"Anyway, I'm no Rafa expert but thought he was playing well and has a good chance to beat Murray."

So, apparently, does Murray....lol. And he DOES consider himself to be a Rafa expert. Though not so much, it would seem, a Rafa defeater. ;-) Though, again, could be just trying to keep the Brit journos from eviscerating him if indeed, he does lose.

Sherlock - well I hope whatever it is that 'ails' you gets all better quickest. Its very nice here in the People's Republic of Vermont. Bright sun, enough wind to rattle a few things. Now we just need some snow. A few people have started calling the period from after the leaves fall off to before the first real snow, 'Stick Season' - in, all the tree branches look like sticks. And I suppose it is a step up from Mud Season, which is really more a spring thing, anyway.

Oh, and speaking of 'seasons,' and in keeping with Pete's recent White Tail deer post, my fav recent VT bumper sticker:

"If its Tourist Season, why can't we shoot them?"

Oh how could forget Barry White aka Nouni who has the best voice as a Umpire lol!

work Agreed.Rafa has just had a amazing year.He has past my expectations quite frankly a long time ago in ways.To see him make a s/final here at the end of a long season comparing past seasons for me its just great.

Though may I say I would love it if he can win here as well.

Saturday Order of Play from London:

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan vs Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic at 7:15 AM
Rafael Nadal(70-9; 10-4) vs Andy Murray(46-17; 7-4) at 9 AM
Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski vs Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi at 1:15 PM
Novak Djokovic(58-17; 3-7),unless Andy Roddick(48-17; 4-4) win in straight sets, vs Roger Federer(63-13; 14-6) at 3 PM

Sunday Order of Play from London:
Doubles Final at 10:30 AM
Singles Final at 12:30 PM

AM,
Of course, a win in London would be great!!
I just don't think Murray is a good match-up for Rafa on hard court but Rafa is resourceful as we saw today.

He may just have another fit to disrupt Andy's rhythm!...I kid of course, couldn't help myself ;-)

work LOL! hell no not another one

pre-match interview, Novak showed he has an eye patch, if necessary.

aww Andy was holding that little boy's hand :) see he's not so bad!

and he wears it as he walks out, aaaaaargh...

The Mighty Nadal : Serving will be important for Murray, obviously. But I think he will be ok, since Nadal almost always has difficulty to do anything meaningful with the Murray serve. Just see for ex, how easily Murray S-Vs a against Nadal, and get cheap points (almost at will) . His weak forehand, too - which is a liability against other players - becomes a weapon against Nadal, as he pushes Nadal out-wide on the backhand side by creating short cross court angles (just as Davydenko does).

For my money, Nadal hasn't made enough adjustments against Murray over the past couple of years. He needs to stand in the court, cut the angles, and punish Murray 's forehand. Instead he plays the waiting game with Murray, and then gets frustrated and goes for too much since his normal pattern of cc forehand attack doesn't work against Murray. To me he looks tactically clueless at certain times.

It will be interesting to see how Nadal approaches this match, and what (if any) difference his improved serving makes.

As I said before, if Nadal plays his best tennis, he should win. However any other scenario, Murray has to the heavy favorite, given that he's beaten Nadal FOUR out of the last five times they've played on hardcourts.

Lars Graf in the chair, Djokovich wins the toss and elects to serve

Heather Maybe he is getting in practice for later lol!

Aw Djoko.. :/

Perhaps, AM. :)

Normally, I enjoy Novak's antics but is he for real with the eye patch?

Wow. Tennis Channel is off..

Andy, what will your game plan against Nole be? How about high-bouncing shots at his feet so he can't wale on them?

Whale? No, wale.

Kristy, he has to win one, right? I mean otherwise it would be all for naught..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n88CQZbKijs&feature=related

Here's something for the Fed and Nadal fans. Some qualities rallies by both men with their athleticism and shotmaking captured in good HD quality :)

AM, I have noticed you care a lot about hair. ;)

Heather, I think Andy has to win in straights or he's out.

