CAMELOT FANTASIES

It was an excellent tournament for Roger Federer, who didn't know if he would be able to play after a tough week in Toronto where he lost in the final to Tsonga. He said his body was sore after playing on hard courts the full week late night after late night and then the short turnaround to the day final.  But he said that after the first couple of rounds in Cincinnati, his body finally felt better and the soreness was gone.  That would turn out to be not so good news to Andy Murray, who played well before succumbing again to the eventual winner of the tournament, and remains winless against top 10 players since Wimbledon 2013.  Novak Djokovic had another disappointing effort following Toronto and uncharacteristically lost early to Tommy Robredo.  Rafael Nadal remained on the sidelines trying to recuperate following a practice mishap prior to Toronto.  His status for the US Open is still uncertain.  But in any case, even if the other big guns couldn't make it, the elder statesman did not disappoint.

Federer got to his 8th final of the year, again playing a late night match, this time against big server Milos Raonic that didn't start until about 10:30 pm. But fortunately for him Milos couldn't put many first serves in the court and it only took a bit over an hour to finish the match. So Roger had to come back the next day, only 16+ hours later and play in form David Ferrer.  I thought David played very well.  Federer started well, and was on top of David, putting a lot of pressure on him, and David finally succumbed with a double fault for the break, and Federer took the first set.

But at the start of the second set David stubbornly resisted Federer in a very long service game where Federer had at least 3 break points, but couldn't convert. The next game Federer showed his frustration and seemed a bit tired as well and David broke him for a 2-0 lead. After that it was pretty clear that Federer strategically shortened points to get a second wind and be fresh for the 3rd set.

Federer made sure he won his last service game of the second set so that he would serve first in the decider, and after David won the second set, Roger came out serving very strong and again put pressure on the Ferrer serve.  Once Federer broke, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but David hung in there and avoided giving back the bread-stick that he had dished to Federer in the second to hold at 2-4, but after another strong Federer service game to take it to 5-2, David couldn't avoid the final break, and Federer took the match and the tournament.   

Congratulations to Roger Federer, his team and fans for a well-earned title. It was a bit unexpected following his final last week, but he pulled it out.  He now has a bit over a week to recover and prepare for the US Open.

Commiserations to David Ferrer, his team and fans. He had a good tournament and should be proud of that.

Respectfully,
masterclass