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!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Federer Clinics Fognini

After a triple breadstick performance against Albert Ramos in the first round, Roger Federer displayed much of the same great form in dispatching Fabio Fognini 61 63 62 in one hour and fourteen minutes.


 Federer was in cruise control from the very start and broke Fognini twice in the opening set to collect his fourth straight 6-1 set of the tournament.  If Fognini was to have any chance whatsoever he would need a good start and he didn't get one - largely due to the supreme nature of Roger's play.  The second set was a little bit more competitive but Roger still broke twice to take it 6-3.  The third set was more of the same and he again broke twice (what's tennis without consistency?) to win the match without really breaking a sweat.  He did not face a break point the entire match.

It is such a treat to see Roger play this well, especially after the disappointment that was Roland Garros.  He looks sharper than he has in a very long time on these grass courts (since 2009), and he seems to be doing everything right to prepare himself for the daunting task ahead of having to go through Djokovic and Nadal.  He's serving masterfully, his forehand and backhand look wickedly good, and he is attacking brilliantly - he seems to being make a more concerted effort to be more aggressive, as he said he was passive the past two years.

Edit:  Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were in the audience to see Roger play.  Prince Charles had not been at Wimbledon in 42 years, and he only stayed to see Federer play.  That is a telling figure, because the last time he was at Wimbledon it was all serve and volleying, and perhaps he does not take as kindly to the modern power baseline game as others?  To stay only to see the great Roger Federer could be a testament to his appreciation of the dying variety in Roger's game.

Hanging out with the royalty, looking very royal himself.
Sharperer.  35 winners to 8 unforced errors!

The stats from the match were very telling of just how sharp Roger is: 35 winners, 8 unforced errors, 13 aces, 21/23 at net, 6/8 break points converted, and 90% first serve points won.  That is absolutely ridiculous.  In fact, through his two matches thus far, these are the overall numbers:


68 winners, 18 unforced errors (in 45 games played)
46/57 at net
2 hours 33 minutes on court
14/26 break points won
22 aces to 3 double faults
81/118 first serves in = 69%
66/81 first serve points won = 81%
36 games won, 9 games lost

To recap other action.....

Tuesday

- Rafa Nadal was in trouble early on Tuesday against Thomaz Bellucci when he went down 4-0 in the first set but then rallied to win comfortably 76(0) 63 62.  Disappointing that Bellucci could not win the first set, but I guess it is not surprising that he would fold.  Andy Murray cruised by Nikolay Davydenko 61 61 64.  Juan Martin del Potro beat Robin Haase in four sets, and young David Goffin, who made his name at the French Open by making it to the 4th round and by taking a set off Federer, beat Bernard Tomic in four sets.

Mardy Fish made his return to tennis with a straight sets win over Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, Jo Tsonga looked healthy in a straight-setter over Lleyton Hewitt, and big Kevin Anderson was upset by Grigor Dimitrov.  Philipp Kohlschreiber came through in a 6-2 5th set against Tommy Haas, while Nicolas Almagro did the same in a 6-4 decider against Olivier Rochus in the 1st round.  Feliciano Lopez was upset by fellow lefty Jarkko Nieminen in 4.

Brian Baker continued to make his return to tennis by getting to the 2nd round, and British future star James Ward entered the 2nd round with a win over Pablo Andujar.  Kei Nishikori, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marin Cilic, and Marcos Baghdatis also advanced without much trouble.

Other results from Wednesday.....

Novak Djokovic took out Ryan Harrison in a triple quatre (64 64 64) to win in just under two hours.  The Serb was in trouble midway through the second set when he had to save six break points, but he saved all of them and went on to win rather comfortably in the end.  An interesting stat is that Djokovic came to net 40 times, which we are not accustomed to seeing him doing regularly in matches.  The winners to UFE ratio was 31/15 for Djokovic and 30/14 for Harrison, so the numbers were very even there.

Andy Roddick made his way to the 2nd round by finishing off Jamie Baker in straights, whereas Janko Tipsarevic needed 4 sets to dispatch Ryan Sweeting after dropping the opener.  David Ferrer and Milos Raonic swept through to the 2nd round and Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny eased into the 3rd round.  Juan Monaco advanced rather easily in a 4-set win over Jeremy Chardy.  Almagro, playing on back to back days, got by Guillaume Rufin of France in 4 as well.  Stan Wawrinka lost to Jurgen Melzer in a 8-6 5th set.  Sad to see Stan go out so early.

Roger next plays Julien Benneteau, who took out Michael Russell in 4.  I do not expext the match to be as easy as the Ramos and Fognini ones, but Roger should get by comfortably with a scoreline similar to 3, 4, and 3.

Be back on Friday.  Until then, #Allez17 and #H17TORY!

1 comment:

  1. congrats kyle, great again! roger is playing such a magical tennis

    ReplyDelete