So he will win in straights!

LOL, CL; I think Murray tweeted he was being sarcastic w/ those comments; I don't think they were completely serious either.

OK, go Andy for the win!

Truly sick of late-night Roger/Djoker matches.

Ugh, what a doozy. May the best man win. Did Nole really pull an eye-patch on us? Lol.

High hopes for Roddick - Djokovic.

Let's hope Novak has hit sights set on DC...

OMFG... are you kidding me?

It's great you made it to Vermont, Kristy. DS fail, 0-15

"There's nothing so boring as watching an athlete going down to defeat without putting up a fight."

AB - Tell it to TByrd...and Muzz.

Novak should really give the drop shot a rest.

Can't stand Lief and Jimmy A...

Thanks, Holds 2 Love. I'm glad to be here.

Except I have to go now. Ugghh. Go Andy.

Good luck, Heather!

The good news is that Nole's eye looks just fine.

Oh let's hope when you come back, you come back to victory, Kristy! :)

Roddick holds to love, a very nice point by both at 15-love

CWATC - well if the twit did tweet that, it is indeed hopeful. I guess the press failed, (again), to pick up on the meaning behind the words. They are not too good at discerning sarcasm sometimes. Fed and Fed fans can testify to that. Remember in the 'olden days' when diving and skating judges would hold up placards with their scores on them? Maybe the players should be issued placards with 'Sarcasm!' 'Irony' 'Just Kidding' pre-printed on them that they could hold up during moments where the press is likely to fail in understanding either verbal language or body language. Which seems about 50% of the time.

I really like how LaCoste finally seems to have convinced Andy to wear shirts that actually fit him.

Sorry for bringing up this again,but regarding the incident with Carlos.
Rafa did look like he stopped the point. However, the umpire also overruled the “in” call and agreed with him, calling the ball “out,” so Rafa wasn’t able to “challenge” the call. If Rafa was able to challenge the “in” call, he should have definitely lost the point. However, the umpire let Berdych challenge, and outcome of that could have only been either Berdych loses the point if it was out or replay the point if it was in.

The umpire, in effect, made two wrong calls:

1. As Rafa seemed to stopped playing, he should have let him “challenge”; in which case, if it was in, he automatically loses the point.

2. He made the wrong overrule (since the ball was really in).

Since it was Tomas who challenged the overrule and hawk eye showed it was in, he should have replayed the point. Thank you very much and best of luck for the rest of the season

Uh-oh, TC - having all sort of transmission problems. Aliens have taken over.

Both players serving very well atm.

2-1 Djokovic, on serve. Both players apparently trying to lull each other to sleep during the rallies - "Here, Novak, take some Ambien." "No, Andy, I insist that you keep watching the slowly moving ball."

***waves to izidane**** do you really like Novak's kit?

Oh Andy...not good.

Ah, Andy - you missed you calling as a Kamakaze pilot.

Did Novak really come out w/an eye patch? Cheeky.

YES!
AJDE DJOKO!!!

So much for my prediction...there's got to be something better on tv.

Any live links guys...thanks

Bravo Djoko!

Djokovic breaks, and consolidates. 4-1 Djokovic, with a break. You'd always back him to get a lot of Roddick's serves back into play, and Roddick doesn't seem, to my eyes, to have a strong game plan in the sense of establishing a 60-65% advantage three-to-five shots in.

*waves back to CL*
Do you mean the Fredericks of Hollywood look?..Nah, hate it. It's Papa Nole's shirt that I'm rocking. I decided to embrace the way of the clan.

Nole is being aggressive....quite like it.

Hmmm Andy come on

Vamos Andy!

Andy needs Kristy to come back pronto !

He literally didn't even go after that ball...I mean...hello? Earth to Andy you're supposed to be playing tennis here!

It's a good thing RAndy's American because he does not play well when Rushing.

CL: I do think that sometimes players' heads are so busy, they're not aware of their body. What we see as lack of will and movement, the players themselves are not aware at all - sort of out of body. So I don't always interpret lack of emoting or movement as giving up. I think that it's difficult to keep a focused in-the-moment intensity for extended periods of physical exertion.

