Wow, that was close.
Raonic was performing out of his mind, but still lost.
Congrats to Fed on 1000th win and 83rd title.
Very accurate assessment.I have no complaints whatsoever about the final. That was a great match. Raonic just showed how much of an improvement he has made to his game and I regard him as one of the genuine threats to big 4 alongside Nishikori. Federer could have easily lost, but he showed his mental strength and prevailed in the end. Raonic can beat anyone on his day now.
Very accurate assessment.
Anyone still setting aside Raonic as a 'serve bot only' should be forced to watch a re-run.
My assessment: Fed had his back against the wall in the 2nd set, and in most of the 3rd. Raonic was playing out of his mind, except at the beginning of the 1st set and the very end of the 3rd. He hit several fantastic BHs down the line, among other things.
If he continues to play at this level, he is going to do a lot of damage to top 10 players.
I think for Raonic to do well in a slam he needs to be lucky. And no one can get lucky on a routine basis.
Raonic was playing low percentage tennis today. He was just hitting the ball as hard as he could to stand a chance with fed.
In the first set, he was missing his shots; hitting them out or into the net. Then in the middle of the 2nd set, those shots started going in and he had a chance.
When you play low percentage tennis, statistically there would be streaks of games during a match that the ball will land in. But more often than not they will not.
On the other hand, great players like fed, djokovic, nadal, murray, nishikori etc use spin, placement, strategy, and power only when the opportunity arises. This is the type of game that will win you matches consistently.
No doubt Raonic can be a threat to any of the top players on any given day. But to do that for 7 matches straight to win a slam? He needs to be lucky, very lucky.
I agree. And if his serve is really hot, he doesn't have to red-line the way he did in this match.Are you saying Raonic should play Djokovic, Federer, Nadal or Murray 7 times in a slam? He can certainly beat anyone other than those 4 any day. He's not likely to meet more than 2 of the big 4 and I think he can beat them if he plays really well.