Australian Open – 3rd round match: Federer vs Tomic

The anticipated match of Day 6 is Roger Federer vs. Bernard Tomic match in the evening session. Tomic is not a likeable player to me. He further confirmed this also with his statements before the match. Just while the matches of the second round were being played, he made pointless and provocative statements such as, “we will meet if Federer can pass the third round”. Federer was calm and cool as always. :) I do not like players who are motivated by provoking their opponents and in a sense, making vile remarks against them. I think they are not eligible in terms of the basic logic of sports.

As for the match; Federer is currently in good shape, but negative comments are continually made by the commentators of the tennis circle. These are comments such as “He got old now", "he cannot win a big tournament from now on", "he has formidable opponents” and so on... These are all negative burdens to affect the psychology. I think he is in quite good shape; he is 31 years old and is world’s number 2. I think it is this characteristic that we should focus on. I don’t know how Federer is affected by such approaches, but he very rarely gets disengaged from the match for no reason. I’m afraid that he might go through such disengagement in this match as well.

Federer started the first set by breaking Tomic’s serve, which is a very good sign. Australian spectators seriously support Federer even though he plays against their fellow player. He is such a popular player that wherever he goes, he is always able to find great support. When we take a look at the second set, Federer made two double faults, and actually, this is not a good figure for him. Both players’ games seem to be equal. When Tomic got his serve broken, it took him time to pull himself together. Since he could not make an attack to break his opponent’s serve, he lost the first set 6-4, which was good. :)

Tomic made a little messy start in the second set. He both made double faults and careless shots. To me his only strength is his powerful forehands, and Federer can hardly return these shots. Despite struggling, Tomic managed to take the first game. While watching Federer’s matches, one can see the best of all sorts of shots; it is impossible to describe the cross-backhand he just shot. I just wish that Federer does not take his time, and finishes the match in the third set tirelessly and quickly, by fitting his nickname “Fedex”. Even though I still have this bad feeling, I try to look at the match from a positive perspective. The score is 2-2. Tomic serves, and Federer must solve his opponent’s backhands. Tomic tried various shots and he also served well. In such a case, if Roger gets his serve broken and does not shoot effective forehands, then it is a bad sign, as his opponent tried all shots such as slice, backhand and volley.

Federer does not play very well today. That is to say, his shots are always milimetric -if I may say so. But today, his shots fall outside the lines more than ever before. In the second set, we have reached a very critical point; 4-4 is now the deciding point of the set. Whoever has his serve broken here will give the set. Let’s see what Tomic will do… What I see in Tomic’s game is that; he has very solid forehands, he moves his feet quickly, has good serves and variety of shots. However, these shots are not stable throughout the game. After very strong forehands, you may see a very careless shot. Actually, this status of stability is what separates the players at this level from the top 5 players. In 4-4, Federer got the chance to break the serve, but he failed and made unforced errors. The set was carried to a tie-break due to the mutually failed service breaking points as well as both players who failed to defeat each other. Roger’s tie-break history is quite good. As long as he takes this set, it doesn’t matter how he does it. :) Tomic made a very good start in the tie-break. The score is now 4-1, and Federer has to pull himself together or he will lose this set. Tomic serves well and shoots effective forehands, but Roger picked himself up a little, and now the score is 5-4. If Roger takes this set, his opponent cannot gather himself up. Federer made a great comeback, and took the second set in tie-break, 7-6.

I think things will be easier in the third set for Fedex, and he will continue his way without extending the match any further. I’m relaxed and back in my high spirits now, and ready for the third set.:)

In the first game of the third set, Federer made two double faults in the same game, but with his experience and class, he managed to keep his serve. Now, if he breaks Tomic’s serve, the rest will be pretty quick and easy. In Tomic’s service game, Federer made such an indescribable forehand volley that everyone should see. And with this point he broke the serve. I thought Tomic would lose his motivation completely, and that really was the case. Federer made the score 3-0 all of a sudden. With his declining concentration and belief, Tomic got disengaged from the match. Federer also took the third set 6-1 quickly, and won the match 6-4, 7-6, 6-1 to move on to the fourth round.

If I’m not wrong, at the end of this match, Federer will play against the winner of Monfils vs. Simon match. I like Monfils as a player, so I prefer him to play against Federer. If I find a chance to watch another match tonight or tomorrow morning as per the match program, I will share it with you as well. Goodbye for now…