I voted for Semi-Finals, on the following basis.
First - barring the fact the Titanic sank, Federer pretty much is the Titanic of Wimbledon. Unsinkable, unstoppable. He's just going to keep on going, knocking everyone else down like skittles unless someone decent is put out there on the other side of the court. And even then, that other bloke'll have to be bloody good to even stand a chance. It's not a question anymore of "which players will be in the final"....Roger Federer...is certainly a finalist - and it is only a question now of who will face him in the final.
Second, Murray.....just isn't who or what we consider him to be. He won the Queen's tournament thingy, and I watched him do that, but there is only a very small possibility that he could go on to repeat what he did there, at Wimbledon. Sure the conditions aren't different, neither is the location really - but the pressure. This is Wimbledon. And big ranking events like this do have an effect on people - take Steve Davis of the World Snooker circuit for example. Continual century breaks at home, in the clubs, at practice - but he can't pot a ball at arm's length on television. Him being 51 obviously has something to do with it, but compare the two situations, the high street club and the Crucible Theatre, and you find a huge difference. Looking at Murray, I think he's certainly got the potential, the stamina, the confidence to carry on playing relatively consistently through the tournament - Queen's is a good example - and so I think now what's in question is whether or not he actually could play at his very best consistently, when faced with players like Federer or Del Potro.
The truth, of course, is that we won't know until it's happened. But we might aswell have a guess. I went for Semi Finals. Whether or not he gets that far is different matter, but looking at it, I think it's pretty likely.
_________________ 81st member of the Pat M fan club. Still flying the flag for the class of '06...
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