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Federer Tennis Tracker

Jan 31: With a superb performance, Federer matched the open-era record of winning four Australian Opens by winning against Andy Murray. It was also a time of firsts - first as a father, first of the new decade. Congrats Roger! In retrospective, Fed was just two points away from holding all four slams at the same, a non-calendar slam.

July 05: Federer has done it - by winning his 6th Wimbledon in a heart-wrenching final against Andy Roddick, Federer staked his claim on the history books by surpassing Pete Sampras' record. Tennis history is too tangled and intertwined by various events as Rod Laver says, "You know, it's hard for anyone to come out and say who's the best ever." And here's a salute to greats of the game. Federer is all set to enjoy the game for the rest of his career. Enjoy a look-back at Roger's career so far (courtesy of ATP Tour)

June 07: It's destiny at its finest hour. Admist the support of French crowd along with slight drizzle, Federer cracked his own Holy Grail - winning the French Open at his 10th attempt and his first win in four finals. Astonishing as it is, Federer has now equaled the Open Era record of 14 Grand slam titles. And fittingly, some inspiring words straight from Kipling - read by Federer and Nadal.

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting..."

Oct 13: Federer stuck with his winning formula this year and reaped dividends as he won his fifth straight US Open title. Only three men in the history of the game has more US Open titles - Sears, Larned and the great Tilden. Here's a highlights video. Champions always have known to come back when the odds are small, lights are dim and the stage left behind..

Aug 17: Roger Federer has finally achieved his long-time dream of being an Olympic champion by winning an Olympics Gold with his good friend, Stan Wawrinka at the doubles. What a glorious day!

July 31: This devastating month of July will be viewed by fans and historians as a key turning point in Roger's career. From a heart-wrenching loss in the Wimbledon final to his twolosses in the hard court master series, the four years at the top has taken its toll. It's likely that is his Number One streak of 234 consecutive weeks will come to a screeching halt. "It's a pity", as Roger would say..

June 22: Against the green background of grass courts, Roger won Halle for the fifth time. The timing was impeccable to erase the disappointing memory of losing the final at Roland Garros the last three years.

Apr 25: Roger is back with a bang as he won a sensational match at Monte Carlo against his famous nemesis, David Nalbandian. Signs are here that Roger is finally fighting off the flu, lack of conditioning and match fitness. Now he plays Djokovic, to whom he lost at the Australian Open.

Mar 1: At Australian Open, after the stomach sickness, a tough 5-setter with Tipsarevic and loss in semi-finals against Djokovic, Federer gave a great, exhaustive interview as he starts Dubai Open this week. And he won the fourth straight Laureus and first to do so. Congrats Roger!

Dec 15: A nice video to wrap up the year. Great shots of Federer from 2007. Happy Holidays!

Oct 19: Here's a cool painting by Stephen Holland.

Sep 09: After a great summer on hard courts, winning at Cincy and finals at Montreal, Federer won his fourth consecutive US Open against wind, great fight from Djokovic and bomb serves from Isner and Roddick. Truly a great classy effort for his 12th Grand slam. Check out this great article. "Surely, watching Federer is the closest any of us will get to paradise on earth in a sports arena." claims this awesome article.

July 15: Federer did it with panache to a 5-peat at Wimbledon, as this commentary exclaims, "What Federer also did, and really only he could, was in one match pay homage to an entire history of tennis. He saluted Bill Tilden’s generation with his attire, honoured Laver’s grand Australians with his manners, Connors with his spirit, McEnroe with his art, Borg with five Wimbledon wins, and when he twice was 15.40 in the fifth, and used serves to extricate himself from distress, one word flew across the mind: Sampras." Can't say much better, can we?

June 23: The grass is always greener as Wimbledon is this Sunday! Roger fans unite and give him a big wish as he aims to match history in the next two weeks.

June 10: With a heart-breaker final against Nadal on the red clay, Federer skipped Halle to rest his minor injury. He has made the finals of 8 consecutive grand slam finals. Never done before!!

May 23: After breaking with his coach, Roger was on fire (crazy rally, reaction) against Nadal at Hamburg masters. With his fourth clay masters, Roger is on perfect timing for Roland Garros. Good luck Roger on the looming French Open test.

May 13: After his shock defeat at Rome Masters, Federer has fired his part-time coach, Tony Roche just before Hamburg.

