ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[prasen9]

I do not hate Federer but I am for one happy to see him lose just for the mere fact that I prefer some variety.

[PKBasu]

I watched the match until 2-1 (Federer) in the fourth set. When Soderling broke back immediately after Federer had broken him early in the fourth set to go 2-0 up, I knew it was over and went to sleep. It was a high-quality match, but Federer was actually playing better than his opponent through the first three sets. He had one bad service game in the second set and suddenly lost it, having held all serves until that point with the loss of 0-1 point in each service game (while Soderling consistently struggled to hold serve, going to deuce in almost every one of his service games). The striking feature was Soderling's self-belief and dogged determination/resilience. The third set ended oddly: there was a long rain delay (before which Soderling had saved a couple of set points). When they came back at 5-5, Federer had an "off" service game and was broken after one deuce. Then it was 40-30, and Soderling called a ball from Federer out, the line judge agreed but the umpire checked the spot and called it in -- and asked them to replay the point! (Actually the line judge must have called it out, and Soderling left it -- though he seemed to have also tried to judge it out and left the ball). On the replayed serve, Soderling served an ace to end the set. I think it should have been called deuce when the previous shot was called in by the umpire. Anyway, congrats to Soderling. I doubt that Rafa will lose to him though!

I am saddened that Federer's remarkable streak of 23 consecutive Slam SFs has ended.

[dipankardeb]

soderling is playing so well,he will beat anybody, nadal will only win if soderling loses or plays below par.

Where did you learn your Tennis my friend? Have you seen Nadal play this year on Clay? It is okay to support Federer and want Nadal to lose but to claim that Nadal can beat Soderling only if Soderling plays poorly borders on insanity sorry to say.

[raijanni]

i never said i want nadal to lose,i only said my thoughts which is soderling is capable of beating anyone,nothing regarding nadal to lose.
n i dnt think u shud talk to me where i learn my tennis?. i have lived tennis mate n still doing it.

[PKBasu]

Actually, I would agree that the blast of new faces in the latter stages of a Slam -- Soderling (ok he's new only relative to 2008), Berdych, Stosur (a la Soderling) beating Henin, etc. -- is good for tennis. Now for someone to beat Nadal on clay...

[Prashant]

Actually, I would agree that the blast of new faces in the latter stages of a Slam -- Soderling (ok he's new only relative to 2008), Berdych, Stosur (a la Soderling) beating Henin, etc. -- is good for tennis. Now for someone to beat Nadal on clay...

It won't be Almagro. He played Nadal tight but still lost in straight sets. And now that Melzer & Djokovic are going five sets, the winner is going to roll over & play dead for Nadal in the semi-finals. Really, Soderling is the only chance that anyone beats Nadal.

I really wish del Potro hadn't gotten himself injured. Finally appeared to be someone with the cojones & the ability to stand up to both Federer & Nadal, and he promptly goes down with a serious injury. Now there's Soderling & I'm dubious Nadal will lose to him twice in a row.

[Saniapower]

Then it was 40-30, and Soderling called a ball from Federer out, the line judge agreed but the umpire checked the spot and called it in -- and asked them to replay the point! (Actually the line judge must have called it out, and Soderling left it -- though he seemed to have also tried to judge it out and left the ball). On the replayed serve, Soderling served an ace to end the set. I think it should have been called deuce when the previous shot was called in by the umpire.

What are you talking ? No way any chair umpire could give the point to Federer. Line judge clearly called it out and everybody heard that and Soderling had a play on that ball. The point is whether the player had a play on that ball (this is not the case in a clear winner) under normal circumstances, now since the line judge called it out so play was stopped and the point was over, The duty of the chair umpire now is to check whether he made the right call. If not then the point will be replayed but no way Soderling could be penalized for that bcoz play was interrupted by the line judge and he had to stop.I mean this is the rule. And there is no question of influencing the line judge. They make their own decisions. Actually the ball was going out but at the last moment it dipped in due to some spin on that. Soderling also probably thought the ball was going out and so he did not make any serious attempt of play but since the line judge aslo called it out so that's it, the point was over and officially he had a play on that ball. This is not the case of ' stop play and challenge the line call'. Of course you can say that Soderling was lucky but you cant blame the chair umpire. He did the right thing.

[Kumar]

Not only did Fed reach 23 straight GS SF, winner was either Federer or someone who beat Fed... I am betting for latter to change this Grandslam

[Saniapower]

My pick Soderling

[Sandeep]

Is any one watching the federer match? What an upset it will be if he loses. Probably one of the biggest upsets of this century. Federer losing in the first round of Wimbledon after 7 consecutive finals. One person who will be praying for his heart out for this upset will be Roddick

[PKBasu]

I watched the third and fourth sets. Falla served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but got a bit tight at the key points and Federer dug deep to somehow pull through. The fourth-set tiebreaker was a breeze after the first mini-break, as Federer ran away with it 7-1. I knew then it was all over for the brave Falla. It was somewhat poignant to have Vijay Amritraj commentating in this match (he himself came a lot closer to beating Borg in 1978 than Falla did against Federer today...).

[jaydeep]

What a match is going between John Isner and Nicols Mahut, which break almost all records from modern tennis ... This is longest match of tennis history, currently 8 hours and 02 mins (yesterday this match was stopped due to darkness in 4th set after 2 hrs 56 mins) and still counting ... This match having maximum number of games, currently scored is in favor of Isner 64 36 67 76 44-43 (on serve) ... This match is recored record number of aces, total 155 aces (Isner 85 and Mahut 70) ... Record number of winners (including service winners) Isner 281 and Mahut 242.

Previous longest match record was in the 2004 French open where Fabrice Santoro beat Arnaud Clement 64 63 67 36 16-14 in 6 hours 33 minutes.

[kna]

Amazing ... match will carry over into 3rd day after being tied 59-59 in the 5th set. It is already over 9 hours long. No breaks of serve since the 2nd set.

[Prashant]

Am I the only person who is profoundly bored by this? Hitherto I've been a fan of no tie-break in the last set. Now I'm not so sure. I mean, all credit to Isner & Mahut for the endurance and tremendous concentration that this feat is taking, but who is really enjoying watching it?

[luzagodom]

we can get I guess.We can have it but hardly there are 10 posts about Davis Cup played by other countries! That is the max. I don't see a reason to start a thread