Wimbledon 2010

[Dan Gould]

Holy *&^&*^*%@ shit! Federer down 2 sets to 0 against some total unknown? I can't believe a defending champion has ever lost his first round match the next year, and if he does go down, the drum beats about Federer being done will be merciless. First the streak of reaching Slam semi-finals ends at the French, then out of his best tournament in the first round?

Would it be in poor taste to hope this guy's cramps make him quit? C'MON ROGER!!!!!

Edited June 21, 2010 by Dan Gould

[Brad]

That would be equivalent to a number 16 seed in the NCAA basketball tourney knocking off a number 1!

[Dan Gould]

That would be equivalent to a number 16 seed in the NCAA basketball tourney knocking off a number 1!

No, your scenario would be the equivalent of a fourth round loss (the round before the quarters). This is the equivalent of an NCAA #1 being bounced by the 64th team. Except that this is a 128-man draw, so its even more shocking than that.

[.:.impossible]

Dan, there is no 64th team, but I think y'all are saying the same thing.

[Dan Gould]

Dan, there is no 64th team, but I think y'all are saying the same thing.

Yeah I get what you're saying but its not quite the same anyway since its a 128 man field. So the Wimbledon equivalent of losing to a 16th ranked team would be a second round loss.

Roger won the third and just broke Falla when he tried to serve for the match. Can he save a break point? YES!

Do you believe in miracles? NOT YET!

[Ted O'Reilly]

It isn't a miracle (after all, he IS Roger Federer) but he's through, with a convincing 6-0 final set.

Wimbledon has a good, and up-to-date website at www.wimbledon.org/

[Dan Gould]

It isn't a miracle (after all, he IS Roger Federer) but he's through, with a convincing 6-0 final set.

He's recovered from a 2-0 deficit only six times in his entire career, including this one, so I'd say there's an element of the miraculous to it.

[.:.impossible]

What do you make of this Dan? You think Federer's got his head right?

[Dan Gould]

I don't know - he lost early in the grass-court tune up so maybe his game is a bit off? If there's anyone who can put his game together on grass its Federer so this might be the kick in the pants he needs to sail into next week. But he definitely seemed off and the other guy was dictating play and Roger didn't have any answers. It looked like a match against a clay court specialist - the other guy was running around and getting everything back and then smacking winners.

[.:.impossible]

I missed the match, but I feel that Roger's game may be slipping here and there. I hope he will pull together. He is a great.

[Soulstation1]

I gotta make my move, Serena broke up with Common

[Dan Gould]

The 23rd seed on the men's side has been taken to

29-29

in the fifth? That is ridiculous. And there is another match going on at 15-14 in the fifth. Pikers.

[Dan Gould]

This is just insane. 46-46, over 8 hours total overall (they played the first four sets yesterday, this set has all been today), almost 5 hours today alone, every record you can think of has been set, these guys look like death walking on the changeovers but then they toe the baseline to serve and its one ace or winner after another. I don't think anyone has sniffed a break point for 50 games.

[Dan Gould]

Well that was completely mind-blowing as it ends with play suspended again, tied at 59. Ten hours total for the match, about 6.5 for today's festivities. And it comes after the American reached match point in the last game only to have the French guy turn it away with another ace then hold serve. Both of them looked punch-drunk, the American a bit more but they still couldn't break anyone's serve, even when the Yank was going half-speed.

[Dan Gould]

Don't they have to put the conclusion of this match on Centre Court tomorrow? Would certainly be a proper reward to a 23rd seed and a qualifier who left it all on the court for 7+ hours today.

[kenny weir]

Don't they have to put the conclusion of this match on Centre Court tomorrow? Would certainly be a proper reward to a 23rd seed and a qualifier who left it all on the court for 7+ hours today.

Ha! Stuffy old Wimbledon? I wouldn't count on it. But, oddly, I wouldn't count it out, either.

I only watched while flicking between WC games, and only once I realised the 50+ game scores for the fifth were CORRECT.

It is, of course, mind-blowing, preposterous, unbelievable.

But I found it a bit like a train wreck, a bit creepy. No diminishing the players' stamina and willpower and so on. But FFS, where's the killer instinct?

And I don't think it's any kind of positiive ad for tennis.

[Dan Gould]

Why is it any sort of "ad" at all? Its a totally unique, once-in-several-lifetimes event that could only happen at Wimbledon anyway because of the way grass favors big serves.

I agree that it did have a train wreck element in that you couldn't believe what you were looking at or that these men were still upright after playing for so long - and you also couldn't take your eyes off of it. And the look of exhaustion (particularly on the American's face) made me want to crawl into bed for a nap.

I wonder if anyone will calculate the odds of 128 consecutive games without a break of serve - I suspect it was beyond astronomical.

As for the timing of the resumption, wherever they play I am glad it is set for 10:30 AM (ET) and not the first match of the day. I wouldn't be up that early to see it, but I will definitely have it on when they get started again.

[kenny weir]

Why is it any sort of "ad" at all? Its a totally unique, once-in-several-lifetimes event that could only happen at Wimbledon anyway because of the way grass favors big serves.

Fair call, Dan.

But I'm just playing a little devil's advocate: Let's put it this way - I think anyone who already finds tennis boring would find this merely confirms their thoughts on the matter.

Edited June 24, 2010 by kenny weir

[Tim McG]

Isner vs Mahut....longest tennis match in the history of the world.

Amazing stuff.

[Dan Gould]

Here we go again. 60-60, and no Centre Court either. And I wonder if I was wrong about Isner's exhaustion yesterday - he moved about as slowly on the changeover today.

[Dan Gould]

Isner finally gets to match point and doesn't waste it this time, great return at his feet set up a backhand pass up the line.

70-68

11 hours and five minutes, they just said. I'm gonna take a nap.

[thedwork]

You cannot be serious!!!!!@#$%^&*()

Absolutely incredible.

[Dan Gould]

Pretty good summary from a Wimbeldon blogger for the Guardian:

9.25pm: Last thoughts before I ring me a hearse. That was beyond tennis. I think it was even beyond survival, because there is a strong suggestion (soon to be confirmed by doctors) that John Isner actually expired at about the 20-20 mark, and Mahut went soon afterwards, and the remainder of the match was contested by Undead Zombies who ate the spectators during the change of ends (again, this is pending a police investigation).

Still, if you're going to watch a pair of zombies go at each other for eleventy-billion hours, far into the night, it might as well be these zombies. They were incredible, astonishing, indefatigable. They fell over frequently but they never stayed down. My hat goes off to these zombies. Possibly my head goes off to them too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/23/wimbledon-2010-tennis-live

[Dan Gould]

R-Fed is in deep trouble now. Down two sets to one and a break late in the fourth set. Unbelievable. Looks like there may be no Breakfast at Wimbledon for me, with no one I care about in the draw.

[Dan Gould]

FUCK!

I can't believe Roger gets bounced but that had to be his worst service performance since he started winning Wimbledon. Seven breaks? And in only four sets?

He may really be fading, and that disturbs me greatly.