... that is the question that was asked in a pre-Australian e-mail I received from the ATP.
Mind, meet gutter. Ahem! I'm guessing the heterosexual male gay writers have no idea about the double entendres that go into headlines like this, but alas such is the case that members of that rogue political movement would be quite surprised to learn there are very likely liberal tea-baggers, where that involved absolutely no government participation!
Anyhow, getting back on track... can Roger be topped? <snort!> He already improved on some of those stats from above, unbelievably making his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam tournament semi-final (last "early" loss being the French Open... in 2004!)... and now has made the finals of 18 of his last 19 (the one blip being the 2008 Aussie Open) tournaments. And having already passed Pete Sampras' seemingly un-top-able 14 Grand Slam titles, it just seems that the easy answer to the question is... no!
That said, I am a bit worried that Roger can be "topped" this weekend at the Australian Open final vs. Andy Murray. Well, "worried" seems to be too strong a word for the greatest tennis player of all-time. My gut is telling me that the tide is turning to the new generation. At age 28, Roger is pretty much at elder-statesman status on the tour. Rafael Nadal has long had Fed's number (and just now 23 years old) and Juan Martin del Potro (age 21) surprisingly took the US Open from Fed last year and Murray (just 22) has been nipping at his heels and even has a 6-4 head-to-head advantage, though Fed has won the last two meetings. It just seems that time may be right for a Murray major (and Major) breakthrough.
That said, Murray has the weight of the United Kingdom on his shoulders (it's been 74 years since a man from the UK has won a major!) and has yet to win 3 sets in one match against Federer (tho they've only met once in a Slam, the 2008 US Open final)... so who knows! I am not a big Murray fan. He seems like kind of an ass, whiny/crabby cry-baby-ish... quite similar to our own Andy (Mr. Roddick), but at least I can watch/admire Murray's game vs. the twitchy and cocky Roddick.
So on personality alone, I'd hate to see Murray beat Federer (and Nadal, for that matter, beyond that he can beat anyone else, ha!)... though, I'll give him credit that his bod is pretty rockin':
Here Google, Google: Andy Murray Shirtless
Comments