Was Watching... Roger Federer

There's Good, Better, Excellent...


...and sometimes all the superlatives in the world don't suffice. I've seen dominant players over the years, but tonight's performance by Federer takes the cake.

Roger Federer continued his defence of his Australian Open title with a superb 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 victory over sixth seed Andy Roddick in the semi-final.
Federer, yet to lose a set in the tournament, briefly found himself on the back foot in the first set despite breaking Roddick in the first game of the match. Four unforced errors in succession allowed Roddick to break back just three games later, tying the set at 2-2, and the American appeared in good form as he moved to a 4-3 lead on the back of some effective net play.

But Federer broke again in the ninth game of the set and never looked back, winning the next nine games straight and only committing one unforced error in a definitive second set showing. Roddick refused to surrender meekly, breaking the run and taking two more games the final set, but in the end Federer needed less than an hour and a half to tie up the win.
"I was really worried going into this match he had been playing so well," said Federer. "I played incredibly well. I had one of those days where everything worked. It's just unreal, I'm shocked myself, I don't know what to say."

The match was over in 83minutes. 83 minutes!
Andy Roddick is not a bad player. If anyting he's been better than I've ever seen him and genuinely looked like the player to beat for the last 8 days. The way he disposed of Marat Safin and Mardy Fish were enough to say he was on a roll. That, with Jimmy Connors working in his camp, getting technical aspects of his game sorted out; frankly, he looked to be in excellent form. Well, so much for all of that jazz. My old coach used to say that when crunch time comes, champions find that extra gear. Federer it seemed found an entirely new gear box.

Meanwhile, Andy Roddick described Jimmy Connors' reaction to his new protege's bad night. "He gave me a beer."

By the way, I HATE the way the Australian commentators have been referring to Andy Roddick as 'A-Rod'. Are you kidding me? The real A-Rod is still alive and well, playing 3B for the Yankees, thank you very much. Andy Roddick can claim the 'A-Rod' moniker when he earns more than US$252million. :)