Welcome



This is my tennis blog, Lefty Advantage. Tennis is my biggest passion in life and I started this site to discuss the great game. I mainly follow the career of Roger Federer, but I truly love watching all tennis, whether it be the final of a Grand Slam
or a junior tournament on the other side of the world.

I have played tennis for 13 years. If you ever met me, I could talk your head off about all things tennis for hours on end if you would let me. Welcome, and enjoy the writing!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Cincinnati 2011 2R - Roger Federer vs Juan Martin del Potro - 6-3, 7-5

Wow, what can I say about this match?  Roger opened up on fire getting out to a quick 4-1 lead, and ended up winning the 1st set 6 games to 3.  The second set was much closer but Mr. Federer was serving as well as I have seen him serve all year long, so he never really had many problems holding (or even losing points on serve), with the exception of one break point in which he saved with a great body serve.  As Roger showed venomously throughout his prime, he played his best tennis when he needed to, breaking at 5-5 in the second to serve for the match, which he did fairly comfortably.  Bingo bango bongo Mr. Fedurah, 1 hours and 31 minutes, first serve percentage at 75 and of those first serves, 83 percent of those points he won.  Pretty amazing numbers vs a player as great as Del Potro is.

Now let me talk a little about why Roger won the match 6-3, 7-5.  It is fairly simple when you think about it in-depth.  Roger, instead of trying to cream every ball to Delpo, massaged the ball deep in the court and made the big Argentine quite uncomfortable where he usually feels safe.  He also sliced and chipped returns, and forced Delpo into the net quite often, where he is extremely uncomfortable.  To me, this was the Roger Federer we all know and love, where he shows his unmatched variety and guile.  When he is using every shot in his arsenal as well as serving well enough that half of his points won are unreturnable serves, then there is NOBODY IN THE WORLD who can stop him.  Nobody.  Not Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Del Potro, Tsonga, Soderling, Berdych, Davydenko, nobody.  The tennis he showcased vs Juan Martin is what he needs to do the rest of his career.  As the younger guys start to hit bigger and bigger, Roger must use his tactics to get them outside their comfort level.  He must outsmart them a let them know that even though he isn't pounding the ball, he is controlling the match.  Versus JMDP, he did this beautifully, and it gave him one of the best wins of the year in my opinion, falling just behind the Roland Garros semifinal and the final vs Davydenko in Doha.  Well done Roger!


JesusFed now plays old friend James Blake.  It should be a fun match that Roger takes easily if he plays even a fraction as well as he did vs Del Potro.  Then after that comes a potential Toronto 2010 rematch with Tomas Berdych, which would be interesting.  If GOAT-RF employs the same tactics he used to beat Del Potro and he serves well, he could take Tomas out easily.  But that is two rounds from now, so no getting ahead of myself yet.

As for the rest of the days' action, Isner lost to Stepanek which is obviously disappointing for him.  Stepanek is a crafty little player though and uses his serve effectively.  And after all, he did win in Washington two weeks ago, so he is on a roll.  Fabio Fognini lost to James Blake quite easily after he upset Viktor Troicki in round one.  A bit of a shock that Fabio beat Troicki, but James Blake is DANGEROUS when he plays well.  Unfortunately with his high-risk game that doesn't happen often anymore.  Shame, really.

Sometime soon I am going to write more in-depth about how to make life difficult for pace-eaters, or counterpunchers like Djokovic, Del Potro, and Nadal.  Cheers until then, and celebrate Roger's great play!

PS:  Roger owns revenge matches, yo. 





1 comment:

  1. Kyle,

    Very well done, and I'm thrilled that you decided to start a blog! Kudos!

    Matt Zemek
    Seattle

    ReplyDelete