Having said that, I do believe there have been matches where pros have mailed it in even when not suffering physically. Of the current players, I've never seen Roger, Rafa, Hewitt, Ferrer or Roddick do this, but I've seen just about every other player appear to have one of those oh-so-human days.

pfft Andy got to do more on those 2nd serves of Nole

Djokovic holds comfortably: Roddick needs to win the next three games to have a chance of getting to the SFs. 5-2 Djokovic, with a break.

GB You still awake? I was going for a 'power nap" then the time got have jusr went for a quick run to keep me awake for a bit.

AB - well, I think Roddick may have just reached the post office, but I take your point.

izidane. - oh,well that's fine then. Definitely no middle ground on the Family Icon Wear.

Incredibly poor effort from Andy.

Good ball striking from Nole at the baseline

Heh, no fair, CL: you can't count utter cluelessness as mailing it in.

RAndy always put forth an effort. Just not always the right kind at the right time.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

So Andy is foot sore..or just sore in general?

Yeah, Andy just wants out...and though I don't totally blame him, it his own fault for playing so badly against ByrdBrain.

Awww man, I feel really bad for Andy. It just isn't there today.

Andrew, thanks for explaining the implications of the results, as Master Ace may be busy with the Alabama - Auburn game. Just a hunch. ;-)

so is it Fed-Nole in the night session tomorrow or does Roddick still have a chance if he wins this thing?

Well at least Andy won't have to suffer another horrid loss to Roger. To think he missed turkey for this craptastic week...

oh...thanks Andrew...Fed-Nole then...

Robbie and Jason are thrilled the Big 4 have made it to the s/finals

AB - nah...I think, maybe for the FIRST time I have ever seen, Andy just mailed this in...at least from when he was broken. Plus cluelessness of course, but that's a given. Andy was firing nice mid court, mid pace balls right into Novak's wheel house and Novak was treating them as they should have been.

Well, credit Nole, he doesn't miss much and looks very comfortable putting balls into corners, playing some nice sharp angles and serving well.

Let's face it, RAndy cannot win from the baseline against Nole. Even Pirate Nole. Or Nole of the 3 Lenses.

CL: If I hadn't seen the RAndy of the Mysteriously Disappeared Forehand over the last 4 years I would agree, but he just doesn't have the natural game to beat Nole. He has to play outside of his comfort level which he's not doing, but I don't necessarily read that as quitting.

AB: Granted right now he's playing terribly but he's won 4 straight against Nole, so he knows how to beat him.

Interesting question for both players. Let's assume that Roddick doesn't just want to mail it in - should Djokovic scrap for a two or three set win? He plays a rested Federer tomorrow night.

My guess is that he'll go pretty hard for the win, at least in this set. We gonna see, no?

AB - what's the h2h? agree about the disappearing FH, but there has never been disappearing 'chase every ball,' like there was today. I mean, as I said up thread, I don't really blame him that much. It must be like playing a dead rubber on DC when your team has already lost.

Hmm...I vote for Pirate Nole w/3 Noses. Just in keeping w/alien invasion week. Now can he keep HIS focus so that he doesn't get taken to 3? And will Andys professional pride kick in and force it to 3 just for the hail of it.

Guess not.

I'm RAndy, I'm going to pump myself up and swing more freely so I go out with a "W."

I'm Nole, I'm going to let my mind wander and try lots of different shots making RAndy run back and forth way behind the baseline.

Oh wait, I'm already doing that.

Regarding Murray's comments expressing his doubts about whether he can beat Nadal in the semis ... IMO, it was his own way of responding to the critics who have been questioning his big-match mettle. The British media were all over him at his "capitulation" against Federer here in O2, and it was suggested that he didn't have what it takes to beat the big players on the biggest stages.

Here's what Murray posted on twitter hours after the comments were made public:
"If sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, why don't smart people get it? Or are they smart?"

