So another Masters masterclass from Roger Federer. The sublime 1st set and the horrified look on James Blake's face as he realised the 6-0 set was upon him was scary.
Anyway, it goes without saying that it's been a great year for Federer and looking back the fact that he was only 1 match away from a calender year Grand Slam is frightening.
So a well earned rest for most of the players, apart from those involved in the Davis up final and then we start all over again with the Aussie Open in January.
Getting adequate rest is important to allow training adaptations and progressions to take place and this will certainly be one of the topics I will be covering more of as we kick into next year!
Sunday, 19 November 2006
Thursday, 16 November 2006
Masters Shock
Well I am shocked, after saying that Roddick would have no problems progressing past Nalbandian as he was playing so poorly, the Argentine plays like we all know he can and sneaks into the semi-finals.
Normal service in the other match with Federer extending his long unbeaten run of wins over Ljubicic and still looking good for the title.
Anyway we will have to wait and see who comes out of the Gold group Nadal or the much improved Davydenko.
You just never know!
Normal service in the other match with Federer extending his long unbeaten run of wins over Ljubicic and still looking good for the title.
Anyway we will have to wait and see who comes out of the Gold group Nadal or the much improved Davydenko.
You just never know!
More Masters
Well I did tell you that Roddick was playing well and could pose Federer a few problems!
Well he did more than that in fact he should have won the match but once he played safe and pushed the volley in on match point only to get passed by Federer you kind of knew that there was only going to be one winner.
It's not over for Roddick yet though he should still come through today against Nalbandian (who is having a nightmare) to finish 2nd in the group and should then meet up with Federer in the Final.
Hang on though, James Blake is his possible/probable semi final opponent and at the moment that all USA match could go anyway as Blake certainly has the capability to stop Roddick in his tracks. Physically and strokes wise he is as good if not better than Roddick when he is at the top of his game so we shall see!
From the Blake group we have a straight play off for Nadal to see if he can get through to play Federer in the other semi final. He looked much better yesterday aginst Robredo and could as we know provide problems for Roger if he is playing well.
As a final thought though once we get towards the final the matches go to best of 5 sets and that always favours Federer who has time to overcome slow starts or his opponents coming out of the blocks quickly. As they say "cream will always rise to the top" and as we know Federer even amongst all these other great players is certainly that - cream!
Let's see what happens!
Well he did more than that in fact he should have won the match but once he played safe and pushed the volley in on match point only to get passed by Federer you kind of knew that there was only going to be one winner.
It's not over for Roddick yet though he should still come through today against Nalbandian (who is having a nightmare) to finish 2nd in the group and should then meet up with Federer in the Final.
Hang on though, James Blake is his possible/probable semi final opponent and at the moment that all USA match could go anyway as Blake certainly has the capability to stop Roddick in his tracks. Physically and strokes wise he is as good if not better than Roddick when he is at the top of his game so we shall see!
From the Blake group we have a straight play off for Nadal to see if he can get through to play Federer in the other semi final. He looked much better yesterday aginst Robredo and could as we know provide problems for Roger if he is playing well.
As a final thought though once we get towards the final the matches go to best of 5 sets and that always favours Federer who has time to overcome slow starts or his opponents coming out of the blocks quickly. As they say "cream will always rise to the top" and as we know Federer even amongst all these other great players is certainly that - cream!
Let's see what happens!
Sunday, 12 November 2006
Who is the Master?
Ok so the Masters Cup is underway and after a lack-lustre first set Federer shows just how far he is ahead of the rest of the world by demolishing last years Champ (all be it a tad lucky in my opinion), Nalbandian.
Is there no end to the man's talents, is he that good or maybe everybody else is just average and we are all going a little overboard about Federer.
It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when one of the two men who have beaten Federer this year and the "other" Grand Slam winner takes to the stage - Nadal. Is he ready? He hasn't looked the same player over the past couple of months and has even complained about fatigue. Is the "Iron Man" beginning to melt?
What is for sure is that it is very difficult for players to sustain top levels of play throughout the year which is why the scheduling of their training and tournaments is vital, more so because it does not look like they are going to reduce the tournament calender!
Roddick won a good match today and although it's early days could well be the finalist along with Federer - it's clear to see that the addition of Jimmy Connors has got Andy back on track as perhaps the leader of the pack chasing Roger.
In terms of powertennistraining.com this is a time of the year when players are winding up their schedules but we are busy looking back to see what went well as well as things we could have perhaps done better. This will enable us to send our players out next year with a kick start - which is ecactly what everybody should be doing!
Is there no end to the man's talents, is he that good or maybe everybody else is just average and we are all going a little overboard about Federer.
It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when one of the two men who have beaten Federer this year and the "other" Grand Slam winner takes to the stage - Nadal. Is he ready? He hasn't looked the same player over the past couple of months and has even complained about fatigue. Is the "Iron Man" beginning to melt?
What is for sure is that it is very difficult for players to sustain top levels of play throughout the year which is why the scheduling of their training and tournaments is vital, more so because it does not look like they are going to reduce the tournament calender!
Roddick won a good match today and although it's early days could well be the finalist along with Federer - it's clear to see that the addition of Jimmy Connors has got Andy back on track as perhaps the leader of the pack chasing Roger.
In terms of powertennistraining.com this is a time of the year when players are winding up their schedules but we are busy looking back to see what went well as well as things we could have perhaps done better. This will enable us to send our players out next year with a kick start - which is ecactly what everybody should be doing!
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