Wimbledon

Hard Idle

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Raonic into the finals.
It had to happen. 34-year-olds just don't win Majors in modern Men's Tennis. In the same way that Djokovic had to be eliminbated from at least one of the 4 Slams, because you just don't win a Calendar Slam. Something always happens to mess it up.

It doesn't matter that Federer is still a solid #3 in the world (who still beatst #1 & #2 more often than most) nor that Federer probably still beats Raonic 3 out of 5 times - he's got a lot of wins left and probably some titles, but he ain't gonna win another Slam.

Just as Sam Querry will probably never take another set off Djokovic for as long as he lives. He was just the instrument of fate on this occasion, enforcing what seems to be one of the constants of the game.
 

Hard Idle

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Too bad I'll be at work for the Final. I'd love for Raonic to win it, but I have to lean slightly toward the more proven winner and better all-round player in Murray who is also fresher both physically and emotionally.

Murray is currently in a good place in his career and a really good place in his season. He also just played a Semifinal opponent very conducive for acclimating to a big server & forehand bomber as much as one can.

If Milos had crushed Federer decisively the way 2009 Delpotro destroyed Nadal in the 09 US Semis, I might be convinced he was on a similarly unstoppable run. But that wasn't quite the case, Federer gave away the match as much as Raonic took it.

Still with that massive serve on this surface he's a very live dog . He's beaten Murray before and was a game away from beating him last time they met, so if that collapse was only a mindset thing which Milos has fixed, this should be very interesting!
 

K Douglas

Half Man Half Amazing
Jan 5, 2005
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Raonic played well but Murray played close to flawless tennis. His backhand is fierce. A very humble guy I'm happy for him. It's only a matter of time for Milos, making the final was a huge step. He still has room for improvement. McEnroe should help him elevate his competitiveness in clutch situations.
 

Insidious Von

My head is my home
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Agreed Kirk, Milos needed this to know what it takes to be a Slam winner. So much for the Monty Python sketch about Scots being the worst tennis players.

On a brighter note Denis Shapovalov has won the Boy's Title for 2016, he's only 17. He turns 18 next April and will be eligible to pro, reinforcements are on the way.
 

nottyboi

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May 14, 2008
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Murray played better then I have ever seen him play to be honest. So he deserved it and its no shame to lose to a guy who is playing that well. Not only was Murrays serve sublime, but his returning was utterly mind blowing. Incredible, and the right guy won. Happy for Andy, great breakthrough for Milos. He is knocking on the door and few would be silly enough to bet against him.
 

SkyRider

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When it is not a 5th set.
Got it. I thought maybe I was suffering from early onset Alzheimer.
The tie breakers could have gone either way.

BTW: Andy's father abandoned the family when Andy was a kid but he returned to the family after Andy became rich and famous. Nice father, eh.
 

teassoc

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Got it. I thought maybe I was suffering from early onset Alzheimer.
The tie breakers could have gone either way.

BTW: Andy's father abandoned the family when Andy was a kid but he returned to the family after Andy became rich and famous. Nice father, eh.
Not sure where that came from. I was reading earlier:

"After they separated, when Murray was 10 years old, Judy and Willie were not particularly fond of each other. Both Andy and his older brother Jamie lived with their father after the split and the family described the change as “difficult.”

The pair did not officially divorce until March 2005, but the initial split was enough to fuel some fire in Murray, both on and off the court. He told The Telegraph:


My parents separated when we were very young. They didn’t speak too much and they didn’t get on too well together… they are just two different people. If I stayed with my mother for two nights, then I felt I should stay with my father for two nights. At Christmas I didn’t know how long to spend with each of them.

But when Murray became the first British man to win the Wimbledon title in 2013, his parents found a way to bury the metaphorical hatchet. The proud parents were seen hugging Murray and even embracing each other at the Wimbledon victory dinner.
".
 

