Much love to The Fed for an extremely valiant and gutsy performance against Muzzah today. He's clearly still recovering from that stomach bug and to top it all off, his "old man" back flared up again, which completely fucked up his serve. The result was pure heart, but in the end he couldn't overcome a determined Muzz, losing 46 76(3) 75.
(This pic rules. Check out the crown)
And thus endeth TMF's 2008 campaign. A solid year by any other player's standards but a disappointing year for Fed. With either Nole or Muzz poised to win this tourney, it will be interesting to see if 2008 was the year the kids took over. I was actually kind of, at times, occassionally, in the stillness of the hour, rooting for Fed to take this thing because it would have been a nice storyline, seeing as how he didn't win a single Masters Shield all year. Ah well, it's not like I'm crying about it now.
Because at the end of the day, this was kind of the perfect result for me. Fed is out of the tournament, but not before proving to me once again that he's got the heart of lion, the fight of a cougar, and the wily magicality of a Liger. Murray has got to be somewhat spent after this hard fought three hour match and will have to turn around to play Kolya tomorrow.
And Fed's loss means Forty Deuce #1 Crush Commodus is into the semifinals!!!
Oh, Gilly. Don't tease me with those chicken legs, stick arms, and that brooding look. He took care of business today, beating The Worm, 61 64. He'll now play Nole tomorrow for a spot in the finals.
You have to think, of all these guys, Nole becomes the front runner here. Andy's tired and Roger's out. He should be able to take out Gilly but let's not forget that in their only meeting of their careers, Gilly beat Nole in Marseille earlier this year. So don't count our boy out.
