The Longest Match Concludes

BREAKING NEWS: After being called for darkness last night, the John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut opening round match at Wimbledon finally concluded today with an Isner victory.  The match went 5 sets, and it took 138 games to settle the 5th.  Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.  The match spanned 11 hours and set multiple records.  Most notably, both players individually broke the previous match aces record even before it was suspended yesterday due to darkness.

Big Sports Day Roundup

Today was a big day in a lot of sports.  From soccer, to tennis, to hockey, to baseball, these sports had many notable and rare occurrences on this day.

Early this morning, the United States World Cup soccer team played against Algeria with a chance to advance to the round of 16.  In order to advance, the US either needed to win (which guaranteed qualification) or tie (with either an English loss to Slovenia or a tie by England in which the team scored less than 2 goals above that which the US scored today).  However, with an England win, the US team would need to win to assure its spot in the next round.

The English won, 1-0, and the US was tied after 90 minutes with Algeria.  The game remained tied shortly into stoppage time.  At that point, Algeria had a good opportunity to put the game away with a scoring chance of their own, but US goalkeeper Tim Howard stopped the threat and quickly started a counter attack by feeding the ball to Landon Donovan.  Donovan carried the ball down the field, passed to Jozy Altidore, who crossed to Clint Dempsey in front with the Algerian goaltender charging.  The ball went off Dempsey’s foot and off the goaltender, rebounding to about 8 yards from the goal line.  Donovan charged from the 18 to lace the ball on the ground into the back left corner of the net, and proceeded to slide headfirst into the left corner flag, at which point his teammates piled upon him.  After a few more stops in extra time, the final whistle sounded, and the United States had assured itself a spot in the round of 16.

For a nation that had such high hopes for its team, and a nation that hasn’t had much success in the World Cup in recent years, the 2nd half of the game could not have caused more anxiety from its fans.  The team had many chances that could not be converted, and the team saw its World Cup lives flash before its eyes.  However, in a moment, Landon Donovan became a legend, the United States moved on, and soccer became the primary focus in American sports for the month of June.  All because of a goal in stoppage time; that is the beauty of soccer.  USA will play Ghana in the next round of the World Cup.

In tennis, the match of the day at Wimbledon was John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut.  The match went 10 hours, and here is the kicker: It isn’t over.  The match went 5 sets and is still tied at 59-59.  The match was called as a result of darkness, and will be resumed tomorrow morning on ESPN.

Finally, New York Mets knuckleball starter R.A. Dickey pitched 8 scoreless innings en route to his 6th consecutive win.  He is now 6-0 this season, and is the first pitcher in Mets history (which included names such as Gooden and Seaver, among others) to record a win in each of his first 6 decisions.   In another NL East story, Jimmy Rollins hit a walk-off 2 run home run for the Phillies in only his second game back from the Disabled List.

In hockey, Henrik Sedin won the Hart Trophy (hockey’s MVP), Ryan Miller won the Vezina Trophy (best goaltender), Tyler Myers won the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year), Duncan Keith won the Norris Trophy (best defensemen), Pavel Datsyuk won the Frank J. Selke Trophy (best defensive forward), and Martin St. Louis won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (best behaved player).

The Australian Open Final

The Australian Open Final between Englishman Andy Murray and the Swiss Roger Federer began at 3:40 AM Eastern Time at Rod Laver Arena.  It was an epic matchup of the man with 15 major titles and the man with no major titles, but a man representing his native Britain in an effort to end the long major drought for Englishmen.  The last Englishman to win a major championship was Fred Perry, 74 years ago , when he won the 1936 US Open.

Early in the first set, Andy Murray looked like he had the weight of a whole nation on his shoulders.  He was hitting returns into the net, overhitting the ball during his service, and was looking pressed as a whole.  He immediately fell behind 2-0.  However, after Federer went up 15-0 in the 3rd game, Murray seemed to relax, and proceeded to break Federer.  Murray then won his service game and tied the match 2-2.  After trading games, Federer won the next 3 games, breaking Murray once, and won the 1st set 6-3.