May 9: Roger won his fourth dubai title in March, before tumbling to Canas twice in Indian Wells and Miami. With the clay season well underway, Federer was denied his title at Monte Carlo by Nadal. Back with coach Roche, Federer is busy training and playing at Rome. Check out this awesome Vogue 9-page article on Roger with cool pics!!

Jan 29: Roger Federer does what he does the best. He won his third Australian Open to raise his slam count to 10 slams. Woot !! Do check out this great article - Federer immune to the laws of sport.

Jan 24: As Roger gets to play Roddick tommorow at the Australian Open SF, enjoy this great article by Jake Niall.

Jan 9: Roger Federer plays in Kooyong exhibition this week before he defends his crown at the Australian Open. In his vacation, he went to India as an UNICEF ambassador to mark the second aniversary of the tragic tsunami and says, "I have spent a lot of time with the children and I think I now know each of them by their first name, Children are our future, and for that reason I have tried to inspire them." What a great champ !! (also a video).

Nov 23: More on the Federer-Nadal exhibition at South Korea here.

Nov 19: Federer finished the year with an impressive win at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. With it, he will break the Jimmy Connors record of consecutive weeks at number one. He would do so sometime after the upcoming Australian Open. Federer plays Nadal again in an exhibition on Nov 22. After a short break, he will be in Doha to practice with Coach Roche before starting his next season. Wishing you happy holidays !!

Oct 29: Federer finally won his first home town title this week at Basel against Gonzalez. After his emotional loss in 2001 against Henman (video) and 2002, Federer was over-joyed at his win. Highlights of all his matches this year are here. And here's the gorgeous trophy.

Oct 22: Roger won his 10th title this year at Madrid and has done so for the last three years. Roger won Tokyo with the blog-power, and Madrid after his impressive victory against Gonzalez. The eventful tourney concluded with models as ball girls and champagne celebrations. And the now popular 'shhh' from Berdych.

Oct 1: Heads up! Roger is blogging in Tokyo this week for ATP.

Sep 10: Against an inspired Andy, Roger won a tight US Open final for his 9th Grandslam. Congrats Roger !! Tiger Woods was in Roger's box as they were both managed by IMG. Roger had a +50 differential with 69 winners and just 19 errors. Insane and simply mind-numbing !!! Also buy a Feder-bear that will be available soon as a part of the Roger's UNICEF charity initiatives.

Sep 2: In a rain-interrupted week at the US Open, Agassi and King has grabbed the headlines. Roger has been under the radar and he hit a magical shot (vid) against Henman yesterday. On a serious note, wanna spend an hour exclusively with Roger and Tony Roche? Humpty Dumpty foundation is auctioning (pdf) for its charity for children.

Aug 21: Federer won the canada masters after several 3-setters and an intense final against young gun Richard Gasquet before losing to Andy Murray in the 2nd round of Cincy Masters. He looked pretty tired after playing back-to-back masters and is now preparing for the US Open. Do check out this awesome article from David Wallace titled "Federer as Religious Experience" at NYTimes.

July 9: Federer does it in style as he wins his 4th straight Wimbledon. After a really rough draw and an unexpected final against Nadal, finally Federer conquered his nemesis to grab his 8th Grand Slam. Congrats Roger. And May all the federer fans rejoice !! Do check out this classic camaraderie picture and video [Thanks beernutz]. And also his post match interview. And do check out insider info [3rd post] about his jacket. And some pics.

June 20: Wimbledon is finally here and Roger got his fourth Halle title. Considering it is just the week after Paris, Roger brought his fitness trainer Pierre Paganini with him. It is remarkable how he went through a tough draw and transistioned to grass. Read his post-match interview after his final against Tomas Berdych. By the way, Max Mirnyi is blogging this week at ATP.

June 12: Roger showed why he is a class-act with his post-match interview after his heart-breaking defeat at the hands of the young Rafael Nadal and his French Open Blog. Roger admitted he didn't play as well as he has played at earlier matches. It surely is disappointing the way he approached from the second set after his stellar set. Anyways, on to the greener lusher Wimbledon. He plays Halle this week.

May 22: Next week is the French Open, with Federer and Nadal as top two seeds. Meanwhile checkout the transcript of the Federer's radio interview. It is very nice, frank and honest interview ranging from his one-dimensional comment to his childhood crush with Gabriella Sabatini. Here is the Part One and Part Two of the interview. Also see this video of the amazing shot a few years back against roddick [Thanks a guy]. And yes, he does it with style. Roger wins his second consecutive Sportsman of the Year title at the Laureus World Sports awards !! Congrats, Roger.

