Spectre
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Watching Federer play tennis is a magical experience
Murray dispatched from court of princely Federer
Andy Murray’s coach, Amelie Mauresmo, turned up at Wimbledon’s Centre Court wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Make Your Own Luck”. Oh, thanks a bunch, coach.
Murray was up against Roger Federer, playing what he and everyone else thought was the best tennis even he has ever played. The luck factory was not open for business.
Federer now meets top seed and favourite Novak Djokovic of Serbia on Sunday in a re-run of last year’s epic final. But, after this performance, the assumption that Federer, 34 next month, is on the downslope seems ridiculous.
Federer of Switzerland and the universe beat the last king of Scotland 7-5 7-5 6-4 in just over two hours on Friday. Murray did not choke, quit, falter or do anything wrong at all except come up against probably the best player of all time in a mood to conquer the one enemy no sportsman has ever beaten: anno domini.
Obliged by the maths to serve second in every set, Murray was always battling to keep up. Federer, who has lost only one service game all tournament, did not add to that tally and had to face a break point only once — in the opening game. He served better than he ever has against Murray, or perhaps anyone else. And he played strokes that were often unbelievably divine, and made ridiculously few mistakes.
Murray was competitive in every set but then, just as the tiebreak — where luck might have played a part — came into focus, Federer burst through to bust the deadlock. The one lingering weakness in Murray’s game, his second serve, left him ill-equipped against an opponent displaying no weakness at all.
The betting market actually made Federer the outsider, which felt absurd from an early stage. He patrolled the court like a medieval princeling inspecting his estate. After one early winning smash, he nodded twice as though he had just beheaded a vexatious underling. “Harsh,” he seemed to be saying. “But it had to be done.”
Djokovic had a more predictable straight-sets win against the French backhand specialist Richard Gasquet, who reached the semis despite looking all fortnight as though tennis was a minor distraction from great art or moral philosophy. He reacted to defeat phlegmatically; Murray, for the umpteenth time in his Grand Slam career of two titles and many near-misses, looked a broken man — but he is great at bouncing back.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d4adae8-2732-11e5-9c4e-a775d2b173ca.html#ixzz3fWTJ4Wvh
Murray dispatched from court of princely Federer
Andy Murray’s coach, Amelie Mauresmo, turned up at Wimbledon’s Centre Court wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Make Your Own Luck”. Oh, thanks a bunch, coach.
Murray was up against Roger Federer, playing what he and everyone else thought was the best tennis even he has ever played. The luck factory was not open for business.
Federer now meets top seed and favourite Novak Djokovic of Serbia on Sunday in a re-run of last year’s epic final. But, after this performance, the assumption that Federer, 34 next month, is on the downslope seems ridiculous.
Federer of Switzerland and the universe beat the last king of Scotland 7-5 7-5 6-4 in just over two hours on Friday. Murray did not choke, quit, falter or do anything wrong at all except come up against probably the best player of all time in a mood to conquer the one enemy no sportsman has ever beaten: anno domini.
Obliged by the maths to serve second in every set, Murray was always battling to keep up. Federer, who has lost only one service game all tournament, did not add to that tally and had to face a break point only once — in the opening game. He served better than he ever has against Murray, or perhaps anyone else. And he played strokes that were often unbelievably divine, and made ridiculously few mistakes.
Murray was competitive in every set but then, just as the tiebreak — where luck might have played a part — came into focus, Federer burst through to bust the deadlock. The one lingering weakness in Murray’s game, his second serve, left him ill-equipped against an opponent displaying no weakness at all.
The betting market actually made Federer the outsider, which felt absurd from an early stage. He patrolled the court like a medieval princeling inspecting his estate. After one early winning smash, he nodded twice as though he had just beheaded a vexatious underling. “Harsh,” he seemed to be saying. “But it had to be done.”
Djokovic had a more predictable straight-sets win against the French backhand specialist Richard Gasquet, who reached the semis despite looking all fortnight as though tennis was a minor distraction from great art or moral philosophy. He reacted to defeat phlegmatically; Murray, for the umpteenth time in his Grand Slam career of two titles and many near-misses, looked a broken man — but he is great at bouncing back.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d4adae8-2732-11e5-9c4e-a775d2b173ca.html#ixzz3fWTJ4Wvh
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