would you just shut up already, sarah?

I was watching the Australian Open semifinal match between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer this morning, and I got the urge to spew out my random thoughts about some of the top players in the game. Brace yourself for a long, rambling post.

In my amateur opinion, the thing that makes Roger Federer so damn good is his footwork. He's got a great serve, but it's not really any better than Roddick's. He's got a great return of serve, but it's not any better than Agassi's was (and probably still is, actually). He's got fantastic passing shots and amazing paint-the-lines placement, but again, so do a lot of guys. What makes him really great to watch is the way he anticipates every shot, runs every ball down, plants his feet, and gets in perfect position to return the shot, all without looking like he's trying. My family and I joke that he never even breaks a sweat, because he just makes it look so effortless.

The other thing that sets him apart is his patience. He never gets outwardly angry or frustrated, and he rarely talks during a match. He's always calm, cool, and collected--and clearly it's often unnerving to his opponents. (Although this wasn't always the case--apparently as a junior player and up until his early 20s he was Marat Safin-like in his on court antics. Frustration, anger, breaking his fair share of racquets, etc. But then he changed his attitude, and his whole game changed.) His weakness, of course, is clay. Anyone who saw last year's French Open final against Nadal (or, you know, the previous five or whatever) can attest to that.

What makes Rafael Nadal special is his enthusiasm and exuberance. He's sort of the opposite of Fed--not because he gets angry, but because he gets so excited on the court. And the two main things that make him so hard to beat are his speed and his perseverence. His technique is fantastic; of course it has to be for him to have gotten as far as he has, and his shot placement is often perfect...but again, so is Federer's. The difference between them is that Rafa doesn't anticipate his opponent's shots quite like Roger does, but he is so speedy that he gets to them anyways, and he never ever gives up. He will chase every shot and not get tired, which I can imagine would be extremely frustrating to an opposing player. Imagine playing a three, four, or five hour tennis match against a guy who you just can't hit balls past. Plus, he's a lefty. At least while playing tennis. And we all love the lefties!

Andy Roddick, bless him, just isn't as naturally good as either of these guys. He's still my favorite (my former future husband--you know, prior to the Cesc Fabregas days) and I'll always root for him against the other guys, but I know that him winning another Slam is sort of a longshot. He has the most explosive serve in the game (seeing as he holds the world record at 155mph) and very powerful forehand shots, and he's worked hard to improve his backhands and volleys over the years. But he's never really been able to get past the total on-court domination of Federer and Nadal.

He's had his ups and downs, as well as his fair share of injuries, but it's plain to see that he's worked really really hard leading up to this Australian Open. He lost about 15 pounds and improved his stamina considerably, which meant he easily outlasted Djokovic in the scorching heat. But again, he just couldn't break the Federer Express. What I think he should have done today is just kept the balls in the court, rather than trying to hit winners. Hitting balls past Federer is very difficult to do, and I know long rallies have a psychologically tiring effect even if you're in great physical shape, but Federer is very very good at outlasting opponents and waiting for them to make mistakes. When Andy was patient and didn't try to go for the quick winning shots, he actually forced Federer to commit errors. But he didn't do it often, and you could tell that Fed's quiet, calm demeanor was getting under Andy's skin. He got frustrated and picked fights with the chair umpire, and then tried to hit the balls even harder past Federer. To Andy's credit, he held his game together much better than he has in the past when frustrated, and he fought very well. Roger was just too...Roger-y.

I'm expecting yet another Rafa-Roger showdown in the finals, but hey, you never know. Maybe Ferdasco (that's the delectible and newly single Fernando Verdasco, of course) can pull off a major upset. I'm definitely going to wake up early again tomorrow to watch the epic battle of the Spaniards.

Okay, that was a major tl;dr post. You guys are probably all looking at me like this now:
Sorry about that. You should all know by now that I get a little excited when it comes to sports. And it's been a long time since I've gotten to watch full tennis matches.

All images from Getty via the offish Australian Open website.