May 14: Roger played against clay king Nadal in a five hour five setter marathon match with 3 tiebreaks and lost a heartbreaker. Scoreline, 7-6(0), 6(5)-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6(5)-7, says it all. Roger showed his heart as a true champion at the Rome Masters. Congrats to Nadal on tieing Guillermo Vilas's clay court win streak of 53.

May 1: Federer played in an exhibition match at Sierre. Here is a short clip and more pics here [Thanks Mrs.B]. Read all about the encounters of Roger and Nadal on clay (at Roland Garros 05 and Monte Carlo 06) in this excellent article.

Apr 24: Federer went down bravely against a red-hot nadal at Monte Carlo yesterday :(. But he got a nice measure of Nadal ahead of the French Open. Check out his post match interview (as well as Nadal's). In other news, Wimbledon still refuses equal pay for women :(

Apr 22: It's Federer vs Nadal on red clay tommorow. Do check out the scores here and live on computer here. Nadal is 3-1 head-to-head against Roger.

Apr 3: Federer became the first man to win back-to-back Double Masters in tennis after a tough fightout against Ivan Ljubicic yesterday. After a couple of weeks rest, he plays at Montecarlo masters, supposedly the closest to Roland Garros clay. Between, he joins an elite list as an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in NY today. Check out the ATP's new page that celebrates his off-tennis charity work and his interview.

Mar 31: Just like his brilliant tennis against blake yesterday, Federer has signed an exclusive Memorabilia deal. Check out his Roger Federer Collection at Steiner Sports. Looks good to me.

Mar 20: Federer had his highs and lows last week and won decisively against James Blake for his 9th Tennis Masters Shield. If there is only one article that you ever want to read about Federer, Read this.

Mar 14: Federer is currently playing at the Pacific Life Open at IndianWells, CA. ATP has this cool highlight video thingy available for free here. Also check out the blogging series by various top ranked players participating in tournaments.

Mar 7: After playing sublime tennis for a set and half, Roger went down to Nadal in 3 sets at the Dubai Open Final. Check out his post-match interview.

Feb 27: If you are a fan of mobile games, check out this cool Federer game that can be played on a variety of phones and it just costs $7. Also, check out their demo.

Feb 03: A couple of stuff for the weekend: Do listen to the Tennis Podcast from Kevin McClure. It looks very exciting. Also read all about the federer's saga with sponsorship on this article.

Jan 29: Federer did it with amazing struggle and emotion at the Melbourne Park. He overcome challenges of his own with his ankle recovery and train-rolling-down with Baghdatis, one to watch in the years to come. Roger was clearly moved with Rocket Rod giving him his 7th Grand Slam. Write a poem about roger and win cool stuff. Deadline is Feb 6th. Do check out the video of Federer's speech during the trophy presentation from Rod Laver here. It was so wonderful to see Roger emotional and how much that trophy meant to him..

Jan 17: With the third title at Doha and exhibition matches at Kooyong, Federer is through to the second rd at the Aussie Open as a heavy favorite.

Jan 06: Federer starts his season with a bang as he is in the final defending his title at Doha against the exciting teenager Gael Monfils after winning over Tommy Haas. Tony Roche has been busy training Roger as well as giving interviews like this and that. Roger is also quoted on the media saying his ankle injury has completed healed and he's fit !!

Older Published News (2005) and Interesting Articles

USO: BOSS.

I know how some are serenading this as one of the matches of the year. I didn’t quite see it that way.

Sure, there was some eye-wateringly, magnificent tennis, but if we’re honest, most of that came in set three. Yes, there were some 12-15 minute games (most of which were down to Rafa struggling to hold serve), but outside of that I only saw Novak bossing Rafa around from the back of the court – the only shock was in how easy he made it look.

That doesn’t maketh for a greateth match – however impossibly high Novak’s level was.

For large parts of the match Rafa simply looked utterly defenceless (and “offenceless”) out there;  Novak was raining down blows on him from every angle. At will.

I’ve not seen him brutalised that way since Sod worked him over at RG back in 2009.



To be honest, I’m not putting much stock in the “Nadal has a Djokovic problem” theory right now because, quite frankly, everyone has that same problem – only the most obtuse Rafanatic will pretend he’s not struggling but it’s worth remembering Rafa’s only losing finals to Novak because he’s making those finals in the first place. Let’s wait a little and see how this story unfurls.