Regarding Murray's comments expressing his doubts about whether he can beat Nadal in the semis ... IMO, it was his own way of responding to the critics who have been questioning his big-match mettle. The British media were all over him at his "capitulation" against Federer here in O2, and it was suggested that he didn't have what it takes to beat the big players on the biggest stages.

Here's what Murray posted on twitter hours after the comments were made public:
"If sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, why don't smart people get it? Or are they smart?"

Great change of direction of shots Novak

Just great to watch

So the Roddick/Novak h2h is 5/2 in Roddick's favor. Seems clear he DOES know how to beat him. Just not today.

Crazy-for-Rog...well that's nice...like I said up thread, I am all for issuing the players giant placards with words like 'sarcasm' or 'rather not say' or 'what do you think, idiot?!?' for waving at the press to help them 'get' it.

Hey, is Roger sitting in RAndy's box cheering for him to take it to 3?

I'm just wondering if Andy is feeling OK ...

So Andy is foot sore..or just sore in general?

AB - really? Someone saw Fed and Mirka shopping - what else - at Harrods. Maybe he is scouting?

No, I'm just joking. This match has not been compelling.

Lynne - my post, that jumped about 15 minutes...about Andy being foot sore..the comms were saying he kept looking at his foot.

Honestly, I've pretty much seen every single one of Andy's matches ever and this is pretty poor performance so perhaps there is something wrong, physically and/or mentally...losing to Rafa was a huge letdown for him..

Dare I hope, Nole's FH seems to be back..no loopy crap coming from his side.
And as much as Andy hated BG, at least he had the so-called 'fear-hand' working.
Andy with a droppah! Yay, for one thing that's working

AB - aw, darn...that would have been very er, cool? Speaking of Fed, ****cough, cough**

I really like this pic a Fed fan got of him at practice...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariannebevis/5209059008/in/set-72157625471151592/

Commies saying something is "clearly bothering" Roddick. Maybe HE should be wearing the eyepatch.

Heather I think losing to Tomas was worse in ways.

Probably so, AM....he's had a bunch of terrible losses this year and yes he's been injured and sick but at the end of the day despite it all he still managed to remain in the top 10 and qualify at all so I guess that's a plus.

He needs to head back to TX and find a psychologist asap.

Agree, AM: RAndy beat Tomas 3 times this year, 4 in a row and was 6-2 v Tomas.

He did not expect to lose that one in straights.

I think the Rafa/Tomas losses made up an especially tough double wammy. And the thing is, in a non-round robin format, you lose, you go home, you deal with it and move on. Here, you get to stay and relive stuff over and over.

If Andy does have any physical problem, I doubt very much we will here about it in his presser. A.) he rarely talks about that stuff in post match pressers anyway, but also, b.) given his comments about Novak's various physical issues, wouldn't be politic.

If I'm Andy Roddick, after this tournament I have to do some soul-searching. In the last 3 weeks, he has lost to the top six players.

Do Lief and Jimmy really have to bring up Mardy "I lost a ton of weight and stopped eating burgers" Fish?

I should add the top 6 players excluding Murray.

Do Lief and Jimmy really have to bring up Mardy "I lost a ton of weight and stopped eating burgers" Fish?

Heather I think Andy making this tournament with the year he has had overall has been great.Always take the positives ok.Thats what I also try to do.

Well done Novak good aggressive play tonight

Bad luck Andy.Go have a well earned rest.

A little less dramatic than I thought it would be. Great serving from Nole.
Congrats to fellow Nole fans and commies to fellow Andy fans.

Thanks, AM, Vamos Rafa and all that jazz for you! :)

CL : I get it, it was on "mute" at the time.

Congrats to Nole and fans - Sorry, Andy and fans.

Congrats to Novak, commies to RAndy.

I think from what I've seen so far, the tournament venue has been least beneficial to:

* Ferrer
* Roddick
* Nadal

Most beneficial to:

* Berdych
* Soderling
* Murray

Neutral:

* Federer
* Djokovic