Poll : 2014 USO Men's semifinal : Federer / Cilic

[Federberg]

^I was being facetious when I made that comment. As for Federer... lets talk about his never winning slams when it's been over a year since he's made a semifinal. You simply can't discount a player that consistently gets into the last 4. Doesn't make sense..

 

[NADAL2005RG]

^ even though there is a big chance Federer won't win slams again, i agree he has a chance :velo: but i'd bet against him, especially when they have an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon next year (that helps Nadal and Djokovic after they play the French Open Final).

 

[tented]

^ even though there is a big chance Federer won't win slams again, i agree he has a chance :velo: but i'd bet against him, especially when they have an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon next year (that helps Nadal and Djokovic after they play the French Open Final).

It will help Novak, but I think Rafa has made it clear what he's capable of these days at Wimbledon. (And I state this as a huge Rafa fan.)

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

The problem for Roger and to a smaller extent, the other members of the big 4, is that the next generation is capable of winning now. Federer can feel "Great, Nadal is not on my side of the draw" and can get blown away of the court by a Cilic, or Nadal by Kei, or Nole by Stan (Stan is not the next generation but you see my point) or Murray by Grigor...

It is not all about them anymore which is the way it is supposed to be. It lasted an amazing stretch of time anyways...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

as mr b Dylan once warbled..as if singing to the big four. >>>

.."your atp young gunz are beyond your command..the slam winners are changin".

 

[Srini]

This is a great opportunity lost for Fed. No Rafa, No Murray, No Novak, nice time to steal
a GS.

May be Fed would have played little better if he had gotten of the court sooner in QF,
but I still think he would not have won against this Marin with Bomb serves.

Anyway, I think this is it. Fed will NEVER WIN another slam except possibly in Wimbledon.

The one thing that's apparent from this tournament is that it's from now on going to be a whole lot more difficult for ANY of the top players to win slams from now with the emergence of so many contenders. The bookies made a fortune today. An absolute ton of money lost by millions worldwide. If Kei remains fit, Cilic keeps serving and playing like he is now and if Kyrgios improves, with the way the top guns are out of it somewhat, we may see others winning slams next year also. So in that case, so much for 18, 15, 8 and 3.

I, for one, wouldn't be too upset if none of the big 4 ever won another slam! :lolz:

Me either I like the numbers as they stand now

Federer wouldn't be upset either, you know what I mean :lolz:

 

[Cosmo]

Very sad about Roger going out
Still think he can win a major- heck, he almost won this one!
And Roger's shoulders are verrrry broad.

 

[Kieran]

I'm sorry to say, Cosmo, but I think Roger did well getting to the semis. I don't see him getting the infamous stars to align any better for him than they did here. Not even the most rabid Roger fan would wish more injuries on Rafa (I'd hope) and then look at the draw he had here: he still dropped a set in the 4th round, went to five against Monfils - :huh: - and was dusted down in straights by Cilic. It's still extraordinary for a 33 year old - given that he played 10 matches in 13 days before the US open, which is exceptional for a man his age.

He's added something exciting this year with his net-rushing, which I consider to be a success, without qualification. I hope that in doing this, he's planted a seed that youngsters will bring to fruition...

 

[Federberg]

Very sad about Roger going out
Still think he can win a major- heck, he almost won this one!
And Roger's shoulders are verrrry broad.

Agreed. If you keep putting yourself in the mix it can happen. Everyone wants to be the one to proclaim the end but sport doesn't work that way!

 

[crystalfire]

This is a great opportunity lost for Fed. No Rafa, No Murray, No Novak, nice time to steal
a GS.

May be Fed would have played little better if he had gotten of the court sooner in QF,
but I still think he would not have won against this Marin with Bomb serves.

Anyway, I think this is it. Fed will NEVER WIN another slam except possibly in Wimbledon.

The one thing that's apparent from this tournament is that it's from now on going to be a whole lot more difficult for ANY of the top players to win slams from now with the emergence of so many contenders. The bookies made a fortune today. An absolute ton of money lost by millions worldwide. If Kei remains fit, Cilic keeps serving and playing like he is now and if Kyrgios improves, with the way the top guns are out of it somewhat, we may see others winning slams next year also. So in that case, so much for 18, 15, 8 and 3.

