Roddick vs Hewitt.
Murray vs Ferrero.
Djokovic vs Haas.
Federer vs Karlovic.
Except for maybe Federer, the other contenders may have received a gift. I mean, Roddick could have had Del Potro, Murray - Simon and Djokovic - Cilic. Federer would have preferred Verdasco any freaking day.
If any prediction at this point is to be made on ONE stat (UE), Federer clearly is way ahead of the pack. He has just 49 after four matches compared to 98 for Murray, 87 for Djokovic and 58 for Roddick.
Wawrinka may have done just enough to compensate for that Monte Carlo win over Federer by extending and exposing Murray, thereby virtually assuring a sixth Wimbledon.
Murray was clearly out of steam late in the match – a point Federer will take note of and exploit if Murray is lucky enough now to make it to the finals. With this match, Federer’s focus may have already shifted to Djokovic in the semifinals.
Of the four contenders, Djokovic is the only one to have lost just one set so far – like Federer. Both Murray and Roddick have lost three a piece.
Although Djokovic has had a lot easier line up upto here, it’s the ‘time on court’ for Djokovic that has historically proven to be deadly. He is just an hour over Federer so far. If Haas fails to repeat his Halle showing, Djokovic may meet Federer with lot fresher legs than if he was on the other side of the draw.
After this Murray match today, Roddick’s chances of making it to the finals have opened up significantly. Even though he had no shot against a 100 percent Murray, given current conditions Murray may face him after expending everything in his match against Ferrero.
But Roddick’s Federer burn will start to kick in soon. Closer he gets to the finals, just the mere prospect of facing Federer again, forget the surface, is bound to subconsciously trigger his self destructive gear to avoid any further humiliation with Decker in the stands.
Or has he now passed the ‘who cares’ point by now? After all the H2H now stands at 18-2.
If Roddick faces Djokovic in the finals, Roddick WILL most probably win his second Slam. But so far that’s just a 50/50 if not 60/40 for Federer.
But Federer has his hands full with an unpredictable Karlovic next. H2H stands at 8-1 for Federer but of the 12 tie-breaks they have played in those 9 matches, Karlovic has won three of them. Two of them in that win at Cincy.
So it’s not any way as routine and rhythmic as Verdasco would have been. Additionally dispatching a new and improved Verdasco has got to raise some chemical in Karlovic’s system to feel pretty optimistic.
But unless Federer reverts to his inconsistent ways, Karlovic winning three sets is not likely to happen. It would be like losing to Haas at the just concluded Roland Garros – for Federer.
If you are to go out, you want to go out swinging against the contenders, if not the eventual champion instead of this freak.
As things stand today, any upset appears remote at any of the four matches, although Murray may be just delaying it by one match with a win over Ferrero if it goes beyond three sets.