"In the previous years, I hadn't changed my game in any big way and my strokes were still the same and was hitting the shots I wanted to hit.

"But I had difficulties approaching semi-finals and finals. I would wait for players to make mistakes. I didn't have the positive attitude. That has changed now - the 2010 US Open [four-set defeat by Nadal] was the turning point.

"I guess it just clicked in my head. It's just that I'm hitting the shots that I maybe wasn't hitting in the last two, three years now. I'm going for it."
-- Novak Djokovic, BBC Tennis.

Quite apart from all the racquet changes, coaching changes, oxygen pod mystique and gluten free paraphernalia, Novak’s simply back to playing aggressive tennis again and with his ability, that tends to win you shedloads of tennis matches – in this case at the highest of levels.  It’s the same unabashed, relentless (if matured) tennis that won him his first Slam.

And when you do that against Nadal on a hard court, he can be made to look very ordinary – and not just by the very best either.

(Pics: Getty)

US Open Champions

Reuters

Samantha Stosur blitzed Serena Williams in straight sets to win her first major title on her second attempt. Didn't matter much that the living legend on an amazing comeback didn't quite show up for a Slam final for the first time since Wimbledon 2004. What mattered more was the Aussie's game plan, her execution, and her composure in the midst of chaos on Arthur Ashe stadium where she wasn't even allowed to play her semifinal. She may have lost the longest tiebreak in women's Slam history, but she won the big prize. Stosur has been flirting with breakthrough for years now and she finally delivered. It couldn't have happened to a classier player.


Getty

Novak Djokovic conquered Rafael Nadal for the 6th straight time to capture his first US Open title and third major of the year. It was compelling drama through three sets with some games lasting as long as 12 minutes. But just when you thought the match might be pushed to the limit, Nadal left the stadium. The fourth set was all Djokovic all the time, despite being treated for a sore back, and for a brief moment, it actually looked as though Nadal gave up.

One surprising result, one expected result, one frustrating US Open.

US OPEN 2011: Men's Final Preview

Rafael Nadal ESP (2) v Novak Djokovic SRB (1).

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

For the first time since 1995 the #1 and #2 players in the world will be competing in the U.S. Open men's singles championship match. Amazingly, Djokovic and Nadal have competed as #1 and #2 in 5 finals already this year and all five have been won by then-World #2 Djokovic. One of these was in the 2011 Wimbledon final when it was clear that the next day, regardless of the final result, Djokovic would become World #1, and then he emphasized his position by dismissing Nadal in four sets to win his first Wimbledon title and 2nd major of the year.


Now, Djokovic is World #1 and playing in his first grand slam as the #1 seed. The 2010 U.S. Open singles final was between these two players, and Nadal won relatively easily in a 4-set match, delayed by rain to the third Monday of the tournament.

How They Got Here
N. Djokovic d. R. Federer 6-7(7) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5. For the second year in a row Djokovic defeated Federer in a U.S. Open semifinal despite being two match points down. Federer served brilliantly and played aggressive tennis for the first two sets and then his play dipped immediately in the 3rd and Djokovic's rose to win that set. Again in the fourth set Federer quickly went down a break and then another break. It's possible that the Swiss player might have been marshalling his forces to play a 5th set, but in my eyes the reason for Djokovic winning the 3rd and 4th sets was a combination of the Serb playing well and Federer playing not so well. Then in the fifth set Federer managed to get a break in the 8th game of the set and served for the match at 5-3, 40-15. On his first match point down Djokovic hit a go-for-broke first-serve forehand return winner smack on the sideline. On the second match point, at 40-30, Federer hit a good body serve which Djokovic barely managed to get back relatively short in the court, Federer skipped forwarded and attempted to hit a cross-court forehand angle winner behind Djokovic but the ball hit the net cord and bounced out of the court. Deuce. Instead of taking his time and realizing the importance of being two points away from one of the biggest wins of the year, Federer played quickly, mangled a backhand into the net and faced breakpoint. He swiped that away with a quick ace. Back to deuce. Unable to buy a first serve at this point, Djokovic was ahead in the point from the beginning and won that point for a second breakpoint. This time Federer double faulted on breakpoint down to hand Djokovic the lead 6-5. The new #1 quickly served out his service game, reaching match point and Federer responded to a good serve with a weak backhand reply which sailed long. Game, set and match. Djokovic is now 63-2 for 2011. Federer will finish 2011 without winning a major title for the first time since 2002.

