I was hurt, my wife was hurt, and my kids were also hurt by that semi-final loss of our idol Roger Federer to top ranked and No.1 seed Novak Djokovich. It was a classic 5 set thriller but it was hurting how he lost that match. For sure, my friend from our NSC days, Vic, a.k.a. Ting was also hurt for he says, in those games when his idol Roger seemingly loses a match especially against Rafa Nadal, he would just switched off the TV. He just could not endure the suspense.
Advantage Federer. That was his position. He won the first 2 sets and Djoko had to extricate himself from a deep hole he was in by winning the 3rd and 4th sets to extend the match into a do or die 5th setter. Tied at 3 all, Federer stormed ahead to 5-3, and serving for the match, he reached an almost insurmountable triple match point. All he needed was an ace and the match is over. Djokovich himself looked resigned to his fate. But I don't know what happened. Pressure for sure, pressure he always handled in the past by his cool demeanor, must have crept on him. And Djokovich recovered, saved matchpoint and went on to tie the set at 5 apiece. Clearly, the tide turned in his favor, and ended at 7-5. All this time, the cameras would focus on Mirka for almost every point won or lost. She was shouting, cheering from the box, but how could we described how she felt after that loss? Didn't we said she's the most courageous woman in tennis?
So it's gonna be the No.1 seed vs the No.2, a rare happening. In fact to have the top 4 seeds in semis doesn't also happen often. It promises to be another classic match, a no holds barred encounter, power for power, speed for speed, and what have you. In last year's final, they also met with Nadal winning. So Djoko has a score to settle. Nadal has a mission to redeem his top ranked status. My crystal ball? It's gonna be Djokovich. Watch it live starting 4AM tomorrow, Manila time.
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