2017 Wimbledon Final: Federer v Cilic

[AnonymousFan]

Who wins?

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I am hoping for a Roger in 4 sets victory, but I am scared of this match up. Marin is so solid from the baseline and his serve has improved ever since he changed it. Roger has to avoid the baseline exchanges like the plague, use the slice cleverly, bring Marin in as much as he can because that is one area I think Marin is still a bit uncomfortable, and of course, pass him. Roger has to serve better than past matches and use all of his variety on the serve as well.
Marin is focused , ready and hungry and he knows he can take on Roger. If he is even just close to that US Open match form, he can run away with this. The fact that this is grass is giving me some confidence as a Rodge fan but not much.

 

[Front242]

Cilic was busted for juice before he won that year and, though their match last year was a get out of jail job by Roger, he came back from 2 sets down with a bad knee so it should he should hopefully fare better this time round while presumably completely healthy or close to it. Agree re all the above though. Unless Cilic is on the special sauce again which could mean a rough ending for Fed fans! Probably be nerve wrecking to watch. I actually like Cilic's game but lost respect for him after the drug bust. Oh sorry, forgot, it was just an innocent mistake by his mum.

 

[mrzz]

It is a hard match for sure, but both Muller and Querrey had their chances against Cilic, it was not like Cilic was in control from the get go. It is hard not to think that Federer can do better than them both (even if I agree that they are no slouchs).

 

[I.Haychew]

No prediction. Just a hope...that Federer wins in however many sets it takes.

 

[Moxie]

Just to put this out there now: The match is at 2pm English Summer Time and we will open the live chat.

 

[Moxie]

Cilic made the finals of both the grass tune-ups he played this year, (Queens and s'Hertogenbosch) and lost both. (To Lopez and Karlovic.)

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The H2H is 6-1. The sole win came at USO when he served lights out. Further, at that time Fed had already wasted all his mental
energy in coming out of a deep hole in the match against Monfils. Fed was physically fine, but the concentration and focus needed to
face those big serves was not there. Now, in contrast Fed is fresh both physically and mentally (1. six month break 2. clay season break
3. all straight sets so far). So, Fed will bring it on like hell hath no fury. I have no doubt that Fed will win. The actual number of sets is
little more difficult to predict. May be 3 (60%), may be 4 (30%) or five (5%). I am voting for Fed in three.

I would give Marin a 1% chance of lights out 3 set win and a 4% chance of grinding out a five set win.

p.s. Also, as already pointed out by others, the fact that last year's QF went to five sets is not of so much relevance due to Fed's
knee situation.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

.
Marin is focused , ready and hungry.

Marin is so focused that even a sick old woman could take a set off him.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

The H2H is 6-1. The sole win came at USO when he served lights out. Further, at that time Fed had already wasted all his mental
energy in coming out of a deep hole in the match against Monfils. Fed was physically fine, but the concentration and focus needed to
face those big serves was not there. Now, in contrast Fed is fresh both physically and mentally (1. six month break 2. clay season break
3. all straight sets so far). So, Fed will bring it on like hell hath no fury. I have no doubt that Fed will win. The actual number of sets is
little more difficult to predict. May be 3 (60%), may be 4 (30%) or five (5%). I am voting for Fed in three.

I would give Marin a 1% chance of lights out 3 set win and a 4% chance of grinding out a five set win.

p.s. Also, as already pointed out by others, the fact that last year's QF went to five sets is not of so much relevance due to Fed's
knee situation.

GSM, in addition to the serve, that was one of the best ground stroke displays I have ever seen. You rarely see Roger totally helpless and that was one of those matches. I hope it never happens again

 

[GameSetAndMath]

GSM, in addition to the serve, that was one of the best ground stroke displays I have ever seen. You rarely see Roger totally helpless and that was one of those matches. I hope it never happens again

I am not trying to belittle Marin. His serve is great, his groundies are good and his movement (especially on grass) is also good (much better than that of Berdych). I am not saying it will be a blow out, even though I am predicting a three set win.

We all got the feeling that Roger played really well against Andy in 2015 SF. But, what was the scoreline? 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. Each set was won by just a single break. In grass, against decent players you rarely get a blow-out like bagels and breadsticks. I am predicting a similar (not exactly the same) scoreline here. But, I believe during the match there will be no doubt as to who is going to win it. i.e., a stress free watching experience for Feddies.

 

[Moxie]

GSM, in addition to the serve, that was one of the best ground stroke displays I have ever seen. You rarely see Roger totally helpless and that was one of those matches. I hope it never happens again

I've heard the excuse before that Fed was wasted from a long match v. Monfils, but Cilic trounced Roger in that SF. Cilic will have the muscle-memory and confidence of that win, but Roger will be surely on guard. It's a final and it's Wimbledon. Cilic knows he has his work cut out for him. Either he brings that same game, or he loses. It's sort of like Stan d. Djokovic at the FO in 2015. His only chance is to red-line his game. And if the desire for it puts Roger on his back-foot early. But Federer is a cooler customer, and he's done a lot of winning on Centre Court.