R. Nadal d. A. Murray 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-2. Although I incorrectly predicted Murray to make his breakthrough and win this match, he again showed why he is not mentally prepared to win a major. In the first two sets Murray seemed content to just play long rallies with Nadal, refusing to be aggressive and cursing like a pirate. He was also giving a running commentary on his own game, radiating negative energy all over the court that Nadal feasted on, growing more aggressive with every wince and yelp the Brit produced. After being down two sets Murray re-focussed, cut down on the negative energy and ran like a gazelle aroundthe court, winning the 3rd set relatively easily. But in the 4th set he fell way behind early and though he made a push at the end, it was too little too late. Murray becomes only the 7th player in history to reach the semifinals or better in all four majors for the year, but he is 0-3 in major finals so far. Nadal is able to reach the U.S. Open final for the second consecutive year.

My Prediction
I incorrectly predicted the result of the women's final, where the underdog Samantha Stosur beat heavily favored Serena Williams to win her first major title (and 3rd tour title overall). I did, however, correctly predicted Djokovic to beat Federer (in 5 sets) in the semifinal. In the final, it is Novak Djokovic who is going for his first U.S. Open and 4th major title over someone who has one 10 major titles and is the defending champion.

Even with five consecutive losses, Nadal still leads the head-to-head match up 16 to 12 but on hard courts Djokovic leads 9-5. It is Novak's best surface and Nadal's worst. Their games match up even worse on hard courts than they do on other surfaces. Djokovic is untroubles by Nadal's vicious topspin forehand to his backhand side and Nadal can be overpowered on his backhand side by Djokovic's forehand. Mentally, Djokovic has the clear edge and he has superior movement on hard courts as well. There's no question that Djokovic is playing better than he played last year, and that Nadal is not. So clearly the match will be closer than last year's final. Nadal has had difficulty winning sets against Djokovic this year, and grown repeatedly hesitant at "dangerous" moments. Djokovic knows he is playing with house money since he just won a match for only the second time in his career being down two-sets-to-love, and he did it against Roger Federer! It will be hard to over-estimate how confident he will be and how much he wants this title to cement his #1 status for the rest of the year, ending the Federer-Nadal duopoloy for good, and marking the beginning of the Djokovic-Nadal-Federer "trivalry."

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

USO: Talk about under the radar.

Just over two years ago a two-time doubles Slam winner declared her intent to focus more on singles. Beyond giving a nod to her very evident talent, I can’t, in all honesty, say how seriously I took that.

I’m taking my time over this one. Because, frankly, it’s as good as Fran’s RG win last year (a match in which Sam played bridesmaid) – perhaps even better considering the class of her legendary opponent.

Though the final was overshadowed by the incident with the umpire and Serena’s subsequent outburst, I choose to remember it for Sam’s composure – quite simply a flawless performance from beginning to end.

Even after the 2nd set debacle when fan, foe and frenemy alike all expected her (rather than Serena) to horribly derail, she mystifyingly kept her cool and served it out using the diverse all court game that has already bagged her a couple of doubles Slam titles.

Whilst it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that Serena delivered a shocker (only 3/14 first serves in after first few games), it would be even greater folly to let that detract from the sheer quality of Sam’s execution which, quite simply, caught EVERYONE by surprise.

With a blend of serves out wide, crunching winners from the back of the court, Sam moved Serena around more in the opening couple of games than Caro was able to in the entire first set– that’s not a knock on Caro, its a manifest reality.

Besides, not even legends are immune from throwing in the odd stinker of a match now and again (just ask Federer) – its part and parcel of the sport. Serena acknowledged as much afterwards – asterisks are for pussies.

As for the incident, a hindrance rule clearly exists and it’s difficult to argue against its application – even where “application” equals little more than the application of discretion. Henin’s been docked a point for ALLEZ’ing mid point in the past, Bartoli got precisely the same treatment at this very event.




Same umpire, different ruling.

All the above video shows, is that even withstanding the differing rules that may exist across the ITF and WTA – and as with foot faulting – discretion remains part and parcel of the process with which that hindrance rule is applied.

But there the similarity with foot-faulting ends: the 2009 foot-fault didn’t confer a competitive advantage on Serena – specific stipulations even guide officials not to get involved, particularly in the latter stages of a match. No one wants a Slam final decided by an academic dispute.

