Phil Huang

Tag: tennis

  • I Present… Roger Federer

    His amazing between-the-legs (tweener) shot to set up match point against Novak Djokovic in the 2009 US Open semis. It’s one thing to even get this trick shot over the net, it’s a whole other thing to hit a passing shot winner against someone at net. I jumped off my couch when I saw this. Unbelievable.

    Djokovic hits a very nice lob, and Roger Federer runs back for it…

    I want to impress upon non-tennis fans, this shot is incredibly difficult and players practically never pull it off. But to hit it for a clean winner… just WOW. This is the shot of the year. Roger called it the shot of his life.

    Also to kind of explain, if someone hits a good lob (based on speed, spin, and height), it can be near impossible to get back and get a good hit on it no matter how fast you run back. So sometimes the only option left is try the tweener but people always dump it into the net or it’s so weak, the opponent can easily put it away at net. To make this shot at this point late in a match, late in a major, to set up match point… that’s just how Roger Federer rolls.

    CBS commentator Dick Enberg’s comment cracked me up: “And for my next act, I’m going to hit a winner while in a box while they saw me in half!”

  • The WTA Tour Sucks

    Seriously, women’s tennis is in a poor state right now. Everyone’s pretty much on an even keel. On any given day, anyone can win. That’s why you got retired players coming back or thinking about coming back. And you have teens like Melanie Oudin taking out top seeds. And geezus, don’t get me started on Ivanonic. Girl went out 1st round, worst than last year’s 2nd round exit. She was ranked #1 before! And the other day, the current #1 seed (without a slam), Dinara Safina, was competing with her no name opponent to see who could suck more, who could hit more errors. It’s ridiculous. And when the women play, breaking serve is a normal, frequent occurence.

    You know, it’s a shame Sharapova had to have surgery on her shoulder because I think she would’ve dominated during the time she was out, even with the Williams sisters playing. The Williams simply took advantage of a weak field. Sharapova can hold her own against both.

  • Federer Wins Cincy, Destroys Young Guns

    Roger Federer won the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati on Sunday, beating Novak Djokovic in convincing fashion, 6-1 and 7-5. A day before, he also beat Andy Murray in straight sets, 6-2 and 7-6. These are 2 of the top 4 whose best surface is hard courts and many expected them to beat Roger. In fact, the odds-makers pegged Murray for the win in the semifinal. But what we saw was vintage Federer or TMF, The Mighty Fed, back in action. He dominated the young guns, the very people contending for his US Open title in a week.

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  • Tennis Season Back in Motion

    All the top players, most notably Federer and Nadal, are back in action this week at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. This is part of the US Open Series that leads up to the US Open. Federer’s coming off a hot streak, winning Madrid, the French Open, and Wimbledon; regaining no.1 ranking; and having twin girls. Nadal’s coming back from his knee injury.

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  • Federer Wins Record 15th Major, 6th Wimbledon

    TMF now has the most grand slam victories in history. Wow, that was an unbelievable match. Another Wimby EPIC.

    Federer d. Roddick
    5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14

    Check out this amazing ATP tribute:

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  • Andy vs. Andy

    Andy Roddick and Andy Murray are playing their 3rd set tiebreak in their semi right now. Crowd’s crazy for Murray. I’m rooting for Roddick. Murray is annoying – yelling and fist-pumping after every single point, like he just won the set or something.

    UPDATE: Yesterday I voted on tennis.com that the final would be Federer vs Roddick. Well, Roddick has just won in 4 sets over Murray. TMF vs Andy Roddick for the Wimby final! Yes, The Mighty Fed is definitely back. Andy’s playing better but it’s still a tough matchup for him. Fed’s just always had his number. 18-2 record doesn’t lie. But you never know. I’m hoping Fed gets #15 on Sunday.

  • Karlovic Can Only Serve

    Tennis fans already know this about Dr. Ivo but if Karlovic didn’t have that powerful serve, I’m pretty sure Federer could have bageled him 3 times. Breaking Karlovic in each of the first 2 sets was impressive, especially the way Federer was returning in the games he broke. Karlovic volleyed poorly but I think that has more to do with how Roger hits/returns the ball and his ability to come up with amazing passing shots.

    P.S. Once again, NBC proves they are incompetent, stupid, ignorant, or all of the above. They are airing a tape delay of this match later in the day. NBC apparently has the rights to this match so it wasn’t on ESPN360.com either. I ended up watching another live stream online that was actually good quality and had decent commentary (not sure if it was BBC or what, but Boris Becker was commentating). So suck it NBC, I ain’t watching your tape delay. The ESPN2 commentator even said “we can’t tell you the score for the Federer/Karlovic match because NBC will air it later today.” Well, screw that. Is NBC not aware of something called the Internet? No wonder they’re in last place among the networks – NBC is just plain dumb.

  • NBC Coverage of French Open 2009 Men’s Semifinals SUCKS ONCE AGAIN

    See my rant last year about NBC’s POOR coverage of the French Open semi-finals here. Well NBC sucked it up once again this year. As tennis fans know, Federer is arguably the most popular tennis player, despite being ranked #2. He is on the brink of making history, going for his 14th major to tie Pete Sampras and the career grand slam. NBC had exclusivity which means no other channel could air or live stream the French Open men’s semifinals today. Their coverage today was also limited to just a 10 AM to 1 PM time slot. What do they decide to do?

    Instead of airing the 5th set of Soderling vs. Gonzalez live and then covering Federer v. Del Potro, they decide to air a taped replay of Soderling/Gonzalez. So there was NO live coverage of Federer’s semifinal match in the US. NBC, you suck. You suck so much, it’s ridiculous. Your tennis ratings probably suck because you air taped replays, packed with commercials, of matches people don’t want to see. If you can’t cover the tournament properly, then don’t cover it all you jackasses!

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  • French Open: Road to Semis

    Yes, another French Open post. Murray has just lost and I wasn’t surprised at all because while Murray has improved, he’s still not really great on clay. And Soderling shows his win over Nadal was no fluke, when he beat Davydenko pretty handily earlier today. I had actually thought Davydenko would come through since he’d been playing well and dispatched Verdasco relatively easily.

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  • French Open Week 1 Roundup

    I woke up today, checked some tennis sites, and had my jaw hit the desk and I let out a very audible “OH MY GOD!”. It was that shocking. Nadal lost at the French Open. In the 4th round, to Robin Soderling! You know, I’m a die hard Federer fan but that doesn’t mean I hate Nadal. I do consider myself a fan of Nadal actually, he’s just not my favorite tennis player. But this was indeed a disappointing and very stunning loss.

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