The 2008 Wimbledon Men' s semifinals are now set. Mad Professah correctly predicted Federer and Schuettler's quarterfinal wins. This Men's semifinal preview (like the Women's Semifinal Preview posted yesterday) are all about inevitability and the Number 3.
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Marat Safin RUS. Federer has played the mercurial Russian ten times before and beaten the 2-time Grand Slam champion eight times. Of course the most famous match the two have played was at the 2005 Australian Open where Safin defeated Federer in a thrilling 5-set semifinal match saving a 4th set match point in the process. Safin used to despise playing on grass and had never played well at Wimbledon before this year. In fact, Safin hasn't been playing well at any tournament since his 2005 win in Melbourne---he hasn't won a single ATP title since and has 15 total. Federer has 55 titles and last played Safin at Wimbledon in last year's 3rd round and won in 3 relatively tight sets 6-1 6-4 7-6(4). Safin (and Federer) are playing better this year, but the result will still be the same, the inevitable third match-up betweek Federer and Nadal in the Wimbledon final. PREDICTION: Federer in 4 sets.
Rainer Schuettler GER vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). The "accidental semifinalist" Rainer Schuettler has had a pretty lucky draw since the only seed in his path to this point was a second round showdown with American James Blake in the second round which he won 6-4 in the 5th. Schuettler also had to win a 5-set match again Arnaud Clement in a 5 hour, 12 minute match spread over two days just to reach this semifinal showdown with World #2 Rafael Nadal. Nadal has only dropped one set this tournament, against talented big-serving Ernest Gulbis in the second round, and played 3 tiebreaks, winning all of them. It's unlikely that Schuettler, who is known for being in incredible shape but has no singular weapon, will be able to win as many as 6 games in a set. PREDICTION: Nadal in 3 sets.
So what's with the ESPN2 embargo? I'm on the east coast, and tuned in to watch Federer and Nadal semi-final matches, and they are telling me now there is an embargo and they won't show the matches until midnight tonight east coast time. And I can't get a straight answer from the Tennis association website anymore. You get circular web links that never actually go to the page with the schedule. I had it bookmarked a week ago so I could refer to it when I wanted to watch the matches. WTF??????????????/
ReplyDeleteGo Roger, the Nadal/Schutler match, not worth wasting an hour to watch, although I never watch a Nadal match anyways.
ReplyDeleteGo Roger!
The embargo, I thinks its due to the terms of the contract all the networks have to have an 'exclusive' showing of a match.
doubt you will see any upsets. It will be a Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal final. Federer is 8-2 against Safin. Rainer Schuettler is a longshot he is 4-13 in ATP level matches. However Nadal is 3-1 against him. With that said I dont think Nadal or Federer will lose.
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