Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov will be facing each other for the eighth time in their careers when they clash in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Tuesday night. Federer leads the head-to-head series 7-0 and he has won six of those meetings on hard courts.
More of the same can be expected at a tournament the 38-year-old has won five times–all in a row from 2004 through 2008. No matter that Federer has not lifted the trophy in more than a decade; he appears to be stellar form right now at Flushing Meadows. Following uninspiring four-set victories over Sumit Nagal and Damir Dzumhur, the third-ranked Swiss destroyed Dan Evans and Cincinnati runner-up David Goffin in easy straight sets.
Dimitrov has benefited from a favorable draw that includes a second-round walkover handed to him by Borna Coric. The 78th-ranked Bulgarian has not yet faced a seeded opponent, beating Andreas Seppi, lucky loser Kamil Majchrzak, and Alex de Minaur.
“I practiced with him in Cincy,” Federer reflected. “He was the guy I practiced with first when I just came off the plane. (I) know Grigor very well; he’s a good friend of mine. It was fun having him also at the Laver Cup last time around. I spent a week there with him. I’m happy that things are going better for him…. He had a bit of a slump.
“This is [big] for him, obviously with an opportunity against me. I’m aware of the fact it’s a big match for him. Yeah, I’ve done well against him in the past. But new match, new Grigor, new me again…. But I like watching him. I like playing against him. Of course, when we play, it’s as close as it gets to being a similar playing style. I think for both of us it’s cool to play one another.”
“Amazing; absolutely amazing,” Dimitrov said of being in the quarterfinals. “I don’t take anything for granted, especially (at) this tournament…. I’ve worked for it the past weeks. I’ve put a lot of hours on the court and off the court. You just never know. I mean, tennis is like this. You just never know when a little bit of luck smiles at you. You also have to seize your opportunity.”
The former world No. 3 has done extremely well to reach this point after having lost seven of his last eight matches dating back to the French Open. Nothing about their respective current or head-to-head history suggests this will be competitive.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 8-10 games
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The scary thing about Medvedev is that now he’s getting better and better at the net. At the AO vs Djoko, he was engaging solely in baseline rallies with Djoko and lost in four sets finally.
The guy learns fast, and thinks fast; he has a great first and second serve, has unbelievable fitness, moves very well for his height, and has very good court sense. He has great FH and one of the best DHBH too, not forgetting his self belief and confidence in his own game, plus the mental fortitude, the will and ambition to win and be great.
I agree with your assessment. Medvedev is learning fast. I believe now that he will reach the final – unless he gets hurt or is totally exhausted. It could be his fourth final in a row, which would be an incredible achievement. And if Rafa really will be his opponent I expect that Medvedev will try very hard to acquit himself much better than in Toronto, but his physical condition could be a problem.
If both Rafa and Medvedev reach the final, even if Rafa wins the title, Medvedev would still accumulate more points than Rafa, ie 3100 points vs Rafa’s 3000.
It’s quite incredible if Medvedev could reach four finals in a row at this NA HC swing.
I do feel Rafa will be the fave over Medvedev to win the title; he has enough varieties, experience, fitness and will power to overcome the red hot Medvedev imo.
Dimi may give Medvedev a tough match, I mean Dimi is fit, fast, confident now after beating Fed. He also has the varieties in his game to give Medvedev different looks and not being predictable.
I feel it’ll be a hard fought match between the two and will go the distance and either one could win.
I’m obviously devastated but also happy for Grigor. Here’s the thing though and it’s annoying just how sure I am of this. There’s like no freaking way Dimitrov is beating Medvedev next round. I will come back to this comment and make fun of myself if I’m wrong but honestly I have 0 doubt that Medvedev is gonna beat him and it won’t even be close. God damnit…
I feel that Dimi will have more confidence against Medvedev and so will do his best to make a match of it, at least. Medvedev also might be close to running in fumes. But Im not going to make any predictions about the winner. This USO has been very unpredictable thus far!
I just wish for a great match, may the best man win!
By the way, in regards to Rafa’s chances here, I would say he is going to win now. But I will say this. I do not think Medvedev or Dimitrov is his biggest threat. I think it’s Monfils. Monfils is back to his 2014 US Open level. That’s the only guy who has a legit chance at Rafa as far as I’m concerned. And Rafa would still be a heavy favorite in that matchup.
Sorry about Roger, Benny. Monfils is a threat to Rafa, of course, but he’s never beaten him or been able to stay with him, even at his best. Of course that was when Rafa played his old game, long baseline rallies that simply ran Monfils ragged and exhausted him. Well, we’ll see. I will say if Monfils does manage to win this USO I’ll be very happy for him. He’s well up in the “most talented to never…” category and a true fan favorite.
Monfils will never beat Rafa unless the Spaniard has some physical issues. He simply can’t handle an opponent which is so tough mentally. That’s where he’ll always lose these wars, not in the baseline battles. Regardless of how many tricks he pulls, Nadal won’t flinch. If he tries to be serious, it’s even worse.
I would say that on the contrary Monfils is the lesser threat standing in Rafa’s way to the title.
Very much agree with that , Christian P.
Agreed with both of the above. Especially that there is no way Dimi beats Med, if Med is fit (and 2 days off will help).
Monfils vs Andujar was such a beatdown!
