of myself like everyone else here. I don't care about clay because I don't actually think he'll win anything, even if his current form does carry over.

I just want him to win Miami. It's been 18 months since his last Masters title and I just want him to get that monkey off his back. The Indian Wells final has made me too jittery to look past this.
 
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