Making noise mid rally, however, is an actionable violation of the rules – however innocuous the yelp may have been. Even if it didn’t hinder Stosur (and it’s not clear it didn’t), Asderaki was within her rights to either require the point to be replayed or to award the point to the opponent – both are an instance of discretion and that’s precisely what Asderaki showed. She certainly didn’t deserve being called a “hater” or “unattractive on the inside”. All things considered, I’d say she acted with remarkable restraint.

And I don’t buy the theory that Serena’s hostile reaction is a a residual effect of any of the various outlandish controversies she’s had to endure over the years either (and there’ve been a few) – she simply is what she is, flawed, serene and utterly magnificent.

To be perfectly honest, she’s reacted quite admirably to some of those controversies, but this time she was bang out of order. And calling that out ain’t hate – quite the reverse, in fact.

In 2006 a certain French former #1 declared that talk about her nerves (“iconic” for all the wrong reasons) was off limits now that she’d served it out at Wimbledon over one of the best players of the past decade. She reverted back to her delightfully panic-stricken self not soon after.

As with Amelie then, quite frankly, I’d be astonished if this serves as some kind of watershed moment that sees Stosur no longer held hostage by her nerves – those wide-eyed nervous looks and blowing on her hand in between every point are an utterly glorious defence mechanism that form part of her appeal.

 

But as with Amelie then, for one day (and maybe only for one day) she didn’t flinch, not even when controversy, her own predisposition to mid match anxiety attacks, and a now fired up living-legend on the other side of the net demanded she should.

Not gonna let loose ambiguous talk of “class” and “umpire discretion” get in the way of that.

US OPEN 2011: Women's Final Preview

Serena Williams USA (28) v. Samantha Stosur AUS (9). 

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

The 2011 US Open finalists are the two women in the draw with the two best serves in women's tennis. Serena demonstrated the importance of having an effective serve in her 6-2 6-4 drubbing of the now and future World #1 Caroline Wozniacki in a routine semifinal whose result was never in doubt. Serena served 11 aces and hit another 23 winners from all over the court--and she was probably playing at about 80% of her ability. Her "B" game. Wozniacki simply had (and has) no weapons with which to bother Serena and almost no offensive intent or capacity so Serena simply bided her time, broke the 21-year-old Dane at will and was content to serve out the match. When suddenly she played a loose match game at 6-2, 5-3 she calmly broke back easily to reach the final.

Stosur's route to the final was more complicated. She played the unheralded (some would say unknown) Angelique Kerber from Germany, at 6pm on the Grandstand court (capacity 6,000) when the second men's semifinal was still going on on the main stage at Ashe which holds 23,000+. Instead of winning easily, Stosur won a relatively tight 6-3 2-6 6-2 victory. Stosur has had a pretty dramatic tournament overall, playing the longest tiebreak in Grand Slam history in the 4th round (losing it 17-15) against Maria Kirilenko and playing the longest U.S. Open women's match (in terms of games played) against Nadia Petrova in the 2nd round, eventually winning7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 in 3 hours, 16 minutes.

Stosur is the probably the only other player in the draw who is not overwhelmed by Serena's physicality. The Australian 27-year-old has very broad shoulders herself and probably an even better kick-serve than Serena's. However, Stosur has one distinct weakness: her backhand. She can either slice it (not very effectively) or she can hit it with two hands, often not very cleanly or powerfully. Sitting in the stands, literally 15 feet from her in the now-famous tiebreak with Kirilenko I was very surprised how softly the ball came off her racquet on the backhand side. Serena can just pin her into the backhand corner with forehands down the line and it will be a very short day. However, Stosur does possess an excellent topspin inside-out forehand so if her footwork is good she may be able to run around her backhand and hit her powerful forehand but unless she hits a winner against a very fit and fast Serena, Stosur will be off the court and unable to reach the reply. Mentally, since Stosur has been in a major final before (losing badly to Francesa Schiavone in the 2010 French Open final) she should not be overwhelmed today, but she simply does not play finals well, having won only twice in 11 attempts. Serena is playing in her 5th U.S. Open final in 12 appearances, with wins in 1999, 2002 and 2008. We all know what Serena's mental toughness is like.

In the 2011 U.S. Open I have correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals and 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals. This year I have also correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals, and 1 of 2 men's semifinals. My prediction for the women's final is that Serena Williams will win her 14th major title, putting her a scan 4 titles away from the all-time greats: Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (but still behind Steffi Graf's 22).

MadProfessah's pick: Serena Williams.