Calgacus

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Raonic might just be too big to ever be the #1 player. His size gives him that huge serve but his speed/quickness/movement is just not as good as the top players because of his size. I still think he will win a major tournament. Amongst the "younger" guys I think the Bulgarian kid Grigor Dimitrov has the best all around game. Think he might be a bit of a head case though
 

SkyRider

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Andy Murray's situation is not uncommon. The fathers of Justin Bieber and Josh Donaldson also walked out on the family when the kids were young. Justin's father re-entered his life after he became rich and famous.
 

Calgacus

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Andy Murray's situation is not uncommon. The fathers of Justin Bieber and Josh Donaldson also walked out on the family when the kids were young. Justin's father re-entered his life after he became rich and famous.
Holy shit man the guy previously just told you "not sure where that came from"

http://heavy.com/sports/2016/07/andy-murray-dad-father-william-parents-divorce-girlfriend-wife/

Your information is incorrect. It says in that article that Andy and his brother lived with their Father after the divorce. He hardly abandoned them. In fact he didn't abandon them at all
 

SkyRider

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Holy shit man the guy previously just told you "not sure where that came from"
I think it first came out when Andy won his first Wimbledon. I vaguely remember the TV guy saying it was his mother who was responsible for his tennis success. Maybe I misinterpreted that to mean his father abandoned the family. Please, no need to debate this any further.
 

mbaileyajc

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Murray played better then I have ever seen him play to be honest. So he deserved it and its no shame to lose to a guy who is playing that well. Not only was Murrays serve sublime, but his returning was utterly mind blowing. Incredible, and the right guy won. Happy for Andy, great breakthrough for Milos. He is knocking on the door and few would be silly enough to bet against him.
Not sure I agree because Murray didn't have to red line or even play his best tennis to win. He is THAT much better than Milos. The passing shots, defense, returning was great but Andy was spinning that 1st serve in just content to keep the % up and STILL won a very high % of his 1st serve points. The game plan from Murray was actually a pretty conservative one. I did notice that Milos did a terrible job adjusting to the 'T' serve (1st serve) on the ad-court that Andy burned him with time and again in this match. At some point you figure Milos would take a step over to his right to cover that. The other thing is while Milos has been incorporating a lot of S & V into his game at Wimbledon Murray is one of the TOUGHEST guys to S & V against because he is so good at getting that return low. And yes I know he hit a lot of great BH cross pass winners sometimes he was just going for the working passes content to make Milos to hit a difficult volley and then pass on the next ball.

I actually thought the scoreline was flattering to Milos. Murray easily could have blown that 2nd set wide open . He got tight on a couple break points putting a FH into the bottom of the net and another BH into the net. And on those points he was in the point.

As for the breakers Milos got off to rough starts in both of em - butchered a volley early on the 1st point of the 2nd set breaker if I am not mistaken to immediately give Murray the minibreak and then an ill-fated foray into net early in the 3rd set breaker. Murray was never really under pressure on his service games in the match save for once and that was due to a couple mistakes off the BH by Murray in that game. Murray had his teeth into many more Milos service games.

Don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting Murray didn't play great tennis in the final. He did. I'm just not sure that this was the best tennis he has ever played. Usually, when we talk about a HOF caliber player playing the best tennis they have ever played it probably means they were red-lining their game for at least parts of the match. Never felt like Andy had to red-line. Almost all his service games save for 1 were stress free. Even P.Mac was saying in the 3rd set that he could not believe that Milos was still in the match.
 
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mbaileyajc

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Raonic might just be too big to ever be the #1 player. His size gives him that huge serve but his speed/quickness/movement is just not as good as the top players because of his size. I still think he will win a major tournament. Amongst the "younger" guys I think the Bulgarian kid Grigor Dimitrov has the best all around game. Think he might be a bit of a head case though
Dimitrov aka Baby Fed aka Showtime probably won't put it all together. The talent is there but looks like it is gonna be unfulfilled. At this point the younger guys are actually Kyrgios, Thiem, Zverev, etc. Not sure Kyrgios has the maturity or mindset to max his potential. Of that group I like Sascha Zverev the most. Potential future World No. 1
 
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