On Sunday, two of the best players ever who have won so many titles, are out as Roger Federer withdrew and Serena Williams lost. They are good friends, but as I have written this so many times now, they are aging. When they hit 39 years old, they are much more mature, but have slowed down. They both know what to do, and they can see it, but trying to sprint, very fast, that is a tough ask.
Federer decided to end his Roland Garros after he beat Dominik Koepfer in four sets because it was a very long match. His body said it is time to go back home. He hasn’t played much over the past 17 months, because his legs were messed up. As Andy Murray said about Federer, another good friends, “I’d argue that it’s quite risky to play multiple 4hr matches in a row in your 2nd tournaments back in 18 months so to me it makes sense to be reactive based on how your body feels, length of matches.” True.
Let us see during Wimbledon. Hopefully, his body will be in better shape. He has to because he really wants to win London.
Serena is pushing, and she looks pretty decent, but in order to get much better, then maybe she can attack early, and get it done ASAP. She lost to Elena Rybakina 6-3 7-5 — a good player who is up and down — and Serena couldn’t hit the ball from the backcourt and fumbled with a lot of errors. So in England, she has to hit it deep and mix it up more.
If she practices a lot, and I think she will when she arrives in England, then she will have her last chance to win a major. Serena will have to be totally into it, and be really aggressive on the grass.
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Two of the very good players will face off on Tuesday with Daniil Medvedev versus Stefanos Tsitsipas. That will be a fantastic battle, with some huge swings. Seems like every predictor had Medvedev getting bounced in the first round. Now, he is into the second week.
Who knew that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has finally reemerged? It had taken her for a decade. She is playing decent, but not wonderful. But, over the past few months ago, she woke up and smellrf the roses. Now she is much smarter on the court. Do it again. Prove it.