Murray’s strategy seemed to be to attack the backhand of Federer, which is much less effective than his forehand.  However, by doing so Murray was very tentative at times, unable and unwilling to attack the net to put any pressure on Federer.  Federer was able to get into a good comfort zone in the 1st set without much resistance from Andy Murray.

The match looked to be getting out of hand in the 2nd set.  Federer had a 3-1 lead and was leading 40-15 in the 5th game, with a chance to take a 2 break lead in the set.  At this point Murray seemed to internally decide to be much more aggressive.  After 2 aces and a good volleys to win 4 straight points and the game, Murray let out multiple “Come On!!” screams to himself, and this change in momentum seemed to keep the match from getting out of hand just over an hour into it.  At this point Federer won a hard earned 6th game of the 2nd set on serve to take a 4-2 lead and to retain his one break lead in the set.  Again the pressure was put on Murray not to be broken by Federer and not to give him the opportunity to win the 2nd set on serve.  Murray faced triple break point in the game, pushed the game to 2 deuces, saved 4 break chances, and won the most important game of the match to that point to cut Federer’s lead to 4-3 in the 2nd set.  Federer then won his next 2 service games to win the 2nd set 6-4, putting him only one set away from his 16th major title. 

At this point, Roger Federer had complete control of the match.  Federer was a perfect 155-0 in majors after leading by 2 sets.  Murray needed to win the next 3 consecutive sets to win the match.  He served to open the 3rd set, and won the 1st game convincingly.  In the 2nd game of the set, Murray blew a huge opportunity.  After having the advantage and break point, he missed a point blank shot long down the line, and then Federer won the game on service.  Both players held serve until the 6th game of the set, when Murray broke Federer in a very emotional phase of the match.  After striking the ball forcefully several times in that game, he became fired up and the crowd began to show life for the first time in the match.  The momentum carried into the next game, as Murray hit a few solid, forceful shots combined with a Federer unforced error and an ace to end the game, and took a 5-2 lead in the 3rd set.  At this point Murray began to lose control.  He was broken in his next service game, game 9 of the set.  Federer then continued his momentum by winning a very long, constested 11th game, and eventually tied the set at 6, forcing a tiebreaker.  Andy Murray took an early lead in the tiebreaker by breaking Federer’s serve twice to take a 3-1 lead.  As quickly as Murray took the lead, Federer scored 2 quick points to tie the tiebreaker at 3 going into a short break.  Murray took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, forcing double set point.  Federer came up with a huge shot to win the next point, and then Andy Murray missed a point blank shot into the net that would have won him the set.  With the tiebreaker at 6-6, the players changed sides, Murray took the first point, and followed it up with another point blank missed shot, this time an attempted drop shot.  Federer then followed with an ace, forcing championship point at 8-7.  Federer hit a shot that just missed the line, and the tiebreaker was forced to 8-8.  The players then traded points 3 more times in a series of furious, heart-pounding rallies.  Federer then took a 12-11 lead on a solid behind Andy Murray as he was crossing the court, and the match was finished off by an unforced error by Andy Murray to give Federer his 16th major singles title.

Federer’s win in straight sets was exactly what we have come to expect from Roger over the past decade.  He has been the best player in the game for years, and tonight was no different.  Andy Murray is a player who, while talented, has a ways to go before he becomes a major champion.  His problem in this match was that he refused to take the initiative.  He played a defensive game, never attacking the net and not hitting the ball with authority.  Only late in the 3rd set did he begin to start playing with confidence.  However, this was much too late for his increased aggressiveness to be of any benefit; the match was already in hand.  Murray’s lack of ability to break Federer when he had his limited chances also cost him in the match.  If he had been able to break Federer in even 1 of the 2 opportunities he had in the 3rd set, Murray would have lived to see another set.  However, Murray was unable to capitalize on any momentum that he had, and therefore he still has learning and maturing to do before he can become a major champion.

For those of you who got up early to watch the match, it was truly a testament to the talent, maturity, and precision of Roger Federer.  He was never truly challenged by Murray until the 3rd set, and he capitalized upon Murray’s weaknesses to effectively put the match away early.  The match lasted 2 hours, 42 minutes, and was won in straight sets by Roger Federer 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11).  Federer is 2010′s first major champion, with the French Open, US Open, and Wimbledon still to come in 2010.