 

[Moxie]

I am not trying to belittle Marin. His serve is great, his groundies are good and his movement (especially on grass) is also good (much better than that of Berdych). I am not saying it will be a blow out, even though I am predicting a three set win.

We all got the feeling that Roger played really well against Andy in 2015 SF. But, what was the scoreline? 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. Each set was won by just a single break. In grass, against decent players you rarely get a blow-out like bagels and breadsticks. I am predicting a similar (not exactly the same) scoreline here. But, I believe during the match there will be no doubt as to who is going to win it. i.e., a stress free watching experience for Feddies.

As a fellow tennis fan, what are the chances it's going to be stress-free? Unless Cilic gets broken twice x set. And I mean that in all generosity and empathy.

 

[Moxie]

Cilic was busted for juice before he won that year and, though their match last year was a get out of jail job by Roger, he came back from 2 sets down with a bad knee so it should he should hopefully fare better this time round while presumably completely healthy or close to it. Agree re all the above though. Unless Cilic is on the special sauce again which could mean a rough ending for Fed fans! Probably be nerve wrecking to watch. I actually like Cilic's game but lost respect for him after the drug bust. Oh sorry, forgot, it was just an innocent mistake by his mum.

For the record, it was high glucose levels. That's sugar. Cough Drop, indeed. You're going to accuse me of defending Cilic because he's playing Roger, but I have said this for a long time, on both DT and TF: what the ITF bought was that Cilic took an electrolyte drink of some kind, and it had something he wasn't supposed to take. I'm not saying that's the answer, but it's not implausible, as it may have, in fact, been bought over the counter. My bone to pick is that you are always so convinced about the ones you choose to be convinced about, and completely head in the sand, when it suits you. Didn't you defend Troicki, who, at the same approximate time, refused a test and got banned? But why? I understand that the ITF hasn't given anyone reason to trust them. But fans who are so sure that they know what goes down I find equally suspect in their motivations. Unlike you, I've never cared much for Cilic, and I have no reason to defend him. But for those who express so much outrage about some players, and claim so much moral rectitude, and then ignore similar situations about others...well, I find that hard to square. It's a guessing game for all of us, and the ITF had better soon learn to make it less so.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

As a fellow tennis fan, what are the chances it's going to be stress-free? Unless Cilic gets broken twice x set. And I mean that in all generosity and empathy.

Sure, that would make it a walk in the park. But, that is not going to happen on Sunday.

What I mean by stress free watching is the subjective feeling that one gets that the winner is not in any doubt (based on play that day, not
history). For example, again getting back to that Andy match, the score was 7-5, 7-5 and 6-4, but no one had any doubt from the way play
was proceeding. In the first set Roger saved one break point. In the second and third set, Andy did not even get a whiff of a break. I don't remember exactly how many break points Roger got, but (it is certainly more than Andy got), and he capitalized once in each set. Also,
I think Roger finished almost all his games in under 2 minutes or so.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Fed is not too fatigued this time and will bring his A-game to the court most probably. I expect some epic shot-making.

I hope Roger wins. Go Roger!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

For the record, it was high glucose levels. That's sugar. Cough Drop, indeed. You're going to accuse me of defending Cilic because he's playing Roger, but I have said this for a long time, on both DT and TF: what the ITF bought was that Cilic took an electrolyte drink of some kind, and it had something he wasn't supposed to take. I'm not saying that's the answer, but it's not implausible, as it may have, in fact, been bought over the counter. My bone to pick is that you are always so convinced about the ones you choose to be convinced about, and completely head in the sand, when it suits you. Didn't you defend Troicki, who, at the same approximate time, refused a test and got banned? But why? I understand that the ITF hasn't given anyone reason to trust them. But fans who are so sure that they know what goes down I find equally suspect in their motivations. Unlike you, I've never cared much for Cilic, and I have no reason to defend him. But for those who express so much outrage about some players, and claim so much moral rectitude, and then ignore similar situations about others...well, I find that hard to square. It's a guessing game for all of us, and the ITF had better soon learn to make it less so.

I don't want to speculate on whether MC juiced or innocent. However, assuming he had juiced, he is probably not doing it now due to extra scrutiny and due to the fact that he was already caught once. So, under the same assumption, he should be playing considerably less powerful game than he did in USO 2014.

 

[britbox]

Flink and Ubaldo talk about the finals

 

[I.Haychew]

What, exactly, constitutes "juicing" in the world of pro tennis? I sincerely do not know.

 

[I.Haychew]

Flink and Ubaldo talk about the finals

Federer bias. These guys are horrible.