2 Responses to athens04berdych_federer_

1. Voo de Mar says:

   July 22, 2025 at 1:16 pm

   Points won by each set: | 27-34, 41-38, 43-40 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   33 % Berdych – 40 of 121
   37 % Federer – 38 of 102

   The second of [1] Federer’s four Olympic Games, and for the first time he was expected to win the Gold medal which never happened (☆ quarterfinal loss in 2008, four years later outplayed in the final). In 2004 he began dominating men’s tennis, but in the Athens second round he was stunned by a 19-year-old Berdych [79]. It was rather an ugly match with very short rallies due to casual errors from both sides of the court. It seemed like a routine ‘6-4, 7-6’ for Federer, but trailing *5:6 in the 2nd set, the Swiss astonishingly committed three double faults serving on ‘deuce’ court. In the decider Berdych began the 11th game missing five serves in a row, but held withstanding four mini-match points (three of them with winners). In the following game he converted his second match point with a backhand return winner down the line (his second point won this way in the 3rd set). # Eight years later in the Madrid final Federer would prevail over Berdych after almost identical scoreline – that time the Czech fails to hold in successive sets at 5:6.

   Serve & volley: Berdych 0, Federer 3/4

   # Comparison of their two similar matches:
   Athens 2004 (3R): Berdych d. Federer 4-6, 7-5, 7-5… 2 hours 19 minutes… Total points: 111-112… Breaks: 3-2… 7, 5 pts away
   Madrid 2012 (F): Federer d. Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5… 2 hours 37 minutes… Total points: 103-101… Breaks: 4-3… 7, 7 pts away

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   July 22, 2025 at 1:17 pm

   Lendl – the best player of the 80s – never played at the Olympics (in theory he could have done it twice: 1988 and 1992)
   Sampras – the best player of the 90s – participated only in Barcelona ’92 (lost in the third round), he skipped the Olympics in 1996 and 2000
   Federer – the best player of the 00s – took part in four successive Olympic games,
   thus it’s a blow for his legacy he never got the gold medal in singles; his four end stations:
   ☆
   Sydney ’00 (third place): Di Pasquale 6-7, 7-6, 3-6
   Athens ’04 (second round): Berdych 6-4, 5-7, 5-7
   Beijing ’08 (quarterfinal): Blake 4-6, 6-7
   London ’12 (final): Murray 2-6, 1-6, 4-6

   Federer skipped the Olympics in Rio 2016 due to injury when still belonged to the best players in the world at age of 35

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