Federer Express. Darth Federer. The Federer. Roger. Rog. Whatever you call him, call him champ.
Roger Federer played the first day of the US Open. His opening round was a wildcard, Devin Britton. Britton recently turned pro. He had won the NCAA Men’s Championship in singles this year as an unseeded player from University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and is originally from that state. He got to the semis of the junior boy’s tournament at Wimbledon losing to his doubles partner, Jordan Cox, with a third set score of 16-14, a very Roddick-like final set score.
Roddick seems to serve as inspiration for Britton’s humor. Britton had a chance to play with Nadal, but didn’t get any pointers on how to play Roger from the Spaniard. Britton said he should play like Nadal to win. Of course, as a self-proclaimed serve and volleyer, that was not how he wanted to play Roger.
Now, anyone looking at this draw would have thought Roger would roll over the teenager, winning handily. The Maestro would be too much for the neophyte. And for a while, that’s exactly what happened. Early on, Britton went away from the game plan and started trading strokes from the baseline. While he’s perfectly adequate from the baseline–what player can afford to have holes in their ground game, he wanted to make a difference in his volleys.
Britton then had a game where he served and volleyed, and we saw the kind of potential Britton has. Like Roddick, this guy has a bullet for a serve. His volley is decent, which is where he departs from Roddick, who didn’t warm up to the volley until recently. However, Roger still rolled to a 6-1 first set. In the second set, Britton got an early break on Roger’s serve and was up 3-1. Roger seemed to be in trouble only he wasn’t. Roger quickly took the next 5 games.
Britton played better in the third set, when it looked like he might be able to get to a tiebreak. However, Roger broke late and took the third set 7-5.
This is the kind of match Britton is going to be pleased about. Sure he lost because of nerves, but he broke Federer twice. Sure Federer wasn’t serving great, but it’s still unusual. Britton was able to get some serve and volley in, and he has a seriously big serve. He needs the rest of his game to get a lot better. And of course, what newcomer to the tour doesn’t appreciate playing The Fed, even if they lose. It happens to lots of people. Britton was just the latest.
John Isner pulled a rabbit out of the hat. After winning the first set against Victor Hanescu handily, 6-1, Isner struggled a bit more in the second set. In the tiebreak, Hanescu was up 6-3 and it looked like Isner would have to go at least four sets. However, Isner managed to tie it at 6-all. And then, the marathon. Hanescu would have 10 more set points and Isner would fend them off. It would alternate between Isner hitting a very good shot and Isner making a silly shot. Isner would finally win this marathon tiebreak 16-14 (that score seemingly coming up a lot this year).
You would think that Isner would then roll over Hanescu in the third set. However, Isner, much like del Potro has some fitness issues. Isner was visibly winded during a tiebreak that was nearly as long as a lopsided set. Isner seemed to have the strategy of resting during Hanescu’s serve and trying to win it in the tiebreak. When you have a serve as big as Isner, perhaps that’s a valid strategy. In any case, Isner did win the third set tiebreak, 7-5. Hanescu is a tall guy too at 6’6″, but is much older at age 28.
For as bad a year as Blake has had, he had an easy straight set win over Ramirez Hidalgo. Hewitt also had an easy straight set win. Youzhny upset Mathieu in four sets. However, it’s not a huge upset considering Youzhny has a 4-1 head-to-head record over Mathieu with Mathieu winning their last encounter. They have never played on hard courts with most of the encounters on clay.
There was no particular upset today (so far). Perhaps the “biggest” upset was Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, ranked 231, beating Christophe Rochus, ranked 72, in five sets.
Tomorrow, Djokovic, Murray, Tsonga and Cilic play. Both Djokovic and Murray have “tough” openers. Djokovic plays Ljubicic, but Ljubicic, despite having a good clay season, is not the player he used to be. Murray plays Gulbis. Gulbis is always dangerous, but he’s had a poor 2009. To be fair, 2008 wasn’t that great for Gulbis either. He’s working on a new fitness program, but unlike Murray, has yet to see the fruits of his labor. For a first round match, however, these would be considered matches to worry about.
Andy Roddick is still up to play this evening after the Williams match. Venus is down a set at 9:30 PM so this will be a late start.
