| Wes Moodie blogging from Madrid |
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| Wednesday, 20 May 2009 22:43 |
 Today the unthinkable happened: Federer beat Nadal in straight sets and Moodie/Aspelin lost in straight sets in the doubles final – just great! I get a “finalist” plate. That’s like getting a Porsche without an engine. Looks great when you first look at it – but then you notice that there is something missing and the initial “WOW” turns into more of an “Oh”. It was interesting to sit with Roger before his night match against Del Potro on Saturday night. We were in the training (physio) room watching a rather epic match between Djokovic and Nadal. Roger seemed quite amused watching the match and the typical Nadal magic. Djokovic got to match point on his serve and I shouted, “Serve and volley down the T!” Roger laughed and said, “Yeah, you have to! Even if you hit the volley into the stadium you can at least say you took a chance!” There was no S+V and Djokovic was sent packing. Roger seemed to have an unimpressed look on his face when Nadal won, although he seemed pretty relaxed going out to play Del Potro. I saw most of his 2nd set against Nadal. He played very well, relaxed, taking the initiative and changing tactics often. He did get to match point and surprise, surprise he serve and volleyed up the tee! Coach Moodie was quite proud of himself - but sunk a little in his chair when the return was good and Roger missed the volley in the net. I think if he lost serve then he would have resorted to tactic number two: we were commenting on how Nadal was lining up his water bottles between games and I suggested that maybe at Wimbledon Roger should take a “penalty kick” at his water bottles. He said that Monfils had already done it previously in Doha: Monfils won 64 64! So look out if Federer goes down a break at Wimbledon…. I’ll write again from Roland Garros. |