I, for one, wouldn't be too upset if none of the big 4 ever won another slam! :lolz:

Me either I like the numbers as they stand now

Federer wouldn't be upset either, you know what I mean :lolz:

tbh i hope djoker wins a couple more slams

 

[NADAL2005RG]

It will help Novak, but I think Rafa has made it clear what he's capable of these days at Wimbledon. (And I state this as a huge Rafa fan.)

If Nadal had taken that 3rd set tie-breaker over Kyrgios (that Nadal led 5-4), I think Nadal would have won that match.
Nadal looked dispirited after losing that tie-breaker (because Nadal had the better of that set), but would have been pumped if he won it.

Raonic would've been the QF opponent.
Raonic is Nadal's favorite opponent on tour for giving a butt-whipping (they've played 11 sets, and Nadal has broken Raonic's serve in 10 of them (including 6-2 6-2 at Canada last year), and only 2 of those sets were on clay.
So I'm pretty confident about Nadal's chances at Wimbledon next year.

But admittedly the only priority is the Australia Open, so Nadal can become the first player of the open era to win the Double Career Grand Slam.
It would be cool if Nadal meets/beats Federer for a 4th time at the AO.
They're fun matches, and so is Nadal-Djokovic if we want a 6 hour final :idea:

Back on-topic, imagine if Federer had won this US Open.
He would have won it without facing a top 10 player which is fine, but quite funny and rare.
The point is, don't be surprised if Federer loses in the QF of most slams (except for Wimbledon).
He will probably face tougher QF opponents than Monfils in future.

 

[Front242]

^ Seriously there's no point saying if a player had a won a set they lost they may have won the match as that could be applied to any match. Fact is, he lost that tiebreak and match.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

^ Seriously there's no point saying if a player had a won a set they lost they may have won the match as that could be applied to any match. Fact is, he lost that tiebreak and match.

Its called HYPOTHETICAL.
Fairly common :laydownlaughing

 

[Kieran]

Anyway, How was Federer's return in this match? Colic seemed to serve large, but did Fed make any inroads at all? I saw in his presser he said he felt he'd have it a lot tougher to get back from 2 sets down to Marin because the Croat was hitting so much heavier than Le Monf...

 

[Front242]

^ Seriously there's no point saying if a player had a won a set they lost they may have won the match as that could be applied to any match. Fact is, he lost that tiebreak and match.

Its called HYPOTHETICAL.
Fairly common :laydownlaughing

And pointless. What if Federer had won every set against Cilic, then he'd have won that match too.

 

[Kieran]

^ Seriously there's no point saying if a player had a won a set they lost they may have won the match as that could be applied to any match. Fact is, he lost that tiebreak and match.

Its called HYPOTHETICAL.
Fairly common :laydownlaughing

And pointless. What if Federer had won every set against Cilic, then he'd have won that match too.

Yeah, but we all do hypotheticals, don't we?

What about Federer's return yesterday?

 

[NADAL2005RG]

Anyway, How was Federer's return in this match? Colic seemed to serve large, but did Fed make any inroads at all? I saw in his presser he said he felt he'd have it a lot tougher to get back from 2 sets down to Marin because the Croat was hitting so much heavier than Le Monf...

Cilic didn't serve many aces (13, only 1 more than Federer).
Not sure how many additional unreturnables he served, but there were a lot of high-tempo rallies on the Cilic serve.
Federer had his chances if he had better groundstrokes.

Federer had a good match overall, 28 winners, 17 unforced errors.
Cilic just had more game, with 43 winners, 23 unforced errors.

 

[Front242]

^ Seriously there's no point saying if a player had a won a set they lost they may have won the match as that could be applied to any match. Fact is, he lost that tiebreak and match.

Its called HYPOTHETICAL.
Fairly common :laydownlaughing

And pointless. What if Federer had won every set against Cilic, then he'd have won that match too.

Yeah, but we all do hypotheticals, don't we?

What about Federer's return yesterday?

Well Cilic's first serves weren't that fast most of the time but perfectly placed and Federer couldn't do much about those but he definitely could have done a lot better on 2nd serves that he routinely chipped into the net on both forehand and backhand return attempts. When he broke he gave it right back and frequently went down 0-30 before winning a point on his own service games as he does all too often now. Even so, if he'd returned better I still don't think he'd have won more than a set as Cilic was dictating play pretty much all match. Best I've seen him play aside from a match against Haas at Munich 2012 where he won 6-3 6-4 but served even better and was hitting drop shots like a total pro.