Benny G, u know, i thought the exact same thing! Monfils is playing very very very well!! Rafa needs to watch out there for real! That is no joke!
Fed needs a 4 month break. Similar to horses that need a spell, as you age you need longer spells to reset and find that enthusiasm again especially after playing a mammoth Wimbledon final.
I think Fed did himself no favors by going four sets in his first two matches. He could not have had easier opponents. I couldn’y even find the first guy in the rankings! I gave up
after looking at the first 200 players. At his age the last thing he needs is longer matches in the early rounds. He is usually very efficient and that has helped give him longevity. He had to work too hard early on.
No one expected Dimi to give him any trouble. Certainly not the stupid ESPN commies spent the entire first set trashing Dimi. But Fed was up two sets to one. As Benny said, all he had to fo was break Dimi st 0-40. Then he could have tied it up and had a chance to close it out in four sets. We have seen him do this many times. Things can happen in the middle of a tough match. But I still say that the Wimbledon final took a lot out of both Novak and Fed.
NNY, I fully agree with you that the brutal Wimby final may have taken it’s toll on both Novak and Fed, and that they are paying the price now. I actually expected this to a certain degree – but especially after neither Novak nor Fed made it into the Cincy final.
The ESPN commies are dumbells, mostly. Some maybe started out smart. And even the smarter ones will say stuff just make sure their paycheck if grand or for the sheer HYPE of it!!!
Yep
I saw lengthy highlights of the match.Fed did not play as if he was in discomfort first 4 sets. Fifth he maybe compromised ofcourse . Not converting one bp out of 4 when he was 4 5 down cannot be down to just sore upper back. He made silly errors n dimi played tough that game. Let’s not just discount Dimis win as if he just got lucky
In 2014, Rafa injured himself in warmup itself and was compromised from the word go. If we want to doubt it,we can but the truth won’t change.
The way people are hurrying to hand Rafa the trophy just scares me. Neither Diego, monfils or Medvedev will be easy. Diego will just hit hard returns n drag the match, monfils will also play very long rallies and Medvedev is a baddie who wants to prove a point The only person I think Rafa will beat is dimitrov as expecting dimi to beat Rafa in a slam final maybe asking too much. Berretini I have never seen play ,so I don’t want to comment on him. I just hope Rafa keeps the calm and plays to win and does not goof up or get hampered.
Absolutely right, Sanju. Every player left is a threat in their own way. My Rafa winner pick is not safe until he gets past all of them. Each opponent poses a different type of challenge.
But I hope you are confident of him
Oh dear Sanju, honestly I must take it one match at a time. I’m confident about Rafa making it past Schwartzman. But if Rafa starts dropping a set — damn. My stomach can’t handle it. And I have confidence he can beat Monfils or Berrettini.
If I’m quite honest, I would feel better if Grigor beat that mad Russian! No doubt in my mind Rafa would beat Grigor. Obviously, since I picked Medvedev to be runner-up, I’m most worried about him. Rafa must take care and not get into long matches – Rafa is strong, experienced, and as Wise as a champion can be.
Yes, confident, but cautious. Each step will be a relief. I may be too invested in him winning #19 to not be slightly blind to any other outcome.
Taking it one match at a time should not be interpreted as lack of confidence in Rafa! That is just being prudent. You never know what can happen. Nobody thought Dimi would beat Fed. He had not done anything in quite some time to make one think he had a remote chance. But he came out playing like the guy who once had so much potential that he was called Baby Fed. He made a match out of it.
I also do not think the talking about Fed struggling in the latter stages of the match with some knife of back issue, takes anything away from Dimi. The ESPN commies started noticing something with Fed late in that fourth set. Things can happen right before a match, like what happened with Rafa at the 2014 AO final. Something seems to have started bothering Fed Kate in the fourth set. He was expecting another straightforward match and instead found himself in a tough battle.
Fed does not call the trainer and go off court for nothing. Something was wrong in that fifth set. And that takes nothing away from Dimi.
Whether Dimi can replicate that quality of tennis against Medvedev, remains to be seen. I was looking forward to seeing Fed and Medvedev. I think that could have been a very interesting match.
Some KIND of back issue. *
Something was bothering Fed LATE in the fourth set. *
Elizabeth, ha, ha, I’m also incredibly nervous about all remaining players – but especially about Daniil, lol! That Rafa handled him so easily in Toronto is somewhat reassuring. But as Lucky said: he is a very fast learned and He will be hellbent to do better. On paper Rafa is the overwhelming favorite now. But Roger also was the overwhelming favorite against Dimi….
This is a golden opportunity for Rafa to snag a valuable and hard-to-come-by non-clay slam. I really hope it will work out, but Rafafans never take anything for granted.
Yep, the Mad Russian scares me. And he seems to recover super fast. He should be exhausted by now.
The guy who was the biggest obstacle to #19 (Fed) is out of the way.
My take on the remaining guys –
Rafa vs Diego should be easier than the last few encounters (Rafa’s serve should help). Monfils cant beat Rafa. I am not sure about that Italian (He looked crazy good against Rublev, but is a bit of an unknown). Rafa’s game matches up well with Medvedev. Grigor almost beat Rafa twice at the Aussie Open and is in my humble opinion the biggest threat to Rafa’s #19 now.
Sorry, the biggest obstacle really is health. Fingers crossed