Federer Obliterates Ramos

After an unexpected loss to Tommy Haas in the final of Halle, Roger Federer was unforgiving in his Wimbledon opener, destroying World #43 Albert Ramos 61 61 61 in one hour and nineteen minutes.  

Love it.

It was a masterclass display from the Swiss Maestro, dispatching his opponent in a swift, orderly, and focused manner.  There was only one tiny blip on the radar when Fed got broken early in the match, but apart from that, it was a genius display of all-court attacking tennis from the 6-time Wimbledon champion.  It was probably the cleanest match he has played in a while, perhaps since his win against Andreas Seppi in Rome.

Statistically, it was a near perfect match from Federer.  He hit 9 aces to one double fault, got 69% of his first serves in play, was 25 of 34 at the net, and broke eight times.  He also hit 33 winners to only 10 unforced errors.  He won 73% of the points on his first serve, but that would have likely been higher if he had played more service games.  Overall, a thoroughly dominating performance, although he was playing a clay-court specialist who was only playing in his second ever grass match.

The key stat for me is the 25/34 at the net.  That he came in 34 times in 21 games is quite remarkable, and it could very well mean that Roger is putting more of an emphasis on attacking in these Championships.  He will need to do so if he wants to beat Djokovic and Nadal back-to-back.

In other first day action....

Novak Djokovic swept by former World #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 63 61.  Good performance from Nole after a shaky start where he got broken by the Spaniard.  His next opponent is Ryan Harrison, who should be a great man to test Novak's ability on the grass.

There were two big upsets, however, as the #6 seed Berdych went out shockingly in straight sets to Ernests Gulbis in three tiebreaks, and big John Isner went out to Alejandro Falla in a 7-5 5th set.  The Isner loss probably isn't as shocking as the Berdych loss because Isner had never been past the second round at Wimbledon.  The big serve suits the grass, you would think, but perhaps his big, wind-up groundstrokes don't prove to be the best on the fast grass in the first week.

Janko Tipsarevic, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Juan Monaco, Fernando Verdasco, Dr. Mikhail Youzhny, Florian Mayer, and Julien Benneteau all advanced to the 2nd round.  Andreas Seppi was upset by Denis Istomin 8-6 in the 5th.

The Fed plays Italian Fabio Fognini in the second round.

Looking forward to the rest of the Championships, especially if Roger keeps up that magnificent form he showed in his first match!  #Allez17 #H17TORY